Talking in Your Sleep || Closed

Billy was never more happy to be out of classes for the weekend. His teachers had droned on and on about their subjects—not that he’d really paid much attention to them anyways—and it seemed like time had been running backwards instead of forwards. He had better things to do with his time than to worry about history or math…or anything else. The only class he tolerated was Phys. Ed., but even that had been boring. The parking lot was filled with buses, students meandering their way to their cars, parents coming to pick up their kids(he rolled his eyes at that one), and the few kids that opted to ride their bikes were pulling them from the racks.

His car was parked off toward the back of the school parking lot, sideways so that it encompassed two spots. It wasn’t like the school had that many student drivers anyways, and he didn’t want anyone scratching his paint job either. His ’79 Camaro was his baby and, by now, he had a reputation to not be fucked with. And there would a particular sort of hell he’d put the person who damaged his car.

Carding a hand through his hair, he tucked his hands into his jean jacket as he crossed the distance to his car. Billy knew he’d miss California, but he didn’t know how much until now. This cold weather sucked and he didn’t really have any warmer clothing than a leather jacket. A colder breeze blew against him and he shrugged a little deeper into his jacket, cursing under his breath. Fuck Hawkins. Fuck Indiana. He was thoroughly pissed off by the time he got out of the car, but he was half tempted to drive off without Max. Though, his dad’s reaction to him arriving home without the little brat wouldn’t be too pleasant.

So he grumbled and griped as he shoved the key into his car door and unlocked it. Billy slipped into the driver’s seat, probably falling into it with a bit too much force, and shut the door. He shoved the key in the ignition and let the battery at least power the radio. A Ratt song was playing, so he at least couldn’t complain too much about the tunes while he waited, at least until the song changed. He tapped his fingertips against the tops of his thighs, thankful that at least his car protected him from the brutal wind. His gaze followed one of the junior girls as she walked by, shooting her and her senior friend a crooked grin that had them giggling behind their hands and walking a bit faster to their car. These small town girls were too easy.

---

Kate scoffed as she slammed the payphone down onto the receiver, glaring at the inanimate object as she blew her mess of blonde and pink hair out of her gaze. How did they expect her to get in touch with them if the spent all her loose change on trying to get them on the line? Letting out a heavy sigh as her head fell back, she closed her eyes for a moment or two, squeezing them shut in frustration before shaking her head and making her way toward her bike at the bike rack. She wasn’t instructed on how to handle what happened if she continuously got a busy tone and she didn’t have time to linger. She looped her thumb in the strap of her book bag as it hung off of one shoulder as she briskly made her way toward the front of the school.

She’d been a new student at Hawkins High since the beginning of the year and was slowly familiarizing herself to it all. She didn’t have anyone that seemed to have want to familiarize themselves with her. Sure, she made small talk occasionally, but she didn’t have a group of people that she hung out with or sat with at lunch. Not that it bothered her…most days. Sure, she got the occasional ‘Cyndi Lauper-wannabe’ thrown at her, but so far no one had seriously aggravated her. She marched to the beat of one drum and everyone else seemed to march to another; they stayed in their lane and she stayed in hers.

As she rounded the corner of a building, a brisk wind hit her full in the face and she drew in a sharp breath of air and let out a hiss of a curse. She flipped up the collar of her long, grey wool duster up around her neck. Sure, they had cold winters in New York City, but when the seasons changed, it always seemed to shock her. Indiana seemed a bit more dry than the colder weather than she was used to. She narrowly missed having her shoulder clipped by a few middle schoolers as she walked by, turning at just the right moment. Kate glared at their backs with more amber than green eyes, grumbling under her breath at them. A hum left her as she saw her Schwinn cruiser in the rack.

Her house was not exactly close to the school and today was the first day she regret not trying to get her driver’s license. An irritated sort of grunt rattled in her throat as she pulled her bike from the rack, looking it over for a moment to make sure nothing had changed and that her bike tires had deflated or anything. It was better for her to stay at the school than to get stranded somewhere in the middle-of-nowhere Hawkins. Her black-rimmed gaze darted around the parking lot, noting there were too many cars burning it out for her liking, too eager for the weekend. So, instead of immediately getting on and riding away, she walked beside her bike as she started away from the school.

“Skywalker.”

Dustin’s voice sounded a little tinny over the phone, but the word came through clear enough. The code word that the two siblings had stalled any questions that Evie had wanted to ask. That was rule one of the code word – when used, no questions were asked. Rule number two was that it was only to be used in dire situations, and that everything that was said was true. So the questions that she wanted to ask, as to why he was calling her at school and why he wasn’t even in school had to be put on hold.

Instead, she gave a soft ’yeah? before he went into an explanation. There was an interdimensional slug that he’d found and named Dart. He’d raised it and loved it and fed it Three Musketeer bars and in return it grew fast and ate Mews. He started to babble faster and faster, and she turned to face the wall, trying to get as far away from the school secretary as was possible. She’d told him that it’d be fine, that they’d deal with it. He’d managed to get it into the cellar, which was good. She’d tried to tell him to wait for her, but he was already moving on to what he needed to do right then.

It had been two o’clock when he’d called. Evie knew that there was only an hour or so left of school, and that there was no way Mr. Jones was going to let her out of AP calc without a fight (on his part) and a doctor’s excuse (on her part). “Just stay out of trouble, alright?” She mumbled into the phone. It was the only thing that she could think of to say, because don’t go up against the interdimensional monster without me would have gotten her a couple of weird looks.

By the time she was rushing to her car, her frustration had risen. She loved Dusty, she really did. But the kid could be a fucking moron sometimes. Of course he’d found some stupid interdimensional slug that ate the cat. Why wouldn’t he have found that? The two of them had already been dragged into the whole thing a year ago with Hawkins Lab. This shouldn’t have been surprising, really. She’d parked to the back of the lot, having been running late and just wanting to get there as soon as possible. She rolled her eyes at the sight of double parked vehicle. It wasn’t a shock to see that Billy Hargrove was as obnoxious with his parking as he was with everything else.

She’d parked a few spots down from Billy, which meant passing his car to get to hers. She took care to avoid looking at the car, unlike the giggling girls that she passed. It was stupid, really. He had a nice face and a nice body. That didn’t excuse him from being a raging dick most of the time. She stopped at her car and put the key into the lock, trying to turn it. But it wouldn’t budge. “C’mon, you piece of shit,” she mumbled, trying again. It refused to move. She smacked her hand off of the top of the car, wincing as a particularly bitter gust of wind hit her. She tried to turn it – and it didn’t budge. “Please please please just work.”

---

The plan was to go to the florist and buy Nancy’s favorite flowers. Because girls liked flowers, especially when the flowers were coming from their very apologetic boyfriend. At least, he thought that he was still considered her boyfriend. Yes, she’d called their entire relationship bullshit and had implied that she’d never loved him, but people said that kind of stuff when they were drunk all the time, right? That didn’t mean that they’d broken up. They were fighting. Yeah, Steve thought. We’re fighting.

Fighting was easier to think about than the alternative. He’d had a crush on Nancy for as long as he could remember. And sure, somewhere along the way during their relationship things had cooled off a little, but that was to be expected. They couldn’t always be in the honeymoon phase. He carved his fingers through his hair as he slid into his car, shutting the door behind him. Nance was just going through some stuff, that was all. That was it. She was stressed out about Barb and her parents and whatever marital shit the Wheelers were going through. She and Steve would be fine.

“We’ll be fine,” he mumbled, nodding his head to himself a couple of times. He gave a quick, cursory glance throughout the parking lot. Weird enough, Jonathan’s car wasn’t anywhere to be seen. His chest gave a squeeze as the thought of Nancy being with Byers for some reason flickered through his mind. He shoved it away and scowled. Maybe Byers wasn’t the piece of shit that Steve had initially thought he was, but Nancy wouldn’t do that to him.

He put the key into the ignition and turned the engine over, smiling a little at the sound. It might have been dumb, but he always felt like when he’d been younger and saving up his money for a car when he turned the engine of his car. He paid for this baby, and took care of it. He’d changed the oil and did all the shit that his dad refused to do with his old car. Something about having enough money to get someone else to do it.

Steve might have been spoiled in some aspects, but not with his car.

Pulling out of the parking lot, he slammed on his horn as a couple of middle schoolers shot in front of his car on their bikes. He thought he might have recognized the Sinclair and Wheeler kid, but he wasn’t entirely sure. Steve kept going, his attention perking up when he saw the infamous mop of blonde and pink hair. He’d have to have been blind to have not noticed her in the halls in between periods. The wind was blowing so hard he could feel it rocking his car a little.

He pulled up beside her, leaning over to roll the passenger window down. “Hey, it’s Kate, right?” He asked it like he hadn’t made sure to find out her name that first day that he’d seen her. Kate Young, somebody had told him. He didn't know anything else about her, other than her clothing choices had made some of the other girls scrunch their noses when she passed them. If he was being honest with himself, he kind of liked how she dressed. It was different. It was cool. “You need a ride?”

He could hear the giggling circling his car, but his gaze was drawn to the girl who was trying to look at anything but him. Billy let out a short hum, eyes raking over her slowly. Evie Henderson was probably one of the prettiest girls in the school, and they were slim picking as far as he was concerned. His lips ticked upward at one corner as he watched her, gaze following her as she strode past his car and toward her own, he supposed. His eyes trailed over her for a few moments in appreciation before turning his sight to the school in front of him.

Billy frowned as he watched the leaves get caught up in a breeze that shot them across the empty parking spaces in front of him. God, this weather blew. He ran his tongue over his teeth as he slouched back into the chair, feeling that spike of anger cutting through everything else he felt. That little snot-nosed brat Maxine had better hurry up. Consequences or not, he’d just have to let her walk home and just lie and tell his dad that she got dropped off at that stupid arcade or something. His upper lip curled as he nearly glowered at the middle school. Billy’d give her ten more minutes and nothing more, then he was cutting out of here.

His head tipped back for a bit as he let his gaze wander the headliner of his car for a moment before his gaze slipped over to the side. Billy’s brow furrowed slightly as he noticed Evie having a difficult time getting into her car. A hum left him as his gaze wandered over her once more. He’d been seeing other girls on and off since he’d arriving in BFE(aka Hawkins), but he’d never had his chance with Evie Henderson. Perhaps, this was the chance he was looking for. A grin curled his lips as he cut the battery to his car before slipping back out of his car and shoving his keys into his pocket. Maybe he’d be thanking Max for taking her sweet ass time after all.

Smoothing the sides of his hair back, he rounded his car and walked over to her’s, wide strides closing the distance between the two of them in no time. Billy leaned up against the side of the car just beside the car door, crossing his arms over his chest. “Need help, babydoll?” He asked, eyes slipping over her features as he dragged his tongue over his bottom lip and pulled it between his teeth. He made a point to keep his eyes on her face; most girls didn’t really appreciate a full once-over and Evie seemed to fit that mold.

“Here, let me,” he said suddenly, taking the key from her fingers, making sure his skin lingered against hers for a moment as he gazed down into her eyes. Billy turned away from her and worked the key into the lock, grimacing slightly as another blast of cool air hit him in the face. He drew in a deep breath of air as he jiggled the key a bit, but had no luck trying to get the door open. “Looks like you’re going to need some WD-40 or something for it,” he told her bluntly, turning to look at her as a lock of hair fell into his eyes. A grin suddenly curled his features—it seemed like today had suddenly taken a better turn—as an idea came upon him. “I suppose I could give you a ride, if you wanted me to,” he said, tucking his hands into his pockets and shrugging his shoulders.

---

Kate let out a soft noise of disapproval as her bag slipped down her shoulder, making her have to stop and pull it back up a bit. The art supplies that took up the majority of the space in her backpack tended to weigh it down more than the textbooks she typically had to carry. Not to mention, the dossier upon dossier of information she had on Hawkins, the people, the lab, and any other pertinent information she needed to complete her job. Today, she’d chosen to go light, only picking out the few that she may come in contact with at Hawkins High or Middle School.

In fact, the reason she’d been so desperate to call them was to report back on just how odd the three middle schoolers of interest had been acting lately and the absence of the fourth from school altogether. But, it didn’t look like she could do that anytime soon, since all her spare change had been eaten away by the payphone after her all her calls were met with a busy tone followed by a click. Kate would just have to call them whenever she got back home, if she didn’t fall over a million different times trying to stay on her bike.

She was aware that a car had pulled up beside her, but she kept her gaze forward, chin tucked down slightly as brightly-colored strands of her hair whipped around her face. To be honest, she was a bit surprised when she heard someone calling her name and she turned to look at the source, even more surprised to find Steve Harrington—or Mr. Hair, as she’d called him the first time she’d laid eyes on his picture in the dossier that had been given to her—speaking to her from the window of his car. She stopped walking and turned slightly to face him, backpack strap slipping down her arm once more.

