TRICK OR TREAT, FREAK
“i don't want you to get hurt”
“I HEARD ABOUT THIS PARTY TONIGHT,” Hopper said as Charlie sat herself down at the breakfast table, the girl having briefly checked her watch to check the time before being surprised by the sudden comment.
“Please don’t go and break it apart,” Charlie sighed, taking a swig of her orange juice. “When you did that last time I got shaving foam in my locker everyday for a week just because they knew you were my uncle. Somehow, they thought I snitched. I do not care enough to snitch.”
“That’s not what I was gonna say,” Hopper chuckled to himself as he flipped over the french toast on the frying pan. “I was thinkin’ maybe you should go. At least for an hour or two.”
“Oh, not you too,” Charlie shook her head. Why was everyone suddenly obsessed with her interacting with others? She was pretty happy with her small circle of friends. “I’d actually rather put up with the shaving foam covered textbooks than deal with anybody at one of those parties.”
“I think it’ll be good for you,” Hopper shrugged, moving the frying pan over to her waiting plate, pushing two slices onto it. “Y’know, talkin’ to people your own age. Not being stuck in here.”
“I’m not stuck in here,” Charlie assured him, picking up her knife and fork as he headed back over to the stove. “I like living here. It’s quiet.”
“Look, all I’m sayin’ is that the party could be a good idea,” Hopper defended himself with a quick smile back at her. “Just listen to your ol’ uncle, okay?”
“I’ll think about it,” Charlie reasoned, leaning back in her chair as she took the first bite of toast. She had thought about going to the party. And, no, it wasn’t just because Nancy wanted her to, but she had to admit that had played a big part in deciding. Charlie hated that she couldn’t control what she was feeling, she hated that she wasn’t… normal. That even if she did tell Nancy — not that she would ever — she’d lose her.
Charlie took a breath, picking up her fork again and took another bite of her breakfast. However, as she leaned back, her eyes caught sight of a bright flash of white pass by. Her toast got stuck in her throat, the girl’s face turning a deep red as she fell into a coughing fit. At the sound of Charlie struggling, Hopper turned around from the stove, only to find the same white sheet ghost standing in front of him.
“Oh, Jesus!” Hopper exclaimed, nearly dropping the spatula in his hand.
“Ghost,” Eleven spoke simply from underneath it. Charlie managed to pull herself out of her previous shock, swallowing the piece of toast with a wince, taking another gulp of orange juice.
“Sure is,” Charlie agreed, her voice strained.
“Halloween,” Eleven spoke one word again, glancing between Hopper and Charlie as the man pushed the next couple pieces of french toast on his and El’s plates.
“Mhm,” Hopper hummed. “But right now, it’s breakfast, okay? See how you nearly killed Charlie?”
Eleven let out a small sigh. “They wouldn’t see me.”
Charlie’s eyebrow raised, turning on her chair to face El over the back of it. “Who are you talking about?”
“The bad men,” Eleven replied as if the answer was easy.
“What are you talking about?” Hopper questioned as he placed the two plates down in his place and Eleven’s, the man taking his seat.
Eleven didn’t pay attention to breakfast, instead walking up to the dining table. “Trick or treat.”
“You want to go trick-or-treating?” Hopper scoffed. Charlie lowered her head quickly, trying not to get involved. The topic of Eleven leaving the cabin had been talked about multiple times, and none of those times ended well.
Eleven nodded eagerly to his question.
“You know the rules,” Hopper responded, getting back up from his seat.
“Yes, but—”
“Yeah, so you know the answer,” Hopper interrupted, taking the girl by the shoulders, pushing her gently to her seat.
“No, but Lottie could take me,” Eleven reasoned.
“No. Hey. I don’t care.”
“But I’d be safe.”
“I don’t care, alright?” Hopper cut across her finally. “You go out there, with Charlie or not, in a costume or not, it’s a risk. We don’t take risks. Alright? They’re stupid, and…”
“We’re not stupid!” Eleven replied through gritted teeth, obviously upset.
“Exactly,” Hopper said. “Now, you take that off, sit down and eat. Your food’s getting cold and Charlie’ll eat if you don’t.”
“I will,” Charlie added, already nearly finished with her own plate. She’d decided the conversation had gotten to a safe enough point that she could give her input.
Hopper gave El one last pointed look before taking his seat again. There was a heavy sigh from underneath the ghost sheet before El pulled it off, the girl appearing in one of Charlie’s plaid shirts. The blonde opened her mouth to complain she’d taken it from her closet, but gave up on it, thinking she’d probably look after it better anyway.
As silence continued to persevere through the cabin, El refused to eat her breakfast even when Hopper poured maple syrup over the top of it, Hopper leaned his forehead down on his palm. “Alright, look… How about I get off early tonight, and whether or not Charlie goes to this party of her’s, I buy us a bunch of candy, and we can sit around and get fat, and we watch a scary movie altogether? How’s that for compromise?”
“Com— Compromise?” Eleven repeated, not understanding.
Hopper looked up, giving a glance to Charlie. The blonde had become some of a tutor for Eleven, so whenever she had difficulty with words, reading, speaking, Charlie was who she went to.
“Compromise is just C-O-M-promise,” Charlie explained as simply as she could. “I’ll leave the dictionary out and it can be the word of the day. The basic definition is the balance between agreement and disagreement. It might not be what you wanted, but it’s a fair replacement.”
Eleven nodded along, showing she was beginning to understand. “By 5-1-5?”
“5:15. Yeah, sure,” Hopper chuckled lightly.
The smaller girl twisted her lips into a frown. “Promise?” She glanced between both Charlie and Hopper.
