Stare. [Steve Harrington x Reader]

Chapter Eight: Winter Break

Friday, January, 1984

It had been a few weeks after Christmas. I was having a New Year's party at my house since both my parents were on a business trip, so I had the house to myself.

Nancy had convinced me that I had to host one with a few friends to celebrate the events of last year.

The house was warm compared to the freezing temperatures outside. Rock music was playing from a boombox in the kitchen, and I was sitting on the couch with Nancy and Jonathan, laughing and telling stories. There was a knock on the door, and I got up to answer it.

I pushed past a few people who were near the door and opened it to see Steve standing there, holding a bottle of whiskey and a few cans of beer. He smiled as he saw me. "Happy New Year."

I laughed, giving him a hug and letting him in. "I can take the drinks and put them in the fridge, you can put your things in my room if you want." I said to him, grabbing the beer from him.

Steve nodded, and I walked away into the kitchen. I greeted a few people as I passed and opened the fridge to put the cans on the middle shelf before shutting the fridge and searching for Steve. He wasn't anywhere in the vicinity, so I was assuming he had gone to my room.

I smiled at a few people and looked into the living room to see Nancy and Jonathan still talking on the couch, and decided to go to my room down the hall.

As I opened the door, I found Steve inside, looking around my room at some posters on the walls and little trinkets on my desk. I shut the door behind me.

"Glad you found my room." I said, and Steve turned around to look at me.

"You've got a really cozy room, it's not how I imagined it." He said, still looking around.

I chuckled softly, going to sit on my bed. "So, you got here okay?" I said, making conversation.

He looked over at me with a smile. "Yeah, not many people on the roads tonight."

I nodded and grabbed the bottle of whiskey Steve had brought with him, inspecting it.

"Oh, I didn't know what you like, so I just got whiskey." Steve said, and I looked up at him.

"That's okay, I can like whiskey." I giggled, placing it down on my nightstand. Steve chuckled at my response. He then picked up the photo that was folded on my bedside table.

"Oh, uh..." I tried saying but I couldn't find any words to stop him. He opened it, looking down at the photo. A smile slowly formed on his face before he looked over at me.

"You kept this?" he asked, pointing down at it.

"Yeah, I mean, I don't know..." I said, looking down at my hands.

Steve's smile faded a little before coming to sit down next to me on the bed. "I just wanted to say, because I haven't really gotten the chance to, that...I'm sorry for the way I've acted...in the past."

I swallowed before looking over at Steve.

"For that stupid nickname, and what I said when we had that fight...and what you said about me, I just-"

"Steve, I didn't mean that stuff-" I tried to stop him from saying anything, but it was no use.

"No, no. What you said about me was all true...I was trying to act like this cool guy and surrounded myself with losers that I wasn't friends with." He looked over at me, fidgeting with the corner of the photo. "And I was awful to you, using you to get good grades instead of actually trying and calling you 'dork' and 'four-eyes'...it's all just so stupid and I let it get out of hand. I'm sorry." He sighed, looking away.

I shifted slightly, looking down at my hands. "Thank you for apologising...I didn't mean to be so cruel about it though." My voice was soft, and I looked back over at Steve. He was already looking at me.

"You were right though, but I'm...trying to be better. I want to be your friend since Nancy's your best friend and she's my girlfriend." Steve spoke, folding the photo and placing it down on the bed between the two of us.

"Yeah...I think I'd like that." I said, smiling at him, and I looked up into his brown eyes.

Steve moved his hand towards mine, which was in my lap, grabbing it. I didn't think he'd do that, but he did.

There was a knock on the door, and Jonathan poked his head in, causing Steve to suddenly pull his hand away from mine.

"Sorry-" Jonathan spoke, seeing Steve next to me. "Someone, uh, just spilled a drink on the carpet."

"Ugh," I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose.

"Guess I should go see Nancy," Steve said next to me.

I looked over at him. "Uh, yeah, yeah, go ahead."

He nodded with a smile and then walked out of my room. I got up and looked over at Jonathan. He had his eyebrows raised with a smile on his face.

"Don't look at me like that." I said, walking past him to go clean up the spill.

As I walked to the kitchen to get a rag, I watched Steve sit down next to Nancy and put his arm around her shoulders.

I looked away quickly, hurrying into the kitchen.