Don't You Want Me? ✵ Steve Harrington

Chapter 7

That night, Kim heard a knock on her window and immediately tensed up, wondering if it was the faceless monster Nancy had seen. Realizing a monster probably wouldn't be polite enough to knock, she opened her blinds. Kim narrowed her eyes when she saw that it was Steve.

"You're at the wrong house, dumb ass," she said as he climbed into her room like he had done when they were in middle school.

"What do you mean?" he asked, totally clueless as always.

She rolled her eyes. "Nancy's house is on the other side of town."

"Why do you think I'd want to talk to Nancy?" he asked her. He took a seat on her bed, part of his old comfort around her returning.

"Oh, I don't know, maybe because she's your girlfriend," she scoffed, refusing to sit down next to Steve.

He sighed, hating how hostile she could be when she didn't like someone. He didn't like being on the receiving end of her rage. "I-I just came here to talk to you, Kimmy."

The stupid nick name made her heart race. "What do you want to talk to me about?"

"I hate fighting with you," Steve said, looking into her brown, angry eyes. "I miss you, Kim."

She laughed and ran a hand through her hair. "That's funny, because if I remember correctly, you were the one who stopped being friends with me."

"I'm sorry, okay?" he said, frustrated that she didn't immediately agree like every other girl would have. "Can you just stop hating me?"

The sadness in his voice made her soften a bit. "I've never hated you, Steve."

He studied her, trying to find the lie in the face he had once known so well. "So we can be normal again, you know, for Nance," he added the last part as a bit of an afterthought.

She seemed to consider his offer for a minute, but she had already made up her mind. "Fine. But it's not all going to be peachy right away. You really hurt me, Steve. You were my best friend and you just ditched me out of the blue without any explanation."

He bit his lip nervously, hating that he had made her feel like shit just so he could look popular in front of people like Tommy and Carol. "I'm really sorry, Kimmy. I just-" he tried to come up with something to justify it, but he couldn't think of anything good enough. "I'm really sorry."

"Okay, don't go all soft on me now, Harrington," Kim joked, finally sitting down next to him and nudging him with her shoulder.

He smiled, seeing a glimpse of the first girl he had ever had a crush on. "Wouldn't dream of it, Henderson." There was a pause while both of them tried to figure out the right thing to say. "How are you and Dustin doing?"

"Do you mean in general or with them finding Will's body?" she asked, looking down at her hands that rested in her lap.

"Whichever one you want to talk about," Steve said, his voice kinder than she had heard it in over a year.

"Dustin doesn't think he's really dead," Kim said, not wanting to lie to Steve. "It must be really hard for him."

"H-How are you doing with the whole Barb thing?" he asked hesitantly. "Any news from the cops?"

"No," she sighed, still feeling guilty about the whole situation. "They think she ran away after the party, but I think something seriously wrong happened. I'm just waiting for them to find her the same way they found Will," Kim said, again not lying but not telling him exactly what she meant.

"I feel terrible that she went missing after my party," he said. "It was so stupid. I can't believe that's what I was so concerned with after the Byers boy had just gone missing."

"Yeah, well, but I shouldn't have left her," Kim muttered. "I went to the bathroom for, like, a minute and she was gone."

"Kimmy," he said, taking her hand and making both of their hearts beat faster. "You can't blame yourself for that. There's no way you could have known."

She looked up from their intertwined hands and into his eyes. "You should take some of your own advice, Harrington," she said, trying to force a smile.

He smiled back, squeezing her much smaller hand.

"I'll stop blaming myself when they find her and she's safe," Kim said, thinking of how she had planned to go find the faceless monster with Nancy and Jonathan after the Will's funeral.

He let go of her hand, wondering if she could hear how fast his heart was pounding. "I should go. If you need anything, whether it's about the funeral tomorrow or breaking into a gas station, just call me."

She smiled at the memory of a few summers ago when they had been closest. "Thanks, Harrington." They both smirked at each other before Steve expertly climbed back out of her window.