“Yes. We promise,” Hopper told her for both of them. Charlie supposed it was a good alternative than going to the party, at least she had an excuse to not go now. Well, not that she could tell anyone what that excuse was, but she at least wasn’t lying.
“Fair replacement,” Eleven shrugged, repeating Charlie’s words.
She leaned forward, picking up her fork to dig into her breakfast. Hopper ruffled her hair with a bright smile as Charlie tried to sneak her hand forward to take a piece of Eleven’s food. Easily, the smaller girl stopped her with her powers, Charlie feeling her hand stop in place over the girl’s plate.
“Hey, no fair!”
“You’ve eaten!”
Charlie unlocked the Byers’ door with the key Joyce had given her a couple months ago, walking into the living room, realizing she hadn’t been over as often as she used to. Now that Hopper got up early enough to make her and El breakfast, she didn’t need to go to the Byers’ every morning for some bacon and eggs. However, Jonathan still needed a ride so Charlie was back to coming there every day.
“Hey, it’s Charlie,” she called, making sure they didn’t think she was an intruder. There were a few quick greetings back before a flash of a camera and Charlie turned around to find Will in his Ghostbusters costume that she had heard Dustin and Lucas rambling about a couple days ago. “The costume looks amazing. Which one are you?”
“Spengler,” Will responded excitedly, flashing her his name badge on the side of his boiler suit.
“I’m guessing that’s the best one,” Charlie said with a small smile.
Will nodded in earnest agreement. “Pretty much, but the others are cool too.”
“Okay, Will, we need to get you to school,” Joyce interjected, passing Charlie as she grabbed her bag from the coat rack. “Go get your things.”
“Jonathan, you got everything?” Charlie asked, looking down at her watch as Will hurried down the house’s hallway to his bedroom.
“Just about,” Jonathan checked his backpack by the side of the couch. “Just need to put my camera away and I’ll be set.”
Charlie nodded as Jonathan wandered down the hallway as well.
“It’s so good to see you again, honey,” Joyce sprung on Charlie, placing a gentle, motherly hand on the girl’s shoulder. It hadn’t been long since she’d seen Joyce last, but she supposed it had been longer than normal. “Was wondering when that key was gonna be put to use.”
“Yeah, sorry, I guess I just got busy,” Charlie lied, already feeling guilty. There were two reasons she didn’t exactly go around here anymore. The first being that she hung out with Eleven and didn’t want the girl to get lonely while Hopper was stuck at work. The second being she didn’t know how to act in the Byers’ house anymore. She couldn’t rid the memory of that fucking monster, despite trying with all her might to. She could still see exactly where her blood had fallen from her arm on the carpet, but it was now covered by a rug.
“Well, come over whenever you need,” Joyce told her with a serious expression.
“Thanks, Joyce,” Charlie smiled as wide as she could muster.
Jonathan hurried back out into the living room, his backpack on his shoulder, his hair more of a mess than when he had disappeared. “Sorry, got everything now.”
“Okay, cool,” Charlie spoke quickly, heading for the door already.
“Have a nice day, both of you,” Joyce said, waving them both out the front door, kissing Jonathan briefly on the cheek.
The two of them wandered down the porch and to where Charlie’s motorbike was parked. The blonde quickly made sure the straps of her bag were tight around her shoulders before climbing atop the seat, hands on the bars. For a moment she didn’t see an issue, that was until she turned her head to find Jonathan still standing two feet away, looking confused.
“What?” Charlie questioned, pulling her helmet over her hair, connecting the strap under her chin.
Jonathan looked at her. “Where do I… sit?”
“The sidecar,” Charlie replied, not understanding why he couldn’t guess.
“That’s… uh, really? I don’t…” Jonathan mumbled, now staring down at the height of the sidecar. Charlie was unsure whether he was embarrassed or concerned about his safety.
“There’s a helmet,” Charlie offered out the spare on from inside the sidecar.
“That… might actually make this worse,” Jonathan said, wincing as he picked it up.
“Oh, my God, get in!” Charlie laughed, losing her patience. “Come on. We’re gonna be late.”
Jonathan looked physically in pain. “Uh… fine.”
He pulled the helmet on and climbed inside the sidecar, shoving his backpack in front of his knees. He held his hands so tight on the edges that his knuckles turned white, Charlie glancing at him, holding back a laugh, but failing miserably.
“Shut up,” Jonathan frowned, his face turning red.
“Sorry, sorry!” Charlie still laughed as she turned the ignition, twisting the handlebars and turning them out from the front of the Byers’ house.
Charlie parked her motorbike in her space from the day before, turning the ignition off and pulling her helmet off from her head. As the engine cut out, Jonathan and Charlie heard some running footsteps, both of them turning their heads up to find Andrew heading over to them.
“Hey,” Andrew smiled happily, looking between him. His eyes scanned over Jonathan once, not noticing the boy’s position, but quickly sprang back. “Oh, don’t you look cute.”
“Thanks…” Jonathan turned an even deeper red, pulling off his own helmet and getting up out of the sidecar. “I’m never doing that again.”
“He screamed pretty much all the way here,” Charlie told Andrew in a hushed voice, getting a hit on the shoulder from Jonathan’s backpack. “Ow… As you can see, he’s bitter.”
“It looks fun,” Andrew said, glancing down at the sidecar before walking alongside the other two towards school before the bell rang.
“Trust me, it’s not,” Jonathan assured him. “Are you still up for trick-or-treating tonight?”
“Of course,” Andrew nodded, his eyes lighting up at the mention. Charlie found it somewhat adorable. “Is this like the party? Am I supposed to wear a costume?”
