SINISTER ~ STRANGER THINGS (2)

SAVE THE WORLD

"It's the number. We've had it this whole time," he grins, giving Bianca a high five.

"Let's find a phone booth," Bianca bounces over to the car, obviously much more optimistic than she was five minutes ago.

When the rest of the boys don't immediately make a move, she snaps her fingers, her bracelets jangling at the movement. "Hello, we don't have all day! ¡Ándale, hurry up!"

They quickly move, scrambling to the van as Jonathan catches the keys she threw at him.

"Is it bad that her yelling at us makes me nostalgic?" Will chuckles.

"I was just about to say the same thing," Mike laughs, barely slamming the door as Argyle pulls off.

______

"Oh, wow, my daughter is home for once? This is shocking," Leo chuckles as Sam walks in the house, Steve trailing behind her. "Hi Steven."

"Hi Mr. Flores," he waves, while Sam gives the man a hug.

"Hi Dad," she squeezes him tightly, and he gives Steve a confused look at the sudden affection.

"¿Estás bien?" he frowns.

"Of course," she attempts to smile, giving what was much more similar to a grimace instead. "Is Mom home?"

"I hear my beautiful daughter's voice..." they hear her before they see her, walking in the kitchen with a vase of flowers so big they were blocking her face.

"Ay, ma, careful, you could hurt yourself," she's quick to grab the flowers, putting them on the table.

She waves her off, giving her and Steve a hug. "You coming to pick up some clothes? Or to fill me in on how you and Nancy Wheeler became friends?"

"We're not," she deadpans. "It's just... with everything going on, we all figured we should camp out together. Strength in numbers, you know?"

"Smart," Leo grins, pushing his glasses up on his head.

"Thank you, but I just came to grab some clothes and Steve needs a hammer. Can he borrow yours, Dad?" she asks.

He eyes the boy with an amused grin. "He's doing handy work?"

"Yeah, I, um..." he scratches the back of his neck.

"His trophy shelf broke. As you can see, it's still hard for him to talk about," she saves him.

"Oh, well, it's in the basement. Good luck," he gives a thumbs up.

"Thanks, I'll go grab it. You wait here," she runs downstairs, searching past the piles of art supplies that she was regretting not cleaning up.

As soon as the basement door closes, Gianna and Leo turn to Steve. "Is she okay?"

"Um, of course, why... Why wouldn't she be?" he grimaces, feeling guilty for lying.

"She looks tired. And she's been jumpy," she reasons.

"And she hugged me," Leo scrunches his eyebrows.

"She's just feeling down about Chrissy, you know? She couldn't even go to the funeral," he lies. "But I'm sure with time she'll be okay."

"Thank you, Steven. You're treating her well."

"Just looking out for her," he smiles to himself, as Sam runs back upstairs, triumphantly holding up the hammer.

"Ready to go?"

"Yep," he nods, waving goodbye to her parents as she forces them into yet another group hug so tight they could barely breathe.

"Bye, love you!" she runs out before they can question her, yanking Steve out the door behind her.