I THINK I PULLED A MUSCLE
November 4th, 1984
⏰ 11:45 pm, 📍Hawkins, Indiana
༺♥༻ When Stephanie wakes up, she can almost see her head pounding and her heartbeat in her ears.
She's still laying on the floor in the Byers living room. She slowly sits up, touching the back of her head, feeling for a cut. She brings her hand back and sees blood on her hand.
During all this, the some of the kids are in the kitchen, slamming cabinets, and yelling at each other.
Stephanie looks over at Steve. She sees Max and Lucas knelt next to him, with boxes of bandaids and rubbing alcohol.
Stephanie still doesn't move. "What happened?" She scans the rest of the room. Then, she sees Billy laying down on the ground.
Max stands up and runs to Stephanie. "Oh, Steph! Are you alright?" Max goes to hug Stephanie, but when Max touches Stephanie's back, she winces in pain.
"Oh, my God." Max looks worried. "Here, I'll help you stand up." Max takes Stephanie's hands and pulls her up. She carefully removes Stephanie's jacket and looks at her back to see that blood had seeped through her shirt. "Oh, shit."
"Is it bad?" Stephanie asks, her head hurting more with each word.
Max shakes her head. "No. I've dealt with many cuts before."
Max puts her arm around Stephanie's shoulders and helps her to the bathroom.
After shuffling to the bathroom, Stephanie sits down on the edge of the bathtub and lifts up the back of her shirt to reveal cuts and bruises.
Max takes a washcloth with warm water and cleans the blood around Stephanie's cuts. Then, she takes rubbing alcohol and quickly disinfect each cut. Stephanie tries to hide the pain when Max touches the rubbing alcohol on her back, but jumps each time it was applied. Max takes a box of bandaids and puts one on each cut, big and small. Once Max is finished Stephanie puts her shirt down. "You're good at this," she says, smiling.
Max puts each item back. "Well, I do skateboard."
Stephanie shrugs her shoulders and laughs. "That's fair."
When Max and Stephanie leave the bathroom, the boys are already outside putting things in Billy's car.
Stephanie looks outside. "What are we doing?"
"We're going into the tunnels."
"But what about Steve?" Stephanie points to her brother, who's still passed out. "How will we get there?"
"Well, we were gonna leave him here..." Max starts, trailing off. "But now I see that's probably not a great idea."
Max walks towards Steve and grabs his arms. "Come on, help me!"
Stephanie grabs both of Steve's legs and the girls struggle their way out the door, down the steps, and into the car.
"Why is he so heavy?" Max grunts.
Stephanie pants and readjusts her grip. "It's like carrying a dead horse that's sitting on another dead horse."
Once they reach the car, Stephanie bangs on the window to make Dustin open the door.
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When Dustin opens the door, Max and Stephanie practically throw Steve in the backseat. Probably hitting one of the boys in the back.
Stephanie puts her hands on her knees and tries to catch her breath. "I think I pulled a muscle. Oh, my God."
Once Stephanie collects herself, she sees Max getting into the drivers seat. Stephanie opens the passenger side door and gets in. "You're driving?"
Max turns the car on. "I've driven before....in a parking lot."
Stephanie shrugs her shoulders. "Yeah. That counts." Once Max pulls out of the driveway, Stephanie puts her seatbelt on, Max giving her a side eye. "Okay, first of all, you should be wearing one too," Stephanie counts off her fingers. "Second, if we crash, which is likely, and you're not wearing a seatbelt, you will be the first one to die. I am taking absolutely no chances tonight, thank you."
"You talk a lot." Max gives Stephanie a look.
"It's in my blood. Ask Steve. Oh wait, you can't," Stephanie says with a laugh, making light out of the situation.
"Here." Max throws Stephanie a map. "Tell me where to go."
Stephanie unfolds the map. "Okay, your Highness."
Max laughs at Stephanie's joke and continues driving.
After a while of driving and giving directions, Steve wakes up. "Nancy?" he groans, sounding like he's drunk.
Stephanie turns around the best she can in her seat to face Steve. Dustin is holding an ice pack to his head where the worst of the bruises are. Steve goes to touch his face, feeling the pain for the first time.
Dustin takes Steve's hand and pulls it away from his face. "No, don't touch it."
Steve looks up at Dustin, obviously confused. "Hey, buddy..." Dustin whispers. He pats Steve's knee. "You put up a good fight. He kicked your ass, but you put up a good fight. He kicked Stephanie's ass, too."
Stephanie turns back around, glaring at Dustin and gives Max directions again. "Okay, you're gonna keep straight for half a mile, then make a left on Mount Sinai."
Steve's eyes wander to Max. "What's going on?" Then Steve sees Stephanie in the passengers seat. "Stephie?"
Steve hadn't called Stephanie 'Stephie' in years.
Billy must've totally messed him up.
Before Stephanie could respond, Steve finally grasps onto the situation. "Oh, my God!"
"Just relax. She's driven before," Dustin reassures.
"Yeah, in a parking lot," Mike argues.
"That counts," Lucas adds on.
Steve doesn't pay attention to the arguing. "Oh, my God."
"We were gonna leave you behind-"
"Oh, my God."
"I promised that you'd be cool, okay?"
