CHAPTER NINE
IX. the calm before
[ season 2, episode 6 ]
Lucia and Max decided to get ice-cream on the weekend. It gave them more time to meander around the measly town of Hawkins, and made it easier to escape Lucas's vain attempts at luring them back into the group.
Although, Lucia was almost certain Max was hiding something. She avoided eye contact at all costs, especially when the Delgado mentioned the boys.
But nevertheless, the pair shared the sidewalk outside of the sweet treats store, using their feet to roll Max's skateboard along the gravel path. Lucia had bought a strawberry ice cream, and Max had opted for the mint chocolate chip. They sat in a comfortable silence, legs crossed, a chilly gust of wind billowing through the air. The silence wasn't awkward ── if anything, it gave them a moment to ponder things in their mind. Especially Max, who was reconsidering her vital promise to Lucas back in the arcade yesterday morning, after she was told the almost unbelievable story of the Upside Down. She felt Lucia deserved to know. Right? Perhaps.
Not right now. She could wait it out. Until a better chance arose, Max was going to keep her hard-to-believe secret disclosed.
Screw Lucas. Lucia was part of the group just as much as Max was. Secrets implemented rifts, and she didn't want to see the brunette turn her back on them out of frustration.
"Do you wanna listen to some music?" Lucia inquired suddenly, glancing over at her redheaded friend.
Max nodded, relieved at the distraction, "Sure."
The Delgado used one hand to pry her Walkman out from her camouflage jacket pocket. A pair of headphones dangled from the object, and Lucia offered her friend one of the buds, which was accepted gratefully. She then prodded one of the buttons. Music streamed from the miniature speakers instantaneously, pooling in their ears like wet cement.
Max's brow tightened in curiosity, having recognised the lofty singing voice. She tipped her head to the side, eyes falling upon Lucia's jovial expression. "Hey, what song is this?"
"Leave It Open." she informed. "Kate Bush. She's one of my favourite artists."
"Really?"
"Duh! Her album is amazing."
Max popped her lower lip out over the top, humming lowly. She bopped her head along in time with the music, "I like it."
"That's a given. Kate Bush is magical." Lucia gave a dramatic flair of her arms, waving them out either side of her body as if casting a spell.
She liked the energy radiating from their interaction. It was easy. Nothing was forced, which Lucia felt was an often occurrence whenever she conversed with the boys. She didn't know how to talk to them without having an unwarranted edge to her tone, but with Max Mayfield, everything seemed to come much smoother. Easier. She felt like herself.
That was something that hadn't happened since kindergarten. Lucia was always the outcast ── struggling to make friends, typically shoved out of groups and thrown to the pavement. A lone wolf.
Max was different. She was kind, behind her stone-cold and intimidatingly fierce exterior. That was hard to find.
Lucia finished the last of her ice cream, gazing up at the flock of squawking birds passing by overhead. Since it was mid-November, the weather was colder than usual ── bone-numbing winds gushing through the air, a canopy of grey clouds melting together in the melancholy sky. Hawkins was looking moodier than usual. More bleak.
Nothing out of the ordinary for the boring town.
She inserted another tape into her Walkman. This time, she steered away from the captivating voice of Kate Bush, and opted for Queen. Everyone liked Queen. Their songs had a natural thrill, an easy adoration. And Freddie Mercury's voice was so incredibly unique that it was difficult not to like the tunes.
"Crazy Little Thing Called Love." Max stated, pointing to the Walkman. "This is one of my favourites."
"Seems we have similar taste in music."
Max nodded in agreement. "Maybe you could lend me some of your tapes. Like, the Kate Bush ones. If that's okay, obviously."
Lucia noticed the redhead had a tendency to force her words out rather vehemently. Her tongue worked before her brain had a chance to churn, giving her little to no control over what she was saying.
Nevertheless, Lucia pressed her lips into a genuine smile. "Sure. I don't use them that often, anyways."
