011. 𝘄𝗲'𝗿𝗲 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗶𝗻 𝗛𝗮𝘄𝗸𝗶𝗻𝘀, 𝗮𝗻𝘆𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲.
"𝐒𝐎 𝐖𝐇𝐘 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄 𝐀 𝐋𝐀𝐃𝐃𝐄𝐑 𝐎𝐔𝐓𝐒𝐈𝐃𝐄 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐖𝐈𝐍𝐃𝐎𝐖," Steve asked, from the driver's side of the car.
His hands were clutched on the steering wheel, and the darkness outside was beginning to slip away. The black BMW was driving on a long, straight road, empty of cars and vacant of people— they were on their third hour of driving and it was far too early for anyone at all. Two hours had gone by, Lori didn't care enough to keep track of time, but Steve announced every hour, and now finally they were in the last minutes.
They didn't talk much in the car. Mostly because Steve had declared himself driver and Lori fell asleep within fifteen minutes, and stayed asleep until the moon disappeared and the sky tinted with a lighter blue. He didn't mind her sleeping, and he'd actually glanced over a few times and looked at her— because he'd never seen Lori so... well, peaceful. He drove with the radio softly playing in the background, Lori fast asleep in the passenger side, for what seemed like forever. At times, he caught himself wondering why she decided to come with. He figured it was only because she wasn't going to let her mom's car go unsupervised. He didn't dare think of any other reasons.
Now, the sky was getting brighter, and the sun was just beginning to peak out at the end of the road. And the car, their car, was nearing the end of that road.
Lori had just woken up only moments ago, and when she opened her eyes after two hours she nearly clean forgotten what was going on. She'd woken up and whipped her head to the side, her face panicked, but Steve only smiled calmly and then it set it.
She was rubbing her eyes, now. "What." she said, her voice monotone.
"Wake up, sleeping beauty, we're almost there," he said, with a small laugh falling past his lips. "And I asked why you had a ladder outside your window."
She took in a large yawn, speaking through it, "I don't know," she said, her voice groggy.
He glanced to her, his eyebrows furrowed. "And why was it unlocked— that's a safety hazard, you know,"
"Okay, I really don't feel like going through the logistics right now," she looked at him with hard eyes, and then slumped further into her seat. "Fuck, what time is it?"
He chuckled. He didn't know it at the time, but he was only mildly taunting her because he wanted to hear her voice— after two hours of being in the same car, not hearing a word.
"Six," he said, his voice now coming out softer.
She let out a sigh, feeling her body ache with sleep. She'd only gotten about four hours, and now she was feeling it in her head.
"My god," she said, looking out the window. Her knee was folded up and her elbow rested on it, her head perched on her palm.
He didn't say anything for a while after that, he simply drove down the rest of the street. She didn't speak, because she couldn't find anything to say. But although the silence was loud and they weren't friends, not even close— it didn't feel awkward like it should.
They rode off the long street and turned a corner, steering the car onto another one— out of the forest area. The trees were orange and red, the leaves were falling all over the yellow lines of the road, the tires of the car crushing them as they drove. She was staring out the window, and he was driving, the radio playing in the background. She listened to the sound of the tires on the pavement and the muffled noise of the wind through the trees. Long ago they'd passed the Evansville sign, and they were just now reaching a little town.
As her eyes trailed around the small, pretty buildings that were coming into view in the morning light, she looked to a little house on the top of an avenue hill right beside them. On the front, big white sign, she read the name of the Jeweler that Steve had said. It looked rather empty of people, and there were no cars out front.
"Hey, is that it?" she asked, sitting up a little bit. She pressed her finger to the glass, pointing at the little shop closeby.
He glanced, "Yeah. But we're too early," he said, as he looked back to the road. "It's not open yet."
"Well, when does it open," she urged, turning to face him. They turned a corner, away from the jewelry shop.
"About an hour," he said, simply, his hands sliding on the wheel.
"So where are we going?" she asked, impatiently.
"Relax, Philbs," he chuckled lightly. "We just have to kill some time."
He looked at her, with a side smile on his lips, catching her eye. She stared back, and she closed her lips before another rebuttal could come out. She looked back to where they were driving.
Some time passed, but not much, before the car slowed down. Lori looked up from picking at her nails to see that the buildings had gone, but they were close behind them, just hiding behind some trees. They were still in town, she knew, just a little bit off the skirts. She turned to look out her window as a view of water came into sight, a large, beautiful lake, with a single dock off the land. There was a small sloped hill to get down to it. There was nobody around.
