Don't You Want Me? ✵ Steve Harrington

Chapter 53

Kim sat shotgun next to Steve, the window down and dark hair blowing in her face as she attempted to do her smudgy eyeliner without poking her eye out.

Ever since Hopper had died, Kim had been trying desperately to do well in school for her senior year in his memory. She knew that that's what he would have wanted for her. Straight A's, miraculously accepted at Purdue University, staying out of trouble.

She worried that once she left for college she and Steve would break up, the few hour distance too much for them. She tried to remind herself that if Nancy and Jonathan could make halfway across the country work, she and Steve could handle a few hours. But then again Nance seemed to change the subject pretty fast when Jonathan's name came up in conversation...

"Kim? Kim! Earth to Kimberly Ann Henderson!" Steve yelled, waving his hand in the face.

"No need to pull out the full name," Kim sent him a glare. "And keep both hands on the wheel, Stevie boy."

"Did you hear anything I said?" Steve asked exasperatedly.

"I'm sorry, it's seven in the morning, we have to go to that stupid pep rally today, and I woke up looking like a total corpse," Kim complained. "I'm a little preoccupied."

"You look fine, Kimmy," Steve rolled his eyes. "You always look beautiful."

"Yeah, blah, blah, blah," Kim put her eyeliner away and pulled out her blush. "You have to say that."

"I don't have to say anything!" Steve exclaimed, yelling a little more than the situation called for.

"Oh god," Robin groaned obnoxiously from the back seat. "Mom and dad are fighting. This is going to leave me with years of childhood trauma."

Kim and Steve both rolled their eyes but shut up.

"Yay!" Robin ginned. She leaned over the center console, head poking between the people she now considered her two best friends. "Can we talk about me now? Yes? Okay, good I wasn't going to wait for a response. What do I do about Vickie? We're gonna be standing next to each other at the pep rally and–"

"You should totally make a move," Steve encouraged.

"No! Nope!" Robin protested. "Not happening."

"You gotta stop pretending to be someone else when you're around her, okay? You just gotta be yourself."

"You're literally quoting me to me," Robin said. "You do realize that, right?"

"Well maybe you need to listen to yourself," Steve suggested. "Ever think about that, smarty pants? Come on Kim, back me up on this."

"Harrington, we will never agree on dating advice," she said. "It's not that same for Robin as it is for you."

"Well-" Steve started to say.

Robin nodded, agreeing with her half listening friend. "You ask out a girl and she says no. Big deal. Nothing happens. Maybe your ego's a little bruised. But I ask out the wrong girl, and bam, I'm a town pariah."

"I'd buy that, except Vickie is definitely not the wrong girl," Steve said.

"We just don't know that, do we?" Robin sighed.

"She returned Fast TImes paused at 53 minutes, 5 seconds," Steve explained. "Do you know who pauses Fast Times at 53 minutes, 5 seconds?"

"Well you certainly seem to," Kim muttered, applying a coat of lip gloss.

Steve didn't acknowledge her. "People who like boobies, Robin!"

"Ew!" Robin gagged. "Gross! Don't say boobies."

"Boobies," Steve said again, just to annoy her. "It's not a big deal, okay? I like boobies, you like boobies, Kim likes boobies."

"We get it, Steve, everyone in this car likes boobies," Kim tried not to laugh.

"Exactly! And Vickie likes boobies too," Steve said, resting his case. "Definitely. It's boobies, how can you not like them?"

"You are so weird," Kim said, falling to stifle her giggles.

"I think I'm just being supportive," Steve smiled, sitting up a little straighter.

Kim and Robin exchanged a look before both of them cracked up laughing.

"What?" Steve asked, pulling into the high school parking lot. "What's so funny? Why are you guys laughing at me? Was it something I said?"

A.N. AHHHH hi guys!!! If you haven't seen season 4 yet, I don't recommend reading past this chapter because there will be a lot of spoilers (obviously). I'm gonna be totally honest, season 4 wasn't my favorite. I thought for the first few episodes none of the characters were themselves and that they were all really disconnected and I always love their big group dynamic. I definitely liked it more halfway through episode 4. I have so many ideas for what I want to do with Kim and Steve this season and I'm super excited to share them with you guys! Not sure how frequently I'll be updating with finals coming up, but once it's the summer I should be a little more regular!