Chapter Six: A Trip To The Movies

(Suzie, Do You Copy?)

***

Alistair bit back a sigh as he tipped his head back, arms crossed and irritation thrumming through him. He could feel it—and the irritation of his friends—as thickly as he could feel the summer air, the heat still lingering even in the supposedly cooler night, bringing a thin sheen of perspiration on Alistair's skin and sticking his curls to his forehead and neck.

Normally, Alistair didn't mind summer or the heat it brought—that was more his sister, who hated the season with a burning passion and was kinda ironic given she was born in summer—but it seemed like the summer of '85 was desperately trying to change Alistair's mind with the heat. And a month in, it was working so far.

But Alistair was determined to prove it wrong, heat or not. He was going to enjoy this summer, a summer he and his friends deserved after all the traumatising, inter-dimensional shit that had happened. One where they didn't have to worry about nine-foot tall monsters whose faces opened up or demonic shadows possessing people.

Not like anything from the Upside Down could cope, Alistair mused with a grin. If he and Hugin were miserable enough in this heat, then this would be torturous to the cold-loving creatures of the Upside Down. It seemed ludicrous that anything from it would try anything in the height of summer.

It was enough to content Alistair that he didn't have to worry about evil dimensions and man-eating monsters and crush-possessing monsters this summer.

Still, he would love it if the heat was toned down just a bit for the night.

Alistair held back another sigh, mentally bracing himself for another hot June night. He looked mournfully behind him, already missing the glorious, glorious air conditioning and equally glorious ice cream that had done wonders for battling the heat, until night came and the rest of the Party arrived sans one.

"God, why couldn't we have waited for Mike inside?" Alistair grumbled, kicking at the concrete with his scuffed Converse. Beside him, Cami chuckled.

"You and me both," she murmured, hand reaching up to pat her curls. "This heat is really hating on my hair."

Alistair laughed, as beside him Lucas groused, "Jesus, what is taking Mike so long?"

"He's probably on his way," Cami tried to reason.

"Yeah, but this is literally the third time he's run late," Max returned from beside her boyfriend, as Lucas' face twisted with irritation as he said, "We've probably missed the previews."

"At least it's only just previews and not the movie," Cami pointed out, ever optimistic.

"We'll probably miss that too," Lucas grouched.

"And would that be so bad?" Cami innocently asked, batting her eyes to hide her grimace.

Alistair frowned, and he bumped his shoulder with Cami's. "Hey, you don't have to watch it."

"I know, but I want to," Cami said. "I just don't understand how you guys can watch this horror stuff after... everything."

On Alistair's other side, Will shrugged. "Nothing's been scarier than all of that."

"And I bet these zombies aren't half as scary as the ones Al makes," Max pitched in. She looked at him and asked, "Right?"

"Yeah, right," Alistair hurriedly said, smiling as he shoved back the memory of his test, of what he'd done when—

Don't think about it don't think about it don't think about it.

"Speaking of zombies... you better not pull a Ghostbusters on us," Lucas said, eyes narrowed in suspicion at Alistair as Will nodded in agreement. Both remembered Alistair's criticism of the ghosts after they'd first watched the movie.

"Guys, I already told you I wouldn't. Promise," Alistair assured.

"Said by the one raised by a con artist," Max quipped in her usual dry sarcasm.

Alistair fired a glare at Max that she returned with a smirk, before Alistair sighed.

"I promise, I'll keep my criticism of the Day Of The Dead's zombies inside. Scout's honour," Alistair said, voice heavy with sarcasm, fingers crossed on both hands and held out front to prove to his disbelieving friends he wasn't lying.

Lucas still looked at him suspiciously, but didn't argue. Max, however, smirked while Cami kept quiet. Both of them had heard of Alistair's infamous tirade about how the ghosts in Ghostbusters didn't actually look like that, and of how Lucas, Mike and Will had made him swear not to say anything about the zombies in Day Of The Dead, to which Alistair promised multiple times he wouldn't. 

However, he would roll his eyes if needed.

