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CHAPTER THIRTY TWO | SISTER TALK
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have you ever seen a little girl run so fast she falls down? there's an instant, a fraction of a second before the world catches hold of her again... a moment when she's outrun every doubt and fear she's ever had about herself and she flies. in that one moment, every little girl flies.
-captain marvel, volume 8 #1
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When Jackie stepped out of The Hawk, with El at her side, she blinked rapidly, trying to get her eyes to readjust to the sunlight. After spending nearly two hours in a near-pitch black theatre, she'd half expected the sun to not be out. Silly, of course, since it was only six o'clock in the middle of June.
"Did you like the movie?" Jackie asked, glancing down at El.
The younger girl nodded, a large smile gracing her lips. "Never say die."
Jackie grinned and raised her fist for El to bump. "Right on."
El made a fist of her own and basically just punched Jackie's knuckles. Jackie just laughed and threw and arm over El's shoulders. El still had a long way to go when it came to social cues and norms, but she was learning. And fast, at that.
Jackie promised El that they'd spend all the time possible together this summer, and she intended to make good on that promise. A camaraderie had formed between them instantly back in those first couple days of November, and it had quickly been shaped into sisterhood. It was an unbreakable bond, solidified by the trauma that had been forced upon them both by Dr. Brenner and the Hawkins Labs.
"Craving anything for dinner?"
"Burgers," El responded.
The backseat of Jackie's beat up, green '78 Honda Accord Hatchback was covered in bags from the shopping spree she'd taken El on with Hopper's credit card. Jackie had joined forces with Joyce to insist to the police chief that El needed clothes that were new and belonged solely to her. After all, if she was going to be starting school in the fall, she'd need to, at the very least, look like she'd spent her life out and about in the real world. They'd won their case with ease, and now El had plenty of outfits for herself.
It had surprised Jackie that El gravitated towards the bright, funky pattered button-down shirts and wild scrunchies as opposed to the more muted cardigans and simple shorts. Surprise aside, she was glad El had managed to find her own sort of style. God knows it had taken Jackie long enough to find a distinct, personal style — and she hadn't even spent her entire childhood locked in a padded cell. With every surprise El dealt to her, Jackie found herself more thankful for each one than the last. All she wanted was for El to have an easy time. All she wanted El to worry about was homework and what color dress she'd wear to the homecoming dance.
Jackie drove them fifteen minutes outside of the town's border to a little place called 'Grandpa Dave's Burger Joint.' She and Steve had found themselves there at two in the morning back in January, drunk on laughter, after the Bruce Springsteen concert in Indianapolis. The building looked like it hadn't been renovated since the early fifties, but the food was good, greasy, and — most important of all — dirt cheap. She could get a double cheeseburger, fries, soda, and a shake all for nine bucks flat.
