𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐄𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐔𝐩𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐃𝐨𝐰𝐧 december 1983, one month later
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𝐇𝐚𝐰𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐬 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐭 𝐬𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐝, Lily had always thought. It had been one month since she and Steve had learned about Eleven and the Upside Down. They rarely spoke of it, as they'd had to sign all sorts of documents to state they wouldn't tell anyone. However, every so often, one of them would phone the other in the night, unable to sleep after a bad nightmare.
Lily was now sat on the kitchen countertop, begging her mom to let her have a night off from eating dinner with her grandparents. They stayed with the Andrews family each Christmas, and drove everyone in the house insane.
"Please let me have tonight off!" She pouted, "Can't John have a turn? He's only sat with them once this week".
Her mom sighed, "Yes, but only because it'll shut you up" She joked, "And you can deliver the Wheelers' Christmas card too, it's on the dining room table".
"Sure" Lily nodded, "As long as it means I definitely don't have to eat with them tonight, they're driving me nuts!"
Her mom laughed, "Well, I'm sure they'll be too busy complaining about the food to notice you're not there".
"Probably" Lily grinned, "Thanks, Mom! I'll break the news to John. It's not like he's gonna be doing anything. Dinner with Grandma and Grandpa is probably about as exciting as his social life gets".
"Don't be rude, Lillian!" Her mom warned.
In response, Lily gave her an exaggerated smile and rushed out of the kitchen. With her jacket pulled tightly around her, she left the warmth of the house and began to trudge towards the end of the cul de sac, the card clutched in her hand. It took less than a minute to reach the Wheelers house, but in that time her cheeks had turned a rosy shade of red, and her hands were numbing.
She was ushered inside moments after Mrs Wheeler answered the door, "Hi darling, come on in. You must be freezing, would you like a drink?"
"No thank you. I only came to give you this" Lily said, politely, and she handed over the card, "It's from Mom".
"Thank you" Mrs Wheeler smiled. She led Lily into the kitchen, stopping to knock on the basement door as they walked by, "Boys! Lily's here!" She called to Mike and his friends, presumably.
"They've got something for you" She explained, noticing Lily's confused expression, "You've got some admirers, after what happened last month. Mike won't stop talking about you and Steve" She chuckled.
"That's so cute" Lily laughed, "How's he getting on? Is he doing okay, after everything that happened?"
"He doesn't really talk about it much, but yes, I think he's okay. He's happy to have Will back, they've been in the basement playing one of their board games all evening".
