WHEN Steve and Evelyn arrived at the Summer's home late that night and exhausted, Steve was still worried sick about Evelyn as he walked her up to the door.
"God, you look awful, love." Evelyn smiled, shaking her head as her aunt greeted them. There were periods of time in Evelyn's life where she would have weeks of night-terrors about the night her parents died. Or she would wake up feeling responsible for things completely out of her control; like her uncle not getting a promotion, or her aunt missing the bus in to town. Her aunt and uncle would run to wake her up as she screeched into the night. Evelyn would therefore avoid sleep at times like this just to stop the nightmares. If she were awake, she couldn't dream. A constant exhausted fear would weigh on her kind and gentle face but it was at these times she was never herself. She looked like that now, arms wrapped around herself on the porch. She was her most vulnerable-self and Linda was surprised to see she was with someone; Evelyn hated them seeing her like this and would avoid people at all costs. But seeing someone stood with her warmed her aunt's heart.
"I'm fine." She insisted, casting her eyes to Steve and her Aunt Linda with a polite smile. Her aunt, alert with motherly worry, beckoned both the teenagers in to her home.
"You must stay for some food Steve, you both must be starving." She was gesturing over the pair of them with a tea-towel in her hand. Steve had tried to decline but then Evelyn walked inside and he couldn't help but follow her and sit beside her when she finally rested. Her aunt made them both a cup of tea and Evelyn hugged it while she thanked Steve for being here and they spoke about everything and anything. Both of them felt better distracted and it seemed there couldn't be anyone better to be sat next too. It was also like they were made to be each other's company. They sat on the couch together, Evelyn leant sleepily on her arm, propping herself up to look at him. Steve was telling Eve some crazy high school story, something wonderfully normal, when her aunt called them in to the kitchen. Steve waited for Evelyn to get up first, watching her like she might shatter if he looked away. He knew she wouldn't, but a part of him wanted to check anyway.
"Thank you Mrs Summers." Steve said, "I know it's late, I appreciate this-"
"Nonsense." Linda was scolding, "Sit down and both of you get comfortable and explain to me why you look like you've been rolling around in the garden." Steve looked down at his clothes, not even having noticed how dirty they were. Evelyn did the same and chuckled. They were both painted with mud. She even had some on her cheek.
"I hadn't even realised." Evelyn muttered. She pulled out a chair at the kitchen table and Steve did the same, plonking himself down with a sigh.
"Do you like carrots, son?" Steve nodded.
"Yes, Mrs Summers. Thank you." Evelyn tucked her hair behind her ears, sitting opposite Steve. Still not having answered her aunt's question, Evelyn scanned at the wood in front of her as if it would tell her a way to say: 'we were looking for Dustin's alien monster all night.'
"Eve has been tutoring me but then one of our friends lost his cat and we ended up offering to help find it." Linda chuckled to herself and started clanking pans and plates as she warmed them some food.
"Do you need any help, Mrs Summers?" Linda wafted her hand in the air almost offended.
"Of course not! And you must always feel welcome to come here, Steve. Wether it be for supper or a cup of tea - dropping of my niece like you have, Love, making sure she's safe, it means so much to us." Eve smiled when she saw her uncle pass through in to the kitchen. "Promise me." She pointed at him with her tea-towel and Steve, surprised, struggled for words.
"I-I promise, yeah."
"I heard voices." Henry said with a friendly grin as he entered the conversation. He wore matching plum pyjamas and had novelty monkey slippers on his feet. He held a mug of coffee in one hand despite it being the early hours of the morning and pulled a chair out with the other. Steve recognised him as one of the Hawkins Police Department but couldn't help stifling a laugh seeing him so out of his usual character. "You must be Steve!" Her uncle said as Evelyn stood to help her aunt, even though she'd declined their help several times.
"Yes sir, I am. Thank you both for going out your way for me tonight, I'll be out of your hair soon." He said it with irresistible charm but her uncle unexpectedly shook his head, grunting a rejection to his words. Steve paused, worried.
"You can't go driving out at this time of night, Steve. It's far too late." Her uncle sipped his coffee with furrowed brows but then he said, "You know what? We have a spare bedroom upstairs, why don't you stay over?" He gestured to Steve's clothes, "You can shower off half of the Hawkins feilds you both seem to have brought in and Evelyn can drive you to school in the morning. We have some spare shirts and jeans and all that upstairs, they'll probably fit you-looking at you." Steve tried to decline but the good-will of a Summer's family member was hard to escape. It was also strangely comforting and as Steve thought about it, Henry was right. It was late and Steve was completely exhausted. He didn't want to drive across the other side of town and wake up his parents in the process and then have to explain to them where he's been while they scold him disapprovingly. It also gave them an easy way of skipping school tomorrow to track down Dustin's godforesaken monster without suspicion. And so it made sense.
Steve looked to Evelyn, a loving smile brightening her face as she looked at her aunt and plated up their food, the smell of it taunting him. His body felt heavy with the temptation of sleep and he ended up concluding that there couldn't be any harm in it if he stayed, so he agreed.
Evelyn brought Steve pillows from the couches downstairs in case he didn't like the ones on the bed and Evelyn's aunt had checked on him four times to make sure he had everything he needed. She left him a towel and some clothes that seemed around his size, and placed a glass of water beside his bed.
