IV ; steve harrington

4

Ivy

"Just up this hill." Steve pointed. We hadn't walked far since Steve had parked his car in a woodland area just 5 minutes ago. The view was already breathtaking. "Hey, no peeking."

"I have to look Steve, I can't walk up a mountain with my eyes closed." I rolled my eyes with a giggle, looking over the hills again as if Steve had not just asked me not to.

"Well, surprise. We're here but, I guess you've already seen it all on the way up." Steve raised his arms outwards to the landscape, spinning around in a circle.

"Steve, relax. It's gorgeous, and I'm sure it's even better when the sun sets." I sat down in the grass, leaning back with my arms planted behind me. He followed, sitting himself beside me.

:::

As I had claimed, it was even better when the sun began to set, and even after, when stars littered the sky like freckles on a youthful child, it was beautiful. However with the night came the cold, and the urge to rest. I was back in the passenger seat of Steve's car, en route to his home, which he'd told me moments ago was 'just 5 away'.

And my goodness was Harrington wealthy. His house looked like that out of those reality shows you'd see, knowing damn well it wasn't reality. Straight out of an 'Architects Today' magazine. Well, here the 3 story building stood, right before my eyes and it was very real. Huge glass windows on the upper stories gave me only a peak of the modern furniture on the inside as Steve's keys jingled in the door lock. The house was new, very new. It looked as if it had been built last week.

I'd seen houses like these back home in California, or less modern versions of. They were in the rich neighbourhoods, the richest neighbourhoods. This was a home that didn't belong in Hawkins, if it was anything like Steve told me.

"I'll get you a set of keys soon, so you can come and go as you please." Steve opened the door wide, allowing me to step into the warm hallway, before shutting the door behind himself.

"That's okay. I don't really wanna be wandering around a town I don't know." I smiled, denying his offer.

"Small town, it's not hard to get familiar with. Week from now you'll be jumping to get out of this place." He hung his keys up, pulling his jacket off.

"You don't like small towns?" I asked, following him upstairs.

"I don't like boring towns." He corrected. "And Hawkins is the crème de la crème of boring."

"California wasn't boring." I stated.

"Oh I can imagine." Steve opened the door to what I believed to be his bedroom. "Busy days, boring nights."

"The way it should be." I confirmed.

"Absolutely." Steve tossed one of his shirts at me. "But when it's boring days and boring nights, you kinda get a little tired of all the boring."

"Ever been to California?"

"No, no. It's a little dream of mine though. Is the sunset as good as they say it is?" Steve asked, referring to no on in particular.

"Better." I answered immediately, and with strong conviction. I was sure that no one could put the California sunset into words, not even the most seasoned poet. "I used to sit on the beach and watch the sunset everyday."

"You're a surfer?" Steve sat beside me, his change of clothes in hand.

"Skater, but I did a little surfing. Surfing was more my brothers thing." 

"You any good, skating I mean?" Steve wondered, his small smirk said he was close to teasing.

"I'd like to think I was, but it's been years. Last time I stepped onto a skateboard I was like, 9." I reminisced. "I could've gone pro. Everyone said it."

"Well," He stood, his voice straining as he reached under his desk, pulling out a warptail deck with the branding 'Santa Cruz' on it. I didn't recognise the brand, must've been recent. "Maybe you could teach me sometime."

I reached my arms out, like a small child wanting to be lifted. Steve understood, laying the board in my hands. "This is so cool." I stroked my fingers over the wheels, barely scratched, leading me to believe Steve had not used the skateboard much.

"Meh, you can have it. I've never been much into skating anyway." He shrugged.

"I couldn't, St-" I protested, but he interrupted.

"As I said, boring town. You'll need a hobby. No doubt you'll need to start going to school again, so you'll want something to pour your undying rage into."

"I guess." I laughed, looking down at the board again. "Is school here like, hell?"

"It won't be for a pretty girl like you. Pretty is popular, and popular is easy." He gestured for me to follow as he left the room, heading to the bathroom. 

"Are you popular?" I asked, tapping my foot on the floor as Steve went into the bathroom with his change of clothes, closing the door behind him.

"Yeah, but it's all in the hair. Girls are attracted to the mop, not the man." He joked. 

"Why not the man?" I traced the floorboards with my sock-covered toes.

"Because," The door clicked open, Steve came out. "I'm a douchebag."

"A douchebag?" I snorted. "I highly doubt that."

"Ask anyone. I'm a stone-cold asshole." He shrugged.

"And why's that?"

"I'd much rather show my good-looks, dad's money and blasé attitude than my mediocre grades, personality, hopes and dreams." He smiled. 

"You don't seem a stone-cold asshole to me." My tone was questioning.

"Yeah, I know. You're different to those girls at school. They just throw themselves at me from every direction, it gets boring. You might be the one that I actually have to chase this time." He pointed an accusing finger at me, shaking his head with a smirk. "You might be the one I actually like."

"Yeah right, you barely know me." I laughed. 

"I'll get to know you, we're living together, and we'll be going to school tog-" Steve was interrupted by the cord phone on his wall ringing. He breezed over picked picked it up.

"Yello." He smirked. I heard a muffled voice on the other end of the phone. 

"What about school?" Steve asked, brows furrowed. "Yeah, okay. Why?" A muffled answer. "Cool. I guess I'll see ya, Hop."

He put the phone down. "That was Hopper." He stated, just incase I hadn't heard him on the phone. "He said he'll get you enrolled in school, but you're not going tomorrow. Or should I say we're not going tomorrow. He needs you, for some reason."

"Did he say why?" 

"No, no." Steve walked back over to his bed. "He just said to meet him at his trailer tomorrow. I'll take you."

"So what are we gonna do until then?" I shrugged.

"You're gonna sleep, in a real bed for the first time in lord knows how long." He began fluffing pillows on what I believed to be his bed.

"No, I can take the sofa, I really don't min-"

"You'll take the bed." He gestured to the bed in question, which I edged towards like a scared kitten. "I'll let you get changed." 

Steve left the room and closed the door, leaving me to change into the shirt that i'd been cradling since he'd tossed it at me. I pulled it on, it was a Hawkins High Phys Ed shirt. It was long enough for me to pull the jeans I was wearing, kindly given by Joyce, off of my pale legs and still be covered. I was taller than Joyce, but Steve was taller than me. I sat down on the bed awkwardly, calling for Steve to enter the room again, which he eventually did, holding a blanket.

Throwing the blanket onto his loveseat and coming over to me, he started tucking me in, just how my brother did on the nights where my dad got so angry and violent that it gave me nightmares. It made me feel calm.

"Goodnight." Steve muttered, pressing a motherly kiss to my forehead and wondering back over to his chair.

"Goodnight."