SWEET DREAMS - STRANGER THINGS SEASON 1

twenty; public humiliation

Mary woke the next morning wrapped in the blankets in the guest rooms water bed and Steve was already entering the room with steaming cups of hot chocolate in his hands, "Morning, lazypants." He greeted as the girl pushed herself up, rubbing at her eyes with a groan.

           She held out her hands, wiggling her fingers, signalling she wanted the hot chocolate and Steve chuckled before handing it to her, "You should get ready, we're gonna go pick up the guys and hang out for a bit." He told her and she nodded, sipping on the hot drink, bringing warmth to her slightly cold body.

           Mary had struggled to sleep and was probably running on at least an hour, maybe two if she was lucky. And she had fell asleep with the window open — she didn't know why, but after being in the other side she had been cold the whole time and when she was hot she felt like it was an outer body experience; she couldn't really explain it though, not really.

          "What're we doing?" She asked, raising an eyebrow, wondering whatever new ideas of mischief the royalty of Hawkins had to get themselves in trouble.

            Steve shifted a little and Mary stared at him, "Steve? What are we doing?" She repeated, a little sterner as she worried that what Steve had been planning wasn't just some stupid prank — maybe a little more serious than that.

             Steve sighed, "It wasn't my idea, it's Tommy's — but you know what? The idiot actually got it right for once. As I said, Nancy isn't the person I thought she is so —"

             "So what, you're going to punish her in some grand scheme?" She spoke over him in disbelief, moving closer to him and settling the cup aside on the bedside table.

            Steve looked up at her, his jaw set, "I really liked her Mary," He admitted honestly and Mary saw the slight glisten of tears in his eyes, "I really fucking liked her and she broke my trust, she made me look like an idiot. And now she's going to understand what that feels like." He insisted and Mary stared at him, gnawing on the inside of her mouth.

           Steve stood up, also settling his hot chocolate aside, "I'm leaving. You can come if you want, but you don't have to." He said, not even looking her in the eyes and Mary stared after him as he left the room.

           She perked up a little, internally battling with herself before she sighed, knowing she'd come to regret it, "You've done a hell of a lot of bullshitty things for me," She called after him and he glanced over his shoulder at her as she rolled her shoulders back, "Let's show little Nancy Wheeler that she can't trade a sports car for a scrappy piece of metal."

                           ———