"'tis the season to be jolly."
ˏˋ°•*⁀➷
IT WAS A FEW DAYS BEFORE CHRISTMAS IN HAWKINS. Somehow, Colby found himself signed up to volunteer at the Hawkins' Middle Snowball Dance, thanks to Nancy's constant pestering. Finally, he caved, agreeing to help Mr. Clarke with tickets.
Nonetheless, he had to dress up like he was the one attending the dance. He walked into the living room to see Cassie trying to fix her hair in the hallway mirror. She, too, was attending the dance to help Nancy with punch.
"How's the ankle?" he asked, looking down at the cast around her right ankle, which Steve Harrington had accidentally broke while they were waiting for the news on Will and the gate.
"Better now." she shrugged, smiling at him. "Alright, let's go, loser. We don't have all day."
"It's night now anyway." he said sarcastically, only to be shoved in the head. "Jesus, calm down!"
They decided to take Cassie's car over to the middle school, where they parked in front of the building. Colby could see a few students filtering in, all looking excited to dance.
The siblings bid their goodbyes to one another as Colby joined Mr. Clarke at a table he'd set up near the front door. Cassie headed inside the actual gym, standing beside Nancy, who Colby immediately saw and continued to stare at. It was almost like he was mesmerized by her, ignoring his pledge of he and Nancy being "friends." She had her hair up, and she was wearing a pink dress.
"Looking very snazzy tonight, sir." said Mr. Clarke, looking up. Colby followed his gaze to see Dustin Henderson— only his hair was styled differently. Colby's jaw hung open as he realized why the hair looked so familiar; it was Steve Harrington's signature style. In fact, looking out to the parking lot, Colby could see Steve sitting in his car in front of the school. He was grinning at Dustin.
"Thank you, my lord." returned Dustin with a bright smile. He put his ticket in the box. "Do you like the new hair?"
"Oh, absolutely." Colby answered for Mr. Clarke. "Please tell me where you got your style tips?"
"A friend." shrugged Dustin, grinning to himself. "You might know him... although you probably don't."
Colby hummed, smiling at Dustin. "Oh, I'm sure I don't."
Dustin saluted Colby as he headed inside to the dance. Colby grinned after his friend before turning back and looking out the window. Steve was long gone. Colby somewhat wished he'd stuck around.
"Hey, I don't think there's that many people coming in anymore." said Mr. Clarke kindly, smiling at Colby. "If you wanna head in there. I'm pretty sure a few kids from your school are there..."
"Oh, thanks, Mr. Clarke." grinned Colby, shaking the older man's hand. "Have a nice Christmas."
While Colby usually wouldn't have gone to a middle school dance, he figured he could talk to Cassie or Jonathan... or maybe some of the kids from the party. He couldn't talk to Nancy— he knew his stupid mouth would say something about how she looked.
But when Colby walked into the gym, his first sight was all of the couples slow dancing. It seemed as if they'd just started, seeing how awkward they all were. It could just be due to age, of course. Middle schoolers were always awkward.
Colby turned, looking over his shoulder. That was when he saw Dustin storming behind the streamers to take a seat on the bleachers. He looked heartbroken, standing all by himself. Almost immediately, Colby found himself making his way through the crowds of students to get to Dustin, who looked like he was crying.
"Hey?" Colby said, pushing the streamers out of his face. "Dustin?"
Dustin looked up, his eyes red and swollen. It was a clear sign that he'd been crying. Colby's heart sank at the sight. He never wanted Dustin to feel upset, certainly not on a night where he was supposed to be enjoying himself.
"Oh," mumbled Dustin, rubbing his eyes. "Sorry, I didn't know anyone saw me-"
"Are you okay?" questioned Colby genuinely, taking a seat beside the boy and putting an arm around him.
"Just... no one wanted to dance with me." he muttered under his breath, staring at his shoes. "I don't know why..."
