After the Snow Ball

Chapter 9

"Steve?" They both said incredulously.

Steve emerged from the tent and stood up before them.
"Dustin asked me if I wanted to come." He said simply, shrugging.

"Oh, cool." Nancy said, nodding slowly. Subconsciously she had moved away from Jonathan, their hands no longer touching.

"I'm going to go set up." Nancy said, moving to another free area of the campsite.

—

Soon everyone had arrived, Eleven having been dropped off right at the campsite by Hopper. Everyone was in the process of setting up tents.

Nancy sat in her tent, thinking. Why had she moved away from Jonathan when she saw Steve? She hadn't even realised she was doing it. Nancy groaned slightly, resting her head on her hands.

Jonathan had noticed. He had cornered her whilst she was setting up, asking her all sorts of questions that just kept showing how much he was trying to hide his hurt. Jonathan had then walked away, leaving the conversation at a stale ending.

Nancy slapped her hands on her head, groaning. She had messed everything up.

Jonathan meant a lot to her. She knew this like she knew the back of her hand. So why had she wanted to hide their relationship from Steve? All these questions plagued her mind.

She lay down on her sleeping bag, then curled up into a small, destructive ball of emotions.

---

"Mike! Bring out the marshmallows!" Dustin shouted.

"Yeah! We're starving out here!" Max added, shouting louder than Dustin.

Eleven shot her a secretive glare. How dare she shout at Mike!

Mike came out of his tent, his hands filled with pink bags of Marshmallows and biscuits.

"S'mores anyone?" He said, smirking. Lucas and Will lunged for the bags, ripping them out of Mike's hands like rabid dogs.

"O-kay, I'll take that as a yes..." Mike said, sitting down next to Eleven, who whispered to him quietly.

"S'mores?"

Mike smiled at her, taking two biscuits and a marshmallow. "So you put the marshmallow between the biscuits....then you put it on a stick..." He walked through the making of the s'more, taking care to go slowly, so she would understand.

Eleven smiled in glee as it melted over the fire, hardly noticing Mike staring at her, smiling a smile equally as wide.

The evening fell short when everyone realised how tired they actually were. Jonathan hadn't come out of his tent, and neither had Nancy.  The kids all vowed that the next night would be more exciting.

Soon they had all retired to their tents, saying quick goodnights to each other, Mike giving in and giving Eleven a quick hug.

Nancy, on the other hand, lay stewing in her tent. She had reached a conclusion.

She couldn't sleep knowing that Jonathan was in pain because of something she had done.

She stood up (well, she crouched) and crawled out of the tent, colliding straight with Jonathan, who was outside her tent, about to crawl in.

"Deja vu." He whispered. Nancy nodded, sitting more upright.

There was an awkward silence between them.

"I'm sorry I-"

"I'm sorry I asked you all those questions, that wasn't great. It's just...I can't help but feel that you -"

Nancy cut him off short, shaking her head.

"I don't know why I did it...I don't even know I did it. I'm not embarrassed to call you my boyfriend, I'm not embarrassed to show that I love you."

Jonathan fell silent. Then shook his head, jogging his memory.

"Repeat that last bit?" He said, straining his eyes, trying to determine if he had heard correctly.

"I'm not embarrassed to show that I love you. I love you." Nancy said, slowing as she enunciated the last words.

Jonathan laughed, smiling widely.

"I love you too, Nancy Wheeler."