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Erica stared at the cloudless sky in boredom from her position floating in the pool. She had been forced to come to the pool by her brother due to fact she still needed to be babysat when their parents were out. This was ridiculous, she is way more mature than Lucas is and she’s old enough to take care of herself. The pool was crowded by loads of disgusting people, sweaty middle aged men, screaming toddlers, irritating teenagers, and that’s just the most annoying groups. At least the warmth of the July weather made it slightly less miserable.
She had to stay within a few metres of her brothers friends which was no fun at all. None of her own friends were here to entertain her so all she had to do was paddle and watch them mess around. Erica watched as Lucas picked up Max and put her on his shoulders so they could have a chicken fight. How had her moron of a brother managed to get a girlfriend. She had met Max before of course and she knew she wasn’t exactly a typical girl but that didn’t explain why she would want to put up with her worthless brother.
At least it made sense that the rest of her brothers nerdy friends didn’t have girlfriends. But in her opinion her brother was still the least cool and most irritating out of them so it still didn’t make a great deal of sense. She had been there to witness Dustin’s attempts at flirting before and she always got a good giggle out of them, so yeah the lack of girlfriend was no surprise. She had never seen Wheeler or Byers trying to flirt before though which was strange as they were definitely the most attractive ones out of the group.
Mike was definitely the second most irritating after her brother though so it kinda made sense he didn’t have a girlfriend. Will on the other hand she never had a problem with, he was awfully sweet for a boy and quite cute too. Ugh why was she thinking about Lucas`s friends so much, they were all nerds and not worth her valuable time. She was bored out of her mind though as all she had to do was think and watch as the five of them splash around, so she forgave herself for that just this once.
She observed the fight with mild interest until its inevitable conclusion. Max went tumbling of Lucas shoulders as referee Dustin declared Will and Mike victorious. The tag team of Will and Mike always won these kind of games, they worked so well together. Will was very comfortable on Mikes shoulders, the raven haired boy good at keeping Will balanced properly, both seemingly very aware of each other’s body proportions.
Those two always seemed to share a bond much deeper than any of the other nerds but what did she know, she only saw them when she had too. Saying that though Erica couldn’t help but watch them curiously as they exited the pool at the exact same time and headed towards the bathroom. She quickly turned her head back in the direction of the other three though as it was pretty weird to watch two boys in just swimming trunks making their way towards the bathroom.
They didn’t even seem to notice that the two boys had gone they just kept playing around splashing each other. She watched with disdain as they decide to have a swimming race across the pool. Any idiot could see that they were going to run into half a dozen people as they swam but they were too stupid to take that into account. She really was better than her brother at everything wasn’t she, Erica was even better than him at his nerd stuff, not that she would ever admit it.
Erica rolled her eyes as Dustin almost drowns someone half his height as he swims at a furious pace towards the other side of the pool. She’s had enough of these losers for now so she decides to take advantage of her needing the bathroom to make a quick exit. She didn’t bother telling Lucas where she was going, if he lost track of her that was his problem not hers. After one last glance over at her distracted brother she paddles over to the edge of the pool and pulls herself out of the water.
The warm tiles burnt her exposed feet as she waddled over them, the thin layer of water covering them doing little to cool them. Tempted as she was too just speed up and ignore the no running by the pool rule she didn’t because she wanted to live to tell the tale. The lifeguard that day was Billy, Max’s brother and Erica could feel his glare on her as she padded carefully towards the bathroom, it was almost as if he knew what she was considering doing. She had met Billy before when Max’s and her family overlapped at events and she could honestly say that he was the only person who could scare her.
Erica subconsciously sighed in relief as soon as she was out of reach of his cold gaze. She honestly wasn’t sure whether he would more or less terrifying if he were possessed by some kind of shadow monster. She quickly forgot about Billy though as she instead focussed on weaving through the various groups standing idly around the changing area. It seemed like almost every family in Hawkins was here, apart from those she actually liked of course.
She nearly collided with several people as she worked her way through the crowd, apparently some people are not very self-aware when it comes to their body proportions. When she reached the women’s bathroom she groaned at the realisation that there was a line, screw that, she was just going to go and have an explore while she waited. So with that decided Erica set off in the direction of the more isolated corridors. She ignored the fact that this would make it more difficult for her useless brother to find her, again that was his problem.
The sound of Erica’s footsteps reverberated off the walls back at her as she slowly walked down the quiet hallway in her purple swimsuit. It was so quiet that she could hear every sound around her, despite her bare feet every footstep still was very loud. The further she went the quieter it got, the quiet wasn’t the only thing increasing though. The walls that were previously squeaky clean and filled with posters faded into scrubby blankness. The lack of anyone else in this part of the building was chilling.
