𝐋𝐔𝐂𝐈𝐃, 𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐯𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐭𝐨𝐧 | 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐭𝐰𝐨

chapter nineteen; endgame

꒰꒰・┄┄・𓆩♡𓆪・┄┄・꒱꒱

"HE'S WAKING UP." Mike says from the backseat, and she looks in the rear-view mirror just in time to see her badly bruised and beaten boyfriend come to. He looks around, eyes dropping in and out, and then reaches for his face.

"No don't touch it," Dustin says in a soothing tone as he holds an ice pack to the older boy's head. "Hey, buddy. You put up a good fight, he kicked your ass, but you put up a good fight. You're okay."

Summer keeps her eyes on the road, despite the fact that she so desperately wanted to pull over and make sure he was okay herself, but they were under a deadline and they had to get to the tunnels before it was too late.

"Okay, you're going to keep straight for half a mile and then make a left on Mount Sinai," Lucas instructs.

"What's going on?" Steve's voice is low and raspy, his breathing hollow until he sees Summer in the driver's seat. "You're driving!" The panic in his tone set Summer off a little. No one but Steve really knew how bad of a driver Summer was so seeing her behind the wheel definitely startled him a little.

Max glares at him from the front seat, not wanting him to psych her out. "Yeah, and she's doing amazing!"

"Relax, she's doing great. You're doing great, Summer." Dustin adds, smiling at the girl in the mirror and then gives Steve a pointed look.

"And almost killed Steve... multiple times." Mike rolls his eyes, recalling all of her little accidents.

"But she didn't!" Lucas stresses his words, knowing that if for a second Summer was questioning her driving skills, the pressure may cause her to lose focus.

"It's fine, I'm totally fine," Steve says, but the high pitch at the end says otherwise.

Mike and Dustin begin to bicker about Steve and how he'd lose it when he woke up in the car to see Summer behind the wheel. It was better than seeing one of the teens driving, but Summer was probably just as bad. If not, worse.

There was a reason why she never had a car and why Jonathan and Steve would drive her to and from school. In the simplest of terms, she just couldn't drive for the life of her, and she had proven it many times.

"Everyone shut up! I'm trying to focus," Summer says loudly, trying not to lose her cool, but she desperately needed them all to be quiet. They do as asked, but the silence is only short-lived when Lucas starts shouting directions at her.

"Make a left! Make a left!" He points to the street they'd almost passed and she quickly turns, knocking over a mailbox in the process.

They were only a few seconds away from the pumpkin patch now, and all Summer had to do was stick the landing. As the car approached the huge hole in the ground that Hopper had left, Summer pushes down on the breaks just in time for the car to stop only a few feet away.