Stranger Things Than a Tribrid

Chapter 5: Late Night Talks

Hope's POV:

A few minutes later storms down the stairs, brushing past us. He seems upset. "Go, take care of her. I'm gonna go talk to him." He nods and I rush after my clearly upset friend. When we get outside, it gloriously quiet.

I don't have time think about that though because Steve looks like he's getting in his car, about to drive away. "Steve!" I call out. He looks up, and stops what he's doing. "Leave me alone Hope." He snaps, slamming his door and starting his car. I sigh and rush up to his window.

"Steve, stop." He goes to back out, but I roll my eyes and concentrate. The car's engine shuts off. He groans. "Come on Hope! Just let me go." I think about it. "Fine." I walk around to his passenger side and unlock the doors with my magic.

Once I'm inside the doors lock and the car starts up again. "Seriously?" I nod. "Something's wrong and if you wanna leave fine, but I'm coming with you and you're telling me what happened between you and Nancy tonight." There's a pause before he sighs. "Am I bullshit?"

Confusion runs through me. "I'm sorry?" "Bullshit. Am I bullshit?" He snaps. "What? No, why would you think that?" "Because Nancy does." Shit. I sigh, going to run a hand through my hair when I realize the product in it won't let me. "Drive. We're going to my house."

"You didn't answer my question." He grumbles, backing out anyway. The drive to my house is silent and soon we're pulling out in front. Both my dad and Elijah are here. "Come on, let's go inside so we can talk." I tell him, climbing out. He reluctantly follows.

When we walk inside my dad appears in front of us. Steve has never met my dad or my uncle. He's only been over once with Nancy and they were gone. "Hope, who is your friend?" He asks. "Dad, Steve Harrington. Steve, meet my dad." Steve extends his hand. "Nice to meet you sir."

My dad takes it, but doesn't say anything. "We're gonna talk upstairs. Come on Steve." As we walk past him, my dad stops him. "Steve if I find your intentions with my daughter are anything less than honorable, rest assured you will not make it out of this house alive." He warns darkly.

I roll my eyes as Steve pales. "Dad, leave him alone. Come on." I grab his hand and lead him up the stairs to my room. When we get there I close the door behind him and use a spell to lock it so my dad can't barge in on us.

Kicking off my shoes and sliding off my leather jacket, I walk over to my ingredient cabinet and grab some sage. "Incendia." I mutter. The end of the sage lights up and then goes out, but the sage is still burning. I close my eyes and focus.

Once the spell is complete I put the sage in a bowl next to my door. "There, now we won't have any nosy father or uncle vampire ears listening in. Now, tell me what happened with Nancy." With that he launches into everything that's happened since the dinner last night.

Once he's finished I sigh. "I..." I trial off, not knowing what to say to that. I mean, on one hand, I know that Nancy would never say these things sober. On the other hand, Steve kind deserves it for how he was shoving Barb under the rug without really checking to see how Nancy feels.

"You what?" He asks, his tone insistent. I sigh. "I don't know Steve. We both know Nancy would never say things like that normally, but..." I hesitate. "But what?" "But you've got to see this from her perspective." "What do you mean? I am." "No, you're not." He sits back on my headboard.

"How am I not?" "For starters, 'let's go be drunk teenagers just for one night'? You told her this right after a dinner with her dead best friend's parents who are about to sell their house to find her when you two know that she's dead. Do you not see the guilt that's she's probably feeling?"

He sighs. "I just thought one night without anything to worry about would help clear her mind." "Did you ever ask her if there was anything you could do to help her get her mind off of it?" He pauses. I sigh.

"Steve, when you're in a relationship with someone, communication is key. Ask Nancy how she's feeling. Ask her if she really wants to go to the party to help get her mind off of things. If she doesn't think that will help, then ask her what will. You weren't listening to her." I explain.

"She didn't say anything." "Yes she did, it just wasn't an audible thing." "What does that even mean." I sigh. "Nancy was off all day yesterday, especially after your talk in the library right?" He nods. "That was her begging you to help her." "How was I supposed to know that?"

"Because you love her, right?" I ask, wanting him to be truthful. He likes Nancy. He likes everything about Nancy. But does he love her? "Of course, but she obviously doesn't love me." I groan, standing up from the bed and pacing in front of him.

"It doesn't matter, if you love someone, then you become innately aware of everything about them. You know when they're upset, sad, angry, happy, miserable, any of that, and you know it without them saying a word." I stop in front of him. His sad and angry eyes soften at this.

"You were in love before coming to this time, weren't you." It's a statement. I look down, and sit next to him. I haven't truly dealt with losing Landon yet. I thought that I'd be ok if I couldn't go back if I got time with my dad.

Instead I realized that there's still that hole inside of me that can only be filled by Landon and my friends back home. I will always miss them. Maybe one day I'll make my way back to them, but this time with my dad has been everything to me. Steve's right. I was in love. Now, I'm contempt.

He doesn't remember me. He'll grow up, marry someone else, have a family, and as much as that hurt me in the beginning, it only makes me smile now. He'll be happy. "Yeah, I was." I mutter. "Did you ever have a situation like this with him?" He asks. I shake my head.

"Not exactly, but a few days before I came to this time, we had an argument. I kept something important from him because I didn't want to see him hurt. I thought it was for the best, but in the end, I wish I told him. He was just so happy, and I couldn't be the one to ruin that." He nods.

"I know what you mean. I just...she seemed so happy before the dinner. I thought that if I could take her mind off of it, then she would be happy again." He mumbles. I sigh and wrap an arm around his shoulders. He leans his head on my shoulder. I've never seen this side to Steve.

It's heartwarming. He just wants her to be happy. "Talk to her tomorrow, get her side of things. And..." I pause, not knowing how he'll take this next part. "And what?" I sigh. "And if what she said was what she truly feels, part friends, with no malice, and let her go." "But I love her."

"I know you do, but sometimes we have to let go of the things we love in order for them to be happy. I had to do that with Landon, and you might have to do that with Nancy. It's how life works sometimes." I explains. He sighs. "Ok, I'll talk to her." "Good." We sit in silence for a while.

"Do you mind if I stay here? My parents will kill me if I'm out this late without staying where I was." I chuckle. "Sure I'll grab you something to sleep in and you can take the guest room." I feel him nod as I remove his head from my shoulder and my arm from his as I stand.

I walk to my dad's room, he's still in the art studio probably, and grab a t-shirt and a pair of shorts. Once I have them I go back to my room and give them to Steve before showing him to one of the guest bedrooms. With a short goodnight I leave him be and head back to my room.

After a quick shower I change into some pjs and crawl into bed. As I lay down I can't help but replay the night's events in my head. Happy Halloween I guess.