She slid the tapes over to Max, the plastic exterior rattling against the rough cobblestone. It felt like a jigsaw piece had been torn from a completed puzzle ── a longing sensation tugging in her heart that refused to dissipate. Max silently scooped the tapes up and flicked through the vast selection, her brow quirking at the names of some songs.
Before they were able to speak more on the topic of music, someone approached. Their footsteps thundered against the pavement, shallow breaths inching through their windpipe.
Lucia squinted up at the nearing figure. She knew who it was instantly, the patterned headband the major giveaway.
"Lucas. What do you want?" her voice was colder than ice.
Max's eyes swelled in size at the mention of Lucas's name. And once she saw him, she scrambled up from the ground, scrutinising him so deeply that Lucia honestly thought the redhead was going to carve visible marks into his skin.
Lucas exhaled sharply, regaining his breath. Unbeknownst to Lucia, he had been searching for her at school during the week to apologise for his friend's rude misdemeanours, but discovered she was a very difficult person to locate. Now due to his inability to find her, the girl held a grudge. It was insufferable as much as it was deserved.
Although, Mike should be the one apologising. He made her feel unwanted after all ── nobody else. Not Lucas.
But Lucia wasn't the type to forgive easily.
"I need Max." Lucas admitted sheepishly. This encounter was already beginning to feel like a blast from the past: excluding Lucia from discussions. "Sorry. I can explain everything later."
A sinking feeling blossomed in Lucia's stomach. She lowered her head, gnawing on her lower-lip.
Max scoffed, taking a stand, "That's super unfair. She deserves to know just as much as I do."
"Deserve to know what?" Lucia inquired. Consider her interest piqued.
Lucas shot Max a blatantly obvious disapproving glare. Her confounding words pinned the spotlight on him, illuminating his repentant expression ── Lucia's ferocious gaze carving holes into his soul. The guilt was overwhelming. Overpowering.
He was being unfair. Max was right.
How were the group going to feel about him straying?
"Just . . ." Lucas sighed restlessly, scrunching his hands into tight fists. He held Max's gaze as he spoke, "I have proof. Proof that what I told you was real. But we have to hurry."
"What kind of proof?" Max challenged.
Confused, Lucia picked herself up from the pavement and stood beside her friend, as if the obscured information was radioactive and it would seep from Max's bones into her own. She wondered aloud, "Proof?"
"Yes. You have to see it to understand." Lucas informed vaguely. "We need to hurry."
"Only if Lucia gets to know." Max demanded. She folded her arms, showing how adamant she was about this.
Lucas tipped his head into a vigorous nod, "She can. We can tell her on the way."
"Where are we going?"
However, before Lucas had a chance to indulge the girls on his master plan, the roaring of an approaching engine rumbled through the air like a resounding thunder clap. Apparently, this was a common sound to meet Max Mayfield's ears. Ever present in her nightmares. She gasped, fearful gaze set on the road cutting between the strip of stores.
A Chevrolet Camaro sped into the street, gleaming paint-coat, drawing the attention of passerby's. Lucia felt a pressing weight clasp around her wrist, and she looked down at the exact moment both she and Lucas were yanked behind the dilapidated, chipping wall of the sweet treats store.
"Is something wrong?" the Delgado questioned nervously. She pressed her back to the wall in unison with her friends, brows furrowed. Clearly, there was something to fault.
Max swallowed hard. "It's Billy. My stepbrother."
Ah ── Billy Hargrove. Lucia had only ever heard unpleasant stories about the teenage boy. He was a total jerk.
Lucas's breath trembled apprehensively. He squeezed his eyes closed when the sound of a car door slamming eerily close to their hiding position rattled throughout the desolate street. Lucia and Max peered around the corner, where they saw Billy stomping out a cigarette on the sidewalk. He was alone. And he looked more menacing than ever.
Suddenly, his gaze flittered along the length of the street. Lucia and Max were not swift enough in their stealthy movements, and they slid behind the wall at the same moment Billy's eyes traversed directly toward their area.
