eternal flame - s. harrington

Chapter 21: Single And Lonely Forever

"No, Steve. You're supposed to answer the question, not try to read it from the back.", I said to my friend, who kept begging to see the flashcards I had made to help him prepare for a biology test.

"Oh, come on...", Steve exhaled. "Just... Give me those.", he said as he yanked the stack of flashcards from my hand. "Hey!", I scolded him and he put up his index finger and pressed it against my lips.

Steve took a moment to view the flashcards, carefully reading the question before turning it around to see the answer. I shook my head.

"You're still not getting the hang of how this whole tutoring thing works, are you?", I asked Steve as I took back the flashcards from him. "I'm supposed to help you learn, not tell you the answers."

"Whatever. I'm bored.", Steve said as he got up from his bed, where we were seated. He looked outside his window, and I stared at him.

I looked at his hair. How it looked so fluffy but well put-together. Unintentionally, I let my gaze trail down to his torso. I looked at his toned arms, as he put up his fingertips and placed them in between the blinds on his window, forming a gap in them from which he looked outside.

"You wanna do something fun for once?", he turned to look at me and I snapped out of it.

I cleared my throat as I pretended to look elsewhere. "Like what?", I asked. He shrugged. "We could go for a swim, or something.", he suggested.

"A swim?", I scoffed, "Steve. It's February. The water is freezing.", I noted and he sighed as he plopped down on his bed and lied on his back, staring up at the ceiling.

"Alright, then... What else is there to do?", he thought out loud. "Studying.", I responded. "Ah, give me a break. It's a Saturday.", he groaned.

I watched Steve as I wondered how he might be adjusting to his new life, away from the spotlight, away from the luxury of being King Steve.

Usually, he would be spending his Saturday nights going out and picking up chicks. Now, he was in a relationship and only had one friend — me.

"Why don't you ask Nancy on a date, or something? Surprise her.", I suggested. He turned to look at me and frowned softly. "But I'm hanging out with you.", he replied. I sighed. "Wouldn't you rather be with your girlfriend?", I asked, and he shrugged.

"I'm going out with her on Tuesday." he said. "That's two full days away. You can go two days without seeing her?", I asked.

Steve propped himself up and turned to look at me. "You trying to get rid of me?", he asked. I laughed and shook my head. "Good. You can't.", he said.

We sat in silence for a minute before he got up. "Alright, Ace. Get up. We're going out."

We got into Steve's car, and drove to Hawkins newest diner, Bop 'n' Burger. It was opened in January, since Benny's was closed down.

We walked into the diner, which was filled with bright colors. The booths were blue, the walls were pink and the flooring was a classic black-and-white tile. The walls were filled with framed pictures of celebrities, like Marilyn Monroe, Elvis, Madonna, Michael Jackson, Cher, and many more.

We picked a booth and sat down across from eachother. Steve grabbed a menu and started to scan it with his Hazel eyes. I quickly noticed I was paying a weird amount of attention to his facial features. His nose, his long eyelashes, the moles and freckles spread around his face...

I was quickly brought back to the Earth as I saw a waitress in a yellow uniform, struggling not to trip as she made her way to us in rollerskates.

"You guys ready to order?", the strawberry blonde girl smiled at us. I looked at the name tag attached to her uniform, which said 'Robin'.

"Yeah. I'll have chicken tenders and fries, with a side of the house mayo and a Diet Coke.", Steve said and the girl struggled not to fall again as she scribbled down Steve's order. She then turned to look at me. "I'll have the same thing.", I said.

"Alright. I'll have those right out for you.", she said and rolled away, stumbling a bit and almost crashing against the counter.

"She was weird.", Steve said. I frowned at him. "Stop that. She's not. I thought the new Steve didn't judge other people.", I said. Steve rolled his eyes, "I'm not judging, I'm stating a fact. She's weird.", he sassed at me and I shook my head.

The waitress returned to bring us our drinks and rolled away. She then came back about ten minutes later, moving cautiously in her rollerskates as she carried our plates. She let out a relieved sigh when she made it to our booth. "Alright, chicken tenders and fries, side of mayo.", she smiled.

"Thank you.", Steve and I said in unison. "If you need anything else, just let me know. Okay?", she smiled at us and I nodded. She then turned away, nearly stumbling again as she tried her best to go over to the next booth.

"Poor girl. I wish they didn't make her wear those rollerskates, she was obviously struggling.", I said and Steve shrugged as he ate his fries.

"So. Valentine's.", Steve said. I sighed. "What about it?", I asked. "We need to find you a date.", Steve replied as he rubbed his hands together.

I shook my head. "I already told you. I don't wanna go out with just anyone.", I said. "Come on. I talked to his one guy in the swim team, his name is Danny. He's a senior, a total catch—"

"Well, if he's such a catch, why don't you date him?", I sassed at Steve and he rolled his eyes. "He'd be more than interested to take you out—"

"Stop setting me up with people.", I interrupted him again. "Seriously, I'm not interested."

"You sure?", he asked. I nodded. "Okay, then.. Poor Danny, he'll be crushed.", Steve said, probably trying to manipulate me. "Well, I'm sure he'll find a nice gal to take out. He is a catch, correct?", I said.

Steve kept trying to convince me to take a chance on Danny, but I told him to drop it, and he did. For the rest of our meal, we talked about school and planned his date with Nancy for Valentine's Day.

When we were done eating, he offered to pay, but I insisted we split the check. Steve said it was "the gentleman's job to pay for the lady", and I argued that it only applied when the gentleman and the lady were on a date.

Steve agreed to let me pay for my meal, and we left the diner. As we were walking to his car, Steve kept chewing my ears off about all the guys he knows who apparently would love to take me on a date.

"Why are you pushing this?", I laughed as I sat on the passenger seat, "I already told you, like a hundred times, I'm not interested—"

"I can't let you be single and lonely forever!", Steve said, "You gotta give someone a chance."

I sighed. "I'll give someone a chance, someday. I just want it to be the right person... I hardly believe I'm going to find that in high school.", I said.

"Uh–huh... And what standards does one have to meet to be the right person?", he questioned.

"I don't know. Just someone that gets me, y'know? The good parts and the bad. I don't want it to feel forced. I want it to feel... easy, and natural. I think when you meet the one, you just know."

"Yeah, I get that.", Steve said, "But there's no harm in dating, though. That's how you learn more about yourself.", he added.

"Alright, Don Juan, what have you learned about yourself, then?", I smirked.

"That I'm excellent in bed.", he said.

I burst out laughing, "Okay. Ew. Changing the subject, now..."