He parked her car, and took the key out of the ignition. They jangled in his fingers. It was even quieter now that the car was off.
She was staring at the water for a second, sort of mesmerized, and she didn't even realize he was getting out of the car. She watched him as he walked around the back end, a wave of relief washing over her when he didn't stop at the trunk. He walked right up to her door, pulling it open.
"Why are you opening the door for me," she asked with narrowed eyebrows, knowing it was kind of unlike him. She sat there, in the same position.
He looked at her with an obvious expression, "Because you're not getting out yourself," he said, shrugging.
"No— because I'm pretty sure this is the part where you kill me and throw me into the lake," she said, sure of herself. "All the signs are here— the breaking in, the drive, now the lake. And you do have the bat in the trunk, I know you do."
He sighed, looked up to the sky and then down to his feet. "Will you just get out of the car, please,"
"I was kidding," she said, though her voice didn't sound like it. She only let out a small, barely audible laugh, and unclipped her seatbelt. "But this is a little bit nerving, don't you think."
She stepped out of her car, wrapping her jacket tighter around her shoulders as the air by the water was colder. She stepped past him towards the line of grass, and heard the car door close behind her. Although she couldn't hear his steps on the grass, she knew he was following her as she trotted down the small hill, the wind blowing her hair.
He looked up, staring at the back of her head. He really didn't know what he'd decided to do, but the shop wasn't open yet, and he knew there was a lake nearby. Could it hurt to sit by the water for a few minutes? Maybe. But he didn't really care, as he stared at her back and her hair billowing in the wind.
Her chest seemed full when her shoes came into contact with the dark wood of the dock, and a bird chirped overhead. She stared at the array of colors in the sky, the horizon of yellow and clouds of deep blue all orchestrating together as the world was slowly enlightening. The trees— red, yellow, orange and deep green— all reflected in the water, different shapes and hues, along with the painting of the sunrise. The breeze was supple and thin, but sweet to her tongue as her lips departed. Leaves of different sizes floated in the water and rode the calm morning waves, sometimes causing a little ripple in the stillness when one landed or got pushed by the wind. Along with a few little birds and their little chirping, the sound of the water could be heard against the dock, streaking lines on the two wooden posts that held the very thing up.
After a moment, she heard footsteps on the wood behind her.
"Was this your plan, to come here," she said to him, not looking back.
He stepped up beside her, and she could see him in the corner of her eye. "The lake? No." he said honestly, with a calm voice.
"I don't believe that," she said, and to her surprise, her lips drew up in a small smile. She didn't look at him as she bent her knees, placing her bottom on the wooden planks and crossing her legs under one another.
He let out a laugh through his nose, smiling softly at the sight of her grin. He slowly bent down, placing his hand on the dock behind him for support as he lowered. He sat with his legs out, bent at the knee so that they were only slightly hanging off the dock and not touching the calm water.
"Do you take all your girls to this spot," Lori asked, her eyes fixed on the water. There was a slight joking tone to her words, but the question was one she wanted the answer to.
"Are you kidding, I wouldn't drive all this way every time," he said, laughing a bit.
"Every time," she repeated, nodding. "So there has been many,"
He was silent at that, shifting his eyes downwards.
"Don't fret, King Steve," she said, with a light chuckle, speaking the name with sarcasm. "You're not called King Steve for no reason."
He wanted to ask her to not call him that, he didn't feel like he fit the name, at least not anymore. He wasn't King Steve without Nancy— and that's what they were there for, at the lake, to get the necklace for Nancy. But did it matter, anymore, to be 'King'? No, he knew that. But now the question was did it matter to be without Nancy? He caught himself thinking about this for a minute, and then shook himself out of it, because they'd gone all this way for the necklace and he'd once been sure that this was what he wanted. He convinced himself quickly that he still wanted it. He wanted it. He wanted Nancy back.
She leaned over slightly, just enough so that she could see her reflection in the water. She could see Steve's, there in the water, next to her's. They were there, the silhouette's of their heads between the lines of trees and the reflected sunrise in the distance. She caught herself admiring the way they fit into the picture, only for a moment.
"So, tell me about yourself, Philbin." Steve said, starting a new topic. "I feel like this is a good time to ask."
"Are we doing this," she looked over at him.
He caught her eye. "Doing what."
She blinked once. "Are we gonna have the little meaningful conversation that I've been dreading to have with anyone in this town?"
