Broken & Pretty..Steve Harrington

022.

THE DINNER

⇾stay by the kis laroi & justin bieber

i told you i'd change, even when i knew i never could

 ⸺LATER on, Tiffany had to go to a dinner with Steve and Nancy, and they were going to tell Barbara's parents about Barbara actually being dead and not missing. After that, she was going to go over to the Byers' house for a movie night with Joyce, Will, Jonathan and Bob, the new guy Joyce had been dating. Tiffany hadn't met Bob yet, but had heard great things about him from Joyce. Hopper on the other hand, wasn't so keen on him.

Tiffany had been talking to Hopper more because she was interested in working for the police when she got out of high school. Hopper had taught her how to shoot a gun, she was still working on it, but she was doing pretty good. He was also teaching her hand to hand combat, so that if she couldn't conjure her powers or she didn't have a gun with her, she would still be able to defend herself. He had sort of become like a father figure to her.

Tiffany, Steve and Nancy had headed over to Barbara's parent's house and they weren't really ready for this. They invited them in and they all sat down at the table. Steve, Nancy and Tiffany were sitting on one side of the table with Barbara's parents on the other. "I'm so sorry I didn't get to cook. I was gonna make that baked ziti you guys like so much, but I just forgot about the time, and before you know it, oh my god, it's five o'clock!"

Barbara's parents, Nancy and Steve all laughed a bit. Tiffany was having a hard time being there. She was the one who had to see her maimed best friend, dead in an alternate universe. Tiffany didn't even really like saying her name. "It's fine. It's great."

"Right. I love KFC." Barbara's mom noticed how quiet Tiffany was. "Tiffany, you're so quiet. Are you alright?"

"Mhm." Steve then spoke up and lied for her. He could see how hard this was for her. "She's just tired from school and she had to babysit four kids right after school, now she's here. Just a busy day."

"Oh, well, KFC will make you feel better I hope." Tiffany nodded slightly. Steve rubbed her arm under the table to try and help comfort her.

"So, I noticed a For Sale sign out in your yard, is that the neighbors' or..." Barbara's parents smiled. "You wanna tell them?"

"Go ahead."

"We hired a man named Murray Bauman. Have you heard of him?" Steve shook his head and so did Tiffany. "No. No, I don't think so."

"He was an investigative journalist for the Chicago Sun Times. He's pretty well known. Anyway, he's a freelance now, and he agreed to take the case."

"That's...that's great. No, that's really...that's great right? Um, what exactly does that mean?" Barbara's dad started to lose his temper a bit. "Means he's gonna do what that lazy son of a bitch Jim Hop-"

Barbara's mom put a hand on his arm and he calmed down. Tiffany tensed up a bit when he said that. She thought Hopper was a great man and she even looked up to him. "Sorry."

"What the Hawkins police haven't been capable of doing."

"Means we have a real detective on the case."

"It means...we're going to find our Barb." Tiffany couldn't take it anymore. Tiffany stood up from the dinner table and stormed out of the house. She slammed the door behind her and Steve stood up to go after her. "I'll get her."

Steve ran out of the house to catch up with her. He saw her create a portal to the Upside Down and she was about to go in so she could get to her house faster, but Tiffany stopped walking when she heard Steve's voice. "Tiffany!"