HIGHER and HIGHER - Steve Harrington x Reader

xiii - d'artagnan

— 𝐃'𝐀𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐠𝐧𝐚𝐧 —

I WOKE up to the sound of hammering and looked over at my alarm clock.

"Shit. Shit, shit, shit!" I yelled.

I threw the covers off of me and jumped out of bed. I don't think I've ever gotten ready for school so fast in my life. I grabbed my bag quickly and ran out of my room.

"(Y/N), what are you doing?" My dad said to me.

"My alarm didn't go off." I say, "Why didn't you wake me up?"

He looks at me with a hammer in one hand and shrugs his shoulders.

"What the hell are you doing?" I ask, motioning towards his hammer.

"Boarding up the windows from last night." He says.

I look over at Eleven's door and frown. I look back at my dad as he sets his hammer down.

"Could you give me a ride?" I ask.

He nods and then looks over at Eleven's door. He walks over to her shut door and stands outside of it.

"Hey, kid. Listen, um... about last night, I, uh..." He pauses for a moment, "I want this place cleaned up by the time I get back and then maybe I'll consider fixing the TV. You hear me?"

He walks past me to the front door and I look at him in disbelief.

"Let's go." He says.

We walk outside and I grab my bike off of the ground and take it to his truck. He opens the back for me and I throw it inside. I get in the car and shut the door and he drives down the path and to the road.

The car ride is quiet for the most part, despite the soft sound of music playing on the radio.

"You know, you have to let it go." I say to him.

He looks at me for a second and then back to the road.

"Let what go?" He asks.

"Your pain."

He scoffs.

"I'm not in pain." He says.

I shake my head.

"All I'm saying is you don't have to be a hard-ass all the time just because you miss Sara." I pause, then continue, "I miss her, too, but I've learned to let it go."

He stays quiet and I don't talk until we get to the school. He parks and opens the trunk for me and I grab my bike. Before I walk into the school, I turn around and look at him.

"I love you, dad."

He softly smiles at me and I can see the pain in his heart just begging to be released.

"Love you too, kid."

I turn around and put my bike in the rack and then I make my way inside the school. I breeze through my classes, despite missing my first period, and go to my locker. I hadn't seen Jonathan or Nancy all day, so I assumed they were still doing what they set off to do yesterday, lord knows what that is. I put all of my books in my locker and walk outside. I grab my bike and set off to the Wheeler's to see if Nancy was there.