With that, the conversation faded as the group of five waited for Mike to arrive so they could see the movie. Around them, people flocked in and out of Starcourt Mall as cars came and went, spending the majority of the summer in here. Alistair didn't mind the mall, but he knew Rowan and Eddie hated it despite occasionally visiting it. What he didn't like was how downtown was becoming a ghost town with each passing day—and considering Alistair saw ghosts on a daily basis, that was saying something.

But that didn't stop him, Will, Cami, Max, Lucas and Mike from spending nearly of their summer in here when not at the arcade, at Steve's house—or more specifically, his pool in his backyard—or at each other's houses. Especially when they could have a certain store's employees help sneak them into movies, like now.

Eventually, Mike appeared, biking literally right towards them. The five of them turned as Mike parked his bike and Lucas announced, "You're late."

"Sorry!" Mike apologised, huffing out a breath.

"Again!"

"This is literally the third time, Mike," Alistair pointed out, arms crossed and frowning.

"Yeah, I know, Al. I'm sorry," Mike apologised again.

Alistair rolled his eyes while beside him, Will pointed out to their tardy friend, "We're gonna miss the opening."

"Would that be such a bad thing?" Cami muttered under her breath. Alistair smothered a laugh.

"Yeah, if you guys keep whining about it," Mike responded as he made his way to the mall's entrance. "Let's go!"

"As if you weren't literally the one running late," Alistair muttered and beside him Will chuckled before covering it with a cough. Alistair smiled, and Will returned it.

They held it for a second before Alistair turned away to hide the blush creeping into his cheeks, never more thankful for how they were finally heading into the mall.

"'If you guys keep whining about it.' Nyeh-nyeh-nyeh," Lucas mocked. 

"Just please stop talking, dude," Mike muttered as they marched toward the entrance and entered the mall. Alistair sighed in contentment, glad to be back in the air conditioning. Beside him, Cami looked similarly blissed

"Let me guess. You were busy..." Lucas said before making obnoxious kissing noises. Alistair grinned and he and Will chuckled at the same time while Cami rolled her eyes, but her own grin was fighting to be free.

"Oh, yeah, real mature, Lucas," Mike deadpanned.

"Oh, El, I wish we could make out forever and never hang out with any of our friends," Lucas said, not even bothering to hide he was imitating and therefore making fun of Mike.

"Lucas, stop," Max chided, rolling her eyes.

"Yeah, it's not that funny," Cami agreed, but her smile revealed the lie.

"Will and Al think its funny," Lucas defended, pointing to Alistair and Will.

"Because it is," Will responded with a grin, Alistair nodding in agreement.

"Yeah, it was hilarious," he concurred, also grinning.

"Yeah, it's so funny that I want to spend romantic time with my girlfriend," Mike muttered, raising his hands as if to emphasise.

"I'm spending romantic time with my girlfriend," Lucas reminded, slinging an arm around Max. The redhead rolled her eyes, but she was smiling.

"And we're spending platonic time together as exes-turned-friends," Cami jumped in, bumping her shoulder with Alistair's as she grinned. Alistair returned it before Cami's grin turned wicked as she looked at Will and murmured, "Well, not entirely..."

Alistair's eyes widened, and he hurriedly elbowed Cami in a clear message to drop it while Will looked at them, confused. Cami huffed in frustration, but did so right as they arrived at the escalators—which, as always, were choked full of people.

There was no time to waste on waiting for their steps to reach the bottom, so the six of them crowded onto the escalator and began shoving forward to the bottom. It earned them dirty looks, but none of them particularly cared.

"Sorry, excuse me, sorry," Alistair muttered as he pushed his way to the bottom alongside his friends, Cami also apologising, and actually sounding apologetic.

When Lucas elbowed a girl, she turned and yelled, "Hey!"

"Excuse us! Sorry! Sorry!" Lucas said as they were now steps away from the bottom, joining the other in apologising. 

When they arrived, they continued their frantic rush through the crowded mall, the bright lights and neon blurring together in Alistair's vision as he ignored the delicious smells coming from the different restaurants in the food court, continuing to push through the crowds as Cami apologised, "I'm so sorry! We're in a rush! I'm really sorry!"