“Uh, yeah,” she replied, pushing her hair out of her face, “you’re Steve, right?” They hadn’t spoken until now and honestly didn’t think they ever would. He seemed to be a part of a different crowd than she would hang out with, if there had been people like her at the school. He was a jock, a pretty boy, son of rich parents, and seemed to always have perfectly coiffed hair. Even now, with how windy it was, it was like…nothing could muss it up. Her brow furrowed slightly as he offered her a ride, eyes slipping between his for a moment or two. She heaved a sigh before glancing around the parking lot of the school before finding their way back to him.

Typically, she’d probably just decline a ride from a guy like this; they always had some sort of ulterior motive, like he’d try to get something from her or tell all his friends just how weird she was. All things considered, he could be her in. The dossier on him had said he was dating Nancy Wheeler, who was friends with Barbara Holland, and they’d been at his house when Barbara had disappeared. She licked her lips as she turned her gaze back to him. “A ride would be great,” she said, offering him a small smile before her eyes took in his car. A Beemer. A nice Beemer. One that didn’t look like it had much room for her bike. “But…I don’t think I can fit my bike in your car. The wheels would just dirty it all up.”

Evie was trying to keep herself calm, but it was hard. Her mind was working overtime. The longer it took her to get home, the more there was a chance that Dustin was being a raging shithead. There wasn’t a doubt in her mind that he hadn’t listened to her at all, and was off doing something stupid. She ran her fingers through her hair, letting out a ragged sigh. This was her only ride. Her mom was… Trying, but was more of a general presence in the house than anything else. And she needed the car for her own work anyway.

“Please,” she murmured, trying again. It wasn’t working. Great. Her brother was probably beating eaten alive by some fucking alien and she was stuck in the school parking lot because her stupid car wouldn’t unlock. Maybe if the engine had died, she would have felt better about it. But this? This was shit. She let out another sigh, scowling at her car. She lived a couple of miles out. If she started walking now, she’d be home in an hour or so.

A figure leaned against her car, making her jump. He spoke before she had a chance to look at him, but she’d heard that voice enough to know exactly who it was. “Jesus Christ,” she mumbled. Babydoll. Good Lord, who did this guy think he was? She took a small step back and looked up at him. “I’m fine. Thanks, though.” She was kind of impressed that he was actually looking her in the eyes. Evie had always thought that it’d be physically impossible for him to not check a girl out.

“You don’t –“ She cut herself short as his fingers brushed against hers. Her traitorous, stupid heart gave a hard jolt in her chest at the short touch. She pressed her lips together and turned away. It was because he was inhumanly attractive, that was all. How the boy had gotten graced with such good looks was a goddamn miracle. Her face fell as she watched him. It wouldn’t even turn for him, and he was a hell of a lot stronger than she was. “Great,” she muttered, looking from the car to him.

The last thing she wanted to do was get a ride from him. There were stories floating around school, about the girls that rode in his car. She really didn’t want to do this. But an image of Dustin floated through her head, lying half eaten in their cellar. She grimaced and gave a short nod of her head. “If you could take me home, that’d be great,” she said, mustering up a small smile. Billy drove horribly, but at least he was fast. “The faster the better?”

---

“Yeah, I’m Steve.” There was a ridiculous amount of pride that welled within his chest. She knew his name. He wasn’t sure why he was so excited about that, but he was. Maybe it was because she seemed so above it all, for some reason. He couldn’t even figure out why he thought that. He liked to chalk it up to being perceptive. He might not have been the smartest person on the planet, but he sure as hell wasn’t an idiot about everything.

“Nah, it’ll fit. I’ll just move the front seats up a little. And it can get dirty. I’m heading to the car wash this weekend.” That was a lie. He’d washed the car on Monday, but she didn’t need to know that. He flicked his four-ways on and climbed out of the car. He bent down to shift his seat up, straightening up once the seat had clicked into place. The wind hit him, sharp in the face. A car behind his slammed on the horn, and Steve held up the middle finger in response. When he got a good look at the driver, he kept it up there and scowled. “Go around, Tommy.” There was a pause as he rounded the car. “You asshole,” he mumbled, rolling his eyes as Tommy honked again. The boy in question hit the gas and roared passed the car, yelling something about Steve a sucker of something. Steve didn’t catch the first part.

“Sorry about that,” he said, shooting Kate a quick grin. He opened up the other door and made sure that the seat was scooted up. “So, uh, are you liking Hawkins so far?” He asked, glancing over to her. There was a brief second where he wondered if he was wrong, and she’d been at Hawkins for as long as he’d been there, and he must’ve somehow missed her. Surely he would have noticed her before, right? Granted, he’d been a raging dick for awhile, but he was getting better.

He looked down to her bike, pursing his lips for a moment before nodding. “Okay, we should definitely be able to fit it in there. Lemme just…” He trailed off and reached into the car to bend the front seat down. “There. We should be able to wiggle it around a little, I think.” He hoped so. He’d feel bad if she ended up having to walk her bike back to wherever she lived. It was cold as hell outside.

Billy let his tongue dart out of the corner of his lips as she tried to deny the fact that she needed his help. Clearly, she wasn’t about to get the door lock unstuck on her own and he knew there was a chance the key could break off in the door and then she’d really be screwed. He honestly wasn’t the brightest at most things, but he knew cars and he knew he had a fair share of common sense. His dad sometimes liked to think that he was inferior to him, that he was stupid for making the choices that he did, but Billy knew better.

Take, for example, the general affect he tended to have on women. He was pretty smart about that sort of thing. Billy was good at reading them and knew how to approach them in way that made them feel like they were special and wanted. Ultimately, it was to get what he wanted. Some girls liked assholes. Some girls liked a more attentive approach. The girls in Hawkins hadn’t been too hard to crack. He was something new from California they could ogle as he walked by. All he had to do was so much as shoot a look or a wink in his direction and they were his. Evie had seemed a little different from the get-go and Billy would be lying if he didn’t see her as a bit of a conquest.

He distinctly noted her reaction to his hand brushing against hers; the look on her face, the way she stopped talking, and the way she turned away from him. He was getting under her skin a little and he enjoyed it more than he probably should have. Drawing in a deep breath of air, his eyes darted over her face as he studied her closely. There was something about the way she looked that kind of reminded him of the girls back in California. He leaned back against her car once more, crossing his arms over his chest. “Yeah, it sucks. I could try to force it, but I don’t want to break your key,” he told her, offering her a small grin in return.

There was another thing that Billy wasn’t stupid about. He knew he had a reputation about him and that she was probably weighing her options against not riding in the car with him. She had a frantic sort of air about her, like she was in a hurry to get somewhere. He kept his gaze on her as she nodded and a knowing grin curled his lips. Billy reached out and grasped her hand in his, placing her key back into her grasp and curling her fingertips back over it. He kept his hands on hers for a few lingering moments, not meaning to hold it for as long as he did. He’d become pleasantly distracted by her smile and the request she made.

A slow, broad grin curled his lips as he let the weight of her request sink in. He was going to enjoy the trip to where ever she lived more than he initially thought he would—an his expectations were already pretty damn high. He halfway thought she’d say no, but to tell him to accept and drive quickly? It was like Christmas came early. “That I can do, sweetheart,” he said with quick wink, dropping his hands away from her and stepping over to his car. He typically wouldn’t go about opening up doors for girls, but he figured trying to be nice would score him brownie points with her. He pulled his car door open for her before marching around to the driver’s side and opening his door.

He settled down into his seat as he closed the door behind him, immediately cranking his engine over. The Camaro roared to life as did his radio, blasting out some Metallica tune as he glanced over at Evie. He felt like he’d won something already and she hadn’t even gotten in his car yet. Another idea came to him then and he let out a soft laugh, eyes slipping forward once more.

---

Kate was pretty sure Steve had never had to tell his name to anyone in this small town. He had probably always been one of those popular kids whose reputation seemed to precede them. She mentally chastised herself at thinking this way, knowing that judging people based upon first impressions or appearances was never a good thing. She’d been judged the moment she stepped into Hawkins, since it seemed like the people had nothing better to do than to worry about what everyone else was doing than their own lives.

Her brows lifted slightly as he talked about how he was going to accommodate her bike. She drew in a breath of air, eyeing the leather seats carefully. Kate desperately hoped that she didn’t end up ruining his car. Her bike was in pristine shape, so getting rust on it wasn’t the issue, she just didn’t want to end up gouging the seats. With a car this nice, she wouldn’t doubt any damage to it wouldn’t be a good way to break the ice. “I can wash it and vacuum it out, if you wanted me to,” she offered with a shrug of her shoulders. “It’s the least I could do for you helping me out.” Her attention was diverted to the asshole behind them that laid on the horn. Her brow furrowed and her New York City mentality wanted to kick in. She wanted to yell at him and curse him out, but she figured that’d just make her look bad. Instead, she opted to shoot a glare at the driver and stick both of her middle fingers proudly up at him.

The girl followed the car as it cut around them, jaw set as she watched them. He heard the apology that Steve threw in her direction, a single brow lifting as she turned back to him. Apologizing for what someone else was doing? Maybe this guy wasn’t as much of a pompous asshole as the file made him out to be. “Here I thought all small town guys were gentlemen,” she quipped with a crooked grin, “I guess assholes are unfortunately everywhere, though.” Pulling her bottom lip between her teeth, she thought over the question he’d asked, eyes on his for a moment. “It’s okay, I guess,” she offered, though it ended sounding more like a question than an answer. “It’s definitely a change of pace from what I’m used to.”

Despite herself, her gaze wandered over him as he leaned over to fold the front seat of the car and her head tilted slightly to the side. Mr. Hair had a tight—her train of thought ended as her eyes slipped back up to him and the car when he spoke. “Okay,” she breathed, nose tingling and red with the wind that blew past them. Sliding her backpack off of her arm and setting it off to the side so she wouldn’t have to worry about that banging up against the side of his car. “Your car’s…nice, by the way,” she told him softly, shooting him a sheepish sort of smile before tentatively lifting up her bike and struggling to carefully put it into his car. Her arms were starting to shake a bit and her face was scrunched up slightly with concentration—she could not damage his car. Eventually, she lowered the wheels onto the floor boards and reseted it on the back seats. “This okay?” She asked him, eyes flickering up from the bike to look up at him.

Evie was almost positive that her face paled at the idea of the key breaking. God, that was the last thing that needed to happen. She’d only bought the car a few months ago, and it had eaten up enough of her money that she was still kind of broke. Having to replace the lock and key on her car would screw her over royally. “Yeah, uh, thanks for not trying that,” she said, silently cursing herself for her pulse picking up at the sight of his grin. Despite how much a dick he seemed to be, his grin seemed something like the sun, bright and warm and out of place when she thought about just how many times she’d heard Steve call him a prick.

She looked down as he gave her back the keys. His hands were big, big enough to cover hers almost completely. For a moment, she kind of got it. She got why girls were fawning all over him. Because his hands were warm and his grin wasn’t the worst thing that she’s ever seen. And yeah, she’d caught sight of him at a couple of the pick-up basketball games that had gone on between some of the guys during gym. She’d seen his chest. She’d bitten her lip a little, sure. But it didn’t mean anything.

A snort left her, soft and disbelieving at the wink. She stared at her car for a moment longer, feeling as though she was saying her final goodbye to it, when in reality, she’d borrow Dustin’s bike tomorrow morning with a thing of WD-40 in her bag and fix it right up. He glanced over her shoulder, raising a brow as he opened the door for her. Wow. Chivalry wasn’t dead, apparently. She had to duck her head at that thought, her thoughts making her chuckle a little. Billy Hargrove. Chivalrous. Ha.

She stepped towards the car, sliding in and scrunching up her nose at the sound of Metallica. Shutting the door behind her, she tried to compose her features. He was giving her a ride. The least she could do was sit there and pretend that blasting Metallica wasn’t obnoxious. Settling back against the seat, she glanced over to him. “Thanks again for taking me home. I guess I owe you one.” She regretted her words the second she said them. “So,” she began, hoping that if she changed the subject fast enough, he wouldn’t pick up on what she’d said. She really didn’t want to owe him anything. “Do you still have to wait for your sister?”

---

“Kate, it’s fine,” Steve said, giving her a pointed look. “Really. I wouldn’t have offered if I was afraid of getting a little dirt on the seats, trust me.” If he was being honest with himself, he would’ve said that he hadn’t really considered it initially. He’d just seen her and wanted to help her out. Although, now that he was thinking about it, it’d put him behind on the whole ‘get Nance some flowers and apologize despite the fact that he really didn’t know what the hell he was supposed to be sorry for’ thing.

