༉˚*ೃ ᵒ⁶. 𝐑𝐄𝐆𝐀𝐑𝐃𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐁𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐒 𝐅𝐑𝐎𝐌 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐔𝐏𝐒𝐈𝐃𝐄 𝐃𝐎𝐖𝐍!

"𝐖𝐀𝐈𝐓, 𝐒𝐎 𝐇𝐎𝐋𝐃 on a single second," said Steve sternly, holding out a finger towards Tea. He frightened Tea a little, so did Jonathan. Their faces were stern, eyebrows set in both confusion and determination, and they were eyeing Tea down as if it were an interrogation. Dorotea shrunk a little under their gaze. Her heart felt quick, sickening. "You're telling us that you've seen some monsters around?" Their gazes seemed to be picking her apart.

         "I— I didn't say anything," began Tea softly, her voice hoarse and a little small. She began to toy with her fingers again, twisting them round and round and popping the joints anxiously. The two boys were blocking any chance of her escape—stood in front of the closed doorway and the only exit.

         "Where have you seen them?" Jonathan interrupted next, cutting in before Tea could say another word. His tone was a little more pitched and a little more panicked. He was watching Tea with equal intent, eyes scrutinizing.

         Tea stared up at both of the boys with wide, rounded eyes, like that of a doe. "Um, I—"

         "Did it try to hurt you? Did it come from the lab?" said Steve before Dorotea even had the chance. "Jesus, this is bad." His hands flew up to bury in his thick hair, exasperation and stress written across his face. He had a decently handsome face, Tea thought, but it frightened her now.

         Her breathing was a little stiff, eyes wide. She grasped her hands in each other—tangling her fingers together and rapping her knuckles against each hand in a frantic tic. "I, uh, don't know— I— I just keep seeing it."

         "What did it look like?" Jonathan asked quickly, firmly, like he was trying to piece together a puzzle in his mind. He seemed to be a bit like Nance, in that way. "Surely you can explain what it looks like."

         His voice was making Tea experience high levels of stress. Her face felt pale. "It had hundreds of eyes, and it had no real face—just a... a giant mass of a head where— where any features should have been—"

         "How long have you been seeing it? Has it been following you?" It sounded a little like they were accusing her of bringing it here now, and Tea's chest was tightened. Has it been following me? Oh God, has it been following me everywhere? Are they going to hurt me for information? Where did that thought come from? Her wide eyes must have only reflected panic.

         Dorotea was stumbling over her words. Her heart felt like it was beating a mile per minute, thundering sharply against her chest and ribs. She was sure it was going to burst right out at any moment. "I'm— I, I don't know— I just saw it on the street, and then—"

         "Are you sure you sure it?" said Jonathan. "Like, it wasn't just your imagination?" His eyes were searching her face frantically—a little panicked, a little accusing. Tea felt cornered. She was feeling the fear and anxiety constricting her heart and lungs. Why? Why did she feel this way. It was like something old that she couldn't quite remember, but that was carved deep in her bones anyway.

         "I'm— I—" The nails of her fingers were digging into the backs of the opposite hand, so hard that they left behind crescent moon markings. There was fright pricking at her system. It stabbed at her veins and nerves so she felt afire with nerves. She was trapped.

         Then Nancy's hand was on Tea's shoulder. "Woah, woah," she intercepted suddenly, stepping up next to Tea interrupting the boys' frantic questions. Dorotea's gaze flew up to Nancy's face: her pointed features, pretty lips, blue eyes. Nancy's fingers were warm and comforting on Tea's shoulder—grounding. Just their feeling through Tea's cotton rainbow t-shirt let Dorotea's heart relax a little, but speed up all the same, in a different way. "This isn't a shakedown, alright? You're freaking her out." 

         Steve pointed a hand at Tea with panicked fervour. "She's freaking me out!"

