CHAPTER TWO
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"NOBODY dressed up at school this year," Emily explained, sighing as she put away her school bag in order to swap it for her trick-or-treating bag. "But it's okay — this is still the best night of the year!"

Iris shook her head with a grin. "Don't know where your kids get their optimism from, Christine," she laughed, Christine slapping her lightly.

"Are you sure you don't want me to come along this year, Emily?" Lexie asked again for the millionth time, her brows furrowed in worry. Emily simply rolled her eyes as she prepared to leave the house. "Not even to walk you to Mike's?"

"Yes I am sure. Lexie, I'm begging you to actually go out and do something tonight. Jonathan isn't coming with us, you don't have to either," Emily dismissed impatiently. "Go out, have a life."

"I do have a life," Lexie muttered, her quiet persistence not exactly the most convincing thing her sister's ever heard.

"You're welcome to invite some friends over, Lexie," Christine reminded, as she did every single year. Lexie nodded absently as she did every single year, knowing that even if she did, no one would show. But that was okay with her.

"And while you're doing that...we are going to be the bakers of the century and cater to several Halloween parties," Iris mentioned casually, clearly very proud of herself.

"I hope you guys have fun!" Lexie told them genuinely. While she said so, Emily was already one foot out the door, shouting that she was leaving. Lexie scrambled to meet her, shouting after her, "Be careful! Don't hesitate to come by if something isn't okay!"

But at that point her sister wasn't listening anymore and she simply watched her walk down the street without a care in the world, her bright orange dress flying behind her.

__________

The house seemed much bigger when no one else was in it. Lexie had her yearly stash of candy set out in front of her in a large bowl — partially for the trick-or-treaters and partially for herself to indulge in while she watched the annual horror movie marathons.

Setting the bowl on the coffee table, she threw away the packages and grumbled for a moment at how full the trash was. It wasn't like she had anywhere to be. She picked the trash out of the can and tied up the bag, stepped outside for a moment and walked out the to curb where the cans sat. A few kids walked around in costume, but the street was fairly empty.

A car suddenly pulled up against the curb, fast and angry, causing her to step back at the close proximity. It slowed to a stop and turned off immediately, her neighbor getting out of the car and running his hands through his hair in a distressed fashion.

The lid of the can and her placing the garbage in it was much louder than she intended. Her neighbor whipped around, realizing how recklessly he had pulled in with someone standing right there.

"Sorry...about," he began, gesturing to the path he had taken with the car just a few moments earlier.

Lexie was quiet for a moment, studying his features carefully. "No worries. Uh, Steve, right?" she questioned, not really knowing him much other than the fact that everyone at school loved him. They called him the "king", but she always figured it wasn't hard to be king when there was such a small kingdom full of narrow-minded people.

     He nodded. "Are you okay...Steve?" she ventured further, noticing that everything about him in that moment down to the way he moved was just...distraught.

     There was little response before he asked her in turn, "I'm going to come off like an asshole — we've been neighbors for years — but what's your name?"

     Lexie simply smiled. She was confident most kids at school couldn't tell her what her name was and the fact that he was asking was more than most people even attempted to do.

     "Lexie," she replied, taking a few steps closer to where he stood so they didn't have to speak as loudly. "But, hey, you don't look so good...are you sure everything's alright?"

     She glanced at his house. No lights — his parents weren't around. They rarely were, she noticed an absence of more cars and people around most of the time.

     "You don't even know me," he commented, almost confused that she was even asking.

     "Would you want to come in for a minute? Even if everything's not alright, I do have candy and a movie marathon waiting," she offered, shrugging shyly at her own empty house. "And what I do know is sometimes taking your mind off things can be good for a while."

     Steve sat silent for a moment, searching her eyes for a moment like she would stop her small smile and tell him maliciously that it was a joke and he should go screw himself.

     But she didn't. She simply waited awkwardly for an answer, now instantaneously regretting how straightforward she had been. Why is making friends so weird? she thought to herself. This is stupid, this is stupid, this is stupid....

     "Okay," Steve finally answered, interrupting her rambling thoughts. Lexie smiled again warmly and gestured for him to follow her as they entered her house. Now she was self conscious of every movement she made, desperate to not make a fool of herself.

