Complicated - Steve Harrington

Fifteen

Hawkins had gone on after the Mind Flayer attack. Children went to school. Seniors graduated. People got jobs. Malls opened. Stores closed. In six months everything and nothing had changed. Mia Clark was learning to search for more adventure again, reminded of her desire to get out of town once the fear was gone from deep in her bones.

Her first step to getting the hell out of Dodge was earning enough cash to even buy gas. Well, technically, the first step was convincing Steve to go with her, but she thought that part would be pretty easy. He was working at Scoop in the Starcourt Mall that summer, kicking ass to earn the money his dad would never provide. Mia considered getting a job there as well, mostly so Steve felt less guilty about not having time to hangout or take her out on a date, but she decided not to push their luck. Too much time together would end badly, she could feel it. Instead, she was working in the mayor's office, which was good money if she could get any work done with the protestors almost always outside the door. The Mall was the best and worst thing to have happened to Hawkins, at least that the civilians knew about.

"Ahoy— Oh, Mia, hey," Steve grinned as Mia walked inside the ice cream shop one afternoon. "How was work, today?"

"It was okay," Mia shrugged, leaning against the counter. "The mayor's planning some bullshit party for the Fourth of July, but I think it's just going to piss people off even more."

"You think?"

"Definitely," Mia sighed. "Especially because some of the shops in Starcourt are donating to it. I just feel so bad for all the Mom and Pop stores in town."

"Would cookies 'n cream in a waffle cone help?" Steve asked, clicking his ice cream scoop.

"Couldn't hurt," Mia chuckled. She started to open her purse to get money when Steve grabbed her hand from across the counter.

"On me," Steve said. "Since I've been sort of... absent."

"You haven't—" He turned away and started scooping before she could protest or assure him that having a job didn't mean he was a horrible boyfriend. She took advantage of him looking away to drop the money in his tip jar, plus a little extra.

Steve handed her the cone just as his coworker emerged from the back of the store.

"Hey, Robin," Mia greeted.

"Oh, it's the wife!" Robin joked. She blew a bubble with her gum and jabbed a thumb towards the back of the store. "You just missed your kids. Steve smuggled them in through the back again."

"You're gonna get caught and fired," Mia said, turning to Steve, more serious now. "And you'll probably get in trouble with the theater, too."

"Don't worry about it," Steve said. "If I get in trouble I'll kill the shitheads, sell their body parts for bail and probably still have enough money for tuition."

Mia grimaced. "Gross."

Steve shrugged. "I'm off at ten o'clock. You wanna do something?"

Truthfully, Mia was exhausted. She'd been answering calls, getting coffee and meals, taking notes and doing whatever else the mayor asked for all day. The thought of work the next day made her want to cry, much less doing anything else that night. But it was obvious within the past few days that Steve was desperate for a date or at least ten solid minutes of alone time. She bit back her desire to sleep for two days straight, remembering he was probably tired as well.

"Of course," Mia said with a smile. "I'm gonna head home and get some dinner. Pick me up after closing?"

"See you then," Steve said.