find me . steve harrington

6. show.

{edited, july 28th 2022, line change (doesn't affect plot)}

let's just say taya did not wake up on time. she realized this when dustin stood in her room, fully dressed, shoes on, backpack ready.
"taya? you're going to be late!" he yelled, shutting the door behind him as he rushed to get on his bike. taya immediately got up and ran to her closet. she picked out some blue jeans and a red jacket. she threw them on and put her shoes on. she grabbed her bag and dragged it into the hallway. she washed her face and brushed her teeth. she grabbed a banana from the kitchen counter and left. she locked the door behind her and put the keys back in her bag. jonathan's car wasn't there, which meant she had to walk, well run. she her watch read 6:56, her first class started at 7:10. the school was about a mile away, which meant if taya kept a good walking pace, she could make it without sweating.

she arrived at the school at 7:08. ran inside to her class, 7:09. stepped foot in class, 7:10. she went to the back and took her seat. barb gave her a look of concern, taya would tell her later.
"class, if i'm being completely honest, i have no work for you before spring break so um you guys can just chatter amongst yourselves." the teacher spoke, eyeing down the class. the moment he broke eye contact, everyone started talking.
"why were you so late?" barb asked.
"i woke up about," she hesitated, looking at the clock, "24 minutes ago."
"what?" barb exclaimed, "you're joking."
"nope, dustin woke me up."
"damn, you need to invest in a better alarm clock." she chuckled.
"yeah.." taya said, glancing over towards steve. barb caught her eye.
"what's going on with you two?"
"huh," she looked back up at barb, "nothing."
"taya, don't lie to me." barb stated.
"we almost kissed last night, i think, i don't know but dustin knocked on my door and steve left."
"he was in you house?" barb questioned, slightly too loud, a few heads turned. taya shushed her.
"i don't think he wants everyone in our business. so keep it down." she whispered.
"oh okay." barb replied, "you guys have 'our business'!" both girls started giggling, her eyes caught steve again.

the day moved by pretty slowly, seeing as taya was so excited to be with steve later. when lunch came, taya immediately gushed to jonathan and nancy about last night.
"oh my god taya!" nancy practically squealed. taya let out a laugh at this.
"be careful around him taya, i don't know if i entirely trust him yet."
"well you don't have to." taya replied, rolling her eyes, "i do. and he's a good guy."
"yeah, okay." jonathan scowled. nancy patted him on the arm, and he loosened his face. she gave him a certain look and they ran off.
"probably off to make out." barb said, finally glancing up from her book.
"oh yeah." she laughed. the bell rang, signaling lunch was over. taya dumped her tray and grabbed her bag, exiting the cafeteria. she made her way to her fifth period. taya sat down in her usual seat, when someone sat next to her. she looked up to see tina, one of steve's friends. taya ignored her looking back down at her desk, when tina snapped at her.
"hey." she whispered. taya reluctantly looked back up.
"i don't know what you're trying to accomplish with steve, but forget it, he'd never go for someone like you."
"well he already did." taya replied, sinking in her chair. the bell rang, tina scoffed will turning to the front. the teacher handed out their assignment, which taya started reluctantly. all she could really think about was steve. this is embarrassing. taya watched the clock, per usual. next thing she knew she was on her way to her last period of the day. 56 more minutes until she could see him. taya smiled to herself. the minute she sat down in her seat, jonathan profusely apologized.
"i'm sorry. i really don't know why i keep doing it. it's like i can't control it. i don't want you to get hurt."
"yeah it's fine jonathan, but i can take care of myself." she shrugged.
"i know you can."

taya stayed silent for the majority of the class, seeing as jonathan was developing his photos of nancy and she hadn't even started. she thought of ideas but couldn't really come up with anything. she'd have to just figure it out along the way. the moment she had been waiting so long for, had come. she rushed out of class to where she was supposed to meet him. there was a table in the woods, not far from the track. she sat down anxiously waiting. 5 minutes went by, nothing. 10, nothing. 15, still nothing. there was a noise in the bushes behind her, she turned around quickly expecting steve.
"eddie?" she asked, too far away to tell.
"taya?" he questioned back, "what are you doing here?" taya felt slightly embarrassed. she held up her camera.
"i was supposed to take pictures of steve for my project, but he never showed i guess." she got up to walk away, when eddie said.
"you know, you could take some of me." he smiled. taya spun on her heels.
"really?" she exclaimed, "that'd be great!"
"yeah, it's not a problem." he laughed. the two of them made it deeper in the forest. eddie climbed into a tree.
"how's it look from down there?" he yelled. taya held the camera to her eye.
"perfect! hold still!" she hollered back. the shutter clicked a few times, signaling eddie to come back down.
"looking good munson." taya joked.
"thank you m'lady." he chuckled. she led him to a small river, with a log draping across.
"okay, so what i'm thinking is i get shots from both angles. so if you could get on the log and face away." she requested. he obeyed, climbing atop of it. he balanced himself with his arms, almost slipping a few times.
"great! okay now if you want to come back, i'll get across." they switched positions, taya got to the other side safely, while eddie got on again. things were going well until his foot was misplaced, and he fell into the river.

