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𝗔𝗨𝗚𝗨𝗦𝗧

chapter six:
girls like you

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SERENITY WAS TERRIFIED.

Dustin had said Serenity and Steve could sleep over his house for the night, considering it was pretty late and they all wanted to go hunting for Dart the next day (well, Dustin had said that — Serenity and Steve didn't want to, but alas, they were roped in.) He had gone back to his bedroom after a couple long moments of comforting his mother, who had come home crying because she couldn't find Mews. Apparently she thought the cat was lost, not dead by a Demogorgon.

She laid on the couch of Dustin's living room where she had spent so much time in. There was a pillow underneath her head and a blanket on top of her. Her hands were clasped together and she was staring at the dark ceiling, not sleeping whatsoever. It must've been at least midnight by now, but how could she sleep when this was happening?

Steve was next to her, laying close to the couch on the floor. She could hear his even breathing, which meant that he was asleep. Well, at least one of them would be more awake tomorrow. She turned her head on the pillow to see him stirring, trying to get comfortable on the hard floor. At this point, they should've just switched, but Steve insisted she take the couch. She averted her gaze back to the ceiling as she saw his eyes slowly flutter open.

"'Renity," Steve said, his voice slightly raspy due to sleeping. "You need to sleep."

"Can't," Serenity responded. "Every time I close my eyes, I see . . . it."

Steve went quiet for a moment. "Yeah?"

"Yeah." She shook her head on the pillow. "It's been going away, Steve. Slowly, but I've gotten better. At least enough to sleep through the night."

"I know."

"But this . . . it's bringing all of it back," Serenity voiced. "It makes me frustrated with myself that my brain can't just let it go."

"Hey," Steve cut in. "I — I know it's frustrating, but Serenity, you witnessed an actual monster. And one of the kids that you care about so deeply was taken into some weird ass parallel dimension said monster was from. You can't just get over something like that so easily. It's okay to take time."

"I've just been making so much progress," Serenity whispered. "And it feels like I'm rewinding. I feel as awful as I did that night, Steve. I can't do this again."

"Do you want to know what I think is happening?" Steve began, a bit hesitantly.

"I guess."

"You're too worried about taking care of everybody else that you haven't taken any time to take care of yourself. Like, that first week, for example. You were always hanging around those kids, watching them like you always did. But in doing that, you pushed everything away for their sake and when you finally got to spend some time alone, you didn't know how to deal with it."

Serenity's eyebrows knit in confusion. "How do you know that's what I did?"

"Because I know you, Serenity," Steve insisted.

She went quiet for a moment. Serenity tapped her thumbs together absentmindedly. Steve was absolutely right. But what else was she supposed to do? She had promised all of their parents that she would keep their kids safe.

"I don't know who I am without being their babysitter," Serenity admitted. "It's my job to watch over them. I have to make sure they're okay."

"You can't do that without being okay yourself," Steve argued gently. "Promise me that if you ever feel yourself getting weighed down by this or you get scared, you'll talk to me instead of pushing everything away."

"Steve—"

"Promise me."

Serenity swallowed. "I promise."

"You can still take care of them while taking care of yourself," Steve stated. "You know that, right?"

"Yeah, I know," Serenity replied, even though she really didn't understand how that could happen.

Steve then reached up and held onto one of her wrists. Serenity unclasped her hands and took his in hers, interlocking their fingers together. She rested their hands over the side of the couch, trying to calm her racing heart by the way Steve's thumb trailed across her knuckles like it usually did — however, if her heart was racing from fear or from Steve, she wasn't sure.

"We're going to figure this out, Serenity," Steve promised.

She sighed. "God, I fucking hope so."

"Hey, if we see Dart, I can just whip out my bat. It's worked once before, it'll work again."

Serenity let out a small laugh, and in the dark, Steve's eyes lit up from the sound, because holy shit he had made her laugh. "You better do that twirl thing again. It was impressive."

"You already know I will," Steve stated. "It's my signature move."

She rolled her eyes. "Oh, for sure." The two went quiet, and Serenity squeezed Steve's hand. "Thank you, Steve."

"Anything for you, sunshine. Now get some sleep."

Serenity let out a deep breath and closed her eyes. However, this time, with Steve's hand interlocked with hers and his words of reassurance, the monster that opened up its mouth like a flower did not come into her dreams.

Because Steve Harrington made her feel okay again.