“You don’t have to pay me back or anything by cleaning my car, or whatever. You know that, right? You don’t have to worry about that,” he continued, noting the way her brow crinkled a little when Tommy laid on the horn. It made him happy. Anyone that got annoyed with Tommy’s shit made him happy these days, though. He still had a hard time believing that he’d ever actually put up with the guy. It was kind of unbelievable that he’d even lasted that long with the friendship if he really thought about it.

Steve let out a laugh. “You’ve been here how long and you’re just now realizing that there are some assholes around her?” he asked, mirroring her grin with one of his own. Billy Hargrove had strode into Hawkins with a giant billboard on his back that yelled I’m an asshole. He nodded his head, his hair falling into his eyes a little with the movement. “That’s good.” He faltered for a moment, unsure of what to say to that. “What kind of pace are you used to?”

His head ducked at the compliment. “Thanks.” There was a note of pride in his voice, betraying just how happy he was with that. It wasn’t like he was obsessed with his car or anything, but it was one of the few things that he really had to be genuinely proud of. He went to help her with the bike, but by the time he was starting to move forward, he felt like he’d be getting in her way. So instead he watched, his gaze flicking over her. She looked good. In an abstract way. “Uh, yeah. It’s perfect.” He blinked at her, kind of unsure as to what she just said. He looked over to the car and nodded.

Steve stepped forward and reached into the car to pull the seat back up. “So where are you headed?” He asked, straightening up to glance at her before he headed towards the driver’s side. He climbed in, thankful to be out of the cold. His fingers thrummed against the steering wheel as he glanced over in her direction. Even if he had to drop her off somewhere, there was still time to go grab flowers and give them to Nancy. He had time.

Billy pulled his bottom lip between his teeth as he glanced over to Evie out of the corner of his eyes as she remained at her car for sometime. The slightest bit of a smirk curled the corner of them as he eyed her once more. He was reeling her in slowly, making sure that he showed an unexpected side to himself. Sure, he could be an asshole, dick, douche, and whatever else was thrown his way, but he knew how to treat girls he was interested in. She’d accepted his offer of giving her a ride instead of outright laughing in his face, so he must’ve been getting somewhere with her. It worked most of the time: showing girls a different side of him other than the aggressive, macho asshole he normally was.

His eyes glanced over to her as she walked over to the car, a slow grin curling his lips as he watched her move. She certainly was different than most of the Hawkins girls; hell, she was different than a lot of the girls in California too. Evie had something special that lit up in her eyes when she smiled. He’d never admit it out loud, to anyone or even himself. She’d not smiled at him like he’d seen her smile with her brother or friends, but he was working on it. Van Halen had it right when they sang about beautiful girls; all Billy needed was them and their undivided attention.

Once she settled down in her seat, Billy shot her a brief smile and leaned over to turn the music down, but just to a reasonable level so they could talk. He leaned back into his seat, Max the furthest thing from his mind as he listened to her thank him. His brow lifted slightly as she said she owed him one and he laughed to himself. He was already one step ahead of her. “Do you now?” He questioned, running his eyes over her features for a moment before turning and placing one hand on the steering wheel, the other on his gear shift as he prepared to throw the car into reverse and burn rubber out of the school. If Evie wanted fast, he was going to give her fast.

That train of thought ended the moment she mentioned Max and his good mood crumbled at the thought of the little shithead. His grin fell and he let out a rasp of an exhale, hands tightening on the steering wheel as he fought the inclination to light into her for assuming that brat was his sister. “She’s not my sister,” he told her, his tone dark and low, “and no, I don’t.” With those words, he drew in a deep breath of air through his nose. He was attempting to control himself, not wanting to ruin his shot with her by blowing up. He threw the car into reverse and revved out of the parking spot, almost immediately throwing the car into drive and squealing tires as he left the school parking lot.

“She was late getting to the car,” he murmured as he carelessly swerved around King Steve and some cotton candy-haired bitch without even attempting to hit the brakes. Deliberately ignoring whatever reaction that could have garnered from Evie or the two others, he kept his gaze forward. “I actually probably have her to thank for me being around to help you out,” he told her, shooting her a sidelong glance out of the corner of his eyes. “Where d’you want me to drop you off?” He asked, controlling his car almost expertly as he took a turn far too quickly.

---

Again, Kate was chastising herself for judging this guy too quickly. She was a pretty good read on people and if they had some hidden agenda, and this guy seemed genuinely nice. She could also tell that something was bothering him—nothing outright gave it away, it was just…he had this lost sort of look about him. If she was picking it up within moments of meeting him, she wondered what exactly was going on and why he wasn’t with his girlfriend right now. Wasn’t that what people did: have a hard day and run to their boyfriend of girlfriend and weather the storm? “Well…I really appreciate it,” she told him with a grin, shaking a strand of hair from her eyes as her eyes drifted between both of his.

A soft noise of disagreement left her and a small frown curled her lips. “C’mon now, I’ve gotta pay you back somehow,” she told him. She drew in a deep breath of air, tongue briefly wetting her lips as she shifted her weight. “I mean…you’re going out of your way to help me out and we kinda haven’t spoken until now, so…” Her voice trailed off with the last word, brows pinching together slightly as she studied him. She placed her hands on her hips and was suddenly grinning over at him as an idea hit her. “If you don’t let me help you, you’re going to have to divulge the secret of how you get your hair so perfect. Seriously, dude, it’s kinda sickening how perfect your hair is in this weather,” she told him bluntly.

She was laughing softly before she knew it, lips pulling back from her teeth to smile over at him. “I know, right? I guess moving here’s got me a little naive,” she told him, shrugging her shoulders a bit. She bit at the inside of her cheek as she watched him, noting the way a few perfectly placed strands of hair fell into his eyes. He was like something out of a Sixteen Candles…but better in her opinion. Maybe she was starting to see what that Nancy chick had seen in him. Shaking that train of thought at his next question, she answered him as she pushed her hair behind her ear. “Like…Manhattan-paced.” She offered him another sheepish sort of smile, kind of liking the way he perked up after she complimented his car. Most guys were like that though, if they were proud of their cars, so it really shouldn’t have been a big deal.

Kate brushed her hands on the sides of her coat, clearing them of what littler dirt was left on them and nodding a bit as he said her placement of the bike was ‘perfect’. Her brow furrowed slightly at his wording, a silly little grin pulling at her mouth despite herself. “Alright then,” she breathed, eyes drifting over him once more as he leaned into the car to right the seat back. Her eyes shot back up to meet his as he glanced over at her, shooting him a smile as he did so. She was quick to grab her back pack and follow suit, slipping into the passenger seat and shutting the door softly behind her. It was then she noticed a blue Camaro streaking past the car and she glowered at it. “What a fucking prick,” she grumbled, scoffing and shaking her head.

The car was a welcome respite from the wind, but her nose and fingers were still tingling with the cold. Placing her back pack on the floorboard between her legs, she glanced over at Steve. “I…uh…live in Loch Nora. Highland Lane,” she told him with a small, hesitant sort of grin. They had put her up in some ritzy park of the town in a house that was far too big for her tastes. Her backyard was at least pretty, so she couldn’t complain too much. It felt kind of strange to be sitting in a car with the most popular guy in school and she had to keep reminding herself that she had tasks to accomplish and not much time left to get them done.

At least Billy turned down the volume on the music. That was good, at least. She’d been in cars with other boys, ones who’d kept the music loud and blaring like it made them cooler than before – it hadn’t. It was just annoying. Evie shifted in her seat, settling back as she glanced over to him. Her cheeks flushed a little as she ducked her head. “Um, uh, yeah. I guess so.” She was practically mumbling the words. Owing Billy Hargrove something wasn’t the smartest thing that she’d ever done. There was no telling what he’d want.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to assume anything.” Her words trailed off towards the end as he put the car into drive. She could feel herself being thrust back into the seat a little, and her hand immediately went to the door, pressing against the side of it as her stomach sank. “Jesus, Billy!” She yelped as he swung the car around Steve and the new girl. She accidentally caught Steve’s eye, and just knew that he’d be giving her shit for this for the rest of her life.

Evie and Steve hadn’t really been friends before he and Nancy had started dating, but they’d been friendly. And after she, Nancy, Jonathan, and Steve had faced that demogorgon, well, they’d been relatively close. Just that morning he’d been complaining about Billy and how the prick had to be an absolutely psychopath. She’d chastised him for that, saying that sure, Billy was a showboat, but he wasn’t a psycho. Sitting with him in the car, though, there was something off about him. Something a little dark.

“Um, my house. You know where Chestnut Drive is?” She asked, wincing as she practically slid across the seat at his turn. She pressed her lips together, her stomach twisting with nerves. She didn’t want to offend him, but she also didn’t want to die in a fire-y car crash the same day that a monster ate her mother’s cat. “You know, when I said the faster the better, I didn’t mean breaking the law.” Her voice wavered a little on the words as she thought back to how his voice had gone dark when she’d mentioned Max.

There had been rumors floating around the high school about Billy. Any time that there was a new kid, there were rumors floating around, always something ridiculous and most likely made up. There had been one that Billy and his family had moved there because his dad had ran off with the secretary and her kid. Another was that Mr. Hargrove was on the run from the cops for a pyramid scheme. Evie figured it was just a divorced family, his dad marrying Max’s mom after a nasty divorce. She could understand being bitter about that. God knew she’d lived through something like that.

---

Steve shrugged his shoulders. He had a habit of doing that when he wasn’t sure what he was supposed to say, or what to do. “It’s no problem, Kate. Really.” He shot her a quick grin, admiring her hair for a brief moment, ducking his head once he realized that he’d been looking a second too long. It wasn’t like anything he’d seen around Hawkins, but he liked it. It was different and always caught his eye whenever he saw her in the hallway. A lot of girls in high school were afraid to do stuff like that, to stand out that way. He respected that Kate wasn’t like that.

“Would you stop it with that?” He laughed as he shook his head at her. “You’re acting like this is some giant favor. Your bike is in my car because it’s cold and windy as hell despite it being the beginning of November.”> His eyes widened as she mentioned his hair. He could feel his cheeks growing warm. “It’s, uh, it’s a family secret. Can’t tell,” he said, the words falling out of his mouth fast. The last thing he needed her to know, with her cool hair, was that he used Farah Fawcett spray. That’d just be humiliating. “You can pay me back by letting me make a stop along the way to dropping you off.”

He could just stop at the florist real fast with Kate, and then be on his way. She’d feel like she helped him out a little, and he’d be able to catch Nancy before dinner. He watched her as she spoke, nodding his head in agreement. “It’s alright. I know Hawkins is pretty fast paced, but you’ll get your bearings soon enough,” he teased. His eyes widened at the mention of the city. “You used to live in New York?” His parents had taken them there when he was younger, when his dad would have to go on business trips. He’d always thought it was cool to go, until he turned twelve and realized that the only reason he went along was because his mother didn’t trust his father to stay faithful, and she couldn’t find a babysitter to watch Steve for four days.

Steve made a face as Billy’s Camaro came roaring around, but it froze when he saw who was in the front seat. “Evie?” He breathed out, frowning. Something in his chest fell. Whatever that was, it couldn’t be good. Girls like Evie didn’t hang out with assholes like Billy. He shook his head and sighed. Nancy would have her head if she found out that Evie was even thinking about talking to Billy. He glanced over to Kate, a little happy that she looked annoyed as well. “You can say that again,” he muttered.

“Oh shit, you do? I live near there,” he said, smiling at the realization. “I know we really don’t know each other, but if it’s ever insanely cold in the morning, you could just bike to my house and I could give you a ride to school?” He suggested, his cheeks burning a little despite himself. He wasn’t sure what he had to be embarrassed about. It was a polite thing to do, really. She was new and wasn’t used to the cold, and he wanted to help her out. That was it. “I mean, some days I’ve got to give rides to Nancy and her kid brother, but there’d still be room for you if you wanted to come along.”

Billy brushed a hand through his hair as he kept a tight grip on the steering wheel with the other. He lifted a brow as she admitted to her owing him one, already having exactly how she could pay him back in mind before she’d even said anything. Noting the flush on her cheeks and the way she kept shying away from him and figured she’d either not wanted him to pick up on it or had been thinking of all the ways could could ask her to pay him back. His shot a glance over to her and a crooked little grin. Flustering girls like this entertained him and Evie was no exception to that. In fact, he liked it a little more than he normally did.

He honestly couldn’t really blame her for assuming that Max was his sister. They hadn’t talked until this point, but normally, he would have lit into anyone who dared to assume that Max was his sister. Billy thought he’d managed to contain his temper pretty well, in all honestly. A crooked sort of grin curled his lips at her exclamation at his driving and he shot her a sidelong look with an expression that did a piss-poor job of feigning innocence. “What? You said fast,” he told her with a soft, rough around the edges laugh. He bit his bottom lip for a moment as he turned his gaze forward as he rounded another turn. There was a part of him that understood the fear of being in the passenger seat and the lack of control that came with it. Anyone who sat in that seat had to deal with trusting him enough to know what he was doing.

