Smoke -- Jim Hopper

28. LOST IN THOUGHT.

This chapter will be held in Jim's POV for a bit of it, so you all can see into that tangled mess inside his head haha (alsooo its so weird writing in a dudes pov lol)

Also, Nat is really hot-headed in this (When isn's she though lol) I love it

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Natalie swallowed her waffles and placed her plate on the coffee table in front the couch. She strode up to Jim and looked at him with livid eyes, "are you kidding me?" she huffed before continuing, "The first thing that comes out your mouth when you see me is 'what the hell are you doing here'?! You could have said 'oh, hey Natalie! Thanks for keeping El company since she's been stuck in this house for 353 days!' or maybe you could have said, 'Oops, here's your ticket, thanks for waiting an extra six hours to get it,'" she snarled at him.

Jim shut the door and leaned against with a groan, "You're killing me," he said as he rubbed his temples.

Hot anger pooled in Natalie's stomach as she watched him, "I'm killing you?" she hissed and narrowed her eyes while taking a set closer to him, "You, you're killing me! With all this damn waiting, and quite frankly I'm sick of it. So, I'm going to give until the end of the week to give me an answer to my question, I sure as hell hope you remember what I asked."

Jim looked at her with cold eyes, "Fine," he said curtly and then proceeded to pull his ticket pad from his back pocket and scribble something down before roughly handing her the ticket.

Before grabbing the ticket she wrapped her hand around his wrist and yanked him towards her, their eyes level, "One last thing before I go, so help me God, if you even dare to keep poor El locked in this shed any longer, I will come down here myself and break her out, well hopefully before she breaks herself out," she snapped and ripped the ticket from his. She roughly opened the door and whistled to Bucky to follow her out. She turned back and glared at Jim once more before walking into the darkness.

---Jim's POV---

Jim watched Natalie walk away till he couldn't see her bright blue scrubs anymore. With a deep sigh, he shut the door and locked it. Gathering his strength, he walked over to El's door and knocked on it, "Hey, I'm sorry okay."

He sighed again, not hearing anything but the static of the T.V. She was trying to talk to him again. "El, please come out. I'm sorry," he tried again.

The static abruptly stopped and he heard some shuffling, "Have you ever loved someone before?" she asked quietly through the door.

Jim's mouth suddenly felt dry and he shut his eyes, "Yes." his voice came out low.

"Who is it?" El asked with a sniffle.

Jim shut his eyes and he could see her face, tan skin, sparkling forest green eyes, rosy cheeks. Her hair- her long chocolate hair tumbling over her shoulder in those soft waves that he loved to run his hands through. Her feisty attitude that never ceases to make him chuckle. Her love for animals and how caring she is for them. Gosh, how smart she is, he's never met anyone as smart as her. She was a goddess to him, perfect in every way, shape, and form.

Jim placed his forehead on the wooden door, memories of their time together rushing through his conscious. He missed her, he missed her so damn much that it hurt. Yet, he didn't let himself go back to her because there were more pressing things that required his attention like El, Will, the new threat on Hawkins that he saw today in the pumpkin patch. He couldn't be selfish and take her all for himself, she deserved better than him. Afterall, he's just a broken man who's stumbling to refind his purpose in life.