voltage ; stranger things

four ; the ringing of the bell

          "NO way," says Dustin, his eyes bigger than the large milkshake sitting on the table in front of him. His mouth hangs open in shock, practically splayed across the surface with how far he's leaning forward. "Are you shitting me right now?"

          Colleen doesn't bother shaking her head to tell him no, she is not joking. She wishes she was joking. She wishes this was all a big prank, or maybe a dream that she's going to wake up from in a few moments. She presses a nail into her palm under the table; when the sharp pain comes, she knows she's not dreaming.

          "Dude, shut up." Steve Harrington knocks the teenager upside the head in a scolding manner, then crouches to be level with the table. He looks to Colleen, who sits like one of the creepy mannequins in the shop windows; hunched in her seat, frozen, and staring at a particular stain on the table in the back room of Scoops Ahoy. The cheerful music that plays outside doesn't at all match the situation at hand.

          Robin, Steve's coworker, tilts her head from her position of leaning against the window that connects the back room to the front counter. "Are you absolutely sure it was what it looked like?"

          Colleen angrily wipes at a tear that attempts to slide down her cheek. "How could it not be?" she asks, turning around to look at her. "They were practically naked, and they looked like shit, and there were -" she struggles to force the words from her quivering lips - "hickeys on his neck." She pauses. "He cheated on me."

          It doesn't seem real to say the words out loud for the first time. When Steve had pulled up to the street corner she was on and asked what was wrong, she had told him to simply drive. So he had.

          A sour, pained expression crosses over her face as she swallows thick. Years. For years she and Jonathan have been together, and for years before that were they best friends, made for each other, inseparable. All the grins across the room, all the giggles under blankets at sleepovers, all the tears wiped from their faces... it was all for nothing. Nothing. How could he do this to her? What on earth had possessed Jonathan, her Jonathan, to turn his back on what they had and ruin it with one stupid move?

          "I don't know," she murmurs aloud. She doesn't look up as Dustin grabs the milkshake (that Steve has made for her - strawberry, her favorite) and takes a long slurp.

          "Don't know what?" he asks.

          Colleen shrugs her shoulders, feeling like lead and hollow on the inside all at once. She says, "What I'm supposed to do now."

          The words have barely left her lips before the service bell at the front counter rings, calling the absent workers to their duty. "We're closed for a minute!" calls Steve through the door. He turns back to Colleen and kneels beside her. Work can wait, especially for one of his best friends. The bell rings again and this time doesn't stop, dinging and crying out frantically. Steve whips around and yells, "I said we're CLOSED, you little shits!"

          "Steve!" calls a familiar voice. It raises goosebumps along Colleen's arms and her head raises as her eyes begin to melt to their unnatural pale hue. Dustin leans across the table and grabs her arm, shaking her out of her panic. "It's Jonathan! I need to talk to you!"

          Steve huffs and stands, straightening himself out. He looks to Colleen, then raises a finger to his lips. He'll protect her. He swallows, then opens the door and emerges behind the front counter to find a disheveled-looking Jonathan rapping his knuckles impatiently. "Chill out, dude, you don't gotta-"

          "Have you seen Collie?" Jonathan asks, cutting him off.

          "Collie?" Steve pulls a face, playing dumb. He perfected this look, complete with the quirked brow and curled lip, long ago. "Uh, no? Haven't seen her since the movie last weekend." If Steve is correct, he can see Jonathan's eyes fading a tint of pink as he drops his head and furls his hands into fists. "Why?" He feigns worry. "She hasn't gone missing again, has she?"

          "I don't know," Jonathan says in a strained voice. "I, uh... I fucked up, man."

          Damn straight you did, Steve thinks. But he keeps his thoughts to himself. "Have you checked her house? I bet Eleven'll tell you."

          It's a long moment before Jonathan pulls himself up and nods his head. He turns away, trying to hide his tears. "Yeah, I will. Thanks, man." He gives Steve a nod, then hurries back through the small ice cream shop and around the corner.

          Steve watches him go, then scoffs and returns to the back room. Colleen, Dustin, and Robin all look up when he enters. "He's gone," he announces.

          Despite the dull ache in her chest, Colleen stands and wraps her arms around Steve's neck to pull him into a tight embrace. He hesitates, blinking for a moment, before closing his eyes and returning the hug. Then, she's ripped away as Robin grabs her and spins her around to face her.

            "Alright, babe, listen up," says Robin, gripping Colleen by the shoulders, "number one: fuck that guy. Screw him. You don't need that asshole anymore." She nods her head, ignoring Colleen's wide eyes. "Number two: you asked what you're going to do now. Well, this is what." Taking her by the wrist, she begins to drag her out of the back room and out to the front. "Uh-uh," she says when the boys try to follow. "This is girl stuff. Sling some ice cream while I'm gone and try not to burn the place down."

          Colleen nearly trips over her own feet as Robin drags her through the mall, dodging groups of gossiping teens and children running rampant while their parents marvel at the brand-name items on the store shelves. "Wh-where are we going?" she manages to ask.

          "To the place every girl goes when she goes through a crippling breakup." Robin quickens her pace as they near a neon-lit shop, its display windows filled with bottles and boxes. "The hair salon."

          Colleen tries her best to compose herself as Robin rings the service bell. "But I like my hair the way it is."

          "Sure you do, it's just like it was when you were with that jackass excuse of a boyfriend." Robin gives the bell one final ring before an irritated-looking woman emerges from the back. "But that's in the past, it's a new era. A new you, without him. And the first step to making a new you -" she quirks her brows -"is your hair."

          In the blink of an eye, Colleen is swept into a salon chair, a cape draped across her, and her hair pulled from its ponytail down her back. She stares at herself in the mirror and for once in a very, very long time, she sees only herself.

          "Here." Robin returns from examining the shelf of hair dyes and hands Colleen a box that makes the latter's eyes widen. "This would look great on you."

          Colleen stares at the hair dye in her hands, her knuckles pale around the cardboard container. So much has already happened in this single day; she isn't sure if she can handle any more. But Robin's words begin to ring in her mind like Jonathan banging on the service bell at Scoops Ahoy. She's right. There's no way she can keep going on like this if she's exactly the same as she was when she was with him. It is a new era, a new her. She wants this. She needs this.

          "Yeah," she says and hands the box to the hairdresser. "It will."