Me, Myself, and Her

Chapter Sixty-One

Chapter Sixty-One: Come Back... Be Here

The group took Nancy's car, considering Steve's would fit the entire group. Nancy drove, Robin took the passenger seat, Max and Annie took the second row, leaving the boys to the back of her station wagon.

It was a weird drive to the Creel house. Long, too. Annie had her music on loop in her ears. Steve didn't like her taking them off at all, not even when they were planning. She still did, though, but the second they were done Steve was getting them back on.

They hurt her head, though. On the drive, Annie messed with them, trying to find a different way to wear the headphones that would hurt her head so much.

Max looked over at her girlfriend. "Would you like any help, Barbie?" she asked quietly, smiling.

Annie looked over and smiled. "I definitely would," she answered. Despite the volume of her music, Annie kept her voice at a decent volume in the car.

"C'mere," Max said, and the girls shuffled closer together. Annie let Max move her around, which landed her head on Red's shoulder with the girl's hand in between her head and the headphones.

"My struggle is how they sit on my head for such a long time, so I think this might help," Max said.

Annie smiled and allowed her eyes to slip shut. She let out a content hum and actually felt herself relaxing for a minute.

In front, Nancy snuck a glance back at the girls. While it looked funny, Max's hand being on top of Annie's head like that, it was overall really cute. Max's fingers made weird little circles and patterns in an attempt to relax her girlfriend. It seemed to work.

Sadly, the drive was over too soon for Annie's liking. She could feel the car starting to slow to a stop, so she opened her eyes and started to move like she were getting up. Max went ahead and carefully moved her hand.

"Did it work?" Max asked, unbuckling when Nancy put it in park.

Annie nodded. "Yeah, it actually did... thank you," she said.

Everyone exited the car and gathered to stare at the Creel house. "Yeah, that's not creepy," Steve commented.

Chills seemed to run down Annie's spine as she looked at the house. "It's definitely the kind of house we're looking for, though," she said, looking over at Steve.

He nodded in agreement, but then added, "You should be blasting that music so loud you can't hear me."

She rolled her eyes. "Trust me, Steve, it's loud enough."

"Children, please stop fighting. Can we go inside now?" Dustin asked. The Harrington sibling's didn't respond, instead they just made faces and nodded.

They went up to the door, which had wood nailed over it. Nancy and Steve used a couple hammers they brought to remove all the nails one by one.

"What exactly are we looking for in this shit-hole?" Steve asked, pulling another nail out.

Nancy shrugged as she pulled one out. "Not exactly sure. We just know this house is important to Vecna."

"Because Annie saw it in Vecna's red soup mind world?" he asked.

"Basically."

Steve mumbled something else, but Dustin started talking and was a bit louder. "Maybe it holds a clue to where Vecna is. Why he's back. Why he killed the Creels. And how to stop him before he comes back for Annie."

"We... don't think he's in here... do we?" Lucas asked. Annie looked over at him, and then back to the door, a newfound dread pooling in her stomach.

Max swallowed, then shrugged as if she weren't suddenly thinking that was about to happen. "Guess we'll find out," she said.