chapter twenty
perfect day

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THERE'S ALWAYS A CALM BEFORE THE storm — where everything feels completely fine, the once imminent danger disappears, just for a little while. In Ruby's case, there was one perfect day. One perfect day that preceded the worst week of her life. Nothing was spectacular in itself, but everything was so normal, so simple, that it felt perfect...

... But that's the problem with the calm. The storm is there, lurking in the shadows, calculating the best moment to strike.

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29th june, 1985

THE SUN'S UP ACROSS HAWKINS, IT'S a little after eight, and Ruby's getting herself out of bed. She knows the jazzercise timetable by heart, and decides that she's going to attend the ten o'clock one. That gives her enough time to see Steve, go home to shower, then head to the pool for one, where the sun will be at its highest, making perfect tanning conditions. Ruby picks out her best exercise clothes, choosing the dark-purple leggings that make her butt look good. She's always excited to see her boyfriend, but today, the sunshine and the excitement is mingling together, making everything feel perfect. On days like this, she loves her life.

Ruby heads out to the kitchen to get breakfast, dressed in her workout clothes. Eleven's eating waffles, and raises an eyebrow at Ruby's outfit.

"Good morning," says Ruby, smiling.

Eleven looks confused. "Where are you going?"

"To the mall!" she says. "I'm going to jazzercise."

"Didn't you have a Barbie with that outfit?" Her dad walks out of the bathroom, looking at Ruby's outfit. He's eating a piece of toast as he walks around, the crust hanging from his mouth. He's so gross.

Ruby shrugs, and starts pouring herself some cereal. "Probably."

Eleven chimes in, "Can I go to the mall?"

"Absolutely not," says Hopper.

Ruby frowns. "Why not?"

"Because there's a lot of people there, and you're still wanted by the government," says Hopper, sitting down at the table with him. He doesn't pour Ruby a coffee, which annoys her. She gets back up to get a cup. "I'm sorry, kid, but there's no chance."

"That's so boring," says Ruby. "If there's a problem, I can just make them not see her."

Hopper raises an eyebrow. "You can do that?"

Ruby remembers last night. She freezes for a second, and exchanges a glance with Eleven, who's realised how Ruby got away with Steve in her room.

"Uh, yeah," says Ruby. He doesn't have to know that she did it to him last night. She'll just, like, divert the conversation to demogorgon stuff. He won't question sneaking in boyfriends if she talks about this power as an Upside Down thing. "Last year, when I found you in the tunnel, I made the government people not see me and Steve, so we could escape. I could do it with Eleven."

"That's a big risk," says Hopper, shaking his head.

Ruby sighs. "You're no fun."

"I don't really care," he tells her.

Ruby rolls her eyes, and exchanges a look with Eleven. Eleven looks disappointed. If Ruby could, she'd show Eleven around the mall herself — she'd love to go on a shopping trip with Eleven, but she knows that her dad has a point... So she decides to drop it for now. Maybe once time's passed and everything's calmed down, she can take Eleven there. It's not as if the mall's going anywhere, is it?

A little while passes, and Ruby starts the drive to mall. She flicks between radio stations the whole journey there, trying to find the songs. Material Girl comes to an end, and she goes through five to find another song. Sadly, it's Toni Basil's Mickey. It reminds Ruby of cheerleading — which isn't a bad memory in itself, she just hated not being in charge. She keeps on changing the stations, and almost drives up the curb. Which is, like, totally normal. Ruby is totally not a bad driver, and Steve's just being dramatic, refusing to be in a car with her. It's been, like, almost a whole year since the incident in Billy's car!

She pulls into the Starcourt Mall parking lot, the neon lights outlining the entire building. Malls are beasts of buildings, Ruby always thinks this whenever she sees them. She thinks about when she was in New York last week, how the concrete jungle felt so normal — how this mountain of bricks looks stupid sitting in the middle of nowhere, the closest thing being shitty Hawkins with one nice restaurant and no McDonalds. At least there's one in Starcourt, but everyday Ruby spends in Hawkins, she finds ten reasons why she wants to leave.

