Crossfire - Book 1 - S.H.

Epilogue: Christmas gifts

Jonathan was having the time of his life with his brand new camera - courtesy of Ms. Nancy Wheeler herself who had decided to give her friend the newest model of camera as "simple Christmas gift" - taking pictures of everything and anything, including a not so flattering candid of his sister while she applied some light make up on her face earlier, many shots of their mom running around the kitchen to make sure everything was done in time and thousands of pictures of Will Byers himself as he went through all the presents underneath their tree with his name on it to try and guess what was inside.

"What you got there?" Jonathan asked over the click of his camera going off once again as he captured the soft smile on Will's face at the idea of what could possibly be inside the huge green box. "That one of yours?"

"Yeah." Will nodded, all excited.

"Looks pretty big, buddy." Shelley hummed, from her place on the sofa nearby as Will just turned to her and shook the present a little.

"I think it's an Atari." He said. "Sounds like an Atari."

"Does it now?" Shelley chuckled.

"Be careful." Joyce called all the way fro. The kitchen where she was already setting the table for dinner later on. "You'll break it."

"Yeah, you'll break it." Shelley repeated their mother's words as Will stuck out his tongue to her but placed the present down and walked over to his sister, instead, climbing on the sofa as close to her as he could get while telling her all about his theory of getting an Atari because of the one Dustin had showed him earlier.

"His mom got his one, you know?" Will asked, as Shelley hummed at him again, letting her know she was listening. "And it's so cool! I really hope I get one too."

"Well, I guess that will depend on whether Santa thinks you were a good boy this year or no." Shelley mocked, already smirking at the way Will groaned at her words.

"Shelley..." He mumbled, shoving his face on her shoulders as she just laughed. "You know I don't believe in that anymore."

"Oh, you're a big boy now, I forgot..." She rolled her eyes as Will stifled a laugh at her. "Sorry, Mr. Byers. I guess that was my mistake."

Will chuckled again, one of his hands coming up to press gently against Shelley's face to push her away from him as the girl just laughed, not even bothering pushing him away, knowing full well he would never intentionally hurt her. From the kitchen, Jonathan watched the two of them with a smile on his face, taking yet another picture of his two favorite people in the world before all of them stopped what they were doing when the doorbell rang.

"Hey, mom? Are you expecting anyone?" Shelley called out to the kitchen, a little surprised. Who would even be knocking on their door on Christmas night?

"No." Joyce responded. "Can you get the door for me, honey?"

"Yeah, sure, just a second." Shelley said, jokingly pushing Will away from her as he flopped down on the couch with a huff and a quiet hey while the girl just giggled and pulled her cardigan tighter against her body as she went to answer the door.

Now, she would be lying if she said she had been expecting to see him of all people, standing at her door, but, at the same time, it wasn't all that surprising at all. After all, ever since the day Will came back home a few weeks ago, Shelley and Steve hadn't talked at all and, apparently, Steve didn't like that one bit.

"Steve..." Shelley mumbled, a little unsure on how to attack, seeing her ex-boyfriend standing just outside her door, covered in layers upon layers of clothes and heavy coats while holding about four boxes in his hands. "H-Hi."