my girl || steve harrington

the vanishing of will byers

part one

november

lydia henderson sat in the parking lot going over her chem notes for mr. kaminsky's test in a couple days. her walkman layed on the dashboard while the headphones covered her ears. she was so engrossed in her notes that she failed to notice the familiar figure walk up to her window. a few taps on the glass made her jump and yelp. she looked up and saw the shit-eating grin of lawrie matthews. she smirked and opened the door, giving her boyfriend a playful punch in the shoulder.

"ow, quite a swing you got there, henderson." he teased. leaning against the car, he grabbed lydia's waist, pulling her closer to him. she put her hands on his chest and pecked his lips.

"you're an ass for scaring me like that, matthews." lawrie cupped her face with one hand, keeping the other on her waist, and brought her in for a longer kiss. it was a sensation that lydia was used to, but never got tired of. when they pulled away, both teens wore a grin.

"did that make up for it?" lydia took a moment to think. "mmm, i think i need one more kiss." she stated before taking his face into her hands and kissing him again. they broke apart and stood there with their foreheads touching, just enjoying the feeling of being with one another. they eventually broke apart and the brunette got her stuff together before walking into school, lawrie's arm strewn across her shoulders.

in the time that lydia had gotten with her boyfriend, steve had become intrigued with nancy wheeler, one of her friends. she had gotten calls from steve and nancy in the same night gushing about one another. it was adorable. she accepted the calls whenever she got them, except for the one night that nancy called when lawrie was over. the phone had scared them so much that lawrie fell off the bed during their make-out session. lydia had answered the phone in a fit of giggles and told nancy that it was bad timing. she heard the full story at school the next day anyway.

"i gotta go to wycoff's class to ask about some extra work to bring my grade up." as her boyfriend's arm left her, the warmth that he englufed her with left too. "good luck, babe." they shared a peck before lawrie turned right and made his way through the halls. suddenly feeling alone, lydia looked for a familiar face in the crowd, immediately landing on nancy and barb. she walked over to the duo, joining their conversation.

"hey lydia, can you do me a favor and please tell nance that steve likes her." barb huffed. nancy scoffed in disbelief of her best friend. but it was true. steve didn't just like her, he was infatuated with her. he loved the smell of her hair, the perfume she wears, the way that she looks when she's studying, all of it. the only reason that she knew this was because steve would tell her on the daily all the things he loved about nancy. in return, she got to gush about lawrie. the pair would sit in the mcdonald's parking lot on the trunk of someone's car and talk for hours. it was a weekly occurence that started steve's sophomore year, when he was able to drive. thursday afternooon was reserved for the two. so even if they didn't have time to hang out during the week, at the very least they had their mcdonald's.

"trust me nance, he definitely likes you. i promise you that." the henderson girl assured. nancy tried to explain that it was just a couple make-out sessions and nothing more. lydia's eyebrow raised as she gestured to the note in the locker. "then what's that?" the older wheeler unfolded the note only to smirk and stuff it into one of her books. she hurriedly said goodbye to the girls and ran off toward the bathroom.

"they're so grody." the two stood next to each other as they watched their friend run to her make out session. barb giggled at her friend's remark. "totally."

~

lunch period rolled around and the group sat at their normal table. nancy sat to the right of steve, lydia on the left. he would refer to the two as 'his girl's' which was a little hard for the older henderson to hear at first due to steve's habit of calling his best friend 'my girl' for the longest time. however, she came to her senses and realized that she wasn't the only girl in his life anymore. so once she came to that conclusion, she made her peace with the situation.