Tongue darting out of the corner of his mouth, his eyes slide over to her as she spoke. He honestly hadn’t really been around the town too much. Billy frequented the same places, the same restaurants, and drove the same streets. Chestnut Drive wasn’t ringing a bell with him at all. “I’m new here, sweetheart. You’re going to have to help me out a bit more than just a street name,” he said over the sound of the engine and the heavy metal music that fought against it to be louder.

When she mentioned the fact she’d wanted him to drive fast but not break the law, Billy let out another gruff laugh, shaking his head a bit. “The law couldn’t catch me if they tried,” he said flippantly, shooting her a look over her shoulder. She did kind of looked terrified; there was part of him that thought maybe he should slow down, but there was something else that told him he enjoyed it. He enjoyed that terrified look on her face far too much. His hands tightened slightly on the wheel, warring within himself. What the fuck was he turning into? This wasn’t who he used to be—this angered, violent person that would just…snap, He knew he had a problem, he did, but with the pressure from his dad to be a saint and having to be a cohabitant to a woman who would never match up to his mom and a shit-head stepsister, it was hard for him to keep a handle on it. Maybe it’s why he tried to distract himself with girls so much.

“Fine,” he breathed, easing his foot off of the accelerator slightly. He was still traveling fast, but at least she’d have some sense that she wasn’t about to die either. “Fine.” He stared ahead for a few moments before tapping his fingers against the steering wheel. He wasn’t about to say he was sorry. Billy Hargrove didn’t do that. “You asked for fast,” he told her, shooting her a poignant look with those bright blue eyes of his and an easy sort of smile before turning his gaze back to the road. “I just didn’t know that you mean not that fast, alright?” His tongue dug at the inside of his cheek, mind reeling to think of something to fill the silence. “You seem like you’ve been here for a while. Anything fun to do around here?”

---

Kate dragged her bottom lip through her teeth for a moment as she watched Steve, eyes slipping over his features as he grinned. She was quick to mirror it, noting his focus darting to her hair for a while. She’d always been perceptive, but they had taught her how to watch people and how to pick up on the tiniest things. It was kind of cute, the way he looked away sort of bashfully. “It’s okay, you know, to look at my hair,” she told him honestly, thin shoulders shrugging a bit. “It’s not normal for…around here or anywhere, actually. It’s bright pink, of course you’re going to want to focus on my hair.”

Her brows lifted slightly as he questioned her, smiling broadly despite herself. “It’s a big deal to me,” she defended, glancing over at him for a moment before shaking her head and looking away for a moment. “I guess I’m not used to people being nice for the sake of being nice and not wanting something in return.” Her fingertips picked at the ends of her sleeves. Her eyes flickered up to his as he explained his hair and she let out a loud laugh. “Family Secret?” She questioned, tilting her head to the side. “Is that why your last name is Hair-rington?” Kate grinned crookedly at him for a moment, pretty proud of her joke. Her head tilted to the side slightly, hair splaying out across her cheek as she nodded in agreement to him stopping by somewhere. “Fine,” she huffed, rolling her eyes dramatically and shooting him a smile, “I guess we’ll go with that.”

Raking her fingers through her windswept hair, she relaxed back into the seat, eyes darting around the car for a moment. It was pristine. He must really care about this car. She looked over at him as he spoke, laughing lightly after he finished. “Oh, I don’t know, Steve,” she joked, shaking her head a bit, “Hawkins may be too much to handle for me.” She let out another laugh, glancing up at him. Biting her lip at his reaction to where she used to live, she shrugged again. “Yeah,” she said softly, eyes flickering between his, “but you know how it goes. What the parents say, goes…no matter how much you may like one place.” She sighed heavily, letting her head fall back against the seat.

She’d seen Evie Henderson around the school. Evie Henderson: sister to Dustin Henderson, close friends to Will Byers, Mike Wheeler, and Lucas Sinclair. She honestly didn’t fit the type to ride around in cars with dicks like Billy Hargrove, but she didn’t know much about her, honestly. What she did know was that Steve did not look too thrilled to see her in that stupid car with that stupid asshole. “The best way to deal with dicks like that is to just ignore them,” she murmured. “I think they like the attention they get from pissing everyone off.”

There wasn’t any surprise to her when he admitted that he lived near her street in Loch Nora. Driving around a BMW definitely fit the bill for living somewhere like that. “Shut up. That’s so cool,” she exclaimed, beaming over at him. “I feel like we should have like…bumped into each other before now, with Hawkins being so small.” Her eyes slipped between his as he offered her rides to school when it was too cold, liking the slight color to his cheeks. “I’d really like that,” she said softly, her cheeks starting to hurt she was smiling so much. She couldn’t remember the last time she had smiled so much, to be honest. It was a nice change. “Yeah, that’d be great,” she added, nodding a bit. At the mention of Nancy Wheeler and Mike, her brow furrowed slightly, looking slightly apprehensive. “You sure she won’t think that’s weird? You inviting another girl for a ride?”

“Shut up, you know what I meant,” Evie said, rolling her eyes at him. She didn’t want to give into him, or the way his grin made her stomach twist in a pleasant sort of way. She wasn’t going to be like the other girls. Not that there was anything wrong with that, but she was loyal to her friends. And while she may not hate Billy, Steve sure as hell did. And Steve didn’t just go around hating people for no reason. There had to be something there. The longer she looked at him, though, the harder it was for her to remember that.

She ducked her head towards her lap, looking at the backpack that lay at her feet. She jerked her head up and looked back over to him, nodding her head slowly. It felt like Hawkins was small enough that anyone who’d been there an hour would have the whole place mapped out. “Oh, uh, make a right up here,” she said, pointing to the next turn. She ignored the way her mind wanted to focus on the sweetheart. “You’ll just stay on this road ‘til for a couple of minutes, and then make a left on Chestnut.”

Evie snorted at his words. He wasn’t lying. The cop cars that the town had were kind of pathetic. The fastest one was Hopper’s, but he rarely – if ever – was out watching for speeders. That was almost always O’Callahan’s job. And that idiot couldn’t catch someone going ten over the limit, let alone how fast Billy was going. Hell, there had been times where he’d gone after the Party when they’d been riding in the middle of the road and not letting cars through for some reason or another. Dustin still bragged about how he’d managed to outsmart a cop.

She looked over to him as she felt the car slow down. Her chest loosened up a little bit, and she relaxed back into her seat. This speed, she could handle. “Thank you, Billy.” The words were quiet as she offered him a small smile. “I just didn’t realize that you’d be driving that fast. I just wanted to make sure that I got back home before my brother-“ She cut herself off as she floundered for a reason. She really couldn’t tell him why she was in such a rush. “Just gotta make sure that my brother isn’t being a dumbass.”

Anything to do around there? She let out a huff of laughter. “Anything fun? Around here? You’re out of luck.” She glanced out the window, watching the trees and houses rush by. “There’s the movie theater, which shows movies about three weeks after they come out. Tina’s parties are decent, but her parents are in town until Christmas, so that’s shot. Mostly everyone just drinks on the weekends, or finds some lame party to head to.” She shrugged. “Hawkins isn’t really a hotbed for good times.”

---

Steve’s eyes widened as his cheeks started to burn red. “I wasn’t – I didn’t – I’m not – It looks good.” He was babbling. It was a surefire way to tell that he was nervous and embarrassed. “It’s pretty cool, that you dyed it like that.” He was looking anywhere but her in that moment. He wasn’t sure why he was so nervous. She’d asked about his hair, so what was the big deal? Forcing himself to look over at her, he shot her a sheepish grin. “It does make it pretty easy to spot you in the hallways.”

His grin softened a little. “Well, get used to it. A good amount of people in Hawkins are suffocatingly nice. Like, unbelievably nice. And I just happen to be one of them.” He flicked the four ways off and put the car into drive, waiting for someone to pass before he started forward. “Look at that, you’re only here for a few months and you’re already figuring out my family secrets. Pretty soon you’ll just figure out how my hair gets this good,” he said. He started to laugh a little, shaking his head as he muttered, “Hair-ington. Jesus.”

He watched as Lucas Sinclair rode his bike passed his car, peddling faster than usual out of the parking lot. Steve went slow, making sure that he wasn’t anywhere near the kid. It was odd that the rest of the gang wasn’t with him. Byers had mentioned something about his little brother going to the doctor’s, but the Henderson kid wasn’t with him either. Weird. “It might be. You know what they say about Hawkins – if you can make it here, you can make it anywhere.” He smirked over at her before returning his focus to getting out of the parking lot. He shivered a little, and reached over to flick the heat on. “Yeah, I get that. It kinda sucks, though. You miss it?” He asked, cocking a brow at her.

Steve flicked on his left turn signal, waiting until it was all clear to pull out. By that time, the roads had an occasional car, but most people were still at their jobs, or just getting off. He straightened up a little in his seat as the sheriff’s car came towards his in the opposite lane. Hopper drove right passed him, no reason for him to stop the teenager. But to Steve, a cop was still a cop, and they kind of freaked him out a little. “Like with Billy?” He asked, unable to resist the jab. “Pretty sure that prick feeds off the attention.”

He sped up a little as he got out of the school zone, the soft rumble of the engine comforting to him. “Up there’s kinda weird. Nobody really talks to one another, you know?” He figured it was a rich people thing, since it seemed like everyone and their mother knew the Wheelers, and therefore thought that they knew him too since he was dating one of them. “Cool, that’d be great.” He grinned to himself as she agreed, although it fell when she mentioned Nancy. “Um, well, she should be fine with it.” He was forcing himself to keep his tone light, but he was a shit liar. His jaw ticked a little. “She probably won’t care.”

Billy glanced over her, liking the way that she rolled her eyes at him. She was becoming a little more outright feisty with him and he enjoyed it. His lips curled upwards at the corners and he let out another laugh, shaking his head a bit. “I only heard the word ‘fast’, babydoll,” he said with a shrug of his shoulders. He shook his hair out of his eyes and ran his tongue over his lips, keeping his gaze on the slightly hill road in front of them. As dangerous as people thought he drove, he didn’t feel like wrapping his car or himself(or anyone else in the car with him) around a tree out of stupidity.

He shot her a sidelong look, taking her profile in for a moment. Billy saw her as being the kind of girl that didn’t really realize just how beautiful she was. He’d never seen her with any other guys around the school, but he hadn’t been in Hawkins look enough to know her history. Some girls were just like that. Billy nodded as she directed him, lips pulling up at the corner as he slowed down enough to take the turn. Once he was out of it, he accelerated again, feeling the push of speed against his chest. “Do you like it out here? In the middle of nowhere?” He asked, eyes darting to her for a moment before he focused on the road once more.

The snort she let out had a laugh leaving him and he took it as some sort of silent agreement with him. The cops in Hawkins were a joke. Most of the ones in California, the ones that had tried to pull him over, had at least given him a run for his money. Maybe it was a good thing the only good cop seemed too busy doing detective work and snooping around than trying to pull him over. A speeding ticket or reckless driving charge would just mean hell from his dad, and would definitely lead to him getting his car taken away.

At the soft words that left her, he smiled a bit. It started as a genuine smile before turning a little more crooked in nature. He couldn’t remember the last time someone thanked him, let alone leaving him feeling like they meant it. “Don’t mention it,” he told her, shooting her another wink as he kept his gaze on the street signs that passed, keeping an eye out for one labeled ‘Chestnut’. He reached for his pack of cigarettes, shaking one out and holding it between his lips before lighting it up. Billy was quick to just barely crack the window once it was lit. “Want one?” He asked before pressing his lips around the cigarette and taking a drag. It was easier to focus on this than talking about siblings. “They have a tendency to be stupid, don’t they?” He asked, voice almost a grumble. “And us, being older, we naturally get blamed for it.”

He pulled the cigarette from between his lips with his thumb and forefinger, exhaling the smoke off to the side and away from Evie. “Well…I wouldn’t necessary say all out of luck,” he said, shooting her a poignant look at a bright grin. He placed the cigarette back between his lips and went back to gripping the steering wheel with both hands. Nodding his head as she listed things off, he made mental notes of what she was saying. “I could have probably told you that the moment I got here,” he told her with a gruff laugh past the filter of his cigarette. “What do you like to do around here then?”

---

Kate’s smile broadened into a cheeky grin the more that Steve stammered and flushed at what she’d said. When he finally got something out, she let out a soft laugh. “Thanks. I try…at least with my hair,” she told him softly, tucking it behind her ear once more. “It may not look like it, but I try.” She let her eyes linger on him for a moment before staring out the windshield of the car. “It’s definitely worth the looks I get from the old ladies around here who act like I’ve got the plague or something,” she murmured wryly, her grin turning a bit more mischievous at the thought. She turned to him again as he spoke. “So does your hair, believe it or not,” she said with a quiet laugh.

