fast car | STEVE HARRINGTON [2]

28. six little nuggets

"RINGO," Max sighed in exasperation, tentatively trying to slip her hand out of the older girl's grip without the blonde noticing, "you don't need to hold my hand."

"Well we don't have enough rope to tie you to Steve and I," Ringo frowned, her arm at an awkward angle as she continued to reach behind and hold onto the redhead despite being in the front seat of Steve's car.

"It's fine though, I've got her," Lucas urged, his arm firmly placed around the back of Max's seat protectively.

"Technically Kate Bush has me," Max shrugged, holding up her still playing cassette player. A short amount of time had passed since her run-in with Vecna, where the group had spent the better part of a half hour doting over the teenager and ensuring she was alright. Once they were convinced there was no further immediate danger, they clambered back into Steve's car to head back to Nancy's basement.

"Yeah I still don't get how that worked," Steve commented as he drove, the rope connecting him with Ringo still firmly tied around his waist.

"How many times, Steve?" Dustin huffed from where he sat on Max's right side. "Nancy and Robin found out that a person can be connected back to the real world by their favourite song. I'm not asking you to solve the mystery of the dark side of the moon here."

"Yeah, asshole, I got that part!" Steve ranted, rolling his eyes upward at Dustin's unrelenting attitude. "But there was no music playing when Ringo managed to get away from this guy."

Dustin was silent for a moment as he mulled over Steve's words, not wanting to admit that the Harrington man was completely correct. There was no immediate explanation on how Ringo managed to escape from Vecna as easily as Max and Victor Creel had. Briefly, he toyed with the idea that perhaps Vecna let Ringo go, and that maybe he had a plan for the girl that hadn't made itself known yet.

"Did you hear anything at all when you were under?" Ben questioned curiously toward the blonde in the passenger seat, who seemed to be as deep in thought about her escape as Dustin had been.

"Well I mean... all I could hear was Steve's voice calling out to me, but nobody or nothing else," she revealed, to her immediate regret when a wide smirk suddenly rose on Steve's lips.

"So you're saying..." he began, eliciting a groan of annoyance from her.

"Steve, don't even!" she pleaded.

"What you're saying is..."

"Oh come on!"

"That basically my voice is your favourite song in the world?" He beamed when he finally got the words out, just as Ringo's cheeks turned a shade of red as the teenagers in the back snickered all the while.

"Keep grinning, Steve. Soon you won't have vocal chords to talk with at all!" She threatened, shrinking into the seat as if to hide herself while keeping her gaze firmly planted on the road ahead.

"Awww babe! Don't be like that!" Steve cooed mockingly, reaching over to pinch her blushing cheek. "I'll talk all day and all night if it gives you that much pleasure!"

The rest of the journey to Nancy's carried on much the same - with Steve teasing Ringo to the point she had actually run out of threats. When they arrived at the Wheeler residence, they were relieved to see that Nancy and Robin were already back and patiently waiting for them inside the basement.

"Oh thank god!" Nancy gushed as they stepped down the stairs, rushing forward to envelope Max in a hug that the girl didn't fully reciprocate. She had been deathly silent since her ordeal, only responding in short sentences or one-word answers where possibly. The experience had clearly been a lot more traumatising for her than it had been on Ringo, or at least Ringo was better at hiding it.