"I may be a pretty shitty boyfriend, but turns out i'm actually a pretty damn good babysitter"
"Oh yeah, I can see it now : Steve Harrington, Mom of the year"
In which a pessimistic Jennifer Hopper may be what a heartbroken Steve Harrington needs.
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The three of them stood side by side, looking out at a yard full of junk and abandoned vehicles. This was the place Dustin suggested leading the monster to, the place where they wold play out their attack. Jenny couldn't think of a better location.
"Oh yeah. Yeah, this will do," Steve nodded in appreciation, a lock of his smooth hair bouncing with the movement. "This will do. This will do just fine."
He casually took his black shades off, walking further in to the junkyard. The fact that he was wearing sunglasses baffled her, as it was November and the temperature was decreasing everyday.
"Good call dude," he called back as he walked away, Dustin grinning behind him, proud and happy to be of some help.
Jenny followed wordlessly, sprinkling the remaining pieces of meat.
They reached the center of the yard and dumped the rest of the meat on the ground in one large pile.
"I said medium-well!"
They turned towards the unexpected voice to see Lucas smiling and waving at them from the opening of the yard, madmax was standing beside him, her hands crossed in-front of her awkwardly.
"Who's that?" Steve asked Dustin, looking at the red-headed girl inquisitively. When he received no answer from the boy, he frowned and peered over at him.
Dustin was silent and unresponsive, his eyes fixed on the girl approaching them with a gloomy look on his face.
With how Dustin acting now, and all the girl advice he asked him for back on the train tracks, Steve eventually put the pieces together and realized that this was the girl Dustin had been talking about.
He glanced over at Jenny, to find that she was also looking between the girl and Dustin thoughtfully, her rosy lips pulled down into a small frown. It seemed that she had also added things up, and was now growing concerned for the young boy.
••••••••••
After carrying a large sheet of metal across the yard Jenny finally set it down against the side of the bus, releasing the breath she was holding. Beside her, Max grunted as she dropped a second sheet of metal near the door of the yellow school bus. Jenny appreciated the help the young girl was giving, it sure as hell was more help than Dustin and Lucas were giving. Instead, the two boys were behind a rusted car gossiping like most of the annoying girls at her school.
"Hey you're Max, right?" she asked as they both turned away from the bus, walking in the same direction to the area where more scrap metal lay, "I see you in the arcade a lot. I'm Jenny."
"Yeah, hey," Max responded, nodding her head in shy greeting.
Jenny huffed when she reached and began to lift another large piece of metal, thinking about how if her Dad were here right now, he would be nagging and telling her to lift with her knees, and not her back. She silently cursed him for being right all the time and started to lift the piece of metal with her knees, wanting to ease the dull pain in her lower back. Cautiously walking across the yard, she dropped the metal sheet against the side of the bus and leaned against it in relief. A clanging sound from across the yard caught her attention and she was pleased to see Steve dragging a rusted chair out of a pile of junk. At least one male was helping.