Her head fell back against the headrest for a moment before she turned a little in her seat to face him. “Will I?” She questioned. “It just…it feels so weird sometimes. I mean, I’ve always been decent, I guess, but never…suffocatingly nice.” She lifted her brows a bit as she spoke, amber eyes darting out the window for a moment as the car rolled forward. Her gaze slipped to the high school before finding its way back to Steve. Her lips curled back into a broad smile. “Oh, I think I already have a pretty good idea of how your hair looks so good,” she murmured. She really didn’t—she could take a stab at it, with her knowledge of hair products—but she kind of wanted to get a reaction out of him. “Yeah, if we’re going to make these car rides a thing in cold weather, you’re going to have to deal with my bad jokes,” she said bluntly, pulling a bit of a face but laughing all the same. “I can try to keep them to a minimum if it’ll be a problem.”

Spotting Lucas Sinclair out the window, her brow furrowed slightly, watching his every move closely. It was odd to see him by himself and it had her wondering what was going on. Drawing in a deep breath of air, she kept her gaze on him until Steve spoke again and her attention was directed back to hims. “I guess I may be doomed, Steve,” she said, shaking her head with faux disdain as she ‘tut’-ed softly. Her eyes followed his hand to the temperature control in the car, thankful for him turning the heat on. She wasn’t necessarily cold, but the warmth would definitely be welcomed after braving the wind for as long as she did.

“Yeah, I do,” she said, turning away from him as she spoke, eyes following what few things she could see out of the window, “My life used to consist of a nice apartment and a couple of blocks I could easily walk or bike to. And every thing else that was a pain to get to, I’d just take the subway and be there without…” She lifted a hand and motioned to the trees around them that were swaying violently with the wind. “Hawkins isn’t the worst I could possibly be stuck with. It’s just not Manhattan.” She chewed on the inside of her lip as she fell silent for a moment, spotting a Sheriff’s car driving past them as she turned back to Steve. “Assholes like him? Definitely. Guys like him are a dime a dozen in NYC. I’ve learned how to deal with them.”

Lifting a hand to the back of her neck, she rubbed at it a bit, tilting her head to the side. “I got the impression. No welcome casseroles or cookies at my house, unfortunately,” she said with a roll of her eyes. “I guess it doesn’t help that I live at the end of the street away from everyone else, really, but…still…what if I needed a cup of sugar or something that normal neighbors do, you know?” She was having too much fun joking around and needed to focus herself on feeling Steve out on the main reason she was even in Hawkins to begin with. Right, tense car rides with two out of the five Wheelers. That was a start. Her expression dropped a bit when she noticed his reaction to her mentioning Nancy. “Something’s going on with you two, isn’t it?” She asked, her tone and expression going serious.

Evie had to press her lips together to stave off a laugh. There was absolutely no way that she was going to make a sex joke to Billy Hargrove, but she was allowed to think it just fine. She looked out the window, smirking a little at the thought of ‘fast’ applying to Billy in more ways than just his driving. “Of course you did,” she said, settling on the words as she glanced back over to him. She appreciated that he’d actually let up on the gas. He’d never really seemed like the accommodating type to her.

She let out a dry laugh, shaking her head slowly. “I might’ve grown up around here, but I can recognize a shithole when I see one,” she said, glancing back to him to raise her brow at him. It wasn’t that she necessarily hated Hawkins, but it was the place where her parents had spent their whole lives. Her dad had gotten married in Hawkins. He’d had kids in Hawkins. He’d cheated on his wife in Hawkins. He’d ran away to Chicago with his secretary - that had come from Hawkins. “I mean, it’s not the worst town to be in, but…” Evie trailed off, trying to gather her thoughts. “It’s just kind of suffocatingly small.”

That was putting it lightly. Hawkins was the kind of town where everyone knew everyone else’s shit. When her dad had ran off when she was in ninth grade, the very next day had the other little freshman assholes whispering about what had happened, how her dad had bailed on her mom because her mom had had a mental breakdown. The breakdown had come after he’d left, thank you very much. Her fingers drummed against her leg as she glanced over to him.

There was no reason as to why her stomach dipped when he winked at her, absolutely none. It was a dumb little wink. That was all. She quirked a brow at him as he offered her a cigarette. “No thanks,” she said lightly. “I like living.” It took her a few seconds of shifting around in her seat to get more comfortable. Her back was resting a little against the door, her body tilted to face him better. “Yeah, they’re real shitheads.” There was something about the way he looked, with the cigarette hanging on his lip, that made her see just what all the other girls had seen in him. “That’s how it goes. Although, for Dustin, it’s less me getting blamed and more me just making sure that the idiot doesn’t die.”

Evie rolled her eyes, tipping her head up so she could look at roof of the car instead of him. “You sure about that?” She asked, a small grin playing on her lips despite the voice in the back of her head screaming at her to knock it off. Billy Hargrove was cute, sure. But he was dangerous. He was. Granted, it was hard to remember that when he was sitting there looking like that. “Around here? Nothing, except for sneaking beer from Steve’s dad’s cabinet and babysitting my brother’s friends. You’ve got to head out of town for anything fun.”

---

Steve risked looking over to her and the second he caught sight of her grin, he regretted it. “You succeed,” he mumbled, turning his attention back to the road. She was more confident than the other girls, he thought. That had to be the only reason as to why she made him feel a little nervous. His pointer finger tapped against the steering wheel as he drove along the country road, chuckling when she mentioned the old ladies. “Those ladies wouldn’t know what good hair looked like if it smacked them in the face.” He could imagine what those women looked like, and who they were. God knew Mrs. Creery had a stick so far up her ass it was a miracle she could walk. “Really? You can spot me easy in the hallways?”

He shrugged, his shoulders moving against the seat. “Honestly? Probably not. I’ve lived here all my life and I’m still weirded out when Joyce Byers tries to mother me.” Joyce Byers was different, though. She was the only person that he let do that to him, fixing his hair when he’d stop by the store to grab something, or genuinely answering when she asked how he was eating. He suspected that Mike Wheeler had a big mouth, and talked a lot when he was at the Byers. Steve was jarred from his thoughts as she spoke, eyes widening. “Oh, you do, huh?” He asked, trying - and failing - to play cool. It wasn’t working, though. The flush had faded from earlier, but a new one was quickly taking its place. “I don’t mind. I’ll probably like them.”

Steve felt something deep down, somewhere in his gut, that something was up. He wasn’t sure why he felt like this, but it was a similar feeling to the one he’d had a year ago, when Nancy and Jonathan were racing around trying to get all of the monster hunting stuff together. Which he hadn’t found out about until afterwards, of course, but he could remember the feeling of being left out of a loop that he didn’t even know existed. He glanced over to her and hummed in acknowledgement after she’d spoke, smirking faintly.

“I’m pretty sure that Hawkins could install a subway. It’d come in real handy sometime,” he teased, cracking a small grin in her direction. He looked back to the road, slowing down a little as he approached a turn. He flicked on the turn signal, nodding his head slowly. “That sounds pretty cool, though. Is it weird here, with everything being so far apart?” He figured that it would be a little weird, but honestly he just wanted to keep her talking. He liked the sound of her voice. He liked talking to her. “Yeah, I don’t know about that. Billy Hargrove seems to be in his own league of assholes,” he muttered, frowning.

“Not even welcome cookies? What the hell is wrong with people?” Steve asked, shaking his head. Sure, his mom wasn’t the type to bake welcome cookies - or cookies in general - but Steve would have at least contemplated baking them. “You’re shit out of luck, then. If you need a cup of sugar, you’ll have to bike the whole way to the grocery store. Last I heard, all the ladies in the neighborhood were going on some kinda diet that was cutting out sugar and bread.” He scrunched up his nose at the thought, disgusted that people could do such a thing. His expression fell at her words, stomach dropping in sync. “You could say that,” he mumbled, shrugging. “It’s not a big deal. It’ll be fine.” His words were too flat, and sounded fake even to himself.

The Camaro was roaring down Hawkins’ tiny backroads with ease, clinging to every curve and accelerating—though not enough to make Evie nervous. Billy was enjoying this ride a bit more than he normally enjoyed driving around in his car. Probably because of the pretty girl in the passenger seat. He pulled his bottom lip between his teeth as he looked over at her, eyes roaming over her slowly when he was sure she wasn’t looking. Glancing away as she looked over at him, he grinned crookedly as she spoke. “Well, when you drive a car like mine, it’s kinda hard not to,” he murmured.

A laugh left him before he could contain it at her next comment, lips pulling up wryly at one corner. “Hawkins is pretty bad, isn’t it?” He asked, shooting her a sidelong glance. Hawkins was the polar opposite of where he came from in California. His life used to be all ‘go, go go’ and now it was like someone abruptly jammed their foot on the brake and it had come to a screeching halt. He often found himself stuck in the house, watching MTV, lifting weights, and playing babysitter to his brat of a stepsister. “Yeah, I don’t think I’m ever going to get used to everyone sticking their nose in my business like its their own,” he said gruffly, shaking his head. Sure, he may have liked the attention, but he liked it on his own terms.

Threading his fingers through his hair, puffing on his cigarette before pulling it from between his lips and exhaling the smoke to the side. The women of Hawkins seemed seriously depraved. They watched him like he was a god amongst men. Part of him was flattered and let it inflate his ego just a bit, but the other half was made extremely uncomfortable by it. “Try being new in town. It gives you a whole new perspective on small,” he added, shaking his head a bit before placing the cigarette between his lips once more.

His eyes shot over to her as she turned down his offer for a cigarette, grinning crookedly over at her as she spoke. “Living, huh?” He said lightly, turning forward once more and shaking his head a bit. “You may be living, but you might not be experiencing anything,” he offered with a shrug of his shoulders, tapping his thumb absently on the steering wheel. He let out a heavy sigh as she continued to speak about siblings. His eyes slipped over to her for a moment, distracting himself with the way that she looked leaning back against the car door and looking at him. “You must really care about your brother,” he murmured, blinking a few times before turning his attention fully back to the road. He didn’t want to miss Chestnut and have her mad at him before he took her up on owing him.

Billy heard the question she asked and looked over at her, eyes tracing over the skin of her neck and the grin on her lips. He found himself wanting to reach out and brush his fingertips softly over her skin, press his lips to the hollow of her throat, just to get a reaction out of her. “We’ll see,” he offered, gaze returning to the road in front of him. Billy’s eyes narrowed slightly with thought as he listened to her speak. So, out of town is where she preferred to go for fun. “That sucks,” he murmured past the filter of his cigarette. “One good party house in the town and you have to leave for anything else? Hawkins is lamer than I thought.”

---

Kate tore at her bottom lip as Steve spoke, tilting her head to the side as her eyes drifted over his profile. He had quite an interesting profile to look at. If she could be sure it wouldn’t freak him out, she may even ask if she could draw him. A quiet laugh left her as he mentioned the old women who liked the caw and crow about her hair, a bright smile curling her lips. “Yeah, that’s true. They especially like to comment about how I’ll never get a respectable husband or job with hair like mine…because things like that are so important to high schoolers,” she murmured wryly. A quiet laugh left her at what he said next. “Yeah, you’re tall, so that helps a bit. But…yeah, you’ve got pretty memorable hair, Steve,” she told him honestly, shrugging her shoulders a bit.

She settled back in the chair, watching the scenery pass by for a moment. A quiet hum left her as he spoke, her head slowly turning to watch him for a moment. The notable facts about Joyce Byers ran through her head for a moment. “She’s that nice lady that works at the general store, right?” She questioned, though she knew probably more about her than Steve did. Something flopped uneasily in her stomach as she reminded herself that this was all a facade, all one big lie until they got what they wanted. Grinning broadly over at him at his eyes suddenly widening, she bit down at her bottom lip . “Oh yeah, totally,” she told him, trying not to laugh at how quickly he’d flushed again.

Brushing her fingers through her mess of hair, she glanced over at him for a moment. She probably knew the least about him out of everyone of interest in Hawkins. He wasn’t severely important as far as they were concerned, merely an accessory to what had happened. Still, she knew enough about him. As he smirked, she mirrored the action before letting out a soft laugh. “Oh yeah, there’s just so much to see in Hawkins. There’s no way I’d make it across town without a subway,” she said with a roll of her eyes. A sigh left her at his next question, eyes narrowing slightly with thought. “A little. Though, honestly, I’m just getting into really good shape having to bike everywhere, so I guess it’s not that bad until you add cold, windy weather.” A dry laugh left her as she picked a bit at the sleeves of her jacket.

