"SO WE'RE GOING DRESSED AS MYSTERY INC. FOR HALLOWEEN," Ringo announced suddenly, breaking Steve's concentration with the road ahead. He gave her an incredulous glance.
"Who is?"
"Me, you, Nancy, Jonathan and hopefully Jessica," she nodded. She hadn't actually told the others that she had planned out their costumes, but her powers of persuasion were not to be underestimated.
"No way," he laughed, "I'm not dressing up for Halloween, we're seventeen, Ringo."
"And what? The mystery inc. were an iconic essence of our childhood, and now you wanna shit all over their memory by refusing to be Fred?"
"Fred?" He chuckled again, his eyes glancing around the school parking lot to find a space. "I'm definitely Shaggy, no doubt."
"No, Jonathan is Shaggy," she refuted, a frown forming on her face. "Don't fuck with my order, Fred."
"Why would Jonathan be Shaggy? That makes no sense."
"Because he's like the cool guy who should be as popular as Fred is but isn't, plus I can definitely see him smoking dope in his room with a dog," she explained. The idea had struck her the night before, seeing as the gang couldn't dress up the Halloween before - she wanted to fulfil their legacy this year.
"And have the others agreed to this?" He questioned, switching the engine off after driving into an available spot.
"No, but they will."
"How are you so sure they'd agree?"
"Would you wanna listen to me complain from here until Halloween?" She raised an eyebrow, causing him to grimace.
"Point taken," he smiled sheepishly, reaching into the backseat and rifling around until he unveiled some sheets of paper. "Listen... will you do me a favour?"
"What is it?" She enquired, eyeing the sheets.
"I wrote a college application essay, and... I just wanna make sure it's okay. Will you take a look over it?" He asked nervously, causing her heart to swell from how positively cute he looked.
"Aw, Fre- Steve!" She gushed, nodding her head and taking the papers gently. "Of course, I will!"
The car was silent as her eyes skimmed down the pages, narrowing in on grammatical mistakes and moments of rambling. She forced her smile to stay present however, not wanting to hurt his feelings when he had so obviously trusted her.
When she reached the last page, he began to bite his nails, nervously fidgeting around until he couldn't take it any more.
"It's crap, I know," he commented, shrugging his shoulders.
"It's not crap, shut up," she rolled her eyes, reading the last paragraph although she had already formed an opinion of his paper. It was crap. But they were going to fix it.
"It's not good," he said uncaringly, but she knew it bothered him.
"It's just simple stuff we need to fix, this is like a first draft right?"
"Yeah, try twenty-first draft."
"The only dumb thing here is asking me to correct this, like I'm stupid as shit, Steve," she giggled, flipping back to the first page to point out stuff she noticed.
"You're not dumb, quit it," he shoved her shoulder gently, a small smile on his lips as he leaned over to see what she was pointing out.
"You know how here in the first paragraph you talk about the basketball game?" When he nodded, she continued, "and then you go on to talk about your grandads experiences in the war... I just want to know how that's, like- the same thing?"
"It connects because... you know, we both won," he explained, his expression entirely serious. Whether it was his face or his comment that got her, Ringo dissolved into laughter instantly.
"I-I'm sorry!" She apologised in the middle of hysterics, bringing the sheets up to her face to hide it.
"I knew it was crap!" He rolled his eyes and leaned back in his chair, fighting off the grin of amusement forming at her cackling. "I'm just gonna start again."
"No, no!" She shook her head, wiping underneath her eyes when she finally calmed down. "It's good, honestly, you just needed someone to beta write it, I think. When's the deadline?"
"Tomorrow," he wiped his hands over his face, entirely stressed out.
"What the hell?" She hissed, eyes widened. "They're already taking college applications?! I thought that shit was in like... March!"
"No?" He screwed up his face. "It's this semester, Ringo."
"Damn," she sighed, handing the sheets back over to him. "I guess it doesn't matter anyway."
"What do you mean? Aren't you going to college?"
"No," she forced a chuckle, entirely fake. "We'd never be able to afford college in my lifetime. I think I'm just gonna get a job and help support my mom."
"Oh..." he said dumbly, feeling saddened by her situation. Sometimes he took for granted the luxuries on offer to him - money being the main one.
"Anyways, we can fix this. Do you want me to come over tonight?" She offered.
"Yeah, but I thought we were going to the movies tonight too," he groaned, throwing his head back against the head rest.
"You can crap your pants at Freddy Krueger tomorrow, lets sort out your life tonight first."
It was silent for a moment as she handed the paper back to him, causing him to sigh sadly.
"If it makes you feel better, I probably won't be going to college either," he admitted.
"What do you mean?" She furrowed her brows. "You obviously want to go."
