Jonathan Byers x Reader

Take my picture? - P.9

Friday night had come and gone with no word from Kelly and no answer from her home phone. After school you had dropped by her home only to be met with both of her parents cars in the driveway though no answer at the door. Even attempting to peak into the windows had been worthless as nothing could be seen from outside on the lawn. Sleep that night had been almost non-existent as you had laid awake staring at the ceiling in the dark trying to make excuses in your mind as to why your friend had randomly gone away without a trace.

Saturday morning had been beautiful as always despite the cool breeze from the approaching winter. Reluctantly you had gone through the motions of the day calling Kelly's home every hour on the hour but only to be met by the voicemail. Of course you couldn't bring yourself to actually leave more than one just in case her and her family would arrive home and see you clearly had nothing better going on except for stalking them.

As you lay stretched out on the couch in the living room listening to the background noise of the television, you couldn't help but glance at the clock and saw that he was close to 8p.m.  Soon Nancy and her friends would be gathering at Steve's home for a get together and surely at at least she would be expecting your arrival.

"I'm going out." you suddenly announced startling your father as you stood from the warmth of the couch.

"Where are you going?" he asked casually looking away from the paper in his hand that he never had time to read in the morning.

"Over to Mr. and Mrs. Harrington's home. Their son Steve is having a few people over." you told him always trying to be as honest as possible with your parents.

"Steve? I've never heard you mention that name before." your father commented. "Is he a new friend?"

"Yeah kinda." you replied putting your shoes on and jacket ready. "Nancy Wheeler will be there too."

"Alright have fun." he finally said seeming to drop the subject without much question. You had always been a good kid who made good decisions leading to more trust from your parents than normal kids your age would have gotten.

The large Harrington home wasn't far from where you had lived. In fact it was only one street over and the closer you had gotten to the driveway the easier it was to hear the people in the backyard. Walking around, you were about to make your way through the gate but stopped when the small sound of a twig breaking caught your attention. Your first thought, of course, had been Kelly and surely the small noise could only be heard from the fact that you were extremely paranoid and on edge.

Instead of joining your classmates in the fenced in backyard, you decided to stay close to the outside and as quietly as possible make your way to the wooded area in the very back. As the fence ended, you moved a little farther into the woods using the trees as a shield just in case one of the kids would have seen you moving though it was dark and would be hard to see. The sound of water splashing and fun being had made it difficult to hear anything else in the woods. Coming to a stop, you listened as hard as possible though deemed it worthless as you stood completely still.

Just as you were about to turn around, you had felt one hand place itself gently on your shoulder.

"Oh my God." you said turning around as quickly as possible to face the new person with you.

"Shhh..." Jonathan whispered with a small smile on his face amused that he had startled you. "I'm sorry. Are you okay?"

"Yeah I'm fine." you whispered back letting your body relax after the quick tension it had just felt from the scare. "What are you doing back here?"

"I was looking for Will." he started with a little more seriousness in his voice. "What are you doing back here?"

"I thought....I heard a noise." you told him not wanting to tell him about Kelly just yet. "So I came to check it out."

"Wow that's pretty brave of you." he commented looking down at the camera in his hands.

"Actually I was pretty nervous the whole walk back here." you smiled still in a whisper so the people in the pool wouldn't hear anything. "I don't know what I would have done if something actually dangerous had been here."

"Well don't worry now I'll protect you." he replied seeming a little nervous though you brushed it off.

"Do you want help looking for Will?" you asked him wanting to help as much as possible. "I don't have to be home for awhile."

"I was thinking about calling it for the night. It's getting too dark outside." he said though paused for a moment before continuing. "But if you want you can hang out at my place for awhile."

Stopping for a moment to think, you glanced back and noticed that no one had been in the pool anymore and all signs of life had been gone. You had the choice to knock on the sliding glass door or go back to Jonathan's home and have one-on-one time with him. It didn't take you long to choose.

"Yeah that sounds great." you told him seeing a bigger smile form on his face as you agreed to go back with him.

"Alright let's...wait." he suddenly said pulling his camera out.

"What is it?" you asked curiously turning to see what he was taking a picture of.

Barb sat alone on the edge of the diving board with both of her feet dangling near the water. She looked sad and a bit lonely as she seemed to be looking at her reflection in the water. The quiet sound of clicking from the camera could be heard though it wasn't loud enough for her to hear from that distance.

"Let's go." you told him gently grabbing a hold of his arm wanting to give Barb privacy. "It's getting cold."

"O-okay." he agreed quickly putting his camera done as held tighter on to his arm looking for warmth as the two of you began your walk to where ever he had parked his car.

~~~To be continued~~~