But I love you so (Please, let me go)

And I'm sorry I left, but it was for the best. Though it never felt right.

Notes:

Hello, hello again! As promised, one more chapter to you guys. 

This chapter is long, definitely not as I planned at first, but the results are so much better now, I really love how this turned out, and I hope you all like it too.

The italics are memories.

Remember that I created a playlist for this, and I really recommend you follow this history with some music.
YouTube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLIOjsq_oLnnmwBMDtdGECwmafBxTWg4O3
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2Qez0WExOmMsT6FJSoR2jn?si=832f5c2dfc294fc0

English isn't my first language, please let me know of any mistakes.

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"Are you sure you're okay?" Steve asks, offering a cup of water to a crying 13-year-old Dustin, sitting down on his old couch beside him.

The kid appeared on his doorstep in the middle of the afternoon and, when Steve was about to shut the door in his face, he noticed the red eyes. He had to let him in.

"Yeah, man. I'm good." He replied sniffing, clearly lying.

"Want to tell me what got you like that?" If those kids Will told him about once were bullying them again, he would give them a piece of his mind, have a little chat with them. Just a talk. Maybe a threat... or two. No one needed it to know. "Is it school? Something at home? Maybe your mom?"

"My mom? Why would it be my mom?" He looks at him with a weird expression. "Why would you suggest that?"

"I don't know, man, I'm just working with what I have." He said, raising his hands in a sign of surrender. "I, I had problems with my mom, and that made me feel bad, you know..."

Dustin sighs and shakes his head. "It's not my mom, and it's stupid."

At his age, yeah, it was probably stupid. But he wasn't going to say that.

"Hey, no. Come on, tell me. It's not stupid, whatever it is."

Henderson looks at him in all seriousness, as if testing if Steve was telling the truth, and whatever he saw in his face must have been enough because it made him sigh in resignation.

"Okay, so... You know how Mike and Lucas are always fighting, right?"

"Right." The little shits could not agree on one single thing. Will was the peacemaker of the group, but he wasn't here now, leaving Dustin with the role, and to be completely honest... He wasn't very good at it.

"And it's normal. I get it. They're best friends, and best friends fight."

"Wait. I thought that you all... were his best friend...?"

"Ugh, well. It's just logic. You can't have more than one best friend. I came last, and it's okay. I'm cool with it." He stops and looks down, joining his hands.

That was... odd. But not the time for that topic, he would just bring it back later. "So... What's bothering you?" Steve asks, trying to meet his eyes.

"Well, those fights are more constant now, and I can't stop it, it seems that I only make things worse, sometimes. Lucas still wants to join the basketball team, and Mike is afraid this is going to change him, and change the party. And... Will is not here anymore and... Max's cool and all, but after Billy, she became distant, which is totally understandable by the way... But... That means I'm alone most of the time... I just... I'm just afraid."