❯ ────── ｢ ✾ ｣ ────── ❮

THE NEXT DAY, a little early in the morning, Steve, Serenity, and Dustin went to the nearest grocery store. Serenity was exhausted — she had only gotten a couple hours of sleep, but she couldn't help but notice that her and Steve's hands were still interlocked when they got up in the same place that they were in when they feel asleep.

But that detail wasn't important.

At the grocery store, Serenity, Steve, and Dustin had bought pounds of chopped up raw meat to attract Dart, some gasoline, two pairs of yellow rubber gloves, and two large buckets. They had gotten some extremely weird looks at the store, and Serenity had given the cashier a very innocent smile as she rung up everything.

In the parking lot of the grocery store, they had dumped the chopped up meat into the buckets and placed them in the trunk of Steve's car with their other supplies they had gotten. In there was also a backpack that Dustin had let Steve borrow and Steve's spiked bat.

Steve then drove them to the old train tracks in the woods. Dustin had this plan to leave a trail of meat for Dart that would lead him to the old junkyard. Serenity had strapped a Walkman that Steve had in his car to her jeans and had the headphones resting around her neck. Multiple tapes were in the pockets of Spencer's leather jacket that she was wearing. That was just incase she got bored, which she probably was.

The three of them got out of the car and went to the trunk. Steve and Dustin pulled on the pairs of rubber gloves. Serenity's eyebrows knit in confusion, wondering why they didn't buy three if she was there, but whatever. She watched as Steve dropped the buckets of mean onto the ground and pulled out the can of gasoline.

"Well, well, well, look who it is," Dustin suddenly said, evidently talking to someone on his headset.

Serenity placed her hands on her hips. "So which one am I taking?"

Steve scoffed. "Neither of them."

"What?"

He pulled out the empty backpack and kneeled on the ground. "I know you heard me, 'Renity."

"At least let me carry something," Serenity protested.

"Well, when you were having sister problems, Dart grew again, he escaped, and I'm pretty sure he's a baby Demogorgon," Dustin told to whoever he was talking to.

"You can take my backpack," Steve offered, shoving the can of gasoline and his spiked bat in, sipping it up until the bat wouldn't let it zipper anymore.

"Oh, so I can look cool with the spiked bat?" Serenity voiced, raising an eyebrow.

"Exactly. Serenity The Ray of Sunshine Alexander is going to look scary."

"I'm pretty sure no one calls me a ray of sunshine."

"I'll explain later," Dustin insisted. "Just meet me, Renny, and Renny's crush Steve at the old junkyard."

Serenity's head whipped over to Dustin, her face heating up. "Excuse me?"

"And bring your binoculars and wrist rocket."

Steve shut the trunk, ignoring what Dustin said for Serenity's sake. "All right, let's go."

"Just be there, stat," Dustin instructed. "Over and out."

"Who was that?" Serenity questioned.

"Lucas," Dustin answered. "Apparently Erica turned off his radio so he didn't answer my code red."

Serenity shook her head, letting out a small laugh as they started to walk down the train tracks. "Classic Erica. Mike and Will didn't answer either, right?"

"Yeah. I have no idea where they are."

She stared down at her feet as she walked, concern filling her insides. Serenity didn't like the fact that they were just completely MIA. She could feel Steve's gaze burning into the side of her face, as if reminding her what they talked about last night. Serenity decided to ignore it and continued on. She honestly just hoped that they were okay.

They walked further and further down the train tracks, Steve and Dustin dropping pieces of meat as they went. Serenity held onto the straps of the backpack as she went, her feet crunching on the fallen leaves and sinking slightly into the muddy ground. She would for sure need a new pair of black Converse after this. Serenity continued to walk next to Steve while Dustin was a little ways ahead of them.

Meanwhile, Dustin was explaining the Dart situation further. He had admitted that he lied and kept Dart to make him seem cooler for the new girl Max. Serenity got a tiny smile on her face when he said that. Aw, he had a crush. It was completely adorable. Max was a great girl, even if Serenity had only met her once. She wished that she could join the Party because she would be a great addition, but Mike Wheeler was just so fucking stubborn.

"All right, so let me get this straight," Steve began. "You kept something you knew was probably dangerous in order to impress a girl who — who you just met?"

"All right, that's grossly oversimplifying things," Dustin argued.

"I mean, why would a girl like some nasty slug anyway?" He looked to Serenity. "'Renity?"

