heart strings // stranger things

F O U R

Donovan Henderson has been with plenty of girls since the break-up with Shannon freshman year. A new girl every few months but not because he was a player and got bored after some time, in fact, it was usually the girl that was dumping him. They'd tell him that he was great at first but something between them wasn't clicking anymore. Donovan knew exactly what they meant each time. He's too... sad. He wasn't quite as happy as he made himself out to be, especially after his dad passed away a few years ago.

A heart attack that took the whole family by surprise. Claudia was left alone to raise two boys and run a bookstore that had been her husband's dream to have. Donovan knows the sacrifices his mom made for his dad, moving to Hawkins with him and his family after they graduated together from Indiana State. Staying even after he's gone to make sure that his dream still goes on, her family tried to get her to come home back to Minnesota but she refused. She claimed her children's lives were already uprooted enough with the death of their father, they didn't need her ripping them from their friends in the process.

Donovan was grateful for her but she was lonely, no matter how much she tried to hide it behind running the Attic, taking care of them, or putting all her pent up sadness into affection for their family cat Mews. That's probably why it was so easy for Donovan to let his sadness pile up, occasionally letting it slip with people he trusts but most of the time it ends up with him alone. Steve's been an exception, the two of them going through different things with their parents but using each other's shoulders to lean on saved them both on more than one occasion.

So, he wasn't exactly sure if he was ready to open himself up again but ever since Audrey Allen moved in next door, he hasn't been able to stop thinking about her. He wasn't lying when he told her that he was jealous of Drew, for having the balls to ask her out. He thought it'd be easier to talk to her after helping her with Drew but she didn't even remember the night and he felt wrong to remind her of it. But now that he has, he can't get enough of her. She's definitely brooding but past that she's funny, and he sees how kind she is every time the girl sticks up for Barb around Tommy.

She's probably the prettiest girl he's ever laid his eyes on. He likes when she's so immersed in her book during class that there will be a moment where her head pops up like she forgot where she is. He didn't know her favorite color or movie, what she liked to eat or if she even liked him the same way he did her but he really fucking wanted to figure it out.

That's why he woke up early, making sure to pay extra attention to his hair and changed out his normal Samba's for a pair of newer white ones that he's been keeping in his closet. A cheap attempt of his to see if Audrey would notice. After changing three times, he headed downstairs to the smell of frying bacon and vanilla pancakes wafting through the house.

He entered the kitchen to see his mom at the stove, an apron tied around her waist. She turned as he came through, heading straight to the fridge and pulling out the milk, twisting the cap off of it before his mom had the chance to argue and taking a couple large chugs.

"Donovan Glenn Henderson, I know I've raised you better than that— please, act like it." She said, shoveling bacon from the sizzling pan to the plate clothed in paper towel on the counter next to her. "Pour yourself a glass, other people drink out of that."

"You know it's better straight from the jug but if you really insist." Donovan pulled a cup down from the cabinet, pouring himself a glass before storing the milk back into the fridge.

"Thank you, the rest of us appreciate it." She says, sending him a glare accompanied with a teasing smile. Flipping a pancake onto a plate that already sported a few pieces of bacon and handing it off to her son. He quickly moved to the dining room table, a set of thundered footsteps coming down the stairs as he cut himself off a bite of pancake and shove it into his mouth.