xiii. a decision, a watch, and a promise!
when wendy carmichael opened her eyes on july 17, 1985, she groaned. it was her birthday.
it had been nearly two weeks since billy hargrove's death, and wendy still hadn't gotten over her grieving process. she wasn't as upset about billy anymore, but she felt sympathy towards max mayfield and how devastated the young girl must've been.
during the first week, wendy was at the mayfield-hargrove house nearly every day just to check in on max. then, she realized that she was avoiding her own grief.
wendy wasn't up to doing much on her birthday, she had told her family that and they understood. lori carmichael had still baked wendy a birthday cake, the strawberry cake with vanilla frosting that she requested every year.
susie carmichael was the first to come to her sister's defense when their parents would criticize wendy spending most of her day in bed.
"she should be soaking up her last couple of days of summer!" richard objected, laying the newspaper down on the table.
"her ex-boyfriend died, dad. have some sympathy." susie scoffed, eating her bowl of cereal.
"she's right, rich. give her time. i think she's supposed to be spending the day with steve." lori placed the breakfast spread on the kitchen table.
steve harrington had been taking his space and giving wendy hers. some nights, she would call and ask for him to sneak over and sleep next to her—her night terrors were back and she didn't know how to combat them without steve and susie.
one night, they had been lying together, steve's fingers intertwined with hers. he had asked her about her college plans and where she was going to end up.
"i'll tell you on my birthday." she whispered to him.
he had spent days riddled with anxiety, because he knew that he couldn't do a long distance relationship with wendy. yet, he loved her too much to break up with her.
wendy carmichael entered the kitchen, sporting a shirt from nyu and and a pair of gym shorts. she had worn her hair in the same up-do for the past two days.
the carmichaels looked up at the birthday girl—richard and lori shared a glance before lori shook her head, she knew that her husband would say something insensitive.
"happy birthday honey. i can't believe you're already eighteen." lori initiated the birthday wishes, planting a kiss on her daughter's cheek.
"thank you mom." wendy's tone was cold, but she didn't mean for it to be.
wendy carmichael dealt with her trauma in ways that she wish she wouldn't—she was closed off, her words came out cold and edged like a sword. she wanted to hug and smile and be grateful that she was able to even reach eighteen years of age, but she couldn't.
"what time are you and steve hanging out?" susie asked, hoping to get through to her sister.
wendy walked over to the table, plucking a piece of bacon off of the plate in the center of the table. she shrugged her shoulders and glanced over at the clock on the wall.
"i think he said two. he won't tell me what we're doing though." she answered.
lori carmichael's eyes didn't leave her daughter once as she watched the eighteen year old girl eat the strip of bacon, take a short sip of orange juice, and turn to go back upstairs.
"this is ridiculous." richard carmichael muttered once his daughter was out of earshot.
✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧
steve harrington had been waiting at the bottom of the steps for his girlfriend to come down so that they could begin her birthday celebration.
"she's been so out of it. the only thing that she manages to do every other day is to go see max, which is good but steve...i'm worried for her..." susie carmichael looked up at her sister's boyfriend.
steve nodded, he knew how spaced out his girlfriend had been.
"don't worry, suse. wendy's one of the strongest people that i know and she is gonna get through this. i'll talk to her today, all right?" he gave susie carmichael a reassuring smile as he rested a hand on her shoulder.
"okay." susan nodded.
if there was anyone that susie trusted to get through to wendy, it was steve. he knew wendy like the back of his hand, and their years of friendship proved that they could mend any problem together.
"i'm ready." steve and susie heard, causing them to look towards the stairs.
wendy carmichael descended down the stairs, she was wearing a short sleeve baby pink and white striped shirt with blue denim shorts. her white tube socks were peeking out from the top of her high top converse. steve felt a smile creep onto his face as he looked over her hair—she had taken the front two pieces that framed her face and made tiny braids. for the first time in two weeks, wendy had managed to recapture her youthful glow.
"hey beautiful," steve stepped forward, giving her a quick kiss. "happy birthday."
wendy wrapped her arms around him tightly. the night before, she had a nightmare but she refused to call steve because she needed to know that she could get through her night terrors on her own. steve's eyebrows furrowed at the intensity of which she clung to him but he didn't mind, he hugged her back.
"let's go," she said once she pulled out of the embrace. "bye suse, i should be back by..." wendy looked at steve for an answer.
steve harrington looked down at his watch—it was currently two thirty. he sighed and began to think before looking at susan carmichael.
"she'll be back by midnight." he nodded.
"midnight?" wendy questioned once her and steve finally left the house. the couple got into steve harrington's car and he nodded.
"i have...a lot to do, and you have a lot to say so..." his voice trailed off as he started his car.
"oh also, look in the back seat." steve said, nodding towards the back of his car. wendy did as told, and her eyes widened.
"steve!" she gasped as she pulled the bouquet of roses from the backseat. she pulled off the card that was taped to the front of them. it was in a yellow envelope addressed 'wendy'.
"can i open it?" she asked, glancing over at her boyfriend.
"yeah of course." steve nodded.
wendy opened the envelope carefully, she already knew that she would be taking this with her to college to read on the nights that she missed steve.
