CHAPTER SIXTY-TWO
CONFUSED CONFESSIONS

Kimmy looked down to the girl passed out on the floor with a look of great worry, crouching behind Mike as she tried to see what was wrong with her.

"What's wrong with her?" Erica asked from next to Kimmy, looking up to the older girl with a look of fear.

"I don't know." Kimmy mumbled in response, her voice slightly shaky as she watched Mike talk to her quietly. "Mike, what's wrong with her?"

"El, what's wrong?" The boy asked fearfully as the girl on the floor began to cry, sobbing as she clutched onto her leg.

"My leg." She sobbed through tears, Kimmy's brows furrowing in sadness as she watched her friend in such pain.

"Okay, her leg," Jonathan nodded swiftly, moving to pull the bottom of her long navy colored pants up to just below her knee. "Okay."

Kimmy's eyes widened drastically as she caught sight of a thick white bandage that had been bled through, Jonathan and Mike quickly moving to take the plaster so they could see what was causing her so much pain.

The brunette, along with everyone else gasped at the sight. Her leg was literally leaking some sort of green and yellow goo as well as blood. There were clumps of blood surrounding her wound and her entire leg had gone red.

Kimmy felt Aaron turn around next to her, completely facing his body away from the crying girl on the floor as he squeezed his eyes closed and placed a hand to his mouth to stop himself gagging.

Kimmy's brows raised as she realised that there was literally something moving around in her leg. The brunette was glad Aaron had turned around because she knew the blond would be profusely vomiting if he could see.

El began wailing hysterically as whatever was in her leg began moving around, screaming out in pain.

Mike reached out and grabbed a hold of her hand, doing his best to calm her down despite knowing she was in great pain.

"There's something in there." Mike stressed to his sister, trying to think of something to do to help the girl on the floor.

Kimmy kneeled down onto her knees and scooted closer to the girl crying, moving next to Mike as she frowned down at her friend.

"Keep her talking." Jonathan yelled, rushing to his feet and sprinting away frantically. "Keep her awake!"

Kimmy watched with a horrified expression as the eldest Byers brother ran off, however she quickly adverted her attention back down to the wailing girl.

"It's okay, El." Mike was trying to calm her down but it didn't seem to be working, Kimmy doubted Eleven could even hear him from how much pain she was in. "It's all going to be okay, I promise."

Mike turned to glance at Kimmy with a slightly frightened expression, the boy not sure what to do. Kimmy was startled, unsure what to say to the boy to calm him down.

"Okay maybe we should get her comfortable?" Kimmy suggested in a weak voice, preparing herself to be shut down. But much to her surprise the boy nodded frantically at her in agreement.

"Yeah, yeah." He nodded, turning to face Nancy and Steve as they helped Kimmy and Mike readjust the girl so she was slightly elevated, the back of her head resting in Mike's lap, allowing her legs to lay out straight in front of her.

"It's okay, El." Kimmy told her friend frantically, watching as Dustin reached out and grabbed ahold of the crying girls hand with a small smile. "You just gotta stay awake. Stay awake for us, okay?"

Obviously Eleven didn't reply, still screaming and crying in pain.

"You know, it's not actually that bad." Robin tried to calm the crying girl down, Kimmy closing her eyes the second Robin opened her mouth, knowing whatever she said it was probably not about to comfort the girl in anyway. "There was a... the goalie on my soccer team, Beth Wildfire, the other girl slide into her leg and the bone came out of her knee. Six inches or something it was insane."

There was silence for a moment, the only thing heard was Aaron gagging at what the girl had to say. Luckily, Steve stepped in before she could say anything else.

"Robin." Steve called for her bluntly, shaking his head as he did so. "You're not helping."

"I'm sorry." Robin blurted to El, despite the fact the crying girl wasn't paying attention in the slightest.

"Okay," Jonathan signed, slightly breathless as he sat back down in front of El's leg like he had been priorly. "Alright, El? This is gonna hurt like hell, okay?"

"Okay," the girl cried, Kimmy grabbing onto the girls free hand that Dustin didn't have ahold of and squeezed it tightly, Mike had a hold of her two shoulders as he also tried his best to comfort her.

"I need you to stay real still." Jonathan continued,  putting clear protective gloves on as he spoke, Kimmy looking to him in confusion and concern. The older boy then handed Mike a wooden spoon to put in El's mouth. "Your gonna want to bite down on this, okay?"

