Smoke -- Jim Hopper

49. ENZO'S

Ah forgot to name the chapter lol before I published the chapter

hello sorry for the later update, trying to work on four books is a lot lol, but I enjoy it so it's good uwu. Enjoy this gif of precious Alexei UWU.

Hope you all enjoy this chapter there's a special bit with just Jim and Bob

Not edited

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After sleeping for a good three hours Natalie woke feeling so much better than before. Jim was so sweet to take care of her, he left work to stay with her until she fell asleep. She stretched and looked at her watch, it was nearly seven and she totally forgot that she was supposed to go see Joyce tonight. They had planned a whole dinner between Jim, Bob and her at Enzo's.

Feeling a little panicked she scrambled around the bedroom trying to find something clean and nice looking. She managed to find a cute, cream thinly knit sweater that was nice and loose. She grumbled as she searched through her clothes to find her maroon suede skirt to go with her sweater. She smiled when she found it and quickly put it on, her eyes scanning the room for her heels.

"Jim have you seen my heels?" she shouted, but got no response, he probably already left to pick Bob up.

Natalie glanced at her converse and narrowed her eyes, should she? Whatever, she didn't care. She put on a pair of socks and laced up her converse before sprinting out the door waving bye to the dogs. She scrambled to get into her truck and booked it to Joyce's. She managed to get there a little early since she was speeding so much.

She was about to get out when she saw Joyce race out her house with a frantic look on her face, one that seemed all too familiar. Natalie rolled down her window, "hey! Where are you going? I told you I would drive tonight."

Joyce looked at her with wide eyes, "huh? Oh, dinner. I can't go, something is going on."

Natalie raised an eyebrow and drove closer to Joyce, "what do you meaning something is going on?" Natalie asked feeling a knot form in her stomach.

Joyce pinched the bridge of her nose and got into Natalie's truck, "just drive me to Scott Clarke's house alright? I'll tell you on the way."

Natalie nodded and began to head towards Scott's house, which she only knew because she goes to treat his elderly cat for kidney failure three times a week. She glanced at Joyce, "okay spill, what's going on?"

Joyce looked at her with that same frantic face Natalie has only seen two times before, "my magnets they aren't working. They just randomly fall from my fridge at work, something is not right."

Natalie pursed her lips, "are you sure you're not reading into this more than you should?"

"You sound like Bob," Joyce snapped, clearly stressed, "every single magnet I own should not just suddenly stop working. When was the last time you saw a magnet 'break'"

Natalie sighed, feeling her heart start to pound in her chest, "never." The incident with the rat at work seemed a lot more daunting and she gulped, "something weird happened at work, this rat totally disappeared from his cage, all that was left was goo. So many people keep bringing these damn rats to me and they all show symptoms of advanced rabies. I've never heard or seen anything like it."

"See!" Joyce said, "something's happening again. I just know it."

Natalie nodded in an agreement as they pulled up to Scott's house. Natalie and Joyce got out and Joyce knocked on the door, "Scott?"

They got no answer and Joyce shrugged, "maybe he's not home?"

Then the garage door opened to reveal Scott Clarke standing in his garage with a welding mask on. He opened the mask and smiled, "Dr. Blackwood, Ms. Byers what are you both doing here."

Both women glanced each other and Natalie answered, "we've got some question about magnets."

Scott tilted his head, "interesting, a little random, but who am I to close the door on curiosity. Come on in ladies."

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Jim and Bob were both at Enzo's. Jim was wearing a deep scowl and Bob was munching on breadsticks.

"Man, I could just live off these, you know," Bob said as he grabbed another stick from the basket.

Jim grumbled and took a swig of the Chardonnay wine he ordered for Natalie. He wrinkled his nose, "how does she like this crap, it's so sweet."

Bob shrugged his mouth full, "you know, it's not that bad. Especially if the wine is aerated then it adds even more dimensions to the flavor."

"Oh my god," Jim groaned and looked at his watch, where the hell was Natalie and Joyce.

The waiter came by, eyeing both Jim and Bob curiously, "uh, gentlemen are you ready to order?"

"We're still waiting, but can you bring out some more whiskey, I'm out," he said lowly and raised his glass.

Bob nodded, "and more breadsticks, please and thank you!"

Jim was literally so angry that Natalie blew him off for dinner. He downed his glass of whiskey and poured himself another glass. Why has she been in such a mood lately?

"You okay there Jimbo? You're looking a little tense," Bob commented as he sipped his lemon water.

Jim pursed his lips, "I'm just peachy, Bob."

"Uh oh, you having trouble in paradise?" Bob asked, leaning forward in his seat.

Jim sighed, he always thought gossiping was pointless, but he was sure Natalie gossiped about him to Callahan or some shit so he might as well. Jim took another gulp of whiskey and leaned forward in his seat, "she's literally had the worst attitude for the last couple of weeks, what's up with that? You would think she would be happy since our wedding is literally in less than a month. I don't know, man, it's just a lot to deal with always. Not to mention how much damn money I'm dropping on ice cream? She shovels that stuff into her like it's going out of style."

Bob nodded, "ah, well Natalie is very busy. She works so hard at her job, veterinarians never really get breaks. Plus being a mother to El on top of planning a wedding is just downright stressful. I would be eating ice cream too," Bob let out a hearty laugh patting his stomach.

Jim nodded, "yeah, I know, she works herself way too hard. She was really sick this morning, we were going to go join Joyce for lunch but I had to bring her home." He immediately felt bad for ranting to Bob about her, she really does push herself too much.

Bob narrowed his eyes, "huh," he said and took another bite of his breadstick, "that's interesting, very peculiar."

"What is?" Jim asked, feeling a bit more than tipsy suddenly.

Bob smiled to himself briefly, "sounds like, ah, I shouldn't assume things. I just hope she's feeling better mentally and physically."

Jim scoffed, drinking more, "yeah, me too." He took another drink and then his eyes widened causing him to choke on his whiskey, "there obviously not coming, let's go," he said as he coughed, his eyes screwed shut.

"Gentlemen-" the waiter began

"We're leaving, keep the change," Jim said and threw down a couple of twenties and grabbed the bottle of whiskey from the table.

"You can't take alcohol out of the restaurant sir!" The waiter shouted trying to grab Jim.

Jim shrugged out his grasp and grabbed Bob pulling the shorter man out of his seat, "I can do anything I want, I'm the Chief of Police," he tossed Bob his keys, "c' mon you're driving."

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hmm so Bob the Brain am I right.