HOW TO STOP LIKING BOYS ━ Stranger Things ✓

SIX: STARS

SIX: STARS

DANIEL DIDN'T SLEEP EASY THAT NIGHT, not even close. He kept thinking of that girl, of the way Mike was acting around, thinking of the heart-shattering words his sister had spoken to him earlier that night. It wasn't normal for him to rest uneasily, he could typically sleep anytime, anywhere. Ever since the fear of thunderstorms subsided, he was an incredibly deep sleeper. Tonight, however, his eyes didn't close once. Instead, he stared at the cheap, glow-in-the-dark stars on his ceiling. He remembered he had held up the plastic package, begging his mom to let him get them when finally she had sighed and said yes. As soon as they got home, he and Heather had excitedly placed the stars in careful positions, Heather even creating certain constellations.

"This is Orion's Belt," she had explained as she placed three small stars in a row.

Daniel had squinted and in his little five-year-old voice, he'd said, "but they don't look like a belt!"

Heather, only eight then, just giggled, "That's because you can't see the whole constellation, silly!"

Heather used to love the stars. Her room had a window that opened up above the garage, meaning she could easily remove her screen and climb onto the roof. She would do that a lot. When Daniel turned eight, she used to bring him up there with her. It had to have been years since she last came and got him in the middle of the night.

At least, it had been years up until tonight. His clock told him it was around two in the morning when there was a soft knock on the doorframe.

"Hey," Heather spoke softly, her voice gentle as if she were mentally walking on eggshells.

"Hey," the younger boy responded, his voice cold, still hurting from her words earlier in the night. "What do you want?" His voice might have been a bit harsher than he wanted it to be, but maybe a part of him wanted to hurt her as much as she had hurt him.

The girl sighed, crossing her arms as she leaned against the doorframe, "Wanna go look at some real stars, bud?"

Daniel was hesitant for obvious reasons. Earlier, she had been cold and uncaring. He knew his sister has a brutal side, but that was a little much. The boy held a lot of hope that maybe they would find Will, that the stupid girl they found would go back to whatever nuthouse she came from, and that they would be okay, that everything would work itself out. Heather's words, though, they made a piece of that hope just start crumbling down. Maybe he didn't exactly wanna spend time with his sister right now, but he did love to look at the stars.

When he didn't respond right away, Heather sighed again, louder, "Fine, I guess I'll just go look at the stars by myself, left to ponder over my troubles that I sure would love to share with someone!"

"Fine," he gave in, only because he knew she wasn't going to go away. He got out of bed, wrapping himself in his blanket, his feet padding against the carpet softly as he walked over to where his sister was standing.

She smiled, "C'mon!"

He followed her back into her room where she already had carefully taken the screen out of the window. It had stopped raining a while ago, only a light mist dusting the roof now. He was still wondering how he was going to explain the soaking wet clothes on his floor in the morning, he hoped he would remember to shove them under his bed before his mom came to wake him up.  Of course, the one night he had something to hide, his mother would actually be home in the morning.

Daniel climbed through the window first, lifting himself over the frame and onto the roof carefully. Thankfully, this certain part of the roof wasn't that slanted, meaning they could both have a flat place to lay on. He settled his blanket so it was flat on the roof while Heather tossed another one at him before climbing out the window herself. She laid down next to him and spread the second blanket over the both of them.

"I'm sorry," her voice was solemn, grave, "I-I shouldn't have said that I shouldn't have. It was mean, God, it was so mean. I don't know what's gotten into me lately, it's like the slightest thing keeps setting me off. You're so lucky you haven't gone through puberty yet."

"Heather, I'm thirteen," Daniel laughed softly, "That's prime puberty time."

"Shit!" she exclaimed, laughing as well, "It's worse when you're a girl, trust me. Everyone expects you to be some lady who smiles politely, crosses her legs, never cusses, shit like that."

"You are so not like that."

"Exactly! It's the worst!"

Daniel sighed, "I don't think that's what's pissing you off, though. It's not a girl thing, is it?"

"Why are you smart?" she laughed, but there was no real humor behind it, "You know how I always say that like Steve is really annoying and obsessed with me?" He nodded, "Well, I thought that was how I felt, I swear! But, now he's dating Nancy Wheeler and I wouldn't say I'm jealous, I'm just, not one-hundred-percent okay with it, you know?"

Daniel thought back to the way Mike was being with that girl tonight. "Yeah, I know. So, do you like him?"

"No!" she blurted as soon as he asked the question, "and how do you understand? Do you like someone?"

The boy hesitated, "I don't, I don't know. It's not, like, a normal thing, I don't think."

"Who gives a shit if it's normal? Give me all the details, baby bro."

He breathed in deeply. The words he were about to say could change things entirely between him and his sister, but he was fairly sure this was what he was feeling and he wanted his sister to know about it. Finally, he spoke, "I-I think, think I like Mike."

"Hm," was all Heather said at first which made Daniel's stomach tighten. "You're right, that's not normal, Daniel." He felt like he was gonna puke. "But that doesn't mean it's bad. Listen, I'm gonna tell you something and you can't tell anyone, okay?"

He relaxed, slightly. "Okay."

"You know my best friend, Veronica?"

"Yeah."

"She's like you, at least, if you actually like Mike, romantically, I mean."

"So, she likes boys?" He was mildly confused, how was this supposed to help him feel better?

Heather laughed, "No, she likes girls. It's called being gay if you didn't know. I mean, she's technically a lesbian. A guy who likes guys is gay and a girl who likes girls is called a lesbian, but I think gay can technically be used for both."

"That's confusing."

"Yeah, a little. So, I need all the details, what made you realize you like him?"

He sighed, thinking back to that girl once again, "There's a girl. I think Mike is starting to like her and they literally just met! It's so annoying! It's like I don't exist to him suddenly! Neither do Dustin or Lucas, either, he won't listen to any of us! She's probably psycho!"

"What are you talking about?" she asked, there was a small chuckle, but she sounded more concerned than anything.

"I need to tell you something, Heather," Daniel mumbled softly, unsure if this was right or not. However, he knew he could trust his sister considering he had already told her one of his biggest secrets that he had been hiding from himself even for God knows how long. He sighed, "Something about tonight."

( note! )

hello this is dedicated to the person that called Heather a cold bitch xoxo