"We're not in Hawkins, anymore," he pointed out, tilting his head to one side.
At this, she had to think for a moment. She tried to remember the sound of his voice when he said that.
"So it shouldn't matter," she said, almost as an affirmation, looking back to her reflection in the water.
He popped his bottom lip out, shrugging calmly.
"When we get back— will it matter, do you think," she was asking, without looking at him.
And then he said, ever so calmly, while looking at the side of her face. "Only if you want it to."
She nodded and then a silence came over them, just the sound of the water and the trees filling the noise.
"So. About yourself— nobody shows up in a town like Hawkins out of the blue," Steve said, after a long moment.
"Well, if you must know," she said, sort of theatrically.
"I must," he said, casually.
"Where do I start," she looked up, as if searching for answers. "Well, okay. So, back in Michigan, my dad, he got arrested for drunk driving, like, I dunno, a hundred miles per hour— I think it was. He's in jail, now— we left him back there, in Michigan." she said, her voice remaining calm.
She took a second, taking in a large breath.
"And my mom, well, she was a crippling addict trying to get a grip on her consciousness. She still is." she spoke with such unalarmed ease, despite the content of her words. "Oh— and we moved because all the rumors in town were just getting too suffocating for her poor heart, you know?"
When she finished speaking, she turned her head to see him staring at her, with his lips departed and a struck face of shock. He looked like he'd just gotten the surprise of his life, that what he'd heard, he wasn't expecting at all. And then he looked as though he felt bad, he probably felt bad for asking such a question when he didn't know the response was so heavy. He stared at her, his face twitching a little bit— unsure of how to react.
And then she couldn't hold it in anymore. Breaking the silence, she let out a loud laugh, throwing her head back. Her laugh tiptoed on the water in front of them, causing ripples.
"What," he cut himself off with a harsh breath, "What?" he asked, almost urgently, sounding offended as if she knew something he didn't. His eyebrows were sharply narrowed.
She clutched her stomach from the pain her laughter was causing, her chest rising and falling. "I'm only kidding, Harrington."
"Jesus Christ," he said, and looked to the side. "Don't ever do tha— why would you do that?"
"Oh my god, I haven't laughed that hard in a long time," she said, trying to calm her breathing. She chuckled. "You should've seen your face!" she pointed a finger at him.
"That wasn't funny," he said, looking at her seriously. But in his stomach, something was circulating, brought up by the sight of her laughing so hard and so genuinely. So far, he'd never seen Lori look so happy than how she did in that moment.
"It was kinda funny," she tilted her head, the smile still on her lips. "Holy shit," she clutched her stomach. She'd almost forgotten what having a really good laugh felt like.
"Shut up," he looked down, as if it would help hide the growing smile on his face.
"You asked," she shrugged. Then she let out a long sigh, feeling the laughter slip away from her body.
He shook his head from side to side, biting on the inside of his lip as she glanced to him with the disappearing smile on her face. They caught eyes, before she looked back down to the water and her breathing finally subsided.
"No, but seriously," he said, clearing his throat, "How'd you end up here."
She began to pick at the wood in front of her crossed legs. "You don't wanna know. I'll spare you the most boring story of your life. I'm telling you,"
"I do wanna know," he said, genuinely. "And you're not boring,"
She cleared her throat, and kept staring at the wood, picking at it. "There's not really much to say." she said.
He didn't say anything to that, just kept his gaze on her side profile.
"What do I have to lose. Here goes." She felt that the silence was too consuming, and she didn't like the anticipation. "Well, my parents got divorced last month," she said, trying to keep her voice leveled. "And, my dad— for real this time," she laughed lightly. "He moved all the way to California, by himself."
Steve was listening, she could tell.
"And, as the story plays out, my mom got some money and we moved here." she said, simply. "My Aunt Claudia— Mrs. Henderson —found us a house. The one right next to yours, coincidentally."
"Henderson?" he asked, perking up a little bit. "Like, that Dustin kid, he's your cousin?"
"Yeah," she looked to him. "You know him?"
"Not really," Steve lied, shaking his head lightly. "So your dad— was it a job offer, or, you know,"
"Why he left?" she asked, and he nodded. She looked back down to the water. "No. He left on his own accord. I guess that's what you do after a divorce, they've never told me. But he was never really... there to begin with, y'know. I mean he was there, but, after a while it just didn't feel like it."
"What do you mean," Steve asked, his voice remaining casual so she would feel comfortable to move on.
