FAMILIAR ↳ STEVE HARRINGTON

twelve.

"But like the dude literally took pictures of her naked from my back yard. So yeah I broke his camera, but I feel like that was warranted considering he was creeping on her."

"So he took pictures of her naked and she still hangs out with him. Dude he took her home tonight. That's kind of worrying." Christine said, watching as Steve paced back and forth.

"Exactly! But then when I did it she got mad at me. What am I supposed to do? Let her get creeped on? And yes I know I did something bad after I saw them together but... I tried to fix it. I've fixed it. She forgave me and I did the right thing." Steve said, thinking back to the movie theater and the alleyway. He could almost feel the pain from getting punched in the face, but he tried not to think about that as she spoke.

"What'd you do?" Christine asked curiously, her eyes continuing to follow him as he stopped and looked at her. He ran a hand over his face, shaking his head before speaking.

"Those awful friends I had, they got into my head and convinced me that Nancy was an awful person and so I came up with an idea and I wrote very publicly that Nancy was....that she was a slut. But it was— I didn't mean it and I never would. I don't know why I did it but I did and all I can do is own up to it and apologize for it." Steve said, feeling guilty again as he thought about it. He began to pace again, his hand running through his hair as he spoke.

"But then I tried to get her back and I found her...at Jonathan's house. And then-" Steve cut himself off, knowing he wasn't allowed to say what happened next. "—does Nancy really not love me?"

"I don't know Steve." Steve sat down on the edge of the bed, his back facing her as he put his head into his hands. "But you need to think about your worth here. If Nancy doesn't love you, you need to do yourself a favor and confront her about it. Don't let her keep shitting on you and then never getting anything back. It's about your worth Steve. If she can't reciprocate your love then she doesn't deserve you. Then you deserve better."

Steve heard her words, but the thought of having to confront Nancy sounded completely terrible. He couldn't let her break his heart sober, it was ridiculous, he wouldn't be able to handle it. But he also knew that Christine was right, if she didn't reciprocate his love then he didn't need to stay with her.

"I mean we've been together for awhile now, almost a year and I really, God I love her and she can't have been faking it the whole time right? She loves me right?"

Steve was met with silence, his mind reeling as he continued to pace. He thought of the possibility of Nancy having been lying to him all along, of her never loving him and just leading him on for as long as she had been. He felt like his heart was ripping in two as he contemplated it, his voice breaking as he let out his next words.

"Right? Hello? Christine? Righ-" Steve cut himself off when he looked over at her, his mouth closing when he spotted her. She was asleep on the bed, her eyes closed and light snores falling from her mouth. Her lips were slightly parted, her chest rising and falling gently as she peacefully slept. Her arm was above her head, her fingers slightly twitching as he shifted to look at her. Her other arm was resting on her stomach, her fingertips touching the sliver of skin that was showing from her shirt that was riding up. Steve let out a sigh, the smallest smile going to his lips as he stood from the bed. He grabbed a blanket from his chair and threw it over her, walking to the end of the bed and grabbing her foot. He pulled her shoes off and then pulled the blanket down to cover her feet.