Joyce was worried. Of course she was. Her little boy was going away alone with his friends and his brother. But they took this decision all together. He had to live with his fears. They didn't want Will to grow up paranoid and afraid of the woods. And she knew where to find them in case something happened. It was only about an hour and a half drive.

"You have the mixed tape?" Will asked his brother.

"Of course I do. Who do you take me for? Roadtrip with no mixed tape?"

Nancy laughed at that while packing the trunk. Joyce took Will in her arms.

"You be careful. Don't go too far from the others. And listen to your brother!"

"Yes, mom..."

"Yes Mrs. Byers" Lucas, Mike and Dustin added.

"And you…you take a break. You enjoy. And uhm…" Joyce took a glance over at Nancy before she mumbled only to her son "…have fun."

"Mom!"

"Ok, go! Go! Go! Have fun! I don't wanna see you anymore! Go away! Oh, I'm gonna regret saying that…"

"It's gonna be ok, mom…" Jonathan tried really hard to reassure her.

"Promise, promise?"

Jonathan chuckled and Will answered for him.

"Promise, promise."

"Okay…"

They all took place inside the van and Jonathan started the engine.

"I love you! Bye!" Joyce shouted to cover the noise and waved them goodbye. So did they until they were too far to see her.

Nancy took a quick look towards Jonathan from the passenger seat before pushing the tape inside the radio. He was looking in front of him, concentrated on the road.

The Passenger by Iggy Pop started playing. And Nancy thought it was a good soundtrack choice for a roadtrip starter.

As planned, they pulled through the cabin's driveway an hour and a half later.

"Wow…this place…it looks so peaceful."

"It's just a small cabin..."

Jonathan looked at Nancy and smiled, glad that she was so enthusiastic.

"You didn't tell me there was a lake!"

"Yeah…"

As soon as Jonathan turned off the engine, the boys bursted out of the van, yelling and laughing, obviously over excited.

"Wait…wait!" Jonathan shouted to them.

The four boys stopped abruptly.

"Unloading. Unpacking."

Nancy liked how Jonathan always used just a few words to express himself. No need for more. Like that time in the darkroom. "Brightening. Enlarging". His eyes speak more anyway.

They all rolled their eyes and sighed of disappointment. They grabbed their stuff, ran into the cabin to throw it upstairs and were back outside as fast as they went in.

"Come back in an hour, for dinner."

"Okay!"

"And don't go too far!" The door being slammed shut interrupted him, the boys ignoring his order. It amused Nancy. He shook his head, a little discouraged but finally smiled.

"So THAT'S why I'm here. Discipline! They already had the dad, they just needed the mom…ok I get it. I have to say, though, I'd like to clarify something first. I don't think I feel like being the bad cop…"

"Real funny."

They took the other backpacks and pillows left near the door and brought them into the living room that was actually right next to the kitchen. The cabin was an open room with one bathroom and two bedrooms upstairs. Jonathan suggested he would sleep on the couch downstairs by dropping his stuff on it.

"No! No, no, no. I'm the intruder here, I insist."

"Intruder?"

"Yeah! I wasn't supposed to come along in the first place, so you should get the bed."

"You can sleep on the couch if you want, but I hope you don't mind me pushing you on the floor when I decide to go to sleep tonight…"

She smiled but looked down, feeling bad. She grabbed her sleeping bag.

"Well I guess my sleeping bag will be more useful this time." She said while she threw it at him.

Taken aback by her comment, Jonathan stopped smiling, looked a bit uncomfortable and let out a nervous breath before dropping the sleeping bag on the couch, picking up his backpack, unzipping it and taking out some bed sheets.

"Can I help you...make the beds?"

"Nah, I'm good. You can unpack the big blue bag over there, though, it's food. Some has to go in the fridge, so…"

"Ok, great." They did their tasks in silence for a while.

"It was so sweet of your brother to invite me."

"He thinks you're pretty cool."

"He does…?"

"Yeah."

She looked at him and waited for him to look back at her and held his gaze when he did.

"And are you…starting to…think I'm okay now?"

He swallowed hard before answering.

"Yeah…" he whispered. "...you?"

"Yeah…yeah, you're okay."

He turned around, shying out and not knowing what to say to that.

"You're a great guy, Jonathan Byers."

He seemed surprised by what she just said, his back still facing her. He didn't know what to do so he just stood there, sheets unfolded in his hands. He dropped them on the couch and before he could turn around and talk to her, the front door burst open.