my girl || steve harrington

the flea and the acrobat

part two

the ride to the meet up place was eerily quiet between the two girls. in their defense, it was quite a strange scenario. childhood friends go monster hunting with jonathan "psycho" byers, it was quite the headliner. the beatles played in the beat up chevy while they sat in silence. lydia looked over at her friend who was staring out the window, lost in her own thoughts.

"so nance," she caught the girl's attention as they drove through the woods. "you ready to fight this, thing?" the girl giggled softly.

"honestly, i don't know. i think that if we find this thing then, maybe it'll lead us to barb and will. and if we have to kill it, then we'll kill it."

"yeah, we'll kick it's ass."

~

hearing gunshots within the woods made it easier for the duo to find jonathan but they were not expecting to see him with such poor aim. three cans stood atop a tree trunk and with every shot he took he missed the targets.

"you're supposed to hit the cans, right?" nancy piped up. "i thought they were just for decoration." lydia joked. the boy looked up at the two and grinned.

"no, actually, you see the space in between the cans? i'm aiming for those." the girls dropped their stuff on the ground behind them as jonathan held the pistol in his hands. completely zoning out from the conversation, the brunette stared at the cans in the distance. she felt like she was forgetting something. something, important. she wracked her brain trying to figure out what it was. did she forget to lock the door? was it something with mews? had she made plans with steph for that day? she simply couldn't remember.

"yeah. i guess he and my mother loved each other at some point. but, i wasn't around for that." the older byers cocked the gun as nance held her hand out. he gave it to her reluctantly. "um, yeah. just point and shoot."

"i don't think my parents ever loved each other." she stared at the firearm in her hands, feeling the weight of it. although it was strange to say it, it was almost comforting to hold.

"they must have married for some reason."

"my mom was young. my dad was older, but he had a cushy job, money, came from a good family." nancy held the gun in front of her, trying to steady her hands as she aimed at the target. "so they bought a nice house at the end of the cul-de-sac, and started their nuclear family."

"screw that." jonathan stated. the gun-wielding girl agreed.

"yeah, screw that." as she concluded her sentence she pulled the trigger, hitting the can spot on. "wow, nice shot wheeler." lydia interrupted. pulling out her own weapon, she aimed at one of the remaining two cans and shot it off the trunk. she looked over at her friends who stared at her in shock.

"lyds, where the hell did you get that from?" simply shrugging in response, she stared down at the pistol. "it was my dad's. he, uh, he was an interesting guy. he would sit me on his lap when i was younger and play an old vinyl and sing along. he'd tell me how i was his little girl and how he loved me and my brother more than anything. i guess it didn't count for much considering he just packed up one day and left us. no goodbye, just a note that he said he left for good." holding her hands in front of her, lydia pointed at the final target. "my mom blamed herself for not loving him enough and couldn't stand being in that house, so we moved. came here for a fresh start. new school, new job, new friends, new me." and with that she hit the final target. her arms fell to her sides as she looked at her friends. "guess the abandonment issues and goodie bag of mental illnesses that came with him leaving was worth it."