The Haunting - Stranger Things [UNDER CONSTRUCTION]

15 - Baseball Bat

The flannel I plucked from my father's closet hangs down to the tops of my thighs in my jeans. The weather outside is chilly and the temperature is only dropping as the time goes by. I eye my clothes in the mirror before walking to my own closet for a jacket to put over it. This time, I made sure to wear a lot of layers to keep me warm when we are outside. 

The shirt underneath the flannel is black and white stripes with long sleeves. I search through my closet for my denim jacket. Once I pull on my jacket and a pair of black boots, I sneak downstairs to the door that leads to the garage. 

"- what are you doing?"

I step down the few stairs and glare at the sight of Steve in our garage. Nancy stands a few feet away from him with one of the baseball bats in hand. I roll my eyes at Steve and make my way over to the wall with all of our old sporting equipment and other useless items we never use anymore. 

"Nothing," Nancy replies, lowering the bat. 

I run my fingers over my bat resting against the wall. I snatch it up, fingers flexing around the familiar bat. When I was younger, I played on the softball team. Dad and I used to play baseball in the backyard a couple of years ago. 

"I hope that's not meant for me." 

"What?" Nancy asks, frowning. She glances at the bat in her hand. "No." She shakes her head once she realizes what Steve is referring to. "Oh, no. I was just...thinking about joining softball."

I turn around to face Steve with my bat ready to swing. "Hers isn't, but mine is." I smirk at Steve. 

The corners of Steve's lip fall downwards at my subtle threat. He eyes me before flicking his eyes to my sister. "Well, uh, listen- I'm really sorry." Steve glances at me again. "I mean, even before your sister threatened me with the baseball bat."

I pluck a baseball from a shelf off of the wall. I throw it up in the air and catch it a couple of times. From the corner of his eye, I can see Steve glancing at me every couple of seconds, like he doesn't appreciate the fact that I have a baseball bat in my hands. 

He walks over to the car and leans against the side of the hood. "I panicked and-" Steve sighs, "I mean, I was a total dick."

"We already knew that about you." I automatically reply back. 

Nancy raises her brows at me, as if that was her way of trying to silence me. 

"Yeah, sorry." I wave my hand in the air, dismissively. "This is your conversation. Pretend that I'm not even here." 

My sister looks back to her stupid boyfriend. "Yeah, you were." The two of them share eye contact and Nancy sighs, "Did you get in trouble with your parents?"

Glancing at the baseball in my hand, I casually walk over to Steve. "Hey, can you hold this for a second?" I drop the ball in his hand whether he was going to hold it or not.

"What-" Steve frowns, confused as to why I am making him hold the ball. He glances from me to my sister. "Um, totally." He answers her, letting me position the ball on the tips of his fingers. "But, you know, who cares? Screw 'em."

The baseball balances perfectly on Steve's fingertips. He holds his arm up in the air, continuing to shoot odd looks at me. I refuse to meet his gaze. If he hasn't figured out what I'm about to do, Steve is dumber than I thought. 

"Any news about Barbara?" Steve asks. 

Nancy's head shakes from side to side. 

"Parents heard from her or-"

"No." My sister shakes her head once again. Her fingers flex around the end of the bat. 

Steve steps away from the car with his left hand still held in the air. "Hey, listen. Why don't we, uh- Why don't we catch a movie tonight, you know? Just kind pretend everything's normal for a few hours."