Don't You Want Me? ✵ Steve Harrington

Chapter 54

"And tonight, we're gonna bring home the championship trophy!" he bellowed, sending the gym into tumultuous applause again.

"Tonight?" Mike asked Dustin.

"How is that possible?" Dustin question.

Max rolled her eyes, leaning past Kim to explain. "They call it a tournament. You win one game, you go on until there's only one team left."

"Yay, go sports and stuff," Kim said in a fake cheerful voice, waving around imaginary pom-poms.

A small smile cracked on Max's face, making Kim feel successful as the entertaining friend.

•••••

Kim walked into the game that night hand-in-hand with Steve.

"You wanna know what I find really funny?" Kim didn't wait for his response, she just kept talking. "They might win a championship right after you graduate."

Steve rolled his eyes as they found an open spot in the packed bleachers. "Wow, thank you so much for bringing that up, Kimmy. I forget that my girlfriend always has such kind and encouraging things to say to me."

"Yeah that's me!" she smiled and bumped his shoulder teasingly. "Kind and encouraging."

The band stopped playing as the principal approached the mic. "Everyone now please rise for our national anthem. Singing for up tonight, we have a very special guest. All the way from Nashville, our very own Tammy Thompson!"

Kim and Steve immediately turned to each other with wide eyes, quickly finding Robin in the band section as the three friends tried desperately not to burst out laughing.

Tammy enthusiastically waved to the crowd, dressed like an off brand Madonna with her curly blonde hair, white fingerless lace gloves, and pearl cross earrings. As she started to sing, Kim was forced to turn her giggles into a cough. Steve elbowed her in the side – also trying not to laugh – only making Kim's "coughing fit" worse.

Robin looked up at them from the band section, her gleaming trumpet held out in front of her.

"Told you," Steve mouthed across the gym. "Muppet.

"Okay, she does sound like a Muppet," Robin conceded.

"There's no way this is really happening," Kim muttered, still fighting back the giggles.

"What, you can fight monsters from another dimension, but this is where you draw the line at reality?" Steve raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, pretty much."

"Fair enough," Steve nodded, his Farrah Fawcett hair bouncing up and down.

As the song came to a close, the crowd cheered loudly, giving Steve and Kim cover to burst out laughing.

Their smiles quickly faded when they heard a familiar voice from behind them say, "Hey, Harrington. Long time no see."

"Oh, uh, hey, Tommy," Steve said awkwardly. He scutched closer to Kim so Tommy H would have more room on the bleachers.

"Hey, Kate," Tommy smirked. "Didn't even notice you for a second."

"It's Kim," she muttered, crossing her arms over her chest and looking down at her doc martens.

"Right, right," Tommy chuckled. "Totally forgot. Steve's been with so many girls it's easy to get them all mixed up, isn't that right, Stevie boy?"

Steve uncomfortably removed himself from Tommy's noogie. "Come on man, Kimmy and I have been together for over a year."

"Sorry," Tommy raised his hands in mock surrender. "Not my fault you ditched me and Carol our senior year so I never really got to know her."

Kim sat there awkwardly, watching the two boys that had been best friends for most of their life argue about her. Even though she couldn't stand any of Steve's old friends, she felt a little bad that Steve had lost touch with them because of her.

"Feels good to be back here though. I forgot how hot high school girls are," Tommy said, eyeing up one of the underclassmen cheerleaders.

Kimmy gagged. "Gross. But I guess you would be one of those creeps who come back here just to hit on under age girls."

"Screw you, Kimberly," Tommy rolled his eyes.

"You wish, ass hole."

Steve cleared his throat, trying to break up a fight that was clearly brewing. The rest of the game was filled with unbearable sports small talk from Tommy and Steve while Kim sat quietly wishing she was anywhere but here. She had come because she wanted to support Lucas and because she knew Steve really wanted to (after all, he had been captain the previous year).

Kim didn't really start paying attention to the game until Lucas got put in.

"Is that–?" Steve started to ask.

"Go Sinclair!" Kim cheered.

He smiled at the older girl as he ran out onto the court, glad that at least someone rather than his parents had shown up to support him. Kimmy and Steve had come to every single one of his games. Even though he was just a stupid bench warmer, they wanted Lucas to know they cared, that they were proud of him.

The clock continued to count down, minutes ticking by with the Tigers still behind. Jason went for the game winning basket, but the ball bounced off the rim. Lucas jumped up to rebound it. He dribbled it back, going for a three pointer but honestly he wasn't even sure how he had gotten the ball in the first place.

The crowd, including Kim, was unable to look away as the ball left Lucas' hand right as the buzzer rang out. The swish of a basket echoed around the silent gym before it burst into deafening cheers.

"Yeah!" Kim screamed. "That's my son! Let's go, Lucas!"

"What?" Tommy asked, giving her a weird look.

"Nothing, man," Steve chuckled, pulling Kim into a hug. "Don't worry about it."

Tommy rolled his eyes, thinking about how much his friend had changed. "Whatever, dude. You guys are, like, super weird."