down hill; billy hargrove

7.4

     THE TRIO STOOD in front of the rusty old bus in the junk yard. "oh yes, this'll do" steve nodded, taking off his thick black sunglasses, annabelle mirroring his actions.

"hey, guys..." she trailed off, her eyes scanning the area before going back to both boys who were waiting for her to continue. "we should make a pact, y'know? call ourselves the bus boys or something" she joked as dustin snorted.

"the bus boys? you're a girl".

"where's your proof" she sassed as steve looked at her, wide eyed. "im kidding, jesus." she held her hands up in defence.

"dork" he muttered as annabelle grabbed a chunk of meat and threw it at him, hitting the middle of his forehead.

"say that again, bitchboy" she teased, throwing another chunk.

"why you little..." he chuckled, running after the now yelling girl before finally catching up and picking her up, spinning them around.

annabelle felt something twist in her stomach, as if she was getting butterflies from the closeness, which in hindsight was weird considering this wasn't even remotely close to how close their bodies had been in the past. annabelle could tell steve felt the awkwardness as he pulled away, coughing awkwardly.

"I-" she started speaking, slightly flustered and confused. she had never felt anything for steve and it was weird for her to feel nervous around him. she sighed loudly, her own overthinking getting on her last nerves.

"i said medium well" the voice of Lucas yell as she smiled slightly.

"who's that?" steve asked dustin, who only continued to stare at the girl. annabelle and him shared a knowing look.

a mere ten minutes later, annabelle sat inside the bus, not really sure what to do. "i'm max" the redhead extended her hand.

"and i dont do formalities." she hit her hand away. "annabelle".

"annabelle as in dustin's sister?" she asked, baffled.

"the one and only" annabelle muttered, getting up.

"so, what exactly are we doing?" she asked the older girl.

"we're fighting monsters, as weird as it may sound. welcome to the bus boys, max" annabelle joked as max looked at her in confusion.

"i'm not trying to be rude but is there anything wrong with you?".

"nothing that's been confirmed." annabelle joked as max raised a brow. "i'm kidding. i have a questionable sense of humour" she shrugged.

"i like you already".

"yeah, i have that effect on people.". she looked towards steve who was looking at them both.

"so, what'd you want us to do?" she questioned. he only shrugged, grabbing a chair and waking the car that dustin and lucas were behind.

"hey, dickheads. how come the only people helping me is this random girl and Belle? we lose light in 40 minutes. let go!" He spoke. "let's go, i said!".

"all right asshole! god".

"okay! stupid". annabelle heard both boys complain.