"Of all the maps in the world, the only one I will follow is the map to your heart."

"Rory! Rory! Au— I know you can hear me!" I looked across to my neighbor, Eddie Munson, waving over as I was walking to my car.

"Eddie, I gotta get to work!" I yelled as he continued to wave over to his door.

"It'll only be a second!"

"I'm already going to be late as it is! I'll come over after work!" Which was a lie. I never went over to my neighbors' homes. Not even Max's, and I had been through a lot of shit with her.

"Oh, c'mon, what's a few minutes late?" He asked, running across the dirt road towards me.

"Oh, I don't know, missing out on rent and getting evicted." I said sarcastically as Eddie chuckled, shrugging.

"Ah, you can always live with me. Wouldn't mind the company." I tilted my head down at him, smiling.

"I'd rather not get arrested for living with a drug dealer. I gotta go. But, I'll see if I have time to drop you off at school tomorrow." I bid my farewell and got into my car. Eddie rolled his eyes, trudging back to his trailer as I drove off.

...

"Thought you wouldn't show." Robin commented as I walked into Family Video, pausing for a moment.

"I will walk right back out." I joked with a straight face, gesturing to my car parked in front of the door. Perks of being a manager.

"No, please, we need you here." Steve popped up from behind the counter, VHS tapes slipping out of his arms. "More like I need you here because Robin hasn't done shit in the last hour."

"I have been setting up the movies on the TVs—"

"No. You've been watching the movies you put in the TVs." Steve interrupted, dropping the VHS tapes as I hummed in amusement, walking towards them. "Plus, you've been using the microwave in the back to eat all our popcorn."

I raised my brows, slowly turning to Robin, who shot her hands up in defense. "I've been paying for it!" She claimed, looking at me with a faint, innocent smile.

"If you haven't, that'll definitely be coming out of your paycheck." Robin's eyes widened, rushing off into the back as Steve sighed quietly, shaking his head. "Anyways... Have you heard anything from Jonathan recently? I got a call from him like two weeks ago when he was high off his ass with his new friend uhm... Shit, what's his name? Archie? Arkham..."

"Argyle. Yeah you mentioned it." Steve snapped his fingers, starting to pick up the VHS tapes. "And no, I haven't. I thought he was supposed to call you yesterday?"

"No. Which would worry me, but he's also going through shut with Nancy and her not going out to California to see him." I picked up some of the VHS tapes from Steve's arms, setting them onto the cart, pushing it in front of me as Steve followed.

"Really? I would have thought she'd go with Mike." I shook my head, pressing my lips together as I put a few tapes onto the shelf, and continued walking.

"No. She says she needs to put time into the Hawkins paper." I let out a soft sigh, shrugging.

"Anyways... Speaking if relationships. There's this girl—"

"Steve. You were like, the hottest guy at Hawkins High School when we went there. Are you about to tell me you're scared to ask a girl out?" I smiled in amusement as Steve shook his head with a frown, scoffing.

"What? Scared? Rory, I've literally saved the world three times. We have saved the world three times! And you're asking if I'm scared to ask a girl out?" I gave Steve a knowing look as he shoved his hands into his pockets. There was a long moment of silence before he rolled his eyes. "Okay, yeah. I'm scared to ask the girl out."

"Pussy."

"I will knock your ass out." He threatened as I chuckled, shaking my head.

"I would love to see you try." A customer walked into the store, and I gestured for Steve to walk ti the counter as I continued to put the VHS tapes on the shelves.

Robin finally re-emerged from the back, walking over to me. "Busy hiding the popcorn or getting money for it?" I smiled, grabbing Jaws and walking over to one of the TV's, taking out the previous movie.

"Uh.. Both. And dousing myself in perfume. Bad idea." Robin laughed nervously as J turned to her.

"Yeah. I can smell the flowers from here." I took out the VHS of Jaws and inserted it into the player, starting the movie. "Perfume doesn't seem like your kind of thing."

"It's not. But I forgot to shower this morning so.." Robin trailed off as I walked back over to her, grabbing the cart if movies.

"It happens. But, I have perfume that won't choke you if you ever need it." I started walking away as Robin followed.

"Maybe I'll stick to deodorant. I always get perfume in my mouth." Robin grimaced as the taste was still in her tongue. The two of us walked behind the counter to Steve, who was cashing the customer out.

"Alright. I'll see you in three days." Steve gave the woman her change and the movie, smiling a farewell before turning back to Robin and I. "Of all horror movies, she picked Terror. That's like— the worst horror movie of the 70s. The worst horror movie ever." Steve complained as I chuckled, shaking my head.

"No, the worst horror movie ever is still The Wasp Woman. The movie wasn't even scary." I knelt down, stuffing most of the movies we weren't selling for the day under the counter. "Or Attack of the Giant Leeches."

"Okay, you made us watch it because you thought it was going to be a good movie." Robin chimed in and pointed to Steve with a frown as I laughed, shaking my head.

"I never said it was going to be good. Plus, we all saw the ratings. That movie should have never been released." He argued, leaning against the counter and crossed his arms.

"Whatever you say." I mumbled with a small smile, standing back up. The door bell clinked, the three of us looking over to see Dustin walk in. "Was wondering when you were going to show up."

"My mom wanted me to feed and play with the damn cat. Anyways, I have to return these." Dustin dropped several movies onto the table and I frowned, looking through them.

"Half of these are over a year late, Dustin." Dustin gave me an innocent smile, shrugging.

"I got distracted with the end of the world." I slowly turned to Steve.

"Robin and I were working at Scoops. Also, it was the end of Hawkins. The rest of the world was fine." Steve scoffed as Robin nodded.

"Alright... Hoe much will it cost me?" Dustin sighed quietly as I hummed, looking through the movies.

"You know what... You don't even have a job. And I don't really care." I handed the movies to Robin, who reeled back at the force, throwing me a glare.

"Alright, because now I want—"

"No. Because I know something bad is going to happen again like it's been happening for the last three years straight, and then you'll forget to give the movie back." Dustin gasped in offense.

"I won't! I just want to watch Piranha!"

"I can't even sell that to you. It's rated R." I argued as Dustin crossed his arms.

"You know what we've been through! I can handle it!" Dustin yelled as I gave him a knowing look.

"No. Our general manager would kill me if he found out I gave you a rated R movie. And I can't lose this job, dude." Dustin groaned in irritation, throwing his head back. "I can give you Christine. It's PG—13."

"Ugh, fine. But I'm not going to enjoy it!" Robin looked at Dustin for a moment before walking away, coming back a few minutes later with Christine.

"Sure you will. It's Stephen King. 2.37." Dustin rummaged through his pocket, pulling out a few coins and two dollars. "Wow, exact change. I love exact change."

"Yeah, because you failed math." I shot Steve a glare and he raised his hands up in defense, stepping away. I gave Dustin his movie.

"So, I would ask if you guys had any plans for Spring Break, but you know... You all graduated and left me to rot." Dustin frowned as I shrugged at him.

"Not our fault you were born four years after us." Robin commented. Dustin flipped her off as he walked out.