"Because girls can... well, girls can be blind sometimes, you know?" shrugged Colby, smiling down at Dustin. "Plus, I'm sure they'd like you more without this Steve Harrington hair. Your normal hair is nice enough as is."
"He's right." said another voice, and the boys looked up to see Nancy standing above them, smiling down at them. She stuck a hand out to Dustin. "Wanna dance?"
Dustin looked up at her with wide eyes. "What?"
"Come on, let's go." said Nancy, taking his hand and leading him out onto the dance floor. Colby grinned to himself as he saw girls from Dustin's grade staring at them, slack jawed.
Cassie took a seat beside Colby, smirking at him. "Wow. Dustin Henderson is stealing your lady, huh?"
Colby rolled his eyes, leaning away from her. "She's not my lady. She's a lady."
"Wow. Such a feminist, aren't you?"
Colby loved Cassie. That was clear to see. He loved Jayson, too, although maybe that would be harder to perceive for some onlookers. If Jayson wasn't so icy and closed off, there'd be potential for he and Colby to be as close as normal brothers that had grown up together their entire lives. Nonetheless, Colby couldn't help but admire Jayson— the one that didn't abuse alcohol.
"I believe I am," shrugged Colby arrogantly, before letting a regular smile cross his face as he slouched again. "Do you have any Christmas gifts for me?"
"You bet." winked Cassie cleverly. "Of course, the medical bill took away from some of it-"
"I'm being sarcastic, you know." Colby raised a brow at her. He never asked for gifts for Christmas, although he usually got some. That wasn't to say he didn't give anything to Jayson or Cassie. In fact, he usually bought the members of the party gifts as well. It's not like they were expensive, but he thought they'd enjoy them. Usually Will would enjoy them the most. He'd learned a long time ago (from Joyce) that Will was an artist. Sometimes he bought him crayons or colored pencils.
"Yeah, but I'm not." said Cassie, sighing as she leaned back against the bleachers. "You know I go all out for Christmas."
Colby laughed a little. "Yes, I'm aware. But maybe, you know, considering you work at a grocery store and don't own MTV, you should cut back on the expenses a little."
Cassie rolled her eyes, ignoring him as she brushed the hair out of her face. She seemed to be reminiscing, or thinking. Thinking about someone, from the way she let a small, almost invisible smile cross her lips. She looked over at Colby, and the smile faded a little.
"What the hell? Don't be so happy to see me."
Cassie almost responded, her mouth open a little, when her eyes went past Colby and over his shoulder. He didn't turn around, mainly because he was afraid it was someone Cassie was going to try and flirt with. He prayed it wasn't a middle schooler, at the least.
"Look who's coming over here." she mumbled, and Colby felt as if he didn't have a choice to look. It was Nancy, who had parted ways with Dustin just as another slow dance came on. She smiled at Colby when his eyes latched onto her, and he reciprocated it, although slightly weaker.
"Hi," she said when she arrived at the bleachers. Cassie cleared her throat and stood up.
"I'd best help the kids with the punch." she grinned, before excusing herself from the two.
"Hey," greeted Colby nervously. "How was your dance with Dustin?"
Nancy hummed, taking a seat beside Colby. "It was nice. He's so sweet, you know?"
"Yeah, I know," agreed Colby, turning his head to look at her. "So, why are you over here? Shouldn't you be... I don't know, working?"
Nancy let a shocked laugh out, and Colby recoiled, concerned he said something he shouldn't have. He replayed it in his mind and realized how sarcastic he'd sounded. "Oh, wait, I didn't mean it like that-"
"I know you didn't." Nancy assured him, still smiling widely. "Anyways, since I'm not working, I was wondering if you wanted to dance with me?"
"Isn't it more traditional for me to ask you?" queried Colby, tilting his head. "Then again, Cassie told me I was a feminist."
Nancy rolled her eyes, taking Colby's hand and leading him out to the dance floor, where they stood amongst the overly talkative preteens.