“Well, it’s sort of a thing to wear a costume, but I don’t think you have to,” Charlie explained.
“Is it polite to wear a costume?”
“You don’t have to worry,” Jonathan said, smiling a little at the boy’s worry. “You’ll get candy whether or not you’re in a costume. Either way, Will and his friends will be with us and they’ll get you some candy if you need.”
Andrew nodded along, rubbing his hands together, more excited than Charlie had seen anyone in a long time. It was nice to see someone happy for a reason other than a good grade or getting into a relationship. Middle School was a whole lot simpler.
“Are you going to the party?” Jonathan turned his attention over to Charlie.
“No, I’ve got plans,” Charlie replied. “Hopper wants to watch some horror movies so I’m dropping Lucas and Dustin off at Mike’s house and going back home.”
“Really? I’d thought you’d go…” Jonathan frowned.
“Why?” Charlie furrowed her eyebrows, looking at the boy in suspicion.
The boy looked back, about to say something, but then decided against it. Charlie just grew more confused. She couldn’t think of a single reason that would make him think she’d go.
“So Napoleon’s the bad guy?” Andrew questioned as he and Charlie walked out from English Lit, now currently heading to the library for their free period. Mr. Hauser had already thrown out a start of term test for them to study for. “The second pig?”
“Yes, he is. Did you not realize?” Charlie asked, slightly confused. Andrew had gotten himself onto Animal Farm by George Orwell after he’d explained it was the book his old school had done over the summer. “He literally murdered some of the other animals. He represents Stalin.”
“And he’s the bad guy?” Andrew raised an eyebrow.
“Yes, he’s the bad guy,” Charlie replied, growing slightly concerned. “We should probably keep our voices down because people aren’t exactly…”
“So Stalin killed people?” Andrew asked rather loudly as they walked through the doors into the library. His voice carried over into the silence, everyone’s head turning to stare in their direction, wary expressions on their faces. Charlie lowered her head, taking Andrew by the arm and started dragging him through the bookshelves.
“Okay, so maybe don’t talk about it so loud,” Charlie told him in a hushed voice. “We’re in a library.”
“Right. Sorry,” Andrew lowered his voice significantly.
“Charlie, over here,” a voice hissed to Charlie and Andrew as they walked out from the shelves into the back of the library, finding Steve waving them over at a table where Nancy and he seemed to be studying. “Come sit with us.”
Nancy smiled softly as Charlie wandered over, taking the seat in front of the brunette. Andrew, unsure of what the guy’s name next to Nancy was, sat down as well. The blonde pulled out her books from her backpack, Andrew watching her, and then doing the same.
Charlie quickly fell into looking through her textbooks for the test from Mr. Hauser, twirling her pencil in her fingers as she read through the example analysis of the ending of Animal Farm. However, her mind temporarily stopped as she felt a foot tapping against the side of her leg. Lifting her eyes from her page, she looked over at Nancy.
“Oh, sorry,” Nancy realized, seeing Charlie looking at her pointedly.
“It’s fine,” Charlie chuckled lightly to herself, going right back to her work.
And so Nancy did stop tapping her leg, but now she just rested her foot on the side of the blonde’s leg. Charlie bit her tongue, annoyed with herself. This was completely innocent, why was she trying to make it out like it was anything more than an accident? The blonde set her eyes hard on her piece of work, knowing she had to study otherwise she would fail the test, but her mind kept wandering along with her eyes, subtly staring at Nancy across the table.
As she did, Nancy huffed in annoyance, Charlie’s eyes hurriedly finding her work again. The brunette’s foot left Charlie’s leg as she got up from the table, the led of her pencil snapped in two. Nancy disappeared across the library, heading over to the pencil sharpener nailed to the windowsill. Steve barely even glanced at his girlfriend, but Charlie seemed to be looking for any reason not to study as she leaned her chin down on her palm, taking small looks over her shoulder to the window.
Nancy’s eyes were glazed over as she turned the pencil sharpener, keeping the pencil in place with an iron grip. Charlie frowned from her seat, seeing Nancy’s eyes narrowing in on something by the shelves, her grip on her pencil not easing anytime soon. She just kept spinning the handle, sharpening her pencil further and further down the wood. Pretty soon Charlie was sure that pencil would be nothing but the eraser on the end.
Hesitating, Charlie then got up from her seat, dropping her own pencil on top of her unfinished studying. She walked over to Nancy, placing a gentle hand on the girl’s shoulder. She felt the brunette flinch under her touch, head snapping to the blonde in half a second.
“You were kind of destroying your pencil,” Charlie told Nancy, trying to let out a small laugh, but failed miserably when she saw that Nancy had actually managed to destroy it. There was a large crack down the side that trailed all the way down to the metal. “Are you okay?”
“I, uh…” Nancy breathed heavily, as if she’d been holding in her breath for a minute. Her head looked back over to the shelf, Charlie trying to follow her gaze, but there was nothing over there. “Come on. Follow me.”
Charlie’s eyes widened as Nancy took her hand, pulling her further through the library, heading into the back where the archives were.
Steve’s eyes lingered on the disappearing figures of the two girls, but he didn’t question it too much. Instead, he turned his head up from his work, just realizing there was someone else sitting at the table with him. “Oh. Andy, right?”
Andrew’s eyebrows furrowed. “It’s Andrew.”
“Close enough,” Steve shrugged, somehow proud of himself for not remembering correctly.
“Not really,” Andrew said.
“I can’t keep doing this,” Nancy said as Charlie shut the projector room door behind her, the blonde turning around to find the brunette leaning herself on the desk.
