After Hours. || Steve Harrington||

I'm Not a Stranger

It started at a party.

Halloween night of 1984 to be exact. My boyfriend, Ricky, dropped a bomb on me. I had only been dating him for two months, so we wern't serious. But that night was when I found out our whole relationship was a lie.

I wasn't the party type, nor was I the type to dress up on Halloween. I went to the bathroom for just a quick minute, and when I came out, I saw Ricky sucking face with Heather Holloway. I gasped and ran out to the side of the house and Ricky followed.

"Reid, stop!" he yelled.

I didn't. Ricky then grabbed my wrist to hold me back, I jolted. "Ah, what?!" I yelled back.

He stared at me blankly. "Will you let me explain?"

"Explain what? Why you were making out with Heather while you thought I wasn't in the room? I already know why, because you're a cheating prick!" I jabbed. If I'm being honest, I knew in the back of my mind that this would happen. Ricky and Heather used to have a thing too, but I stupidly hoped that he'd forget about her. I leaned my back against the house, crossing my arms over my chest as I wait for his next excuse.

"Look, she was really drunk, she came onto me."

I raised my eyebrows in shock. "Really? Because it sure looked like you had your arms around her, pulling her in."

"No-"

"Just be honest with me here, did you ever stop seeing her?" I asked.

It was a full five seconds before he said anything else. "...No."

"I fucking knew it." I say, beginning to walk away. He tries to grab me again, but this time I flinch quickly enough. "No, we're done. You can go back to Heather now, I don't want you."

Ricky scoffs, and heads back inside. I sigh as I walk to the porch and take a seat on the bench in front of the window. The only source of light coming from the glass behind me, looking into the party taking place on the other side. I began to dread going back to school on Monday, and I wondered what would happen the next time I saw him. Would he try to apologize? Or would he be holding hands with Heather to rub it in my face?

Why should I care anyway, I thought. It's not like we were anything serious. And he wasn't my first boyfriend, so I was no stranger to heartbreak. But what did I do to deserve this? I thought I was a pretty good girlfriend so far. Maybe Ricky was just stupid. Or maybe he found something in Heather that he didn't find in me.

With so many thoughts going through my head, I didn't even realize someone had been sitting in the chair adjacent from me. I was startled when the someone suddenly said, "Wow. That sounded pretty intense."

I looked up from my trance to see the one and only Steve Harrington, the second to last person I wanted to talk to. I rolled my eyes. "What's it to you?"

He seemed taken aback by my tone. "Nothing, I just couldn't help but listen to you both yelling." He responded. "Wanna talk about it?"

"Not with you."

"You got cheated on." He stated.

"...Yes." I said awkwardly.

Steve sighed. "And how long have you two been together?" He asked.

"I don't know, two months?"

"Did you and him ever...?"

"Oh god no!" I said immediately knowing what he was talking about. "Not that it's any of your business anyway." It got quiet suddenly. I felt weird speaking on the subject any further. I looked down and the empty beer can at my feet and crushed it with my foot. "Shouldn't you be in there with your girlfriend or something?"