On his end, the Hargrove saw a flash of red hair whipping out of view.
Hmph.
"We need to go. Now." Max hissed.
Lucia raised her hands in response, "I'm definitely not arguing."
"Let's go." Lucas whispered.
Within seconds, they dashed into the wooded area behind the elongated strip of stores. It was their only option. Their only way to escape Max's sadistic step-brother. And only a moment later, Billy was stomping into their previous hiding spot, a freshly-lit cigarette propped between his teeth. Smoke billowed out from the gap forming amid his lips, and he looked into the cluster of trees ── knowing exactly where his step-sister and her cronies would have desperately fled to in hopes of escaping his visceral wrath.
Oh, but they had made a terrible mistake.
✧.｡. *.
Stephanie awoke with an unrealistic theory haunting her mind. Ever since Dustin and Steve informed her of Hawkins true demeanour, she had been disconnected from her surroundings, lost in her own mind. She saw the world in a different light. A hazy fog was cast over reality ── whispers from the past echoing amidst the sheet of obscurity. Faces she barely knew cropping up between dreams and nightmares.
The lab story. Will Byers's fake death. The experimentations on children. It was leading her down paths she never knew existed.
But . . . she couldn't be too convinced. Drawing up conclusions on what could be false hope and naivety seemed unrealistic. Unattainable. She didn't even mention her theory to Steve and Dustin.
Although, that didn't deter her from thinking about it.
The trio had used Dustin's sitting room as a sleeping chamber last night. They had made plans for daybreak and decided it was best to stick together. The recapture of Dart was going to be inordinately difficult to navigate, including the immediate extermination of what Dustin believed to be a baby Demogorgon ── or whatever those inter-dimensional monsters were called. Stephanie had been wary of that segment of the story, not entirely believing it all. She had to see the flesh-eating beasts to completely believe in their dwelling.
They wasted no time in forging the next part of their plan. Sunlight burst through the hemisphere, and Steve's car was pulling into the parking lot of their nearby store before seven.
He came back out with a trolley full of packaged meat. Beef mostly, with some pork. Despite their heavy fatigue, the trio shredded the mutilated cow and pig into small chunks, sizeable enough for Dart to chew, and dumped them into buckets.
One bucket each. One chance at ending the creature's reign.
They decided to follow the abandoned strip of train-tracks out in the deep wilderness of Hawkins, where they were least likely to be encountered by fellow humans out to cause unnecessary dilemmas. A junkyard awaited them at the end of the line, a perfect destination to assemble their trap for Dart. Lucas, one of Dustin's friends, was going to meet them there. Backup.
Steve parked his car at the end of the railway in a cloud of shrubbery, and from there the trio began their expedition, dropping meat on the ground Hansel and Gretel style.
Absentmindedly, Steph had strayed from the boys. She was walking a fair few metres ahead, dipping her gloved hands into the bucket, prying out squishy hunks of meat. The thud of the beef hitting the tracks was drilling into her brain ── she was running on little sleep, and her mind was spinning remorselessly, churning out a dozen scenarios revolving around her discovery of the Upside Down. It was a scrambled mess, nothing viable branching from the tumultuous hurricane.
She hadn't realised Steve was beside her until he cleared his throat. Dustin was still lingering behind a few paces, not wanting to intervene.
"Hey." the Harrington said causally. Too casual. As if they weren't hunting some supernatural monster. "You okay?"
Steph had been mid-way through the same scenario that kept her up the majority of the night, involving the lab and her late Uncle, images splitting through her mind, infiltrating every crevice of her aching brain. She hummed in response to Steve's inquiry, replying with a distant, "Yeah. Fine."
"You've gone all quiet."
Steph's whirlwind of thoughts faded into an abyss of darkness. She could only see Steve's face now, melting into her bleary vision. "I have?"