"Jesus christ." Dustin sighed from opposite Kimmy, looking to the brunette with a look of horror that Kimmy returned.

Kimmy watched with wide eyes as Jonathan lifted the large kitchen knife he had ran off to grab, before abruptly sticking it into the girls leg and literally cutting her leg open.

Kimmy allowed the girl to squeeze her hand tightly as the older boy did so, however the brunette was gasping and squeezing her eyes shut when she watched the boy stick his fingers into the hole in her leg he had created.

Eleven was hysterically crying, her screams muffled by the spoon in her mouth, her face now red with how much pain she was in.

"No! Stop it!" Eleven screamed, Kimmy opening her eyes as the girl spat the wooden spoon from her mouth. "Stop it!"

"Stop! Stop it! She wants you to stop!" Kimmy yelled, it seemed that it was Kimmy who had gotten the boys attention, not El. Jonathan presuming she was just crying in pain.

Jonathan instantly stopped, standing to his feet hurriedly.

El tried to push herself up, but was only able to do so with the help of Mike, Dustin and Kimmy. The girl still sobbing as she spoke.

"I can do it." El insisted, struggling in pain as she sat up. "I can do it."

Kimmy and Dustin hesitantly let go of her hands as they scooted back to give the girl space, Kimmy now sat next to Max.

El took a final shaky breath before sticking her hand out and screaming in pain as she tried to force whatever was stuck in her leg out with her powers.

Kimmy winced as she watched the girls screams get louder, the girl using so much of her energy at once that the lights in the mall began to flicker and the glass behind Kimmy and Max shattering, the girls ducking their heads down and using their hands to hide their faces from any damage from the glass as they yelped in surprise.

Kimmy glanced up with a scared expression as she watched the small creature rise out from El's leg, it floating in the air for a moment before El tilted her head up and the creature went flying so far that it landed about two store windows away.

The group watched silently as the small creature began to crawl away, Kimmy's eyes so focused on the creature that she hadn't even realised the three adults approaching them until one of them killed the small animal that had been causing El so much pain.

Kimmy's eyes widened as she caught sight of Hopper, Joyce as well a man Kimmy didn't quite recognise.

...

While Hopper and Mike were off dealing with El, trying to clean her up and comfort her, Aaron took his chance to get the brunette girl herself so he could talk to her.

The second Max had left her side to talk to Lucas, the blond was rushing over.

While the group waited for Mike, El and Hopper to return from wherever they were in the mall, it seemed that everyone else was taking the first break in a while after the past few days everyone had.

Max and Lucas were sat talking and laughing amongst themselves, Nancy and Jonathan were sat close together too. Will was with his mom who was extremely worried about him, Steve and Dustin were arguing about god knows what while Erica and Robin instigated with snickers.

"Hi." Aaron blurted to the brunette as he took a seat next to her, clasping his hands together nervously as she turned to look at him.

"Hi." Kimmy repeated, smiling tiredly up at him as she shifted to face the blond.

"Um, are you feeling... better?" Aaron asked, unsure what word to use in reference to her obvious dip in mood earlier. The girl was clearly upset earlier, Aaron just wanted to know what had upset her so much.

Kimmy's brows knitted together in confusion, tilting her head to the side as she listened to him. "What do you mean?"

Aaron's eyes widened as he listened to her, suddenly worried that he'd brought something up that shouldn't have been brought up or that he'd made a faux presumption that she was upset when she wasn't.

"I just- I just wanted to check that you were okay." Aaron said, rushing his words out in a panic. "You seemed upset earlier."

"Oh- I'm sorry." Kimmy spoke worriedly, Aaron furrowed his brows at her unnecessary apology. "I wasn't... upset or anything. I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable or anything-"

"You didn't." Aaron dismissed instantly, shaking his head at her. "I just wanted to make sure you were okay. That's all."

Kimmy raised her brows at his response, looking slightly taken aback before nodding slowly. "Oh. Thanks."

"Uh, of course." Aaron nodded awkwardly at her, not sure what else to say to keep the conversation moving.

The blond glanced to his brother from across the middle of the mall, the older boy nodding at him to get a move on before turning back to his conversation with Dustin.

Aaron scratched the back of his neck nervously, looking to Kimmy with a slightly nervous expression as he tried to shove down his nerves and ask what Steve had pushed him to.

