Chapter Ninety-Three: Scoops Ahoy

(Suzie Do You Copy? Pt. 4)

***

The mall was already crowded when Rowan and Aunt Aco arrived, thirty minutes after Rowan's shift had ended.

The parking lot was choked with cars and the occasional bus. Teens and families walked through the sea of vehicles toward the large building with its neon sign like a homing beacon, beckoning them into it with air conditioning and the distraction of mall shopping under a mixture of fluorescence and sunlight from the glass ceiling.

In short, the last place Rowan would want to be. But she had friends, friends who were usually at the mall for differing reasons plus a little brother and his group of gremlins that had either Aunt Aco or Eddie drive them here, so she was always here one way or another.

Aunt Aco drove as close to the entrance as possible, weaving between the people in the parking lot who shouted at her aunt, shouts Aunt Aco promptly ignored before she stopped, a metre away from the entrance to Starcourt. Where Rowan saw Chrissy standing there, her strawberry blonde hair tied up in a ponytail, dressed in a short-sleeved striped shirt and denim shorts and Converse sneakers. She beamed when she caught sight of Aunt Aco's car, waving.

"Have fun, kid. I'll pick you up in an hour. Send my love to Robin and Valerie and rich boy," Aunt Aco told Rowan as she climbed out.

"I will," Rowan promised.

"Remember—don't get pulled into the capitalist lie of this place!"

"I won't!"

"Bye, kid," her aunt farewelled as she peeled out of the parking lot, Rowan shouting, "Bye!" before she turned to Chrissy. Next to her best friend, they looked even more of an odd pair with Rowan's "summer outfit" consisting of an old Led Zeppelin shirt, faded acid wash shorts with rips and tears in them, and her beloved Docs.

"Rowan!" Chrissy exclaimed, smiling as Rowan stood in front of her friend. "How are you?"

"Good. I had a good morning at Pennhurst," Rowan answered, returning the smile.

Chrissy offered her arm. "Ready to go shopping?"

"Is it too late to back out" Rowan asked sarcastically. Chrissy let out a peal of laughter, before she gave a wicked smile.

"Yes."

"Dammit," Rowan muttered, but she was still grinning as she looped her arm through Chrissy's, and the two girls walked into Starcourt Mall.

Once she was inside, Rowan registered the blissful cool of the air conditioning first. But once her body processed the wonderful frigidness of the mall, Rowan soon registered one of the many, many detestable things about Starcourt—the crowd.

They were everywhere, the mall full with mall rats, window shoppers and anyone who wanted to escape the brutal heat. People massed about on the two levels of the mall, filling up every inch of space available. And while Rowan was okay with crowds usually, the crush of so many people in one space—even a space as big as Starcourt—was a bit overwhelming. Rowan didn't know how Robin, arguably the one who dealt with crowds the worst out of all her friends, could stand being around this for long periods of time, but she gave her best friend kudos for being able to.

If it wasn't the crowds lured in by Starcourt to buy and buy and buy, then the neon artifice of Starcourt Mall, the blatant show of all the bright lights and stores selling food, clothes, whatever at higher prices that couldn't be found anywhere else in Hawkins or was better, was the thing that Rowan hated the most about Starcourt Mall, chafing against her non-conformist attitude.

And yet, she was still here. For Chrissy, for her brother and his friends who loved this place, for the three that worked in the ice cream shop. For the air conditioning.

Said friend tugged at her arm, smile nearly as blinding as the lights. "Come on, Rowan! Let's go—I heard they got in some new styles at the Gap! Maybe we could find something together in there!"

"I doubt that," Rowan muttered, but she followed her best friend as they jogged to the Gap, the flashy clothes and pop music singing tinnily from the speakers filling her ears. As they wandered about the aisles, Rowan looked at the bold patterns and bright colours, none really sticking out to her—and if they did, none that her small pay from her summer job could cover. Besides, she was comfier in her jeans and band shirts and leather, denim, grunge and battle jackets and the occasional plain or striped shirt she found in a thrift store in downtown.

That was, until Rowan's eyes landed on a shirt. 

