Halley's comet | Steve Harrington

xvii. excuse me, what

"Yeah." Jonathan sighed bitterly, "I guess he and my mother loved each other at some point, but," he paused, cocking the gun, "I don't think I was ever around for that part." Nancy, without hesitation, took the weapon, and held it at arm's length. "Just, uh, point and shoot," Jonathan said, momentarily losing his train of thought.

Though, Nancy didn't take his advice, at least, not at first. Instead she felt the weight of the object in her hand as she spoke, "I don't think my parents ever loved each other."

It shocked Halley to hear those words again. She remembered Nancy had told her the same fear back when they had their first sleepover. Mike had Will and Lucas over for his eighth birthday, and Karen had allowed Nancy to invite someone over too. It was said in passing, just a thought during a three am talk. Halley had no idea she had been stuck thinking about that for so long.

"They must've married for some reason," Jonathan said, watching as she shifted her legs into a better stance.

She shrugged, "My mom was young; my dad was older, but he had a cushy job, money, and came from a good family. So they bought a nice house at the end of the cul-de-sac and started their nuclear family," she scoffed at the thought of it. Halley watched her lips attempt to curl into a sneer. She hadn't seen Nancy like this before. Imperfect.

"Fuck that," Halley said.

"Yeah," She said quietly, "Fuck that." The gun released, and a can went down.

~

Trees engulfed the teens as the three of them ventured deeper into the forest. Halley was a few steps behind, focusing on the area around them. She wasn't about to let them be snuck up on, by anything.

She tuned out the conversation in front of her, rather listening to the snapping of twigs every few seconds and the incessant tweet of blue jays and robins.

As time went on, it was harder to not think about what they were getting themselves into. Halley really didn't want to face that thing that broke into her house, but she was also sure as hell not going to let it get away. That didn't stop the fear from creeping through her veins, though.

No matter what kind of electric pulse seemed to be rushing through her, she kept her mind on Will. He was out there, and alive. If he could survive that creature, then she would be able to fight it off. She would be able to get him back. Safely.

"That is such bullshit!" Nancy cried. Halley's attention snapped up to the two in front of her. She had planned on sticking back and letting them make up most of the conversation, Jonathan had been falling for her for as long as she could remember, but it looked like he just blew it.

He said something then, but it was quiet, and Halley couldn't make out what it was. By Nancy's stance, she could tell it wasn't an apology.

"I am not trying to be someone else. Just because I'm dating Steve and you don't like him..." her hands were on her hips, and Halley desperately wished she had paid more attention. Because, damn, this sounded interesting.

Jonathan stopped, his arms defensively crossing his chest. "You know what? Forget it. I just thought it was a good picture." a picture? They were arguing about a picture?

For a moment, they were silent; even started moving again, and Halley was just about to say something, when Nancy beat her to it.

"He's actually a good guy." Halley rolled her eyes. Steve was anything but. He acted on a front. Did what he wanted, when he wanted. Nancy was no doubt a pawn in one of his many popularity induced games. "Yesterday, with the camera... he's not like that at all. He was just being protective."

Jonathan scoffed, "Yeah, that's one way to put it."

This seemed to set Nancy off. She squared her jaw, and her nose just barely twitched. "Oh, and I guess what you did was okay?"

"No, I... I never said that." Jesus what did he do? It was too late to ask, and Halley defintily wasn't about to jump into whatever the fuck was going on, but her curiousity was an explosion within her.

"He had every right to be pissed," she continued, her hands where on her hips now, and for the first time she looked back at Halley, as if she too needed to be convinced. She stood there, unaware of how she was supposed to respond.

"Okay, alright. Does that mean I have to like him?" Jonathan said, pulling the attention away from Halley, where she mouthed 'what the hell' to her feet.

It took a second, but Nancy finally gave a weak 'no'.

"Look, don't take it personally. I don't like most people. Steve's in the vast majority." Jonathan pushed hair out of his face, once again, looking to Halley for back up. However, she was still fighting to not be utterly lost.

Looking away for a second, Halley thought Nancy was going to let it go. That maybe they would just keep going, pretend nothing happened, and kill the monster. She was wrong.

"You know, I was actually starting to think that you were okay." Jonathan's weight shifted as the words hit him. Nancy was looking straight at him, her gaze strangely intimidating.

"Yeah?" he asked, his voice just as challenging as hers. Halley wondered if they would ever make it out of the woods.

"Yeah." Nancy said, scoffing as she looked away, only to bring her eyes right back to him, "Yeah, I was thinking: 'Jonathan Byers, maybe he's not the pretentious creep everyone says he is'." ouch. Halley quickly looked down at her shoes, no way was going to let one of them even try to bring her into this.

A bird hopped across the trail a few feet away from them, and she wished she could follow it. The birds were probably not fighting about shit she had no clue about, and even if they were, maybe they'd give her a little background info.

"Well I was just starting to think you were okay." Jonathan shot back. Halley wanted it to be over.

"Oh." This was getting out of hand. If they weren't killed by the monster, Jonathan and Nancy might kill each other.

"I was thinking: 'Nancy Wheeler, she's not just another suburban girl who thinks she's rebelling by doing exactly what every other suburban girl does... until that phase passes, and they marry some boring, one-time jock who now works sales, and they live out a perfect, boring, little life at the end of a cul-de-sac. Exactly like their parents, who they thought were so depressing," he scoffed, "but, hey, at least now they get it."

Halley blinked. What the fuck?

This was in no way what she assumed was going to happen when the three of them decided to hunt this thing. Honestly it was probably one of the last things that she thought would happen.

Jonathan had started walking again, and while the air was obviously still hostile and uncomfortable, Nancy followed. Halley had no choice but to do the same.