"I was wondering if maybe after all of this you would want to do something? Like- uh, not right away but like next week or something?" He asked her, watching as the girl turned to face him but allowed him to finish what he was saying before answering. "Like a movie or something, maybe? Since we didn't get our... our- uh... our date."

Kimmy looked to him blankly for a moment before her lips broke out into a teasing smile as she laughed. "You know we did technically make it to our movie, just Erica, Dustin, Robin and your brother were there with us."

Aaron's brows furrowed in perplexity, confused on what the hell the girl was talking about. The boy wondering if it was some sort of joke he was supposed to get but missed.

"What are you talking about?" Aaron asked unsurely, a nervous smile crossing his lips.

"Nothing." Kimmy laughed, shaking her head at him. "Nothing, it was just a joke."

"Oh, right." Aaron nodded trying to laugh along as if he understood what she meant.

"So, um, what do you want to do next week?" Kimmy asked seriously, scratching the back of her head as she tried to hide her nerves.

"Whatever you want." Aaron shrugged, glad she was open to redoing their first date.

"Okay..." Kimmy trailed off, tilting her head in thought. "Oh! Um is the fair still here next week? We could go there."

Aaron raised his brows in surprise at her suggestion, having not expected the girl to come up with such an idea.

"I think it's here for another two weeks." The blond nodded, blinking profusely as he tried not to show his nerves on his face. "We could go there if you want?"

Kimmy shifted in her seat nervously as she nodded. "Sure, we could maybe see our movie too?"

Aaron tried and failed to hide his grin, nodding proudly at her. "Yeah, um, I'd like that."

The brunette grinned back at him, however Aaron watched as the grin slipped away, the boy's panic returning once more.

"You're doing it again." Aaron told her, a small frown pulling on his own lips as he spoke.

"Doing what again?" Kimmy asked curiously, the frown on her face still present as she spoke.

"Looking sad." Aaron shrugged.

Kimmy's eyes widened and she straightened her back, trying to gather her composure as she tried to force the sad look off her face.

"I'm fine." Kimmy tried to insist, although Aaron could see straight through her.

The blond sighed, scrunching his nose in thought as he tried to figure out what to say while doing his best not to upset her more than she already was.

"Will you just tell me what's wrong?" He sighed, frustrated that he didn't know what was upsetting the girl, therefore not knowing what to do to fix it.

Kimmy hesitated, pursing her lips in thought. She looked him straight in the face, her eyes narrowed slightly before sighing and answering the boy.

"I'm not upset, I swear." She very clearly lied, pausing for a long moment before speaking up again, completely changing the topic of conversation. "Are you- you don't remember anything from today, you're sure? You don't remember... talking to me or anything?"

Aaron's brows knitted together, completely puzzled at why she was brining this up before he began to panic, fearing the worst. Suddenly a thought entered his mind that made him feel sick.

He'd upset her while out of his mind on drugs, he'd said something to her.

"What did I say to you?" Aaron asked instantly, all traces of humour drained from his face as he really began to stress.

Kimmy sent him a wide eyed stare, not exactly sure how to respond. She didn't want to tell him anything he said and leave him feeling so uncomfortable and embarrassed that he avoided her and they drifted in closeness.

"Uh- it was nothing much really," Kimmy lied, scratching the back of her neck uncomfortably. "Just rambling really. Just a lot of stuff you didn't really mean."

Kimmy hoped that would be it done, that he wouldn't ask again and that the conversation would be done. Yes, she'd asked. But she'd only been looking for a yes or no answer, she hadn't actually expected the boy to click onto what she was referring to.

However, of course it was Aaron she was talking to and he would never let it go until he'd gotten to the bottom of it.

"Really?" Aaron taunted with a pointed look, knitting his brows together as he sent her a stare which said he didn't believe her in the slightest. "Then why are you acting all funny with me?"

Kimmy furrowed her brows and nervously laughed at his choice of words. "Being funny with you? What's that supposed to mean?"

"You know you're not acting like yourself," he replied without thinking, his lips pulling down in a small frown as he watched her panic. "You look scared shitless."

Kimmy actually was scared shitless. She now knew that the boy next to her liked her, he liked her a lot apparently. That wasn't really the problem. Kimmy liked him too.

