𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐧 𝐦𝐞 | steve harrington

001| how it all started

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IT SEEMED EVERYONE WAS WATCHING when Steve sent the red solo cup flying backwards, punch staining Nancy's perfectly white blouse. Time froze, eyes widened, laughs were stifled. The party went still when only moments ago, it had been suffocatingly noisy.

Steve grabbed her arm immediately, directing Nancy to the nearest bathroom. The door clicked shut with the pretence of privacy and then whispers broke out like wildlife. 'Did you see how drunk she was?', 'Looks like Harrington's lost again', 'she was never good enough for him anyway', 'think that means he's available', 'they haven't broken up yet'.

It seemed everyone knew that one of Hawkins most watched relationships was coming to an end. As though eying a sitcom, people had made predictions and preferences, casting bets onto a life that wasn't there's. This had been inevitable since the previous year, drawn out to help the fall. Of course gossiping never really had a beginning nor an end but Briar supposed it had started when the local cinema had been plastered with the words 'Nancy' and 'slut' in cracked red spray paint.

Briar had been watching from a distance sat on the counter next to the hob that had been turned on a dozen times by mindless idiots with nothing better to do than become the local fire hazard. She was drinking orange juice, kicking the wooden heel of her platform boots into the cupboards behind her.

"Shame isn't it?" She asked as she sipped her orange juice, "I liked Nancy"

"No but he's a Gemini and she's a Sagittarius so realistically it was never going to work anyway" Clover replied, her eyes were trained on a moth crawling along the ceiling, it's brown fabric wings closed in on itself, mottled patterns like tea leaves in her eyes.

"You know I don't understand that" Briar frowned, "anyway, I liked Nancy"

This wasn't a lie. Steve Harrington had seen a number of girls, they all had a similar essence about them. First of all, they were pretty much always brunette. One girl, Kaylee Salders, had actually dyed her hair in hopes of catching his attention, it hadn't worked. Briar didn't know whether it was a conscious choice to date girls with hair like chestnuts or coco powder, whether he liked the warmth and comfort, the reminder of fall and all its essence. Regardless, Briar never usually liked them.

Relationships were complex, not thought through and the majority of the time girls had shields around them and henceforth around Steve. It meant they were pulled apart because of jealousy and the desire to be better, a better boyfriend, a better lover. No faults, no mistakes. This time, he'd do it right.

Steve Harrington had been Briar Reeves best friend since kindergarten and that wasn't going to change. Tuesdays and Thursdays were for them no matter the chaos of Steve's relationship status and occasionally he slipped up, chose girls over her but Briar never cared from the perspective of a friend because it was reasonable she supposed. After all, these girls felt threatened by the closeness of the friends, the knowledge they held for one another and maybe they were right to be because all the while they held hands, kissed under the ledges of skull rock or watched stars by lovers lake, Briar was secretly praying they'd do something wrong, that Steve wouldn't see their appeal anymore.

Nancy Wheeler had been different, she hadn't felt threatened by Briar. In fact, they'd gotten along. Briar couldn't pretend that she didn't envy the girl just like she did with every doe eyed female that strode to take her best friends arm but she had enjoyed their study dates and small conversations. The time they'd all gone skating together, Briar with Clover so she wouldn't feel like the most stereotypical third wheel there was.