CONFUSION| steve harrington x oc| BOOK 1

chapter 11- lights

Steve was gripping the steering wheel so tightly his knuckles were white. Phoebe noticed this as she glanced at him. He we clearly still mad about everything, the whole day had been a disaster, really. Phoebe wanted to help but she didn't know how. The car slowly pulled into a parking stall and Steve got out. They were back on the main road that ran through downtown Hawkins, where they had been maybe an hour ago. Phoebe jumped out of the car, catching up to Steve as he walked on the sidewalk. She was about to ask what they were doing or where they were going when she looked up and saw the sign of the movie theater. There was a man on a ladder with a rag, trying to scrub off the spray paint Tommy had done. 

"Need a hand?" Steve offered. The man looked down at Steve, "Did you do this?" he asked, almost sounding upset. "I just...I wanna help." Steve sighed. The man nodded his head and then climbed down the ladder. He handed Steve his rag as Phoebe took position at the foot of the ladder, holding it steady as Steve climbed up. 

They had probably been there an hour before Steve finally climbed down. The man gave him a smile and nod of approval before they walked back to Steve's car. Phoebe hadn't dared to say anything yet, and the whole time he cleaned the sign they were both silent. 

"You okay?" she finally spoke.

"Yeah, better now, I guess, a little," he replied, unsure of how he was really feeling. 

"Okay. Want to get some food?" she offered. Her watch told her that is was already 7PM and she hadn't eaten since before Steve picked her up. He nodded in agreement as they got into the car. They stopped at the drive-in for a quick bite, Steve saying they needed to hurry.

"Why do we need to hurry?" Phoebe asked. 

"I wanna go talk to Jonathan. I feel terrible about what happened, even if most of it was Tommy's fault," Steve explained.

"Okay, I get that, but are you sure you wanna do this right now? I mean, maybe we should give them like a day to cool off or something," she tried to offer an alternative plan. She had a sneaking suspicion that it would be better if Steve waited to talk to him. Maybe he was still mad, maybe Nancy was still mad, or worse, still with him. She didn't want to see anyone else get hurt, or arrested. 

"Nah, I'd rather do it right now while it's fresh on my mind. I mean, it's not like it could get any worse," he chuckled as he gestured to his beaten face. Phoebe smiled at his weak attempt to make a joke.

"Okay, if you want." she agreed, and soon they were off, driving to the Byers' house.

They pulled up to the house,  which was dark except for one lamp in the living room. It didn't look very promising that anyone was actually home, but Steve got out of the car anyway, telling Phoebe to stay inside. She watched as he pounded on the door, yelling to try and get the attention of whoever was inside, if anyone was even home. Soon, Phoebe saw the door open and recognized the small figure as Nancy. Shit, she thought to herself; this is exactly what she was afraid of. She couldn't tell what was being said between them, but she watched as Steve's hand raised to touch a bandage on hers and then he barged through the door. Then the lights inside started to flicker and Phoebe could hear someone inside yelling. She didn't know what was happening but she definitely knew it was something bad. Suddenly, Steve came hurdling out the door, fumbling with his keys as he did. Phoebe's eyes went wide with worry, she had never seen Steve so...rattled. He threw the door open, but froze before getting in. Her head whipped towards the house where Steve was looking and saw the lights flickering again.

Steve bolted back in, Phoebe hot on his heels. The scene inside was bizarre. There were Christmas lights strewn across the whole house on almost every wall, a painted alphabet on one with a light above each letter, but the weirdest park was Jonathan and Nancy standing in the center of the room, back to back, spinning slowly as they looked at the ceiling. Jonathan held a lit lighter while Nancy wielded a shotgun. 

"What the HELL IS GOING ON HERE?!" Phoebe screamed, but was instantly shushed as every light in the house went dark.