𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙧𝙮 𝙥𝙤𝙥! 𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙫𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙩𝙤𝙣

SCENE THIRTY TWO. sweet dreams

soft music plays from the radio, the rv no longer jerks around. inside steve drives smoothly. hands no longer gripping the wheel, instead only using it to guide the car on the road.

"an expert in rv driving, is there anything steven harrington can't do?" piper finally speaks and steve glances over to her. when they were in max's place she had changed clothes. not much of her clothes she changed. she still wore the same boots and jeans. she found herself glad that she had clothes left over at max's from their last hangout. she wore a sweater, a tight red sweater that made her cheeks looked flushed. it was a half zip and she had it unzipped. he could see the scratch marks on the curves of her boobs. his eyes snapping up to grin at her. cause girls look better in a really tight sweater, especially piper he noted.

"well it's not half bad, considering that this is a house." he chuckled lightly, eyes trailing back to the open road. still as barren as ever. a long stretch of road which seemingly stretched into the trees before.

"a real man of the house." she giggled and he found himself nodding, chuckling once more.

"yeah, you know what. i know it's silly but i've always had this dream that i'd have this really big family."

"i'm talking like full brood of haringtons."

"oh my god."

"yeah like five, six kids?"

"six kids? you're insane harrington." she screamed, roaring with laughter. him chuckling with her.

"yeah, six little nuggets. three girls and three boys."

"you can't just pick and choose, steve." she chuckled and he particularly glared before continuing.

"zip it. and every summer, i figured all of us harringtons. we would pack into something like this. and just see the country. before ending up in some beachside town in california. spend a week parked in the sand."

"sounds beautiful." she mumbled softly, and they all watched as a smile lifted onto steve's face. almost like he was glad to hear her say it.

"yeah?"

"yeah."

"god, they're disgusting." dustin whispered to the rest of the group. lucas, max, robin, nancy, eddie, erica, and dustin himself sat gawking at the two's interactions. as if they were watching a couple talking on the tv.

"it's cute." max spoke softly, watching piper's soft eyes trail over steve's dirtied face. love. the look of love etched evidently on her face, for everyone to see.

"six children, poor piper." erica hissed. nance chuckled softly.

"shut up." eddie cried, hussing the group as he motioned back to the couple. he was jealous, of course. but he would never be her steven harrington. he had heard the tales of dustin. a night in the elevator. fighting a literal russian guard just to hope she's okay. he could never be loved by her the way she loves him.

"of course, minus the six children. that part sounds brutal for future mrs harrington. but i reckon you'd be good."

"if only i had some practice." he comments next and she chuckles. looking back over her shoulder to the group. who were suspiciously sat close and whispering. the group who snapped back into separate seats and pretend to look around as she looked back.

"what's your dream?" steve asked softly as she turned back to face the road. the music switching over. 'slipping through my fingers' started singing from the radio ever so lightly. and she pondered. what was her dream, did he mean her dream future? dream life? or something so impossible she could only ever dream. he was her dream.

"my dream. my dream is to be happy." she whispered softly. she did want to be happy. but she didn't know what it would need. she needed her brother, she needed max to be okay. she needed steve, and her dad. she needed so much to be happy, yet she didn't really. plus, it does not do well to dwell on dreams and forget to live. something her brother had always told her. something he needed to listen to himself.

"happy? are you not happy, pip?" steve voice is soft with pity. and she takes a deep breath, sighing almost.

"i'm going to die, ste." and he nodded. he knew she was in trouble, but for her to think she was going to die? it hurt, and he didn't even know why. she couldn't die, not her. not now. he needed her.

"i won't let you."

"steve piss off, i'm going to switch with nancy. give her this speech." she snarked, something seemingly flicking in her mind as her eyes growing dark as she started to stand. a hand reaching to grab her cold skin. he was so warm, so comforting.

"she's not you." he whispered.

"what?" and she fell back into the chair. staring dumbfounded at steve harringotn, who's eyes no longer seemed to care about the road. instead he stared at her, so everingly lovingly. it was sickening. a look of enchanted upon his face, as if he were enchanted to meet her in the first place.

"she. isn't. you."