Her jazzercise class is fun, and she speaks to the instructor about a Pilates class he's teaching on Thursdays. "It really transforms your body," he tells her, and she shrugs her shoulders. Her favourite thing about modelling is the fact that she can indulge in wellness — she can do workouts like jazzercise and spend afternoons tanning because it all helps her work. Ruby thinks she was born to be a lady of leisure. She's got a knack for it. Once she's written for Vogue, like, once, she's more than happy to become a trophy wife. Steve's trophy wife. Mrs Ruby Harrington...

She makes her way through the mall towards the food court, standing on the escalators as she's lifted downstairs. In the couple months the mall has been here, Ruby's already gotten the plan of the place memorised. The best toilets are by the JCPenney, the Gap marks the half-way point between Contempo Casual and Afterthoughts. Take a left at Macy's, and you'll find Steve's favourite store, Chess King. Ruby knows this place like a book. But, luckily for her — considering the traffic of teenagers having nowhere else to hang out — the jazzercise studio is one escalator away from the food court, and her boyfriend's work.

Ruby walks into Scoops Ahoy, to find Robin standing at the counter. She steps up to it, and Robin smiles awkwardly. She's wearing this God awful sailor's outfit, bright blue and clean white, a little too oversized to fit nicely. Ruby hasn't seen Steve in his uniform yet, but figures it'll be exactly the same.

"Welcome to Scoops Ahoy, may I take your order?"

"Uh, yeah, I'll have the Harrington, please," says Ruby.

The break room door swings open the second her voice appears. Steve looks at her, and grins. He is, she learns, wearing the same uniform — Ruby guesses Scoops Ahoy, the company, scrimped out on uniforms by making it unisex. She'd rather die than spend her summer wearing that shit.

"You came!" he exclaims.

"Of course I did!" says Ruby.

He pulls her into a hug, picking her up. Ruby lets out a laugh, as he twirls her around in the air. Placing her back down on the ground, he gives her a kiss.

"Hey, sailor," she says with a smile.

"Mrs Harrington," he says back. "How was...?"

"Jazzercise."

"Jazz... ercise?" He looks apprehensive at the new word.

"It was fun! You should come sometime." Ruby steps back, to show off her outfit. "You will have to wear leggings, though, but I don't think that's a huge issue."

Robin starts to laugh, and Ruby frowns.

Steve gives Robin a dirty look, before turning to Ruby. "Not... huge?"

Ruby rolls her eyes. "I didn't mean that!" she says, lightly tapping his arm. "You're such a boy." She steps backwards, crossing her arms.

"Uh, yeah, I'm a guy with a hot girlfriend, what do you expect?" he says, raising his hands in defeat. He hates being called a boy, says it makes it feel like a child. Ruby shakes her head. "Do you, uh, want anything from here, then? We've got lots of ice cream... Some, um, cones, or a tub instead... And there's bananas and whipped cream..." Ruby blinks, the amount of options overwhelming her.

"Surprise me," she tells him.

"Got it," he says. "You sit down! I'll bring it over — Robin, you can cover me, right?"

"Oh, sure," says Robin, rolling her eyes. "I can't think of anything better."

"Great!" Steve gives her a thumbs-up.

Ruby smirks, and looks across at Robin, who's unsure whether or not he understood the sarcasm. He probably did, Ruby thinks, he just knows it'll wind Robin up. He always used to do that to Ruby, still does sometimes... Hang on. That doesn't mean he likes Robin, right?

Maybe he used to do it to Tommy, too. Ruby can't remember. She tries her best to think back to then, but she just can't figure it out. She sinks into a booth outside in the food court, and sighs. Anyone would like Steve Harrington, obviously Robin's got a crush on him, because why wouldn't she? Look at him! He's so sweet, making her a special sundae, Ruby would be shocked if people didn't have the biggest crushes on him. Like, everyone that likes tits in their school has a crush on Ruby, so why wouldn't Robin like Steve?

But if Steve likes Robin...