"I'm being realistic, I'll probably just end up working for my dad anyway," he shook his head, the earlier banter and happy tone between them dropped. Ringo reached out for his elbow, squeezing it comfortingly.
"I think you should do what you want to do, Steve Harrington. But if you do move away for college, I'm going to visit so much you'll never get the chance to bring girls home," she waggled her brows, smiling cheekily, entirely unaware that Steve wasn't even thinking of girls other than her.
"It might not be such a bad thing, it's got like insurance and benefits. All that adult stuff."
"Gross." Her comment had his saddened expression breaking into laughter once again.
"Gross indeed."
Just as they began to exit the car, Billy drove into the parking space directly opposite theirs, the ginger girl that was supposedly his sister rushing out of the car embarrassedly. Ringo smirked, clearly the enhanced revving of his car wasn't something she was a fan of either.
"Looking fine as always, Wheeler!" Billy shouted after getting out of the car, giving her a quick once over.
"Mhm! Don't make me break that nose again!" She called back, giving a little wave with her fingers.
Steve rounded the car and wrapped his arm around the blonde's shoulders protectively, chuckling at her words and leading her inside.
✵
"Hey, Wheeler!" A boy called out, catching her attention away from the books she was shuffling into her locker. She turned around, but instead of conversation he merely handed a red paper flyer to her and jetted off, selectively handing out flyers to specific people.
Ringo shook her head in amusement as her eyes glanced down the flyer, which was quite literally an advertisement for a Halloween party at some jock's house. Now that she thought about it, it had been quite a while since she was at a party. Every Friday was spent with their "Wheeler Family Friday" tradition, which had somehow extended to Jonathan, Steve, Jessica and Mike's friends.
Any time she had suggested going to parties at the weekend, Steve was quick to shut her down, immediately claiming he had wanted to go to the movies or do something else non-extreme.
"Don't tell me you're actually considering going," she immediately recognised Jessica's voice and tone appearing beside her, feeling her friend read the flyer over her shoulder.
"Yes, as a matter of fact I am and you are too!" Ringo smiled sweetly, slipping the sheet into her locker and closing the door.
"You're basically dragging me to Hell, you realise that, don't you? Satan?" Jessica rolled her eyes, leaning against the locker next to hers.
"But I have our Halloween costumes planned! We're going as Mystery Inc!" Ringo spurred excitedly, almost jitteriness on the spot.
"What fresh Hell is this?" She muttered. "Which one would I even be?"
"Scooby Doo?" Ringo offered.
"Sure, make the only black girl the dog!" Jessica scoffed teasingly, her gaze shifting to something over Ringo's shoulder.
"Boo!" Steve roared into her ear, grabbing her sides at the same time to ensure Ringo was squeaking with surprise.
She whirled around on the spot, glaring fiercely at a beaming Steve Harrington who was still wearing his sunglasses, despite being inside.
"Do that again and I'll have your balls kicked back inside you," she threatened, but his grin only widened further.
"He'd have to have balls for that to happen," Jessica added.
"Hey! Hey!" He interrupted them, hands in the air in defence. "Leave my balls out of this, okay?"
"What balls?" Jessica and Ringo asked simultaneously, turning to each other afterward and breaking into laughter, knocking their hands together in a high five.
✵
Steve and Ringo had only spent an hour trying to reword his college application, but upon numerous breakdowns and failures, he had tossed his pen down and decided to continue with the original plan in going to the movies.
A ten minute drive later, and they were waiting in line to buy tickets for A Nightmare on Elm Street, a movie Ringo had already seen and loved.
"You know," she tried to caution him, "this shit is uber scary. I don't know if you'll be able to handle it."
"Oh right," he dropped his voice lower to avoid anyone around hearing, "because that big ass monster I knocked the shit out of last Halloween was so less hard to handle."
"Well," she started, tilting her head to the side, "you did run away for like five minutes."
"And I came back, for you," he replied smartly, flicking her head with his forefinger and thumb. "So be grateful."
There were times he said things like this and Ringo would be praying to a god above that they lived in an alternate dimension. She was usually a brutally honest person, so withholding her feelings from the friend she had grown true feelings for was getting increasingly difficult with each passing day.
She found herself imagining often what it would be like to date Steve Harrington. Ringo didn't like to draw on her memories of his relationship with Nancy as an example, because theirs was rather lacklustre compared to the chemistry she had imagined would be between them.
Perhaps one day, ten years from now when Nancy had completely forgotten about her high school boyfriend, she would ask her permission and tell Steve how she felt. Then they would get into his car and drive off into the sunset, while singing 'You're the One That I Want'.
Or maybe that was just Grease.
