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ABOUT TWENTY MINUTES had passed since Valentina decided to hop onto Steve's back. She was slightly regretting her decision due to the lack of dignity left in her bones, but there was hardly any feeling at all in her body anyway, so she decided to focus on the comfort found in being carried on the man's back.
Her dirty converse and gray sweatpants—a darker shade now due to the splotches of sweat—were wrapped around Steve's waist while her arms were loosely drawn onto his collarbone, hands laid on his chest over the gray jacket. After the first five minutes of walking, Valentina let go of another piece of dignity and allowed her aching head to rest on Steve's shoulder.
"Are you sure we're going the right way?" Max asked, her voice whiny and tired from all the walking. Valentina was grateful to not be dealing with that aspect anymore, though her situation was arguably worse.
"I'm sure," Steve called back. "It's on the way to Skul Ro-"
Valentina kicked his leg with her uninjured foot. Her first thought was that the kids don't need to hear about the adulterated adventures at Skull Rock, but in the silence that followed Steve's quiet 'sorry' she realized maybe it was herself that didn't want to know about Steve's stories from Hawkins's infamous hookup spot. He didn't even say anything before she stopped him.
"How do we even know they're going to the lab?" the redhead further questioned, ignoring the older teenagers' sudden silence.
"It's Dustin's theory," Lucas said, the anger laced in his voice still present, lingering from the argument the two boys had a moment ago over D'art.
"It's an evidence-based theory with excellent thought put into it," Dustin defended himself. A smile pulled at Valentina's lips as she listened to the best friends fight about something they would eventually forget about. Her and Steve used to do that, and they would be laughing together again by the next hour.
"Oh yeah? What's your evidence, your halfway-to-taxidermy cat's corpse?"
"Hey!" Dustin winced at the same time Steve shouted "Woah!"
"That's fucked up man," Steve said. He shook his head, causing Valentina to catch a glimpse of his eyes.
Dustin continued, "Don't give me that shit, Lucas. You would've kept him too."
"No, actually," Lucas said, "I wouldn't have! He's a Demogorgon!"
"OBVIOUSLY, I DIDN'T KNOW THAT!-"
"GUYS!" Steve shouted, forcing them into silence. It was quiet for a moment while they waited for Steve to speak again, but it wasn't his voice that came. Through the trees, about a few dozen feet ahead, came two other voices.
"Holy shit," Valentina whispered, perking her head up from Steve's shoulder. Steve craned his neck to check on the kids one last time before nodding in the direction of the voices. He stopped his head in its movement to check on Valentina too, who held his gaze for a long second before nodding too. Once he got the okay, he started walking.