Yanking it out, Rowan looked at it—at the short sleeves, the red, pink and black stripe pattern going across, the collar. It wasn't exactly her usual style, but it looked really nice and looked like she could wear it at her internship, then out and about.

Rowan grinned, checking the size—it was right—before she looked at the price. Her smile dropped at seeing it was fifty dollars. Shit.

"You found something?" Chrissy asked from behind Rowan, giving the slightly taller girl a heart attack as she whirled around.

"Jesus, Chris!" Rowan hissed. "A little heads up next time."

"Sorry," Chrissy apologised.

"And yeah, I did," Rowan added, holding the shirt up. "Can't get it though, it costs a fortune."

"I could get it for you," Chrissy offered and Rowan immediately shook her head.

"No, Chris, don't do that. I don't really need it anyway—" Rowan tried to protest, but Chrissy gave a firm shake of her head.

"You like that shirt, Ro, and it would look really cute on you. I'm happy to pay for it," Chrissy said, smiling.

Rowan returned it, still in a form of shock.

"Uh, thanks, Chrissy," Rowan said, handing the shirt to Chrissy, who added it to the skirt and two shirts and a jumpsuit she had. Together, the two friends headed to the counter, where Chrissy pulled out a shiny credit card and paid for it all, handing the bag with Rowan's shirt in it over to her.

"Thank you, Chris. You're honestly a literal angel," Rowan thanked as they walked out of the Gap, bags swinging from the crooks of her arms.

Chrissy blushed, smiling. "No problem! Anything for my best friend!"

Rowan returned the smile, before she looked around and asked, "Where next, Chris? I'm at your mercy."

The devilish smile that was at odds with Chrissy's usually angelic face was all the warning Rowan needed before Chrissy led them to another store, Rowan letting her as she tried and failed to fight a grin.

The shopping spree had begun.

***

Rowan noisily slurped her Orange Julius, one foot propped up on the seat while the other dangled. Across from her Chrissy drank her Orange Julius way less noisily than Rowan did, as on the table the remains of the food they ordered from Imperial Panda littered it and around them were the bags of all the things they'd gotten.

After shopping the Gap, they'd continued shopping, Chrissy getting some new pumps while Rowan found an interesting horror book and a science fiction book called Ender's Game that her brother might like to read. They'd also window-shopped, spraying each other with expensive perfume and trying on shoes and going into the photo booth and capturing ridiculous snapshots that they'd both been lucky to get a copy each. When Rowan's stomach announced its demand for food, they migrated to the food court, where they had been for the past few minutes.

As she drank her Orange Julius, Rowan's eyes glanced over to the clock, watching the yellow and blue hands, before Chrissy put her drink down and asked, "What do you wanna do next, Rowan? I heard a new movie came out—St. Elmo's Fire. It sounds good."

"I would love to, Chrissy, but I can't. My shift at Kingston's gonna start in an hour," Rowan said, hooking her thumb behind her to point at the clock.

"Oh. Sorry, I forgot."

"It's fine," Rowan assured as she set her drink down, swirling the straw around before she said, "You hungry for dessert?"

Chrissy's eyes shuttered, before they lit up and she smiled, getting what Rowan was saying.

"Yes."

Grinning, the two girls picked up their bags, tossed their rubbish into the bin, and made the short trek to the nautical-themed ice cream shop—Scoops Ahoy.

When they entered the blue-and-white shop, Rowan immediately heard a loud, "Ahoy ladies!"

Rowan's eyes widened and she held back a snort at seeing Steve, hat discarded and wearing the ridiculous sailor's uniform he had to wear for the job, talking to a group of girls, obviously trying to flirt in the process. And, like the other times before, he was failing. Miserably.

"Didn't see you there!" Steve continued as beside her, Chrissy gave her a look that said, Is he seriously doing this?

Yes, Rowan conveyed back with a grin and a roll of her eyes as Steve went on, "Would you like to set sail on this ocean of flavour with me? I'll be your captain... I'm Steve Harrington."

