Don't You Want Me? ✵ Steve Harrington

Chapter 55

"And then, Vickie laughed," Robin explained excitedly while restocking the shelves of Family Video. "And it wasn't like a cheap, fake laugh either. It was like... it was a real, genuine laugh."

"Of course she laughed. It's my Muppet joke. It's hilarious," Steve said, finishing the other side of the movie display.

"Or maybe it has nothing to do with you and everything to do with the fact that Vickie thinks Robin is cute," Kim smirked, redoing Steve's display as he started to walk away.

"My point is that Vickie laughed and everything was just like, perfect," Robin continued, hands flailing excitedly as she spoke.

"But?" Kim asked, sensing that Robin had more to say.

"But I'm having this problem where it's like, I should stop talking. I have said everything I need to say. But then I guess I get nervous, and the words just keep spilling out, and it's like my brain is moving faster than my mouth, o-or rather my mouth is moving faster than my brain. And it's like I'm digging this hole for myself, and I want to stop digging, I'm trying to stop, but I can't. And I'm doing it right now, aren't I?"

Steve pressed his lips together and nodded. "Yeah, you are."

Robin exhaled and slammed the back of her head against the way. "I'm hopeless."

"Vickie clearly likes you," Steve said, leaning against a shelf of VHS tapes. "Like I could just tell from the way you two were interacting at the game last night."

"But what if we're just friends?" Robin asked. "She could just be a very friendly person."

"Maybe," Kim shrugged. "But at the pep rally I noticed that she kept looking at you out of the corner of her eye while she was playing."

"Maybe I hit a wrong note?" Robin suggested.

Steve groaned. "Why are you going out of your way to deny that she likes you?"

"I'm not I–" Robin's eyes drifted over to one of the movies and used it as her chance to escape the conversation. "I think I found our morning movie! Doctor Zhivago."

Steve groaned again as Robin held out the movie. "Ugh, you know I don't do double VHS."

"But it's about doomed love," Kim added, pretending to swoon.

"Oh, well, if you just started with that," Steve said sarcastically.

"Come on," Robin whined. "Julie Christie is b-b-bonkers hot in this. Like, seriously, the most beautiful creature I have ever seen in my life."

Kim turned on the TV – mostly looking forward to the movie choice because she knew it would annoy Steve – but the news headline made her freeze.

"We're in the Forest Hills trailer park in east Roane County," the reporter said through the pixelated screen. "We don't have a lot of details now, but we can confirm that the body of a Hawkins High student was discovered early this morning."

"Holy shit," Steve muttered, coming to stand behind Robin and Kim.

"That's where Max lives," Kim breathed. The thought of one of her best friends being dead made her want to throw up. She felt frozen in place, eyes glued to the TV, hoping, praying that she would see Max walking around in the background.

"Police have not yet released the victim's name although we are told they're currently in the process of notifying the family," the report concluded.
Kim snapped out of her trance and took off running towards the door.

"Kimmy where are you going?" Steve called after her. "You can't just leave in the middle of a shift."

"I need to make sure Max is okay," Kim's face grew warm as tears threatened the spill down her cheeks. "Give me your keys, I'm taking your car."

"No, no, hang on," Steve said, following her outside the store. "How about you start by just calling Max, okay? If she doesn't pick up I'll go over there with you. It's gonna be okay, Kimmy, just take some deep breaths."

Kim took two deep breaths. In through the nose, out through the mouth.

"Good," Steve nodded, taking her hand and giving it a gentle squeeze. "Let's go back inside and call Max." He put his arm around her and led her back into the store.

Kim stared at the phone, almost afraid to touch it. She took another deep breath before dialing Max's number.

"Hello?" a voice said from the other end of the phone.

"Oh thank god," Kim breathed a sigh of relief. "Are you okay, Max? What happened? I saw on the news that someone in the trailer park died and I-"

"I'm fine, Kimmy, I promise," Max interrupted. "I was just about to go and check it out and see if I can figure out what happened."

"Okay, just be careful," Kim warned.

"Yes, Mom," Max said mockingly. "I'll let you know if it's anything interesting or if it's just some druggie that overdosed."

Kim rolled her eyes. Max was a little too much like a younger version of her sometimes. "Bye, Maxine."

"Hey!" Max yelled. "Don't call me M–"

She hung up on the younger girl, a small smile on her face.

"See," Steve said, letting Kim rest her head on his shoulder. "She's fine. Everything's fine. Nothing bad is going to happen."

Little did Steve know, everything was far from "fine" in Hawkins. As Max walked out of her trailer and closer to the cop cars that surrounded the Munson's, her stomach started to twist. No way would there be this many cop cars for an overdose. The front door was left ajar and Max craned her neck to get a better look. All she could see was an arm bent at an unnatural angle and gleaming blonde hair held back by a Hawkins High cheer scrunchy. Chrissy. It had to be Chrissy. Max had seen her go into that trailer with Eddie, but she had only seen Eddie leave in a frantic rush in the middle of the night.

"Hey!" a cop from behind her shouted. "You can't be out here. Get back inside."

Max nodded, her heart still pounding and the start of a headache coming on as she started to walk back home.