Eye of the Storm ✇ Steve Harrington

Chapter Three

Two weeks ago

Nora always liked summer. And even though summer in Hawkins and summer in California were two very different things, she liked it here too. And she especially liked it at night. Before she'd lived in a big place, the lights of the city tuning out the beauty of the night sky. That didn't happen in the small town of Hawkins. And so, one of Nora's favourite activities ever since school ended was watching the stars.

And the best place to do that was in the meadows on the edge of town, surrounded only by nature and grassy hills with no lights to obscure the view. Some nights, she was alone, but that was rare. The person who most often came with her was Steve. Some nights, the kids would join them for a bit when they had no better plans of their own, most often Dustin or Max. Tonight, it was just Nora and Steve, but they weren't watching the stars.

"It's my dad's way of punishing me. Since I didn't get into college, this is all he thinks I can be. An ice cream scooper." Steve vented about the underwhelming job his dad forced him into taking at the newly opened mall in town. "Maybe it is all I can be."

"It's not all you can be." Nora didn't waste a second in correcting him. "It's just one job. You gotta go through a few to find what the perfect fit is. And I'm sure it'll be something more." She tried to reassure him as they sat in the grass.

Steve, who'd been plucking the flowers and strands from the ground, stopped what he was doing and looked at her somewhat uncertainly. "How do you know? And even if it's true, it's not like Hawkins has much to offer."

"Maybe that's true. But you're not stuck in Hawkins for the rest of your life. You could go wherever you want and do whatever you want. You just gotta find what that is." She said optimistically.

"Like being a teacher." Steve said teasingly, her words obviously not having that much of the desired effect. But Nora let it go for now. If she needed to keep reminding him to make him believe it, then that's what she'd do.

"Hey! That's my thing." She frowned at him, making the Harrington laugh in amusement, trying to do his best to ignore thoughts going through his head of how cute she looked when she made that face.

"When do you leave tomorrow? Do you need a ride or something?" He asked curiously, using the shift in topic to move on from their discussion about his own future. He didn't want to spend the whole night whining about it. Not when she was leaving for the big city and wouldn't be back for a while.

"The bus for Indianapolis leaves at 10am. Susan and Max are taking me, but thanks for the offer." Nora shared with a small smile before quickly adding. "Not that them taking me doesn't mean you can't come too. If you want, you know. Not that I'm asking you to come and say goodbye or something."

"You say it like you're leaving for the whole summer." Steve couldn't help but laugh at the way she rambled on, the sound making the Hargrove look down at the grass, grateful for the darkness as she felt her cheeks heat up. However, the more he thought about it, the more his laughter died down. By the time he spoke again, his voice turned more worried than amused. "You aren't leaving for the whole summer, right? I mean, the plan is just two weeks?"

"Yeah, it's just two weeks." Nora nodded her head, eyes looking back towards him and noticing the expression on his face. "Why do you look like we're about to face off with a Demogorgon?" She questioned with a laugh, watching as the expression was quickly wiped from his face.

"I do not." He defended, forcing Nora's laughter to only increase.

"Are you going to miss me, Steve?" She questioned teasingly. Nora also ignored the way her mind called her out for laughing at him and how much of a hypocrite it made her. Because she already knew she was going to miss him.

"No, I won't." Steve tried to continue the tough act, but she could see right through it. Although... He didn't know that.

"Oh." She pretended to sound dejected by the revelation. "Well, uh, maybe I should just go then." She announced, quickly rising to her feet, and taking the first few steps as if she were about to walk away.

"No, no, no! I didn't mean..." Steve jumped to his feet right after her, reaching for her hand and pulling her back before she could get to far. Not expecting it, Nora soon found herself stumbling back, turning around just in time to crash into his chest. "I didn't... Didn't mean it like that." He finally finished what he meant to say, but it came out quiet as he looked down at her, not expecting how close they ended up.

"I know." Nora reassured him; her own voice somewhat distracted as her eyes remained focused on his face. "And I'll, uh, I'll miss you too." She revealed, unsure of where the bravery to say it out loud came from.

"Really?" Steve asked, seeming somewhat surprised by the admission. For a few moments, Nora didn't answer him. They just remained standing like that, neither bothering to step back and build the distance between them again, Nora's hand remaining in his.

Unable to look away from him, for a moment, Nora thought she'd caught him glancing down at her lips. She was reminded of her momentary bravery and decided not to let go of it just yet. "Really." She said, rising on her tippy toes making the already tiny gap between them grow smaller as her hand went up to his neck, bringing him closer until, ultimately, the distance was completely gone.

She kissed him.

She'd be lying if she didn't say that she'd been thinking about it for some time now. She wasn't sure when it started, but it had gotten to the point where she couldn't deny it. She liked him. And sometimes, she thought he might like her back.

But...

He didn't kiss her back.

"Crap!" Nora jumped away only a few seconds after initiating the kiss. "Shit! I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that." She started to ramble again, repeating the apology and excuses multiple times as she continued to step back, building a distance that was larger than normal.

"Nora, I-" Steve tried to interrupt her, but she gave him no chance to.

"I get it. It's fine." She shook her head at him, trying to muster up a fake smile. "I'm sorry for overstepping." She had misread the moment. Of course, she misread the moment. Stupid! "I should, uh, I should head home. I gotta get up early tomorrow."

"Your bus leaves at ten." Steve tried to get her to stop walking away, attempting to step towards her and reach out again but she was already too far and wasn't stopping.

"Yeah, but I still haven't packed everything." Nora lied. "So I'm gonna go." She announced. "I'll see you when I'm back." By now she was calling back to him, quick steps carrying her through the grass and towards the bike which she'd left on the edge of the field.

And by the time Steve got over his surprise and remembered he had legs which could move, Nora was already riding away on her bike and disappearing in the distance. Disappearing for two weeks.

The present

That was the memory that kept replaying in Nora's mind as she walked into Scoops Ahoy. As she stood in a somewhat long line. As her eyes caught sight of the other person in the memory standing behind the counter as he handed people their orders.

Maybe she should just leave. Before he noticed her. Before she just made everything even more awkward. Trust her to mess everything up by getting feelings for her best friend. But she didn't want it to be messed up. So, she had to fix it. Somehow. Maybe she should just leave and come back when she knew how.

Trust her to walk in here without a plan. Two weeks, she had two weeks to come up with one and now she found herself standing in line like an idiot, unsure of what she would say. Her mind was going a mile a minute, trying to think of something or to at least talk herself into walking away.

However, all the overthinking took longer than she thought, and soon enough, it was too late to run away. She was at the front of the line.

"Welcome to Scoops Ahoy, what can..." Steve spoke absentmindedly as he cleaned out the scooper before turning to the front again and finally looking towards his next customer, his voice trailing off as he realized who it was. "I get you?"

"Hi." Nora smiled.

"Hi." And he smiled back.