"Shine so bright that it burns their eyes."
-
Luna Hopper, a 17 year old sophomore at Hawkins High, wants nothing more than to finish high school and move away from the small town she's forced to call home. Her cold demeanor and standoffish nature h...
The past month and a half have been weird- good, but weird. After everything was set and done, the gate was closed, and Will was safe, things really got a move on in Hawkins.
Murray Bauman released an article detailing the Lab's involvement in Barbra Hollands death, and although it left out a majority of the truth, at least the Hollands now have the closure that they deserve. Eleven is also technically my sister now? At least according to her new birth certificate gifted by Dr. Owens. Not quite sure how exactly I feel about that yet but it's not the end of the world I guess.
After everything that happened in the tunnels last month, I've been trying my hardest to give Steve the space that he needs to breathe, even though all of me wants to stay within 10 feet of him at all times to make sure he doesn't spontaneously stop breathing.
I didn't expect to be so affected by the tunnels, but I was, and that's something I have to work on. I've been taking my mom's words to heart, along with Dr. Owens, and I've come to accept that I do in fact have PTSD from what I experienced in the Upside Down, which certainly explains some of the episodes I had. Of course, a couple of them were very real, but I've come to terms with the fact that a lot of them were just inside my own head.
Right now, I'm standing in an empty part of the middle school parking lot with my dad and Mrs. Byers. El and Will already went inside to enjoy their dance, so I'm just waiting for Steve to arrive to drop Dustin off. Once I see Steve's car pull into the drop off, I stand up from where I was leaning on my dad's truck.
"Be good," my dad says with raised eyebrows.
"I will," I roll my eyes before giving him a hug. In the middle of the hug, I snatch the cigarette from in between his fingers and stomp it on the ground as I walk backwards. "Love you! Bye, Joyce!" I smile at the sound of Joyce's laughter.
Walking up to Steve's car, I catch Dustin as he gets out. My eyebrows raise at his massive hair, but otherwise, he looks great. "Good luck in there, champ," I pat my hands on his shoulders.
Dustin smiles nervously. "Thanks, Luna."
"Remember, if all else fails..."
"Show off my pearls."
"Show off your pearls," I repeat, smiling when Dustin purrs, showing off his teeth. I pat his shoulders one more time before directing him towards the building. "Knock 'em dead!"
"You just love to sabotage, don't you?"
I turn to smile at my boyfriend before getting into the car. "Yup," I smirk as I reach over to grab onto his face and pull him in for a kiss. I lean back just a little to smile up at him, loving the way his cheeks still turn a shade of pink every time we kiss. "I missed you."
"I missed you, too," he whispers back, leaning in again for a deeper kiss than before.
Out of the corner of my eye, I see a large figure walking towards the car from the rear view mirror. I immediately pull back and out my seat belt on. "My dad's gonna kill you if you don't step on the gas."
"What?" Steve asks, only for his eyes to widen and to put the car in park when he sees my dad through the mirror. "Oh, shit!"
✧─── • ･ ☾ • ˚ ⋅ ☆ ⋅˚ • ☽ ･ • ───✧
Steve and I sit on top of a blanket with a second blanket over our laps. Although it's December, there's still no snow on the ground, so we're both comfortable in sweaters and coats. We decided to get take out and eat it at Skull Rock while we waited for Dustin to get done with the dance. Yes, Steve offered to drive him home, too. As much as Steve will deny it, he loves the little booger.
"Mmm," Steve hums with a nod as he chews his food. "This is so good."
"It's Benny's burgers. It's always good. I'm just glad they didn't close down after everything that happened last year."
"Now that would be a true travesty," Steve agrees before slowly stopping his chewing. "Not that Bennys death wasn't."
"Right," I nod, taking another bite of my chicken strips. When Steve finishes his burger, I lean more into his side, flush between his chest and his arm. I hold out a chicken strip for him to bite as I look up at the moon between the branches of the oak trees above.
"What are you thinking about?" Steve asks, wiping his mouth from the chicken.
That's when I notice I had been smiling up at the sky. "I don't know," I set down my chicken strips and wrap my arms around Steve's middle, cuddling into him. "I just have a good feeling."
"Yeah?" he hums, earning a nod from me. "What about?"
"Everything. I don't know what it is, but I think everything's going to be okay. Really okay. Like, I have everything I need right here.
Steve stays quiet for a moment, causing me to look up at him. When I do, he's looking right back at me with soft eyes swimming full of love and admiration.
"I love you so much," he tells me softly. "You're right. Everything's okay now. We can just relax. We can breathe."
With that, every muscle I didn't realize what tensed in my body relaxed, allowing me to fully lean into the boy next to me. Bringing up a hand to his cheek, I pull him in for another deep kiss that would lead to us being tangled up in the blanket by the end of the night.
Sorry, Dustin. Maybe Joyce can give you a ride home.