“What?” Charlie blurted out, still confused as to what had happened.
“Pretending like everything’s okay,” Nancy continued, just as vaguely.
Charlie really wanted to understand, but she was having some difficulty. “What?”
“Barbara,” Nancy breathed out, finally looking up from the desktop, meeting Charlie’s eyes. The blonde’s lips parted, realizing now that it should have been obvious. But after everything that had happened, she’d forced it all behind her. “I went to her parents’ house the other day. They… They have this private investigator still looking into it. But they… they don’t know. Her pictures are everywhere, her parents can’t forget, but it’s like everyone else did. It’s like nobody cares. And Mr and Mrs Holland are selling their house…”
“Drew,” Charlie tried to interject.
“They’re going to spend the rest of their lives looking for her,” Nancy continued, her lip quivering and eyes shimmering with tears in the dim glow of the reading light on the study desk.
“Drew, I…”
“It’s destroying them,” Nancy finished, lifting her sleeve up to push the tears away.
“I know and I… I want to help them, but what can we do?” Charlie replied, physically paining herself to see Nancy so sad. “After everything, we can’t—”
“We can tell them everything,” Nancy cut across her, like she’d been thinking about it for a while.
Charlie opened her mouth, unsure. “If we do that, we’ll put them in danger.” She stepped forward a little closer, her hand resting on the side of the desk. “You’ll be in danger, Nancy. We have no idea what those people are capable of… they could hurt you…”
“We don’t have to tell them everything,” Nancy tried, her voice a little weaker.
“I wish we could, I do…” Charlie sighed, her shoulders slumping. She’d seen Barb’s parents in town a couple times, they’d come into Eric’s store when she’d been working one time during the summer. She understood the guilt, maybe not to the extent to what Nancy was feeling, but she knew it stung. “I want to, but… I don’t want you to get hurt, okay? Not you, or Hopper, or…” Her mind paused, stopping herself before she said too much. “Or anyone.”
“I just… I want to do something,” Nancy complained, taking a small step forward, her hand dragging along the desk towards Charlie’s. “Anything…”
“You could go to that party tonight,” Charlie suggested, reaching for anything to get Nancy’s mind off it. “You were so excited for it… and maybe you could get your mind off of it?”
Nancy chewed on her bottom lip, thinking about it before raising her head up to look at Charlie. “I’d feel better if you were there.”
Charlie’s heart skipped a beat… but she knew Nancy didn’t mean it like that. They were friends. “Drew, I can’t… I’ve got plans. Hopper wants—”
“One party, that’s it,” Nancy took another step, so close that Charlie had to lean herself up a little to avoid hitting her head against the other girl’s. Her throat went dry as she felt Nancy’s fingertips brushing against her own on the desk. “Just once. For me.”
Charlie wasn’t one to fold easily, she actually believed herself to be pretty stubborn. She could go years without spilling secrets, she could go months arguing the same point, she could pretty much do whatever she wanted if she had the will. And yet, one look at Nancy’s face and the touch of the brunette’s hand on her own sent her reeling.
“Fine…” Charlie huffed, really beginning to hate herself.
But everything just seemed worth it when Nancy’s lips smiled, even just the tiniest bit.
“I just… I don’t get what she sees in him,” Jonathan complained as he drove his mom’s car towards the west side of Hawkins. Andrew sat in the backseat, happily holding his pillowcase that Jonathan had told him to bring, watching out the window.
Will looked confused by his brother’s comment. “What?”
“Bob,” Jonathan replied.
“At least he doesn’t treat me different,” Will shrugged, not seeing what Jonathan meant.
“Why would he treat you different?” Andrew joined in, not understanding that this was possibly not the time to interject.
“It… It doesn’t matter,” Jonathan assured him, deciding now wasn’t the moment for Andrew to find out everything that had happened last year. Jonathan wasn’t sure he could even tell Andrew the story the government had told them to tell everyone else.
“I just mean… I can’t even go trick-or-treating by myself,” Will frowned, but he’d been a little happy about Andrew’s question. It was clear the boy didn’t know anything about what happened, and Will liked that there was at least one person who didn’t see him as that boy that died and came back. “It’s lame.”
“What? You think I’m lame?” Jonathan questioned in a joking manner.
Will didn’t find it funny, his frown only deepening. “No, but it’s not like Nancy’s coming to watch over Mike, you know? Or Charlie coming with Lucas and Dustin?”
Jonathan frowned himself, a thought popping into his head. He glanced at the rearview mirror, seeing Andrew still sitting happily in the backseat and Jonathan felt conflicted. He let the thought linger as he drove them round the bend into the Wheeler’s cul-de-sac. As soon as his car appeared in front of the large house, three boys started wandering over from the front yard, Charlie seemingly having already dropped the other two boys off already.
“Will! Hey!”
Jonathan shut off the ignition, Will already about to get out of the car.
“Hey, listen,” Jonathan stopped him, the thought from earlier now certain in his mind.
“Yeah?” Will said, turning back around.
“If I let you go on your own, you promise to stay in the neighborhood?” Jonathan checked.
“Yeah!” Will nodded excitedly with a bright smile. “Yeah, yeah, totally.”
“And be back at Mike’s by 9:00,” Jonathan raised an eyebrow.
“9:30?” Will tried his luck.
Jonathan smiled, but shook his head. “9:00.”
“Yeah.”
“Deal?” Jonathan held out his hand.
“Yeah, deal,” Will quickly shook it.
“Alright,” Jonathan sighed as Will got out of the car. The boy pulled out the camcorder from the middle of the front seats, passing it over. “Hey, Will. Don’t let any of your spazzy friends use this, alright?” Will nodded. “I hope it doesn’t suck.”
