I still like you | Steve Harrington x Reader

chapter 3

once again super bad chapters but pls dont give up on me yet lmao 

Riiiing. Riiiing. You rolled over to the side of your bed to turn off the alarm clock. You tried to go back to sleep but instead found yourself lying wide awake on your bed. Why in the world would you put your alarm on?? It was summer! Summer vacation!

You rose to your feet to realize that you had been too tired to change yesterday. Not cause you were too drunk, just literally too tired. That's why you wanted to go home early. Coffee can wait, you need a shower.

You let the hot water wash away the smell of yesterday's party and applied shampoo onto your hair and scalp. Steve!! Right, your neighbor dropped you off yesterday. That was nice. You'd probably never talk again since he was done with school and the next step was college, but he was way easier to talk to than you expected. You didn't really know what you actually had expected, but the interaction was comfortable and enjoyable. Billy on the other hand had been a bit embarrassing and inappropriate. You could stand his flirting but not when he behaved jealous in front of others, as if he had a chance with you. You had been clear with your 'no's. 

You heard a voice shout from outside the bathroom somewhere in the house and quickly rinsed the conditioner out of your hair and wrapped your naked body with a towel.

"What?"

"Mia called before!" Your mother replied.

Oh! You changed into something comfortable and ran downstairs to grab a cup of coffee and call your friend back. "Why are you already up, Mia?" You groaned. 

"(Y/N)!! Oh my god, did you go home to Harrington's last night?"

"What?? No, he dropped me off outside my house."

Mia said, "Disappointing", but clearly let out a deep sigh of relief. "Sarah's mom picked us both up so I need to go get my car today. We just had some cereal for breakfast." 

"Oh, okay. So you didn't go home with Billy?"

"No.. I think he hooked up with some other girl."

"He's such a slut." You joked. 

Mia snickered. "It was probably Tina or something. She's a total slut if someone. Did you see her dress last night? She could've just worn nothing instead. She's so easy." 

The dress was not nearly as bad as she described it to be. It was a cute dark red one down to her knees with just a bit of cleavage. "Come on, it's Billy that you're mad a, not anyone else." 

"Yeah, he was actually like super rude to me if you think about it. I mean, why was he so all over you?"

"He wasn't-"

"Stop it. I don't get it. You show no interest in him and I'm always super nice but not easy like Tina. How can he want Tina and you but not me?" 

"I.."

"Anyways, I'm so over him. I wanna go get some hangover food today. Like a hamburger or something? Cause cereal was not it." 

"Girl, I just woke up, it's 9.15AM." Hamburger. Ew. 

"I am not going to sleep away my entire summer, and I don't want to look fat and lonely at Starcourt's Burger King so you two have no choice."

You laughed and took a sip of coffee. "Alright, pick me up when you have your car and let's drive to the mall. I need some time to get ready." 

And so she did. Picked you up an hour later to get food. The sun lit up the busy mall through the windows in the ceiling. People were rushing along, diving into the different stores and cafés. 

Building the mall had been pretty controversial. People were distressed with their stores and business almost going bankrupt in downtown Hawkins due to all the new shops at the mall. But it was just so convenient and fun to be there. 

You ordered chicken nuggets and a milkshake. Yum. Way too early for anything else. 

"What happened after I left?"

"Oh, we played 'Drink If' like I said." Mia took a bite out of her burger. "And I feel like Billy was totally flirting with me all night, especially during the first beer pong match. I literally don't know why he stopped. Like, was I too much? I wasn't clingy, was I?"

Sarah shook her head. "No, not at all. I feel like Tina was clingier."

"Exactly! Who likes a clingy girl? She's like... kissing his feet and begging him to pick her. Choose her. Love her. You know?"

Sarah chuckled awkwardly. "Okay, it wasn't like that but-"

"It doesn't matter, I never really liked him anyways. He was just some high school fling anyway. You know, Jason Carver in our class is kind of cute. The blonde one?"

"Otherwise I think Eddie Munson's gonna go another year. Again." Sarah said.

"Is he ever going to graduate?" Mia snickered. "Well, even if I'm done with Billy, I still want to go to the pool. It's so hot today!" 

You sighed. She was acting worse than usual. Hopefully she was just acting this way cause of her hurt ego. Or maybe Steve gave you some perspective on how your friend actually had changed for the worse.

"Or maybe not now after this hamburger but maybe later this afternoon?"

Sarah and you exchanged looks and you replied, "You do that, I'm gonna go home and sleep." 

"You are so not going home to sleep. Billy's not even working today." 

"But Mia-" Sarah started.

"He already called in sick yesterday afternoon cause he'd be too hungover to lifeguard." Mia quickly explained. "Unfortunately. Cause I'd love to show him what he missed yesterday." 

"Right!!" Sarah agreed.