Chapter Sixty-Four: Isn't That What Life Is All About?

~~~Three Months Later~~~

After that night...I had nothing. My job and home got destroyed by the mind flayer, and I'd lost the only real blood relative that I had left. But it only kept progressing after that night ended.

"No!" I exclaimed, standing up so fast that I knocked my chair over.

I was currently sitting in the Byers' kitchen, where Joyce had just delivered the news to me that not only would she, Will, and Jonathan be moving out of Hawkins...but that they'd be taking El with them.

"Riley...sweetie, I know this is a complicated situation-"

"No, actually its not complicated at all, its very uncomplicated." I shot back. "El is my sister. She's the only family that I've got left, and you just want to take that away?! She is my responsibility, she belongs with me!" 

"You're right...she should be with you," She said, "But your Dad's instructions were very clear-"

"I don't give a flying flip about his instructions!" I shouted.  She sighed, and I blew out a breath, trying to calm myself down.  "Joyce, please...please, you can't...you can't take her too. You can't."

"Its not going to be forever," She said, "But your Dad...he thought you should live your own life for a while. He wanted you to spend some time thinking about yourself, instead of worrying about everyone else." I shook my head. "Not to mention...You and Steve are currently unemployed, and you are homeless. You just don't have the means to raise a teenager right now. Just get your affairs in order, get on your feet, and then we can talk about bringing her back. Not to mention, you will see her at every possible opportunity, you can call her every night."

I pinched the bridge of my nose as tears began welling up in my eyes. 

"Just-" my voice was cut off by the sound of a knock on the door. I bit my lip. "That'll be Steve and Robin. We have interviews at Family Video."

"Its open!" Joyce called. I heard the door open, but turned back to her.  "What were you gonna say, Riley?" I shook my head.

"Just...take care of her for me. And not just in the food in her belly, roof over her head type of way...make sure she's happy. Please." She nodded.

"I will. I promise." I glanced up as Robin and Steve came into the kitchen.

"You ready to go?" Steve asked, both of them giving me slightly guilty looks that told me that they'd been eavesdropping. I nodded, glancing at Joyce, who stood up from the table and pulled me in for a hug. 

"I'm so sorry that this has happened to you," She whispered, "But you're strong...one of the strongest people I know. You will get through this, and you two will be back together in no time." I nodded, pulling away from her and wiping the tears from my face.

"Thanks, Joyce. I'll be back afterwards to help you finish packing up." She nodded and I turned around to see that Robin was already walking towards the door, while Steve leaned against the doorframe with a look of concern on his face.

"You ok?" He asked. I just looked at him. "I mean, I know you're not ok, I just...I don't know, I felt like I had to ask."

"I am most definitely not ok," I said, walking after Robin, "But I think I will be...eventually. Maybe not any time soon, but...eventually."

"And you know I'll be here right?" He asked. "When you are ok and...and when you're not, I'll be right here with you. I'm not going anywhere-"

"Don't say that." I said, opening the door and turning to look at him. "I don't trust that assurance anymore. I just don't so please, don't say that." He nodded.

"Ok." He stepped up in front of me, pressing a brief kiss to my lips before walking out the door. I sighed again before walking out, shutting the door behind me and walking towards his car.

~~~"You put your mom down as a reference?" Robin asked, scanning over Steve's application as we got out of the car.

"Yeah. Why not? She's like, super well-respected." He said, walking over and opening the door for us.