Will laughed as he shut the car door closed, running off over to the other three boys. Jonathan watched for a moment before taking a glance behind him, looking at Andrew with a small bit of guilt.
“Hey, I’m sorry,” Jonathan apologized quickly. “There was some stuff that happened last year and… Well, Will hasn’t been happy lately. I just wanted him to have one night where he could be. I swear, I’ll take you trick-or-treating next year.”
“Don’t sweat it,” Andrew shook his head reassuringly, putting the empty pillowcase down on the seat next to him as he climbed forward. Jonathan leaned back a little, not expecting it as Andrew sat himself down in the passenger seat, somewhat clumsily. “I get it. So, what are we doing instead?”
“We are… going to a party,” Jonathan explained, turning the engine back on, slightly surprised by how fast the other boy had gotten over the disappointment.
“I thought we had to have costumes,” Andrew said in confusion, knowing exactly what party Jonathan was referring to.
“Oh, well,” Jonathan shrugged, turning them out from the cul-de-sac.
Charlie got out of the car, uncomfortably tugging her costume down again as she left her backpack and walkie-talkie in the backseat. Mike had managed to lend her a costume that had been in storage for a while and Charlie was sure that meant it was from some nerd show. She was in fact correct as she walked up to the party dressed up as Princess Leia from Star Wars. She was just hoping that she could find Nancy quickly and get all of this over and done with.
The music blasted across Tina’s house as she made her way through the front door, people all around her talking and dancing and drinking. There were kegs set out all across the backyard, people swimming in the pool, a whole dance floor set up in the living room. Charlie was just in pure confusion how anybody could afford all this or have their parents agree to this. Unless Tina's parents had absolutely no idea this was happening, which wouldn’t surprise her.
“Charlie!” Tina’s voice yelled as the girl tore through her own party to get to her. Charlie’s eyes widened in surprise, but welcomed at least one somewhat friendly face. “You look stellar!”
“Oh, thanks,” Charlie smiled, her cheeks burning a deep red. “You, too.”
“Go on, get a drink in you!” Tina encouraged her, pushing her further into the party. She stopped as she turned her head to look into the backyard, sighing in irritation. “Joey, I said no smoking near the roses! You fuckin’ airhead.”
Charlie watched Tina rush out into the backyard, a laugh on her lips as she turned back around to the kitchen. However, before she could actually get there, two boys turned up in front of her. Two very familiar boys.
“Jonathan? Andrew?” Charlie questioned in confusion, momentarily forgetting what she was wearing.
“Princess Leia?” Andrew raised an eyebrow.
Charlie looked down and rolled her. “You know that, but not who the bad guy in Animal Farm is?”
“Star Wars is a lot more interesting,” Andrew argued.
“What are you doing here?” Jonathan asked, interjecting. “I thought you had plans with Hopper.”
“I thought you were going trick-or-treating,” Charlie deflected, trying to sidestep the fact that the only reason she was actually here was for Nancy Wheeler.
“Will wanted to go alone,” Jonathan replied.
“So you came to a party instead?”
“Change of scenery,” Jonathan shrugged, nonchalantly, acting as if this was the most normal thing for him to do. “Andrew was excited.”
“I’m excited for anything, don’t drag me into this argument,” Andrew defended himself.
“Ugh, nevermind,” Charlie sighed, scanning her eyes across the party. “Look, I’ll get us all some drinks and we can just hang out. Not like any of us are the most comfortable here.”
“Speak for yourself,” Andrew mumbled, trying to wander further into the crowd, but Jonathan felt it would be a little safer if the boy kept by his side.
Charlie moved herself past the two boys, letting them work things out for themselves. She tried to move herself towards the kitchen, the crowd of people much denser there as everybody went to get more beer or punch from the many bowls over the island.
“Excuse me,” Charlie tried to ask politely, slipping her way past two people. As she came out on the other side, somebody knocked into her shoulder, sending her into the person in front of her. Charlie groaned in annoyance, about to apologize to the person she landed on, but when she raised her head up, she found it to be that prick that had nearly run her over yesterday. “Oh, great.”
The boy looked down at her, the anger that he had felt from being knocked into fell away into a smirk once he saw who it was. “You’re the girl with the motorbike.”
“Yeah and you’re the guy with a douchebag car,” Charlie insulted, sorting out her outfit again.
The guy laughed at her as if he actually found her funny. “I’m Billy Hargove.”
“And I’m completely uninterested,” Charlie huffed, trying to shove past him, but Billy’s hand caught her shoulder. He was strong enough to keep her in place, the blonde’s eyebrows furrowing.
“Hey, I’m trying to talk to you here,” Billy complained.
“And I’m trying to walk away,” Charlie argued. “Did you not hear what I said before?”
“Let me get you a drink,” Billy pushed, ignoring Charlie’s points for him to leave her alone.
“Fuck off, dude,” Charlie finally managed to shake him off, elbowing him in the ribs as she pushed past. Billy didn’t make another attempt to go after her luckily, and now Charlie was in no mood for a drink, especially not from here.
Making her way around the side of the kitchen, she headed down a hallway, finding a sign on a door saying it was the bathroom. Charlie sighed in relief, turning the handle and walking inside.
“You see Charlie anywhere?” Jonathan asked, checking his watch. She’d been gone for a full ten minutes now and he didn’t think it took that long to get a few drinks.
“What?” Andrew called over the music, happily bouncing up and down on his feet.
“Have you seen—!?” Jonathan could tell Andrew couldn’t hear him and shook his head, giving up. “Nevermind.”
