𝐀𝐏𝐎𝐂𝐀𝐋𝐘𝐏𝐒𝐄 | 𝐬.𝐡.

𝟏𝟏. 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧-𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐀𝐰𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐀𝐝𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐞

𝐀𝐏𝐎𝐂𝐀𝐋𝐘𝐏𝐒𝐄

𝟏𝟏. 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧-𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐀𝐰𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐀𝐝𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐞

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  "I JUST WANT TO GET THIS STRAIGHT," Lorelei spoke up, breaking the silence.

  "Shoot," Dustin glanced over at her for a moment.

  "The girl with the shaved head-"

  "Eleven," Dustin corrected.

  "Sorry, Eleven killed the big, scary monster-"

  "The Demogorgon," Dustin interrupted once more.

  "Right, the Demogorgon - which isn't a nerdy name at all, by the way-"

  "Just ask the question!" Dustin snapped impatiently, placing the gloves on his hand as he stepped out of Steve's car.

  "Eleven killed the Demogorgon last year, with her mind," Lorelei spoke slowly "and then she disappeared into thin air, most likely dead?"

  "For the fifteenth time - yes!" Dustin exclaimed.

  "Jeez Frizzy," Lorelei muttered, "I was just making sure."

  Steve turned to her, watching as she slammed his car door shut and placed the yellow gloves over her own hands with a small smile. She seemed to make everything a bit lighter than it was with her complaints and comments - and considering what they were about to do, they were in desperate need of comedic relief.

  He reached into the trunk of his car, grabbed a black backpack that contained some materials, including a flashlight and his trusty bat, and placed it on his shoulders. Steve then grabbed three buckets which were filled to the brim with raw meat, his nose scrunching in disgust at the thought that he would have to touch it soon.

  "Come in," a voice sounded from Dustin's walkie-talkie "Dustin, do you copy? Over."

  "Yeah, I copy," Dustin murmured angrily into the talkie "I've been trying to reach you for hours. Over."

  "Sorry, listen, are you any closer to finding Dart?" the voice spoke once more.

  "I'm trying," Dustin replied, "meet Lorelei, Steve, and me at the old junkyard."

  "Lorelei? Steve?" the voice questioned, and the aforementioned teens shared a glance "you mean the baby-sitter and Steve Harrington?"

  "Just get there," Dustin groaned "over."

  Lorelei turned away from Dustin, and she reached over for one of the buckets that Steve had placed on the floor. The urge to gag was almost too much for her to resist, but still, she pulled through. She deemed herself one of the most unlucky people in the world for having to spend her day doing this.

  "Hey, Harrington?" she asked, causing Steve to turn over and face her.

  "Yes?"

  "Could you keep this safe for me?" Lorelei mumbled, reaching into her pocket and handing him her walkman and headphones.

  "You're bringing your walkman?" his brows furrowed, and he looked down at the small device in his hands, reading over the mixtape she had labeled: Lorelei's Rock Essentials.

  "It helps calm me down," she shrugged, acting as if it were obvious "just - don't lose it."

  "Alright Keller," Steve laughed under his breath.

  He opened up his black backpack and carefully placed the walkman inside, making sure it was nowhere near his bat. If she wanted this safe for whatever reason, he would keep it safe.

  "Let's go," Steve clapped once, grabbing his own bucket, locking the car, and starting to walk up the train tracks.

  Both Dustin and Lorelei grumbled slightly under their breaths, but they followed behind him nonetheless. As they walked through the railway that was right in the middle of the woods, Lorelei strayed further behind, not wishing to be very close to Steve.

  After they had woken up, things were pretty awkward between them. It seemed as though they were making a habit of revealing too much about themselves and regretting it later. They had barely talked amongst themselves, only little words here and there between the time it took to get dressed and ride over to the Henderson household to pick up Dustin.

  Lorelei's father still hadn't been back by the time they left her house, and she was growing more and more worried by each passing moment she spent without talking to him. 