"You're such a Dingus." She walked in first, and Steve followed me, pressing a comforting hand to my back. He'd been doing that a lot lately, always touching me in some way shape or form. I think it was his way of letting me know that he was there...but if I've learned anything, its that nothing is certain.

~~~

"Uh, just to be clear, we weren't fired, you know. The mall burned down and like, killed a bunch of people." Robin told Keith, who I had known for years, and had somehow gone from managing the Arcade next door, to managing Family Video instead.

"Thanks for sharing, didn't know." He said, in his usual monotone voice. He handed our applications back to us before snapping and pointing at Robin. "Three favorite movies, go." 

"Uh...The Apartment, Hidden Fortress, Children of Paradise." Robin answered.

"You, go." He pointed to me.

"Rosemary's Baby, Fahrenheit 451, and The Haunting." I answered.

"You, go." Steve was last.

"Favorite movies."

"Did I stutter?" Keith questioned.

"Uh...Animal House, for sure." Robin scoffed and Steve started looking around, causing Keith to snap at him.

"Eyes on me, Harrington." 

"Yeah, uh...Star Wars?"

"A New Hope?" Keith asked.

"A new-new what now?"

"Which Star Wars?!" 

"The one with the teddy bears, duh." He made a little Ewok sound and Robin and I shared a worried look. "No, uh, the one...that just came out. The movie that just came out. The one with the DeLorean and Alex P. Keaton-"

"Still Michael J. Fox." I muttered.

"And he's trying to bang his mom. The time..." He trailed off as Keith gave us a confused look. "Yeah, those are my top three. Classics." 

"You two start Monday," Keith said, pointing at Robin and I, "You start never."

"Will you just um...will you give us a minute?" Robin asked Steve.

"Why?" I looked at Steve, lightly grabbing his vest.

"Why don't you go look around, see if you can find a movie we can watch tonight, yeah?" He continued to look at Keith, who sneered at him. I kissed Steve on the cheek, forcing him to look at me. "Please?"

He sighed, aggressively yanking his application off of the counter before walking into the aisles. 

"Alright, you have to understand Keith," Robin started, "I know his taste is a bit pedestrian-"

"As most of your customers' will be as well," I threw in.

"and the dingus has other qualities."

"He's a douchebag of the highest order, Robin."

"Was, past tense. He's no longer a douchebag, hence, he's dating me." I pointed out.

"And yes, he was kind of a jerk to us in high school, I'll grant you that, but he remains...a total chick magnet, even with the girlfriend."

"Its true." I agreed.

"Yeah, ok, and this is relevant to me how?"

"Uh, Earth to Keith, the ladies will come in just to see him. They'll come in in droves. Droves, Keith. We sold so much ice cream, they had to get a second shipment in from Michigan. Gosh dang Michigan, Keith. And these ladies, much like my friend Riley here...are hot." I raised my eyebrows, looking at Robin. "They're so very hot. And not only are there too many of them for little Steve-"

"He's a taken man." I told him.  "He needs assistance, more specifically, he needs your assistance, Keith." He put a cheeseball in his mouth.

"Ok, so I know why you want him here," He pointed to me, "What's in it for you? You got a thing for him or something?"

We heard a crash and turned around to see that Steve had run into a Fast Times at Ridgemont High cardboard cutout, and was struggling to set it up again.

"No, uh...not exactly." She glanced at me. "We're um...we're just friends."

"Fast times!' Steve exclaimed. "Fast Times. Ever heard of it? Top three for me Keith." Robin laughed and I smiled, turning back to Keith.

"Please?" He sighed.

"Fine. You all three start Monday."

"Yes!" 

~~~

We walked back to the car, Steve getting in behind the wheel. I paused before climbing into the passenger seat, looking at Robin over the roof.

"Hey...can I ask you something?" I asked.

"You just did." She pointed out. I chuckled, rolling my eyes. "Sure."

"You don't have to answer if you don't want to, I just...the way you were talking about me and the girls that come into Scoops, I was just wondering...are you...you know..."

"Into girls?" She asked. I nodded. "Would that bother you if I said yes?"

"No, not at all, I was just curious." She nodded.

"Well uh...yeah, I am." She said, smiling at me. "Wow...I've never told anyone that before." I smiled.

"Well, I'm glad you told me." Steve opened his door, popping out of the car to look at us.

