1983 || Stranger Things

ᴛʜɪʀᴛʏ-ᴏɴᴇ | ᴀ ᴠᴇʀʏ ᴊᴏʟʟʏ ᴄʜʀɪsᴛᴍᴀs

𝑀𝑜𝑛𝑑𝑎𝑦 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔, 𝐷𝑒𝑐𝑒𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 24, 1984

      It was Christmas Eve. For some reason, Julie really did not like Christmas. She never really got many presents, and her dad never did anything special for it. This being her first Christmas with a boyfriend didn't change that.

      Steve enjoyed Christmas. He had money with a stable household, so he got presents every year. This was his first Christmas with Julie, and he wanted it to be special.

      Julie was a free agent on Christmas Eve. On Christmas day, Susan was forcing everyone to have dinner, and Max was a fan of the holiday. Even if Julie hated it, she wasn't going to ruin it for her sister. Julie was also planning on hanging out with Nancy in the afternoon. She was going over to Hopper and El's, or Jane's cabin for breakfast the day after Christmas, and Joyce's house for dinner that same day.

      For Christmas Eve, however, she was spending the day with Steve. He had promised to teach her how to drive, and he figured this was the best day to do it. They were going to rent a movie after their excursion, and were going to hang out at Steve's house to watch said movie.

      Steve was picking Julie up at twelve, so the girl was sitting on the steps in the cold Hawkins winter, wrapping her coat tighter around her frame. There was some snow on the ground from previous days, but it wasn't snowing today. Either way, Julie had her hair in two braids with a beanie on her head. In one of her jacket pockets was her walkman and headphones with some mixtapes, and in the other was a wrapped present for Steve.

      At that moment, Steve pulled up on the side of the road, honking the horn. Julie stood up practically skipped down the steps to the car. When she got there, Steve was walking behind the car to the side Julie normally sat in.

      "What's up?" Julie asked when she got to him, eyeing his position by his car.

      Steve kissed Julie quickly, pulling back with a smile on his face. "Hi."

      "Hi. Aren't you driving?" the girl asked, confusion evident on her cold face.

      Steve smirked. "Nope. You are." Julie was flabbergasted, and Steve was amused at her reaction.

      "What?" Julie asked. "I thought you were teaching me,"

      "This is teaching you. Pull into the road and drive," Steve instructed, reaching his arms out to grab Julie, gently moved her over to the driver's side. "I believe in you." Steve said opening the driver's side door for his girlfriend.

      "That's great, but I don't want to kill us. We've established that I cannot drive." Julie said with her hands on her boyfriend's arms, preventing him from pushing her into the car.

      Steve rolled his eyes. "I'm gonna help you. Get in the car, please."

      Julie sighed, giving up and sitting in the driver's seat. She put her seatbelt on and waited for Steve to join her. Once they were set, Julie turned the ignition on and put the car in 'drive'. "Look at that. You got the first step down." Steve commented, earning an annoyed scoff from his girlfriend.

     "I don't like this," Julie muttered, driving down the road. "It feels weird."

      "It looks hot." Steve said, a large smile on his face, knowing he was getting under Julie's skin. He took pleasure in it.