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THE NEXT DAY, Steve Harrington's car was returned to its usual spot on the street next to the driveway. His parents always made him park there to leave the space closer to the house open for their own vehicles, despite the area spending more time unused than the rare occasions they were actually home.
Dressed in mid-rise, dark wash denim jeans with a plain black long-sleeve shirt, Valentina tied her hair back into a loose ponytail, bangs and strands falling out to frame her pale face.
Waking up a bit earlier than she had the previous day, the blonde had time to complete her eye makeup at home rather than in front of her locker before first period.
Valentina made her way downstairs where her mother was sitting at the kitchen table, reading some section of the newspaper that was probably less interesting than just sitting with nothing in her hands.
"Hi, mom. How was work?" the daughter asked, grabbing a granola bar from the counter with her iconic green messenger bag tossed over her left shoulder.
"It was fine, got home later than I hoped, but unfortunately I think I'll be home around the same time tonight, too," the woman spoke. Valentina turned her head a bit to acknowledge her mother, but upon glancing she noticed that the dirty blonde woman was paying no mind to the paper in her hand, and instead staring expectantly at her teenage daughter.
"What? Is there something on my shirt?" she guessed, looking down over her spotless outfit.
"No... although, it is getting chillier out these days," she said, earning a scoff from the girl who grabbed a black vest off the coat rack.
"Happy now? I'm clashing," Val complained about the ruination of her outfit, that still looked gorgeous through the eyes of her mother.
"It's better, but I actually wanted to say something else," the woman noted, waiting for her daughter's acknowledgement before continuing, "I saw someone else pulling into the cul-de-sac around the same time as me last night."
Valentina nodded, pretending to know nothing about what her mother was talking about while having a sneaky suspicion that this 'someone else' was none other than Steve Harrington.
"Would you happen to know why Steve was getting home at two in the morning?"
The daughter gulped, harshly swallowing a bite of her granola bar to avoid choking before speaking, "No, why?"
Alicia knew all about the falling out of Steve and Valentina. She couldn't pinpoint exactly why it happened, but neither could the two of them, apparently.
