5. Tensions and interrogations

Joyce and Will were ready despite the hour they'd woken up. Their bags were on the table, also ready.


Now they were just waiting for Hopper to arrive and take them. Joyce watched her own reflection in the turned off TV while she waited, letting herself be lulled by the steady breathing of her son, who was asleep next to her.


Hopper had told them to be ready for 7:00 a.m. and they were. They had now been waiting for exactly 34 minutes and 16 seconds, 17, 18... 


Joyce had been looking at her watch hands for several minutes, and when the second hand finished its new turn, someone knocked on the door.


Will woke up and jumped off the couch to open it.


He grabbed his bag with his fingertips and pressed the handle, pulling it towards him... And all this without Joyce moving an inch. He was obviously wide awake and determined to finally go.


"Hi, Hopper!"


Will greeted him with a nod and left to join El in the back of his truck, leaving the passenger seat free for his mother.


"Hey, big boy..." he said as he entered the house. "What did he eat this morning?"


Hopper laughed, but Joyce simply rolled her eyes, which stopped his laughter immediately.


She then got up from the couch to face him.


"He just might have slept longer than expected. I'd say, to be exact, he got 38 minutes and 58 seconds more sleep than you told us he would, because..." she stuck her index finger in Hopper's shoulder and pulled him back "...we were on time."


"I know, I'm sorry..."


"Let's go now that everybody is finally here."


"Looks like you're not a morning person."


Joyce walked to the table ignoring his remark to get her bag, but Hopper beat her to it. He grabbed it and walked out of the house. 


She grimaced, he's been more and more irritating lately...


"Thank you..." She said anyway as she saw him put the bag at her place when she locked the door of her house.


"Hurry up, Joyce. We've wasted enough time."


"Oh, my goodness. Are you kidding me?" She said, slamming the door on her side of the car.


Will and El looked at each other while sinking into their seats as far as they could to try and stay unnoticed.


Hopper also got into the car and slammed the door, then turned to Joyce. He rubbed his eyes with one hand, took a deep breath and looked her straight in the eyes.


"Well, what did I do to you, Joyce?"


"Wh-what?"


Caught off guard, she looked at him again, her eyes round.


"Since Thursday you've been weird with me. And especially you've been bitching at me. So I'm asking you again because I really don't know what's wrong : what did I do wrong?"


His sentences hit Joyce. They now resounded in her head as she tried to figure out what to say... What could she reply to that? He hadn't done anything wrong... and that's what he was thinking…


She couldn't tell him that there had been a fight going on in her head since Thursday. Ever since she had, really, realized she was... in love... with him. No, no, no, it was too soon. She just wanted to wait because it would fade, it had to pass. She didn't want to love him, no. She didn't want to love him. She didn't deserve him. He deserved to be happy. God, he deserved so much! She didn't want to bring him her problems again, he'd already done so much for her. She didn't want to mess things up with him…


He seemed so happy now that she could not. She couldn't be in love again, she couldn't afford it, because she was bringing too many worries, problems, misfortunes, to the people she loved, and if she lost him...? 


She didn't want the same thing to happen to him. To save him, she didn't have to love him.


It had been a few seconds since Hopper had asked a question to which he was still waiting for an answer that would obviously never come. He turned his head away with a sigh and started the car. He was going to have to drive for more than two hours, maybe that would enable Joyce to get a grip on herself, she’s seemed completely lost in thought since he asked that question. 


But what had he done wrong? The last thing he wanted was to hurt her in any way, he loved her too much for that, he would blame himself for the rest of his life. He only wanted what was best for her, and it scared him to know that he was responsible for her anger of these last two days.


Maybe it was just a temporary, maybe she was stressed from work or something but she would calm down and explain everything to him, like she used to.


He smiled as he watched the white lines of the road disappearing beneath his wheels as he thought of their younger years, when they used to tell each other the smallest details of their days to save time so they could stay together a little longer each day, smoking and laughing.


He risked a glance at Joyce as she was watching the trees going by along the road. Hopper could see the reflection of her face in the glass when she crossed his gaze, he tried anyway to smile and was amazed when she smiled back at him. He immediately relaxed, sinking a little more comfortably into the seat of his car.


—♡—♡—♡—♡—♡—


The atmosphere was no longer tense at all since she had given Hopper a simple smile and shortly afterwards the children had started talking.


Joyce, who blamed herself for causing this little discomfort, simulated a nap. Which was actually a good idea because she could rest and think without anyone bothering her.


But before she did, she took a quick look at her wrist and noticed that they had been on their way for over an hour. So Jonathan and Nancy must have been on their way too now.


Hopper, on the other hand, was just guided by the signs. He couldn't wait to get there. He couldn't wait to spend time with his daughter, and he was more than happy that she and Will got along so well, they both deserved to be happy. 


But he also couldn't wait to spend time with the person next to him, Joyce.


He'd hidden it until then, but he thought about her constantly. And the idea of inviting her to spend a weekend with him had been in his mind for a while. 


But he knew her well enough to know that she wasn't ready for what he wanted, she was still thinking about Bob, at least that's what he thought. So he hadn't tried anything, he'd waited for her. Becoming the friend, the pillar she needed, thinking that maybe at the same time his feelings would disappear. But they didn't, the more he tried to forget her, the more he thought about her. About her, about Joyce. The girl he'd known for years, the teenager he'd loved and then lost sight of, and finally the woman he'd found again. The woman he helped, supported, sustained and loved again. 


In reality the feelings had never gone away, they were just buried, but when you least expect it, they come out and hit you in the heart, literally.


He then recalled a discussion he had had with his daughter just a week ago :


He was sitting, drinking his coffee and she was back home from the Wheeler house, Will had taken her on his bike back to their cabin. She sat down in front of him and without blinking, she asked him; "Are you in love with Joyce?". Of course he remembered the moment, his chest remembered it too. He had spilled half of his mug on his shirt.


"Damn it!" He shouted as he leapt to his feet.


"Language. You always tell me not to say swear words!"


"Well, I'd like to see you with hot coffee on your skin!" He grumbled as he took off his shirt.


He then went to the bathroom to put some water on his chest and clean his uniform top, leaving El alone in the next room.


A small red scar had been on his torso from that moment and it didn't want to fade out as a reminder that he still hadn't answered his daughter's question.

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