Tension (Steve Harrington)

Chap. 19; A How Many Mile Treck

"I just bought them."

"Whys is he buying you clothes?"

"Because he owed me." Steve, turn up here on the dirt road." Steve pulled onto the road and parked on the shoulder where Dustin told him.

"Harrington, where did you put the gloves you bought last night."

"Trunk, we used them when we were cutting up the meat." They all got out of the car. Lauren pulled up her hood, covering her ears. Steve grabbed the unused gloves and threw them at Lauren. She wasn't expecting it, so it just bounced off her face.

"Thanks so much. I love getting things thrown at my face." She said sarcastically, glaring at him.

"I'm glad, I love to do it." Steve reaches into the truck, pulling out the buckets.

"Well well well look who it is," Dustin said into his headset. The other two were only able to hear the other side of the conversation. "Well, when you were having sister problems, Dart grew again, he escaped, and I'm pretty sure he's a baby Demogorgon." He paused for Lucas to say something. "I'll explain later. Meet me Steve and Lauren at the old junkyard. And bring your binoculars and wrist rocket."

"Alright, let's go." Steve started walking while the other two followed behind.

"Just be there, Stat, Over and out. We walk along the tracks pretty much the whole time." Steve handed one of the buckets to Dustin and Lauren after they got their gloves on.

"Earlier, you said you didn't know if it was the Demogorgon, but you told whoever you think it's one. What changed?"

"I guess I didn't want it to be true, but when he breaks through the foundation of my house, I have to kind of believe it." He said, throwing down his first thing of meat.

The three of them walked for what felt like hours throwing down meat every few feet. Dustin had trailed off in front of the two teens, Steve looked over at Lauren. "Are those mine?" He said, referring to the glasses she stole from his backpack pocket.

"Yes, they are. It's bright and I don't have any."

"Can I have them back?"

"Why?"

"They're mine."

"You just want them because I have them."

"Your point is?"

"Fine, just take them." She handed them to him, and he just slid them into his belt loop. "Why do you hate me so much? What did I do to you?"

"I don't hate you, Lauren," she looked over at him, shocked never having heard him call her by her first name. She never once got called Lauren by him. She always thought it was weird. She always saw her dad as Hop, she was just his daughter.

"You said, Lauren." She glanced up at him in between, throwing pieces on the ground.

"Because I wanted you to know I'm serious, I don't hate you. If anything, I think you hate me,"

"That's because I do." She smiled when she saw him with a straight face. "I'm kidding Harrington, I don't hate you. I just really, really don't like you."

"Well, I can return that feeling." He picked up his pace and walked up to Dustin. Lauren fell behind the two she was nearly two hundred feet, so she nearly had to throw her meat. With this time, she kept replaying what Nancy had said a few nights prior. Was she right? She thought, but then she thought that she was right. Nancy was invalidating her feelings. Just because Nancy hadn't seen how it affected her didn't mean it wasn't. She thought about the fact that they went trying to, but the Hollands had resented her because her dad wanted to do anything to find Barb.