Say Anything | Steve Harrington |

Ch. 21 Simple or Complicated

October 31st, 1984
Outside Tina's Party

   Bumping shoulders and shoving through the crowd, I lost sight of Steve in the sea of teens until finally stumbling outside. The front yard wasn't as packed as it had been earlier, seeming to have crammed their way inside the house and leaving only a handful of people outside. 

   Scanning my eyes over the few people that lurked outside, I quickly spotted Steve's retreating figure as he rushed towards his car. "Steve! Where are you going?" I called out, speeding up my pace in the hopes of catching up with him, but this only caused him to walk faster. "I'm sorry, Nellie. I just- I'm sorry, I can't do this right now." He struggled to keep his tone steady, his voice cracking slightly at the end. 

  "No, come on... Steve, stop." I quickly caught up to him enough to latch my hand around the sleeve of his coat, but he was quick to shrug me off. Turning sharply to stare down at me, I caught sight of how puffy and red his eyes were. "Steve, what happened..." I whispered, watching as he quickly pulled the sunglasses to his costume back over his eyes. "What happened?" I asked again, having received nothing but silence as he looked back at the party behind us, almost like he was scared somebody would see him in this state.

  "Did you know?" He questioned in a hushed tone, finally reaching my confused gaze through the dark shades of his glasses. "Know what? Steve, what happened between you and Nance?" Shaking his head at my response, he ran a hand through his hair taking in a few short breaths before responding.  "Did you know that she doesn't love me? Did she tell you that?" He questioned, his tone quickly shifting from one of sadness to anger. "That apparently our whole relationship was bullshit?"

   Furrowing my brow, I quickly shook my head in response, moving to take a step closer to him only for him to move away from me. "No... Steve, what are you talking about? How could I have known that?" I stumbled over my words as I tried to understand what I could have done to make him upset.

  Shaking his head, Steve scoffed lightly under his breath before turning to walk back to his car. Somehow believing this was the perfect place to end the conversation and that... Well, that seemed to be all I needed to push me over the edge, "What's wrong with you, Harrington?" I called out to him, causing him to stop in his tracks. "Excuse me?" Quick to turn around, pulling his shades off to glare down at me. 

   Stepping up to him, I returned the glare he shot at me. "I said, what's wrong with you?" I repeated the question slowly, earning another scoff from him in response. "I mean, excuse me for being confused by this whole situation...  I mean, aren't you the one that cheated on her."

   "It's not that simple." He stated, quick to put up a hard exterior. "No? But what she did to me in there was? Steve, she's been my friend... Or at least was my friend for years, way before you even noticed her. You're not the only one that's hurt right now..." I scoffed at the tear that I quickly wiped away. 

   I don't know how long I stood there waiting for a response, or any sort of acknowledgment from him before he began to slowly nod his head but continue to stay silent. My hopes of a response were crushed as I watched him slowly turn in his place and continue on his path back to his car.

   Remaining frozen in my spot, tired of the back-and-forth game we seemed to be playing, I watched as the car started up, the headlights flashing over me before finally speeding off down the road and out of sight.

   Taking in a shaky breath, I wiped away the few tears that lingered in my eyes before turning around at the sound of approaching footsteps. "Help me out here, would you?" Jonathan groaned, struggling to keep Nancy standing up straight as he helped her to the car. Rushing to the car, I pulled open the passenger door before carefully helping him get Nancy inside the car her eyes slowly grew heavy before finally shutting as she rested her head on the back of the seat.