"Okay— put it this way, he's a business man." she stated. "Kent Philbin— this very put-together, nice-looking business man. Busy. Always busy. And whenever he wasn't busy, he was just not... there like he should have been, I guess."
Steve was smart enough to understand what she meant by that. He realized that her dad wasn't a dad like he should've been— he was rather absent, in more ways than not.
"Anyways," she felt her throat scratch a bit. "I don't even know if I miss him. I mean, he's probably not even gonna visit for Christmas or anything, so I shouldn't hold on to everything, right? I just feel so, like, I don't know,"
"Angry," his voice came out lower than expected. He hadn't really expected to say it at all, it just came out.
She looked at him, turning her head a bit quicker than anticipated. She stared at him for a moment, but he was looking out at the water now. She could see, automatically, that he knew what that feeling was like. This was when she realized she'd never talked about her dad at all, let alone to someone else or a boy. She realized just how much she said. She didn't want to explain so much, but since she'd never tried, she didn't foresee that everything would just spill out like a waterfall. And she didn't like talking about her dad, and it made her mad that she'd let a lot of stuff out.
"So, anyways," she cleared her throat, steering away from the subject before her emotions could get too high.
He noticed this, but decided that he wouldn't ask about her family again— at least for the time being. He noticed the way her shoulders tensed when she spoke about her father. It was similar to the way he subconsciously acted when he talked about his own dad.
"Care to tell me why we're here," she started, looking forward. At the end of her sentence, she looked to him.
"I already did," Steve shrugged.
"No, I mean, really." she looked at him seriously. "Why are we doing this,"
She watched as he leaned forward and reached into his back pocket. She stopped her eyes from rolling when he pulled out the yellow flyer.
"When we were dating," he started. "She never stopped talking about this necklace. This necklace right here," he pointed to the picture of it. "And I don't know11 I just got this feeling, last night that I should get it,"
"This... revelation, came to you last night," she said, slowly.
It was her turn now, to watch him as he talked, while he looked out at the water and at his hands.
"When I was outside in the yard, you saw me," he nodded. "I don't know, I just— I found the flyer in my room when I was going through our stuff from when we were together," he explained, and then his voice got low. "I remembered I was gonna get it for her birthday."
Lori's eyes softened— she didn't even know she was capable of doing that. "Oh, Steve." her voice didn't necessarily come out sad, but he could tell that she was shedding a little bit, if not, just the tiniest smidge of sympathy.
Even though she didn't want to admit it, she did notice the way his chest sunk when he'd spoken about Nancy's birthday.
"This might be a touchy subject," she said, slowly. "But why did she dump you,"
Steve looked up into the horizon. He squinted.
"I mean, I could think of a few reasons," she said, sarcastically. She looked at his mouth, seeing his lip pulling up in a tiny smile, getting the half-meant joke. She wasn't really the type of person to lighten the mood, she often did the opposite, but maybe just this once she'd loosen up.
"There's some things that I don't really wanna say, if that's alright," he looked at her. He tried to play it off as personal information, but really, he meant the stuff about Barb, and everything that happened last Christmas. She nodded. "At the Halloween party, well, we were kinda in an ongoing argument, I guess you could say. Nancy got drunk." he ran a hand through his hair.
"I saw," Lori looked at his hair as he did, watching his hand.
"She said I was bullshit, our relationship was bullshit— basically just everything we've done and had is straight up bullshit," he said with a certain pang.
"I mean, everything is bullshit," Lori tilted her head to the side.
Steve looked at her. "Huh? You think I'm bullshit too?"
"No, you're kinda the only thing right now that isn't one hundred percent bullshit," she said. "Hawkins is a freak show."
"You don't even know the half of it." Steve shook his head, thinking about Nancy.
"See—" she shot her head towards him, "That right there is bullshit. No one ever telling me what the fuck is going on in that place. Just cryptic little comments and weird stares like I have no idea about some big fuckin' secret." She grimaced.
"I thought you didn't care," Steve said, staring at his feet. "At least that's what it seems like."
"I don't," Lori realized. "Never mind."
They stared off into the water for a moment, her hair fluttering in the wind. The breeze danced past them and tiptoed on the water.
"How much more time do we have?" Lori asked, as she folded one of her legs up and placed her chin on her knee. "And keep going, about Nancy."
Steve looked at his watch. "An hour. Maybe less." he said.
She looked at him, with her chin on her knee and a strand of hair floating in front of her face, "Then we got lots to talk about."
𝙅𝙐𝙇𝙄
fave chapt so far