Time After Time {Steve Harrington x OC}

7

Sadie loved Halloween. 

Theoretically. 

She loved the idea of it. Of dressing up and going trick or treating or partying with your friends. She loved candy and chocolate and the way that every house made sure to turn on their porch light. She loved scary movies and the fall foliage and carving pumpkins. 

Theoretically. 

It turned out, as Sadie and Caroline went on a search Tuesday afternoon for pumpkins to carve, that every single pumpkin farm in the area had been wiped out with some type of fungus or something. So no luck on keeping up that tradition. 

Also, while Sadie had loved autumn in Washington, Oregon, DC, and even Nebraska, there was something about Fall in Hawkins that was just...dreary. There was no other way to put it. The trees were as gorgeous as anywhere else, but the ever-present sense of foreboding really put a damper on things.  And seeing those dead, rotting pumpkins only added to that sunken feeling in Sadie's gut. 

But this year Sadie was invited to a party. This year she had a friend to go with and coordinate costumes. So she got some of the Halloween experience. 

Before her first shift at the General Store, she and Caroline baked snickerdoodles and added the last touches to their costumes. 

"I can't believe someone got The Shining before us. I've been on the waitlist at the video store for weeks." Caroline grumbled as she cut some pink ribbons, "I mean how are we supposed to perfect our costumes without an actual reference?"

"Thank god I've got a photographic memory," Sadie said through a mouthful of snickerdoodle. "Otherwise we'd be fucked." 

"Oh, hey, I meant to tell you earlier but I forgot. I'm not going to be able to pick you up for the party tomorrow. Tina wants me to help set up and I figured that would mean better access to booze before things got too crazy. She said you can help too if you want, but if you want to show up at the actual time the party starts...you should probably bike. Or ask Harrington for a ride." Caroline said that last part with a smirk. 

"Yeah, no way in hell am I spending any time at that party when less than twenty people are there. I'll figure it out. You don't happen to have a bike pump do you?"

"Nope. I swore off bikes after I rode through a mud puddle on my way to school and Carol told everyone the stains were manure and that I smelled."

"The fact that you're still friends with her amazes me."

"Yeah, well, what's one more year?"

"I guess."

Caroline dropped Sadie off at the store, where she was trained by a middle-aged man that reminded her a lot of Mel, just a lot more boring. It was clear he didn't actually spend much time at the store since his tour consisted of him showing her down the wrong aisles more than once. 

Sadie soon found out that working at the General Store was boring as hell. Sure, the day before Halloween was plenty busy, but that meant that she was glued to her seat behind the checkout counter, swiping candy and plastic jack-o-lanterns over and over and over again. She swore she would quit the second she received her first paycheck and go back to Mel. Indoor guarding couldn't even be half as boring as this. 

Sadie sat at the lab table fidgeting with her notebook paper. She had one task today: find a ride to Tina's party. It wasn't very hard in theory--she knew who she had to ask. It was just that she wasn't very happy about who that was. And the amount of pride she was sacrificing just by asking. 

He plopped into the seat next to her two minutes after the bell rang. The only time Steve Harrington had been on time to class was the first day, and Sadie was pretty sure that had been a fluke.