"Excuse me, I'm sorry," Max muttered as she shoved past a woman who soon gave his friend the same type of look Alistair's Victorian ancestors did, as he doubled back to grab Will's hand to help, trying to ignore the sparks that ricocheted up his arm at the contact.

Will smiled gratefully and Alistair tried to return it and not look like he was short-circuiting at the fact he was holding Will's hand as they pushed through the last remnants of the crowd, Will mumbling, "Sorry."

"Yeah, we're sorry. Super sorry," Alistair threw back over his shoulder, the words too monotonous to truly be genuine as they cleared the last of the crowds, rushing to their first destination like a pack of Demodogs were on their heels, letting each other's hands go in the process. As they did, Mike shoved a girl who shouted, "Hey, watch it!"

"Yeah! Watch it, nerd!" the voice of Lucas' little sister, Erica Sinclair, yelled out from where she was sitting near the water fountain, surrounding by a horde of her friends eating ice cream, as their little group approached her. A girl who Alistair had the feeling would get along swimmingly with Rowan—they'd probably get a kick out of sassing and deadpanning each other and everyone else in the world.

Alistair rolled his eyes at the nerd comment as Lucas demanded, "Isn't it past your bedtime?"

"Isn't it time you died?" Erica sassed back.

"Psycho!" Lucas yelled.

"Butthead!" Erica retorted.

"Mall rat!"

"Fart face!"

In response, Lucas blew out a raspberry at his sister.

Cami and Alistair shared a look—they both knew they shared something like that once or five times in their lives with their respective siblings and Alistair had certainly witnessed exchanges like that between his cousins. It came with being siblings.

However, Max only rolled her eyes and muttered sarcastically, "Oh, now that was mature," as she grabbed Lucas' arm and dragged him to the store they'd been aiming for, the store that was the reason why they could sneak into the movies without worrying about overpriced tickets or age restrictions.

Scoops Ahoy.

Alistair strode into the blue-and-white, nautical-themed ice cream shop with his Party, marching right up to the counter. At the counter were Robin Buckley—his sister's friend—and Valerie Martinéz—his best friend's older sister—dressed in sailor's uniforms, hats perched on their heads, Robin manning register and looking a mixture between bored and annoyed, and Valerie reading Dune behind the counter, also looking similarly bored and annoyed. At seeing them, she lowered the book as she greeted, "Hey. Wanna use it again?"

"Hey. Yes," Cami answered for all of them as Mike now began dinging the bell—repeatedly and aggressively.

Robin and Valerie shared an eye-roll before Robin called loudly, "Hey, dingus, your children are here."

The window opened, revealing Steve Harrington in all his sailor's uniform glory, an exasperated  look already on his face.

"Again? Seriously?" he demanded.

In response, Mike dinged the bell one last time.

"Might as well let them use it. You've been doing it all summer," Valerie pointed out.

Steve glared at her, but gave a sharp nod and Valerie beckoned them to come over to the other side. Alistair, Cami and Will sent grateful smiles to Valerie and Robin before frog-marching to the backroom, where Steve was already opening the door to the delivery corridor—a corridor that handily linked all the places in Starcourt together. Including the cinema.

"Come on, come on," he muttered as one by one, they got into the corridor while keeping watch—as Valerie and Robin did the same out front while serving to customers—until they were all inside and on their way to the cinema.

"I swear, if anybody hears about this—" Steve warned, only to be cut off as all six of them yelled, "WE'RE DEAD!"

Alistair didn't hear a response back, so he assumed Steve had gone back into Scoops Ahoy, and refocused on making the relatively short trek to the cinema. As they did, Alistair noticed Cami's expression and he murmured, "Hey. Next time, you pick."

Cami sent him a grateful smile.

"Thanks, Al," she murmured as up in front, Lucas said, "This better be good."

"It will if Al keeps his promise and doesn't criticise the zombies like he did in Ghostbusters," Mike said, sending Alistair a look.

Alistair only smiled sardonically and held up his crossed fingers.

"You have to admit, his criticisms were funny," Will defended, and Alistair looked at Will in shock, before he smiled.

"Thanks, Will. I appreciate it," he said, grinning.