"Why aren't you focusing on the movie?" He interrupted her thoughts, a couple of minutes into the beginning. Steve was absolutely gripped already, shovelling handfuls of popcorn into his mouth at a rapid rate. "Is it because you seen it already? I told you we didn't have to see it, it's okay-"
"No, no," she interrupted, "I wanted to see it again. Just got lost in my thoughts there for a minute."
"Care to share," he whispered, cocking an eyebrow curiously. She was suddenly thankful they were in the very top row of seats, and that the theatre wasn't overly full.
"No, no," she disputed, "nothing important at all."
The movie continued, and Steve had taken to jumping slightly at particularly scary moments, something she found absolutely endearing.
"Scared?" She teased.
"No," he huffed. Seemingly jinxing himself, he jumped again two seconds later, and Ringo had to cover her mouth to hold back howls of laughter at the comical scene.
Steve was gripping the box of popcorn in one hand, his drink in the other, so when he would jump everything would move. His popcorn would shuffle in the container, the ice cubes in the drink would slush together and his hair would wave around.
She bit her lip to contain her laughter as she remembered a scene that was coming up soon, and sure enough, Steve jumped again, this time hurling the entirety of his popcorn through the air until it landed - half on Ringo, half on the floor.
She couldn't hold it in this time, the laughter emitting from her ripping across the silent theatre and disturbing the atmosphere completely. The other attendants whirled around to glare, but she only laughed harder as Steve stared at his now empty box in confusion.
"You two!" A clerk shone a flashlight on them from the aisle, pointing towards the exit with his thumb. "Out!"
Ringo was still laughing as they walked back to the car, and eventually Steve joined in out of contagiousness. His eyes were fixed on the side of her face, admiring the way her eyes crinkled when she laughed too hard and how she'd grip her stomach and throw her head back.
He had waited weeks now to tell her how he felt, and still it didn't feel like the right time. It never did with Ringo, when the risk of ruining their friendship was there. But Steve was never one to put friendship over possibility, and if Ringo had returned his feelings and they started something, that would be well worth the risk. In his opinion.
Deciding he simply couldn't hold back any more, but not wanting to scare her with his words, Steve reached out and grabbed her hand. His grip halted her until her body was forced to turn and look at him, confusion clear on her face.
"What's up? You alright?" She questioned curiously, causing his heart to swell even further.
Now, he could put his sequence into motion.
Steve Harrington had a five-step foolproof guide to kissing a girl successfully.
Rule Number One: Eye contact, which elicits sexual tension every time.
Rule Number Two: Contact, placing your hands somewhere on their body - usually their arms.
Rule Number Three: The slip and slide, where he would slip his hands up from her arms to cup her cheeks and shuffle forward until they were closer.
Rule Number Four: The lean in, but always allowing them to close the final distance.
Rule Number Five: Kiss her.
The steps had proved successful once again, but its impact was far more important that any other random girl. This was Ringo, his best friend. The girl he truly liked. Kissing her now would either make or break them.
He saw her breathing hitch as he moved closer, her heart hammering in her chest. Ringo had imagined this moment many times, but there was something rather jarring about a situation suddenly becoming reality. Especially a situation you had dreamed for.
Steve had leaned in until they were so close their breathing mingled, only adding to the rising tension between them. She knew he was waiting for her to finish the build up and kiss him, but to do that - she'd have to ignore the voice in her head that told her this made it her fault. Her betrayal.
But for the first time, she decided to ignore it. Placing her hands on his chest, Ringo closed the minuscule gap and placed her lips onto his, fulfilling a dream she had imagined for almost a year now.
His lips were soft, and as cliche as it sounded, fit well with hers. She found herself clutching his shirt tighter, never wanting to come up for air and let go of him.
Steve was entirely blissed out, she was just as perfect as he had imagined. It didn't matter whether it happened in the street after getting kicked out of a theatre or underneath a canopy of stars at a picnic. The fact was - it happened.
The moment ended prematurely for both of them, with Ringo being the one to lean back, her mind swimming and cheeks flushed. Steve used his hold on her cheeks to lift her head up.
"Are you alright?" He asked, already thinking about kissing her again. Now that he knew what it felt like, it only fed his appetite instead of quenching it.
"Yeah," she nodded, far too quickly. He had to stop himself from sighing as he watched her retreat into herself, her hands dropping to cross her arms over her chest as she stood back and headed back in the direction of the car.
Ringo Wheeler was not easy to handle, Steve knew this well. Now he also knew that she shared his feelings. However that knowledge made things so much more painful when she turned cold after their kiss. But Steve was fully aware of the reasoning behind it.
And to solve that, he'd have to talk to Nancy.