▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬THE PHONE CALL
WOMAN by doja cat
❝overlooked and unappreciated.❞
THE FAMOUS AND 'OH so popular' Steve Harrington had been blown off by Nancy Wheeler. She was a little busy getting almost killed in an alternate dimension, but he didn't know that. He was already with Tommy and Carol at the movies and since Nancy never showed up, he dragged them all to the Wheeler's house to see why he was blown off. They were driving with Tommy in the passenger's seat and Carol in the back seat. They had almost gotten to Nancy's house. "I just don't understand why we're coming out here. She obviously doesn't wanna talk to you."
"That's...That's not it."
"Oh really? Because no girl would ever blow off King Steve." Carol said sarcastically.
"She was acting weird. I mean, something was wrong." Steve refused to believe that Nancy was simply mad at him. He figured something had happened. Carol scoffed at Steve's caring nature. "So what? Like, you're worried about her?"
"What?"
"Aww! You are!"
"Aw! Steve has a heart." Carol started to hug him and get up in his face, which was annoying him. "Will you just move your hands off me?"
"Oh, Stevey's in love!"
"Will you just shut up?"
"Who knew?"
"Shut up!" Steve snapped.
"Damn, sorry." Tommy chuckled a bit at how mad Steve was getting. They had finally reached the Wheeler's house and Steve pulled onto the side of the road. "So, this is it, huh? Princess's castle."
"I'll just be a minute." Steve got out of the car and he guessed her parents would be home, so he decided to sneak up to her bedroom window instead. Steve hopped up on top of the garage roof and went up to her window. He was about to climb in, but he saw something disappointing. Nancy was sitting on her bed, while Jonathan Byers was rubbing her back comfortingly. He couldn't help but feel jealous and furious because it seemed to him that Nancy blew him off to spend time with Jonathan.
Steve hopped off the roof and headed back to his car angrily. He slammed the car door and started to drive away. "What the hell happened to you?"
"Don't wanna talk about it." Steve dropped Tommy and Carol off at Tommy's house since it was the closest one. He drove back home and went straight to his room. Steve wanted answers now as to why Nancy chose to hang out with Jonathan over him and there was only one person who could give him those answers, who wasn't Nancy or Jonathan. Tiffany.
Nancy had given him Tiffany's number awhile ago because she wanted the two to get along, but of course, that never happened. Steve assumed she wouldn't want to talk to him, but he didn't care. He needed answers. Steve called her and Dustin picked up the phone.
"Hello?"
"Hi. It's Steve." Dustin was a little shocked and confused. "Harrington?"
"Yes. Steve Harrington. You're Tiffany's little brother, right?"
"Yeah, I'm Dustin. Did you want something?"
"Can you put me on the phone with your sister?" Dustin covered the microphone part of the phone and screamed Tiffany's name. He didn't have to cover the microphone part because he screamed so loudly and high pitched that Steve could still hear him.
Tiffany walked into the kitchen and Dustin took his hand off the microphone. He held the phone out for her to take. "Dusty, you made me mess up my painting! What could you possibly want?!"
Since Dustin's hand wasn't on the microphone, Steve could hear everything they were saying. "Your boyfriend called."
"Boyfriend? What boyfriend?"
"Steve Harrington." Tiffany slapped him upside the head and took the phone from him. "I'm gonna kill you later."
"Just give me a time and place." She stuck her tongue out at Dustin and he did the same as he went to his room. She put the phone to her ear. "What Harrington?"
"I'm your boyfriend?" Tiffany sighed knowing that he heard the whole thing. "Sorry. I didn't have the heart to tell my mom we weren't dating, but I told Dustin and he keeps annoying me about it."
"Oh. That's fair. I haven't told my parents either." Tiffany didn't really want to start small talk with Steve. "Was there something you wanted or did you just feel lonely?"
"You know Nancy well, right?" Steve was laying on his back on his bed and Tiffany leaned against the wall. "Well, I would hope so, she's my best friend."
"Do you happen to know where she was tonight or what she was doing?"
"Yeah, she was with me and Jonathan."
"Wait, Jonathan and you?"
"Yeah. We went for a walk in the woods." It was a little more than a walk in the woods, but she had to exclude some details. "Okay. Uh...I have another question."
"Shoot."
"Do you know if she loves me?"
"I mean, it's a bit early to tell if she loves you."
"Okay fine. Do you know if she really likes me and not Jonathan?"
"Basically you're asking me if she likes Jonathan?" Steve was a bit ashamed because he could feel a taunt coming on, but surprisingly, she was just quiet. "Yeah. Wait, why are you being quiet?"
"I mean, there's signs."
"Signs? What? What signs?"
"Well, she was basically only talking with Jonathan and I don't really know why either. I mean, I'm her best friend and I don't like Jonathan that much anymore, but we still know each other well. I was even walking behind them."
"Are you serious?"
"Yeah. There was also a moment where me and Nancy got separated from Jonathan somehow and it was dark out, and Nancy was yelling his name to see if we could find him again and we could hear him yelling too, but he was only yelling Nancy's name." Steve sighed and went quiet. Tiffany didn't really know what to say, but she couldn't just leave him there quiet. "Steve, listen. She's dating you, not Jonathan. Don't you think if she really liked Jonathan, she would break up with you? I mean, you guys are still together, so shouldn't that be enough?"
"I mean, I guess. Just...I saw them together and I got jealous."
"Wait, where did you see them together?"
"Her house."
"Were you spying on her?!"
"What?! No, no, no, no, I went to go see why she blew me off!"
"She blew you off? That doesn't seem like something she would do."
"Well, she did." They were silent for a moment, but Tiffany broke the silence. "Look, I went home before them, I don't know what they did after I left. I figured they would just head back to their own houses."
"What do you think I should do?"
"What do you mean, what do you think I should do? I'm not your love guru."
"I know, but like do I talk to her or talk to Jonathan?"
"I would talk to Nancy tomorrow, this seems like a more in person discussion."
"What about Jonathan?"
"Maybe try talking to him too." Steve was trying to take in this information and they were silent for a little bit. Steve finally realized something. "Hold on. Did you call me Steve earlier?"
"What? No."
"Yes, you did! You said Steve listen!"
"No, I didn't!"
"Yes, you did! You're warming up to me!"
"Would a person that's warming up to you hang up on you?" Tiffany was about to hang up the phone, but Steve stopped her. "No, no, no, no, wait, I'm sorry. I'm sorry."
Tiffany put the phone back to her ear. "You missed me?"
Steve stifled a laugh. "Shut up."
They talked for hours, they didn't even realize they were actually getting along. Tiffany Henderson didn't like him because he told everyone she was going to therapy without knowing the whole story. Steve Harrington didn't like her simply because she didn't like him. Maybe they both weren't so bad after all.
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A/N
Oh? They're getting on a first name basis :D