"Yeah . . ." he glanced sidelong at her expression. It was almost vacant, apart from the glimmer of fear swirling in her cobalt eyes ── causing a flare of concern to tug wickedly at his heartstrings. That reaction had been unexpected. "I know it's a lot. Hearing about what happened last year."
She agreed with a muffled hmph.
"I mean, you totally don't have to be a party to this. If it's too much, you can head back home. Dustin won't take offence . . . I don't think."
Steph frowned. She grabbed another hunk of meat, dropping it onto the tracks with a faint squelch. Her gloved fingers felt sticky and unpleasant, but that didn't deter her from doing what was necessary to lure Dart toward his untimely extinction event. Neither did Steve's comforting words.
"It's not too much." she admitted blandly. Being serious with Steve felt wrong, in a way. Unnatural. "I've been thinking, that's all. I go quiet when I think."
"Thinking about what?"
Steph shrugged. "Stuff."
"Stuff." Steve echoed with a small shake of his head. He knew she was refraining from telling him something, and he wanted to know why. And what. "That could mean a bunch of things, Miller."
She expelled a sigh through her nostrils, glancing over her shoulder to check up on Dustin's welfare. He was gazing into the trees at the sound of a twig snapping, shoulders bunched up as trepidation seeped into his bones like wall plaster. It was nothing to worry about, though ── a squirrel scuttled down a tree, the culprit of noise. Dustin visibly calmed.
Now, back to Steve. He wanted to know why her demeanour had shifted so violently.
"It's just ──" she stopped herself from spewing the truth. Her pursed lips paled, as if sewn together by invisible string.
Steve deflated. He didn't like this version of Stephanie Miller: dejected and wooden. Not only was it frustrating, but it was also an unnatural repose for the girl. "You know you can tell me anything, right? I know I've been a major asshole in the past, but . . . I'm a changed man."
Admittedly, that last line made Steph crack a smile.
Steve hadn't meant for the bold statement to come across as amusing, but seeing the colour return to her cheeks and the life crackle in her eyes made his lips twist upward, too.
"That's funny to you?" the Harrington teased, hurling a hunk of meat into the distance.
"Hilarious." Steph deadpanned. The ghost of a smile still lingered over her mouth, however, unable to fade.
And that familiar lurch in her stomach ── it returned full force.
"No, but seriously." Steve started up again, eyes subconsciously trailing along her tightened jawline. "What's on your mind?"
"Nothing." she said, albeit unconvincingly.
She was lying through the skin of her teeth, eradicating Steve's concerns by smothering her own. Speaking her mind was unnecessary and irrelevant ── especially considering the thoughts looming in her mind were likely nothing to worry about. Just speculation. That was all it was: just stupid speculation.
It had to be.
Her eyes flickered to a bunch of daisies plunged into the ground by her feet. Something struck her mind.
Fake it flowers.
Steph quickly mustered up a saccharine smile, meeting Steve's pensive gaze. "Trust me. It's nothing."
"Nothing?"
"Nothing." she concluded.
Steve blew air into his cheeks, puffing them outward, dropping the tense conversation with some hesitancy. He spared Steph a singular glance from the corner of his eye before finally raising his hands in surrender, backing away. He rejoined Dustin, but his eyes were still pinned to the figure lumbering ahead.
She was acting different.
Dustin noticed the absent, borderline troubled look in Steve's eyes, and made a sardonic inquiry, "Trouble in paradise?"
Steve snapped his gaze toward the boy in an instant, eyebrows cinching together overzealously. "Yeah. Right."
"Seemed pretty intense."
"It wasn't."
Dustin huffed a disbelieving laugh, "Okay."
"It wasn't." Steve snapped sternly. He dipped his hand into the bucket of meat and threw a hunk of beef into the wooded area on the left side of the railway. It thudded against a tree and rolled into a animal-ditch. "Nothing about that was intense."
"Okay." Dustin repeated, the statement lacking sarcasm this time. He exhaled deeply, shaking his head at Steve. "Jeez."
