Loss - Lucas Sinclair

Trick or Treat, Freak (Part 5)

"Another full-size." Dustin gaped at his bag of candy that was filing up quickly. "Like, seriously, rich people are such suckers. Wait. You're no rich, right?"

Max laughed at Dustin. "No, I live up Old Cherry Road."

"Oh."

"No, it's fine. I mean, the street's good for skating."

"Yeah, totally tubular." Dustin said while munching on a piece on candy. Max looked at Lucas who was on her other side and shook her head. "What? Did I say that right? Or is it, like, tubular."

"It's like," Lucas tried imitating a surfer, "totally tubular."

"Totally tubular!" Dustin tried again.

"What a gnarly wave, dude."

"Totally brodacious, bro!"

"Stop. My ears are hurting." Max laughed as the boys continued till they got to their next house.

Lucas would admit, Max was pretty awesome. She skateboards, she plays video games. He hoped after tonight she would start hanging out with them. He just hoped Dustin wouldn't scared her away but right now they seemed to be getting along just fine. He was happy for Dustin.

"Guys." Dustin's voice took Lucas out of his thoughts. "Where's Will and Mike?"

Just on cue, they saw Mike running a certain direction and they quickly followed him. By the time they caught up with him, he was trying to calm down a frightened Will.

"Holy shit!" Dustin exclaimed looking at Will.

"Is he okay?" Lucas asked.

"I don't know." Mike replied quickly before turning back to Will. "I'm gonna get you home, okay? I'm gonna get you home. Hold on."

Dustin tried to help Mike who was helping Will to his feet. "All right, take it easy."

"I got him." Mike snapped. "I got him."

"Mike?"

"Keep trick or treating. I'm bored anyways."

They watched them leave and when they were out of ear shot Max turned to them. "What's wrong with him?"

Lucas and Dustin looked at each other and had a silent agreement. They would not be telling Max about what happened to Will.

***

"Nope! Nope! Turn it off! I can't!" Nikki said quickly covering her eyes after a jump scare happened in the movie.

Gwen laughed as she got the remote and turned it into a different channel. "It's gone."

Nikki took her hand off of her eyes and exhaled sharply.

"So, did you like it?" Gwen asked with humor dancing in her eyes.

Nikki, only half getting the sarcasm, looked at her pointedly. "No."

Gwen laughed again as she reached for a Hershey's bar and unwrapped the wrapper. "Last candy to try," Gwen handed her a brick of chocolate. "This was many favorite growing up. Good old chocolate."

Nikki ate half of the small brick and nodded her head. "I like it."

"Good!" Gwen smiled. "Okay, big question: what was your favorite?"

Nikki looked at all of the wrappers on the table in front of her. She and Gwen had tried a lot of candy, Mounds, Reese's, Kit Kat, M&M's, Milky Way, but none of them were as good as, "definitely, the Twizzlers."

"Oh, a licorice gal." Gwen nodded her head in approval. "I respect that."

Nikki giggled before standing up off the couch and stretching. She started to gather up the wrappers on the table and with the handful started making her way to the kitchen.

"Hey, Nikki?" Gwen called from the living room.

"Yeah?" She called back. A second passed and Gwen walked into the kitchen with a concerned look on her face.

"Do you know what happened to the vase in the living room?" Gwen asked pointing towards an empty table that used to hold the vase Nikki broke earlier that day. Gwen must have seen Nikki's eyes widen remembering what had happened. "Did your powers do that?"

Nikki nodded looking down at her feet.

She heard Gwen sigh. "It's alright. I can always replace the vase. Are you hurt at all?"

"No." Nikki smiled slightly, happy she found Gwen out of all people. Gwen never really cared if she had accidentally broken anything, she was always more worried about Nikki's safety.

"Good." Gwen smiled at the girl. "That's all that matters, right?"

Nikki nodded once again and started to walk back to the living room. She was almost to the couch when she felt a shiver run up her spine. She gasped and sat down trying to control the pit that started to form in her stomach.

"Nikki?" Gwen asked from behind her. She had heard Nikki gasp and knew something was happening. She quickly moved to the girl on the couch and crouched in front of her grabbing her hands. "It's happening again isn't it."

Nikki could only nod her head as she tried to focus on getting rid of the feeling. Ever since she left Hawkins every once in a while she would feel the pit in her stomach, telling her that something was happening to her friends back at Hawkins. She knew it was nothing life threatening by the feeling in her stomach but still...it didn't make it any less uncomfortable for her.

She and Gwen had been trying to control it so she would get the feeling but it wouldn't affect her as much. They were making progress with it. Before it was slightly painful but now it was only uncomfortable.

"I'm here," Gwen reminded her squeezing her hand gently, "it's gonna be okay."

After a minute the feeling passed and she felt better. Nikki looked up at Gwen who was still crouching in front of her. "Thank you." She said honestly.

Gwen smiled at the girl and brought her into a hug. "Of course, sweetie. I'll always be there to help."

Nikki smiled into the embrace then started thinking about the pit in her stomach that had now disappeared. She couldn't help but wonder.

What is going on in Hawkins?

***

Lucas dumped the bag of candy on his bed and looked at the load he got. He grinned at the pile of candy, happy with what he had gotten.

If he was honest, he had a pretty good night. He got a lot of candy, he got to know Max more, he got to watch Dustin make a fool of himself. The only downside of the night was the whole Will thing that he didn't really understand. Well, that and that the girls weren't there with them.

Lucas's grin melted remembering the girls, more specifically, Nikki. He know the girl didn't eat that much but they could've found something that she enjoyed. Heck, maybe she would be like Dustin and like 3 Musketeers.

Lucas let out a shaky sighed before grabbing a few different full sized candy bars and setting them aside.

They're for later, he told himself.

They were going to be for Nikki when/if she came back.

Authors note
I'm seriously loving Gwen. I'm just like 🥰😍😘 whenever I write about her.

The entire second half of the chapter I was like: oh my god this is so cute ☺️

Question for you guys: what's your favorite candy?

Love ya!!❤️❤️❤️