Ruby doesn't know why she's getting insecure. She's Ruby Brenner! She's the Snowflake Queen, the Spring Fling Queen! She's a model, she's a couple good photoshoots away from a Vogue editorial! She shouldn't be feeling insecure about this girl that her boyfriend's spending all of this time with... But when she's not even around often, and he's working all summer with a girl who isn't exactly ugly...

Ruby feels anxious.

Why would he stay with you, anyway? A voice in her head tells her, and immediately she recognises it from last November. The voice is low and booming, and makes her jump in her seat. It's been dormant for so long, but now it's back. You're a freak with powers. A test subject gone wrong. What did you expect? I bet Robin is less hard work than you, she wouldn't be getting into arguments talking about the future...

"So."

Steve places the sundae in front of her, and Ruby flinches. His brows furrow as she looks up at him, panicked.

"Rubes... are you OK?"

See. It would be so much easier for him to date Robin.

"Um." Ruby doesn't know whether or not to even mention it. It'll only worry him, because why is the voice back anyway? Nothing has gone wrong with the Upside Down in so long, does this mean things are going to get bad again? "I heard the voice."

Steve sits down next to her, moving in close so no one can hear. He places his hand on top of hers. "The one from last year?"

Ruby nods. She had explained to him afterwards what happened, feeling unsettled about what the voice told her, what it showed her. She only heard it that one time, but it scared her for weeks.

"What did it say?"

"Um..." She looks around, the amount of people sitting nearby making her uncomfortable. "I'll tell you later."

Steve's frowning still. "But if you're hearing that voice... does that mean those demodogs are back?"

"I don't know... But I guess it doesn't mean anything good," she says, her brows furrowing. She feels bad for making him worry about this. It'll be fine. Ruby's dealt with this her entire life, she used to see the monster at least once a week. She's used to this now, even if she hasn't seem a demogorgon since last November... "It's OK, Steve. I used to see them all the time, remember, before we killed it?" She holds his hand tightly, and forces a smile. "I shouldn't have said anything, it just freaked me out a little."

Steve nods. "OK..." He looks down at the sundae he's just brought over, and hands her one of the two spoons. "I hope you haven't lost your appetite, because this sundae is worth twenty dollars."

"Twenty dollars?"

"We're overpriced, and I used a lot of toppings," he says with a shrug. "I won't tell management if you don't."

Ruby grins, and makes a gesture with her hands, indicating her lips are sealed.

"OK. So. We've got cookies and cream because that's your favourite, chocolate because that's mine, and then some vanilla. I would've used strawberry, but it would've messed up the flavours I was going for. But then, I added some Oreos to, you know, go with the cookies and cream scoops... And some chocolate sprinkles... And, I know you love waffles, so I got some of our wafer-things because there kind of similar..."

Ruby's heart is melting faster than the ice cream.

"I'm so in love with you," she tells him.

"It's just ice cream," he says.

"But the thought! The consideration!" Ruby puts her hand on her heart. "You're the sweetest."

Steve smiles at her. "Well, eat it before it melts."

"I can try," she says, picking up a huge scoop with her spoon. "This sundae weighs the same as me, it's huge."

He shrugs his shoulders, digging in. "Yeah, that's why it's twenty bucks — or would be, if we paid for it."

"Wait!" Ruby puts her hand up. Steve, his mouth open, about to eat the ice cream, looks back at her. He raises an eyebrow, and she taps his spoon with hers. She smiles. "Cheers."

"You dork," he says, and eats his ice cream.

Steve's smiling, though, as he takes another scoop of ice cream on his spoon. He takes some of the ice cream he picked out for her, and she uses her spoon to prod him away; he rolls his eyes, fighting her back, before they both start laughing.

"I wish you worked here," he says. "I'd enjoy it so much more."

"Robin can't be that bad," she says, softly. She remembers what the voice was telling her earlier, and feels uncomfortable again.

"I mean, she's nice and all," says Steve, looking up at his girlfriend. "But she's not you."

