Sunflower || Steve Harrington

Arborvitae

ARBORVITAE:
Unchanging and Everlasting Friendship,

Ever since the events of the last year, Steve Harrington and Nancy Wheeler had been inseparable. They were the perfect high school couple: the jock and the nerd, so to say. They were sickeningly adorable for the most part, and Bowie Rogers was bored of it.

    At first, it was nice, he supposed. Steve finally had something to do other than bugging him. Then it got lonely. His brothers were at their various colleges, and his parents were working all most all of the time. They made time for him, but not enough to take up all of the space he would've been with Steve for.

     But Bowie would say nothing. He couldn't say anything because it would make his best friend upset- and he wasn't that kind of person.

     It was Steve's senior year, and because it was October, he was having to start his essays for college. At first, he had asked Bowie for help with his grammar, but soon just let Nancy do it for him.

     He found it easier that way. Steve didn't want to overwhelm Bowie with more work on top of his own. It was his senior year too after all.

     "It's crap, I know." Steve complained, in regards to another one of his essays. The writing was scrawly, barely legible, and the language was that of a nine-year-old. Bowie would have ripped him to shreds over it.

   Nancy didn't. "It's not crap."

  "It's not good."

  "It's going to be. Just... it needs some reorganising." The Harrington boy sighed at his girlfriends words. Weren't things like this supposed to be easier? "Can I mark on it?"

  "Yeah, I guess."

     Steve talked his fingers in the steering wheel of his car. It was slightly more interesting and though provoking than, what was essentially, another English lesson. He had enough of those a week anyway. Or, he would if he actually attended most of them... any of them.

     "So, in the first paragraph, you used the basketball game verses Northern as a metaphor for you life, which is great." Nancy praised. But then, around here, you start talking about your grandads experiences in the war. And I-" She stammered. "I don't see how they're connected."

  "It connects because... because, you know, we both won." Steve sighed, rubbing his forehead, not daring to touch his hair. "Bowie said it was shit, man. Do you think I should start from scratch?"

  "No, I mean... when's the deadline?"

  "It's tomorrow for early application." He gulped. "Can you come by and help me tonight?"

  "We have our dinner tonight, remember?"

  And as soon as Nancy reminded him, he groaned. "Oh my God!"

  "We already cancelled last week." She pondered, rather despondently. "You don't have to go. Just work on this."

  "No, no, no. What's the point?" Steve crumpled up the paper in his hands and threw it down onto the dashboard.

  The Wheeler girl did her best to sooth him, though it was feeble. "Hey, calm down."

  "I'm calm. I'm calm." He repeated. It was just as if he kept telling him that it would make it true. "I'm just being honest. You know, I mean... I'm just gonna end up working for my Dad anyway."