TWO MONTHS LATER
"I MEAN IT RINGO," Julia Wheeler repeated for the fourth time, her blonde hair flowing in the air behind her as she stomped down the hall in chase of her daughter. The girl in question rolled her eyes at her mother's demands - she had been hearing it from her since revealing that she and the others were going to a Cheap Trick concert.
Indeed, the very same Cheap Trick concert that Ringo has a mental breakdown over during Summer for not being able to afford a ticket. But with Radio Ringo now one of Hawkins FM's most listened to shows, she had worked up enough to pay for her own and be absolved of any guilt she'd have felt if someone bought a ticket for her.
The blonde was brimming with excitement as she touched up her make up in the mirror, prepping herself as quickly as she could before she'd be leaving for Indianapolis. Although her haste didn't matter to Julia - who was adamant on demanding her daughter didn't dabble with any illegal substances at the concert.
"Mom, you grew up in the 60s," Ringo deadpanned, "I don't think there's anything I can do at this concert that you haven't done. And besides, I'm going for the music!"
"Who goes to concerts for the music?" Julia recoiled in surprise, leaning her shoulder against the doorframe to her daughter's bedroom. "Don't people just go for the sex, alcohol and acid?"
"See that right there tells me that you are in no position to be telling me not to do anything," she grinned widely at her mother, who had basically admitted to being a bit of a wild card in her youth.
"Maybe because I've experienced so much, I'm trying to steer you in the right direction," Julia chuckled to herself. Who was she kidding? Ringo didn't need drugs to have a thrill. No, instead she could just spend five minutes with Mike Wheeler and his friends and endanger her life ten times worse than any substance could do.
Checking the time after hearing the honk of a horn, Ringo cussed upon seeing that she was somewhat late. Despite her pleas to the gang to be allowed to drive her own car to Indianapolis, nobody agreed - not even Ben who was usually too scared to disagree with anyone. Her bad driving was once the butt of many jokes, but now she had actually hit someone it was proof in their eyes that she couldn't be trusted. The fact that person was Billy Hargrove and she was purposely saving someone's life mattered little to them.
"Ugh, I wish I could go," Sunny sighed from the couch, which she was sprawled across watching TV. Her eyes flitted after her older foster sister, soon to be actual sister if Julia's adoption application was granted by the court, jealous that Ringo was getting to go out and do something fun.
"Why aren't you with the crew?" Ringo questioned with confusion, stuffing some belongings into a handbag and then shrugging her coat on. At the sound of a second honk of Steve's car, she could only roll her eyes at his impatience. They had plenty of time.
"I'm going over tonight for dinner with everyone at Joyce's, it's kind of like a last supper before they move away."
"Then stop complaining," she grinned teasingly, calling out a goodbye to her mother then barreling our the front door to race downstairs before Steve got out of the car and came for her.
The second she came into view he was throwing his hands up, expression screaming 'come on already' as he even began to tap his watch for added effect. Steve had indeed gotten out of his car and was currently standing at the hood, only stopping in his tracks when he saw she was finally on route.
"Goddamn woman, they're one of your favourite bands," he sputtered with annoyance, placing both hands on both hips and cocking an eyebrow at her as she came barreling toward him.
Rolling onto her tip toes, she cupped the back of his neck and suddenly connected their lips, taking a moment to put her all into the kiss and pulling all her signature moves, of which included a nip at his lower lip and a slip of tongue. Eventually she pulled back with a cheeky grin, giggling at Steve's sudden mood change - where he had once been annoyed he was now quiet and subdued, and stepped around him on her way to the passenger side. Steve stood still for a second before clearing his throat, returning to the car with the smallest of smiles on his lips. That was one way to shut him up.
"Hello, lesbians," Ringo greeted happily the second she opened the car door, beaming at the sight of Jessica and Robin in the back seat. It wasn't often she got to see her best friend lately, with Jessica having started college already and only getting to visit when she got the chance. Still, if her and Robin could make it work surely Ringo could accept it too.