“You’ve got that right,” she murmured in reply to his ‘league of assholes’ comment about Billy Hargrove. “I hope your friend doesn’t get involved with him. He definitely doesn’t seem decent boyfriend material.” She couldn’t help but think that Steve seemed like a decent boyfriend and she hurriedly looked away from him, cheeks burning slightly at her own thoughts. She turned to look at him at his mentions of welcome cookies and let out a soft laugh. “It’s okay. In the city, no one gave a shit if you were new. I guess I have this expectation of small-town American that keeps getting crushed daily,” she murmured with a wry grin. Her brows lifted at what he said next, surprise reading on her features. “No sugar or bread? The hell is wrong with people?” She asked. “That’s, like, two of my major food groups,” she added, eyes widening dramatically.

A heavy sigh left her as he looked over at him, brow pulling together slightly as he spoke. Shifting a bit in the chair so that her shoulder rested against the back of the chair to fully turn her upper half toward him. “I think it is a big deal, Steve,” she told him, focus on him and nothing else. “Care to tell an uninvolved, uninformed third party what’s going on?” She asked, tilting her head to the side slightly. She paused for a moment, lips twisting to the side. “I wouldn’t blame you if you don’t want to, though,” she said with a shrug of her shoulders before settling back into her seat. “Relationships really can make you feel like shit sometimes,” she murmured, gaze dropping to the floorboards beneath her feet.

Evie wanted to argue with him, but found that she couldn't. She didn’t know cars as well as some, but she knew enough to know that his Camaro should be appreciated. “She is nice,” she murmured, running her finger along the leather of the seat. She glanced down at it, smirking a little. When it came down to it, he was just like any other boy - crazy about his car. “Have you had for awhile?” Sometimes it was easy to tell how long someone had had a car. When it was newer, you drove it carefully, only relaxing after you’d had it awhile. With Billy, it was hard to tell if he’d had the car for a long time, or if it was just plain recklessness.

She gave a shrug of her shoulders, looking at him out of the corner of her eye. Her mouth mirrored his, the corners of her lips tugging up into a wry grin. “It’s not California, that’s for sure.” It was hard to imagine California when compared to Hawkins and its bitter wind. California was all sunshine and warmth, the waves crashing against the shore in some kind of lazy fashion. Hawkins was dead leaves and cold and cow shit for miles. “I don’t think anyone really does get used to it. You just gotta keep your head down and make it to graduation.” Her chest squeezed a little at the thought. It was the game plan, despite the ache that she always felt at the implication of leaving Dustin behind.

“That must be hard to deal with,” she murmured. When the news of Mr. Henderson leaving Mrs. Henderson had hit the town, it was one thing. Mostly it had been the kids that had mentioned it to her. With Billy, though, it was a whole other ball game. She’d heard from the grocery store clerk about that new Hargrove boy and just how handsome he was. The way she’d been going on, you would’ve thought she was a teen. She was in her forties. And it wasn’t just her. The teen from the West Coast had all the women in Hawkins in a tizzy. It was crazy.

Evie let out a laugh. “Has that line worked on girls before?” She asked, tilting her head as she smirked at him. “I may be living, but I might not be experiencing anything? Really?” She shook her head, teeth grazing her lower lip as she bit back a grin. Christ, he was something else. She moved her attention back to him, watching as he looked over to her for a beat. “We’ve been through a lot,” she said with a shrug. It was hard for her to imagine not caring about Dustin like that, but then again, maybe Billy couldn’t imagine it. He and Max were step-siblings (she assumed), so maybe it was different. “Honestly, Dustin’s just a raging dumbass, so I have to look after him more often than not. Like today.”

There was something in his gaze that made her stomach dip and her cheeks burn a little. Evie pressed her lips together and sighed, trying to think of anything else other than him. She hummed softly, unsure of what to say to that. She raised a brow at him as he spoke, watching the cigarette move slightly as he spoke. “I mean, it could be different for you. I’ve just got good taste in house parties,” she said with a shrug, smirking a little. Making fun of him was easier ground to stand on than watching his mouth - and the cigarette. “I saw you at Tina’s Halloween party. I’m sure if you drink that much beer, any house party’s a good one.”

---

“Pretty sure that the whole respectable husband and job thing is overrated. Besides, they’re just pissed that their hair looks like garbage compared to yours,” Steve said, forcing his voice to not stutter this time around. He was Steve Harrington. He was confident enough to talk to her without stuttering, especially when she wasn’t calling him out on staring at her hair. But it wasn’t like it was his fault anyway. She’d been right when she’d said that no one else in Hawkins had hair like hers. “Memorable is good, right?” He asked her, glancing her way to raise a brow at her. He watched her for a moment before looking back to the road.

He hummed in response, bobbing his head into a nod. “Yeah, her. Her kid’s the one…” Letting his words trail off, he frowned. She might not about Will disappearing for a week last year, and he really didn’t want to spread that shit around more than necessary. Plus, he still wasn’t entirely sure what he was and wasn’t allowed to talk about. “Her kid’s the one that hangs out with Nancy’s brother, those kids,” he finished, his words falling flat. It probably wasn’t much in the way of a response, but it was something. He kept bobbing his head, latching onto her next words with a little too much enthusiasm. The last thing he needed was for whoever was in charge to show up at his door. “Yeah? Lay your best guess on me. What’re you thinking?”

Steve’s mind drifted to earlier, about Will, and then inevitably to Nancy. Was he a shit boyfriend for not picking up on what had been going on with her? If everything had really been bullshit, then he should’ve known too. There’s no way he could have missed something that big, right? He glanced over to her, eyes flicking in her direction. “The subway would help with traffic too. Sometimes it’s worse than New York here,” he said, the sarcasm falling thick on his words. “That’s a good way to look at it. The weather’s going to get colder and windier, though. December’s a bitch in Hawkins,” he chuckled.

“Yeah, I hope so too.” That was another thing to worry about. What the hell was Evie Henderson doing with the raging dick? It didn’t make any sense. He’d seen her drive herself to school that morning. There was no reason for her to be in that car with him. He shook his head as he drove, sighing softly. “What expectations did you have?” He asked, his voice tilting upwards at the end, just a little. His curiosity was peeking through. “Right? I heard a couple of them talking to my mom before my parents headed out, and they were all excited about it. It’s crazy. Sugar and bread are like, the most important things ever.”

He didn’t like how perceptive she was. He really, really didn’t like that. He also didn’t like how she turned so she could face him. He felt small under her gaze, like she was really scrutinizing him or something. “It’s nothing,” he snapped, his voice coming out sharper than he’d intended. He took a deep breath through his mouth, and let it out through his nose. “I’m sorry,” he mumbled, keeping his eyes on the road. “It’s just - what do you do when your girlfriend gets shitfaced and proceeds to tell you that your entire relationship is bullshit, and that she never loved you?” The more he thought about it, the more it was bullshit. He should’ve known that she was hurting over Barb, over what had happened. He should have been there for her, been more perceptive. He should’ve known. “I just… We’ll figure it out.”

Billy shot her a sidelong look to her as she spoke about about his car, lips pulling upward at one corner as he drew in a deep breath of air. “Thanks,” he murmured, eyes following her fingertips along the seat for a moment before looking ahead once more. His eyes followed a street sign he passed, wondering how much further Chestnut was going to be. A low hum left him as she asked him about the car. “It was my uncle’s. I inherited it once I got my driver’s license last year,” he said, keeping his gaze on the road. She didn’t need to know that his uncle was serving time in a prison in California and that’s the only reason why he’d gotten the car. Granted, he respected it a bit more than his uncle did, but it wouldn’t necessarily be apparent from the way he drove it.

Running his tongue over his bottom lip, his leaned his arm against the door of car, cigarette barely smoldering between his lips. A gruff laugh left him as she mentioned Hawkins not being California and he shook his head a bit. “Polar opposite, sweetheart,” he murmured, shaking his head a bit before he took another drag of his cigarette and flicked the ashes out the window. “You ever been to California?” He asked, shooting her a sidelong look for a moment before returning his gaze to the road. He’d be surprised if she said she’d been anywhere outside of the state. It seemed that most people either sat in one spot for the rest of their lives or got out as soon as they could. “Yeah, once graduation hits, I’m splitting from this place as soon as possible,” he told her, placing the nearly smoked cigarette back between his lips.

He paused for a moment at what she said next, keeping his eyes on the road as he tapped his thumb in time to the music that was softly playing from the stereo. “I’m…coping,” he murmured finally before giving a shrug of his shoulders. “I won’t be hanging around for too long for it to matter anyways.” He slowed down a bit when he noted Chestnut Drive approaching, not bothering with a turn signal as he pulled a left turn without managing to squeal tires. “Let me know when we’re getting close to your house,” he said, shooting her a glance.

Brows lifting slightly at her next comment, Billy snuffled out his cigarette and flicked the butt out the window. Instead of saying anything, he merely dug his tongue into his cheek, glancing over to her as she spoke. Most girls would just giggle and ask him if they wanted to help them out “experiencing” things. Yet again, he was reminded that Evie was very much different. “You’ve got spunk,” he said, shooting her a smile. “I like it.” He fell quiet as she began to talk about her brother and how she took care of him. Billy really didn’t have much to say in regards to that. He’d never had a sibling up until a month or so ago, but he didn’t want to get Evie mad at him before he had a chance to ask her out on a date. “They’re all raging dumbasses,” he said shaking his head slowly.

A short laugh left him as she spoke about house parties and tastes in them, he looked over at her again, lips pulling upward at the corners. “Hey, anywhere there’s beer, chicks, and decent music, it makes for a decent house party,” he said with a shrug of his shoulders. “The few I’ve been to around here are typically lacking one of those things.” He had slowed down a bit for the sake of not missing her house. Part of him wanted to help her out, but there was another part of him that didn’t want to have to deal with a middle schooler. He already got enough of that at home. A smirk curled his lips as she commented on his drinking at the Halloween party. “I’m sorry I missed you. I would have loved to have seen you in a costume,” he said, pulling his bottom lip between his teeth.

---

Kate pulled her bottom lip between her teeth as Steve spoke, eyes slipping over to meet his and a small grin curled her lips at the fact that he’d said her hair hadn’t looked like garbage. “Thanks,” she said softly, a small grin curling her lips for a moment before she looked ahead at the passing scenery. She tucked her hair back behind her ear, eyes darting over the windswept trees and tall grass being buffeted by the wind. She managed to look back at him just in time to catch his eye, a broad smile curling her lips. “In your case? Yes, memorable is very good,” she said with a nod of her head.

She let her gaze wander out the windshield, running her tongue over her bottom lip as she listened to him speak about Joyce Byers and her kid. She frowned a bit at how he hesitated a bit when he was speaking, brows pulling together slightly. What was he going to say to fill in the silence? Kate already knew everything there was to know about Joyce and Will Byers, but she was kind of curious to hear what he was going to say. Her head tilted to the side as he spoke, eyes slipping over to him and lips pursing together. “Gotcha. Seem like pretty cool kids,” she murmured, nodding a bit before her gaze slipped over to the driver of the car. Her lips pulled back into a cheeky little grin for a moment. “It’s definitely not gel…or mousse. I’m thinking it’s either genetics or hairspray…and I’m leaning toward hairspray,” she told him. Her eyes flickered over him for a moment before her head tilted slightly to the side. “Am I close?”

Drawing in a deep breath of air, she settled back into the seat, closing her eyes for a moment as she listened to the wind hitting the side of the car. A soft hum left her as he spoke, causing Kate to pull her eyes open and glance over at him. “I don’t know how you do it. There’s just so much traffic,” she continued on with the joke, lips pulling up wryly at the corners. The expression was short-lived as he mentioned the turn the weather would take, a pout curling at her lips before she could stop it. “I may be riding with you more often than I thought then,” she murmured. shooting him a glance.

Kate’s mouth twisted to the side slightly as she felt into silence once more. She didn’t want to elaborate any further on his friend and the epic dick that was Billy Hargrove. It’d probably just bring their conversation down a bit. Her brow furrowed slightly as he questioned her and she let out a soft hum as she thought about her answer. “I don’t know. I guess, I just thought people might be a little more…nice. I’m used to it, but I guess I expected people to be a little less judgmental. In NYC, no one gave a shit and were mean regardless. But here people will look you in the eye, be nice to your face, and then turn around and laugh at you behind your back.” She sighed heavily, lips twisting to the side slightly.

Her brow furrowed heavily as he snapped at her, mouth dropping open slightly as her head snapped to look over at him. Kate turned away from him abruptly, head bowing slightly as she studied the paint splatters on the front of her jean overalls. “Sorry,” she breathed out, cheeks flushing slightly. Her eyes lifted to meet him as he spoke, lips turning down at the corners when he finished. There was a beat of silence where Kate thought through her answer, not wanting to upset him but knowing she’d found herself in a similar situation. “I can’t explain away what she said, sober or drunk, but I can say this. We’re not meant to read minds. Unless someone lets us know something’s up, we can’t…we can’t blame ourselves for…anything.” She sighed heavily, shoulders slumping forward a bit. “That’s all you can do, really. Try to figure it out and hope things get better.”

