𝐎𝐍𝐋𝐘 𝐈𝐍 𝐇𝐀𝐖𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐒

four

after sam had hugged steve outside of tina's party, she had tried to play it off as if it was a 'spontaneous' thing to do. and what was worse than hugging him was that she actually wanted to be there for him, and found herself hugging him in a need for his happiness. she wanted steve to be happy; but she didn't know if it was just out of care for him as a friend.

immediately after the hug, sam had stiffed out a laugh and awkwardly shuffling away from him. steve had a soft look in his eyes, almost as if he viewed sam as a delicate angel. nobody ever looked at sam the way steve looked at her just now. she didn't know if she liked that or not.

on one hand, it meant that he cared about her, which made her feel a lot less uncomfortable with caring for his need of happiness. but, on the other hand, it meant that steve saw her as something, most didn't.

sam was quick to hop off of the hood of steve's car, briefly looking over at him. "happy halloween." she smiled, walking over to her own car before he could reply.

while sam was driving home thinking about her moment with steve harrington, she began to think about other things as well. like how her mom would react to her being out at a party, or how was max's trick-or-treating went.

it seemed more thoughts popped up in her head in efforts to distract her from the reoccurring one. why did i feel so happy around him? she thought.

sam wondered into her house quietly, and stumbled into her room.
she was met with a very awake max, eating her candy waiting on sam.

"what are you doing up still? it's 11 o'clock." sam wondered aloud.

"waiting on you. tell me about the party." max pushed.

"well, it certainly was a party." sam sighed before continuing, "how was your trick-or-treating?"

"i mean it was good. except some of the boys think all californian's say is 'totally tubular'." max giggled.

"that's...interesting." sam giggled along with her sister.

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

the next day at school, sam immediately ran into steve. she had just been walking to her locker to find steve waiting there for her. "this isn't your locker..." she questioned, grabbing certain books and such.

"figured i would walk with the mystery new girl." steve said as he smiled, leaning against some other lockers. "i am not mysterious, harrington." sam scoffed, shutting her locker. "you know i really appreciated last night." steve said, changing the subject immediately.

sam shook her head, unable to help the small smile that spread on her cheeks at his gratitude. "well nobody should be upset on halloween. it's the best holiday of the year." she said, referring to her statement last night.

the school day was as long and tedious as always, but sam couldn't avoid the way steve stared at her in the hallway. or the way he smiled at her when she walked by him. what was he doing? she couldn't help but wonder if he always does this to girls, or if he, too, had developed a slight connection to her after their conversation on his car hood.

a figure appeared on the locker next to sam's brought her out of her concentration, slightly, making her look up to see steve, who had lightly hunched his shoulder onto the locker so that he was looking at her. "i talked to nancy." he informed sam, who had gone back to her books.

"what did she say?" sam asked, looking up from her books to see that he wasn't smiling. "oh, what did she say?"

steve sighed. "she said she doesn't remember any of it! so i...i asked her if she loved me, and she couldn't even say it."

sam frowned, drawing him in for a hug, which he gladly accepted. this time she kind of felt herself yearn for his touch.

"i'm sorry steve, you are a really great guy. from what i've learned." she ruffled his hair with a hand before closing her locker. steve chuckled, watching her walk away.

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

soon enough, the school day was over, and sam found herself sitting in the back of billy's car, while a girl her age sat upfront with billy. they were waiting on max, and most of the parking lot was empty by now.

"shouldn't we wait on your sister?" the girl spoke

"screw it. she can skate home...and don't call her that." billy snapped.

"call her what?" the girl asked.

"my sister. she's not my sister." billy spat, shifting gears and heading back home.

sam shook her head at his response, and sitting in silence as billy and the girl talked the whole way home. sam of course felt like throwing up at some of the dirty talk they were having, and couldn't wait to get out of his camaro.

when she arrived home, billy wasted no time getting his friend to his room; while, sam just sat at her desk working on homework. finally, max had gotten home. sam met her in her room.

"where the hell have you been?" sam asked.

"long story." max sighed.

"i've got time." sam replied.

"dustin lost this pet thing he found in his trash and then this kid will had like a seizure or something. i had to skate home." max explained.

"i'm too tired to even try to understand you. next time, call and i'll come pick you up." sam sighed, leaving to go to her room.

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

"billy hargrove is your brother?" steve questioned the next day as he got out of gym class, walking over to sam's locker.

she looked up, confused by his statement. "yeah, he's my step-brother. why?"

"he was talking to me in the showers. he was saying all this stuff with tommy about how nancy and jonathan.." he trailed off, collecting his words. "about how nancy and jonathan byers are together now, or something, and billy was talking about other fish in the sea and he mentioned you being his sister, and how, i don't know.... look, i just don't understand how a jackass-"

"-like billy could be my family." sam finished his sentence. samantha chuckled at the statement she's heard a for a little bit now. "he's my step-brother, our parents are married. and i'm sorry about him saying all that stuff. he's...what's the word...a misogynist."

he nodded and a slight chuckled escaped his lips. he looked entranced by sam's wording of her own family. one thing steve did know about samantha was that she was clearly fearless.

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