my girl || steve harrington

the monster

"oh my fucking god." lydia mumbled. she wondered, who would do such a thing? why would they do something so horrid and vile purely out of spite? then, she heard it. and it seemed as if nancy heard it too. the sound of a spray can and a laughter that was all too familiar. they both turned down the alley next to the theater and there they were. tommy, carol, nicole, and steve.

"aw, hey there, princess." carol said sarcastically as the two girls stomped towards them. at this point, lydia was fuming. "shut it carol." she snapped. tears welled up in nancy's eyes as she faced her boyfriend. tommy made a snarky comment but she ignored it. this was between her and steve now, and she was heated. she brought her hand up and slapped him, causing an uproar from the teens next to them.

"what is wrong with you?" she seethed. "what's wrong with me? what's wrong with you? i was worried about you. i can't believe i was worried about you." he retaliated. lydia noticed how hurt he was. how he didn't even bother making eye contact with her. nancy defended herself but carol just had to butt in again, being the blabbermouth she is.

"i wouldn't lie if i were you. you don't wanna be known as the lying slut now, do you?" before anyone could respond lydia snapped at her again. "carol, open your mouth one more time and see what happens." she threatened. tommy immediately came to his girlfriend's rescue.

"hey," his voice was deep and serious. he meant business. "don't talk to her like that." but the older henderson wasn't going to stand back and have these bimbo's talk shit about her friend. she got up in his face, prepared to do what she had to.

"you wanna go, hagan? let's see what you got." although she was much smaller than the boy, she was so full of rage she didn't know what she was capable of in the moment. while lydia and tommy were getting ready to butt heads, steve and nancy were engrossed in their own conversation.

"look, i don't know what you think you saw, but it wasn't like that." she defended.

"what you just let him into your room to, study?" his voice was monotone, masking the hurt that he felt.

"we were just-"

"you were just what? finish that sentence." he got closer to her, lowering his voice. "finish, the sentence." nancy couldn't bring herself to come up with a plausible lie in the moment. at least not one that would give them a good reason as to why she was hanging out with jonathan in her room late at night. he scoffed.

"go to hell nancy." tears filled up her eyes and threatened to spill but she wouldn't let them. not now. not in front of them. the boy tried to pull her away, but steve wasn't done yet.

"you know what byers, i'm actually kind of impressed. i always took you for a queer, but i guess you're just a little screw up like your father." this took lydia away from her little quarrel. she grabbed her friend's arm as he pushed jonathan, trying to stop him before he did something stupid.

"steve! stop! stop!" she yelled as she tugged on him. but to no avail, he kept going. he pulled his arm out of her grip and continued to push the boy.

"oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, that whole house is full of screw-ups. you know, i guess i shouldn't really be surprised. a bunch of screw ups in your family. i mean your mom, i'm not even surprised what happened to your brother. i'm sorry i have to be the one to tell you, but the byers their family is a disgrace to the entire-" but before he could finish the sentence, jonathan turned around and punched him. there was a pause as everyone took a minute to process what was happening. then, it all happened so fast. first they were on the hood of the car, then they were on the ground, then jonathan was on top of steve. once they got up, tommy tried to intervene, but he was shooed off so that the two could fight.

although steve dodged a punch and hit jonathan, he was caught off guard when he was hit full force in the jaw and fell. then lydia watched as her friend was beaten on the gravel, the entire scene happening in slow motion. but the worst part, is that she felt like he deserved it. she wasn't looking at the same kid that was laying with her on her floor this morning. it wasn't the boy who would stargaze with her whenever life became too much to bear. this wasn't her best friend. it couldn't be. she simply refused to believe it.

punch after punch was thrown and everyone was screaming at the boys. then, the cops showed up. tommy got steve up as one of the deputies tried to apprehend jonathan and the other one clutched his nose as he leaned on the car, trying to recover from an elbow to the face. in that moment, while the other cop was preoccupied, a strong grip on lydia's arm pulled her away from her two friends. she tried to resist, but that only resulted in her being thrown over a shoulder like a sack of potatoes as everyone else fled on foot. tears clouded her vision but the familiar scent that had once brought her a sense of comfort and happiness only confirmed her assumptions of who was carrying her.

once they had successfully escaped, lydia was put down. she wiped the tears away and looked at what was in front of her. carol and nicole had separated from them for the time being so she was only left with tommy and steve. her friend's face was badly beaten but she couldn't bring herself to care. she shoved his chest with all her might but it was only enough for him to stumble the slightest bit.

"are you fucking kidding me harrington? what was that?" he looked at her and his heart ached. he made her cry. his girl was crying because of what he did. but he didn't say anything. "you know how hard this was on dustin and you still brought up will? how insecure about your relationship do you have to be to call your girlfriend a goddamn slut in front of the entire fucking town? and you didn't even have the balls to do it yourself or tell these shit heads to stop!" every word she spoke dripped with anger and remorse.

"you had no right to insult him let alone his entire family. it's such a low fucking level i never thought that you would stoop to! you know, ever since you started hanging out with these poser's you've been becoming more and more of douchebag. yeah, you start doing shit for popularity points, you start trying to be someone you're not just so you can get into girls' pants, you only need me when you need someone to make you feel good about yourself or when you fuck up. and i'm always there for you like an absolute moron! i cannot believe that i genuinely cared about you!" she ranted. the last words hit steve like a train. cared. she didn't care about him anymore. his heart broke at the realization.

"no, it's not like, lydi, that you don-"

"oh, i'm so sure. because there are so many different fucking ways to interpret what just happened. you know what? fuck you, steve. fuck you. fuck you and all your little poser friends. i'm done with you and your bullshit." she turned to walk off but tommy stopped her.

"hey don't call-" he started to speak but she wasn't having it. she punched tommy in the stomach then kneed him in the groin, leaving him on the ground in a fetal position. she walked back towards the hunting store, not looking back at her ex-best friend.

if she were to look back, she would've seen the pain on steve's face when he realized what he had done. the tears that escaped and rolled down his cheeks. the emptiness that was left as she walked away. she never hit him, but the pain he felt was worse than any of the punches that jonathan had thrown. his best friend just walked out of his life, and instead of going after her, he just watched as his entire world shattered.

A/N: reed's last name is made up because i didn't actually know what it was. part 3 coming soon!