“Nice costume.” A voice caught Jonathan’s attention as he turned to scan the party for the blonde one last time, instead coming across a girl with large black hair, dark make-up and multiple bead necklaces hanging around her neck.
“Huh?” Jonathan responded, mostly confused as to why someone was speaking to him.
“Nice costume,” the girl repeated a little louder, assuming he couldn’t hear her over the music.
“Oh, uh, yeah,” Jonathan looked down at his clothes, the same ones he had worn to school. “I’m going as a guy who hates parties.”
The girl genuinely laughed at his half-hearted attempt at a joke. “I’m Samantha.”
“Uh, Jonathan,” the boy introduced himself with a shake of her hand.
Andrew looked back, seeing Jonathan distracted and took his chance to dive deeper into the party. He was pretty much in awe at the people having fun, none of the orphanages he’d been to and ever acted like this. They were all just glum and very gray. This was lively and the music was so loud, it vibrated through his entire body with every step he took through the dance floor.
The boy made his way through the dancing crowd, out through the french doors to the backyard, seeing the pool water reflecting across the stone. There were kids in the pool splashing anyone who got close enough and on the patio, there were people getting pushed up into handstands, hoses from kegs in their mouths as their faces turned red. Andrew didn’t even know where to start, not even having a single drop of alcohol in his life before.
However, as he was trying to make his decision, a shoulder collided with his. He tripped over his own feet, falling sidewards into the pool next to him. He felt the water rush over his head, a stinging in his nose as he let out an exhale in shock, the cold ripping through his veins. It took him a few seconds, but he managed to break through the surface, hearing the last of the laughs from the other people in the pool that had been watching.
Andrew shook the water out of his hair, feeling his clothes sticking to his skin in an uncomfortable manner. His neck was covered in goosebumps as a sharp fall breeze hit his body, suddenly feeling a little less in awe and more worried about freezing to death. But his thoughts were cut short when a figure crouched down in front of him at the edge of the pool, a hand extending out to him.
“Shit, shit. I’m sorry,” the familiar voice apologized, Andrew only seeing that it was in fact Steve Harrington once he’d gotten the pool water out of his eyes. The darker-haired boy didn’t respond as he let Steve help him out of the water, his clothes hanging low with them being drenched, a puddle at his feet where the water began to drip. “Sorry, Andy.”
“It’s Andrew,” the boy corrected him, pulling his shirt from sticking to his stomach, wringing it out with his hands. More water dropped at Steve’s feet, a guilty look on his face. Andrew looked up at him, but saw that Steve’s eyes were a vivid red and puffy. “You don’t look too good.”
“Says you,” Steve tried to deflect, gesturing to Andrew’s soaking wet face.
Andrew ignored the attempt at humor. “You alright?”
“I, uh… No, but…” Steve mumbled under his breath, turning his head back around to the party, seeing that nobody was paying attention to them. “Hey, do you want to hang out?”
“Right now?” Andrew asked, slightly confused. From what he had gotten from his last two days at Hawkins High was that Steve was a pretty popular guy. It didn’t really make sense to him that he’d wanna leave after barely an hour at the Halloween party.
“Yeah,” Steve nodded, not seeing the issue. “I’m pretty sick of it all, if I’m being honest.”
“Uh, okay,” Andrew agreed after a moment of hesitation. “I don’t think I’ll be let back in with my clothes like this anyway.”
“I’ve got some spare in my trunk, don’t worry,” Steve patted him on the back, but immediately regretted it, remembering that he had just fallen in a pool. He removed his hand and instead pointed towards the gate to the front yard. “Okay, let’s go.”
Charlie walked into Tina’s bathroom, hoping for just one moment of solace. She’d only come here because Nancy had wanted her to and she couldn’t even find the girl. The blonde turned herself towards the bathroom mirror before turning on the tap, filling her cupped hands with water and splashing it on her face. She hoped it would cool her down a little, but seeing as she was already sober, there was pretty much no effect. Great, so now her face was just wet.
“Is… someone there…?” a voice slurred from behind her.
Charlie paused in her movements, her eyebrows furrowing as she focused her eyes on the shower curtain drawn behind her. Now that she actually looked, there was a silhouette behind it, and the blonde’s shoulders slumped. She couldn’t even get a bit of privacy.
“Sorry, I’m going,” Charlie sighed heavily, taking the towel from the side of the sink and wiping her face with it.
“Lottie?”
Charlie stopped, turning back to face the curtain, placing the towel back down on the counter. “Drew?”
“Mhm…” was all the response she got, but it was some sort of confirmation.
Charlie wandered over to the shower and bath, pushing the curtain open. Sitting in the bathtub was Nancy Wheeler, a pout on her lips, her legs crossed and a deep red stain across the front of her white dress. The blonde was almost speechless for a second, not entirely sure what had happened as Nancy raised her head up slowly to meet her gaze, eyes reminiscent of a puppy dog’s looking into her own.
“Steve and I got into a fight…” Nancy explained weakly, her voice sounding strained. It didn’t sound as if she was necessarily upset over what she had just said, she more just sounded irritated, like it was an inconvenience.
“Oh, Drew…” Charlie muttered.
“Can you… you take me home?” Nancy managed to stumble out.
“Yeah, ‘course,” Charlie nodded sympathetically, not being able to help but feel that this was partly her fault. She leaned down, wrapping an arm around the girl’s shoulder, letting Nancy get herself up with her assistance. “You got it?”
“Mhm,” Nancy hummed, swallowing as she wavered slightly once she was upright.