  But still, she was not worried that he was dead or injured - she knew he was doing something important, most likely related to this whole mess. That did not, however, change the fact that she wanted to find him.

  So there she was, the ugliest yellow gloves she had ever seen in her life covering her hands as she followed behind Steve and Dustin, leaving a trail of raw meat behind her to lure a creature she was terrified of into a trap.

  The three were still slightly tired from the last night's adventure and having gotten up early to collect all the materials, so they walked silently for the first minutes. Lorelei was completely fine with that, for she felt a bit exposed now after what had been her second deep talk with Steve Harrington in the span of three days.

  She had promised herself that she would not get attached to anyone in this town - she couldn't. After all, her plan was to get out as soon as she could and actually make something of herself. 

  And especially now that she knew what was happening in the depths of this town, losing someone had become an even nearer reality than she thought. 

  Lorelei did not want to get attached - not if she would only have to say goodbye one way or another. It just didn't make sense. Why would she willingly put herself in that situation?

  She didn't want friends - not any in this town at least. But she could not help but feel like she was becoming Steve Harrington's friend. And that pissed her off; because as soon as all this was over, they would go back to pretending the other didn't exist, only chatting occasionally at one party or another. Lorelei was better off without that - or at least, that's what she told herself.

  "I still don't get it," Steve spoke up after they had been walking for around thirty minutes "why did you keep this thing, Henderson?"

  "I don't know," Dustin shrugged, averting his eyes away from Steve and staring at the floor instead.

  "No - no, there must be a reason," Lorelei added, walking a bit quicker so she was walking next to Dustin "tell us."

  "I just thought it would impress someone," Dustin murmured as he threw a piece of meat on the floor.

  Lorelei lifted her head from the bucket in her hands and she turned to look at Steve, only to see that he was looking at her as well. They both matched each other's smirks, each walking on one side of Dustin's.

  "Someone?" Lorelei grinned, her eyes turning from Steve and looking back at Dustin.

  "Yes," Dustin seethed, his eyes narrowing at her "someone."

  "Is this someone a girl, Henderson?" Steve asked knowingly, his arm bumping Dustin's side slightly.

  "It's totally a girl," Lorelei teased, grinning over at Steve for a moment.

  "Maybe," Dustin whispered, not daring to look at Steve and Lorelei.

  She had to hold in her laugh at Dustin's flustered look - the boy was clearly uncomfortable. And he was also very clearly terrible with girls if he thought that a slimy, murderous creature would impress anyone. 

  "So you kept that thing, knowing that it could be dangerous to impress - a girl?" Steve inquired with a frown.

  Dustin seemed to be quite irritated by the constant questions seeing as he sped up his steps, now walking a bit ahead of the other two. He was throwing the meat down in a haste on the floor, trying to keep himself busy as Steve asked his question. 

  Due to his quick pace, both Steve and Lorelei were now walking next to each other, and their shoulders bumped as they moved along the train tracks.

  "Yes," Dustin replied impatiently.

  "Why would a girl like some nasty slug anyway?" Steve wondered aloud.

  "Um, because it's awesome?" Dustin scoffed under his breath.

  "As a girl-" Lorelei raised her hand slowly "I would just like to say that it is in fact, not awesome."

  "And even if she did like it - which I'm sure she didn't," Steve piped in "I don't know I just think you're trying too hard."

  "Well we can't all have your perfect hair," Dustin replied with a sour look.

  "It's not about the hair man," Steve shrugged, jogging slightly to catch up with Dustin "the key with girls is just acting like you don't care."

  "Oh god," Lorelei whispered to herself, rolling her eyes at his words.

  "Even if you do?" Dustin questioned, looking up at Steve.

  "Yeah, it drives them nuts," Steve confirmed.

  "Harrington, I don't think-" Lorelei tried to interject.

  "And then what?" Dustin interrupted what she was about to say.

  "And then-" Steve thought of his answer for a moment before nodding to himself "you just wait until you feel it - this um, this electricity."

