A NEW AND IMPROVED VERSION
Ryan Fordman has lived next door to Steve Harrington her entire life. Her entire life, he'd always been a window away, occasionally shouting across the space between their houses. They were inseparable... at least, they we...
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Ryan wiped off the counters as Steve handed out ice cream to the customers, keeping things running as smoothly as possible while Robin worked with Dustin and Axel in their little break room. Working the ice cream counter while trying to translate a Russian communication at the same time— three years ago, Ryan would've laughed. Now, it was just a part of her normal.
"So you trust her?" Steve asked, leaning against the counter next to her. "For real?"
"Yeah, I do." Ryan nodded. "She's been a good friend to me. Just give her a chance."
"She hates me."
"She doesn't hate you." Steve gave her an unimpressed look. Ryan stopped cleaning the counter, leaning next to him. "She doesn't. That's just the way she is. Seriously, when I first met her, the first thing she told me was I could do better than Tommy."
Steve shrugged, "Well, she wasn't wrong about that."
Ryan lightly smacked him with her towel, shaking her head, "I was never interested in Tommy like that."
"No, but he was definitely interested in you like that."
"You still on that?"
"Yeah—" He looked up, meeting her eyes, taking in her crossed arms and small smirk. "No, no, I'm not. I love you."
"Uh huh."
"I do." He leaned in closer. "I love you so much."
Ryan laughed, lifting the towel to his lips before he had a chance to kiss her, "See if you still love me after you clean up the mess that is in the corner booth by the door." Steve groaned as she smiled innocently. "I love you so much."
Steve mimicked her words in a high pitched voice while she giggled, shoving him away from her. He turned around to walk around the ice cream counter, stopping when he looked up, "Oh, you've got to be kidding me."
"What?" She turned around, following his gaze to Tommy walking in through the entrance with a grin.
"I swear," Steve shook his head. "It's like he knew we were talking about him."
Ryan gave him a warning look, "Be nice."
"I am nice." He scoffed. "We're friends remember?"
Ryan raised an amused eyebrow, "Do you remember that?"
Steve opened his mouth to respond when Tommy leaned against the counter, flicking the bell with a grin, "Hey, Red, Harrington. How's it going?"
