𝐓𝐀𝐊𝐄 𝐎𝐍 𝐌𝐄 || 𝘔𝘈𝘟 𝘔𝘈𝘠𝘍𝘐𝘌𝘓𝘋

13. dots and dashes

DOTS AND DASHES

November 4th, 1984
⏰ 9:45 pm, 📍Hawkins, Indiana

༺♥༻ The plan is to interrogate Will in the shed.

Stephanie is obviously worried about this because the idea came together within a matter of minutes, and didn't seem to have been thought through very well.

Hopper and Steve began taking out everything in a shed in the Byers backyard, while Stephanie and Max found tarps to cover the walls with so Will wouldn't know where he is.

Once they had enough tarps, Steve staples and Nancy tapes them to the wall.

Back inside the house, Mike is searching for something under the kitchen sink while Max and Stephanie tape cardboard boxes together.

"I get why El was your mage now," Max says, breaking the silence.

Mike turns around. "What?"

Stephanie gave Max wide eyes to try and tell her to stop talking.

She knew that Mike was really sensitive about El, even though it's almost been a year at this point.

"Steph told me all about her." Max smiles, looking at Stephanie.

Mike is visibly angry at this point. "Stephanie! Why would you do that?"

"Oh-I don't-I mean," Stephanie stutters through her response, taken aback by Mike's sudden irritably. "I figured since she was in the party-"

"Shes not in the party!" Mike stands up. "Just because she knows the truth doesn't mean she's automatically in it!" Then he walks away.

"Why would you want a stupid zoomer in your party anyway?" Max mumbles to herself.

Stephanie shrugs. "I would."

"Really?"

"Yeah of course," Stephanie continues taping the boxes. "We can have our own party. The-zoomer-rouge-duo."

"I would love that."

"I knew you would."

The girls sit in silence before their faces start to inch closer together. Closer and closer with each second.

When they're nose to nose, the door slams open.

Both girls jump back to be greeted by Steve. "Come on, it's been, like, fifteen minutes we're all waiting for you two."

Stephanie stands up and offers her hand out for Max, and she takes Stephanie's hand and stands up.

Stephanie sees Steve eyeing her from the corner of her eye, but she just ignores him. Why does he care who I like?

In the shed, everyone is taping cardboard, newspapers, tarps, and aluminum foil to the wall.

Stephanie helps Max tape big lights to a pillar. Their hands might've touched once, or twice, or maybe even three times. Who's counting? Stephanie was. She was counting.