Shatter [Jonathan Byers] Stranger Things II

LII: Tense

tense

verb

become tense, typically through anxiety or nervousness.

Emilia pushed off the wall, navigated through the kitchen to the back door of the house, and hobbled down the stairs before Jonathan ran after her. She was already by the shed by the time he reached her and tried to figure out how to ask to help her.

It came out all wrong, "Maybe you should sit this one out, you're hurt. You should rest your ankle."

She knew he was right, there was no point in being in everyone's way, needing to lean on them for support when they were trying to fix up the shed so that Will -and the thing inside him- wouldn't know where they were. Wanting to help but knowing she would only get in the way, she slouched her shoulders and felt the sudden urge to tear up. Fighting it, staying strong, she glanced up sheepishly at Jonathan. There were so many things to say, she wanted to know what happened over the last few days, and what happened between them the day before he disappeared. She want to apologize and have him say he was sorry, and for things to go back to the way they were.

"Help me back in?" She asked, the words simply and meaning nothing to the untrained ear. But to Jonathan, he heard everything she meant.

Guilt raked its fingers over his flesh, he needed to tell her, and he made it clear in his mind just when and how. The moment they were free from this disaster, he would tell her. Lay it out for her to assess and pick apart as she needed, and he would let her make the decision. Because in his mind, he already knew that he only wanted to be with her. Even if he had royally screwed it up.

"Put your arm around me," he said, then helped her along after she'd done that. Back in the house, it was empty aside from Will who was unconscious on the couch. Jonathan brought her to the chair in the living room that was next to the couch, and helped her down. He yanked the coffee table closer so she could prop her feet upon it. "Do you want some ice?"

"No, thank you," she said, then realized that they were alone. When Jonathan turned to go help outside again, Emilia reached and grabbed his hand. His palm was clammy, hers was too. That nervousness between them was growing, but it was changing too. It was not the same nervousness that things would never be the same, but perhaps that if they dared speak of their problems, it could go back to something similar.

"Be careful," she told him.

He was expecting something else, but he knew what she meant. He had to be around after all of this for them to talk things through, so he ought to be careful. Nodding in compliance, he held her gaze for a moment longer than was typical, and then left the living room.

Emilia leaned back in her chair and looked over at Will. She carefully propped her swollen ankle on the coffee table and was granted slight release. "You need a break," she told Will, even though she knew he couldn't hear her. They did often suggest people speak to their loved ones who were in comas, so maybe he could. "Get away from Hawkins, kid, it's your best shot."

A while later, Joyce came into the room and looked at Emilia with red, cried-dry eyes. Without a word, she leaned over and kissed Emilia's forehead, placing her hand on her shoulder in a motherly way. It was a gesture that reminded Emilia that she had people in her life, people who loved her. She smiled gently as Joyce plucked her small child from the couch and carried him away without a word.

Hopper, Jonathan, Joyce and Mike went into the shed with Will; everyone else hung back in the house.

Emilia would have nodded off in the silence of that house, the familiarity of it wrapping around her like a warm blanket. However, there was too much at stake for anyone to sit still, to relax even if just for a few minutes. Nancy came over unexpectedly, sitting on the coffee table right next to Emilia's foot. She held her hand sin her lap, a sign that she was nervous, and her eyes were glued to the floor.

"Steve says you were a really good friend to him these last few days," Nancy said, a shaking in her voice. "He needed that..."

"So did I," Emilia told her, trying not to sound cold but falling short. How could she respond in any other way? She looked at Nancy, "It's not like he needed my support, he's not going to fall apart just because you broke up with him and ran off with somebody else's boyfriend. But it's nice to know that he has friends."

Nancy bit her lip, then sighed. "Look, Emilia, that's not what happened. I know what it looks like, but I just had this stupid idea to go get justice for Barb's death. And we got it. We should have told you, you should have been there with us, but everyone makes mistakes, everyone does things they don't mean..."

"What are you talking about?" Emilia heard the subtle meaning underneath her words. What mistakes had been made that Emilia hadn't learned yet? Her heart sank and hammered in her chest all at once, the snacks she had earlier threatened to come up, but she held it all back and masked her fear.

Nancy tensed, "Didn't Jonathan talk to you?"

"No, what the hell happened?" Emilia's voice broke.

"Shit," Nancy muttered, then she quickly stood up. Before Emilia could protest and demand that she be told what she already started to imagine in her head, the back door was yanked open and the crowd poured in.

Hopper was adamant that Will was still in there, speaking to them in Morse Code. The distraction came at a moment that suited Nancy, and she disappeared into the kitchen to help sort out what they were going to do about it. Jonathan ran by Emilia without glancing at her, and came back out with a tape player. Everyone sat around the table with a walkie talkie, a cheat-sheet for Morse Code, and Emilia was left to her own thoughts.

And then the phone rang. 

Yikes, things looked like they were subtly smoothing out there at the beginning of the chapter. Then Nancy had to open her big mouth.

Question of the Day: Did I successfully convey in the beginning half of the chapter that things are slowly starting to mend on their own between Jonathan and Emilia?