1983 || Stranger Things

ᴛᴡᴇɴᴛʏ-sᴇᴠᴇɴ | ɪ'ᴍ sᴏʀʀʏ

      Julie and Steve looked away from each other and down at their hands after Julie agreed to go on a date with Steve. Julie's face was slightly red, and not from the blood. Steve was a little sweaty, and not from hunting Demo-dogs.

      Hearing Max in the living room, Julie lifted her head. She realized that she needed to warn her about Billy. "I'm gonna go talk to Max." Julie said quietly, standing from Jonathan's squeaky bed.

      "Okay." Steve said at the same volume, his eyes following Julie as she walked out of the room.

      Julie entered the living room and saw Lucas and Max conversing. Max smirked when she saw her. "Did you screw?" she said, wiggling her brows.

      "Did you?" Julie retorted, sitting on the couch. Max's face turned as red as her hair as she stammered for words. "Okay, shut up. Come here, I've gotta talk to you." Max left her post and joined her sister on the couch.

       "Is everything okay?" she asked.

       Julie shook her head ever so slightly. "Not really. When I went home, your mom and my dad were looking at you. They blamed Billy and I for your running off, and made us come find you. I ditched Billy to get here, so I'm sure if he does find us, it's gonna be bad." Julie explained without using too much detail. She didn't mention the slapping.

       "Shit." Max mumbled, lowering her head before raising it again. "What really happened to your face?"

       "I fell. It's fine, see? The swelling is going down." the swelling was in fact not going down, and Julie's cheek was bruising more heavily. "Don't worry about me. I'm getting a drink." Julie stood from the couch and walked to the refridgerator. As she did so, Steve walked out of Jonathan's room and into the kitchen. He was too late. Julie screamed very loud as soon as she opened the door. Nobody had told her there was a dead Demo-dog in the fridge.

      Steve quickly shoved his hand over Julie's mouth and shut the door. "Calm down!" he yelled, running a hand through his hair as Julie removed his other hand from her mouth.

      "Why did nobody warn me?" Julie asked, taking a deep breath.

      "We thought you knew! Relax!" Steve said.

      "Jesus, I really need to catch up." Julie muttered. Once they both regained their breaths, they heard Lucas, Max and Mike talking to other pretty agressively, Dustin piping in once or twice. The two teenagers looked at each other and sighed, leaving the kitchen to go intervene. "Listen, dude, a coach calls a play in a game, bottome line, you execute it. All right?"

      "Okay, first of all, this isn't some stupid sports game. And second, we're not even in the game. We're on the bench." Mike countered Steve. Julie shifted her gaze from Mike to Steve, looking at the teenager, as if egging him on.

      "So my point it..." Steve stammered, watching as everyone looked at him intensely. "Right, yeah, we're on the bench, so, uh, there's nothing we can do." he said, throwing a towel over Julie's head.

      "Your motivational speeches are to die for, Steve." Julie said, throwing the towel back to Steve.

      "That's not entirely true." Dustin said from his spot slightly behind Steve. "I mean, these Demo-dogs, they have a hive mind. When they ran away from the bus, they were called away."

      Lucas looked as though he understood what Dustin was saying. "If we get their attention..."

      "Maybe we can draw them from the lab." Max added, making Julie's eyes go wide.

      "Clear a path to the gate." Mike said.

      "Uh, no!" she said, arms crossed.

      "Yeah, and then we all die." Steve said, looking at Julie, who was not on board with the idea.