The age old story of two best friends falling in love...
... Only, one's a lab experiment with an entire Upside Down hunting her down, and the other won't leave her side, no matter how hard she tries.
steve harrington x fem oc / season 2 o...
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chapter fourteen the mind flayer
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RUBY SITS IN THE BYERS' BATHROOM, as Nancy wraps a bandage around Ruby's left arm. She's awkwardly perched on the toilet, sitting in her bra because her top's too tight to roll up past the scratches. Ruby wasn't too bothered about being almost topless, joking to Nancy that there wasn't much to see anyway. But she felt better, Nancy helping her compared to anyone else. And, besides, Joyce seems a little preoccupied right now, what with her boyfriend dying...
"So... What's going on, with you and Jonathan?" says Ruby, as Nancy finishes up the first set of bandages.
Nancy falls silent for a moment, and smiles awkwardly. "I mean... I could say the same for you and Steve," she says. Ruby doesn't say anything, hoping that her quietness will encourage Nancy to explain. "I think I wanted Jonathan to ask me out after last year, but he never did, and Steve came back... I was surprised, though. I thought Steve liked you... He sure acted like he was pining still."
"Yeah, uh," says Ruby. "He said he loved me last Christmas."
"Oh," says Nancy, her eyes widening. "That's... big."
"Right?" she says, thankful that someone actually agrees with her. "But Carol and Tommy hated him, and I didn't want to be a loser like you guys... no offence..." Nancy snorts. "So I told him to leave me alone."
Nancy begins to clean the second set of scratches, and Ruby inhales sharply; as she does so, Nancy murmurs an apology. The scratches aren't too bad, thankfully. Ruby's mostly worried about their overall presence, considering the way that Will's been affected by the Upside Down. What if that happens to her?
Ruby looks across at Nancy, as she cleans one of the cloths she used to clean the wounds. "Isn't it weird," says Nancy, "how all this year, none of us were with the person we actually wanted to be with?"
The eldest out of the two sighs. Ruby Brenner, the queen of Hawkins High, the editor of the school newspaper, the girl who's mere presence terrorised the self-esteem of every Hawkins High student. Ruby Brenner, who's auntie has the cool business job in the city. Ruby Brenner, best ass in her class. Ruby Brenner, who one time spoke to David Bowie and he told her she was pretty. Ruby Brenner, who in her first month at Hawkins High — having just hit puberty — was consistently called Rose by the teachers, mistaking her for her mom... Ruby Brenner, the crush of every one in her school; she couldn't walk three feet in Hawkins without someone recognising her. Carol used to tell her, "Everyone wants you as either a friend or a fuck," which Steve would call gross. A lot of the time, Ruby sees herself as two people: this Ruby, the Ruby that everyone fantasises over, and her actual self, the girl who wound up a lab experiment, who knows everyone only sees her that way, because she was made to be like that. She's perfect because the lab made her so. But the projection of herself is not her, and she knows that. She sees the way Nancy is carefully tending to her wounds, the way that Steve jumped to her defence earlier, and she appreciates the care in those friendships. Carol and Tommy would never do that. So, what's the point in being popular, if her friends don't even care about her?
