Status

Status - Chapter Two

Chapter Two:

He woke to the light of the television flickering in front of him, the volume muted. He felt a warm body against his and initially thought it was El, that he was back at the cabin with her. But the small body he discovered was Joyce, she had her arms wrapped around him as if she were trying to stop him escaping, but she was still fast asleep. He took a moment to look over her beautiful face, his eyes going down her slight body and down to her bare feet tucked behind her. He knew he would have to disentangle himself so that he could find El. It wasn't right for him to be here with Joyce like this, it was only one step away from something a lot more dangerous.

It wasn't as if he hadn't thought about it. Very far from it, he often found himself reliving his memories of Joyce from their childhood, from their teen years... he sometimes felt himself falling into such a dark mood when he remembered that he was the one who fucked that all up. It was Jim who left, not Joyce. He left, and Lonnie took his place at her side. That piece of shit.

He hadn't realised until far too late that Lonnie had been abusive to her. He had been dealing with the loss of Sara when a friend of his still in Hawkin's contacted him to let him know Joyce was regularly seen with bruises, black eyes, and even broken bones. They couldn't be sure, but they thought it was a drunken Lonnie causing the damage. He was in no place to save Joyce, his marriage had fallen apart and every day he fought to get through each minute, each hour without falling apart at the seams. He wanted his little girl back more than anything in his life. He had only hoped that Joyce would find the courage to stand up for herself, or that one of her friends would help her escape her horrid marriage.

Jim had also heard she had two children now, two boys. He had met Jonathan on a visit back to Hawkin's, a little boy so opposite to his mother in temperament. Jonathan was reserved and held himself away from the spotlight. No matter whether Joyce had wanted to or not, she had always been a head-turner. Not only was one of the most beautiful women in town, but she had that feistiness, that bearing that no-one could ignore. Crazy, a lot of people called her crazy. He didn't like that word, it didn't fit her. She was too kind, too caring, and too smart to be 'crazy'. He liked to think of her as different, a unique person – no matter how corny it sounded.

He gently removed Joyce's arms and laid her down on the couch, tucking a cushion beneath her head and tiptoed down the hallway to Will's room. He opened the door a crack and found Will had made a bed of pillows on the floor for himself and El was in his bed. Will was very like his mother and had become a chivalrous young man. He gently closed the door and decided to have a ciggy before rousing his daughter. He tried to slip back through the lounge unnoticed, but Joyce had woken from her slumber and was sitting up on the couch, staring wide-eyed at him.

"What...?" She looked around, her hair mussed up from sleep. He felt a jolt in his gut and tried to tamp down the feeling of arousal. He couldn't. Not Joyce. He had never, ever denied the attraction he felt for her, that would have been impossible. But he was a messed-up person with a fuck tonne of baggage. Joyce had her own problems, it had been why he tried to convince her to date Bob, he was too dangerous for her. Plus he was sure she wouldn't find him as attractive as she once had, he had left after all.

"I think we must have fallen asleep," he gestured to her and the couch. They had – had a fair bit to drink the night before, more than usual.

"Oh," she stood up, looking awkward.

"I'm going to have a ciggy on the step, come with?"

They didn't speak again for a while, but it was still chilly outside, and they had gone from sitting on the front doorstep as far apart as possible – to Joyce sitting with her hip against his. They shared the cigarette, just like old times. He could see her visibly shivering and trying to shake his earlier nefarious thoughts from his mind, he placed an arm around her and tried to share his body heat with hers.