"oh my god!" taya yelled, rushing over, "are you okay?" the bottom of the stream was full on sharp rocks. eddie got up, his face was cut up, along with this hands.
"i'm okay." he grunted.
"i'm so sorry, this is all my fault, i shouldn't have let you help-"
"taya."
"it was stupid."
"taya."
"you can never talk to me-"
"taya!" he finally grabbed her attention, "i'm fine. it's just a scratch. i'm not mad at you." he let out a laugh.
"oh." she replied, "let's go back to my house, i can clean it up."
"i'm fine really."
"eddie please, i feel bad enough." she begged.
"okay." he reluctantly agreed. they got back to the school, but since taya didn't have a car they had to take eddie's. he took out the keys and taya immediately grabbed them from him.
"hey!" eddie yelled.
"i'm driving." she stated, getting in the drivers seat.
"no you're not, henderson." he tried to pull her out of the car.
"yes i am."
"fine." he complained, going to the other side. once he got in she started the car and pulled out of the lot. after a long ride of eddie wincing and taya apologizing, they made it back to her house. she opened the front door and led eddie to her room.
"wait here." she said, heading to the bathroom to get some rubbing alcohol and other stuff.
"woah, who are you?" she heard dustin exclaim. she ran out of the bathroom with all the stuff in her hand.
"he's a friend, now go away." taya spoke, giving him a look. he walked away without another word, but she could tell he was still watching. she shut the door behind her, with her foot seeing as her hands were full. she set everything on the ground and started to pour the alcohol on a washcloth.
"hold still." taya said, while getting to sit up on the bed with him. she moved the cloth along the cuts, while eddie tried to move away. he whined but taya just kept going. finally, he grabbed her hand.
"ow." he stated, eyes watering.
"i'm sorry." she frowned, "i'll be gentiler." she started dabbing at the wounds until they were sufficiently cleaned. she then grabbed his hands and did the same. eddie practically yelped.
"oh my fuck it burns!" he screamed, trying to pull his hands away.
"i'm almost done." she pulled his hands back. he let out a sigh of relief as she finally set down the rag. she picked up some bandage from the floor and started to wrap his hands. he groaned, seeing as how tight she wrapped it.
"honestly, it's not even that bad you don't need to wrap-" his voice was cut off when she put pressure on it.
"not that bad, huh?" she grimaced.
"oh shut up." he rolled his eyes.
"make me." she joked. he turned to her and pushed her off the bed. he laughed, taya didn't. she landed on a thumbtack which had unfortunately come loose from the wall. taya winced. she got up and showed him the scratch, running down her forearm.
"oh shit, are you okay?" eddie asked, stopping his laughter.
"yeah i'm fine, i just need a bandaid."
"i think you need some rubbing alcohol too." he rushed forward and grabbed her. she yelled, telling him to let go, but was stopped by her giggles. he "cleaned" the wound, while taya dug her fingers into eddie's wrist.
"not that bad, huh?" he mocked her. taya just laughed. eddie got up, it was late. she walked him to the door and waved goodbye. he drove off. she turned around to dustin.
"who was that?"
"eddie."
"well what did you, eddie, and steve do?" dustin asked.
"what?" she turned around.
"i saw steve's car pull up, what'd you all do."
"oh fuck." taya ran back to her room, without answering dustin and dialed steve's number.
"hello?"
"steve, hi." taya said. the line died. she dialed it again.
"what could you possibly want?" he said in an annoyed tone.
"dustin said you came over, why didn't you say hi?" she asked.
"because you were with that guy, so why don't you just run back to your new boyfriend." he spat.
"steve! it's not like that!" she exclaimed. he sighed into the phone.
"oh right like i'm supp-" he started.
"he was helping me take pictures, the pictures you didn't show up to." taya had almost forgot.
steve started to say something, when she cut him off.
"is this just a stupid bet? i fall for you and you win? i'm not playing harrington. so go be with tina or whoever else fits your dumb ass standards. goodbye." she hung up.

taya went and got in the shower, she sat down and just cried. she felt stupid, did she really think someone like steve harrington could ever like her? he wasn't going to make her feel like this, she stood up and finished showering. after she dried off and got dressed she sat in her bed. she didn't really know what to do, it was only 9 o'clock. she picked up the phone and called jonathan's. but will picked it up. taya started crying again.
"byers." will said.
"hey buddy, can you put jonathan on." she sniffed.
"taya? are you okay?" he asked with a tone of concern.
"yeah, yeah, i'm alright."she heard him yell to jonathan, who then picked up the phone.
"you were right, you were so right." jonathan hung up the phone. taya removed it from her ear, shocked. she slammed the phone down and just started sobbing. moments later a knock came on her window. it was him. she let jonathan in and he immediately pulled her into a hug. taya tried to speak but he just shushed her. little did they both know, steve was watching.

a/n: this chapter might be kinda rushed but i'm not going to be able to start writing again for two days so i wanted to get something out!!