Chapter Thirty-Six:
Shitty Music Taste
.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.
Ramona couldn't pinpoint the moment the dynamic between her and Steve switched from hate to something else, but she was glad it did. Because it turns out, King Harrington wasn't as much as an asshole as she thought he was.
Maybe she stopped hating him after he wrapped up her wounds from the Demo-dogs, maybe she stopped hating him after their pancake outings became a weekly deal. Maybe it was after she got a job at the coffee shop across from Scoops Ahoy. Maybe it was the night of the snowball when he seemed to genuinely care about the bruise on her cheek. Maybe it was Halloween after he came in with a broken heart and she promised to fix it, which she did. She didn't know when she stopped hating him, but she did. And that was what was important.
All that matters is that somewhere from Halloween night to now, something changed, and Ramona wouldn't have it any other way. She liked how it was with Steve, and he meant a lot to her. Even if she didn't always admit it out loud, it was true.
"So, you and Steve, huh?" Ramona jumped, pulling her eyes from Steve's figure and turning her attention to the source of the question.
Nancy stood there, a small grin on her face as she wiggled her eyebrows. In the background, Ramona could still hear Mike and Lucas berating Steve for 'Letting Ramona get hurt like that because you're a pussy' in the words of Mike.
"Nancy.." Ramona forced a smile, "Um.. Yeah, yes. Yeah, I'm sorry."
"Sorry?" Nancy repeated, raising her eyebrows with a shocked laugh. "For?"
"For... breaking, um... what do you call it again?" Ramona nervously wrung her hands together, "Uh, girl code! I know he's your ex, but... I really do like him, and-"
Nancy rolled her eyes, shaking her head as she leaned on the counter beside where Ramona sat. Her eyes trailed from Ramona's bruised eyes to where Jonathan tried to calm Steve down. "I don't think that applies to us, besides, I don't care."
A sigh of relief left Ramona's lips, followed by the faintest of smiles. "Thanks. Because I really do like him. I know, shocker."
"If I remember correctly, this time, like, a year ago, you swore up and down you wanted to strangle him." Nancy teased, nudging her with her elbow. Ramona rolled her eyes, forcing down the smile as she felt heat rise to her cheeks. "Now you want the same thing.. but differently."
Ramona gasped, her face flushing as she whipped her head over to look at her, "Nancy!"
Nancy let out a laugh, raising her hands in surrender. "Just saying."
"Just saying." Ramona mimicked in a high pitched voice. "Eras la peor."
Nancy huffed, shaking her head and crossing her arms. "You know-"
"Ramona!" Steve shouted, cutting Nancy and Ramona's conversation off short. His voice echoed around the empty mall as he waved her over, a set of car keys dangling from his fingers. "Let's.. uh, Vamos! Is that right?"
Ramona sent him a thumbs up, uncrossing her legs and sliding off the counter. "That's right!"
"We'll talk later." Nancy said pointedly. "And I mean talk."
Ramona nodded, "Of course, duh."
~~
"Oh, man!" A low whistle left Steve's lips as his eyes landed on the car. "Now this, this is what I'm talking about!"
Ramona grinned at the sight of the car, "Shit."
"Toddfather?" Robin asked, raising her eyebrows and increasing her speed to keep up with Steve and Ramona.
"Oh, screw Todd!" Steve called back, "Steve's her daddy now."
"Oh." Ramona blinked, shaking her head as she shared a look with Robin. "That's normal.."
"Did you just talk about yourself in the third person?" Robin continued, furrowing her eyebrows as she got into the back of the car.
"Did he just call himself daddy?" Erica continued, raising her eyebrows as Ramona got into the passenger seat.
"All right, where we goin'?" Steve asked, ignoring Erica and Robin's comments.
"Weather-top." Dustin answered.
"Weather-what?" Steve looked back at Dustin.
"Just drive!" Dustin answered.
"Okay!" Steve scoffed, rolling his eyes and starting the car. "Jesus."
Ramona let a quiet laugh escape her lips as Steve turned around to back the car out. "On the road again!"
"You have shit music taste." Dustin grimaced, scrunching his nose up.
"Aw." Ramona cooed, "At least I have taste, Dusty roads."
"Wow." Dustin sighed, shaking his head. "Just-Just... wow."
"Wow." Steve mimicked in a high pitch voice, pulling onto the highway. "Leave her alone."
"Just because she's your girlfriend doesn't give her a free pass to have bad music taste." Erica pointed out.
Ramona blushed at the word 'girlfriend' her heart skipping a beat at the word. "Um.."
"My girlfriend doesn't have shitty music taste, you're just-"
"Wait, so I am?" Ramona teased.
Steve blushed, tightening his grip on the steering wheel and shifting his position. Clearing his throat he glanced away from the road and over to her, "Uh, y-yeah, I just, uh, assumed you were after the-"
"Oh, my God! Ew!" Robin fake gagged, "Can we not do this in front of... us?"
"Yeah, I feel car sick." Erica grimaced, pressing her hand against her stomach. "Gross."
"I think it's cute!" Dustin defended, "Even if she has bad music taste."
~~
"Jesus, how far is this place, man?" Steve looked at him through the mirror, clear aggravation shining through in his voice.
"Pretty damn far, we passed my house." Ramona huffed, suddenly sitting up. "Oh, shit, my mom's gonna fucking kill me! I've been gone so long. Fuck! Sorry, Erica."
"You'll be fine." Steve said, glancing over at her before looking back at Dustin, "Seriously, how far is it?"
"Relax, we're almost there." Dustin rolled his eyes.
"Suzie must be pretty special, huh?" Robin called over the whirling wind around them as they sped down the highway, "I mean, if you built this thing and lugged it all the way to the middle of nowhere just to talk to her.
"I mean nobody's scientifically perfect, but Suzie's about as close to being perfect as any human could possibly be."
"She sounds made up to me." Erica jabbed, looking over at Dustin and raising her eyebrows. "She sound made up to you?"
Steve opened his mouth to speak as he shared a look with Ramona. Dustin blinked in shock, "Wait, why are you hesitating? Why are you hesitating?"
"I'm-I'm.. I'm not! I'm not! , uh, I think she sounds real! You know, absolutely, totally, real!"
"Super real!" Ramona agreed, dragging out the u in super.
"Left, turn left!" Dustin ordered.
"There's not a road here!" Steve pointed out, throwing his hand up in exasperation.
"Turn left now!" Dustin shouted.
"Jesus, hang on!" Steve shouted, swerving left suddenly. Ramona yelped as her body collided to the car door when Steve drove straight through a fence. "Woah! Henderson, where are we going?"
"Up!" Dustin screamed as Ramona tightened her grip on the door handle.
"Up?" Ramona repeated, pain shooting through her throat as her voice rose an octave.
"Oh, Jesus!" Steve shouted as they began the ascent up the steep hill.
"We're not gonna make it!" Robin shouted, gripping the leather seats.
"Yes, we are!" Steve disagreed, "Come on, baby. Come on, baby!"
The sound of the car's engine straining filled her ears as the wheels squealed against the rocky hill. "Fuck."
"Language!" Erica scolded as Steve strained to push the car up the hill.
"Come on, come on!" He grunted, pushing the gas pedal to the floor and leaning forward in his seat.
"Guess the Toddfather has its limitations." Robin said with a roll of her eyes.
Steve panted, sharing a look with Ramona as he unbuckled his seatbelt. "Let's go."
Ramona huffed, climbing out of the car, "Fantastic."
.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.
{ A/n: happy Juneteenth!}
{ Translations: you're the worst, move,