  Lorelei scrunched her nose up, trying not to completely hit Steve over the head for the god-awful advice he was giving a thirteen-year-old child. Still, she was slightly interested in seeing where Steve's exploration into the female mind would go, so she kept quiet.

  "Oh, like before it's going to storm when the" Dustin began speaking before he was quickly cut off.

  "No - it's like a sexual electricity, you know?" Steve clarified. "You feel that, and then you make your move."

  "Wow, five-star advice Casanova," Lorelei chimed sarcastically, her arm brushing against Steve's as she started to walk beside him once more.

  "So that's when you kiss her?" Dustin looked up at Lorelei and Steve with furrowed brows.

  "Woah!" Both of them exclaimed at the same time, their eyes wide.

  "Slow down Romeo-" Steve scoffed "sure, some girls want you to be hot and heavy - like a lion."

  "A lion?" Lorelei asked him silently, but he merely ignored her, looking back at Dustin.

  "But with others, you need to be slow and stealthy like an um-" Steve pondered for a moment.

  "A ninja?" Lorelei indicated, her brows raised up at him.

  Steve paused at that, his eyes looking up for a moment before he turned over to Lorelei. His lips slowly but surely stretched into a small smile, and when Lorelei looked into his chocolate brown eyes, she felt bewildered at the look that he was giving her. As if she had just said the perfect thing - and she had no idea why.

  "Yeah - yeah like a ninja," he replied, voice softer.

  They both looked at each other for a short moment, feet carrying them over to whatever location Dustin had planned. It seemed as though there was a click in their minds; some sort of understanding that Lorelei could not comprehend, but she still accepted it, throwing a smile back at him.

  "What type is Nancy?" Dustin's voice cut through the air.

  "Um-" Steve looked back at Dustin, the cheerful spark now gone from his eyes "Nancy is different, I guess. But I wouldn't really be the right person to ask, Henderson."

  "What? Why-" Dustin began speaking, but as his eyes turned to Lorelei, he saw that she was adamantly shaking her head with wide eyes as if to say, don't.

  He turned quiet after Lorelei's shake of the head, looking down at the floor with an upset look on his face and resuming his actions of throwing the meat down on the ground. 

  There suddenly was not much to say anymore. Each person was contemplating their own personal problems. Dustin thought of the girl and how his friends would absolutely murder him if they found out that he had kept Dart.

  Lorelei thought of her father and how absolutely goddamn insane this all was. For a moment, she even thought of the literature essay that she had to hand in by the next week. But seeing as it felt like the world was about to end, she figured that it could be a problem for later.

  And Steve - well, he wasn't really thinking all that clearly. For some reason, he felt just like he did a year ago, sitting atop his BMW after having sustained quite the beating from Jonathan Byers. And it felt like shit.

  Like everything in his life had gone south once more and he was left to pick up the pieces. He had been so sure that Nancy was the one for him - the person he would be with for the years to come. But now he knew that was not the case, and he was lost once more.

  "Harrington," Lorelei whispered, her elbow nudging his arm.

  "Yeah?" he twisted his brows together, turning to her.

  "He looks upset," she frowned "Frizzy - I mean. Do something."

  "Why me?" Steve muttered lowly.

  "He thinks you're cool," Lorelei replied, "-for some reason which I can't explain."

  Steve chuckled softly at her and looked down, contemplating what he should do. He wondered if what she said was true or not. Dustin surely didn't look up to him, did he? No, that wasn't possible. But maybe he was starting to, and that made a flicker of pride light up within Steve's chest.

  "Could you cover your ears, please?" he asked Lorelei.

  "What? Why?" she dragged out with a confused expression, her face twisted in amusement.

  "Keller, please?"

  "Oh, my fucking-" Lorelei rolled her eyes for a moment before she nodded her head, covering her ears with her hands and motioning for him to speak with Dustin.

  As Steve turned around to look at Dustin, Lorelei fell back a few steps and once she was sure he would not look at her anymore, she removed her hands from her ears slightly; this allowed her to listen to what he was saying - and boy was Lorelei glad she listened; it sure cheered her up.

