my girl || steve harrington

the bathtub

part two

dustin paced back and forth inside the rusty bus, elevating the tension. they had been waiting for the chief to pick them up after a distressed call from nancy on the walkie talkie approximately 30 minutes ago. now, the paranoia was setting in.

"will you stop pacing?" mike snapped.

"it's been way too long. do you know what? maybe you're right. maybe this is all a trap, and the bad men are coming to get us right now!" the younger henderson rambled. resting her head against the cool metal, lydia groaned.

"i get that your paranoid and nervous but you can't do this, you're psyching yourself out. we gotta trust the chief and nance." she said in an attempt to calm the kid down.

"yeah, why would the chief set us up? nancy, maybe, but the chief?" lucas questioned. mike threw his hands up at the mention of his sister's name, but the older teen grabbed his forearm and shook her head. the last thing that they needed in this bus was preteen animosity. while the boys were freaking out, the brunette moved to the seat next to the strange little girl she had just met. she took this moment to fully take in her entire look. an old dress that looked strangely familiar, mike's jacket, probably mike's socks, and mike's shoes. lydia took a wild guess that she had been staying with mike.

"so, uh, have you, uh, have you seen the, demogorgan too?" el nodded. she glanced at the boys with a worrisome expression. "don't worry about the boys. they're total dweebs." lydia was met with a blank expression.

"pretty." was all el said in response. el brought her hand up to the older girl's face and touched her cheek, then her hair. confused with what just happened, lydia laughed.

"thank you. you're pretty too." el's hand dropped and she pointed at herself. "i'm, pretty?" she questioned. the brunette nodded.

"yeah, totally." the little girl nodded. "totally." she whispered. she grabbed lydia's hand and held it in hers. it was a kind gesture that the teen appreciated, but the sound of vehicles outside interrupted their moment and immediately got everyone's attention.

"everyone get down!" the teen whisper shouted. they crowded in the back of the bus and she sat in front of el, holding her hand tightly. the rusty door creaked open, and she held her breath, hoping that they weren't seen. then, the bus slightly shook as they heard grunts from just outside. they all stood up and watched as a familiar face appeared.

"all right, let's go." hopper said. no one moved. "let's go!" he said again, causing the group to grab their things and run out.

~

lydia sat on the byers couch next to nancy, both their hands intertwined. after all, they'd been through so much already. it was only fitting that they would be together for this too. the teens and adults watched as mike explained the concept of "the upside down", which sounded like absolute nonsense. however, this was their only hope at finding their friends.

apparently this all traced back to hawkins lab, a place that was quite sketch to begin with. not only did the kids know about the "gate", but hopper was also aware of the existence of the it. at this point, lydia felt very out of the loop and very confused. she was still high, and to be quite frank, the entire situation made her sick to her stomach.

"can you find her too?" nancy was desperate. she wanted her friend back so bad, she felt as if she did this to her. it was her fault that they were at that party. she's the one that made her shotgun that beer. barb was left all alone because she was too busy getting it on with steve harrington. it was her fault.