Steve Harrington hated to say this but he missed her. He missed the way she chuckled at the stupid things he'd do to get her attention. He missed the way she would mock her brother and his friends but if anyone else were to do it, they would be dead...
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"Though nothing, nothing will keep us together We can beat them, forever and ever Oh, we can be heroes just for one day"
Heroes By David Bowie (1977)
Valerie stared through the doorway of her room as she watched her brother run around frantically looking for his bag that was a gift from Steve. It had been a short time since the occasions of Demo-Dogs and the end of the world had ended, but Valerie didn't break her promise to Steve. She stayed in Hawkins for her brother. And for him. Steve was the brother that Dustin never had and Valerie loved the fact that Steve was embracing his role as a role model to his girlfriend's brother.
"Son of a bitch! Son of a bitch!" Valerie laughed at his swearing causing her to walk with him. "Language." Valerie sang out causing Dustin to glare at her before going back to his searching. "Where did you see it last?" Valerie asked the unhelpful question as he ran around the house, basically tearing it apart. "Right here, where I put it." He pointed to the counter causing Valerie to walk up to the counter and help him look for it. Valerie knew that he wanted to look his best for the snowball and she didn't want to mock his mini-meltdown. Anymore at least.
"What's in there that's so important anyway? You look fabulous, baby." Their mother told her son whilst stroking the replacement Mews after she was convinced that Mews had run off and not been eaten by Dart. Valerie chuckled before pushing the box of cat food to the side and revealing the brown bag that she suspected was Steve's gift. She tried to catch a peek of what was inside of it, but instead wanted a surprise.
"Got it." She handed it to Dustin who smiled at her and ran back to his room. The doorbell ran causing an instant smile to form on Valerie's face. "That's your ride. Dusty! " Valerie quickly opened the door and posed dramatically, leaning up against the door and staring at him with dramatic eyes. "Mr. Harrington, do you think I ready for the ball?" In her jeans and coat, Steve smiled at her before pulling her forward and wrapping his arms around her waist. "Most beautiful girl I have ever seen." They pushed their lips together, Steve grinning into it as he smelt the scent of her cinnamon perfume. Steve sent a quick wave to Claudia who smiled and waved back before winking at Valerie who rolled her eyes and shoved her head in his chest to hide her embarrassment causing Steve to chuckle.
"Where is the little shit?" Steve asked as he looked at the time, his eyes going back to Valerie who looked up at him before pulling out of his tight embrace. "He's using the bag you gave him. What is it?" She asked before Steve took her hand and pulled her towards his car. "You'll know it when you see it. Or smell it." Valerie became confused as she waited in the car for her brother to run out the door. "You're getting me worried, Harrington." Steve winked at her before he pointed at the door where her brother stood with his sprayed up hair that she thought looked magnificent. "Wow, hello Casanova. The ladies will be all over you tonight." Dustin rolled his eyes at her before he put on his seatbelt and began their drive to the school. She knew he was nervous so she stayed silent for the entirety of the ride before they came to a slow stop outside the entrance to the dance.
"Okay. All right, buddy, here we are. So, remember, once you get in there--" Steve started his little pep talk before being interrupted in the second sentence. "Pretend like I don't care." Valerie grimaced as she was still not able to get Steve's bad dating advice out of her brother's head. She had given up at this point as Dustin kept bringing up the fact that Steve had unintentionally ignored Valerie by dating Nancy, so she kept her mouth shut. "You don't care." Steve nodded, impressed at how he was following his advice so well. "I don't care." He nodded again as he tried to be smooth. "There you go. You're learning, my friend. You're learning." Valerie looked back at her brother in the back seat and noticed how nervous he looked as he looked at his hair in Steve's rearview mirror causing her to hit his leg. "Hey." She said softly.
"What?" He asked, looking confused as he turned away from the mirror to look at his sister who was grinning at him. "Come on. You look great!" She smiled at him before Steve chimed in at the end. "You look-- You look great. Okay? Now you're gonna go in there. Look like a million bucks. And you're gonna slay 'em dead. Like a lion." Steve's pep talk was building his confidence but Valerie lost all of her's in him as soon as he purred. "Don't do that, okay?" Valerie and Steve said simultaneously to the boys who nodded wide-eyed at the two.
"Okay. Good luck." Steve said to him as he got out the car, Dustin giving the two a thumbs up before walking to the lobby. Valerie turned to see Steve still looking that way and as she turned back, her eyes fell upon a beautifully dressed Nancy. She saw Steve pull into a parking causing her to furrow her eyebrows as she looked up at his smiling face. "Steve, what are we doing?" Steve hopped out of the car and quickly ran to the other side and opened the door for her causing Valerie to let out a melodic laugh and step out into the cold air. "Now, I believe I owe you a dance to make up for the past couple of years. But only if you want to." Valerie wanted to cry tears of pure bliss as she looked at Steve who wore a blue sweater along with jeans. He had his hand outstretched and she chuckled at it.
"Dance with me, Harrington." Valerie grabbed his hand and he pulled her close to his chest, wrapping an arm around her waist as she rested her head on his chest and they began to sway along to the music. It was Cyndi Lauper's 'Time after Time' and the two were in absolute bliss as the held onto each other, the others presences warming them. "Steve, I know we've been through a lot and god, I hope we are done with all that but I'm glad it happened." Steve smiled sweetly and nodded before putting his hand against Valerie's cheek causing her to look up into his eyes. "Best thing to ever happen to me." Valerie stood on the tip of her toes and she gave him a sweet kiss before the two pulled away at the change of song.
"Let's go." The two climbed back into the car and started driving with no destination in mind. "What do you want to do?" Steve asked as he driving with one of his hands resting on her knee. Valerie smiled widely at him before looking out the window and letting out a 'hmm' as she thought. "We could go see Nightmare on Elm Street and get milkshakes and burgers for dinner afterward?" Steve let out a groan of bliss before shaking his head at her with a large smile on his face. "God, you are the right girl for me." Valerie laughed before kissing his cheek softly, the two driving through the night, sharing kisses at red traffic lights and laughs throughout the whole night.
They were happy and blissfully ignorant about what was to come.
FINISHED EDITING. I swear I've been staring at this screen for twelve hours and been doing this for 6. oh well. Cute ending to their story (still don't know about their ship name) but I will see you all on the 4th of July.
