𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙧𝙮 𝙥𝙤𝙥! 𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙫𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙩𝙤𝙣

SCENE TWENTY. ceiling staring

when steve and robin knocked on the parker household door. mary opened the door fairly quickly, having been sat in the front room watching that the hunt for munson was still on the news.

"steve." mary smiled, noticing him. she had not expected to find her daughter being held up between them, her skin deathly white and shocked ridden face.

"what happened?" she cried, inviting them in. the warmth of the living room surrounded them. robin loved the parker house. it was so warm and loving even if it were just the two girls. the living room was a soft brown in colour, the lights a warm white. plants bursting the room with life. the chairs were a dark brown suede and had fluffy white pillows. robin glanced at steve, does she know about what happened in the mall? and he nodded, almost as if he heard her. but she didn't know about the new wave of trouble in hawkins. robin startled rambling over her words trying to find a normal reasonable explainabletion for this. there wasn't one. so instead she went tight lipped. steve mentioning how they were going to take piper to her room.

"are you two staying the night? shall i order food? pizza? chinese? an indian? what tickles fancy?'' mary spoke. panicking, last time she had seen her daughter like this. her heart nearly flatlined.

"pizza."

"pizza, i can do that.'' she scrambled, heading to the kitchen for a leaflet to order whilst steve and robin pulled piper to her room. the girl remained cold on the spot. even when they piled sheets and pillows into the room. the girl had wanted to fall asleep on the floor, some kind of fear of rolling off the bed into the curse. so she lay snuggled against the bed. the pile of sheets between the three. arrangements of pillows from the bed sheet cupboard. she had long since fallen asleep. changing into a tank top and shorts. she had also handed some sweats to robin. and steve noticed that his drawer was still full. she hadn't touched it. when they were dating she allocated him a drawer. it had sprays, clothes and snacks. even roin couldn't help but brighten up at the action. he even noticed the yellow jumper she had bought him when they went on a date outside of hawkins.

"do you love her?" robin mumbled, leaning against piper's teddy. it was an elephant with heart cheeks. it was called ellie or something.

"no." he spat, pulling his eyes from piper and leaning to look up at the ceiling. the glow stars stuck above them.

"steve." robin mumbled softly. his voice was the softest he ever heared, it made him want to cry.

"head over heels." he grumbled, admitting that he still had feelings for the girl who liked cherries. he didn't want to like her still, he had broken her.

"then tell her the truth. you're killing each other here steve."

"tell her the truth?" he cried, rolling over to face robin. she sat up. knees to her chest. a brown sheet covering her. her face was kind. knowing.

"no, no. i broke her heart. i don't deserve to love her again." he replied, watching as a piece of hair fell over the girl's face. instinctively reaching out to tuck it behind her ear. the girl softly groaned before rolling over to face him.

"just don't wait too long to tell her." he found himself nodding as he stared at the girl's sleep-ridden face. skin flushed pink from earth, eyelashes gently resting on the lightly freckled cheeks. lips slightly parted, breaths escaping as her chest rose and fell.

"steve.' 'robin whispered, voice getting softer every time she spoke. it hurt him. the constant reminder of what he did.

"i know." he practically cried, turning to face the wall. the cherry scent tickling his nose on her sheets. he ignored the sting of tears, he didn't deserve this. he didn't deserve her, neither did the girls. robin was his unlikely best friend. she was kind, smarter than she led on and was just overall amazing. and piper, oh piper. she was the golden rays of sun in the morning. she was feeling excited when it snowed for the first time. he wanted to cry, to let it out. tell her how much he loved her, how he held his breath when she talked. how he always felt how warm he made her. but boys don't cry, his fathers words. so he held it in. let her think he never loved her. she could live her life then. because all steven harrington was good for was trouble. and she needed good, she needed anything but him.

so he laid, he never fell asleep. hearing robin's snores as well as piper's soft breaths. he wanted to make sure nothing happened, if it were to come back he'd make sure he'd be there to stop it. because of piper, he would do anything just to make sure she's okay.