yesterday: chapter seventeen
[ 1985. June ]
THE FOLLOWING DAY, MARY-JANE IS HANGING OUT WITH MAX AND billy in the living room, nose deep in a comic that Max convinced her to read, when the doorbell rings. They all look at each other, silently deciding who'll go and see who could possibly want them something. Billy is the only one that is watching television rather than reading, so after a handful of stares from the girls, he rolls his eyes and walks over to the door.
Mary-Jane doesn't pay it much mind, she doesn't even care to look over her shoulder to see who it is because this Wonder Woman comic she's reading is way too interesting.
"MJ it's your boyfriend!" Billy says, a playful annoyed tone to his words. For a second she's about to say he's not her boyfriend — but he is. Somehow, she still hasn't gotten used to it. She whips her head around, eyebrows raised at him. When he just glares at her in return, she places the comic down on the floor and walks over to the door. Billy brushes past her and returns to the couch.
"Hi there." She smiles as her eyes land on Steve leaning against the doorframe.
"Heyo," He replies, his eyes seem to lit up as they meet hers, "I've come to steal you away." Steve wiggles his brows, almost suggestively. Mary-Jane chuckles.
"I'm sorry what now?"
"Pack your bags, Hargrove, we're going on a trip." Steve urges, a wide smile playing on his lips.
She looks at him, mouth agape. "For real?"
"Am I speaking gibberish? Yes woman, go pick your bags!"
"All right, all right, I'm on my way!" MJ laughs, running into her room to pack a backpack full of things she may or may not need — she doesn't even know where they're going.
Minutes later, she tells her siblings to just say that she's with Steve for the evening before she joins him in the car. Turning to him, Mary-Jane asks, "Where are you taking me?"
Pulling off their driveway and out onto the street, Steve turns to her."Camping."
"Camping?" She frowns.
"Well, Harrington style." He replies, eyes focused on the street.
Mary-Jane chuckles lightly. "What the hell does that mean?"
"It means we're sleeping in the back of this car, you know, pushing down the backseats and stuff, like they do in the movies." He glances at her,
"That's... actually kinda cute." MJ tilts her head, allowing it to fall back onto the headrest.
"Kinda? It's very cute and very romantic." Steve says dramatically, trying to keep his eyes on the road but he can't seem to look away from MJ.
"Of course." She chuckles, pressing a kiss on cheek. "You're very romantic, Steve Harrington. I'm impressed."
"I'm glad." He smiles proudly.
Well outside of Hawkins, Steve turns into a gravel road that seems almost too eerie, it's almost a bit haunting, being so far from everyone else on this empty road in the middle of the woods. At least it's still midday and the sun is out, this would be much worse if it wasn't.
How Steve even knows about this spot, Mary-Jane is unsure of, but when he finally stops the car, after a long drive of chattering and listening to Sheer Heart Attack, it's a small creek by a lake. It looks peaceful, MJ thinks. She doesn't like the woods at all, but this place is cozy. She's willing to bet this is actually a fishing spot. She turns to Steve. "This is cute."
"I know, right? My dad went fishing here with some of his friends the other week, and so I got this idea to take you here."
Mary-Jane smiles to herself as she looks out onto the lake, remembering when Steve didn't even know what flowers to get for Nancy. He's come a long way since then, she figures. Steve walks up to her, placing a hand on the small of her back.
"I was thinking, this would be a great place to commit homicide. You'd probably get away with it too." She turns to him.
Steve laughs. "You watch too many movies, M."
"Did you just call me M?" She asks, grinning.
"I may have. It's quicker and dare I say, cuter."
"Well, if you think so then I have no choice but to accept it." Mary-Jane smiles, inching herself closer to him and softly connecting their lips. Steve's hand travels to her face as he deepens the kiss. Mary-Jane only pulls back when she feels teardrops against her heated cheeks. "Steve, it's raining." She states the obvious, but he won't comment on it. Looking up at the skies, he nods.
"Only drizzling so far," He says, his warm, hazel eyes peering into hers for a fleeting moment before he looks out at the water with a smirk, "last one to the lake pays for our next date."
"Bold of you to assume we've even had one!" She shouts in response, Steve is quick to start running towards the water. Mary-Jane throws her clothes off as she runs, trying her best to get out of her shorts smoothly.
"You don't think that going to the movies counts?" Steve responds before plunging into the lake, his clothes also spread across the small stretch of sand. Mary-Jane makes it into the water just a mere second after him.
Throwing herself into the lake, Mary-Jane goes under before making her way up to the surface again, pulling her hair back from her face as she gasps for air. Steve also surfaces, his long hair all in his face. She swims closer to him, using her hands to comb his hair back. The water is warmer than she had expected, and the sense of quiet they have out there is like no other.
"Well, it seems like I'm paying." She jokes, wrapping her arms around his neck to get more support as stays afloat.
"Great, I'm longing for some diner coffee." Steve jokes.
"Shut up! I'm not that boring, Harrington. I have ideas."
"I don't think you're boring."
"Not even when I'm passionately talking about comics that you haven't and will never read?"
"Nope." He replies with ease, it's true. He could listen to her rant about something she's passionate about for hours without getting bored.
"And not when I'm freaking out over good cinematography and won't stop talking about it? Or when I rant about things that are annoying me?"
"God you're self aware. But no."
"Yeah, don't find you boring either, Steve. I love you." She finds herself saying, feeling her heart beat out of her chest. The words fall off her tongue so naturally that she can't find it in her to even freak out about it. She has never been so sure of anything, she really does love him. She's certain that Steve reciprocates those feelings.
"I love you too, M."
≫ ──── ≪•◦ ❈ ◦•≫ ──── ≪
[ WORDS: 1165 ]
uhh I literally just wrote this
so it's VERY unedited, any spelling
errors will be fixed soon enough.
anyWAYS, we're stepping into s3
territory in the next chapter. I'm gonna
have to rewatch the show as I write
to get scenes right, which I'm actually
very excited for BUT I'm in the
middle of a move so I'm pretty busy
atm so we'll see when I have time
to update! School also starts next
week, but I'm gonna do my best
to get chapters up at least once
a week because I love writing
and I wanna update for y'all.
thank you so so much
for 30k reads. it's absolutely mental.
also very encouraging. love love love<3
edit: I just remembered that
I was gonna have Steve say
something funny about Mother
Nature so that this title would
make sense but OH WELL