07.

"ᴵ ᵈᵒⁿ'ᵗ ˡⁱᵏᵉ ᵃⁿᵗⁱᶜⁱᵖᵃᵗⁱⁿᵍ ᵐʸ ᶠᵃᶜᵉ ⁱⁿ ᵃ ʳᵉᵈ ᶠˡᵘˢʰ."
—ᵍᵒˡᵈ ʳᵘˢʰ ᵇʸ ᵗᵃʸˡᵒʳ ˢʷⁱᶠᵗ

Amber had sat in the back seat, touching the red petals on the roses as she couldn't help but keep admiring them. It was a small act that Steve Harrington did that surprised her and made her feel fuzzy on the inside. It was unexpected because she could've been fooled to think they were for Nancy, but one thing she knew and she was aware that Steve knew was that Nancy hated roses. She liked the lavender daisy poms because of Barb.

From time to time while he was driving, Steve would steal a glance to the back to catch Amber smiling down at the flowers. Steve was mentally cheering that he had done something right without screwing it up completely. A smile would come to his lips from time to time as he looked at her which Dustin Henderson wasn't blind to. The Henderson boy became slightly annoyed at this information he was getting from just watching it with his own eyes. Steve Harrington had been blushing over Amber Hayes, Dustin's go-to babysitter and in his head, the love of his life, even with his new-found crush on the new girl Max, Amber always was the number one in his heart. And he would be damned if he let Steve Harrington, a jerk, take her from him.

Steve had pulled into his empty drive-way as he put the car in park. Him having to get his bat from his room since he had moved it out of his car a couple of weeks back, assuming that it was alright to retire it, but he seemed to have assumed wrong.

"Alright. You two stay in the car, I'll be back in a minute." Steve instructed them as he was about to leave the car.

"Steve." Amber called out, the boy turned back to her with a soft look in his eyes.

"Could you get me a glass of water or something? I'm dying of thirst. My mouth feels like I swallowed a desert." Amber dramtically told him as he shook his head.

"Yeah, sure." He said before he left and disappeared into his house. Amber's attention had soon fallen onto Dustin who had turned around in his seat.

"So, Steve?" The younger boy questioned.

"What? What about Steve?" Amber asked, confused.

"Oh, don't give me that bullshit. You like him. He likes you. Well, I don't like it." Dustin said.

"Dustin, language! And I don't like Harrington. And he doesn't like me. Any feelings for him that I had have long set sail years ago." Amber began to ramble as Dustin pointed at her.

"So you used to like him!" He exclaimed.

"Oh my god, Dustin. Years ago before he turned into a jerk and we stopped being friends." Amber said, even if she had been slightly lying about part of it.

"But what's to say those feelings come back? What are you going to do then? Amber you have to think this through." Dustin tried to reason with her.

"Dustin, those feelings aren't going to come back. There's nothing to think about. It's as simple as that. He was just being nice giving me these flowers for me being nice to him with his issues he's currently dealing with." Amber told him.

"He a hundred percent likes you. I know it." Dustin said.

"How would you know?" Amber questioned him, starting to become annoyed.

"I just do. And I don't want him to hurt you." Dustin voiced his concern as Amber frowned slightly.

"Dustin, he won't hurt me. I won't let that happen. But thank you for being concerned and worrying for me." She thanked him before she pulled a rose out from the bouquet. She began to flick off the thorns on the stem before she broke part of the stem and then tucked it behind Dustin's ear. The boy couldn't help but smile at her before he turned around in his seat when Steve opened the car door once he put the bat in the trunk. He handed Amber a water bottle that she graciously accepted. But once he sat down in his seat he let out a yelp before sitting a bit out of his seat. He picked up a thorn as Amber sheepishly smiled.

"Oops." She let out before opening her water bottle to start drinking it. The boy shook his head in annoyance as Dustin laughed. Then they headed off towards Dustin's house as it began to get darker.

It had gotten slightly quiet in the car besides the music playing from the radio. An awkwardness falling on all of them. But the first to cause the break in silence was Amber who began to lean over the middle console to the front.

"Wha-hey! What are you doing, Hayes?" Steve questioned as he began to freak out.

"I want to listen to something else." She told him as he began to swat her hand away.

"Sit down. Sit back down." Steve demanded her.

"Calm down, Harrington. It's fine." She rolled her eyes as she began to switch the radio station.

"Hayes. I swear to god, I will stop this car and buckle you in myself." Steve threatened as she turned slightly to glare at him. Seeing his annoyed expression made her huff before mumbling to herself as she moved back to her seat.

"Seat belt." He told her as he looked at her in the mirror. She began to mimic his voice before flipping him off.

"You're acting like a child." Steve stated.

"Leave her be. She's still grumpy from not sleeping." Dustin told him, which caused Steve to whip his head back towards her.