Serenity shrugged. "Every girl is different. Personally, I wouldn't like it, but that doesn't mean that Max wouldn't."

"An interdimensional slug?" Dustin inquired, shaking off his shock. "Because it's awesome."

"Well, even if she thought it was cool, which she didn't, I — I just . . . I don't know, I just feel like you're trying way too hard, man," Steve admitted.

"Well, not everyone can have your perfect hair, all right? What do you have to say about it, Renny?"

"Uh . . ." Serenity trailed off, feeling her face get hot again. "It's — I mean, it's nice, yeah."

Steve shook his head. "It's not about the hair, man. The key with girls is just . . . acting like you don't care."

Serenity blinked and turned to Steve incredulously. What?

"Even if you do?" Dustin asked.

"Yeah, exactly. It drives them nuts."

"Then what?"

"You just wait until, uh . . . until you feel it," Steve stated.

"Feel what?" Dustin questioned.

"It's like before it's gonna storm, you know? You can't see it, but you can feel it, like this, uh . . . electricity, you know?"

Serenity scoffed. "Electricity?"

"Oh, like in the electromagnetic field when the clouds in the atmosphere—" Dustin voiced.

"No, no, no, no, no, no, like a . . . like a sexual electricity," Steve corrected, and Serenity gaped at him, not believing that these words were coming out of his mouth.

"Oh."

"You feel that and then you make your move."

"So that's when you kiss her?" Dustin inquired.

"No, woah, woah," Steve said. "Slow down, Romeo."

"Sorry."

"Sure, okay, some girls, yeah, they want you to be aggressive. You know, strong, hot and heavy, like a . . . I don't know, like a lion. But others, you gotta be slow, you gotta be stealthy, like a . . . like a ninja."

"You, Steve Harrington, are a complete and utter idiot," Serenity told him. She looked over at Dustin. "Dustin, whatever you just heard, ignore it. Girls don't like it when you act like you don't care. And that's coming from a girl, so you should take my advice." She pulled her headphones over her ears. "If you need me, I'll be listening to the soundtrack of Grease to drown this stupid conversation."

She pressed play on the tape, and the familiar guitar intro of the song Grease played. Serenity started to walk ahead of the boys, knowing where she was going because the boys had brought her to the junkyard a couple of times. She decided to enjoy her walk in the crisp autumn air, listening to the voice of Frankie Valli, like she wasn't monster hunting.

Meanwhile, behind her, Steve had his eyes on Serenity as she walked. Her long hair was slightly blowing in the little wind that there was and her hands were shoved into the large leather jacket she was wearing. She was nodded her head to the beat of the song she was listening. He honestly found it really cute how much she loved the movie Grease.

Wait, cute?

"What type is Renny?" Dustin suddenly inquired.

"Hmm?" Steve hummed in response, tearing his eyes away from Serenity to look down at Dustin. "Serenity, well . . . Serenity's different, kid. She tried to deny that she was a ray of sunshine, but she is. Really. She's brightened up my days for a long time, especially after my breakup with Nancy."

"I meant what I said earlier. She has a crush on you. But you didn't hear that from me. You better not tell her, because she'll kill me."

Steve felt his cheeks heat up as he looked ahead at the girl — his best friend, the one who knew him the best, in front of her, his heart rate speeding up. "She does?"

"Yeah. You should see the way she looks at you. But you also look at her the same way, so obviously, you like her, too."

"Serenity's my best friend," Steve told Dustin quietly. "I don't want anything to change when we're find the way we are."

"Even if things could change for the better?" Dustin countered.

Steve looked back at Serenity, letting the conversation fade into silence. He had never really considered the thought of being with Serenity before. Especially now, after breaking up with Nancy, the thought of using her as a rebound made him feel sick. And he would never do that. She was already hurt enough.

But Dustin's words rang through his head. Change for the better. Serenity was one of a kind, unlike somebody he had ever met before. She loved so deeply and was the sweetest person he knew, although she could be fiery if somebody rubbed her the wrong way, like Billy. And lately he hadn't been able to get her out of his head at all. It was like she was tattooed into his brain, and Steve kind of liked that.

Maybe Serenity had taken up more of his heart than Nancy ever could, and maybe they could become something more. Steve didn't know what was written in the stars, but as he stared at his best friend, the one who had stuck with him even when he was an asshole, he couldn't help but feel like their fates were intertwined.

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not dustin snitching lol bye