Walls [Jonathan Byers]

Chapter 8:

I crawled onto the pull-out sofa while Jonathan sat beside me whispering to himself.

"Jonathan." I said, keeping my eyes closed.

I felt him looking at me.

"Just go talk to her." I sighed.

"No. Lee." He started to say before I put my hand up.

I sat up and turned so we were both looking at each other.

"Just go. There's no more denying that you two have feelings for each other, it's too obvious. If you go talk maybe you can figure this out." I said softly.

He hesitated before getting up and walking out. I heard them talking but couldn't make out what they were saying. After a couple more seconds he came back in.

"Feel better?" I asked turning on my side to look at him.

He stopped halfway between the door and the bed, looking at me for a moment before turning and walking back out.

"Jonathan?" I asked sitting up.

I heard a noise, making me get up. Once the door came into view my heart dropped. They were kissing. Nancy noticed me and pulled away from Jonathan, making him turn to see me.

"Lee." Nancy breathed out.

"I'm.." Jonathan started to say before I stopped him.

"No. It's fine. You two like each other and that understandable. Plus you two basically grew up together. You two deserve to be together." I said before turning back into the study.

I fell onto the bed and seconds later started crying. Just across the hall my ex-boyfriend and not-so-best-friend were together.

The next morning it was awkward between the three of us. We were at the table and the man set down a plate in front of me before sitting down and sighing. The four of us sat in silence.

"So Jonathan. How was the pull-out?" The man asked.

Jonathan made a choking noise which made my blood boil.

"Uh. Sorry?" Jonathan asked.

"The sofa." The man said.

"Oh yeah. Yeah it was good." Jonathan lied.

"I bet." The man said.

I kept my eyes on the plate just pushing around the food, hoping everything would be over soon. Once breakfast was over Nancy called her mom to tell her what was going on. I hung back as Jonathan and Nancy had a conversation. After the three of us walked through the front doors of the building and outside, we turned to see the man standing in the doorway.

"For your travels." The man held a bottle out.

I walked towards the car a little as Nancy accepted the bottle.

"And to water it down." The man said.

"Got it." Nancy spoke. "Thank you for everything."

"Don't thank me yet. Just keep your eyes on the papers. And if you need to reach me again... Don't." He said before closing the door.

I flinched at the sound of the door slamming. Tears filled my eyes as I reached the back doors to the car. After an extremely long time of awkward silence the car pulled up to the Byer's house and the three of us got out. We walked inside and came to a stop at the sight of papers on the walls and floors throughout the whole house.

"What is all of this?" Nancy asked as we moved farther into the house.

"I don't know." Jonathan said.

He ran out of the living room and into the hall and started yelling. "Mom? Will?"

Nancy grabbed my hand once he disappeared down the hall and dragged me into the kitchen.

"I'm sorry." She apologized.

"Just drop it." I said while keeping my eyes on the papers.

"No, Lee.." Nancy started to say before I cut her off.

I turned my head sharply to her. "I said drop it."

She looked at me wide eyed.

"Lee. Please." She begged before I slammed my hand down on the table.

"Nancy. Just be quiet. We can talk about this later but for now we have to help Jonathan." I whisper-yelled, hoping Jonathan wouldn't hear.

"You still care about him." She breathed out.

"So?" I asked keeping my eyes down on the table.

Tears were started to fill my eyes. Before she could say anything else the sound of footsteps on paper made us both turn to see Jonathan. He walked in and was carrying something but ai couldn't tell what it was.

"I don't shoot Polaroid." Jonathan said.

"What?" Nancy asked.

"It's not mine." Jonathan said as he tossed something onto the table.

Nancy and I both looked down at it.

"Someone else has been here." Jonathan said.

I looked up at him. He was looking between Nancy and I. Everytime his eyes would land on me they would fill with sadness but I ignored it. No time for feelings when there was possible danger.