"EYES ON THE ROAD!" Dustin yelled which caused the older boy to turn back to the road but then glanced at the girl in the mirror again.

"You still haven't slept?" He asked.

"No." She mumbled as she crossed her arms.

"Hayes, you do know you need sleep?" Steve brought up.

"I know that." She snapped.

"It's the darkness. It's everywhere." She muttered as the two boys turned to give each other a look. Seeing how she was visibly scared of the darkness she was seeing. Trying to turn the conversation away from the girl, Steve questioned Dustin.

"Wait. How big was this thing?"
"First it was like that. Now he's like this." Dustin informed him as he showed him a visual with his hands.

"I swear to god, man, it's just some little lizard, okay?" Steve said.

"Oh, trust me. It's not. I had a face down with that fucking thing. That was no lizard." Amber chimed in, Dustin nodded.

"Amber charged at him and wacked him into the cellar with the hockey stick. It was a really impressive goal. It's not a lizard." Dustin told Steve.

"How do you know?"

"How do I know if it's not?" Dustin questioned Steve.

"How do you know it's not just a lizard?" Steve asked, still not believing.

"Its face opened up, Harrington. Like the demogorgon last year." Amber responded.

"Its face opened up and he ate my cat." Dustin said as silence fell upon them for a split second. Steve nodded his head, realizing a normal lizard wouldn't do that. And Amber bringing up last year's events made it more understandable. They pulled into Dustin's driveway as they all got out of the car. Steve opened the trunk to take out his bat before they all began to head towards the cellar door.

Shining the flashlight down at the door, Steve stood there staring at the door. Amber looked at him wondering why he wasn't getting ready to do something as she grabbed the shovel from earlier that she left near the door.

"I don't hear shit." Steve announced.

"Maybe he's sleeping?" Amber suggested as Steve gave her a look.

"Yeah, 'cause this thing is definitely getting the shut eye you should be getting right now." Steve said as she shrugged.

"He's in there." Dustin told Steve. The Harrington boy took a quick look in the direction of the other two getting ready to slowly tap on the door with the bat. When he heard nothing, he banged on the metal and only heard the chain rattle.

"All right, listen, kid. I swear, if this is some sort of Halloween prank, you're dead." Steve said as he shone the light in Dustin's face.

"Halloween was a couple days ago, get over yourself. It's not a prank." Amber told Steve as he turned the light on the girl.

"Get that out of my face before I shove it so far up your–."

"It's not a prank." Dustin told him, directing the attention back on him.

"You got a key for this thing?" Steve asked, Dustin dug around in his pants pocket before he pulled the small key out. Steve hesitantly began to open the door as he peered down into the darkness. Amber was clutched onto her shovel as she looked over Steve's shoulder as he was kneeling down. Dustin's shaky hands shook the flashlight causing Steve to take it from him.

"He must be further down there." Dustin said.

"Or he got out." Amber added as the two boys turned and gave her a look.

"What? I'm just saying that there could be another possibility."

"I'll stay up here in case he tries to escape." Dustin told Steve as Amber snorted.

"No, it's just so you don't get eaten first." Amber teased as Dustin shoved her slightly. "Looks like you're the bait, Harrington. You lead the way." Amber nudged him with her shovel. He began to walk down the stairs as she followed him down.

"Stay behind me." Steve instructed the girl.

"Honestly, I wasn't planning on being the first snack right now to a creature. So, I'm content with being behind you for the moment and not complaining about being the second option for the demodog." Amber rambled. Steve walked further into the cellar, pulling the string to the light. As the room began to brighten, the two teenagers' eyes fell on to the thing in front of their feet.

"Eww." Amber gagged as Steve picked it up with his bat.

"That looks like a big booger from a giant's nose." Amber commented.

"Can you be serious right now?" Steve asked her.

"I am being serious. And that's my honest opinion on what we're looking at right now." Amber told him as they stared at it in silence.

"I bet you won't eat it." She said as he looked at her in disgust.

"What are you, like five?" Steve snapped.

"Six, actually."

"I bet you won't eat it." Steve said as he turned towards her with it. She tried to swing her shovel at him but he ducked.

"Amber? Steve? Are you alive down there?" Dustin questioned from back upstairs. The teenagers looked at each other before they walked back to the doorway. Steve flashed the light up in Dustin's face which spooked him.

"Get down here." Steve instructed Dustin as the boy came slowly down the stairs. While Steve was showing Dustin the skin on the end of the bat, Amber had walked around to soon land on a new discovery.

"Umm, guys. We have a bigger problem. I hate to say I was right... but, well. I was right." Amber told them as they walked over to see where she was looking. Steve shone his light into the big hole in the wall that appeared to be a tunnel that seemed to go far into the ground.

"Oh shit." Dustin let out.

"I think I need a drink that isn't water or coffee right about now." Amber announced.