Steve opened his eyes, bright lights causing him to close them once again. Turning his head to the side. He didn't have to look around to know where he was, the smell was all he needed to know. He was in a hospital. "Oh my god, finally you're awake, I was worried sick." Steve turned to the person trying to focus on who it was. it was Nancy. She quickly grabbed his hand and held it with hers. "What happened?" Steve asks groggily. "You had a fractured rib, you probably fainted from the shock." Steve stared at Nancy in disbelief. Yes, it hurt like a bitch but he didn't hit the ground that hard, did he?
Steve looked beside Nancy noticing a box of biscuits, his favourites to be exact. He smiled grabbing them. "Wow thanks, nance." "For what?" Nancy asks Steve motions to the biscuits in his hands. Nancy shakes her head "that wasn't me, they were here before I got here." Steve looks down to the box of biscuits confused. No one else knew that these were his favourite. "So, you gonna explain to me what the hell happened to get you into this state?" Nancy asked. Steve laughed awkwardly slowly explaining what happened. "So, he pushed you.... and that somehow fractured your rib?" Nancy asked in disbelief. Steve nodded turning to hide his embarrassed face. "Damn, I guess the girls weren't lying when they said he worked out," Nancy said. "It's obvious with those stupidly well-toned abs," Steve muttered noticing a sneaky grin on Nancy's face before it quickly vanished as the nurse came in to check on him. "Well I guess that I better go, it's getting late," Nancy said while staring at the clock, which also caught Steve's attention. "Why so soon nance, it's only seven?" Steve asked. "I've got an... assignment due for tomorrow morning and I need to finish it," Nancy answered trying to dodge eye contact with Steve. "Are you, or are you just going to go to Jonathan's to 'study'?" Steve asked Sternly. "N-no why would you think that?" Nancy said. Steve rolled his eyes, Nancy has always been horrible at lying. "Fine then, just go," Steve said with his voice slightly raised from annoyance. Silence filled the room as Nancy slowly walked out. Steve slowly lowered himself on the bed and stared at the ceiling. The longer he stared the more lonely Steve felt. He's never really felt this lonely before so, why now? Steve ignored his feelings and turned over slowly drifting off to sleep.
When Steve arose from the hospital bed, he noticed another box lying beside him, but this time they were a box of chocolates with a small note on top of it. He sat up and opened the note which made him raise an eyebrow. The word 'sorry' was written messily in the centre. The first person that crossed his mind was billy, but why would he care about the aftermath of what happened? The nurse came in a while afterwards and told him that he was free to go as long as he was careful and didn't do excessive exercising. Steve decided to skip school today, he didn't want to face Nancy right now. He could feel them drifting apart but he decided to ignore it. Ever since Barbara's death, everything has changed. He acted as if everything was fine in an attempt to convince himself. Steve wondered around aimlessly, not wanting to go back to his empty house.
"Steve!" He turned his head to the direction of the voice. It was Dustin. "Hey, Henderson," Steve said ruffling his hair. "You don't look so good" Dustin responded with a frown on his face. "I'm fine" Dustin gave him a questionable look but dropped the subject. "So how are you and Nancy?" "We are doing great, she means a lot to me" Steve replied not even trying to hide his wide grin. "Oh, that reminds me," Dustin pipes up. "It seems like your little lady is going to a Halloween party and she invited you to be her plus one, will you go? Steve thought about going but the nurses told him to be careful and not to drink alcohol for a while. "Sorry Henderson I'd love to but I've been told to be careful because of my injury so I can't go," Steve said slightly disappointed. "Well it can't be helped, she thought that you wouldn't be able to go so she thought of inviting Jonathan instead." Actually, on second thought, I'll go." Steve decided. Dustin nodded.