"Don't jeez me."
"I'll jeez you if I want to jeez you."
"Is that a threat?"
"Does it sound like ──"
"Oh, my God!" Steph barked suddenly, whipping around with an angered expression. Dustin and Steve halted in their path, staring ahead at the vexed girl apprehensively, both looking like dears caught in headlights. "Can you two stop bickering? You sound like a pair of goddamn toddlers."
She rolled her eyes and turned back around.
Wordlessly, Dustin and Steve picked up their feet and began walking ahead once again. The dull thud of meat hitting the metal tracks ebbed into the stiff silence, alongside the distant chirping of birds.
After a few seconds, Dustin cleared his throat, his voice significantly more quiet when he spoke, "She's kinda of scary when she's mad."
Steve scoffed, "No, man, she's scary always."
"Clearly."
"I mean. . ." Steve threw the chunk of beef into the canopy of trees ahead, the branches skeletal and bare. "We wouldn't be stuck in this mess if you hadn't kept something you knew was probably dangerous in order to impress a girl who you just met."
"All right," Dustin raised a hand. "That's grossly oversimplifying things."
"I mean, why would a girl like some nasty slug anyway." Steve pondered.
"An interdimensional slug? Because it's awesome."
"Well, even if she thought it was cool, which she didn't, I . . . I just . . ." Steve shrugged, his gaze momentarily darting toward Steph, who was walking much faster, putting a large distance between them. He sighed, "I don't know. I just feel like you're trying way too hard."
"Well, not everyone can have your perfect hair, all right?" Dustin muttered bitterly.
"It's not about the hair, man." Steve said, gesticulating the importance of that fact with a sweep of his hand, gliding it through the air. "The key with girls is just . . . just acting like you don't care. It drives them nuts."
Dustin tilted his head to the side, intrigued. "Then what?"
"You just wait until, uh. . ." Hesitant, Steve glanced ahead. Steph was too far to hear their discussion, but still a little too close for comfort. He lowered his voice cautiously, "until you feel it."
"Feel what?"
"It's like before it's gonna storm, you know?" Steve elaborated. "You can't see it, but you can feel it. Like this, uh . . ." he paused, trying to find the right word to say. His thoughts glistened with broken shards of Nancy, and how he felt whenever they were together. It became clear then, "electricity. You know?"
Dustin was midway through understanding and being entirely clueless, "Oh, like in the electromagnetic field when the clouds in the atmosphere ──"
"No, no, no, no. Like a ── like a sexual electricity."
"Oh."
A chunk of meat squelched once it hit the ground. Meanwhile, Steve spoke like he was a professional advisor, "You feel that, and then you make your move."
"So that's when you kiss her?" Dustin quizzed eagerly.
"No, whoa, whoa. Slow down, Romeo." Steve interjected with haste, raising his hands to demonstrate the severity of making such a mistake. "Sure, okay, some girls want you to be aggressive. Strong, hot and heavy, like a lion. But others, you gotta be slow, stealthy, like a ninja."
"What type is Nancy?"
"Nancy's different." Steve replied, a wry smile inching over his lips when he thought about her. "She's different than the other girls."
Dustin pursed his lips. He looked at the figure ahead, balancing on the train-track wires. "Different to Steph?"
At the mention of her name, Steve drew back from the conversation a little, taken aback by the question. "Steph?"
"Mhm."
"Well . . ." Steve dropped more hunks of beef on the floor. He couldn't seem to tear his gaze away from the blonde girl walking up front, considering Dustin's words with a new approach. "Yeah, Nancy's different to Steph. They're, like, worlds apart. Different galaxies, actually."
"She seems pretty cool." Dustin confessed.
Steve bunched his shoulders up into a feeble shrug, humming lightly. "She's . . . complicated. I can't work her out for the life of me ── never met anyone like her before. She's, like, a really hard crossword."
Dustin quirked a brow, "Do you like her?"