"Hello my definitely-not-straight best friend," Jessica grinned in response, leaning forward in the backseat to give Ringo a hug by wrapping her arms around her shoulders from behind. "About damn time you hurried your ass up. What were you doing? Plucking nipple hairs?"
Steve balked at the mention of such an activity but kept silent as he turned the car on, deciding against questioning it to save himself the feminist rant the car full of women would be hurling his way.
They had decided to car pool for the concert, although as no one individual vehicle was big enough to fit everyone without a squeeze, so the gang were spread across two cars. Steve was driving Ringo, Jessica and Robin, whereas Jonathan would be taking Nancy and Ben. When the original plans were made, Ringo fretted that Ben would be a little uncomfortable as she was the one who had brought him into the group and was his closest friend among them. Surprisingly, he and Jonathan had formed a fast bond the more often Ben attended their gatherings. Something about the two of them being somewhat introverted outcasts had struck an immediate connection between them, the two even hanging out on their own without the others.
If anything, Nancy would be third wheeling them.
Ringo's head snapped toward the radio, noticing Steve had shoved a cassette tape in there and the opening notes of 'Edge of Seventeen' were beginning to play.
"Oooooh," she cheered with delight, still as much of a Stevie Nicks fan as ever. "What tape is this?"
"Oh shit, I forgot to show you," Steve tutted, keeping his eyes on the road while leaning one hand over to eject the cassette tape, much to Ringo's chagrin that the song was cut off. Her dismay didn't last however as he spoke again. "I made you a new tape, some songs I thought you'd like."
Although she could have sworn she couldn't have been in any better of a mood, Steve had managed to step it up even more. She loved when he made mixtapes for her, music was something they had shared between them since first meeting and he knew how much she enjoyed just jamming out with her Walkman. Sometimes listening to music was the only thing she could do when her moods were particularly low.
"'Stay Smilin' Ringo Wheeler'," she read aloud the words messily scrawled across her cassette, tilting her head in mild confusion before glancing toward her boyfriend for an explanation, who suddenly seemed a little awkward.
"W-well you know," Steve stammered nervously, trying to figure out how best to word the reasoning for his named tape, "sometimes you get a little sad. And that's okay. Sometimes you only wanna listen to music when you feel like that and not talk to anyone, and that's okay too. So here's some songs that I think are too rocking to let you be sad for long."
Her heart warm, she leaned across the middle threshold separating them and planted a loving kiss to his cheek. Steve visibly relaxed once he saw how thankful she was for her gift, but how could she have been anything but delighted? The duo knew each other inside and out. Steve understood her better than she understood herself sometimes.
"Awwwwww," Robin and Jessica mockingly sung from the back seat, causing both Steve and Ringo to simultaneously flip them both their middle finger while glaring angrily in the mirror.
"Let us do our cliché shit, you dicks," Ringo narrowed her eyes toward the two amused women.
"You guys are the only heterosexual relationship I'll allow in the New World," Robin commented with a nod. The mention seemed to have spurred a memory in Jessica, as she suddenly shot forward with eyes widened.
"Wait? Did you bring the... baked goods?" She prompted toward Ringo, who immediately froze in her seat.
"Um..." she hummed, expression twisted with regret as the blonde realised she had left a tray of home baked brownies on the dining room table. Slowly, she turned in her seat to face her friend's accusatory gaze while offering an apologetic one of her own.
"You forgot the weed brownies!" Steve exclaimed with annoyance, his hair flipping slightly as he repeatedly whipped his head back and forth between looking at the road and at his guilt-ridden girlfriend.
"I'm sorry!" Ringo bellowed in an outburst. "I was trying to get ready in time before Sergeant Harrington over here laid too heavy on his horn and deafened the whole street!"
"Do you think your mom will eat them?" Robin asked with concern, causing Ringo to pale at the thought. Visions of an infuriated Julia Wheeler waiting for her to return, sitting in the dark until Ringo opened the front door, flooded into her mind. Nevertheless, it would be a worry for after the concert. Marijuana or not, the blonde was sure she was going to enjoy herself.