Ruby looks up at him. She doesn't know why she's surprised to hear that — that shouldn't take Ruby by surprise, but it does. She remembers how she felt about Nancy last year, how none of that even mattered in the end because Steve was always in love with her. These things shouldn't be a competition, but Ruby couldn't help but compare herself to other girls. Sometimes, she forgets how much he loves her, and doesn't feel good enough for him.

"I don't think I'd look half as cute as you in the uniform," she says, awkwardly. She pushes the ice cream around with her spoon.

"I think you could make it work," he tells her. He shoves a spoonful of ice cream and Oreos into his mouth, before setting the spoon down and adjusting the sailor's hat, with the word AHOY stitched in blue onto the front. "I mean—" (He says this with a mouthful of ice cream) "—your hair won't get wrecked like mine is with this stupid hat."

"I like it," she says. "It humbles you."

Steve takes the hat off, and puts it on Ruby's head.

"Do you feel humbled?" he asks.

Ruby grimaces. "Very."

Steve smiles at her, and Ruby looks down, noticing the bracelet around his wrist. She feels butterflies in her stomach. It's the one she made just after everything last year, but there's some context to this:

When they first became friends, in like kindergarten or whatever, Ruby made them both friendship bracelets, using alphabet beads to spell out their names. But, when they fell out in junior year, both bracelets broke — call it destiny, or bad timing, or the fact that the elastic string was ten years old... But last November, she made two new ones to replace the broken ones. Ruby's was red, and Steve's was blue, with their names still spelt out. Steve thought it would be better to wear each other's, though, and as she glances at his wrist, she sees the ruby-red beaded bracelet.

"You even wear it to work?" says Ruby, nodding at the bracelet.

"Of course I do," he says. "It reminds me of you."

"Well, duh, it's got my name on it," she says. She raises her hand, to show her bracelet. "Snap... You know, I saw in Afterthoughts these necklaces that say Best Friends Forever. And they, like, have half a heart on each side, so when you join it together it spells it out. Isn't that cute? I should buy us one."

"You love to emasculate me," he says.

"Ooh. That's a big word for a Saturday," she says, and smirks.

"Hey! Dingus." Robin's voice calls out, as she walks out of the store towards where they're sitting. Steve visibly sighs, his shoulders slouching. "It's been fifteen minutes. I need to pee! Please get back in there."

"Can you hold it for ten minutes?" says Steve.

Robin gives him a look. "Uh, yeah, I did! For fifteen minutes! Now I really need to pee."

"C'mon," says Ruby, and she gets to her feet, picking up the sundae. "I'll eat this while you work. I've already got the hat on, I'm one of the team."

Ruby winks at Robin, who looks stunned Ruby's even interacting with her. But Ruby's accepted now, that that's just a part of being Ruby Brenner. Of being Snowflake Queen, of being Spring Fling Queen...

Steve takes the hat off her as they walk back to the store. He pulls up the counter to let Ruby sit behind it, too, and Robin follows them both. She puts a hand on the staff room door, the way to the bathroom, but pauses, turning to Steve.

"You guys better not... do anything whilst I'm gone."

Ruby raises an eyebrow. "Do... what?"

"Each other," says Steve, rolling his eyes.

"Oh." Ruby has a spoonful of whipped cream, oblivious to the bright red on Robin's cheeks. "We probably won't if he's got to work."

Robin looks flustered. "Oh—OK."

She leaves through the staffroom. As the door swings shut, Steve gives Ruby a look.

"Probably won't?" he questions.

"I was just messing," she says. There's no customers coming up to the counter, thankfully, just Lucas' little sister and her friends sitting at a table, so they don't have to worry about someone overhearing. "My favourite thing in the world is annoying people. I think it's a talent."

"Well, you're definitely skilled at it," he says, and she gasps. He starts to laugh, just as a customer comes up to order.

