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CHAPTER TWELVE | ADULTHOOD
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i have grown sick of shadows. you are more to me than all art could ever be.
-the picture of dorian gray // oscar wilde
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On Thursday, October 18, 1984, Jackie Hanlon woke up as an adult. Peggy, all weepy and nostalgic, hugged Jackie tightly and made a heaping pile of chocolate chip pancakes. There weren't many presents to give, only little trinkets because they both knew that Peggy was going to be buying Jackie a car within the year and there weren't many things Jackie wanted that she didn't have.
"Oh, one last thing," Peggy said as Jackie was putting on her jacket to leave.
Shelly was outside, hammering on her horn and definitely disturbing the neighbors.
"Have a good day at school, and if your friends want to take you out for dinner, go. Don't worry about me, got it, missy?"
"Okay," Jackie said, smiling at her aunt. "I'll be a normal teen and not care about my guardian."
"That's what I like to hear." Peggy pressed a kiss to the crown of Jackie's head and shoved her lightly towards the door. "Now, get outside before Shelly pisses off the whole town."
Jackie shouldn't have been surprised by Shelly's immediate rendition of The Happy Birthday Song, but she was, and she grimaced the whole time. Shelly was talented in many ways, but vocally was not one of those ways.
"So, we're going out for dinner tonight," Shelly said, once she had her fill of singing. "I put Steve in charge of the reservations, so I'm not sure where but I think it's a nice place out of town."
"Do you know what time the reservation is for?"
"Like... six-thirty, maybe?" Shelly shrugged. "Who even knows with Steve. So, did your aunt get you anything good?"
"Yeah," Jackie nodded. "Are you free on Saturday? They're doing an early release of A Nightmare on Elm Street in the city and Peggy grabbed me tickets for it."
"You really think I wanna see a horror movie?" Shelly shook her head violently. "You know who you could bring? Steve."
With a quiet sigh, Jackie rolled her eyes. Her unfortunate feelings for Steve had not gone away, but neither had his relationship with Nancy. Jackie's only solace was that Nancy didn't have the same lunch period as them, which meant that she didn't have to sit through forty minutes of mushy, gushy, gross love.
"He probably has a date."
"Right," Shelly scoffed. "Like he hasn't dropped everything to hang out with you before."
Jackie knew Shelly was talking about Nancy and Steve's big fight on September 28, when Steve left Nancy at his house, alone, because Jackie called and needed his help. Of course, what Shelly didn't know was that Jackie had accidentally smashed a window when trying to levitate her old Walkman throughout the house. Nobody knew that Steve was the only person Jackie could turn to since Peggy had been in the middle of a 15-hour shift at the hospital. All that aside, Nancy hadn't taken kindly to Steve leaving to see Jackie for a couple hours, and Jackie really couldn't fault her for that.
"That was—" Jackie struggled for a moment to find the words she needed to say. "Different."
"How?"
"It just was."
[ ... ]
Jackie was standing at her locker, organizing her books so they were in order of when she would need them, when two arms wrapped around her and lifted her up.
"Happy birthday, Jack!" Steve exclaimed over her loud shriek of surprise, drawing many eyes from fellow students in the hallway.
When he put her down, she whacked him on the arm and tried not to laugh at the goofy grin on his face.
"You're such a jerk." There was no venom in Jackie's voice as she poked her finger into Steve's shoulder.
"Is that any way you should talk to your best friend?" Steve asked, smirking. He waved an envelope in front of her face. "Especially a best friend that got you the second best birthday gift ever."
"Second best?"
"First best would be Queen concert tickets," Steve said. "I know your soul, Hanlon."
Indeed he did, it would seem. But, then again, he didn't really know her soul, did he? If he did, he would know everything she felt for him. And he couldn't know that.
"Okay," Jackie said, closing her locker and leaning back against it. "What's the second best birthday gift ever, then?"
"Me and you. January seventh. Indianapolis. Bruce Springsteen."
"Oh, my God!" Jackie exclaimed, nearly jumping out of her skin. "You're joking."
"Nope."
He pulled one of the tickets out of the envelope and waved it in front of her face. BORN IN THE U.S.A TOUR. Doing her best not to scream in excitement, Jackie threw her arms around him and hugged him tightly.
"You're the best person ever, Steve Harrington!"
As his arms slowly wrapped themselves around her waist, he chuckled softly in her ear.
"Still think I'm a jerk?"
"Maybe." Jackie grinned, breaking away from the hug. "However, that opinion might change if you see Nightmare on Elm Street with me on Saturday."
"This Saturday?"
"Yeah!" Jackie slumped against the cool metal locker and locked eyes with him, biting her lip. "Only if you don't already have plans, that is."
"You kidding, Hanlon?" Steve scoffed and rolled his head dramatically. "I'm never too busy for you."
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Short and simple... also I had a bit of writer's block with this chapter so I just cut it off as is. We soon enter season 2 of Stranger Things, and I'm so excited. I've got a few kinks to work out for the middle of the season, such as how Jackie gets involved with all the shenanigans. I'm still trying to pick out which path I like the best, so hang tight kids.
Also, a bit of a deleted scene: Lucas showed up at Jackie's house after school but before Steve came to pick her up for dinner and gave her a copy of "Panther's Rage" which was one of the first Marvel graphic novels.
