The Ghost in You ⇢ STRANGER THINGS 𝟸

3| 𝘍𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘺 𝘔𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴

"Thomas! How are you hunny?" Mrs. Harrington pulls her nephew into a hug as soon as he reaches the bottom step.

-"I-I'm good!" He stutters while pulling away. "Just a little hungry that's all, and jet lag." He adds with a chuckle.

Mrs. Harrington nods and leaves for the kitchen, after promising that she'll make a PBJ for him.
Now that she was gone, Stella insists that the cousins sit down to formally get to know each other. So they make their way into the family room, and take seats. Tom sits in an arm chair, Steve in one across from him, and Stella on the couch in between. 

No one says anything for a minute, until the girl clears her throat, grabbing everyone's attention.
-"So, um, we know you play guitar. Do you have any siblings?" She asks, saying the first thing that comes to her head.

-"No," Tom shakes his head. Steve could hear the slight sadness in his voice during his answer.
Stella nods, and before she can ask another question, Steve does. -"So, how about friends?"
-"Not too many, I have some though. They're the best friends in the world." He speaks, a smile starting to form on his face.

"What about you? You have good friends?"
Steve and Stella nod in agreement. The girl then went on to tell them about the possible new friend she made in History. The mention of the subject makes Tom sit up straight.

-"History? I love History! What're you studying?" He asks enthusiastically while leaning forward in his seat.

Steve shoots Stella a smile, and she does the same back in full understanding. Tom finally seemed to be coming out of his shell, even if it was a slow seeming process.

Mrs. Harrington stood back and watched her children and nephew with happiness. She knew that they'd get along well, it only took time. Just anything in life, time was what those three needed.
She placed Tom's sandwich on the kitchen table, along with two more for her kids. She thought it best not to interrupt their conversation, and quietly went upstairs.

"So, what exactly is it like here? What happens on a day to day basis? In Hawkins." Tom asks while looking around the house. He looks outside and sees the woods. This backyard looked nothing like his non-existing one. Another downfall for living in a fancy apartment building.

-"Well, not much." Steve answers nonchalantly, he looks over at the table and spots the sandwiches. He stands up from his seat and makes a beeline for the food.

-"Nothing really," Stella adds with a chuckle, earning a slight laugh from Tom. Both were truthful answers, and there was no doubt about it.

Although he laughed with her, Tom seemed a little disappointed. He was hoping that it would be more exciting here, than in his small luxurious apartment in Essex. Stella senses his dismay, and quickly tells him all about the fun activities that could be done. The Brit listens intently, and while doing so, his mind wanders back to when he first arrived, and Stella had that freaky look on her face.

He though it wouldn't be such a great idea to ask her about it, since she did say that she was fine. So he decides to wait until night, to tell Steve, and see if maybe he knew anything about it.

-"All set?" Steve asks before going to turn off the light. Tom nods, and lays down. He shuts his eyes, and suddenly remembers what he had to do.

-"Wait!" He shouts suddenly, springing up from his bed like a jack-in-the-box.

Alarmed, Steve whips his body around and knocks over the lamp while doing so. His quick reflexes, grab the source of artificial light before it hits the floor. He grunts as he places it back on the dresser, and turns to Tom, looking annoyed.

"I'm terribly sorry!" He apologizes, a look a pure sorrow can be seen on his face. Steve's anger simmers down as he watches Tom closely. His apology seemed so sincere, and Steve was a little shocked at it. Tommy H. didn't even know what "sorry" meant, and Carol never did a terrible thing her whole life.

-"Uh, it's ok. What's wrong?" He says awkwardly while taking a seat on his bead, not breaking eye contact once with his cousin.

Tom clears his throat before begging, and watches as Steve stars at him with curiosity dancing in his eyes.

-"It's Stella. At the airport, I noticed she seemed off, a bit forlorn. I tried calling out to her, but she was so transfixed on the sky, that she didn't hear me. I called out again, and she, she was so, weird." He pauses, not quiet remembering what after.

Steve looks away, knowing fully well what probably happened next. He turns back to Tom, who looked a little distressed, worried,  and lost in thought.

-"She told you she was fine?" Harrington guesses, causing Tom to nod. Steve does the same, and both sit in uncomfortable silence.

-"Has she perhaps had a traumatic accident?" Tom wonders aloud. Steve's eyebrows shoot up to his hairline as he tries to think of a way to answer that, as truthfully as possible.

-"Um...."

-"No that's too personal. Family matters, and none of my business." Tom cuts him, shaking his head while doing so. "Just thought you should know, that's all." He adds while standing and making his way across the room to the dresser. He turns off the leaving, making the whole room dark.

Steve continued to sit up in his bed, even after Tom fell asleep. He stated to panic slightly, hoping that Stella wasn't keeping anything from him. He had told her that she could tell him anything, and he wouldn't judge her.
The teen shakes his head before falling back, a feeling of comfort coming over him as he pulls his sheets up to his chin. As soon as his head hits his pillow, he falls into a deep slumber. His last thought being what Tom had said, about "family matters".

To him it had two meanings, family business, and family does matter. So starting tomorrow, he'd make sure that everyone knew, that his family meant so much to him.

･ ｡ﾟ☆: *. ☆彡ﾟ.･ ｡ﾟ☆: *. ☆彡ﾟ.

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<3 Catherine✎