"That was painful."
Steve pulled down the handbrake now that his BMW was parked outside of Julie's house, and angle his body to face the profuse dismay written across every inch of her. She had taken her jacket off during the movie and didn't put it back on, simply hugging it close to her body the entire time.
"Hate to say I told you so, but I told you so."
Julie looked at his smug smile. "I'm pretty sure I blacked out halfway through it."
"Okay, it was not that bad."
"I wasn't sure I'd make it out the other side." The haunted contortion of her face didn't relax, even as Steve laughed through his nose, his head falling.
She followed his eyes, even up until they landed on her again. "Well, I'm still glad you came."
"Yeah, I bet you're ecstatic."
"Yeah, I am," he asserts with a conviction that throws her. "Sure, Dustin's a good kid and all-hell, the crap I put myself through for him is a little hard to think about-but it wouldn't have been the same without you."
Her lips slanted into a crooked smile. "Is that so?"
"I like spending time with you," he said softly.
"But I'm such a douche to you."
His eyebrows furrowed, "Yeah, you are. Why is that? We called a truce."
She rose her shoulders, "I like making teenage boys miserable. Their suffering soothes me."
"It's shocking that you're still single."
Julie laughed heartily, her head hiding itself into the crook of her shoulder.
He didn't take her eyes off her, smiling to himself.
She didn't move her head from her side, tilting it just enough that she could look up at him, wide eyed. He could have sworn her eyes never looked more blue, even in the darkness of the night cocooning them.
"Your company's not all that bad either," she said softly, meaning it and he could hear that she did.
"How do you go from insulting my music stash to that?"
She postured herself, pulling a hand away from her jacket to reach for the door handle. "I could say the same to you." Then she clicked it open. "Goodnight, Harrington."
And he let her go, shutting the door behind herself.
She was steps down her driveway, when Steve called out to her through the open passenger window.
"Hey, Jules!"
She turned around.
But he caught his breath as if something he couldn't say was wedged in the back of his throat.
She rose her eyebrows at his wordlessness.
So he settled for a short and sweet, "See you in fourth?"
Her eyes narrowed on him in the way that they always did when she noticed something was off with him. But she didn't question it. "Sure," she responds confusedly.
She chuckled a little to herself and turned around, heading towards her house without looking back once.
But Steve couldn't look away, even as she disappeared behind her front door, he couldn't tear his eyes away, waiting for the kick that would push him out of his car and right after her.
But it never came.
Instead he kicked himself, rolling his eyes and turning on the ignition.
Dustin was right. Only, Steve didn't just feel the electricity. He was electrified.