A NEW AND IMPROVED VERSION
Ryan Fordman has lived next door to Steve Harrington her entire life. Her entire life, he'd always been a window away, occasionally shouting across the space between their houses. They were inseparable... at least, they we...
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The next morning, Ryan woke up on the Byers' couch, covered in one of the blankets from Jonathan's bed. The smell of bacon and eggs wafted into the room from the kitchen as she sat up, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. At least she had woken up early enough to have time for breakfast this time.
She tossed the blanket off of herself, walking into the kitchen to see Jonathan at the stove while Joyce grabbed plates to take to the table. Ryan immediately jumped in to help, grabbing the plates from Joyce's hands. It was the least she could do as they had just let her sleep.
"Thanks sweetie," Joyce said gratefully. "I'm going to wake up Will so he can take his shower. Do you need a change of clothes?"
Ryan looked down at the clothes she was wearing from the day before. She could go home and change, but odds were, Peter would force her to sit down and have breakfast with him and Aaron. Ever since her parents had died when she was twelve, he had been big on having at least one family meal a day. Since she was always coming home at varying times of the night or not coming home at all and Aaron usually worked night shifts at the pub downtown, breakfast was the easiest option.
"Uh, yeah." She ran a hand through the mess that was her hair. "If you don't mind."
Joyce nodded, heading down the hallway as she called over her shoulder, "Call your brother while I get you some clothes."
Ryan took a bite of toast as she headed to the phone on the wall, "Hey J, flip the bacon. It's gonna burn."
"Aw hell." He darted past her to flip the bacon while she giggled, the piece of toast hanging from her mouth as she dialed the phone. "Thanks for the help!"
Ryan just grinned, blowing a kiss.
*•*•*
"Well, at least you got some sleep right?" Axel snickered as they walked through the hallways before first period.
When Ryan had parked her car next to Axel's, the first thing he noticed was the fact that Ryan was not wearing her own clothes. When Jonathan parked next to her five seconds later and tossed her her jacket that she had left on the chair in the living room on her way out the door, his unspoken questions were immediately answered... then Jonathan started talking about her crashing on the couch.
When she had called Peter to tell him that she would be heading straight to school when she left the Byers', she could hear Aaron laughing in the background as well. Everyone thought it was funny for some reason. She had stayed over at the Byers' before, but she had never fallen asleep while watching Will.
"She got plenty of it." Jonathan laughed. "When I gave her a blanket, she rolled herself into a burrito."
Ryan turned around, walking backwards as she glared at the two boys, "I was tired! Sue me, asshats."
The boys started laughing again to which she just rolled her eyes. She was about to turn back around to start walking in a normal direction, but before she had the chance, she ran into someone walking in the opposite direction. She whirled around to apologize, ignoring the looks of warning Axel and Jonathan were giving her, only to come face-to-face with Steve Harrington. Go figure.