"Are we gonna stand here all day, or are we gonna go? Riley and I have a truck to load." Robin and I exchanged a look, bursting out laughing before climbing into the car and allowing Steve to peel out of the parking lot.

~~~

I walked into the Byers now-empty house, dodging Steve and Jonathan, who were carrying a Mattress out the front door. I walked back towards Will's room, stopping in the doorway as I saw El and Mike standing in front of each other.  I quickly ducked out of sight, pressing my back against the wall so they couldn't see me.

"Remember that day..." Eleven said, "At the cabin, you were talking to Max?"

"Um...I don't think I follow."

"You talked about your-your feelings, your heart."

"Oh, yeah, that." Mike said nervously. "Man, that was so long ago, um...That was real heat of the moment stuff, and we were arguing and, I don't really remember...what did I say exactly?"

"Mike..." I didn't hear anything for a second, so I peeked into the room to see her standing in front of him now, her hand on his face, "I love you too." She stood on her toes, kissing him. My eyes widened, and I went to step in when  caught myself.

Standing outside the door while Mike and Eleven kiss in the bedroom...it reminds me of him. Everything reminds me of him, and how I'm never going to see him again, and-

My thoughts were cut off by El leaving the room, pausing as she saw me. I forced a smile, wiping my tears away and looking down at the Teddy Beat she held in her arms.

"Are you ok?" She asked. I nodded, grabbing her arm and pulling her into a hug. She hugged me back, and I lightly ran my fingers through her ponytail.

"You've already grown up so fast...you're gonna be ancient the next time I see you." She chuckled, pulling away from me.

"We're still sisters, right?" I nodded, putting my hands on her face. 

"Of course. Nothing is going to change that, no amount of distance or time, or anything of the like. Sisters." She smiled, hugging me again. "Come on, let's go ask Joyce where that goes."

We walked back into Joyce's bedroom to find her sitting on the floor.

"Donation box?" El asked, holding up the bear. 

"Yeah, sure." We both looked down, spotting Dad's police uniform shirt, as well as a piece of notebook paper that she was holding in her hands.

"Um...can I..." She nodded, taking the shirt out of the box and handing it to me. I took it, pressing it against my face and inhaling the still-lingering scent of beer and cigarettes, which never seemed to go away no matter how many times you washed it. I laughed tearfully, pulling it on, despite the fact that it was way to big, and hung past my knees.

"What is that?" El asked, gesturing to the paper.

"Its...Its the speech Hop wrote for you and Mike."

"Speech?' El asked.

"Yeah. You know, the heart-to-heart."  El jus furrowed her eyebrows. "He never talked to you, did he?" She shook her head. Joyce chuckled, looking down at it.

"Can I read?" She smiled, handing it to her, and El grabbed my hand, pulling me back into Will's room and down onto the floor. "Will you read it? You sound like him sometimes." I smiled, taking the letter from her and grabbing onto Dad's still attached badge as my eyes skimmed over the words. 

"There's something I've been wanting to talk to you both about. I know this is a difficult conversation, but I care about you both very much. And I know that you care about each other very much, and that's why its important that we set these boundaries moving forward, so we can build an environment where we all feel comfortable, trusted, and open to sharing our feelings. Those are Joyce's words, for sure. There's no way he wrote that." El laughed and I did too, continuing to read. "Feelings...Jeez. The truth is, for so long, I'd forgotten what those even were. I've been stuck in one place, in a cave you might say. A deep dark cave. And then, a girl covered in slime waltzed into my office in the middle of the night," I bit my lip as tears welled up in my eyes, "And she asked me to leave some Eggos out in the woods, and you came into my life, and your sister came back and for the first time in a long time, I started to feel things again. I've started to feel happy. But lately, I guess I've been feeling...distant from you. Like you're...you're pulling away from me or something.  I miss..." I paused, the sobs creeping up and escaping my mouth. "I miss playing Board Games every night. I miss making triple-decker Eggo extravaganzas at sunrise, while Riley complains how disgusting and unhealthy it is. Watching Westerns together before we doze off. But I know you're getting older, growing changing. And I guess, if I'm being really honest...that's what scares me. I don't want things to change. And Riley...I took away her ability to be a little girl and I guess, I'm just not ready for you to not be one anymore. So I think maybe that's why I came in here, to try to maybe stop that change. To turn back the clock, to make things go back to how they were.  But I know that's Naïve. Its just not how life works. Its moving, always moving, whether you like it or not.  And yeah, sometimes its painful...sometimes its sad. And sometimes, its surprising. Happy. So you know what? Keep on growing up, kid. Don't let me stop you. Make mistakes, lean from 'em. And when life hurts you, because it will...remember the hurt. The hurt is good. It means your out of that cave. But please, if you don't mind, for the sake of your poor old Dad, keep the door open three inches."

We both laughed with tears streaming down our faces. We sat on the floor, holding each other as we cried, and then once the tears started...they didn't stop. They continued as we loaded up the rest of the boxes. They continued as we all hugged goodbye, not just to El, but to Joyce, Will, and Jonathan, who we'd all formed so many new memories with, along with the old ones that we'll always hold dear to our hearts. This was truly the end of an era, and I could feel that hurt that Dad was talking about...but as I stood in the Byers' front yard, with his shirt wrapped around my body and my head on Steve 'the Hair' Harrington's shoulder, I was feeling hopeful...grateful even...for everything that has happened to me so far. Because without all of this darkness and pain and sadness...I wouldn't have gotten to know my Dad like I did. I wouldn't have met Eleven, I never would've befriended Jonathan, or found Steve. The hurt led me to something beautiful...

And isn't that what life is all about?

~~~END OF PART THREE~~~

TO BE CONTINUED IN STRANGER THINGS 4