Ruby leaves half of the sundae for Steve, and it's a little after twelve when she decides to leave. She kisses him before she goes, and tells him, "I got a load of new records when I went to New York, if you wanna come over to listen? I got that Billy Joel one you like..." He lets her know he'll be over after work, and she emphasises that she'll be at her aunt's, not her dad's. Carrie gets back from London tomorrow afternoon, so they can have the house to themselves, rather than risk it again with Hopper. Ruby could sneak over to Steve's, but his dad terrifies her, so they've decided Hopper is the better risk. (This is because Hopper's daughter, Ruby, is a reckless bitch with no respect for authority. Steve... well, he's sometimes like that, but he's more likely to get seriously grounded.)

As Ruby leaves, Steve turns around to Robin. She breathes out a sigh of relief, thinking he hadn't seen, but he frowns. He knows Ruby's worrying about Robin — he doesn't get why. Have you seen Ruby? If he was a religious guy, he'd be thanking God every morning that a girl like Ruby would entertain being with him. Like, he's good-looking, don't get him wrong, and he's great with the ladies... But have you seen Ruby?

"She's not that scary, you know," he tells Robin. He thinks Robin is OK, but he'd be a lot happier if his girlfriend wasn't tense every time she saw his coworker. Ruby thinks Robin's tense because Robin likes him, or something, when Steve knows that Robin is just terrified of Ruby. So, if he tries to resolve Robin's problem, maybe it'll make things easier... "Once you get to know her..."

Robin crosses her arms, and lets out a huff. "I bet..."

"See." He raises his hand to show her the friendship bracelet his girlfriend made. "She made me this, and she's got another with my name on. Would someone scary do that? I think not."

"I'm not scared of her!" Robin gives him a dirty look, plucking up the cleaning supplies to wipe a table down. "See, you don't remember this because you were cool in high school — but Ruby Brenner is not a real person. She's—She's a concept. She's the amalgamation of every prom queen, every cheerleader, every pretty girl ever. Her mere existence makes everyone's life a living hell. So I'm not scared of her, I'm just not used to being around someone like her, and it's freaking me out!"

Steve pauses. "... OK?"

Robin looks flustered, her face all red and blotchy. Steve doesn't really understand what is going on, why Robin has such a weird... interest... in his girlfriend. Is this how the weird kids at school talk? He wouldn't know, see...

"Am I a concept?"

Robin rolls her eyes. "Did Bowie call you pretty?"

Steve was actually in the bathroom when that happened to Ruby.

"... Yeah, alright," he says, defeated.

He remembers what it was like, the year he wasn't friends with Ruby. He wasn't a loser, but he wasn't popular either — he could just stand on the sidelines and see the whole high school hierarchy. And Ruby would float above it all. People sat up straighter when she walked past, smiled more to greet her. He gets it — he only calls her Mrs Harrington because he wants that one day — but still. It's crazy, the way the world revolves around her... He just feels weird, seeing Robin, a pretty rational person, getting so worked up.

"Maybe if she visits loads, you'll get over it."

Robin scoffs. "You just want her around all the time."

"Well, yeah, that too... Although, she's going away to work next week, so she's barely around anyway."

There's silence for a moment, Robin shifting on her feet, unsure if she should even ask. She doesn't say anything — which for her is a tricky feat — and, thankfully, he just continues, as if wanting someone, anyone, to talk about this to.

"Like I get why she doesn't want to stay in Hawkins, but should I just uproot my whole life? We keep on having this one argument, about what's going to happen when she moves away for college in the fall..."

Robin crosses her arms. "You know, most high school couples break up because of long distance."

"But they're not me and Ruby!"

"They probably said the same thing," says Robin with a shrug.

The conversation pauses for a minute, as he heads into the break-room to grab a new ice cream scoop. Just as he closes the cupboard, he hears a familiar boy's voice coming from the store. He pushes open the break-room door, and grins, already feeling better.

"Henderson!"

hm... robin and ruby... interesting...

i hope you enjoyed!! i really enjoyed writing this, it's literally just fluff but it's fun!! i feel like we haven't seen much of steve and ruby when things are normal, and they was they interact, so i wanted to start this season with some nice relationship scenes, before the actual plot makes everything go to shit. <3 let me know what you thought!!