Halley's comet | Steve Harrington

iii. ii sorry could you repeat that?

"𝑰𝒕'𝒔 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒔𝒐 𝒔𝒕𝒖𝒑𝒊𝒅,"

⋆༺𓆩❀𓆪༻⋆

Despite, quite possibly, being the most stubborn person in Hawkins, Halley found herself in enemy territory, woefully jabbing at a cup of Galactic Ganache ice cream in the Scoops Ahoy back room. Steve was off to the side, hoisted up to sit on the sterile titanium counters. He was wearing that stupid sailor uniform that Halley constantly poked fun at.

"He really fired you?" Steve said, his hands messing with the company hat he refused to wear unless he was at the register. "Like you, you?"

"Yes, Steve, he made it pretty obvious." She pushed the ice cream away shaking her head. She'd come in first thing that morning. Leaving the same time she would have had she still worked at the pool, so as to avoid any questions from her mother. She was going to tell Joyce. Eventually. Jonathan too. Just... she needed to cover her ass and get a new job before she could deal with those pity eyes her mother was bound to give her. And she didn't want to add any more pressure onto her brother's shoulders. He had college applications to worry about, they would be coming out soon.

Jonathan had his future to worry about. And Halley... didn't. Not right now, at least. Sure, she'd applied for places last year, even gotten back a handful of acceptance letters. She'd thrown them away without reading past the first 'Congratulations'. Joyce had tried to talk her out of it at first, when she'd finally pried the real reason out of Halley. But she couldn't be swayed. And as much as Halley knew her mother would never admit it, she knew Joyce was relieved. Because she would still be around. Still be there to look after Will, to help put food on the table, and keep the lights on.

And that was fine. That's what she needed to do. She wanted to. It was the least she could do. There would be plenty of time for her to pursue anything and everything she could. But later. After she got a new job, and worked up enough money that her mom and brothers could live comfortably, and when the stupid Hawkins pool, and stupid Billy Hargrove were far thoughts in her head. Ones that she could barely even remember— then she could do whatever she wanted.

Until then, though, she needed a plan.

"So what are you gonna do?" Steve asked, sliding off the counter and taking a few steps over to her, leaning over the small desk she was sitting at.

She groaned, letting her head fall back and looking up at the crisp, new ceiling tiles. "Well, I need a new job." She'd grown closer with Steve after the occurrences of last year. And she found it more and more common that she wasn't hating herself when hanging out with Steve for too long— a feat a few years ago she would have been sure was impossible.

"I think we've got an extra hat around here somewhere..."

Halley leaned forward, her eyes narrowing at the proposition. "No way in hell I'm joining you here. They'd have to pay me triple just to put the costume on."