𝐅𝐋𝐎𝐖𝐄𝐑𝐒 • Steve Harrington

Chapter 29

( Sunday, May 26th 1985 )

STEVE helped boost Julie onto the roof of Benny's with his woven hands, then steadied himself enough after pressing his sneakers against the wall. He pulled his body up with all the strength he had as well as Julie's help. She strained the more she tugged at his bicep, but once he was able to swing his leg over, they were both able to relax.

The diner had been shut for weeks now and nobody was ever around, but when Steve said he knew a place this morning, Julie didn't expect it to be here-not that she was complaining.

They settled themselves in the middle of the roof, Julie criss-crossing her legs whilst Steve sat, planted one foot flat on the ground and rested his wrist atop his bent knee.

Summer was just beats around the corner in the kind of way you could feel in the air; the sun glowed brighter and the skies were clearer. The air was thinner somehow and it didn't reek of manure on every tree surrounded road. Steve had called in shirts and windbreaker jackets, whilst Julie had mostly said good riddance to her oversized bomber for the next few months and turned it in for printed button-downs and waistcoats.

"I'm really going to miss having Dustin around," she mused fondly.

"I miss him already," Steve scoffed.

"I still can't believe he woke up high."

"I can't believe the kid's going to summer camp high," Steve overwrote, the both of them falling into faint laughter. "They're going to think he's a lunatic."

"Or better yet, they think he's just really naturally cool, calm and collected, or even better, they figure out he's high and think he's all the more cooler for being a fourteen-year-old stoner."

"Imagine their surprise when they meet him again tomorrow."

Julie laughed a little harder.

"No, the dorks are going to love the crap outta him. How could they not?" Steve smiled as he tried to picture Dustin in the middle of nowhere making s'mores over campfires and snoring in log cabins. "What do they even do there? Make volcanoes and talk about Newton?"

"That's exactly what I did," Julie said. "We also invented the microwave and that one dial on TVs that stops the weird fizzing."

Steve quirked his eyebrow. "And I'm guessing that was for fun outside of activity hours."

"It's like you know me more and more by the hour."

They shared growing smiles, and Julie's warmed with a deeper sincerity.

"You have nothing to worry about, he's going to love it," she said softly.

"Yeah, I know," he mumbled and dejectedly looked out at nothing.

"It's tomorrow by the way," Julie mentioned, catching his eye again. "Are you finally going to tell me what that kitchen meltdown was all about?"

"Yeah," he exhaled. "I'm sorry about that by the way-freaking out on you. I just...panicked."

She shoved her hands underneath her jean-covered thighs. "You'll be forgiven once you tell me why."

Steve knew this was a conversation that was coming. In fact, this conversation was on the tail-end of every thought he had for the rest of last night going into the next morning that led them both here.

So, he slipped his hand into the pocket of his white and red windbreaker, and took out a square, navy blue jewellery box. Julie's breath caught in her throat as he weighed it in his hand for a moment and internally geared himself for what came next. Then he extended it outwardly towards her, offering a slanted smile. "Open it."