𝐋𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 -- s. harrington

→ twenty-six.

ANDREA STARED AT the green slide in the middle of the playground and huffed out a sigh, wondering how a large piece of plastic could ever have such sentimental value. She watched as Steve sat at the bottom of the slide, his feet scuffing the dirt beneath his shoes. Her heart was racing and goosebumps were travelling all over her body - was she ready for this conversation? She knew she was ready to be with him but she was nowhere near prepared to have this conversation with her ex-boyfriend. Huffing out yet another sigh in an attempt to calm herself down, Andrea trudged toward the boy on their slide. The slide that marked their friendship and the start of their relationship and maybe, if they were lucky, it would start up their second try at the whole relationship thing.

          The sound of moving gravel filled his ears, causing Steve to lift his head and look over his shoulder. A smile crept onto his face at the sight of the familiar blonde girl walking toward him. "You actually showed up," he said softly and watched her as she took a seat next to him on the bottom of the slide. Steve looked away from Andrea and tapped his fingers on his knees, letting out a nervous breath as his heart began to thump harder in his chest. "Do you want this?" He asked and turned his head toward Andrea, raising his eyebrows.

          Andrea nodded and looked at Steve, smiling slightly at him. "I shouldn't have left you, Steve, and I'm really sorry. I thought that breaking up with you was what I wanted but it wasn't and I realize that now," she began and swallowed a lump in her throat as tears formed in her eyes. She was about to spill her heart out to Steve Harrington and she wasn't sure if she could keep her emotions under control. "Steve, I love you and I want you - I need you. Leaving you was the worst decision I ever made. I left you when I needed you the most and it made me worse. I'm not sure how much longer I can go without you."

          Steve blinked at the girl and cleared his throat. He turned his head away and wiped at the tears that formed in his eyes, feeling embarrassed that he was tearing up at her short but meaningful speech. "Promise me that you really want this because we can't go through this again," he stated and looked back at Andrea who had been staring at him the whole time he was looking away.

          "I promise," she whispered and nodded her head, pulling her bottom lip between her teeth. Andrea held her right hand out so her palm was pointing up toward the sky. "Will you give me a second chance?" She questioned and raised her eyebrows, staring into the eyes of the boy she was madly in love with.

          Steve smiled and slid his hand into Andrea's, a feeling of relief washed over him and he felt like he was home. "Of course," he said and nodded, leaning toward the girl until their lips touched gently. He pulled away and rested his forehead against hers, locking their eyes together for the hundredth time tonight. "I love you, Andrea Matthews."

          "And I love you, Steve Harrington."

* * * *

Andrea and Billy sat silently in the change room on a bench next to each other as they waited for their shift to start. She had noticed the boy had been acting strange ever since he picked her up this morning and she dared herself to ask but she was too scared to say anything. The last thing Andrea wanted to do was upset Billy but she also wanted to help him. The two were friends now and friends helped each other through tough times.

          Andrea cleared her throat and tucked a loose strand of hair that had fallen from her ponytail behind her ear. "What's wrong?" She asked quietly and nudged Billy's arm with her shoulder lightly, causing him to look at her with tired, glossed over eyes. The blonde furrowed her eyebrows and sat up straight from leaning against the wall, she got to her knees on the bench and cupped the boy's face, examining him slowly. "Talk to me, Hargrove."

          Billy swallowed a lump in his throat and pushed the girl's small hands away from his warm face as he stood up from the bench. The motion sent a wave of nausea through his stomach and he planted his hands on the lockers in front of him, letting out a shaky sigh before turning to Andrea. "I got into it with my dad last night," he said softly and cleared his throat to fix the coarse tone. "I was going to call you but I figured you were with Harrington celebrating your one week anniversary, or whatever."

          Andrea stood up and furrowed her eyebrows, shaking her head back and forth slowly. "Billy, we're friends now and that means you can call me no matter what, understood? If you're even in a bad situation like that and you need some help you call me." She pressed a finger to the boy's chest and forced her lips to curl into a small smile. It didn't take a genius to figure out Billy was having a hard time, but if he truly didn't want to discuss what was bothering him then there was no way that Andrea could force it out of him. "If you ever need to talk, I'm here," she said softly and leaned her head against Billy's chest, snaking her arms around his torso and hugging him gently.

           Billy wanted to talk to Andrea about his fight with his dad, but he didn't want her to get involved in it. If she knew how awful things got between Billy and his father, she may try to fix it or wiggle her way into it to help him and Billy couldn't allow that to happen. If his father found out he went to someone to talk about his problems, his father would be disappointed in his son and Billy couldn't give his father another reason to hate him.

          The boy patted Andrea's back and forced a small smile in an attempt to convince himself that he was okay. "I'm okay," he lied and ran his hand up and down the blonde's back. "I'm okay."