Evie hummed in acknowledgement. She wasn’t exactly sure what he meant by inheriting it - usually that meant death, right? - so she figured that she would ignore that part. “She’s a hell of a starter car.” A brief flicker of jealousy shot through her. She’d had to pay for her own car, scraping up enough money from her summer job to buy one of the cheaper cars at the used car lot. It wasn’t much, but Evie had named her Molly and the vehicle wasn’t the worst on gas, so she loved her all the same. Despite her door refusing to unlock sometimes. “Do you work on her, or take her to the garage?” It might’ve been a little sneaky of her, but Evie Henderson was broke. If she could get some work done on her car all for the price of flirting with Billy Hargrove, then so be it.

Maybe the smoke was getting to her brain, but watching as his tongue ran over his lip sent something jolting through her. She took in a deep breath and let it out slow, turning her head to look out the window. The leaves were mostly off of the trees. What was left was crinkly and brown, decaying as the days sped towards winter. Turning back to look at him, she shook her head. “Nope. When I was younger, my parents used to take me and Dusty to New York to visit relatives every other Christmas, but we haven’t been in years.” It hadn’t even been actual relatives, just college friends from when her dad had been younger, but they’d called them aunt and uncle. It had been a fun time. Looking back on it, the time that they stopped going was the time that things started getting rough between her mom and dad. “You and me both,” she mumbled.

“Still, though. Coping or not, it’s… gotta be different.” She was going to say weird, but admitting that she’d had to listen to a couple of older women talking about great his ass had looked in those jeans, or how tan he was, was just going a little too far for her. It also didn’t help that she kind of agreed with them. The guy was objectively hot. Admitting that, though, would probably make her cheeks burn a bright red, which would just egg him on. “It’s right up here, fourth house on the left, the one with green shutters.”

She snorted at his words despite the fact that her stomach dropped and she had to glance away for a moment. “Does that mean that you have used that line on a lot of people?” She questioned, quirking a brow at him. She thought back to him licking his lips, and that feeling of humming in her veins. There was a small part of her that was kind of curious, to know what it’d be like to go on a date with him; to know what it’d be like to kiss him, to run her hands up and down his chest. She blinked at him for a moment, blanking on what they’d been talking about before giving a quick nod of her head. “Trust me, Dustin’s in a league all on his own.”

“Beer, chicks, and decent music seems like a pretty low bar. Are you sure Hawkins hasn’t stepped up to that?” She asked, laughing softly. His next words made her stomach twist pleasantly. “I bet you would’ve loved that,” she mumbled, chuckling softly under her breath. “What were you supposed to be, anyway? I didn’t get the whole leather jacket without a shirt thing? Were you supposed to be a-” Her words cut off as Billy got closer to her house, and she could see that Dustin’s bike wasn't out front. “That little shit,” she muttered, scowling. He’d left her to deal with the cat-eating monster by herself. Of course. Looking back to Billy, Evie sighed. “You can drop me off right here, it’s fine.”

---

“It’s no problem,” he murmured, hating that his cheeks were still nice and warm. Christ, when was the last time that he’d gotten like this around anyone? He’d never blushed around Nancy, not like this. There had been times when it had been just the two of them, soft and quiet in his backyard when she’d said things to him that were vulnerable and raw that it had made his cheeks burn. The thought made his stomach churn, so he pushed forward. Kate was different than Nancy, that much was certain. She had a confidence to him that made him nervous, but the excited kind of nervous. The kind of nervous that made him want to hang around her more. “Good. I’d hate to be the bad kind of memorable,” he said, offering her a small grin.

He gave a nod of his head, thumb tapping against the steering wheel. He really didn’t like thinking about last year. All he wanted was a normal year. A normal senior year where he didn’t have to think about anything except having fun and making sure that he graduated. He didn’t want to have to be continuously reminded that shit had gone down last year. He was reminded enough of that at night, with the occasional nightmare. He didn’t want to have to think about them during the day. A strangled cough left him at the mention of hairspray. “Um - uh - what makes you say that?” He asked, the words coming out a little too fast.

“You should see it during the summer. Hawkins is a regular tourist attraction. The traffic is unreal,” he said, laughing. Steve wouldn’t have minded living in a place with actual traffic. He’d been stuck in Hawkins his entire life. The idea of leaving and going somewhere that had millions of people, it was hard for him to imagine that. “I wouldn’t mind. We can trade bad jokes.” He stole a quick glance to her before he turned back to the road. The pout looked good on her. Guilt pooled into his chest at that thought. Technically he was still dating Nancy, right? That meant that he really shouldn’t be thinking about shit like that.

“That’s Hawkins in a nutshell.” She’d really hit the nail on the head. Small towns were probably like that all over the country, but it felt like it was concentrated in Hawkins, especially amongst the crowd that his parents traveled in. The more money there was, the more awful they were. “It sucks, but you get used to it, at least a little. It’s easier if you keep your head down, but that might be a little difficult for you,” he said as he looked over to her for a second. His gaze flickered over her profile, and he smiled a little. There’d be no way that she could keep her head down. And he liked that.

Steve gave a shrug of his shoulders, his stomach tying itself into knots. He shouldn’t have snapped at her. It wasn’t like she knew what was going on between the two of them. “Isn’t that what context clues are for, figuring that shit out?” He asked, risking a glance over to her. “I’m pretty sure that I’m just a shit boyfriend.” The words were a little more raw than he’d meant for them to be, but as he said them, he realized that they were true. He kind of sucked as a boyfriend. He turned his attention back to the road, eyes widening when he saw a familiar curly haired kid on the biking towards the car on the opposite side of the road. He slowed down as Dustin threw his bike into the grass, arms waving wildly at Steve.

“Steve! Steve! Harrington! Asshole, roll your window down!” Steve complied, pressing down on the brake and pulling over to the side of the road. He flipped his four-ways on with one hand while rolling the window down with the other.

“What the hell are you doing?”

Dustin walked over to the car and peered into the window, frowning at Kate. “Who’s she?” He asked, looking back to Steve with a furrowed brow. “I’ve got a thing,” he whispered, leaning his whole head into the car so he could speak quietly. “You’re gonna help.”

“I’m kind of busy here, kid.”

“Not anymore. You got room in the back for my bike?”

Billy leaned against the car door once more, drawing in a deep breath of air as he kept his gaze forward. “Yeah, I got pretty lucky,” he told her, eyes sliding over to her for a moment and shooting her a bit of a crooked grin. “I didn’t ask for it, if you’re wondering,” he added, watching the street in front of him. The only reason he’d even gotten to drive the car was the fact that his dad thought it was too showy for his tastes, but figured it was better to give it to his son than spend more money on a car. “You assume my car is a she because I ride in her?” He questioned, lifting a brow and shooting her look as a spark of something flashed in his gaze and smirk curled his lips. “And I know a thing or two, depending on who’s asking,” he said, eyes roaming over her for a moment before he stared ahead once more.

The wind blew against his car for a moment and he counteracted it by steering a bit against it, car shuddering slightly. He let out a low whistle, watching the trees around them bending and swaying in the gales for a moment. Chances were, the lights would be out whenever he got back home. The street they lived on had way too many trees along it. There was bound to be one that falls on their power lines with this wind. “Did you like New York?” He asked, brow furrowing slightly with thought. New York was a little more his speed, more like California, he supposed. “I’m either going back or heading some place else. You have your sights anywhere, babydoll?”

A sigh left him as she spoke again, shooting her a look. Honestly, he should be used to it. He dressed the way he did for a reason, but there was no way around it. Sometimes women, particularly the older ones, had a way of eyeing him or saying things that made him a bit uncomfortable. He took it all in stride, however. Better than getting no attention at all, Billy supposed. “Yeah,” he breathed, digging his tongue into his cheek after he spoke. “Way different.” He nodded as she described her house to him, blue eyes studying the houses they were passing closely. He’d been this way once when he’d picked up this girl from school for a date—Lisa, Linda…it was an ‘L’ name, he knew for sure—but hadn’t passed by Evie’s house on his way.

Billy laughed lightly at the snort that left her, bottom lip finding its way between his teeth for a moment. He was beginning to regret he’d followed up on promising her a fast ride. He’d enjoyed their conversation a lot more than any other chick that’d ridden in his passenger seat. Maybe he should have taken his time. “You caught me,” he said with a crooked grin, eyes lighting up as he glanced over to her for a moment. There was look in her eyes for a brief moment, like she’d gone someplace else in her mind. He’d already looked away by the time she was speaking again, to which he merely let out a soft hum of a reply and began to slow the car a bit more as they approached the house she’d described.

“It’s typically the chicks that aren’t in supply. At least not ones that I’m interested in,” he said, a slow smile curling his lips. “Believe it or not, Evie, I have standards,” he added bluntly, shooting her a lingering, poignant look. “Oh I would have. But I’m sure you could paint me a pretty picture of whatever you were wearing that night.” His smile grew into a wolfish grin, mind reeling with all the possibilities of what she could’ve been. Billy’s brow lifted slightly as she rattled off what he was wearing, surprised she’d taken notice of what he was wearing, but he didn’t get a chance to reply as she was suddenly glaring up at the house. His eyes slid along her features before he pulled up to the curb and put it in park. No one looked like they were home; it would have be a perfect opportunity for him had she not been in such a rush to bail her brother out of whatever trouble he’d gotten in to. “You sure you don’t want me to stick around for a while?” He asked, leaning back in the seat.

---

Kate’s gaze wandered over Steve’s profile, noting that his cheeks had gone rather bright red. “You feeling okay, Steve?” She asked innocently, head tilting slightly to the side as she watched him. “Your cheeks look all flushed, like you’re getting sick or something.” Kate knew what she was doing. She wasn’t stupid. It was just too much fun watching the color blossom on his cheeks. This “King Steve” she’d heard about was pretty bashful, it seemed. It was all in good fun, of course. She couldn’t recall the last time she’d gotten this sort of reaction from someone. “I have a hard time believing that cool kid Steve would be the bad kind of memorable,” she said, returning the grin.

She reached into one of the front pockets of her bag, pulling out some bubble gum. Unwrapping it, she popped a few pieces into her mouth, chewing it quietly as she leaned back into the seat. Her gaze wandered the scenery that was passing them, still not quite familiar enough with her surroundings to know where she was. It should have scared her; being in a stranger’s car and not knowing where they were taking her. It didn’t. Once she’d chewed the gum enough, she leaned her head back and blew a bubble the same color as her hair. A bubble that popped as soon as he coughed. She grinned impishly over at him as she pulled the gum back into her mouth. “Chill, dude. I’m not judging you,” she said softly. “I think it’s kind of cool that you make the effort. Most guys don’t give a shit.” There was a short pause before she added. “Most guys look like shit.”

Her brows lifted slightly at the mention of Hawkins being a tourist attraction. “Of what? Special Indiana cows?” She quipped dryly, a laugh leaving her as she shook her head a bit. “Did you want any gum, by the way?” She asked, pointing down to a few wrapped pieces she still had in her hand. Her lips pulled back slowly into a bright smile at the mention of them trading bad jokes. Her stomach lurched awkwardly as she reminded herself that as soon as she got the information they were after, she’d be out of Hawkins like she was never there to begin with. She forced the feeling down and drew in a deep breath. “I’m game if you are, Hair-rington,” she said, grinning over at him.

Kate pulled a bit of a face at him saying she’d gotten the gist of Hawkins. She could handle someone being outright mean to her face. In fact, she definitely preferred it to catty comments made behind her back or whispering and giggling behind hands. Her eyes slipped over to Steve as he spoke, a slow, genuine smile curling her lips. She caught his gaze as he glanced over to her and she looked away as a blush of her own rose to the apples of her cheeks. “Yeah. I don’t really care what they think,” she murmured, eyes flickering over to him. “It just would have been nice to not have to attempt to make all new friends senior year,” she said, her head falling back against the seat.

“Were there any context clues, though?” She asked, a bit more strength in her tone as she turned to look at him once more. A frown pulled at her lips, brow furrowing slightly at what he said next. From what little she knew about him and this interaction now, he seemed anything but. “You’re not,” she said through a sigh, shaking her head a bit. Before she got out anything else, she was distracted by a kid flying towards them on a bike like he was on a mission. It took her only a moment to realize who it was and her brows lifted slightly at the fact that he was waving the car down. She remained quiet as Steve slowed the car down and stopped for the kid, Dustin Henderson—her mind supplied.

The girl pulled a bit of a face at the frown he was directing toward her. For a moment, she was about to snap at him but then she realized he probably expected Nancy to be in the passenger seat. She was about to properly introduce herself, but he was leaning into the car and whispering about something that Steve was “gonna help” with. She shot a look to Steve, gauging his reaction as she chewed her gum quietly. Her brows shot skyward at how pushy this middle schooler was.

