Strange Things Are Happening. (Jonathan Byers x OC) Wattys 2017

17.

sleepy jonathan is the best jonathan

++

Samantha was a little confused when she woke up the next morning.

One, she wasn't in her own room and two, she was currently on the floor, sharing a sleeping bag with Jonathan Byers. 

Despite being on the floor, Samantha was anything but uncomfortable; the feeling of his arm resting on her waist and the warmth of his breath hitting her exposed neck was actually pretty lovely. She opened her eyes again when she heard rustling from above her and after wiping her nose with the back of her hand, she slowly sat up. 

"Nance?" She mumbled and Jonathan stirred beside her.

"Morning," Nancy replied, "Come here."

Groaning, the blonde got up, glancing down at Jonathan to see that he was trying to get his eyes to stay open.

He looked cute when he was sleepy. 

"You couldn't sleep?" he asked, climbing onto the bed behind Samantha, his chin brushing her shoulder as he peered over her shoulder to see what they were looking at. 

"No," Nancy shook her head, jaw clenched, "Every time I closed my eyes, I just keep...seeing that thing. Wherever I was, that place, I think that the thing, the monster, lives there. It was feeding there. Feeding on that deer. That means if Will...and Barbara..." 

"Hey," Jonathan said gently, "My mom said she talked to Will. If he's alive, there's a chance that Barbara is too."

"But that means that they're trapped, in that place." Nancy said quietly and Samantha reached out to take her hand. 

"That means we need to find it again," Samantha said firmly, the two teens looking at her in surprise and Jonathan's hand found her free one. 

"You want to go back out there." he stated. 

"Maybe we don't have to," said Nancy, making the two of them look at her again. 

"What do you mean?" 

"When I saw it, it was feeding on that deer. That means that it's a predator, right?" she said slowly, as if she was explaining it to children, 

"Right?" 

"And it seems to hunt at night. Like a lion or coyote." she continued, "But it doesn't hunt in packs like them. It's always alone. Like a bear. And remember at Steve's? When Barb cut her finger? And then last night, the deer." 

"It was bleeding too," Jonathan mumbled, finally catching on and Nancy pulled over another textbook which was already open at the page she needed.

"Sharks can detect blood in one part per million. That's one drop of blood in a million and they can smell it from a quarter of a mile away." 

"So..." Samantha trailed off, "You're saying that it can detect blood?" 

She shook her head and shrugged, "It's just a theory." 

"But it's all we've got." Samantha whispered, not noticing that Jonathan's eyes were on her. 

Nancy however, did notice and couldn't help the smile that crossed her face. She was happy to see that her cousin was finally coming out of her shell.

"We could test it. But, if it works..." Jonathan said, looking away from the two girls. Nancy could have died last night, who knows what kind of danger they were going to put themselves in this time.

"At least we'll know it's coming." Samantha said, squeezing his hand so he'd look at her. 

All three of them jumped when the door knob turned, Karen trying to get in the room. 

"Nancy? Nancy, are you up?" 

Samantha sighed in relief, resting her head on Jonathan's shoulder as Nancy told her mom that she'd be downstairs in a minute. 

Satisfied with that answer, Karen retreated downstairs and Samantha stood up, looking back at Nancy who was looking at the photo of Barb again.

"We'll go out the window." she said quietly, pushing some blonde hair from her face, "Your folks don't know I was here." 

"Samantha," Nancy sighed, "You're family. The only one who they'd freak out about would be Jonathan." 

"It's okay." she waved her off, grabbing her bag and hockey stick, "Jonathan and I will talk things over and I'll call you this afternoon." 

Nancy quickly disappeared and Jonathan moved over to the window, pushing it open before turning to her, "I'll go first and I'll help you down." 

She climbed out after him, watching as he skillfully climbed down the pipe, throwing him her bag and such when he was safely at the bottom. It took her a lot longer to climb down, being hesitant where to put her feet until eventually, Jonathan had to direct her and when she got low enough, he put his hands on her waist and told her to let go. 

"We should go into town," Jonathan said as they snuck off of Nancy's front lawn and Samantha let out a gasp when she caught sight of the basement window. 

Eleven. 

She had completely forgotten to go back and speak to Mike and find out what was going on. But with all the weird stuff going on, she couldn't help but feel that perhaps the little girl had something to do with it all.