Shatter [Jonathan Byers] Stranger Things II

XLVI: Suave

suave

adjective

(especially of a man) charming, confident, and elegant.

They were ready to go the next morning with time to spare. Sneaking around the Harrington house because she didn't want Steve's mother to realize she was there, Emilia found a phone and called the station. It rang three times before someone answered, and of course that someone was Flo.

"Hi, Flo, it's Emilia, is Hopper in?" she asked with hope in her voice.

"Haven't seen him since yesterday, he looked like he had a mission in mind and he wasn't going to let anyone at the station be privy to it. Other than that, I think he checked up on Joyce Byers. And if you see him, tell him to get in here, ASAP, will you?" Flo spewed out in one breath.

"Uhm, yeah, I will. Thank you." Emilia hung up the phone, not feeling great, but feeling better than she had. Perhaps Hopper was just busy helping out at the Byers house, and that eased her mind about Will and Joyce, who were not alone now. As she contemplated calling the Byers household, she heard Steve shouting at her that they were leaving -so much for Mrs. Harrington not knowing she was there.

She slinked through the hallways, grabbed her jacket and darted out the front door before anyone could see her. The drive was silent, not filled with small talk as they went to town to pick up the meat for bait. Emilia went to the grocery store while Steve ran in and bought the meat, planting two large buckets in the backseat that smelled so foul that Emilia had to open a window. The drive felt a lot longer from there, rank, day old meat filling the vehicle. When they picked up Dustin, he opened the door to the back and grinned.

"Cool!" he exclaimed.

Parking by the tracks, the car well out of sight from the road, they all got out. Emilia slid a backpack over her shoulder, while Dustin and Steve grabbed gloves and a bucket each. And off they went.

It didn't take long before the bickering began.

"Why did you even keep it?" Steve asked, referring to the creature that Dustin was calling Dart.

"Well, there is this really cool girl-"

"Oh here we go," Steve said as he rolled his eyes.

Emilia smiled lightly, despite the ridiculous situation, it wasn't all bad. Being in the presence of Steve and Dustin was rather heart-warming, in this weird sense of friendship that was developing. Of course she knew that she wasn't going to be hanging out with Dustin, he was just a kid, but at the end of all of this she imagined herself spending more time with Steve. Steve and Jenny, she figured, if she didn't get Jonathan back in her life. It was starting to look worse every day with him and Nancy having disappeared. Dustin had stated that he had been unable to get a hold of any of his friends.

Emilia tuned back into the banter.

"I mean, why would a girl like some nasty slug anyways?" Steve asked, "Emilia, back me up here, you wouldn't like it would you?"

"No, no, no. I'm staying out of this one," Emilia chimed.

"An interdimensional slug? Because it's awesome," Dustin countered. "Besides, this girl is different, she's... cool."

"Are you saying Emilia isn't cool?"

"No!" Dustin shouted. "She didn't even say if she would be impressed by it or not."