✵
For lack of a better word, Ringo felt sticky. The heat of being pressed against so many bodies while jumping up and down to the glorious euphony of Cheap Trick's latest and greatest hits. Cups of beer were tightly grasped in everyone's hands, although more liquid spilled over the edges than down their throats and more often than not Steve had gotten overexcited and ended up violently pumping his hands in the air, forgetting the drink he was holding onto and subsequently soaking his girlfriend and other attendants.
But it was the happiest and most free she had felt in a long time, and as the opening chords of Surrender began to ring out across the masses she stole a brief glance around their group. Jonathan - his hair slicked with sweat underneath a cap and his arm lazily hung around Nancy who was pressed against his front. The two had been struggling recently with relationship problems, the differences between them becoming more and more obvious and with Jonathan moving away it had left an obvious strain on their bond. Although Ringo had regrettably not been as close with her cousin as they had been a year or so before, she vowed to make an effort to restore their own relationship to its original supportive and loving form.
Ben and Robin, alike in awkward nerdiness but still two of the most interesting people she knew, who fit right into the friend group as if there was a missing space all along just for them.
Jessica, the closest friend she ever had, who had caught her eye in the middle of Ringo's daydream and winked excitedly. Jess was the first non-familial friend she had made in Hawkins and the biggest badass she had ever met. Ringo often wondered if in another lifetime the two would be soulmates, but platonic soulmates in this lifetime was just as fulfilling for her.
And Steve. The former jock asshole, turned babysitter, turned love of her life. The lanky man with ozone-damaging levels of hair product had been by her side thick and thin. They weren't like the great movie couples - not star crossed lovers nor a forbidden romance. He was simply her cousin's ex-boyfriend who made her laugh harder than she ever had and that's all there was to it. They were simply Steve and Ringo.
Although in fairness to the movie cliches, they did have to fight off some other worldly monsters every few months.
Having been leaning against his chest, she tilted her head back and looked up toward his face, getting an unattractive angle of his nostrils and under his chin. The pair had been closer than ever the previous few months, falling into a kind of domesticity that was all too calm yet all too comforting to Ringo. With Steve working at the video store, Ringo's radio show taking flight and the premise of college next year: it was all she could do to hope that nothing would come between them. And she doubted very little would.
Unless of course the demogorgans wanted round four.
✵
About two years later and season three is FINALLY done! Please make sure to keep an eye on this book when season 4 rolls around 😉
But in the mean time.... here's a sneak peak.
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"Darling, you look like the pretty dog in that one movie when she was wrongfully tossed in the pound," the woman next to Ringo commented finally after eyeing up the blonde for the entirety of the 45 minutes she had been there.
She shifted uncomfortably in response, crossing her arms over her chest and offering a meek smile out of politeness.
"Lady and the Tramp?" She offered.
"Hey," the woman recoiled in offence, "I may be in here for sex work but I'm no tramp."
Ringo stifled a laugh, even among the circumstances she found the humour in the woman's answer. Although admittedly, she found it hard to muster a smile again once the reality of the situation settled in.
How did she get to this? Sitting in a jail cell, having ruined everything good she had going for her and her mother one cell over.
'Ruined everything with him...' her mind taunted, constantly reminding her how much she blamed herself for the recent events with Steve.
She shuddered, and pushed the name aside from her mind. Even mentally thinking it had her face flushing and her throat closing up. If she dwelled on it too long she'd surely cry in front of the strangers among her. Unfortunately in her case, there was nothing to do but think in this place.
Everyone looked up in anticipation upon hearing the telltale jingle of the cell keys, scraping against the bars as the officer began to open the metal door keeping them encaged.
"Wheeler?" He prompted, causing her to shoot up from the seat she had found herself on the floor. "You're out."
Ringo swallowed thickly and trudged her way out of the cell, knowing there was only one person there that could have gotten her out. Would he be disappointed in her? How could she look him in the eye after what she did? And most importantly, how did she become so insecure about something that was so solid?
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There we have it!! I hope it wasn't tooooo confusing 👀 although I would loooove to hear any theories anyone has as to what my twisted little mind is planning with season four.
As always, I hope you all enjoyed. x
Over and out!