Love Is A Battlefield (A Stranger Things/Steve Harrington Fanfiction)

Chapter Twenty-One: Don't Call Me Blondie

I didn't get much sleep that night, the vision of the red storm still dancing in my head. Nothing like that had ever happened before, only ever the nightmares, which worried me. What if this wasn't just some psychological reaction to trauma, what if this was a real threat? What if something else was coming?

My main reason for thinking this was the fact that the storm didn't feel like a storm. It felt like it was alive, like it had this thirst and this desire to kill. Not me necessarily, but just kill in general. Kill us, kill people. It was a strange feeling, and I still don't know why I know what a storm from my imagination felt like.

I shut my alarm clock off when it rang, already awake and quickly got dressed before going into the kitchen to figure out breakfast. Dad was already in there, sitting at the table with the phone in his hand.

"Yeah. Uh-huh. Yeah, we'll be there. No problem, Joyce. Bye." I furrowed my eyebrows at the mention of Joyce Byers' name. 

"What did Joyce want?" I asked, putting a Poptart in the toaster. He sighed, rubbing a hand over his mouth.

"Will had another episode last night," He explained, "Apparently he saw the same thing that you did." My eyes widened.

"What?" He stood up.

"Riley..."

"Dad if he saw the same thing, what if it wasn't just a flashback? What if there's actually a threat, what if something is coming, what-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, kid, calm down." He said, standing up and walking over to me. "We're all gonna go to the lab this afternoon and have Dr. Owens take a look at both of you. He'll be able to tell us what's up." I pushed my hair back out of my face with both hands. "You sure you're good to go to school today?"

"Yeah...I have a test this morning, I have to." I said.

"Riley." He said pointedly.

"Dad, I'm fine." I told him. The Poptart popped out of the toaster and I jumped, putting a hand over my chest and leaning against the counter.

"You sure about that?" I nodded.

"I promise. The toaster just caught me off guard, that is not a good example."

"Ok...just tell me if you're not ok, alright?"

"Yeah...yeah, I will." He nodded.

"Do you want me to pick you up, or do you want to just meet us at the Lab?"

"I can meet you there." I said. I put the pop-tart on a napkin and put two Eggos in. "Eleven! Eggos are in the toaster! I'll see you later."

"Bye." I took my pop-tart and grabbed my messenger bag, heading out to my truck and starting it up to drive to school, attempting to put the weird vision out of my mind.

~~~

I pulled up beside Steve's car to see him and Nancy still inside. I got out and watched as Steve threw his head back in frustration. I knocked on the window, prompting them both to look at me. Steve rolled his down.

"What's the matter, HAIRington? Did you just realize that you look like a cabbage patch kid?"I asked, leaning on the window.

"Ha-ha." He said dryly. "No, I just asked Nancy if she could help me with my college essay tonight, and she reminded me that we're having dinner with Barb's parents tonight."

"No!" I exclaimed.

"We already canceled last week." Nancy pointed out.

"Yeah, I know, because why would I want to sit there around their dinner table and listen to them trash talk my Dad for two hours?" I asked.