  "It's Faberge," he told Dustin, and Lorelei furrowed her brows in clear confusion.

  "What?" Dustin voiced.

  "The hair," Steve pointed "it's Faberge Organics. You use the shampoo and the conditioner, and when your hair is damp - it's not wet, it's damp-"

  "Damp," Dustin nodded.

  "Then you um-" Steve turned to Lorelei, and she quickly placed her hands back over her ears, looking down at the floor to disguise her smile. "You use four puffs of the Farrah Fawcett spray."

  Lorelei had never tried so hard to hold in her laughter as she had at that moment. She bit the inside of her cheek, and tears began sprouting from her eyes as she looked down at the ground in disbelief. Steve Harrington used Farrah Fawcett spray - it wasn't that she was surprised, after all his hair was quite impressive, but she had never thought that she would be so lucky as to receive such wonderful information that made her laugh so hard she almost doubled over.

  "Farrah Fawcett?" Dustin chuckled.

  "Yeah, Farrah Fawcett," Steve nodded, pausing in his tracks and raising his finger at Dustin, "you tell anyone that I just told you that and your ass is grass - you understand me, Henderson?"

  "Yeah, sure" Dustin nodded carefully.

  "Alright," Steve laughed under his breath before resuming his steps and turning to Lorelei, who was still holding in her tears of laughter.

  "Can I-" she tried to speak before laughter cut her off, and she removed her hands from her ears for good, placing them on her knees as joy tumbled from her lips.

  "You just heard everything I said, didn't you?" Steve groaned.

  "Uhm," Lorelei mumbled, trying to calm her deep breaths as she continued laughing.

  And Steve, he wanted to be upset - scold her for having broken her promise, but after the days they had experienced, watching her laugh made him unable to do anything but smile. Sure, it made the both of them look a bit deranged, with Lorelei laughing loudly and Steve chuckling fondly at her - but it had been a long twenty-four hours and they deserved some joy.

  "Okay, what the hell is happening?" Dustin opened his arms as he watched the scene before him.

  "Sorry," Lorelei mumbled as she wiped the tears that had fallen from her eyes with a grin "I just think that Steve's choice in hair care is the most amazing thing I have ever heard."

  "O-kay," Steve tried to defend himself "you can't really blame me, can you? I mean, the hair is pretty amazing."

  "I'll hand it to you, Harrington," Lorelei nodded "as far as hair goes, you have a pretty neat thing going for you."

  Steve stood straighter at her words, feeling proud since that was surprising - at least it was surprising to him - the first compliment a girl had given him in quite a while. Nancy had never been one to compliment him much, and due to their shitty breakup, he guessed she wouldn't be a source of them anymore. It felt nice.

  "Thanks, Keller," he beamed, watching as she walked past behind him, her gloved hands reaching into his backpack and opening it up.

  Once the zipper closed, she walked straight past him and Dustin, and Steve noticed that she had grabbed her headphones and walkman. She placed the headphones over her head, pressing play; a pleased smile came onto her face when David Bowie's "Heroes" sounded through her ears.

  "And if you tell anyone that I just complimented your stupid hair," she turned to Steve with a cheeky grin "your ass is grass."

  With those words, Lorelei turned back and continued the amazing job of creating a trail of meat. As pathetic as she looked at that moment, walking ahead with Steve Harrington and Dustin Henderson trailing behind her, Lorelei could not help but feel badass as the music flowed into her mind.

  "She is the coolest babysitter I know" Dustin spoke under his breath, a smile on his face.

  "Yeah, she is" Steve smiled.

  Dustin turned to him, raising his eyebrows in a questioning manner at the words that had tumbled from Steve's lips. 

  "What?" Steve shrugged "you said it Henderson. Jeez."

  He pushed past Dustin quickly, not wishing to be under the boy's investigative gaze any longer. As he moved, Dustin watched for a few more moments, trying to make sense of the mess in his head before he shrugged to himself and continued walking.

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