Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
WALKING AIMLESSLY through the streets of town square was an exhausting, and quite frankly, boring task. But Valentina was determined to Find Nancy, because what could possibly be so urgent this early in the morning? While shopping?
The time was nearly eight o'clock now. Hours had passed while the girl was scrubbing her dresser clean and sharing a bizarre encounter with her neighbor.
Steve did not even try to convince the girl to get back into his car after she left about half an hour ago. His car had sat unmoving on the side of the road where she left it for a few minutes, long enough for her to walk far ahead until he could not see her anymore.
She continued walking until she finally reached the main part of their town. A good amount of time had surely passed by now, and the sight of Steve's familiar BMW had still not made another appearance.
They were both looking for the same girl. Valentina and Steve were bound to run into each other again.
The only thing heard that morning over the phone was that Nancy wanted to go shopping, and town square was just about the only place to do that in Hawkins, minus the few straggling convenience stores and gas stations that littered the outskirts.
There were no other clues as to where the brunette could be found, so Valentina decided—with one look at her old, dusty Mary Janes—that she would start looking by the shoe store at the next corner, where she would also buy some freedom for her squished toes.
A warming ray of sunshine from the clear sky, paired with the late November air, was perfectly cooling to the blonde. A moderate feeling that coated her fair skin as she walked through the empty streets.
Few people were awake at this hour, only workers and a few others that Valentina had never seen before—mostly older couples—and the silence was welcomed by the girl whose head felt like a hurricane, and she was in the eye of the storm.
The events that took place in Steve's car felt so little in comparison to the rest of her current reality, but under the microscope of a teenage girl's longing eyes, they felt like an eternity of complications.
He was so sweet, then so outrageous, and so decent, yet so belittling. He made her feel comfortable, but treated her like a stranger. She felt so guided under his presence, yet so lost within his gaze.
The past week had been incredibly different than the previous years. They'd probably spoken to each other more in the past few days than they had since Valentina was in eighth grade.
At the thought, heat spread over the nape of her neck where a scab was forming over the scratches from that thing, a reminder of the blush that infiltrated her skin in the presence of Steve Harrington and the fear that invaded her mind in the presence of the woods.
Two monsters that were not infiltrating her mind.
Pulling at the collar of her white turtleneck that was now beginning to soak with sweat, Valentina's long legs slowed under the agonizing sun that no longer felt refreshing amidst the breeze, but now like the burning gas was personally attacking her.