"I'm sorry if this is weird." Evelyn chuckled, as Steve sat on the navy duvet they'd put on for him. "They mean well." Steve's family didn't feel like a family - they weren't warm or funny or kind or open minded and so in all honesty, he was jealous of this, and wanted so much more of it.
"They're lovely." He said, and then he looked up to Evelyn who perched beside him. "I don't think it's weird at all." After the day they'd had, Evelyn couldn't say she did either. She nodded a little, and smiled at him.
"I'm...I'm sorry about today." Evelyn whispered quickly and Steve shook his head.
"No." He said loudly, "No, don't be. There's nothing to apologise for." Steve moved his face so she'd look at him, "I'm glad I was with you." Evelyn cringed, being reminded of a few hours before but she nodded gratefully.
"Well," she pushed a strand of hair behind her ear, "Goodnight, Steve Harrington." She stood and felt his fingers snake around her wrist.
"You promise you're okay?" Eve chuckled, ghosting his fingers with her free hand to convince him.
"I promise."
•
"Jesus!" The following morning Evelyn had yelped when she woke up, walking towards the bathroom to brush her teeth forgetting in her sleepy haze that there was a guest in their house. She looked frantically away from the topless Steve in front of her, and tried to look anywhere but at him as her cheeks turned pink.
"Sorry." Steve said laughing and frustratingly calm. "Didn't mean to scare you."
"You didn't - I just - forgot." Steve placed a hand on his heart, mocking offence.
"Am I that boring? You've just broke my heart even more, I hope you know that." Evelyn giggled while he teased her, swatting him on the arm.
"Let me brush my teeth."
"I wasn't stopping you." And they went downstairs to the kitchen, where Linda and Henry were already up. Henry was reading the daily newspaper, uniform on and ready, and her aunt was humming to the radio as she scraped at a frying pan.
"Do you like pancakes, Steve?" Surprised and flattered, he looked between Henry and Evelyn and then caugh Linda's eye.
"Yes, I love them."
"Good," Henry was saying, "Because she usually makes enough for the whole town." Evelyn poured Steve and herself some orange juice and Steve grabbed some cutlery and set it out for the four of them on the table. Evelyn sat on one of the wooden chairs, sitting opposite her uncle and Steve pulled out the chair beside her. She leant over and took a piece of toast from the toast rack already on the table while she waited. When she bit into her toast however, something seemed to happen and it was Steve's turn to be lost. Her uncle jumped from the table, the wood wobbled as it lifted from the impact. Evelyn groaned loudly, laughing and shaking her head. Steve looked around at them confused as her uncle began cheering loudly. He leant to the dial on the radio turned it up so high it began to hurt the small speakers. His gruff voice began singing the words badly and out of tune, but Steve was smiling anyway. At the sound and sight of it, Evelyn hid her face.
"Come on, Evie, you know you want too." Steve watched her as her face turned pink and through her giggles she tried to decline, for she knew full well what was coming. Steve then realised her uncle was trying to get her to dance and he pushed her to stand, tipping her chair. Her uncle cheered Steve for his involvement and her aunt was spinning and moving the pan in time with the music, smiling lovingly at the pair of them but not with a hint of surprise. For Evelyn's mornings, this was completely normal. As all three started cheering her name, Evelyn was defeated and took her uncles outstretched hands. With the contagious smile the entire family seemed to wear, Steve couldn't help but feel part of it. He wished he had a family like this - he wished he felt the love that was oozing out of each of them and filled the room on the daily. He wished the smile Evelyn seemed to put on his cheeks, the ones that ached his mouth and taped his heart back together, was something Nancy could have offered him because he wished he'd had more of it.
Evelyn's voice filled the small room beside her uncle's and it was surprisingly pretty. It travelled above the music, but didn't ruin it, and chimed through the house with a heavenly shimmer. Evelyn was giggling as her uncle spun and twirled her. He was singing so badly but Evelyn was laughing in a glorious way over it. Her wet hair from her recent shower flung out around her face and though she only wore an oversized T-shirt and shorts for bed and hadn't yet changed, she looked addictive and glowed and beautiful. She always did, but in a careless stolen moment, when she'd been so distressed, she was angelic.
Her uncle ordered Steve to join but when he said no, Evelyn just grabbed his hand and pulled him from his seat. She slipped her hands inside his, and off beat, they spun around the kitchen. They were laughing and knocking the chairs and Evelyn's grin made Steve find he was singing and jumping and joining in carelessly. Evelyn applauded when Steve pretended to play guitar along with the song and Steve lifted Evelyn without thinking, laughing into her hair as she squeeled and playfully swatted his hands for him to put her down, both blinded by the moment. When he did, her uncle scooped her back into the air. Her cheeks were stained with tears from her laugher. Steve was smiling stupidly, breathlessly as they sat back down around the table. He'd never felt so effortlessly content and joyful. Evelyn walked past the plate of pancakes as she made her way to her seat, and placed them in front of Steve.
"I'll see you two later," Henry then said abruptly as he took his police hat from his chair, not sitting back down to join them. He kissed his wife's forehead and winked at his niece. He smiled at Steve as he passed him and squeezed his shoulder firmly.
"I hope to see you again, Steve. It was a pleasure to meet you." Swallowing a mouthful of pancake Steve coughed and then answered his strangled reply.
"You too sir, thank you again."