"I take it you know how to dance with a lady?" said Nancy, putting her arms around his shoulders. Colby chuckled nervously.
"We-Well, sort of, I guess... I mean, then again, the-the most I've ever danced with a girl was with my little sister."
Nancy tilted her head, guiding Colby's hands to her hips. "I didn't know you had a sister. Other than Cassie, I mean."
"Yeah, no I did." Colby nodded his head, smiling down at the ground. "She was really sweet... and she was a genius. Way smarter than me, if you could picture it."
"Oh, I can." teased Nancy, grinning. "Do you two not talk anymore?"
"I wish we could." sighed Colby, forcing a laugh. "Hey, listen, let's not talk about that. I'm here to talk to you."
"Oh, is that the sole reason you came?"
"Obviously." grinned Colby, somewhat lopsidedly. "Why else would I want to come to a middle school dance?"
Nancy beamed at him, and the two continued to dance until the end of the night, when they went their separate ways.
˗ˏˋ 'ˎ˗
It was Christmas Day in Hawkins. However, it was a little bit past noon, so the festivities at the Martin house were well past over. Even Laurie had come down for a bit— resulting in a harsh bruise around Colby's wrist.
There was a knock at the door, and Colby looked up from his book to try and see who it was through the front window. He could only see a part of their sleeve, but he could tell they were short.
When he opened the door, Colby beamed, seeing El standing on his front porch with a nervous look on her face. When she saw Colby, however, she smiled.
"Hi!" she cheered, looking past him and into the house. "Do you have them?"
Colby laughed, for he knew exactly what she was asking for. "Do I have them? Of course I have them. I've been saving them. I hope they're still good..."
"Oh no," said El nervously.
"...But if they're not, we'll just go to the grocery store and buy more." he finished, closing the door behind her. "How was your Christmas, El?"
"Good!" she said happily, taking a seat at the kitchen table. "I got to see Mike."
"Oh," said Colby, turning around and smiling at her, "are you dating Mike?"
El turned her head down sheepishly, before furrowing her brows together. "Dating?"
"Yeah... it's like, you know... when you like them, and you want to spend time with them, and you kiss them a lot." Colby explained, but he wasn't quite sure if his definition was right. He'd never dated anyone before. Come to think of it, Colby was less experienced with love than a girl who'd grown up in a lab.
El shrugged, looking out the window blankly. "I guess so, then."
"Well good for you!" Colby put the waffle in the toaster before taking a seat in front of El. "Hey, can I tell you a secret?"
"Secret." repeated El, intrigued.
"It means you can't tell anyone else." he continued, and she nodded. "Especially not Nancy."
"Mike's sister."
"Yeah, her."
"Can I tell Mike?"
"No, El." Colby shook his head, grinning a little. "But you can tell me about it."
"But you already know!" whined El, shaking her head. "I don't understand!"
"We can talk about it whenever you want." Colby assured her. "So that you can always talk about it to someone and get it out of your system."
El nodded, and he was glad to see she understood. In fact, he noticed how smart she'd gotten since he'd last seen her. Before, words were hard to string together and she didn't know basic human concepts. She was almost evolving, although he hated to call it that.
"I have a crush on Nancy," Colby told her, leaning forward, "a crush is like... it's like when you're dating someone, except you don't kiss them or spend time with them. It's like... one person wants to date the other."
"Oh," said El shortly. "Nancy doesn't want to date you?"
"We're friends." shrugged Colby, looking over his shoulder at the roaster, where the waffle had just popped out of. He got out of his seat and grabbed it, putting it on a plate. "Hey, why don't we go get lunch some time? We can try and find out if you like anything besides Eggos..."
jack
finally done with szn 2. i honestly had no motivation in the early parts of the season but i gained it in the last few episodes
also i'm literally also finished writing. i have to wait until vol 2 to start again, although i already started the first chapter for vol 2
only two weeks until vol 2🫶
(6/17/22)