"Oh God," one of the girls muttered as her friends giggled, the group obviously not affected by Steve's dismal attempt at flirting. But, she could give him points for trying as he rattled off ice cream flavours before giving up and just serving the girls. As he did, Rowan noticed Valerie beside him, curly hair tied back and rolling her eyes. Robin was nowhere to be seen, but Rowan assumed she was marking up another tally on her "YOU RULE/YOU SUCK" board.

When the girls left with their ice creams and Steve ducked down, Rowan strolled up and said, "Well, that was the most pathetic attempt at flirting I've ever seen, Harrington."

"Jesus!" Steve yelled as he shot up, eyes wide before narrowing into a glare at seeing Rowan, a smirk on her face. "Oh yeah, very funny Graveswood."

"It is. It's the most hilarious thing I've ever seen—Steve Harrington, teen heartthrob, failing at flirting with girls at his summer job," Rowan snarked, even as again, she felt bad for Steve and his loss of confidence in flirting with girls.

"It's the stupid hat and this stupid uniform. The hat was blowing my best feature," Steve grumbled, glaring at wherever he discarded the hat.

"Yeah, health safety really puts a blow in scoring chicks," Rowan said dryly, looking at said best feature. In the past month, Steve's hair had seemed to grow longer and bigger, with blonde highlights that were easy to miss in the harsh white light of the store. But with how it looked messy from wearing the hat, Rowan wondered if the hat had really blown his best feature.

"You're just as bad as Robin," Steve said, giving Rowan a pointed look.

"Why do you think we're best friends?" Rowan returned.

Steve glared at her before he sighed and asked, "What can I get for you, Graveswood?"

"The usual—chocolate chip in a cone with fudge and sprinkles," Rowan ordered, pointing to it with a smile.

"Coming right up," Steve said, bending down to scoop it up.

"Hey, don't feel bad, okay? One day your painfully awkward flirting attempts will work and you'll finish your shift with a date," Rowan assured, giving her best assuring smile as Steve straightened.

"Yeah, that fills me with so much hope," Steve said sarcastically, but Rowan could see something like a smile fighting to be shown on his face as he put the ice cream in the cone and added the fudge and sprinkles.

"Yeah, but who knows? Maybe the next girl who walks through here will fall head over heels for your charm," Rowan bolstered.

"That was almost the exact same thing Val said," Steve revealed, pointing to Valerie who was engaged in conversation with Chrissy while Robin leaned out the window, obviously part of the conversation as well. 

"Then we must be on the same wavelength," Rowan said, hand reaching for the ice cream. Steve handed it over, fingers brushing over her hand. The contact felt like any other regular contact, and yet her heart nearly skipped a beat at that. Weird. "But seriously, that girl might come in one day."

"You think so?" Steve asked, sounding a bit hopeful.

"Yeah, I do, so, don't lose faith, Steve. The girl of your dreams will come in one day," Rowan assured, licking the ice cream.

"Maybe she's already here," Steve said.

Rowan spluttered, nearly choking on her ice cream.

"Shit, sorry, my bad," Steve apologised, reaching for Rowan as she coughed and the three other girls looked over in alarm. "You okay, Graveswood?"

"Fine," Rowan wheezed out, hand on her chest as she spluttered out a final cough. "Just caught me off-guard."

"Yeah, that was my bad. I shouldn't have said that," Steve replied, remorse clear in his face.

"It's fine," Rowan said, before she grinned. "I'm the girl of your dreams, Harrington?"

"More like my nightmares," Steve returned as a grin broke out on his face.

"Maybe I'm both."

"Maybe."

The two grinned at each other, before Rowan reached for the money her aunt had given her earlier. "I should pay—"

"No, don't. It's on the house," Steve said before she could pull out the crumpled bills. "It's my fault you almost choked on it."

"Oh yeah. Murdered by ice cream and Steve Harrington's poor attempts at flirting," Rowan deadpanned, but she had a soft smile on her face—she knew it was an excuse; he always gave her free ice cream and she accepted it. "Thanks, though, Harrington."

"It's fine."

They shared another smile before Steve looked over to Chrissy and questioned, "Hey, Chrissy. Are you getting anything?"

"Of course I am," Chrissy answered, looking over to Valerie as Rowan's friends shared a grin before the strawberry blonde walked up and said, "I'd like two scoops strawberry and mint, please."