What the problem was, was that he hadn't known that she knew he liked her, he didn't know that he had told her how he felt about her. This now left Kimmy in the awkward position to tell him what he had said to her.

She'd have to at some point, at least if she did it now she could get it over with rather than acting all funny with him for months to come.

At least now Kimmy didn't have to worry about her feelings being unrequited, he liked her back. She knew this for a fact.

"You honestly don't remember anything you said?" She asked in a quiet voice, no amusement present in her voice. "Don't remember what you told me?"

Aaron furrowed his brows and tilted his head, his face clearly displaying perplexity. "No, what did I say? What did I tell you? Was it bad?"

Kimmy shook her head instantly, waving her hands in panic, she watched his brows furrow further in confusion.

"How do you feel about me then?" Kimmy opted to ask bravely, taking a breath as she did her best to keep her composure. "I mean, what do you think about me?"

It took everything in Kimmy not to walk away from him and to actually hear him out, each part of her screaming at her in fear of rejection or laughter.

Aaron looked extremely panicked now, as if he hadn't been expecting that question to fall from her mouth.

"What do you mean how to I feel about you?" Aaron rushed out, sitting up straighter as he turned to face her straight on. "Why, did I say something earlier?"

"Yeah," Kimmy blurted, her voice cracking on its own accord as her words got caught in her throat. She paused for a moment unsure if she should continue, though continued again after a moment instead of leaving her murmur of a response hanging in the air. "Do you uh, want us to stay friends?"

"Yes." Aaron answered instantly, not waiting a second before nodding at her.

"But that's it?" She asked, fighting back a frown. "Nothing else?"

Aaron tensed, hesitating several moments before speaking, clearly flustered. "What do you mean by nothing else?"

Aaron had pink cheeks as he spoke, though he evidently did his best to ignore it.

"Like, like..." Kimmy trailed off, trying to say what she wanted to without scaring the boy off. "Um, as in... as in the more than friends way?"

Aaron's eyes widened drastically, his brows shooting up in a mix of surprise and panic as he fumbled over his words. "Did I say something about being more than friends?"

Kimmy took a breath, biting the inside of her cheek as she hesitated. The girl sighed before reluctantly answering. "Yeah, you did."

The blond looked horrified, his face practically burning red while looking at her with no response. The boy was clearly scrambling through his brain for some sort of response.

"Did you mean that? Or were you just high?" Kimmy asked him carefully, wanting to get to the bottom of it now that she had started it.

Kimmy knew the boy she was talking to, and she also knew that when he panicked, he practically shut down. And right now, he was clearly panicked.

He scratched his neck anxiously, taking a breath as he tried to think of what to say. "I mean, I just-"

They weren't going to get anywhere with the state the boy was in, he clearly had no idea what he was supposed to do. Kimmy sighed and went to do the only thing she could think of. "I would... um, be open to being... more than friends. If you were."

Kimmy waited anxiously for a response, but she didn't get one. The boy allowing his surprise to take over him and he clearly didn't know what to say in response, no matter how he felt.

"Aaron!" Lucas yelled, the two sat next to each other looking over to where the boy was stood along side Dustin, Will and Mike. Mike seemingly back from wherever he had been helping El. "Get over here!"

The blond glanced to Kimmy slightly panicked for a moment before looking back to his friends motioning for him to make his way over, the boy sighing as he stood from where he was sat.

Kimmy bit the inside of her cheek, her breathing picking up with worry as she watched her initial worry happen right before her eyes.

He hadn't meant it, it had been bunched in with the other nonsense he had spewed out with half conscious.

It puzzled her, how he was so sure on going on a date with the girl, but didn't seem to reciprocate her feelings. Kimmy began doubting everything she had thought priorly.

Maybe he was just joking, perhaps he hadn't expected her to take his words so seriously. She didn't know, but then again, she couldn't think straight from the amount of negative emotions washing over her.

The girl tried her best not to frown to herself at the thought. She'd quite possibly ruined her entire two year friendship with the boy.

"Um," Aaron turned and whispered nervously to her before walking over to his friends. "I would be open to... the more than friends thing. Just to- just so you know."

With that the boy walked away, Kimmy watching him in surprise before allowing a small smile to take over her face as she smiled to herself.

...

😮.

This was written so fast so if there are any mistakes let me know please lol.

Hope everyone is having/had a great day!!!

- AJ :)