“Huh,” was all she could think to say, more of just a noise than a question. She shot a glance to the back of the car then to Steve. There was a beat as she studied him for a moment. “I…I guess I could bike the rest of the way home, if this was urgent-“

“It is,” Dustin interjected. Kate shot him a look, green-speckled amber eyes boring into the kid’s for a moment. “And kinda private.” Her head tilted to the side slightly, a rather unenthused look crossing her features.

“There’s no way we can fit both of our bikes and us in here,” she said softly, turning her attention back to Steve. “So…thanks for the ride and I’ll see you around,” she continued, shooting him a small smile before reaching down to gather her bag.

[I feel like a went a little overboard. Feel free to cut down on that a bit.]

“I didn’t think that you had asked for it. You don’t strike me as the type.” That was one positive thing to be said about Billy. He didn’t strike her as the type to go crying to his father - or anyone, really - and beg for money for something. He struck her as the type to figure it out himself. And a free car was a free car. If she’d somehow inherited a nice car from her uncle, she wouldn’t be complaining. “I assumed that every car was female. At least, that’s what I’ve been told.” She’d once referred to her dad’s car as a ‘he’, and had gotten lectured on it. She’d been seven. A slow warmth spread down her spine as she caught his gaze. “What if it was me asking, hmmm? What would you say then?”

Evie really didn’t want to think of what Steve or Nancy or Jonathan would say if they say her flirting with Billy. Even though it was barely considered flirting, it was still happening. He was definitely flirting with her. Under any other circumstance, it wouldn’t be a big deal. The thing was, though, was that she was kind of liking it. Only a little, though. But even that concerned her. “I liked it enough, yeah.” She was trying a little too hard to sound casual about it. She loved that city, and had dreamt of living there since she was a kid. It was hard not to wince at the nickname. ‘Sweetheart’ was fine. ‘Babydoll’ was a little grating, but she wasn’t going to comment on it. “Uh, yeah. I’m applying to colleges in New York, Boston, and Seattle,” she replied, ignoring the twist in her chest at the reminder that to go to one of those schools, she’d have to leave Dustin behind.

She wondered what it must have been like for Billy, to have to deal with all of that. Sure, he put up the whole persona of an attention-loving asshole. And to a certain extent, she believed that. But he was also around her age. It still had to be really uncomfortable at times, especially when women way older than he was was gawking at him like some zoo animal. If she could have, she would’ve said something that was comforting to him, but she couldn’t think of anything. How was she, when she wasn’t even sure if it really bothered him? She watched him for a beat, trying to figure him out.

“Your lines are too transparent, Hargrove. You need to come up with something interesting.” Her stomach was lodged somewhere in her throat when she caught his gaze. His eyes were bright and his grin was wide, the combination of them making it a little hard to breathe for a moment. She caught herself after a second and looked forward, trying to focus on anywhere else but him. She couldn’t remember the last time that a boy had made her feel like this, this weird mixture of nerves and excitement and confusion. She kind of liked it.

“I never said that you didn’t have standards, Billy,” she countered as she looked over to him. She’d thought that before, but she’d never said it. She rolled her eyes at him and shook her head. The grin of his made her stomach drop, and she found herself responding. “You know that scene in Risky Business, the dance scene?” She asked, raising a brow at him. It dropped when it hit her just what her brother had done. Evie took in a deep breath, weighing her options. Dustin had bailed - the little asshole - which meant that she was going to be stuck with the interdimensional slug herself. Unless Billy stayed - which was dragging him into a whole lot. She glanced over to him, hesitating. “I mean… I could use your help, since Dustin isn’t here? But you - I -” She cut herself off, trying to figure out what to say. “You can’t ask any questions, okay? Like, absolutely none.”

---

“I’m fine,” Steve mumbled, shaking his head at her. He didn’t like this one bit, but the more he thought about it, it felt as though his cheeks were personally betraying him by remaining red. He just continued to shake his head before letting out a quiet sigh. “Maybe I am getting sick,” he said, half tempted to finish his sentence off with sick of your bullshit or something like that, but the offending word brought him right back to Nancy and whether this was an okay way to feel around a girl when he still technically had a girlfriend. And even if he didn’t have a girlfriend, wasn’t it too soon to feel all nervous and fluttery around some girl? He needed a drink. A really strong drink. “Oh, you should’ve met me last year. I was a real prick,” he said, scrunching up his nose at the memory.

He could get away with hairspray. Hairspray wasn’t a big deal. It was the fact that it was Farrah Fawcett hairspray, that’s what got him. He’d never admit to trying other kinds of hairspray, but he’d gone through about five different brands before he’d found the holy grail. It was perfect, but dammit, he’d stop if anyone found out about him using it. “Are you saying that I don’t look like shit?” He asked, quirking a brow in her direction. A small smirk tugged at the corners of his mouth, his teeth raking over his bottom lip for a moment as he tried to focus on the road before him.

“Uh yeah, special Indiana cows. Haven’t you heard? Brown Indiana cows make chocolate milk. It’s like a miracle or something,” he fired back, letting his smirk turn into a full blown grin when he heard her laugh. It was nice. He wanted to hear it more. “Oh, no thanks,” he said with a wave of his hand. He wasn’t much for the bubblegum flavor. It kind of grossed him out. He gave an over exaggerated roll of his eyes as she spoke. “Is that the only joke you’ve got, Kate? I’m gonna be kinda disappointed if it is,” he teased, settling back into his seat.

“I mean… Probably? I just missed them, I guess.” He’d been so preoccupied with himself and trying to figure out his future and just wanting to be normal that he hadn’t even really thought about how Nance was handling all of this. His stomach churned. He wanted to argue with her, to say that he most definitely was a shit boyfriend, but the whole Dustin thing cut right into that.

“No, no. Kate, you’re not biking home. Dustin, calm the hell down. You’re being a dick. Now what’s up?” Dustin scowled at Steve.

“I’ve got a… a problem. At home. A pest problem, and it’s in my cellar, and I need you to help get it out.”

Steve stared at him like he was crazy. “A pest problem? You want me to - like a raccoon?” Dustin was bobbing his head in response.

“Yeah, man. Like a raccoon. Definitely like a raccoon. But more in the sense of not at all like a raccoon. Like, something that would require your baseball bat.”

Steve really didn’t want to deal with this at all. But Dustin was looking at him with a pointed glare, and it made him a little nervous. That, and it had taken him a second to figure out what your baseball bat had meant. Once that realization hit him, he let out a quiet groan. “Look, man, why don’t I follow you to your house, and see what’s up, alright? I’m not kicking Kate out, though. I promised her a ride.”

“Fine,” Dustin sighed, rolling his eyes. “She stays in the car, though.”

[I think I added to it. Oops.]

Billy’s gaze slid over to Evie for a moment as she spoke, brows furrowing slightly. He just sort of assumed people thought the worst of him and that she would too. If he was being honest with himself, he wasn’t really helping his image too much to dispel assumptions, but he wasn’t going to change his ways either. “What type do I strike you as then?” He questioned, head tilting slightly to the side as he offered her a small smile. He pulled his bottom lip between his teeth for a moment, thumb swiping just underneath it as wondered if that was exactly a smart question to ask. Sure, he could handle whatever was thrown back at him, but it’d still kind of sting coming from someone like Evie Henderson. “That’s a pretty safe assumption, at least for cars that guys own,” he told her, nodding a bit. He paused for a moment as she caught his gaze, eyes slipping between hers as he considered her question. “A pretty girl like you? Well…I’d say I’d do just about anything you asked.”

He shot her a wink before staring ahead as the song on the radio changed and a broad grin curled his lips. Evie seemed to be warming up to him a bit and that idea caused pride to swell in his chest. He wasn’t going to push his luck by overwhelming her. It was a small victory enough to not have her scoff or roll her eyes at him when he called her pet names or shot her a line. For someone who seemed to not even want to glance in his direction earlier, he was getting somewhere. “You seem like a girl who’d enjoy the city more, if I’m honest,” he told her with a shrug of his shoulders. “What’re you planning on going to school for?” He questioned. He didn’t really have any sort of plans once he graduated. Chances were, he’d probably just end up as a mechanic, but working on his car was something that he actually enjoyed, so it couldn’t have been too bad.

A low hum left him as she critiqued his pickup line, bright eyes narrowing slightly before they swooped over to her. “What lines would work on you?” He questioned with a broad grin. Part of him hoped she blushed a bit or tried to look anywhere but at him. Billy enjoyed seeing her flushed and flustered. He was beginning to see there was something distinctly different about what he found so attractive in Evie. Most girls played coy and like what he said was affecting him, but he truly felt that she was reacting genuinely.

“Most people assume that I don’t have any. I was only joking,” he said, eyes swooping over to her as a smirk curled his lips. There was probably a reason rumors got started—he did have a tendency to date girls who didn’t necessarily have a reputation for being the most virtuous. But he didn’t just date any girl. His train of thought was pleasantly diverted when she described what he supposed she wore to the Halloween party. All he could think about was how her legs must’ve looked. “I am suddenly regretting I didn’t make it a point to find you,” he told her with a broad smile.

Billy was suddenly seeing why Evie had said her brother was in an asshole league of his own. Her whole vibe seemed to change when she realized that he wasn’t home. Maybe this was his chance to be the hero of the situation and score some more points with her. “Like I said before, I’ll pretty much do anything you asked me to,” he told her, cutting the engine to his car and pulling the key from the ignition. He paused for a moment as she continued, raising a brow at her plea for him to not ask questioned. Billy’s gaze wandered over to her, studying her for a moment before nodding. “Fine. No questions,” he murmured before slowly leaning across her. He shot her a sly sort of grin as he kept his gaze on her, pushing open the car door for her as he took her in up close. Without another word, he was pulling away and opening his own car door.

---

Kate shot Steve a look as he spoke, brows lifting slightly as he spoke. His cheeks seemed to be permanently flushed by this point. Maybe she should ease up on him a bit. With a soft hum, she studied him for a few moments, as if trying to decide on if he had it in him to be a prick. He was a popular kid and by default, they seemed to be programmed to be assholes. Still, Kate thought maybe he had a tendency to be seriously hard on himself. “But I’m meeting you now and you see pretty cool to me,” she said softly, shrugging her shoulders a bit.

Back in NYC, Kate rarely found a chance to compliment others, nor did she feel like giving them out. But she’d definitely give them where they were due and Steve’s hair was definitely no exception. Despite herself, she felt her cheeks burn a little as he questioned her, mouth pulling up slightly at the corners. “Yeah, I suppose I am,” she replied, eyes zeroing in on his teeth at his lip. A quiet hum left her as she turned away hurriedly, ducking down into her jacket in an effort to try and hide her cheeks that were left bright red.

There was a beat where Kate remained silent and stared over at Steve, blinking a couple of times at what he’d said before she laughed quietly to herself and shook her head slowly. “I may have to find these miracle cows one day,” she said through her laughter, shooting him a bright smile. When he waved away her gum, she merely tucked it back into her backpack and zipped it back up. Her eyes snapped up to him as he questioned her and they widened a bit, mouth dropping open as she tried to think of something to say. “Uh…I’m better when it’s more spur of the moment,” she explained, grinning lopsidedly over at him. “My premeditated jokes tend to fall flat…unlike your hair.”

She was not done with this conversation. She was merely shelving it until later. Kate knew now that Steve was being far too hard on himself. She could really tell he cared about his relationship with Nancy and it was killing him that it seemed to be falling apart before his eyes and he couldn’t do anything to stop it. A sigh left her as Steve told her she was staying in the car, her eyes darting over to the driver of the car for a moment before swooping over to Dustin as he spoke. Kate lifted a brow as he mentioned having a pest problem and a short hum left her. A private, pest problem? The hell? She was sure her confusion read clear on her features. She was definitely sure it only grew more exaggerated the more the two talked.

“Wait a minute. You want him to take care of a kinda raccoon with a what?” She asked, eyes darting between the two of them with an aghast expression on her features. What the hell had she gotten into? Why the hell had he said this was private and why Both of them seemed to ignore her and she let out a growl of a noise in her throat, tipping her head back against the seat and letting her eyes slip shut. She kept them closed as she listened to the two of them, shaking her head slowly.

“Fine, dad,” she murmured to Dustin before pulling her eyes open to look over at the kid. He did not look very happy with her as he turned and strode back over to his bike. Kate kept her eyes on the middle schooler before glancing over to Steve. “Is this what you do in Indiana for fun? Kill pests with baseball bats?” She questioned evenly, brows lifting slightly as she stared over at him. She blinked a couple of times before sighing heavily. “You know what? I don’t want to know. I’ll just stay in the car and relish my ignorance.” Her bottom lip found its way between her teeth and she gnawed at it for a moment. He really didn’t seem very enthused. Maybe they were talking in some sort of code and she should lighten up. “Thanks for letting me stay.”