Hey Jude | A STRANGER THINGS Story

CHAPTER TWENTY THREE

Driving down the dark road towards Steve's neighborhood, the car was chokingly silent. A faint whisper from the radio accompanied the low hum of the running engine. Judy kept her hands firmly on the wheel as Steve occasionally let out a heavy sigh next to her in the passenger seat.

At his latest heaving breath, Judy heard a familiar tune - a familiar saxophone. Taking her chance to break to air, Judy turned up the radio, bringing the sounds of Careless Whisper into the car. With her eyes still on the road, Judy could barely see out of the corner of her eye that Steve had shifted to sit up straight in the seat. To the catchy tune of the song, he started to beat his fingers against his legs, prompting Judy to do the same on the steering wheel.

Before Judy could really think twice about it she began to sing at a low level.

I'm never gonna dance again

Guilty feet have got no rhythm

If she hadn't looked over at Steve, Judy would've missed the amused look on his face, and she would've missed the opportunity to smile at him. A sudden confidence grew in her and she song with more passion than before, slowly swaying to the sultry saxophone. As if she were performing for the imaginary audience that was her bedroom walls.

I should've known better than to cheat a friend

And waste the chance that I'd been given

So I'm never gonna dance again

The way I danced with you, oh!

At the sudden belting out from Judy, Steve couldn't help but laugh with a hand against his chest. "Oh my god, you're a terrible singer!" He exclaimed over the radio, a large smile on his face.

Judy feigned hurt as she looked at Steve, shocked, "Shut up! You're ruining the song."

"No, you're ruining it." He responded in a bashful laugh. The two continued their drive with a final chuckle. The smiles never left their faces as they rode on, glancing at each other tenderly.

With Steve's car now parked in his driveway, engine off and without any passengers, Steve and Judy stood in front of each other.

"Thanks for cheering me up." Steve said first, flipping around the keys that Judy had just passed back to him. He looked down at his hands but Judy looked at him as he furrowed his brows.

"Sure, you're insufferable when you're sad, so I had to do something." Judy's tone was obviously sarcastic and Steve looked back up at her with a small smirk. She watched the fog appear from out of his mouth as he laughed. He shook his head while looking into the night sky and then down as he looked at Judy, who seemed to glisten under the moon.

Somehow she looked... soft. Her eyes were soft and fragile as she looked at him in seemingly concern and admiration. The corner of her mouth was upturned as she smirked herself, though Steve couldn't think of what she may have been smirking at. He wasn't sure how much time had passed since he started to really look at her, but he didn't really care.

He always took pleasure in looking at her. Whether it was next to her as she focused really hard on studying, so much so that she would tuck her long hair behind her ears to keep it out of her face. Or when she would sit in the back of his car on school mornings, silent as mouse, staring out the window as content and at peace as he'd ever seen someone.

It wasn't until now that he'd realized how much he looked after her, and how he waited to see her often.

The words seemed to slip out before Steve could even think of them, "You're really pretty, you know?"

Judy's soft features suddenly turned sour and shocked. "What?"

"You're really pretty." He repeated, like it was easy. Like it wasn't a loaded statement, which Judy could only scoff at, "You are so drunk."

Steve's consciousness had finally come back to him seeing how defensive Judy got. A feeling of fear began to form in the pit of his stomach, thinking that she didn't welcome his words. "I'm not drunk." He stammered, sounding desperate. "Well- maybe a little but not so drunk that I can't compliment you."

"You don't say that to your girlfriend's best friend, especially after you just had a fight with said girlfriend." Judy called him out. She was now embarrassed to even be in front of Steve at this point. Of course the sweet moment in the car had to be ruined by drunken words.

"I just said you were pretty."

"Oh, you just said it? You didn't mean it?" Judy squinted her eyes at Steve, who held his mouth open like he didn't know what to say. "Well, good. That makes me feel great."

Steve watched for a moment as Judy yanked her bike towards her and turned to go down the driveway, but Steve couldn't let her leave.

"Did- did you want me to mean it?" He asked, following close behind her, wanting to know desperately. "Because-"

"So you didn't actually mean it?" Judy asked, turning around fast and sharp, catching Steve off guard.

"Wh- what is happening?" He was lost now. Judy was always a perplexing person to Steve, ever since the moment he truly got to know her. But Steve never really knew how to navigate her, not like Nancy. Nancy was easy compared to Judy.

"Nothing." She said with a sudden straight face. "I'm going home."

Steve could only watch, dumbfounded as to how Judy could flip so easily, how he had no idea what she was thinking. And Judy was dumbfounded just the same.

Judy never had feelings for Steve when it was the three of them. Her, Steve and Nancy. When she was with the two of them, the feelings just disappeared seeing them together. But when it was just her and Steve, she couldn't help the butterflies that crept in. He'd just really grown on her.

He was charming and funny, always trying to lighten the mood and make people feel good. He also listened. He listened like no one else did with Judy. Not even Nancy. Judy would rant on and on and he would sit there for every second of it and listen.

It was those fleeting and special moments, alone with him, that made her love him and feel guilty. She's the worst friend in the world having feelings for her best friend's boyfriend. She'd spent nearly a year in the middle of Nancy and Steve, in the middle of what her heart was telling about Steve and what her mind knew was wrong.