-𝖕𝖗𝖊𝖞 - 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀

𝘅𝘅𝘅𝘃𝗶𝗶𝗶. risks

❝Waiting in the car.❞

-midnight city, m83

STEVE, DUSTIN AND LILA WATCHED AS MAX DISAPPEARED INTO MS. KELLY'S HOUSE, THE DOOR SHUTTING BEHIND HER. Lila had assured Max she didn't have to do it, but she insisted on it. In all honesty, she just wanted to get out of the car for a little while, even if it meant doing something she wasn't particularly interested in. She thought it might've came off strange to Max since the last time they properly talked, Lila wanted little to do with her. Yet, little was an improvement.

During the silent gaps in between their constant travelling, Lila had been thinking. Before, she never had much time to since it was all school, then home. Why did she blame Max of all people? If anything, she had just as much grief as Lila did. No matter how hard she thought why, waking up would forever top the list of shittiest things that had happened to her. After all this time, she still wondered why. Why did I wake up? How did I wake up? Minutes later after she did, finding out what happened to Billy made her want to painfully crawl back into the three-month coma.

Lila shuffled to the middle seat of the car. "Okay. She's in," Steve unnecessarily commented.

"I'm missing collarbones, not eyes," Dustin replied, causing Lila to check what she'd just heard.

"What? Why haven't I heard of this?" she asked, leaning forward in her seat slightly. 

"He's basically Gumbo or Gumby or whatever it's called," clarified Steve. It reminded him of a particular argument he had with Robin last year.

Nodding, she sucked in a breath. Even though he did try to be helpful and explain, it still didn't answer her question. Everything was always like that: people attempting to be helpful, but Lila always felt or knew she didn't have an answer to one thing she desired. The nagging thought made her feel out of place. "Thanks, Steve. That didn't answer my question at all."

Both of the men remembered what time of year, roughly what day it was. "It was —"

Dustin cut across, trying to salvage what he thought Steve would butcher, and irritate her further. "— When you were —"

"— Yeah, the —"

"— Yeah."

Their jumbled mess of words rearranged in her head. Everything always led back to the forth of July, whether she wanted it to or not. Before they could be enveloped in an uncomfortable silence, it was followed by a quiet comment from Lila. "Yeah."

Then the uncomfortable silence enveloped them. Dustin originally planned to talk to Steve about his undying, eternal love for Nancy and how he threw himself to be with her, but didn't want to come across as the same boy who would do everything he could to save Hawkins from the Upside Down and its monsters, but then ignored the struggles of the people affected by it. Instead, he risked what he never would've thought of before; asking her about it. "How has it. . . been for you, lately? Considering. . . it."