Will's eyes widened and he seemed to stop functioning, but Alistair looked forward as he added, "But I won't be criticising. Unless it's the gore. Because come on, if you're gonna have zombies, be a little more realistic, okay? We've all seen how it's actually supposed to look like. "

Mike rolled his eyes, but none of them argued. Not when most of them did.

And to be honest, maybe the joke was a bit too serious. But hey, it was a coping mechanism of the trauma. Could you blame him?

 Finally, they arrived at the door that lead into the cinema. Mike opened it, peeking out to check to see if it was good to go before saying, "All clear."

They all poured into the cinema, making a beeline for the theatre that would be showing the special premier of Day Of The Dead. Alistair could smell popcorn and soft drink, as overpriced as the tickets, and his stomach grumbled. Bright movie posters flashed past as they herded into the theatre, which was already dark and had the noise of the movie ads and premiers already playing. Alistair bit back his disappointment.

At least we didn't miss the movie, he consoled himself as they made their way to the free seats—Mike, Will and Alistair in one row, Lucas, Max and Cami in the row just beneath them. None of the people who actually paid for their tickets—and snacks—paid them any mind, eyes glued to the screen.

"See, Lucas? We made it," Mike whispered to Lucas.

"We missed the previews," Lucas argued back.

"Still made it. Fart face," Max pointed out, grinning as Lucas just stared at her, as if envisioning, to him, the horror of a Max and Erica friendship. Alistair grinned, trying to mask his own horror of how terrifying a three-way friendship between Max, Rowan and Erica would be.

Cami sighed. "Let's just get this over with."

Alistair leaned forward and whispered even quieter than normal, "It'll be okay. Like Max said, I've probably raised scarier zombies than the ones we're gonna see."

Cami let out a giggle, smiling as Alistair leaned back—but not for long as they began the task of handing out the snacks and drinks they smuggled in. And while his friends were no slouches, Alistair's smuggling was perhaps a bit better—after all, his aunt always told him movie-snack-smuggling was good practice if he needed to swipe something if he ever went on the run or had to hide something from the public and the authorities. Especially the authorities.

Still, criminal activities were far from Alistair's mind as he gave Reese's Pieces to Will, who in turn gave him Mars Bars and a packet of crisps. Alistair leaned forward to give Cami M&Ms, sherbet and a can of soft drink, his friend flashing him a gap-toothed smile of thanks before turning around, already opening the packet of M&Ms.

When the snacks had all been given out, the Party finally sat back, eager smiles on their faces for the movie—with the exception of Cami, who barely hid a grimace as Max turned with a wicked grin and mouthed, "Enjoy, Cami." The curly-haired girl responded by pelting a M&M at Max, who dodged it with a grin before turning back.

And just in time, as the last ad had ended and the movie began playing, opening up on a woman trapped in a room. Alistair was already transfixed, leaning forward as he watched the woman get up and head over to a calendar, staring at it in thought, before she reached out a hand to it and—

And the film reel stuttered before freezing, inciting an unanimous yell of, "Come on!", from the audience, Alistair included. He slumped back in his seat, groaning as he rolled his eyes heavenward—or into the Upside Down—and muttered, "Of course this would happen."

"Yeah, it would just be our luck," Will mused.

"Karma for us sneaking in over the summer?" Alistair hypothesised sarcastically.

"Probably," Will concurred just as dryly.

The two looked at each other, sharing a grin—a grin that had butterflies stir in Alistair's stomach, that had his mind running on a loop on how nice Will's smile was. But the grins faded as Alistair stared at Will, into his hazel eyes, looking at his face, at his mouth, wondering if he could close the gap and—

The minute he thought it, Alistair reeled it back as he looked away, praying the dark would hide the red in his cheeks. God, what in hell was he thinking, this wasn't the Hawk where it was relatively empty thanks to this cinema draining business away and Alistair could take that risk. Especially if he did, would Will pull away and say he wanted to be friends, or...

Or Will wouldn't be interested in him that way or boys in in general. 

And even still, would it ruin their friendship if it didn't work out? Was it a risk that Alistair had to take?

No, he was happy to be crushing from afar. Rationally, Alistair had to confess, but he was happy still being friends—if it meant it wouldn't have him lose Will.