"What? Miller?" Steve spluttered, gesturing between himself and the clueless girl wandering ahead. Dustin nodded, very intrigued by his response. "No. Girls like that don't like boys like me. We're not even on the radar."
"I wasn't asking about her." Dustin simplified. He looked slightly amused. "I was asking about you. Who you like."
Steve furrowed his brows, tossing the meat to the ground with more ferocity than expected. Huh. Kid made a good point.
He sighed exasperatedly, "I think it's always been Nancy for me. We just click, you know. That electricity ── it's always there."
"But . . ." Dustin trailed off, shaking his head.
Steve narrowed his eyes curiously, "What?"
"I don't know how to explain it. You and Steph just seem to work together." the boy admitted sheepishly. His eyes sparkled when a new prospect infiltrated his mind, "Like peanut butter and jelly! Some people think, ew gross, weird combination, but to others it's awesome."
"Peanut butter and jelly?" Steve echoed dubiously. "You think me and Miller are like peanut butter and jelly?"
"Sure. I guess so."
"Wow."
"Well, you're not denying it!"
Steve stuttered over his own words in a rush to deny said words, "I think my reaction was pretty self explanatory."
Dustin was unconvinced. "Totally."
"Just shut up, man."
"Fine."
They continued onward in total silence. Steve inwardly cursed Dustin, because he had made him think. Steve Harrington didn't like to think, especially when it involved the female species, the most complicated of all. Nancy Wheeler had given him enough dramatics and despair to last a life time ── he didn't need more.
He was absolutely Steph Miller was capable of causing a heap more.
Dustin finally caved to the silence. He sighed, continuing to prod the bear mercilessly, "You know, you haven't answered my question."
"I have." Steve defended, his voice thin with impatience.
"No, you didn't." Dustin challenged. "You didn't use yes or no. You just blabbed on and on about Nancy."
Steve scoffed. The kid wasn't wrong, unfortunately. But he also didn't have an answer to give him that didn't involve speaking about the one true love of his life ── you know, the one who called their entire relationship bullshit. The one he was devoted to. The one who gave little back in return. The one who refused to confess her love, because that was simply too difficult a thing to do.
Maybe Nancy wasn't right for him, after all. But, if not Nancy, who else? There was nobody else.
Steph.
No. Dustin had gotten to his head.
"Kid ──"
"Hurry your asses along!" Steph called out, interrupting what was sure to be a well rehearsed speech on Nancy's irresistibility. Torn from the discussion, both boys looked up at the blonde. "I wanna get to the junkyard before nightfall ── pretty sure Jeopardy is on tonight, don't wanna miss it."
She grinned bashfully before turning back to the railway, white-blonde hair swaying in the gentle breeze.
Steve frowned.
The wind seemed to slow.
He was slowly beginning to make a realisation. Dustin's Q&A wrung like bells in his head.
A wire in his brain forged together, magnetising every thought. It clicked. The revelation he made in such a short space of time was like detonating a explosion in the midst of his stomach, and the devastating aftershock of such an atrocity clambered to his heart and brain, pervading each and every one of his senses.
That electricity ── he could feel it now, snaking through his blood as if a bolt of lighting had struck him. Intense and sudden. But, strange thing was, Steve wasn't looking into the captivating eyes of Nancy Wheeler.
Instead, he was in the presence of Steph Miller. Somehow . . . the surge of electricity had never been stronger.
The calm before the storm, as experts would say.
Or simply, the beginning.
─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───
wow. this was 3/4 original work
from my own tiny brain, sorry
for the wait. but here we are!
i hope i write dustin well. he's
kinda hard to write accurate
dialogue for!
i also hope you guys noticed that lucia
gave max tapes for kate bush music!
we don't know how max became a
fan, so I put my own twist on it
and said lucia introduced the music!
that'll play a much bigger part
in season 4...
anyways, hope you enjoyed.
don't forget to vote! <3