The Boy Next Door - Steddie

6

It was around six in the morning when Steve woke up. Not the best sleep he's had but for now he'll just have to deal with it. On Saturdays he would go to the school gym and practice with his teammates before a big game. Steve was used to waking up around this time in a way it gave him a piece of mind.

The curtains were still closed making his room look extremely dark. Steve was still on edge about everything he saw last night, he'll probably never know what took place last night and he was perfectly fine with that. He walked over to the window and slowly pulled his curtains apart. Steve couldn't see anything in Eddie's room or anyone at that.

With a satisfied feeling coming over Steve, he started gathering his clothes for practice. He wanted to distract himself as much as possible this weekend. At least long enough where he wasn't going to see Eddie in awhile.

After getting ready Steve went downstairs expecting an empty kitchen, except he was met with both of his parents being sitting at the table enjoying their tea. Steve could live without the small talk at the moment but he didn't really have a choice.

"You guys are up early." Steve said while walking to the fridge. He grabbed some cereal a long with milk and made himself a bowl.

"We wanted to catch you before you left." Steve's dad said with a displeased expression on his face. His mom was unreadable and that was terrifying depending on what Steve has done this week.

"Is there a problem?" Steve asked as he sat down at the table. They looked at each other before looking at Steve again. Now he was becoming anxious about what was going on, he didn't like that they were talking about him while he wasn't present.

"No there's not a problem. We're just-"

"We're worried about you sweetheart." Steve's mom chimed in. She held Steve's free hand while smiling softly. "You've been a little distant lately."

"I haven't been distant." Steve shook his head and he laughed. He thought it was joke until their faces wasn't changing at all. Steve caught on that this was something they've discussed for awhile and he was going to be able to avoid it for a short amount of time.

"Have everything been ok at school? You know you can talk to us about anything." Steve's mom tightened her grip on his hand. He heard the words come out and none of them were registering in his brain. Steve loved his parents dearly but if they knew what he was thinking about this entire week, their response would be different.

"I'm gonna be late to practice." Steve stood up not even bothering to finish his half empty bowl. He took his car keys and off he was to school. Now there was something else to his list since today was all about distracting himself. Basketball was something he enjoyed so he didn't have to think about much when he played.

When he got there most of teammates were there already and some were on their way. Steve sat on the bleachers trying to get into the mindset of what was needed on the court. He heard a few side conversations that wasn't worth joining until he heard something interesting.

"She was with Eddie last night.." One of the players said. Steve could barley hear what was being said and he didn't want to be obvious so he had to deal with it.

"Jason isn't going to like that."

Steve understood that very clearly. If he had to describe what was going on in Eddie's room it would be impossible. Steve just wanted to know what is Jason not going to like, Chrissy being at Eddie's house in the first place would be understandable. There was more to this story that Steve needed to figure out and now wasn't the time.

After a few minutes of waiting all the other teammates came in, including Jason. Steve watched him walk into the gym with his head held high like he always do. He inserted himself into the conversation with the other players. Steve was waiting for him to react angrily to what they were talking about but that never happened.

"Alright boys get changed into your gym clothes!" The coach's voice boomed as he entered from a back room. Steve got up from the bleachers and walked into the locker room. He tried to listen to what was being said as he opened up his locker to get his clothes. Steve couldn't make out anything because their was too many voices talking at once. He got dressed while trying to push what he heard out of his mind, that was going to be hard to do.

-

"Harrington get your head in the game!" The coach yelled from across the gym. Steve was missing his shots from every angle and it was easy for the other players to take the ball away from him which caused more yelling from the sidelines.

"You're out Harrington!" The coach pointed to the bleachers. Steve threw the ball on the ground aggressively earning a warning from the coach. He was really out of it today and his main goal for today wasn't going as planned. The last thing Steve wanted was something that he enjoyed was now irritating him.

Practice went on until noon and Steve preformed terribly during every second of it. He was starting to get dirty looks from everyone every time it was his turn to have the ball. When Steve was able to sit in his car all by himself the breath he was holding had finally come out.

In the parking lot majority of his teammates went to their cars that were scattered throughout and some walked home instead. Except Jason stayed back and went behind the school, leaving Steve's sight. He found that strange since around this time the school would be getting locked up.

Steve saw Jason come from the back of the school pretty quickly but he wasn't alone this time. The last person Steve wanted to see today was walking a long side Jason and causally talking. They were walking to Jason's car, not paying attention to Steve's car being the only one left. Eddie was halfway across the parking lot when he looked at Steve's car and stopping in his tracks.

Steve started to have that feeling in his chest when their eyes met. Eddie said something to Jason before changing his direction and started walking towards Steve's car very quickly. Steve's mind went blank as he fumbled around for his car keys, he did not want to look Eddie in the face right now.

"Come on man!" Steve put his hands in his pockets trying to find his keys. Before Steve could find his keys there was a knock on his window. When he looked up Eddie was looking into the car with a smirk on his face. Eddie motioned his index finger downward letting Steve know that he should roll down the window.

Steve hesitated at first but he did it nonetheless. As the window rolled down Eddie rested his arms on the car door and leaned down with his head almost inside of Steve's car.

"In a rush, Harrington?" Eddie dragged Steve's name in a playful tone. Steve avoided eye contact, his face was heating up for no reason. He shook his head to give some type of response instead of just sitting there.

"I was going to get a ride with Carver but something came up," Eddie tapped his ring on the inside of Steve's car making him look at Eddie. "Mind if I ride with you?"

-

Hope y'all enjoyed this part!! Thank you for reading 😁❤️