Fortunately, Alistair was spared from the crushing spiral of a life where he and Will would remain strictly platonic when the movie restarted, whatever issue that had caused it to stop apparently fixed.

Alistair beamed and cheered with everyone else. As he did he saw Cami slump back in her seat, obviously hoping they'd leave to no avail.

Alistair grinned, before he turned to Will and said, "Guess karma worked in our favour, Byers."

However, that was the moment he saw Will tense, face paling as his hand crept up behind the back of his neck. A spike of concern and dread pierced Alistair at seeing it, his mind flashing with how Will said he'd feel the Mind Flayer months ago—like a chill at the back of his neck.

"Will?" he whispered. When Will didn't react, he said slightly louder, a hand on Will's shoulder, "Hey, Will, can you hear me? Are you okay? Will!"

At that, Will snapped out of it, jerking his head to Alistair, hazel eyes wide as he stared into Alistair's concerned brown eyes as the brunette asked, "Are you okay?"

Will swallowed, before he nodded. "Yeah."

"You sure?" Mike asked, face similarly concerned, having seen Will freeze up as well.

"Of course," Will said.

"Okay," Mike murmured, turning back to face the movie, happy with the answer.

Alistair, however, wasn't so convinced, and his hand moved from Will's shoulder to his hand, giving it a gentle squeeze as he whispered, "Are you positive you're okay?"

"Yeah, I am," Will assured, smiling, but Alistair still wasn't buying it.

"You sure? Because you tensed up for the first time in months. Not... not since the Mind Flayer," Alistair murmured, and he saw his best friend's eyes shadow, the trauma of the bastard that had tormented and possessed him, that had left them connected, ghosting through Will. Guilt squeezed at Alistair and he said softly, "I'm sorry, Will. I just... I just got worried. I'm sorry for bringing it up."

"No, no, it's okay," Will murmured. This time, his smile was genuine as he said, "But I am okay. Really, Al."

Alistair frowned, but he decided to accept it, as Will gave his hand a squeeze. A jolt shot through Alistair's hand and his stomach swooped while his heart threatened to explode inside his chest and his cheeks warmed. Somewhere outside the mall, Alistair could feel Hugin's annoyance over his feelings, could practically hear both the bird, his sister and best friend yelling at me to confess now, and damn the consequences.

But Alistair wasn't so brave as that, so he let go and turned back to the movie—just as the first jump scare happened.

Alistair jolted, a bolt of fear and adrenaline surging through him, but it was the good kind—not the bad kind, not the kind that came when you were chased by government agents and monsters, when you were burning a literal demon out of your best friend to save him.

After all, Hawkins Lab was gone. The Upside Down was gone, the gate closed thanks to El and the Demodogs, tunnels and Mind Flayer were dead. There was no reason to be the bad kind of afraid (outside of the ghosts, that was, but Alistair's relationship with some, especially the drowned ghost girl—Allie, he'd learned her name was—had vastly improved) 

There was no reason to think Will's reaction—that even the stalled movie—could mean anything bad.

Because this was summer. This was a summer he and the rest of his Party deserved to have, to be normal, regular kids after the nearly two years' worth of trauma, and even more years of childhood trauma on Alistair's end. 

The Upside Down was gone, and everyone was safe. Hawkins was safe. Their summer was safe and normal.

Oh, how wrong would Alistair be.

***

AHHH HERE IT IS!!!

We are now officially in s3 baby!!!! Who's ready???

I loved writing Alistair so much—he's just so fun to write. Same with Cami. Like... I love my snarky, coffee-addicted necromancer boy so much

AND ERICA HAS ARRIVED!!! I love her so, so much, and you'll see her and Rowan (and Valerie) interacting together in Thunderstruck and the Martinéz sisters' solo book!!! 

I freaking love the Scoops Ahoy delivery corridor scene SO much. It gives me life every single time I see it (and Mike's and Steve's faces XD)

And yes, Alisill nation, you're getting Alisill!! Come get y'all juice!!! There's so much of it in this chapter!!!

And yeah, Alistair, you will be proven wrong, sweetie...

Next chapter will be soon!

Please read, comment and vote!

GhostWriterGirl out!