Say Anything | Steve Harrington |

Ch. 39 Babysitting

June 29th, 1985
The Byers Residence

"You look tired, Nellie. Did you sleep okay last night?" Mom asked me as she placed a plate of pancakes in front of me, pulling me out of my thoughts.

For the past ten minutes, I had been looking down at the chipped corner of our wooden table in silence. The weight of the letter resting in my pocket stole my attention any time I tried to ignore its contents.

"I don't think she slept at all last night," Will muttered as he pulled apart his pancakes. My little brothers' accusation seemed to be all it took to snap me out of my trance, causing me to quickly pull my face out of the palm of my hand.

Letting out a scoff, I straightened up in my seat. "Shut up," I stated, launching some of the scrambled eggs off of my fork and in his direction. "I slept fine, actually, thank you. Just thinking about something I read this morning." I mumbled the last part out as mom stared me down. "Do you want to talk about it?" She asked, placing a hand on the back of my chair.

"Is there anything you think we should talk about?" I asked, squinting my eyes up at her. "Is this about Steve?" She asked with a smirk as if she had cracked some mysterious code. "What? No, far from."

"Yeah, right." Will mumbled, looking down at his plate with a grin while Mom walked back into the kitchen.

"You used to be cute, you know that?" I groaned at my little brother who only shook his head in response. "Dustin's coming back from science camp today." He stated, quickly changing the topic. "Already?" I asked as I pushed the food around my plate.

"Yeah, the parties gonna meet up later to welcome him back," Will explained with a bright smile. I honestly don't think I've seen him smile like that all summer or even get this excited over something. With Dustin gone, Will had practically turned into the third wheel for the two couples that had formed within the party.

Mike and Will stopped hanging out as much since he'd rather be with El, and Will said he didn't like being alone with Lucas and Max since they always seemed to fight. "Maybe you can come with us? I even prepared him a welcome back campaign."

Frowning slightly, I looked down at my plate before slowly shaking my head. "Sorry, Will. I can't, I'm taking care of Erica today. But maybe I could join you guys next time?" My response quickly deflated Will's good mood. "Right, next time." He mumbled.

Usually, I wouldn't reject playing D&D with Will and his friends, especially since the party only seemed to cancel each campaign he had prepared over the break. But Saturdays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays are reserved for babysitting Erica, Lucas's little sister.

"You forgot to reset the alarm!" Nancy's muffled voice drifted from down the hall followed by a loud thump that quickly stole both of our attention, leaning back in my chair, I looked down the hallway and towards Jonathan's bedroom door.

Will and I stifled our laughter as Jonathan came rushing out of his room with his shirt messily buttoned and lipstick staining his cheek. "Morning!" He called out as he rushed past us and towards the door. "Wait up!" Mom called out, stopping Jonathan in his tracks as she came back out of the kitchen.

"I'll just eat at work. I'm late." Jonathan stopped her as she walked towards him. "No, your cheek." She stated as she wiped the lipstick off with her thumb. "All right, all right. I gotta run. See you later." Jonathan pulled her hand away before running out the front door.

"Okay.." Mom mumbled, turning around to look at the two of us with a confused glance. "Gross," Will stated, looking back down at his plate. "Is that so?" I asked, reaching over the table to ruffle his hair. "Hey!" He called out, his smile quickly returning.