"Coming right up," he said, scooping up the ice cream as Rowan headed over to Valerie and Robin, who was indeed leaning out through the open back window.

"Hey Val. Hey Robs," Rowan greeted, Valerie returning the greeting with a wave and smile and Robin returning it with a salute. "How's working with Harrington going?"

"Well, dingus keeps flirting with every girl who enters and lying about college," Robin revealed with a roll of her eyes.

"The only positive to that is that it's very entertaining to see every time he blows it," Valerie added on, not looking at Robin who was also not looking at Valerie—the two in their awkward stage and oblivious to the other's crush. Rowan watched it with a knowing smile.

"Uh-huh," she said, licking her ice cream.

"Which, after high school, seems like karma for the prick he was," Robin mused as her eyes drifted to the board behind it.

"Yeah, very much so. I'm honestly considering that his charm was linked to how much of an asshole he was," Rowan agreed, leaning on the cash register, despite her feeling bad for Steve and how terribly downhill his flirting skills had gotten.

"I can hear you," Steve said from where he was serving Chrissy, giving them all a glare.

"We know," Rowan called back with a grin, Robin and Valerie matching it. Steve looked away, muttering something under his breath.

"Hey, don't feel too bad, okay? If charm's the collateral for not being an asshole, consider that a good thing," Rowan assured. "But, if things really are dismal, you can always try being King Steve again to get it back."

Steve's face shadowed. "Yeah, no thanks."

Rowan's face fell. "Fuck, sorry, Harrington. I shouldn't have suggested that—I'm really sorry."

"It's fine," Steve muttered back, but he wasn't looking back at her.

Rowan bit her lip, before she said softly, "For what it's worth... you're far better now than when you were that asshole. I mean, I don't want to punch you in the face every time I see you now, so that's a positive? But yeah, you're a better person now, and that's good. You're good."

Steve looked over to her, something twitching across his face. "Thanks, Graveswood."

Rowan smiled. "Don't mention it."

Steve's mouth twitched up into a smile before he turned away, looking to Chrissy and handing over her ice cream to her. "Here you go."

Chrissy accepted it with a smile, handing over the cash. Rowan watched, before she realised that she should be heading to her job—and she had a stop to make before she got there.

"Hey, it's been really good talking to you all, but I need to go. Hope Harrington doesn't annoy you both too much. My aunt sends her love to you all," Rowan said, Robin and Valerie nodding in understanding and saying goodbye as Rowan walked up to Chrissy, who gave her a look of understanding, too.

"Where you're going, Graveswood?" Steve asked, looking genuinely confused.

"My job—it literally starts in a few minutes," Rowan explained and understanding cleared up the confusion.

"Oh, okay. Have fun," Steve said.

"I will," Rowan promised. "I'll be back tomorrow. Oh, and Harington?"

"Yeah?" Steve asked.

"The uniform's ridiculous, as always, but you look really cute in it. And you're wrong—the hat helped your best feature," Rowan said, winking as she and Chrissy headed out of Scoops Ahoy with their ice creams, leaving behind a red-faced Steve and a stunned Robin and Valerie, making their way to the front doors, where Rowan's aunt was waiting.

And Rowan could finally apologise to Eddie.

***

AHHH I loved writing this chapter so much!! This was just pure best friend vibes with Rowan and Chrissy and then Stowan fluff (their banter and oblivious flirting 🥰) But as much as I loved Stowan, I loved writing Chriwan—I missed writing Rowan and Chrissy's singular friendship. They deserved to have a good day shopping together, even if it's in Starcourt

(Also, with the Orange Julius, I have no clue what it is, so I just called it a drink. I never heard of it before Stranger Things—is it a smoothie? A milkshake? A fruit juice? Please let a clueless Australian know)

Also, basing Rowan's shirt off of the shirt Emily Rudd's character wore in Fear Street. Not exactly the same, but it's the inspo for it

Next chapter will be soon! And then, after that, we'll be getting into the Scoops Troop plot (and more Stowan pining)

Please read, comment and vote!

GhostWriterGirl out!