“Hey, hey… I got you,” Charlie assured her, gingerly placing her other hand on the girl’s waist to keep her straight. Nancy gently let herself rest in the blonde’s arms, her side leaning on Charlie’s. Charlie slowly got them out of the bathroom, opting to take the side door out of Tina’s house to avoid any questions from people at the party.
“Pancakes, please,” Andrew ordered with a wide smile from the waitress. The waitress didn’t offer him the same type of joy, her lips in a straight line, bags under her eyes. It was very obvious she didn’t want to be working at this hour, on Halloween no less.
“Is that all?” she asked, even her voice sounding tired.
“Yeah, thanks,” Steve said, his tone just as gloomy as her’s as he leaned his head down on his hand. As the waitress disappeared into the kitchen, it left just Steve and Andrew alone in the booth in the diner Steve had found along the highway outside of Hawkins. There was pretty much no one else here, just them two and a trucker sitting at one of the barstools with a coffee.
Andrew was nearly completely dry, his hair looked the smallest bit wet, but with the help of Steve’s backup clothes and a towel, Andrew was pretty much brand new. He’d gotten over his worry of death and he was back to his usual happy-go-lucky self.
“She said she doesn’t love me,” Steve continued to explain the story of what happened with Nancy which he had begun before the waitress had gotten there. Andrew had been listening patiently, although the further they got, the more confused he was. “After all that. She doesn’t even love me. I mean… I thought she did. When I first said it, she said it back, but…” Steve trailed off, shaking his head in a disappointed manner.
“I don’t understand,” Andrew finally admitted, making Steve lift his head off his head the tiniest bit. “She said she doesn’t love you. Is that all?”
“Yeah,” Steve nodded. Now he was confused.
“Well, you can’t control how she feels,” Andrew shrugged simply. “All you can do is move on, right? There’s no point wallowing in self pity, just have some pancakes and keep going.”
Steve narrowed his eyes, leaning himself upright. “You’ve never been in love, right?”
“No,” Andrew replied with a small shrug. “What does that matter?”
“Well, you don’t know what it’s like,” Steve said, bending forward over the table. “You see, you love someone, you don’t let them go.”
“I thought the saying was: if you love someone, let them go?” Andrew questioned, confused.
“No, no. That’s stupid,” Steve shook his head, Andrew nodding along, taking in the information to remember. “You see, loving someone… It’s the effort you put in, yeah? If it’s not the effort, what else is it? So you gotta fight for them. Or… Or something.”
“I see,” Andrew said, leaning back into his seat.
Steve looked at the boy, growing curious. “You’ve seriously never been in love?”
Andrew stared back, thinking about it before replying, “No. Never.”
“How… How is that possible?” Steve questioned, genuinely wondering.
“I don’t know…” Andrew shrugged, not sure how to answer. “It just never happened for me. I’ve never felt… like that for someone. I can make friends, I can dislike people, but… Love? I don’t know. The word feels… disconnected, somehow. At least, in a romantic sense.”
“Huh,” Steve said, sucking in his lips to think. “You’ve never liked a girl?”
“No,” Andrew replied again. “Not a boy, either.”
“Well, yeah,” Steve scoffed.
Andrew raised both eyebrows. “Why ‘well, yeah’?”
Steve looked at him for a couple seconds before averting his eyes. “It doesn’t matter.”
“Okay, well, from my point of view…” Andrew spoke, drifting over the subject. “You can’t fight for something that doesn’t want to be fought for. You gotta find something better to fight for, someone that’ll appreciate the effort. Not someone who never wanted it in the first place.”
Steve nodded sadly, seeing how that made sense. He went silent for a few moments, tapping his fingers on the tabletop before saying, “Do you think we could talk about something else?”
“Uh, sure,” Andrew said, his smile appearing on his face quicker than Steve could think of something to talk about. “Do you wanna see a trick I know?”
Steve looked mildly curious. “Sure…”
Andrew reached over to the cutlery set up in the pot at the end of the table, pulling out a spoon from the middle. He settled himself in his seat, held his chin up and carefully moved the bowl of the spoon onto his nose. He let go of the handle once he knew he could keep it up and looked over at Steve, his smile only widening at the look of awe on Steve’s face.
“How did you learn that, dude?” Steve asked eagerly, his somber disposition disappearing almost as soon as the spoon touched Andrew’s nose. “That’s awesome!”
“I don’t know. Just kind of came naturally,” Andrew shrugged, even through that smallest bit of movement the boy managed to keep the spoon balanced. “Try it. It’ll keep your mind off things.”
And so Steve did try it, and failed. Many, many times. But Andrew was right, Steve didn’t think about Nancy once as he kept trying to keep the spoon stuck to his nose like it seemed Andrew had been able to do. It was nice that, for once, Andrew had someone just as in awe at things as he was.
The night got chillingly cold as Charlie parked her car on the side of the Wheeler’s curb, seeing that some lights were still on in the house. She frowned a little, knowing she wouldn’t be able to keep Nancy out of trouble if she got caught, which made this whole thing a little harder. Not to mention, Nancy had fallen asleep on the ride back and was now knocked out in her passenger seat.
“Drew…” Charlie tried to wake her up as she opened the passenger side door, gently shaking the girl. “Drew. Come on, we’re here. Nancy.”
The girl only sighed, her eyes not opening as it looked as if she leaned further into the girl’s car seat. Charlie looked around, letting out a heavy huff before deciding there was only one way she could get Nancy into the house as quietly as possible like this.
Leaning down, she wrapped one arm around Nancy’s back and the other around the girl’s legs, picking her up into a bridal carry. Charlie kicked her car door closed, slowly making her way towards the door to the basement of the Wheelers, having heard from Lucas once that Mike always left it unlocked in case one of them wanted to spend the night.
