𝐄𝐌𝐎𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐀𝐋 𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐂𝐔𝐄! ✽ 𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘁𝗼𝗻

29

❝𝐇𝐄 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐍 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇 𝐘𝐎𝐔?❞ steve asked with a cocked brow and his arms folded across his chest. sherrie was right when she had predicted he wouldn't move from her bed. his back pressed against her wall with his legs outstretched along the top of her rust bedspread.

"very stern. like, me stern, not will stern," sheridan responded, pacing at the end of her bed.

"sherrie-" steve huffed. he rolled his eyes and sat forward, preparing to give the girl the reality check she so rightly deserved.

"and he didn't say 'i love you'," dani confirmed, halting directly in front of steve. the boy's face dropped, and he leaned back again.

"oh."

"yeah."

"he always says 'i love you'."

"you think i don't know that, meathead?!" sheridan spat.

"dinner!" bob called from the kitchen. a sigh fell from sherrie's lips. she began to rub her temples, her eyes fluttering to a close.

"i guess that's my cue," steve began as he started to pack up his things. "tina's throwing that halloween party in a couple days, i think you deserve to blow off some steam for one night," the boy suggested. sherrie knew he meant well, but how could he possibly suggest she go out and party on her favorite night of the year? the day she's always spent with will, ever since he was born?

"you know i'm going as slimer for the boys," dani sighed. steve chuckled at the idea of her green outfit that she had shown him months prior. it had fallen on the backburner as she chipped away at the four boys' movie replica jumpsuits, but she was looking forward to it nonetheless.

"all i'm saying is, think it over," steve continued. he stood from her bed, and in front of her. he gazed down at her with a sympathetic yet almost longing look. "i'll see you later," he whispered.

"alright," sheridan whispered, her eyes still closed. and with that, steve was off.

✽

❝𝐈𝐓'𝐒 𝐉𝐔𝐒𝐓 𝐂𝐑𝐀𝐏 𝐀𝐍𝐘𝐖𝐀𝐘𝐒,❞ steve sighed in the passenger seat next to sherrie.

"it's not crap, steve!" the girl declared, a lit joint dangling from her mouth. "it just... needs a better connection," she explained through an exhale of the cigarette. "from the basketball game, which is also somehow a metaphor for your life, to your granddad's war experience? it doesn't make much sense to me," sheridan critiqued as she flipped through the sheets of notebook paper. steve snatched the essay from her hand.

"you're the last person i should be taking english advice from," he joked as he shoved the papers into his bookbag. the pair exited the vehicle, dani rubbing her doobie into the asphalt with her clog. she let out a dramatic scoff as she grabbed her orange corduroy backpack from the backseat.

"harsh!" sherrie exclaimed, to which steve chuckled. the two threw their bags over their shoulders and began to near the entrance of hawkins high school. from behind them came the roaring of an engine and a scorpions song blasting from the stereo. dani glanced over her shoulder to see who it possibly could've been, playing their music this loud at this hour; that was sheridan's signature move. clearly, whoever it was, they did not get the memo. a sharp blue chevy camaro came to a screeching halt only a few spots away from betsy. it was a car that she knew like the back of her hand, and the same applied to the driver. sheridan's eyes widened to the size of the car's headlights. "oh my god." she wrapped her arm around steve's and began to drag him towards the front doors.

"sherrie, what the hell-" steve asked. he attempted to peer over sherrie's head to see what possibly could've scared her that badly, but it was no use.

"just shut up and follow me," the girl demanded, shoving past other students into the school. before steve knew it, he was being thrown into the largest stall of the girl's bathroom. dani's bag drooped off her shoulder to the floor and she put her hands atop her head. she began to pace back and forth in front of the toilet.

"okay, can you please explain to me what the actual hell is going on?" steve pressed, his voice ridden with anxiety.

"that was billy hargrove," sherrie breathed out as she continued pacing. her hands gripped at her orange locks.

"who?!"

"billy hargrove," dani repeated. "i-i met him in california when i went to stay with my dad."

"what's so bad about-"

"i really don't feel like getting into it right now, but please just trust me when i tell you he's someone i don't wanna be around," sheridan pleaded quietly as she stopped and locked eyes with steve. silence hung thick in the air. steve knew that the quieter dani was, the more upset she was, as well. and as the pair stood in that bathroom stall, eyes locked, the past came flooding back to sheridan. meeting billy at the bodega around the corner from her dad's, partying with him, and him being the real reason for her early departure from california were only a few of the memories that came flooding back into her brain. her lips quivered. a tear drug itself down her cheek. steve's sour expression had drifted away effortlessly upon witnessing her reaction. he knew she hated him seeing her cry; she wouldn't allow herself to do so in front of him unless she physically could not contain her tears.

steve instantly wrapped his arms around sherrie. his hands traveled up and down her back as she cried into his sweater, leaving dark spots of tears and snot. dani had told him briefly about what happened to her dad, edward shaffer: he'd gotten drunk, got into a car accident, died upon impact. everything was left to her, which was how she got betsy, a car that she couldn't even bring herself to drive until years afterward because she was terrified of the same thing happening to her. she firmly believed that he drank that night because sherrie's leaving brought him to do so. steve didn't know sheridan had been driven away from her dad—and california entirely—because of a boy named billy hargrove. her past was coming back to bite her in the ass. "it's okay, sherrie," steve whispered into her ear. "he's not gonna touch you so long as i'm around. you have me. you'll always have me."

✽