Say Anything | Steve Harrington |

Ch. 41 Teenage Wasteland

June 30th, 1985
The Byers Residence

The rhythmic tapping of Nancy's pen against the wooden table had me trapped in a dazed state as I stared off into the distance, my gaze locked on the brightly colored magnets that laid on the kitchen floor.

Even as Jonathan almost slipped on the star-shaped magnet, my eyes stayed locked on the floor.

"Nell? Hello, Eleanor?" Nancy's voice pulled me from my trance, "I'm sorry, you lost me." I rubbed my eyes to refocus myself before tucking a few strands of dark hair behind my ear.

"Which part?" Nancy asked, sitting a bit straighter in her seat. "All of it? Why are you writing about diseased rats? I thought all field rats were technically diseased." My eyebrows furrowed together, before looking back down at her neat handwriting that littered the notepad. "Mrs. Driscoll said they aren't like normal diseased rats, says she hasn't seen anything like it."

"Mrs. Driscoll sprayed us with a hose when we were kids for being on her lawn, Nance. She's a hypochondriac." I stated, sliding the notes back to her. "She's sweet." Jonathan rolled his eyes at my statement before taking a seat beside Nancy at the table.

"I think it's worth looking into." Nancy shrugged, closing the book in front of her. "I have a good feeling about this." She continued with Jonathan nodding in agreement.

Letting a puff of air pass through my lips, I stood from my seat, grabbing my empty coffee mug before walking away from the table.

"So, why are you so grumpy this morning?" Jonathan followed close behind me, before leaning against the kitchen counter as I filled my cup. "Grumpy? Why are you talking like mom?" I rolled my eyes at my brother before turning to face him. "You've been acting weird all morning." He stated, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Holy shit, Jonathan. What does it matter?" I let out a light scoff before taking a sip of my coffee, grimacing at the bitter taste. "It matters cause you're my little sister and I'm supposed to protect you."

Tapping my nails on the glass of the mug, I nodded slowly before looking down at the floor. "You're older by like a minute." I stated with a false grin. "Ninety seconds." "Who cares."

"I do. I can tell somethings wrong." He stated with a roll of his eyes. "Please, don't use the twin thing as an excuse..."I mumbled, pinching my nose bridge.

"It's a twin thing. Plus, you only drink your coffee black when you're upset," Jonathan stated quickly with a smirk. "Are you like obsessed with me or something?" I laughed at his observation before taking another regretful sip of coffee. "Did something happen between you and Steve?"

Rolling my eyes, I shook my head quickly. "You do know that my emotions revolve around more than just Harrington, right?"

"So that's a yes."

~~~

The incident that had gone down between Steve and me was the last thing I wanted on my mind, even with the extinguished candles still littering around my room the only thing I wanted to focus on was the little moments with my brothers.

And right when I was ready to take full advantage of my free day, the phone on the wall began to ring.

   Resting my book down on my desk, I hurried down the hall and into the kitchen. "Byers residence," I spoke into the yellow phone, placing it between my shoulder and ear. "Hi." A soft voice greeted from the other line in monotone. "El? Is everything all right?"

   The young girl never called our house, and I rarely even spoke to her as the year went on as she and Mike were inseparable. "I need someone to talk to." She stated quietly.