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( songs for the chapter ) ⋆ home sweet home // mötley crüe ⋆ for no one // the beatles
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WHEN KATE FOUND THE OPPORTUNITY to leave Hawkins, she immediately took it. Cornell had given her the option to tour the campus and take few free classes for a couple months. And while the blonde was terrified of being so far away from her dad and El – and Steve – she knew she had to go. She'd hardly been out of Hawkins, let alone Indiana.
In the time she was in New York, she talked to her friends as much as she could and her dad called at the same time every night before she went to bed, so Kate never felt too far away from home. But despite that, she missed seeing her sister, and Jim, and the rest of the crew. And most of all, she missed Steve; she'd never admit it out loud, especially not to him, but leaving him was one of the hardest things she'd ever done.
Kate did surprisingly well on her own, though. She wasn't near as homesick as she imagined she'd be. But once summer rolled around and her mock classes ended, she knew she couldn't stay away any longer. So one night, when she got off the phone with her dad, she went down to the airport to book a ticket for the next flight to Indiana.
She surprised the kids at the Wheeler's house, in the basement. Will, Lucas, Max, Mike, and El were all sharing a large pizza and watching a movie when she walked down the wooden steps. They stared at her in shock before they all ran to hug her.
But no one was quite as surprised as her dad.
Jim was half-asleep, eating chips and salsa when she walked in. He didn't look at her at first; he just assumed that it was El finally coming home from Mike's.
"Hey, dad," Kate muttered with a smile.
His head snapped to the direction of the oh, so familiar voice and his eyes filled with tears almost immediately. He stood quickly, wrapping her in the tightest hug he could muster. And the two of them stayed up until morning, talking about anything and everything.
Kate decided to surprise Steve last.
From their short phone conversations in the time they'd been apart, she learned that he'd gotten a new job at the new mall in Hawkins – an ice cream place named Scoops Ahoy.
She went to see him the following morning and found a familiar girl at the counter. Kate could've recognised the short hair, pink lips, and various silver chains from miles away.
"Hey, Robin," the blonde greeted the blushing girl in the sailor outfit. "Is Steve around?"
"Uh, yeah, he's in the back," she told her, lifting up the door of the counter. The two of them walked into the break room
"What's that?" Kate pointed to a dry-erase board hung up on the door. The board was split into to sides: one labeled "you rule" and the other "you suck." Four tally marks were drawn under the latter side, while the other was completely bare.
"That's how many times he's tried to get over you and completely and utterly failed."
Kate smiled sadly.
A few weeks after leaving Indiana, she'd called things off with Steve. It wasn't much of a break up, though, because they hadn't really been dating in the first place. But Kate told him it would be better if they just saw other people – not because she'd found somebody in New York, but because she was terrified that Steve would. She didn't think it was fair to leave him and expect him to wait for her, while she was a thousand miles away.
They walked into the back room, seeing Steve with his head down and a half-eaten bowl of ice cream next to him. His head shot up at the sound of their voices. He stood up abruptly, and the sudden movement made him dizzy. The brunette walked towards Kate, but bumped into the table and several chairs along the way.
"Hey, Kate. Hey," he smiled, leaning against the counter like he hadn't just completely ran into a table. "When did you get in? I didn't know you were coming."
"I wanted to surprise you."
"It worked," Robin spoke, sarcasm dripping from her voice.
Steve shot the girl a look, silently trying to tell her to leave. And she did but only because someone was repeatedly ringing the bell at the counter, asking for more samples.
Once she shut the door behind her, Steve brought Kate into a tight embrace. Her arms went around his torso as she brought her head to his chest. It felt almost surreal, to be back in the hold of the man she loved, after so much time apart. He kissed the crown of her head. "I missed you, Kate."
"I missed you more. I promise."
"Impossible," he scoffed. "At one point, I completely forgot you were gone. I went to the cabin one day to see you, and then remembered you weren't even there anymore."
She pulled away slightly, looking up at him. "Tell me about it. I spent all those mornings waking up next to you, and then I was suddenly waking up alone.
"Alone?" he question. "Like... alone, alone?"
"Yeah?" Kate laughed.
"So... No boyfriend?"
"No, Steve. I don't have a boyfriend," she smiled.
"Well, that's perfect, because, you know... I don't have a girlfriend."
"Oh, I know," Kate responded, pointing behind her to the dry erase board.
He sighed, knowing Robin had showed it to her. "What I'm trying to say is–"
"I know what you're trying to say. Steve. And it sounds good now that I'm back, but it won't be when I'm thousands of miles away again."
Steve pulled back from her slightly, nodding to himself. "I get it. No, yeah, I totally understand."
"But I'm here now, until August. And I'm all yours until then."
Her statement seemed to bring a smile back onto his face. He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "That was a bad move on your part, honestly. Because if you think I'm letting you out of my sight at all while you're here, you're wrong."
"You're a dumbass, Harrington," she grinned.
She wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him closer to her and pressing a passionate kiss to his lips. He put his hands around her waist.
Though it had been quite sometime since he'd gotten to feel her lips against his, it was like nothing had changed. Because even after all that time, he still remembered the way her kisses tasted – the way they felt. And, suddenly, everything was just as it was before.
