𝘓𝘰𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘰𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦

Chapter 36- Santa Cruz boardwalk

June 2nd, 1984

"We still up for the boardwalk?" Steven asked while walking over to me.

"If you'll still take me," I snickered.

"Of course I will!" He smiled.

"I didn't really like her anyway,"

"Like who?" I mumbled.

"Kathryn."

I giggled, "give me ten minutes to get ready, then we'll go, don't tell anyone though."

Steven nodded before leaning against a wall while I walked onto the bus to change. "Don't tell anyone what?" Duff smirked while coming up behind me.

"Steven's taking me to the boardwalk," I shrugged.

"Even after your scrap? He must seriously like you,"

"Shut up." I snickered.

"How did your chat go with Axl?"

"Surprisingly well," I shrugged.

"Tell me how your date goes later." Duff winked while making sure he emphasise the word 'date', which made me wonder if this was a date or more of a platonic thing.

"Sure." I rolled my eyes playfully.

I decided on wearing a dark purple tank top with denim shorts I also decided that sneakers were probably best since we were walking.

I brushed my hair out and applied light makeup before getting off the bus finding Steven in the same spot.

"Finally," he rolled his eyes playfully.

"Stop complaining, let's go," I grinned.

"So is this like a date or?" I asked awkwardly.

"Yeah, I guess it is." He smiled faintly.

"I've always wanted to go to the boardwalk," I said as we walked side by side; our hands brushed together and I hissed in my pain.

I looked down at my knuckles and they had blood covering them.

"Shit!" Steven cursed while looking down at my knuckles.

"It's fine," I grunted.

"We should probably go back to clean that up, they'll get infected or something!"

"And risk getting caught? I'm sure I'll manage."

"If you're sure," Steven mumbled in an unsure tone.

We strolled through the streets heading towards the boardwalk, "how's your knee?"

"I'm good," I gave him a half smile. I was limping a bit but forcing myself to not show it.

He snickered, "I can see you limping,"

"Shut up,"

"Make me,"

"You're so annoying," I huffed.

"I know." He chuckled.

Steven wrapped his arm around my shoulder pulling me closer to him.

"What's that for?" I giggled.

He shrugged with small smile as we walked towards the boardwalk. The streets got busier as we headed that way and soon enough, we could both see the flashing lights of the boardwalk.

The boardwalk was flooded with mostly noisy teens there with their friends. "It's so busy,"

"You're on the boardwalk, babe," He chuckled.

"I suppose." I snickered.

Steven took my wrist; dragging me into some queue, which ended up being the queue for the ferris wheel and before I could really process everything; we were on the wheel together.

The sun had already started to set leaving all the different lights from other attractions and lighted posters to light the sky.

"What do you think Axl would say?"

"He'd probably be annoyed, he told me he broke up with his girlfriend because she hit me first but I can tell he's pissed."

Steven nodded, "we don't have to worry about that now anyway,"

"Shit, you can see everything from up here."

"Yeah," I let out a long breath.

"I thought you weren't going to take me here after earlier."

"I'd never miss a night taking you to the boardwalk!"

"You're real sweet," I smiled warmly.

"You want to go for a walk after this? Then we can stop in bar near here, but we don't have to if you don't want,"

"Sounds good." I smiled. I felt liked I'd never smiled so much in one night.

"It's a good bar, I've been before,"

"I trust you."

And with that, we both got off the ride.

As we walked up the boardwalk, conversation seemed to flow easily and it wasn't awkward which was a big reason why I enjoyed speaking to Steven so much.

Steven took me into the bar he'd spoken about earlier, it had dark blue neon lights making everything look different colours to how it usually would look, it had two main bars inside and there were pictures of famous Hollywood celebrities on the walls.

"This is cool," I smiled to Steven as we sat down in booth which had black leather seats. I sat opposite to Steven in the booth.

"I know right! What do you want?"

"Just a martini or something," I shrugged.

"Fancy, okay! I'll be back."

Steven came back with my drink and some random concoction for himself. "Thank you,"

"You're very welcome." He winked while sitting back down.

Steven and I drank our drinks, conversation flowing easily. Then we had another, then another. We were probably both a bit drunk now, I was slurring my words and so was he.

We stayed for a few more drinks before attempting to get back to the bus; which was hard because we couldn't even tell our left foot apart from our right.

"Let's just get a hotel," he huffed, slurring over his words slightly.

"Okay,"

The nearest hotel was some tacky motel like I'd stayed in when I came here but it was closer to us than the bus so we decided on staying there.

Somehow we managed to make it the room in one piece, I closed the motel door behind me.

"This is nice,"

"What is?" I asked in confusion while taking my shoes off, stumbling a bit.

"Me and you," he slurred.

"Yeah." I muttered, walking closer to him.

He grabbed my chin delicately, despite our drunkenness. Steven softly kissed me placing his hands either side of my waist.

My hands moved into his hair, tugging at it gently making him let out a little groan. And before I knew it I was getting pushed on my back onto the bed.

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Word count- 981