Emma || Steve Harrington/Billy Hargrove

026. Normalcy

A/N: It's so close to being over :( This is just a little filler chapter and it's a little shorter than what I would normally post, but the next one is going to be the one you've all been waiting for. Get ready for it! I'm extending voting to 10 PM Mountain time (in the US) so if you haven't voted and you want to, do that now!!!

p.s. I know I've plugged this already, but I started a new fanfic. It's called Unexpected and it's a Dacre Montgomery story. The first three chapters are up on my page.

*Emma's POV*

Over the course of the next few weeks, things started to normalize for me and everyone else. I was really more worried about the kids than anything else, but it seemed like all of them, with the exception of Will, thought it was a big adventure and didn't seem to think it was all that serious. Will was scared just as much as I was, but his friends were all helping him through that, which was heartwarming.

I'd turned in all of my college applications and I was getting back into the swing of how things were the year before. I would go out with Steve and Billy and just do teenager things. My parents had been back to their normal selves since the whole running away for a few day thing happened. I still had nightmares about the upside down, but they were becoming less frequent. I was still babysitting El (and all the kids when they were over at the cabin) and that was still going well.

It was Christmas break and I couldn't be happier about it. Christmas had always been my favorite season, and something about the holiday cheer made it easier to ignore what had happened. Also, the fact that Billy and Steve were being nice to one another and actually hanging out made it hard to focus on much else. As much as it weirded me out, it was really nice to get to spend time with them both and it actually be fun and enjoyable. Things got a little awkward from time to time, but I sort of expected that.

The day after Christmas, when my parents were away from business, I had them and Jonathan and Nancy over for a movie night. We we ordered takeout and were just hanging out and watching Back to the Future. It was really nice. I got to spend more time with Nancy who had admitted wasn't too fond of me before the whole upside down fiasco went down. After that, we'd started spending more time together and we got quite close. It was nice having a girl to talk to that was my age and not 14.

Jonathan and Nancy ended up leaving when the movie ended, but Billy and Steve stayed for a second one. I don't even remember which one it was to be honest, but i went along with it because them staying longer meant less time spent alone. I still had an issue with that. It scared me. With the two of them there, I felt safe and protected. I ended up starting to fall asleep part way through the movie.

"Have you and her talked about you guys at all?" Billy questioned. I knew they thought I was asleep, but I was curious about what they were talking about, so I pretended to be asleep.

"No," Steve answered, "Why? Have you guys?"

"No, and it's killing me," Billy replied, "but I also understand that with everything that happened, trying to get into a relationship might not be her first priority."

"I know, that's why I haven't tried bringing it up or pushing anything," Steve said, "This is so weird. Talking to you about it, I mean."

"You can say that again," Billy chuckled.

They stopped talking about it after that. I realized that I was still basically stringing them both along. I needed to figure out my feelings and stop toying with them even though toying with them wasn't at all what I was trying to do. I told myself I'd figure it out as soon as possible. I started asking myself what I wanted to do, but I couldn't force myself to make a decision right then and there. Staying still and pretending I hadn't just heard all that was starting to become very difficult, so I started pretending I was waking up.

"Hey, sleepyhead," Steve smiled as I opened my eyes and yawned. I blinked a few times and smiled.

"Did I miss a lot?" I asked as I looked up at the TV screen.

"No," Billy answered, "The movie isn't all that great, actually."

"Hmm, I think I'm going to sleep," I said, "You guys can feel free to finish and stay if you want. The guest rooms should be all set up and ready to go, there's extra blankets in the upstairs closet." They both nodded and I offered them a quick goodnight before heading up the stairs. I looked down at them one last time, they were talking about something but I couldn't hear, so I just shook it off and walked up to my room.

I couldn't really sleep though. There was too much going through my mind. I stayed up thinking and staring at the ceiling until I came to the conclusion that I already knew who I wanted to be with but I hadn't said anything because I didn't want to hurt the other boy. I also knew that I needed to tell them and end the confusion once and for all. I figured I would do it the next day. After all of that, I felt at peace, but I still couldn't go to sleep. I didn't know if it was just nerves because I'd have to confront the both of them about this situation the next day, or if it was the fact that I was alone and a little scared that something might happen while I was asleep. However, I stayed up until I just couldn't fight my body anymore and I passed out in the very early hours of the morning.