Charlie slowly turned the doorknob of the basement, entering as quietly as possible. There was the sound of the TV in the living room as she made her way up to the first floor of the house, but she was pretty sure it was only Ted in there. There didn’t seem to be any sign of Nancy’s mom so Charlie felt like she was in the clear. She still kept as silent as she could, finally making it to Nancy’s room without anybody noticing.
Shutting the door behind her, she walked over to Nancy’s bed, gently lowering the smaller girl down onto the covers. Charlie pulled off the girl’s boots and placed them at the end of the bed, making sure to not wake her up as she dragged Nancy’s duvet over her. The blonde stopped for only a moment, letting herself take one glance down at Nancy, making sure she was okay before walking her way back towards the bedroom door.
“Lottie,” she heard her name being called as her hand reached for the door handle. Turning her head over her shoulder, she saw Nancy, her eyes open — but only the tiniest bit — and she had the same pout on her lips as she did in the bathtub. “Where are you going?”
“Home,” Charlie replied simply, giving her a small, but weak smile. “Get some rest.”
“Stay,” Nancy spoke, once again stopping Charlie from walking out the door. “Please.”
“I don’t wanna get you in trouble with your mom,” Charlie shook her head. Nancy didn’t really want her to stay, she was drunk and she’s just had a fight with Steve. All it is is loneliness. Despite this, the blonde wandered back over to Nancy, crouching next to her bedside. “But I wanna say sorry, Drew. When I said to go to the party, I didn’t mean for it to be like this… I shouldn’t have even said it in the first place. I shouldn’t have told you to push it away… It’s just—”
“Just what?” Nancy mumbled, shuffling closer, raising her head up from the pillow.
“I don’t want you getting hurt,” Charlie decided to admit, it wasn’t like she hadn’t said it already. “I can’t have you getting hurt, but I… I know that’s not my decision. I know you’re capable of making those choices for yourself, and you’ll most likely make the right one. I just didn’t want to lose you and be the reason you—”
Charlie’s words caught in her throat as she felt Nancy’s lips on her own. They were soft as they pressed gently against her, the taste of cheap alcohol on her tongue. The blonde could feel herself falling into Nancy’s touch, but she pulled herself back fast. Nancy was drunk, Nancy wasn’t in her right mind. She didn’t mean all this, she… She was just drunk.
“Nancy…” Charlie stopped her, holding her back lightly with a hand to her shoulder.
Nancy only looked at her with eyes filled with vulnerability. Charlie could still taste the punch on her lips, feel the softness of the kiss, but all of it made her feel guilty more than anything else. She took her hand back from the brunette, standing up, her whole body feeling like it wasn’t her own. She couldn’t work out what to do with her hands, or how to work her legs. She just stood there, completely at a loss for words, staring down at where Nancy slowly moved her head back down to her pillow and closed her eyes.
Charlie had been right. That kiss wasn’t Nancy. Nancy had probably kissed her because somewhere in her mind, she missed Steve. That was the only answer Charlie could come to, and it felt logical to her. She was Nancy’s friend and Steve, well, Steve was Nancy’s boyfriend. They were in separate boxes, and when placed in an order, Steve would always come first. She had seen it at Christmas and she was seeing it now and Charlie couldn’t even blame Nancy.
So Charlie left the Wheeler’s house that night feeling worse about herself than before. She knew that what had happened would only ever be her memory. To Nancy, there might not even be a memory and if there was, it would be Steve in Charlie’s place. It would always be Steve. Or any other boy. And Charlie would just have to watch.
Pulling her keys out from the ignition, her eyes were heavy as she dragged herself out from her car. She just wanted to get in bed and fall asleep. There was nothing more thrilling to her in that moment than leaving the world and taking a break to herself, maybe if only for a couple hours. So she made her way to the front door of the cabin, knocking her knuckle against the wood in a lazy version of the secret knock.
Almost immediately — and far too quickly for Charlie’s tired state — the door swung open. Hopper looked at her with wide eyes, they weren’t angry, they were just worried.
“You weren’t here either?” Hopper demanded, closing the cabin door behind them, pushing them both out onto the porch.
“What?” Charlie asked, utterly confused as to why her uncle was holding a pumpkin bucket filled to the brim with candy.
“You weren’t in the cabin with El?” Hopper hissed, clarifying what he was asking.
“Uh, no,” Charlie replied. “I was at the party.”
“Son of a bitch,” Hopper complained under his breath as he walked his way over to the side of the porch, hitting his fist on the railing. “So you weren’t here and I wasn’t here.”
“You weren’t here?” Charlie questioned, beginning to see the problem at hand.
“No, I got off work late, but I thought it’d be okay because you’d be here,” Hopper told her.
“You said I should go to the party.”
“I didn’t think you actually would,” Hopper sighed, putting two fingers on the bridge of his nose. He calmed himself with a couple breaths and a piece of candy from the pumpkin bucket. “It’s fine. We just apologize… apologize. We have to apologize and then… apologize.”
“Are you struggling with the apology part?” Charlie asked in concern.
“No, I…” Hopper pursed his lips. “Maybe a little.”
“Okay, well, can this wait until tomorrow?” Charlie interjected because as much as she wanted to reassure El that she didn’t mean to leave her alone last night, she didn’t have the energy to explain anything right now. “I just want to sleep.”
“Hey, everything okay?” Hopper tried to ask as Charlie went to make her way into the cabin.
Charlie stopped for a second, and nodded her head. “Yeah. Just tired.” And with that being the last lie of the night, she headed for her bed.