𝗥𝗲𝘄𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘀

one of the girls

TW - family issues (skip to the time skip if you find this uncomfortable)

"Get the fucking door!" Asher hears his dad slur as someone knocks on the door "Asher!"

"I'm getting it!" Asher yells as he walks out of his room "Just give me a minute."

"Don't you dare talk to me like that" Asher's dad slurs, getting up from the couch and pushing Asher into the wall, knocking the shelf above him, making the bottle of vodka smash on Asher's hand "Do you know how much you ruined my life, you little shit? So, when I tell you to do something, you do it. No smartass comments. You just do it. You got that?"

"Yes sir" Asher says, glaring at his dad.

"Now go and get the fucking door" Asher's dad says before he lets go of the teenage boy and walks down the hall into his room.

"All right, I'm coming!" Asher yells as the knocking starts again, and he opens the front door to see Eleven standing there. To say he was surprised that Eleven was standing at his front door would be an understatement. Asher wasn't close with any of Dustin's friends apart from Lucas, so having Eleven just randomly show up at his house was a shock, nevermind her knowing where he lives "El, what are you doing here?" Asher asks the girl, who just stares at Asher's hand.

"Your hand is bleeding" Eleven bluntly says before grabbing Asher's not blood covered hand and drags him into the house "Do you have a first aid kit?"

"Yeah, in the first cupboard at the top" Asher mentions as he sits down on the couch while Eleven walks over to the cupboard, gets the first aid kit and sits next to Asher "What happened?"

"It was just an accident, it's not a big deal" Asher says with a shrug. It's the same answer as always whenever anyone asks about his injuries. Everyone knows what actually happened, but they never say it to his face.

"Friends don't lie" Eleven says as she pulls the glass out of his hand before bandaging it up "What happened?"

"My dad gets angry sometimes" Asher says with a sigh "And when he does get angry, he get's violent, and since it's just us two, he takes it out on me."

"He shouldn't do that" Eleven says with sadness in her eyes as Asher doesn't make eye contact with her. While Asher didn't know much about Eleven, he knew she was in the lab for most of her life, so she probably understood what he was going through more than anyone. For some weird reason, it gave him some sort of comfort that he had someone he could relate to. "No one has tried to stop it?"

"No one gives a shit about me" Asher says, making eye contact with the girl "Well no one apart from Dustin and his mom. They've done the best they can but this still happens."

"I give a shit about you" Eleven says to Asher "I can talk to Hop. He can stop it."

"You don't think he knows already? Everyone in this town knows and only two people have tried to stop it" Asher tells the girl "Like I said, they don't give a shit. I'm just going to end up like him anyways."

"He's a bad person. You're not" Eleven says "You are not like him."

"What are you here about by the way?" Asher asks, wanting to change the subject of conversation.

"It's about Mike" Eleven says before explaining everything.

TIME SKIP BY ELEVEN AND ASHER NOW BEING BONDED OVER THEIR TRAUMA

To say that Asher was surprised that Eleven came to him for boy advice was not a shock. If he had to guess, he would assume that Eleven came to him because she wanted the insight from a boy that wasn't biased and that boy would be Asher. Obviously, because Asher has never been in a relationship, he didn't really know what to say to her, so he took Eleven to the next best person he could think of and that person is Max. While he didn't know that the two girls didn't get along for some random reason, he did know that Max and Mike don't get along very well, so Max was the best person to give Eleven relationship advice.

"And then he said... he missed me. And then he just hung up" Eleven explains the whole situation again as Asher and Eleven are sat on Max's bed while she paces up and down the room.

"He's a piece of shit" Max quickly says to Eleven, taking the girl by surprise.

"What?" Eleven asks.

"Mike doesn't have jack shit to do today, and his Nana obviously isn't sick" Max explains to Eleven "I guarantee you, him and Lucas are playing Atari right now."

"But friends don't lie" Eleven says to Max, trying to defend her boyfriend.

"Yeah, well, boyfriends lie" Max says "All. The. Time."

"You know what? As a boy, I'm pretty offended right now" Asher points out.

"This doesn't apply to you. You don't have a girlfriend" Max points out.

"Aw, I feel honored" Asher jokingly says, putting his bandaged hand over his heart.

"Back to the point" Max says, sitting next to Eleven "You're going to stop calling him. You're going to ignore his calls. As far as you're concerned, he doesn't exist."

"Doesn't exist?" Eleven asks.

"He treated you like garbage" Max explains "You're gonna treat him like garbage. Give him a taste of his own medicine."

"Give him the medicine" Eleven repeats back.

"And if he doesn't fix this, if he doesn't explain himself, dump his ass" Max tells Eleven.

"Yes, girl power!" Asher yells, making the two girls give him weird looks "What? I'm trying to be supportive."

"You're so weird" Max mutters under her breath "Come on" She says, dragging Eleven and Asher up from her bed.

"Where are we going?" Eleven asks.

"To have some fun" Max answers "There's more to life than stupid boys, you know."

"You guys know I'm right here, right?" Asher asks Max, who has basically called him stupid.

"You're one of the girls today" Max reassures Asher "Today, you are not a stupid boy."

"Well then, that's just great" Asher sarcastically says as Max drags the two out of the house.

1044 Words