PLEASER | r. buckley

v. pleasure was all mine

PLEASER !

CHAPTER FIVE - PLEASURE WAS ALL MINE !

REAL LIFE !

ADDI STILL WASN'T quite used to all the stares she felt on her as she walked through starcourt mall and towards scoops ahoy, the ice cream shop where will had told her to meet him.

sure, she'd gone through similar situations before—not only had she been the first new kid in the small town of derry for the first time in years, but she'd also stood out a fair amount with her outgoing personality that was normal in california and not so much in maine—but in derry, she had the losers. her seven friends had took her under their wings almost immediately, whereas here, she had yet to make any friends her own age. all groups were established and no doubt not looking to adopt a newcomer the last year of high school.

so far any attempts at friendship had been met with surface-level responses and nothing more, with the exception of will, who, to addi's surprise, had actually turned out to be a pretty cool person.

said "cool person" was waiting for addi just outside the ice cream shop, right where he said he'd meet her.

"hey, willard! ready to go inside and ignore our work in favor of flavors?"

"'in favor of flavors' . . . i like that," will said, nodding his head thoughtfully. "c'mon, let's go in. i don't think i told you before but i know the people who work here, so we get to get a discount!"

"discounts on ice cream, my favorite."

the two were halfway through the shop before will suddenly turned around and stopped addi in her tracks, a look of bewilderment across his face, "we're not actually ignoring our project, are we?"

"oh, will," addi laughed, "i promise you we will get some work done today."

"good." he let out a sigh of relief before continuing to walk towards the shop's counter, where ice cream flavors were displayed in a freezer on either side of the cash register, which held behind it a girl who looked about addi's age. the girl wasn't someone addi recognized from school, and addi was sure she would have noticed her if she had ever seen her around.

the girl—who truly seemed like she'd rather be anywhere but here—had what seemed like dirty blonde shoulder length hair, gorgeous blue eyes, freckles scattered all around her face, and was wearing a somewhat ridiculous sailors outfit complete with a hat that read 'ahoy' on it. according to the tag on her blue vest, her name was robin.

"hey, dingus! one of your children are here!" the girl, robin, apparently, called out upon noticing will and addi.

"henderson?" someone asked from the back, presumably not named dingus. though . . . if he were, addi would be pleasantly surprised.

"byers!" robin corrected.

"oh," addi was pretty sure that was disappointment in his voice, "gimme a minute, then!"

"what can i get for you two? he's probably gonna take more than a minute, since you're not dustin and all," she said, directing the second part of her statement towards will.

"uss butterscotch in a waffle cone for me, please," will told her.

"and for you?" robin asked addi. the question caught the brunette off-guard, which was a bit dumb because of course robin was going to ask her what she wanted, she practically already had asked her just a minute ago. still, addi had been busy definitely not looking at the types of ice creams, so when she answered, she sounded like a bumbling mess.

"oh- um- i'll have. i- there's rocky road here, right? probably? rocky road if you have it. in a waffle cone! rocky road in a waffle cone. if you have it."

just as she had finished her embarrassing ramble, not-dingus walked out from wherever he was and towards the counter.

"oh, heyyyy," he said, pointing directly at addi, "you're the new kid? right? yeah! yeah, i heard about you!"

"i am indeed the new kid," addi confirmed, cheeks and ears still on fire, grateful that he had saved her from hearing whatever robin had to say in response to her nonsense. "though i can't say i've heard much about you . . ."

"steve," he filled in for her. "steve harrington."

"well, i'm addi wadsworth. nice to meet you." she smiled at him. addi then turned to look at robin, who had already begun scooping up their orders, "so, if i'm addi wadsworth, and he's will byers, and he's steve harrington, you're robin . . . ?"

"robin." she nodded her head once, passing will his ice cream, and then addi hers. "just robin."

"like just beyoncé or just madonna?"

"or just zendaya," will added.

"or just zendaya," addi affirmed.

"exactly like that," robin told her, small smile on her face.

"in that case, it's nice to meet you, just robin," addi held her free hand out to her, "pleasure doing business with you."

robin took her hand, and, to addi's surprise, it wasn't cold or rough like she expected it to be (due to her scooping ice cream half of the time, and just a minute before) but soft and warm. "pleasure was all mine, addi," robin said with a grin.

addi had the sudden feeling that her time in hawkins would no longer be as dreadful as she once thought it would be.