"happy bi—"
"no, no, don't read it out loud. i can't hear myself get that emotional again." steve shook his head as he continued to drive, he didn't look from the road.
"fine, fine." wendy agreed.
her hazel eyes scanned over the card, her eyes began to well with tears as she continued to read it. she felt her bottom lip quiver and she reached to swipe a tear from the corner of her eye.
"i love you steve." she looked at her boyfriend. steve's brown eyes glanced at her and he smiled, he reached over and set his hand on her thigh.
"i love you more, always." he stated.
steve's car came to a stop, causing wendy to look up and gasp.
"no way." she let out a laugh.
steve harrington nodded and got out of the car. he walked around to wendy's door and opened it—they were at the place where they had their first date. hawkins only had one year-round ice skating rink, and steve harrington had managed to rent it out for one night.
"my mom talked to some of the folks here. c'mon." he grabbed his girlfriend's hand and tugged her inside.
the chilled air from the ice rink was just what steve and wendy needed to escape the summer heat. wendy felt like she had time traveled back to their first date—december 28th, 1984 was a date that would be forever engraved in her memory.
the two got their ice skates and laced up before making their way onto the ice. steve hated ice skating, but he would do whatever made wendy happy. on their first date, he had fallen an embarrassing amount of times, yet wendy didn't care. she helped him get right back up and helped him skate again.
"i'm gonna be so much better this time i swear." steve got on the ice, he was unsteady at first but he wasn't wrong. he had gotten better somehow.
"you're doing it!" wendy smiled and clapped her hands together. she was skating backwards and then began to pick up a comfortable speed to skate.
"oh this is easy! babe look!" steve skated across the ice with ease.
the girl laughed and cheered on her boyfriend's accomplishment. wendy carmichael loved anything steve harrington did and that was a fact and there was no doubt in her mind that he was the love of her life. steve saw his girlfriend staring at him with a big smile plastered on her face—he was glad that he could distract her from the trauma that had been infiltrating her life recently.
"steve?" she skated over to him, grabbing his hands. his brown eyes searched hers for answers.
"what is it?" he asked.
she smiled and sighed, this was it.
"i'm going to illinois." she said.
"wh-what?" he didn't think he heard her right. there's no way that she could've said that she was going to illinois for college.
"i know that i said that i was going to new york but that was when i thought there was nothing here for me, but...but everything is here. my family is here...not like my actual family, but you and max and mike and lucas and dustin and robin and and—" steve gave her arm a squeeze.
"slow down, slow down." he reassured as she rambled.
"you guys are my chosen family. i want to be closer to them and to you. hawkins is where home is, it's where the love of my life is." heat rushed to steve's cheeks and he felt his heart skip a beat.
"so you're going to illinois?" steve stood still on the ice, waiting for her confirmation.
"i'm going to illinois." wendy nodded.
and in that moment, steve harrington knew that he would do whatever it would take to keep wendy carmichael in his life forever. long distance wouldn't hurt that much.
✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧
12:17 am.
wendy carmichael laid next to her boyfriend, glancing at the alarm clock over his shoulder.
"you told susie that i'd be back by midnight." wendy laid back on steve's pillow.
"you live right next door, calm down." he jumped out of his bed and grabbed wendy's final present and climbed back into bed with her.
"its not even my birthday anymore." wendy stated, but accepted the bag.
"i don't care, i'd celebrate you every day if i could." he sat up, leaning over to grab his shirt off of the floor to hand to his girlfriend.
wendy pulled the shirt onto her body and sat up as well, pulling a box out of the bag. it was a rectangular box and she opened it, gasping.
it was a cartier watch, she looked up at steve in disbelief.
"i figured you'd need a new watch for college. look at the back." he stated.
wendy did and smiled, it had an engraving—
WC & SH 1984 on it. she turned to her boyfriend and wrapped her arms around him, nearly knocking him back onto the bed.
"i love it steve, and i love you." she whispered into his ear.
"i'm glad you love it. hey wen?" steve asked.
"what's wrong?" wendy pulled back, looking into her boyfriend's eyes.
"you know that i...well, if you ever need me while you're at college like if you need to call me late at night to talk or anything, i'll be there for you." he was nervous thinking about wendy having to handle her night terrors by herself.
watching steve get vulnerable about her nightmares made wendy frown, she reached up and pressed her hand to his cheek and stared into his eyes.
"steve, we'll get through this. i promise. you can visit me as much as you want and i'll come back for any holiday that i have off for school." wendy smiled.
"even spring break?" steve asked, feeling like he was staring at his whole world.
"even spring break." wendy nodded.
—
and thats a wrap on technicolor!!
it took longer than it should've, but i had
a completely different epilogue planned so
i had to completely scrap that one and rewrite it
buuuut this kind of leaves things open ended for if
wendy will or wont be present for the season 4
festivities. i'm not sure if i'll write a third book,
but i will definitely decide once vol 2 comes out.
i hope you guys enjoyed technicolor, wendy's development, and the carmichaels!
feel free to let me know if you guys
would like a third book :)
(and i do have steve's birthday letter
to wendy written out if you guys would
like that too)