tulip [S. Harrington]

{ 10.} Standby

C h a p t e r  10
STANDBY

MIKE STARED SADLY into the living room as he tried to keep himself together. It didn't take long for him to get tired of sitting as he slowly stood to approach the living room.

"Did you guys know that Bob was the original founder of Hawkins AV?" He asked from the other room, deciding to break such a tense silence.

Lucas couldn't hold back his surprise, "Really?"

Mike turned around, his face a little brighter than before, "He petitioned the school to start it and everything," he said. "Then he had a fund-raiser for equipment."

No one said anything and Steve looked back to Tulip to notice she had yet to move from her spot against the counter. She continued to hold her head in her hands, unbeknownst to him that she was wishing he hadn't stopped holding her wrist.

"Mr. Clarke learned everything from him," Mike said as he approached the kitchen table again. "Pretty awesome, right?"

"Yeah," Dustin nodded softly, Lucas joining him. "Yeah," the two smiled to themselves.

Mike sat his cube down on the table sternly, "We can't let him die in vain," he told everyone sternly.

"Well, what do you wanna do, Mike? Alright, the Chief's right on this. We can't stop those demo-dogs on our own," Dustin reminded him harshly.

"Demo-dogs?" Max almost laughed as she sent an odd look to Dustin.

Tulip moved to pull her head from her hands, straightening her back as she turned to face the group again, Steve noticing this before anyone. He gave her another soft nudge as he had done when they were approaching Johnathan's house and she gave him a soft smile before giving him a nudge in return, earning a crooked grin from Steve.

He liked having Tulip smile rather than curling in on herself.

Dustin paused before explaining, "Demogorgon, dogs," he held up both hands before locking them together. "Demo-dogs... it's like a compound. It's like a play on words y'know, like—"