LAYING IN bed beside Steve the Hair Harrington wasn't how Bailey Hopper wanted to spend her morning.
She had hooked up with him at a Halloween party last year, she was drunk and he had just been dumped by Nancy Wheeler. It had been exactly 572 days of their relationship and Bailey hated every second of it.
Not because Steve Harrington was abusive, mean, or an alcoholic, but because Bailey didn't like him romantically at all. She didn't know why— he had nice hair, nice personality, a nice smile. Bailey would force herself to like him, even if that meant having sex a lot more than she wanted to.
Bailey didn't know why she didn't break up with him. She felt bad for not having a validated reason to dump the boy, who was clearly in love with her.
"Morning." He placed a kiss on her lips, before stretching loudly and getting up. He began getting dressed in his work uniform, which looked like a sailor's outfit and Bailey couldn't help but chuckle. Steve scoffed in disbelief, sarcasm laced through his voice, "Are you laughing at me?"
"Yeah." She smiled, as she sat up in bed, the blanket covering her bra, "Do you have to wear that?"
"Yep." Steve replied, as he looked in the mirror and adjusted the sailor's hat on his head, "I mean, this covers my best feature. My reputation." He turned around, "At least you'll be wearing it with me—"
"No. No!" She refused quickly, "I'm not wearing that. Besides, I didn't pick my uniform up."
"Lucky for you, our Boss gave it to me yesterday." Steve retorted, passing her uniform to her, "You have to look the part, Bails. It's your first day, remember?"
"I'm gonna make a total fool out of myself." Bailey reluctantly took the uniform, as she stood up to get dressed.
Bailey was forced by her dad, Jim Hopper, to start this job at Scoops Ahoy— which consisted of scooping ice cream all day to people at the Mall. After her dad caught her at a party, involving underaged drinking and drug use, Hopper decided to punish his daughter and to force her into a summer job.
Steve admired her, "See, you look hot." He attempted to leave her bedroom but Bailey stopped him.
She asked quickly, "What are you doing?"
"Getting breakfast?" He replied, but it sounded more like a question.
"My dad's here. So is Eleven." Bailey stated, "You can't just walk out of here."
"Bails, they know we're together." Steve reminded, "I come over all the time."
"He doesn't let you stay over, though." Bailey explained, "He'll kill me if he finds out. Literally."
Steve disagreed, "But we're seventeen. Technically adults—"
"Remember when he threatened to arrest you when he saw us kiss?" Bailey retorted, "Imagine that on a larger scale."
Steve hesitated, "I'll use the window." Bailey helped Steve quietly climb out of her window, before he placed another kiss on her lips. The boy whispered, "I'll see you at work, okay?"
"See you then, Harrington." Bailey waved at the boy, who clumsily tripped over tree roots which were sticking out of the ground. She chuckled to herself, before closing her window, watching Steve as he quickly walked out of the woods.
A pattern of knocks came from her bedroom door, causing the girl to flinch and quickly dart away from her window. She pretended to occupy herself by making her bed, as her father slowly opened the door.
"Bee, you up?" Hopper asked curiously, "Breakfast is on the table."
"Yeah." She hummed back, as her dad stood in the doorway like he usually did. Bailey turned around sarcastically, showing off her uniform, "Tada!"
"You look great, Bee." Hopper nodded, "Very professional."
Bailey disagreed, as she walked out of her room and towards the small table, , "I look like a dumbass."
"You looked like a dumbass at all those parties." Hopper retorted the conversation into a lecture again, "This job will be good for you. Set you on the right path."
"I earn 3 bucks an hour." Bailey deadpanned, as she sat opposite her un-biological sister.
Eleven frowned curiously, "You work at Scoops Ahoy?"
"Yeah." Bailey nodded, before smirking sarcastically, "I'm not giving you free ice cream, though. So don't get any ideas, Curly."
Curly was a nickname used for Eleven when she first moved in with the Hoppers. Her buzzed hair grew into brunette curls, though a year later, her hair was down to her shoulders. Bailey stuck with the nickname for old times sake.
Bailey cooed, watching as Hopper rolled his eyes, "How's Mike?"
"Good." Eleven smiled, "We're going to surprise Dustin. At his house."
"Sounds fun." Bailey smiled, before getting up from the kitchen table and putting her bowl in the sink, "Anyway, duty calls. Don't kiss Mike too much, or your lips will fall off." She ruffled Eleven's hair as she walked passed. The young girl touched her lips in shock, her eyes widening as she looked at Hopper to seek reassurance.
"She's lying, El." Hopper reassured, before guiding Eleven towards the door.
Eleven questioned curiously, "But, friends don't lie?"
"Sisters lie." Hopper corrected, as Bailey stuck her tongue out at Eleven.
Hopper questioned curiously, "You girls got everything?"
"Yeah." The two girls replied in unison, as Hopper shut the door and drove the girls to their destinations.
Scooping ice cream was more mentally painful than she had accepted. Every scoop was a reminder of how fun Bailey's life used to be— parties, drinking, getting high, hanging out with friends. Working at an ice cream store would've been fun, however Hopper made it clear that it was a punishment for her past actions, so every scoop was like a lecture.
"Personally, I attract customers with my looks." Steve said sarcastically, "I think it would help if you smiled—"
"Hey." Bailey nudged him gently, "I do smile. This job just reminds me of how depressing my life is now. Remember when we used to throw a party every weekend?"
"Yeah." Steve nodded with a sigh, "Those were the days we could have unlimited sex—"
"Steve." Bailey shushed, as another Scoops Ahoy worker walked towards the front desk.
"Afternoon, Dingus." The familiar teenager smiled. Bailey looked at the brunette girl in curiosity; her short hair, freckled face, and blue eyes were familiar to Bailey.
Steve introduced, "This is Robin."
Robin Buckley— Bailey knew her from last years History class. The girl had visibly matured since Bailey had last seen her, but she had that same look in her eyes. She was silly, fun, outgoing. Robin didn't care what others thought of her, which Bailey found inspiring.
"Hi." Robin smiled, her words flowing from her mouth much quicker than she hoped, "You're Bailey, right? We were in History class last year. You sat in front of me, uh, sorry that sounds stalker-ish. I'm not a stalker, I just—"
"It's okay." Bailey couldn't help but smile ear to ear, "I remember you, too."
"I don't see you in that class anymore." Robin asked curiously, "Did you drop it?"
"Yeah." Bailey nodded, "I'm not the academic type, let's say. I like soccer."
"Cool, uh, that's really cool." Robin smiled, as she placed her bag down beneath the counter, "I run like I have to left feet. If I did soccer, I wouldn't last five seconds before I fell over."
Bailey found herself laughing more than she intended too.
a/n:
ive never written a "straight" character before but enjoy!!
