Black Beauty- Steve HarringtonxOC

Chapter 20

"Holy shit, I can't believe we're actually doing this," Max says giddily as she scribbles the last name on a slip of yellow paper. A reversed board game is the table on which they play their game of spin-the-bottle. It's El's first time playing, but Max tells her all the rules so that she can enjoy the game. "Ready?"

"Ready," El replies, hands on her knees. She leans forward and takes a short breath before throwing the coke bottle into a spin. It winds around a few times and then stopped.

"Mr. Wheeler," they read in unison, grimaces on their faces. The two girls could think of nothing less interesting than spying on Mike's old, sleepy dad.

"Ugh. Boring." Max flips her hair over her shoulder, scoffing in distaste.

She hesitantly agrees, giving the other girl an awkward smile. "Yeah, boring."

They laugh. "Spin again." Max nods at the board spread out on her mattress.

Uncertainly, El reaches out for the bottle, but doesn't spin it. She turns back to the redhead. "Against the rules?"

Shaking her head, she replies, "We make our own rules." Again they laugh, and again El spins the bottle. This time it lands on someone they didn't expect. Filly. Max takes it in stride, hopping up off the bed to grab the yellow radio off her dresser. "How much you wanna bet she's with Steve?"

El doesn't understand betting, so she doesn't take the offer. She picks up the blindfold, wrapping it securely around her head. When all El can see is blackness, she stops fidgeting. The other girl turns the knob to static and ramps up the volume. Eleven concentrates on thoughts of her sister. The rare smile she used to show her early on, the warmth from their first hug, the fluffy, obsidian locks that sprung from her head once they escaped the lab.

Darkness all around, El searches to her left and right. She can see nothing, but she hears a voice. A man's voice.

"I know you don't need an escort, but I like being with you. And it's important to me to know that you're safe." El walks closer to the voice, a thin layer of water on the ground rippling with her every step. "Of course I want to drive you home, especially with this Russian thing." Steve appears in the void, seated in the driver's seat of his four-door sedan. Filly sits next to him, and she can see and hear them both as the windows are open. The tires spin, the car rolls forward, clearly in motion, but it goes nowhere.

"I found her," El says aloud. A smile sneaks onto her face. "She is with Steve."

Max smiles too, devilish but not unkind. "Called it. What are they doing?" The redhead crawls a little closer, always down for a chance to gossip about their friend's romance with the teen boy.

"Driving. Talking." El watches Filly unable to keep her eyes off him. As much as the teenage boy tried to keep his eyes on the road, he stole glances at her as well. "Staring at each other."

"I got there by myself, you know," she grumbles, softly. Her dour expression gives away her irritation, but it's not at a high level. She must be only a little annoyed at him, as she is not one to hide her true feelings.

He sighs, but smiles warmly despite the tension. "I know, Fil. I don't mean to bother you, but I worry. Can't help it, you're important to me." He pats her on the knee, partially touching the skin at the hem of her skirt. He pulls away and puts both hands back on the wheel. "I'm going to keep worrying about you, no matter how tough you get."

"Oh, Steve. It isn't unreasonable to be worried." She shakes her head, then looks at him, her eyes full of... something. Eleven wanted someone to look at her that way, wanted Mike to look at her with that something in his eyes. "Forgive me, I overreacted. I thought... Nevermind." Whatever it was, she thought wrong. Those cool blue orbs sparkle, gleaming at Steve as though he's not from this world, and she breaks into a minuscule smile.