Legendary | s. harrington (18+)

chapter twenty eight

A FEW WEEKS LATER, Eve was at work. It was her third week on shift at her new job. A small cafe on the second floor of the brand-new Starcourt Mall. From the day it opened, it was swarming with the excitable members of Hawkins and Eve felt breathless knowing she was due to stock up the Palace Arcade after her shift tonight. Currently, she was sat on one of the communal canteen benches eating her packed lunch. She was tired and hadn't slept well. Billy Hargrove sat beside her, twirling his car keys around his fingers. The pair were silent; content. Billy had a new bruise on his cheek and Evelyn had bought some make up from one of the stores on the third floor and covered it for him in the backseat of his car. Billy had made a joke about people thinking they were making out and how Eve should feel lucky. Eve said she'd tell the next girl he picked up to thank him next time, so his ego wasn't so fragile. He'd pretended he was mad but bought her a smoothie as a thank you for hiding his scars. Billy was working at the pool again today and needed it covered. He would be leaving for there any minute.

Admittedly, as strange as it was, Billy Hargrove had glued himself to Eve. He didn't know who else he could turn too - no one else knew about how his father behaved. She hadn't found out with consent. He also liked how Eve didn't try and be something she was not around him - because she didn't care. It was refreshing and it calmed him when the world built up his irritation. They had started an unorthodox friendship, but a friendship all the same.

"Eve!" It was Steve Harrington. He didn't realise Eve was already working here until a week after she started - their contact had been quite sparse since Christmas. He rushed instinctively up to the white plastic table in his work uniform. Eve hadn't yet seen it and when she looked up to see him dressed in a navy and white sailors uniform with a matching hat, she choked on her Capri-sun and clapped her hands together.

"Steve!" She laughed, "You look brilliant!" This close to the table, Steve could make out the stranger sat beside her who was in fact, no stranger at all. Steve saw Billy Hargrove and his stomach turned. His bright smile fell and he seemed no longer interested. He stuttered in a low tone and started to turn away. She frowned. "Steve, wait!"

"I should get going." Billy spoke loudly and stood from the bench. "I'm going to be late." He was looking at Evelyn, not Steve. He made no indication that he even noticed him. "Do you need a lift after work? I'm taking that little shit to the Palace later, anyway." Eve shook her head with a kind smile.

"No that's okay, I brought my car." He nodded.

"See you later." Steve clearly hovered once he was gone. He took one step back and then one step forward before eventually deciding to take the space Billy had left open. Eve felt his hesitation and it upset her greatly. She felt awful for disappearing at Christmas - unwillingly might she add - but couldn't understand why Steve was so distant with her. She presumed he realised he could do better than Eve - or maybe he'd started talking to Nancy again. Regardless, it was out her control and it had broken her heart.

"Are they from Burger King?" Eve looked at the fries she'd treated herself too and pushed the pack to him and he took one. She could feel a tension between them and he pulled some air in his cheeks before he unexpectedly blurted : "are you two...?" Evie choked, snorting.

"Billy?" Steve nodded. "Me and Billy Hargrove?"

"Well you know, you guys have been...he literally doesn't hang out with anyone - it's not insane, I thought maybe you were afraid to tell me-" his words were tangling like his fingers in his hair while Eve sat shaking her head and sipping the last of her juice pocket until it crinkled in her hand. With a slurp, she placed it down in her plastic box. It was purple with stars on it, Steve would have teased her, had he not been distracted. She'd told him when they were at school once she'd had it since she was seven.

"I'm not with Billy Hargrove." She struggled to say it without laughing, Eve had told hold the last of the juice in her mouth by putting her fingers to her lips though Steve barely heard her.

"I don't understand why, why you'd pick him - date him, I mean-"

"Steve," she was giggling, "I'm gonna end up being sick in my mouth a bit, I can't say it again."

"It's weird honestly, you don't need to lie though, it's awful I can't keep-"

"I'm not dating Billy Hargrove!" Eve laughed and Steve dropped his hand from his face. His shoulders fell and he opened and closed his mouth like a fish, processing the words so much it made him loose his composure.

"Good."

"Good?" Evie squeaks and she feels her ears turning pink. They both clear their throats.

"I meant okay." Steve looks at the table and so does Evelyn and after another moment she pushes the cardboard holding the half portion of the french fries into Steve hands and it seems to reset him.

"Jesus, I cant lie, Evie. You had me worried there for a second." Steve smiles until another thought washes over him. He leans closer to Eve and she struggles to keep his eye contact, flustered by their close proximity. "Whatever - whatever it is he's got over you then, Evie, it's alright. We'll sort it out just tell me-"

"He's got nothing over me Steve, he's having a lot of issues, that's all. For some reason he feels comfortable telling me. He apologised for Christmas Eve, I should've said I suppose." If you'd spoke to me I would have. She shakes her head. "Dating Billy."

"Oh." Steve leans back, rocking with the thought. Though it's strange, he plops another chip in his mouth. He felt bad for forcing her to explain herself. Eve looks at the hat he'd disregarded on the table and she grins, finally calm enough to read it.

"Ahoy!" She chuckles "Ahoy, to you too, sir!" She places the hat on his head but he swats it away.

"Don't start, you don't have to wear it all day. It ruins everything." Eve was smiling, her face warm and pretty.

"Ruins what?" She chuckles eagerly and Steve feels a punch of guilt so hard he thought he might me sick. It ruined his chances of chatting up girls. Ruined his chances of getting a phone number; a date. Ruined his chances with girls that weren't her. He felt he'd betrayed her, as far as cheated on her. He felt hot and struggled to breathe. While he'd been avoiding Eve, paranoid she'd somehow ran away with Billy and never even shown a single hint to it, he'd tried to distract himself with girls. Anyone, everyone who came in to the ice cream parlour. He tried to find his old, carefree self. He was different after Eve, she had changed him. He couldn't find a girl that fit her missing space, he was always so off - so foreign to himself. He'd convinced himself Eve had been someone completely different to who he thought she was - someone who could hide such a huge secret from him effortlessly. Someone who didn't care about him. He'd been wrong. She'd been waiting everyday for weeks for him to tell her what she'd done to him- to explain the blunt smiles and awkward waves when she saw him at the Mall. He felt ill. He put the chips down.

"Eve-"

"Oh!" She jumps up and it startles him, almost pushing him off his seat. "I need to go! Sandra will be furious if I'm late." Steve stood with her and she was pink with worry. He smiled.

"Calm down Evie, what's she going to do? It's five steps." Eve shook her head hugging her lunchbox close to her chest, she looked behind her and then leant close to him. With giant eyes and an innocent shiver she whispered in to his ear. "She's terrifying!" She turned, called goodbye over her shoulder and ran back to the coffee shop. He could smell the fresh beans mixing with her perfume when she'd leant towards him. It was a new smell and he missed it already. When he sulked back towards the shop, regretting the past few weeks and dizzy with her distracting, lovely face, he didn't see the girl with crossed arms stood in front of him blocking his path.

"Dingus." Robin demanded, pulling him from his daze. "That's Evelyn Summers. She won't fall for it, unlike you, she's clever. Evie's too good for you. There's no point trying - how about I add it to the board?"

"How do you know Eve?"