troubled souls ~ Steve Harrington

*one*

"Dustin!" I shout down the stairs.

Chaos ensues below. All my brother's friends frantically search the floor, unaware of my presence. "Do you see it?" I hear Lucas shout as he crawls under the table.

"Hey! Dustin!" I yell again. He wanders back and forth with a hand at his forehead, distraught.

Mike frantically rushes to the bottom of the stairs, "Mattie, we're in the middle of a campaign!"

Mrs. Wheeler peers over my shoulder. "You mean the end? Fifteen after." She points to her watch strictly.

"Do we have to go?" Will protests, his puppy dog eyes eager for more Dungeons & Dragons. 

Mike runs up and pushes himself under my arm, "Mom, wait! Just- 20 more minutes."

As I walk further down the stairs, I barely dodge around Lucas's flailing legs.

Meanwhile, Dustin continues to pace back and forth, completely unaware of my presence. "Oh shit. Oh shit. Oh..."

"Dustin!" I snap.

He freezes and turns to me, still wide eyed with concern.

"We gotta go-it's a school night."

"But- the Demogorgon, it..." He begins to argue, but the stern look on my face reveals he would lose any attempted battles. His head hangs down as he dejectedly grabs his jacket.

Satisfied, I run back up the stairs to Nancy's room. We had been studying together.

'Studying.' 

Really, she spent the whole time obsessing over her new beau while I did my geometry homework to distract my bubbling irritation.

I peak around the corner, "See ya tomorrow!" I wave. She holds the receiver of her phone in the crook of her arm and mouths a salutation.

Barb must have finally called. She couldn't study with us tonight, but wanted to hear all the Steve details. Again.

I turn to walk back down the stairs and bump into my brother holding a pizza box.

"Dustin, what are you doing? We need to go."

"One sec!" He pushes around me and waves into her room.

"Hey, Nancy! There's a slice left if you want it! Sausage and pepperoni!"

My mouth gapes open, "You offered her the last slice of pizza over me?" I make sure the sarcastic outrage in my voice is notable.

He ignores me, hopefully staring into her room with puppy dog eyes.

"Hold on," I hear Nancy get up and walk towards the door. Dustin stares, wide eyed in anticipation. He never admitted it to me, but I knew he liked my friend.

She glances around the corner, "See ya, Mattie." And she closes the door in my brother's face. His once glowing smile fades into rejection.

"Guess you should have tried me first," I say, swiping up the pizza to leave him with the empty box.

He follows closely behind me and shoves the pizza box in the Wheeler's garbage can as we walk out the door, where they other boys are getting ready to leave.

I quickly scarf down the pizza and wipe the excess grease on my jeans before picking up my bike.

"Ya know, there's something wrong with our sisters." Dustin says to Mike.

I roll my eyes, "What are you talking about?"

"You and Nancy both got a stick up your butt," Dustin grumbles.