     She led him to the living room where her marathon and snacks were set up, telling him, "Make yourself at home."

     "Where's everyone else?" he questioned, almost expecting someone else to pop out of the shadows in the large house.

     "My mom and my aunt are at work and my little sister is trick-or-treating with her friends," she answered, taking a seat next to him on the couch and pulling the bowl of candy into her lap.

     "Your dad?" She froze up a little. Nobody had asked about him in years and now her mouth was dry as she tried to think of a way to explain it without making everything unnecessarily depressing.

     "Not one to speak of," Lexie told him with a shrug, trying to keep things casual. Her eyes widened suddenly. "Well, wait. Of course I have a dad, it's just he left when I was very very young. No contact. I don't really consider him a father. Anyway."

     And there went the plan of not making a fool of herself. "Oh shit, I'm so sorry —" Steve started apologizing, his error dawning on him immediately.

     "No! Don't be sorry! Everyone kind of assumes," she assured, desperately wishing either this particular conversation would end or some kind of cosmic coincidence would end with her disappearing off of the face of the earth at that very moment. "But, since everyone else is doing their thing, I get my own traditions."

     She pointed at the television as the opening credits of the next movie of the marathon rolled in. "But why isn't the Steve Harrington at a party tonight?" she attempted, grabbing a handful of M&M's to snack on.

     "I was but I just wasn't feeling it I guess," he explained with a casual shrug, the same bothered posture infecting his every movement yet again.

     "Steve Harrington partied himself out? We've got one for the record books here," Lexie joked, finished off her handful of candy with a small smile.

     "Hey, if you know all about me, then I have no idea why you invited me here," he played along, barely smiling at the joke. She chalked it up to just a really bad night. "In case you haven't heard, I was a huge asshole."

     Lexie paused to evaluate that for a moment before choosing to speak. "Well, I don't trust school rumors. And, you even just said yourself, you were a huge asshole. I believe in change," she said to him genuinely. Her eyes flitted to the screen and she gasped in excitement. "This part's good!"

     Steve smiled at her a bit, probably wider than he had that whole night. But she didn't know that. What he couldn't understand was why a complete stranger was being so damn nice to him. Especially after how he's acted for the good majority of high school.

     Without taking her eyes off of the screen, she offered him the candy bowl, an array of sweets staring back at him. He obliged, and unwrapped a candy bar while they watched the movie in comfortable silence.

     "Feeling any better?" she said, breaking the silence.

     "This is good, you're right. But I don't know if candy and a movie will fix the fact that my girlfriend doesn't love me."

     Lexie could feel her jaw physically drop. You are so goddamn stupid, Lexie, she told herself, mentally facepalming. Why would she assume this would help whatever was going on?

     "Oh, Steve, I'm so sorry," she apologized profusely, ready to just about get up and turn off the television because suddenly all that felt so inappropriate. He put a hand out to stop her gently, shaking his head.

     "It's — it's okay," he told her. Now he really was forcing a smile and her heart was breaking for this boy just a little bit. He sighed, knowing that her eyes were still on him. "I guess we were just in different places."

     Hesitantly, she put a comforting hand on his shoulder. "It happens," she attempted to comfort, assuring him he wasn't alone in that particular struggle. "But I am sorry to hear it. I'm happy to help you out in whatever way you need."

     He nodded appreciatively, still shocked at how incomprehensibly nice this girl was. "Thank you, Lexie. Seriously. You didn't have to do this and probably could've been doing just about anything else," he told her, knowing his one sentiment of thanks certainly wouldn't be enough.

     "Really, I would have just been doing this but by myself," Lexie admitted sheepishly, slightly impressed that he could remember her name.

     Steve smiled weakly at her and they finished the movie, the hours growing later and later. When they called it a night, Lexie showed him the way out and stopped at the door.

     "Hey, Steve," she interjected, stopping him in his footsteps on the porch. "I really do think you're gonna be okay."

     "Thank you," he said, nodding before crossing her lawn into his. It was a small gesture, but she knew that even the smallest of phrases and sentiments could mean a lot. Closing the door with a small sigh, she headed back in for the night.