Erica quickly reached the end of the corridor and glanced around in disappointment at what appeared to be janitorial storage. She hadn’t been walking for long, the toilets would still likely have a long line but what else was she supposed to do other than turn back. But as she turned herself around to stomp off back in the direction she came from she heard a sound. Instantly pausing in place at the sound she strained her ears and scanned the area in search of the noise.
She jumps as she once again hears the odd noise, it sounded human but not like any noise she had ever heard one make previously. Her eyes landed on the ajar door of what looked like a closet so she reasoned that it must have come from there so she tiptoes her way towards it. The door wasn’t open wide enough for her to look inside so she placed a hand on the door and tentatively edged it open. Whatever she had previously been expecting when she looked inside, this was not it.
The room was dimly lit, no windows to let in light so the only thing piercing the darkness was the weak bulb attached to the ceiling. This is partially why it took her longer than it would usually of to comprehend what she was seeing. There were two figures standing side by side in the closet, one slightly taller than the other and both wearing just swimming trunks. At a first glance they appeared to be wrestling, but a second one told her they were kissing.
A combination of the dark and the fact that one of them was pinning the other too the wall made her unable to figure out who they were but judging by their garments, they were both male. Erica didn’t give a shit that there were two boys kissing, that wasn’t her problem, the only thing that concerned her was how this situation could benefit her. Once she had gotten over the initial shock she began to think of ideas, perhaps if she interrupted them they would pay her to keep it quiet?
That thought alone had dollar symbols lighting up in her eyes but before she could think anymore on it she got a much bigger shock. The boys shifted their positions slightly and for the first time she got a good look at their faces and all the money making schemes rolling around in her mind instantly went down the drain. How hadn’t she recognised them sooner, even in the low lighting she should have been able to figure out who the familiar silhouettes belonged too much sooner.
Mike Wheeler and Will Byers.
Erica had completely forgotten they had disappeared in the direction of the bathroom, or not the bathroom she supposed. This certainly explained why they’ve never had girlfriends and were always so close, how long had this been going on? Did her brother know that two of his best friends were gay and kissing each other? What was she saying of course he didn’t, he wouldn’t notice if they kissed directly in front of him.
The ravenette and the brunette were far too involved in ravishing the other that they didn’t notice Erica standing by the door. Which was for the best as she was freaking out, discovering gay strangers was one thing but discovering her brothers gay friends? Wait what was she saying, this was great, they would be even easier to persuade to get her stuff.
She was just about to make her presence known when the two boys disconnected forcing her to abandon her plan for the moment in favour of watching what happens. They whisper to each other for a few moments in low voices which Erica couldn’t make out before changing their position. Erica watches as Mike slowly gets on his knees in front of Will who was still pressed against the wall, she thought it was a bit of an odd position, why was Mike down there? She quickly figured out what was going on though when Mike hooked his fingers into the waistband of Wills swimming costume and starts gradually pulling them down.
At this moment Erica does what any sensible person would do. Run. She completely forgets about any need for the bathroom as she dashes past the still very long line. The only reason she stops running is because she reaches open air again and Billy’s gaze was back on her making her shiver slightly. She quickly jumps in the pool and fully submerges herself in an attempt to purge the memory of what she almost witnessed. She didn’t know how to react to this whatsoever.
In her mind she had three options. Option one, tell Lucas and let him deal with it, she would get some amount of pleasure from watching the look on his face. Option two, blackmail the two boys into getting her everything she’s ever wanted, Mike’s a rich kid, he can afford it. Option 3, say nothing and let things figure themselves out on their own. She would eventually get to lord it over Lucas forever that he didn’t know that his two male best friends had been fucking, she just had to be patient.
Erica swiftly went back to floating near her brother who was still messing around like a buffoon whilst she thought. Option 3 would be the noble option but she wasn’t particularly noble and option 2 meant money so the temptation was massive. She was still thinking when Mike and Will emerged nearly half an hour later and slid back into the pool like nothing had happened.
Lucas and his friends were even more stupid than she thought, how could they not notice that their friends had disappeared to the ‘bathroom’ for so long? It just added fuel to her theory that Lucas was braindead, clearly the two boys did a disappearing act quite frequently. They went back to playing games like the two boys hadn’t just showed up out of nowhere, she shook her head in frustration at her brothers idiocy.
She still hadn’t made up her mind on what to do with this information when she realised something else. Mike and Will were giving each other constant looks as they splashed around, and not just flirty looks or something like that, full on lovesick looks. Had they been doing this the whole time without her noticing? This was when Erica realised that they were not just two gay boys having sex, they were in love and this made it much harder to justify blackmailing them to herself.
They looked so happy that it made her decision easy. For the first time in her life Erica was going to keep her mouth shut. After all she would still get the desired result eventually, there was no shortage of opportunities to embarrass her brother, why couldn’t she wait a bit longer for a big one. Erica just had to make sure that in the meantime she didn’t follow Mike and Will into any more secluded spaces.