         "Steve, stop that," said Nancy with firm disapproval in her tone, a glare on her pretty pointed features. "Give her a break." Steve looked a little guilty as Nancy looked down at Dorotea. "Tea, are you alright?" It was as if she could sense just how wildly Tea's heartbeat was, just how much it was beginning to hurt her. Nancy must have seen the wild panic in her eyes. She gently placed a hand against the side of Tea's hair, pressed her thumb against Tea's cheekbone. "It's okay. They're not going to hurt you, they're just freaked out. It's not every day you hear about a new monster. They... we thought all this monster stuff was over." Tea placed her hand over Nancy's—a grounding tactic—and Nancy didn't pull away. At Tea's expression, both Steve and Jonathan instantly looked regretful. "Sorry about them."

         Tea closed her eyes and took a deep, shaky breath in. "It's okay," she said when her eyes opened again. "Sorry, I'm just freaked out too. I don't know what's going on." There were tears in her gaze again. They embarrassingly threatened to fall over her lashes. "I swear, I— I don't remember ever seeing these creatures before in my life." Remember, she thought to herself at her words, but what don't I remember?

         "So, you're just, like, haunted by this monster?" Steve asked from behind Nancy's figure, a lot quieter and calmer this time. His face paled when Nancy snapped her head around and must have given him a sharp glare—but Tea didn't mind his question so much.

         She nodded gently, feeling the way Nancy's hand moved with her head and how it felt beneath her clasped hand. "I guess. It just... appears, sometimes. Like... like something out of a horror movie. But I'm not insane, I promise... I— I don't think I'm insane." She hoped to God that she wasn't. Sometimes she felt a bit like she was losing her mind, but she was pretty sure it hadn't gone completely yet.

         "She's not," affirmed Nancy surely. "And I believe her. She's been jumpy all week." Her thumb caressed over Tea's freckled cheek again, comforting, soft. Tea leant a little into the touch.

         "And is she... not usually this jumpy?" Jonathan asked with stitched-together eyebrows, like he was trying to uncover just where Tea had come from, who she exactly was, and why he'd never seen her before in his life. Steve joined in on his confused expression.

         Nancy struggled to explain that part. Her pretty lips fumbled over her words, "That's, um... well, I've not known her that long. Over the past week." Both of the boys' faces scrunched up. "Look, let's just— you guys, come on." She stood up and pushed them out of her bedroom door, indicating it was the time for a private talk. Tea watched the scene with wide, frightened doe eyes. Once she'd shoved them out of her room, Nance turned back to Tea. She crouched in front of the girl and took Tea's hand. "Tea, stay here, okay? We won't go far. If... if you see the monster, just shout for us, okay? It won't hurt you, right?" She squeezed Dorotea's fingers. 

         Tea wasn't one hundred percent sure about that last part. "Uh, I don't think so." But the sight of a horrifying monster was enough to instil enough fear in her as it was. The prospect of it being not a hallucination made it so much more terrifying. "Please don't go far." She clung onto Nancy's sleeve a little, eyes filled with fear. "If... if it's real." She was trembling too—all over. 

         "We'll just be outside the door," promised Nancy. "It's just that we have to talk about stuff that's classified by the government, we had to sign a really long contract, so... it's just easier to talk about it out of earshot, okay?" She looked at Tea for reassurance that it was okay, and Tea nodded. 

         "Okay," agreed Tea, letting go of Nancy's hand. "I'll wait here." She pulled up her legs so they'd be more comfortable, pain still prominent in her feet. As her wounds were healing, she was probably going to need help getting around. Her mom was going to kill her when she saw those injuries. The skin on her knees was still healing back—scabbing over uglily. They showed the whole story of her dazed run through the woods. The door carefully closed behind Nancy Wheeler—she'd learned that loud noises tended to frighten Tea—and then Dorotea was alone.

         Alone, she'd been alone like this before, hadn't she?

         Alone, but it didn't feel like she was alone. Fragments—it was all in fragments. Pieces of something different. There was something she should have known...— something— something... It was lost. There was a hospital bed; the world shuddered terribly around her; blurred at the edges. It passed her in flashing lights. The lights. They were so bright... they burned her eyes over and over. Somewhere, there were voices—floating, disembodied—with various tones of severity to them. Some firm, demanding, male; others gentle, a female voice. They were so far off—like a dream. A dream... A dream...

         Tea's arms were strapped, she thought. Tied down at her sides, restrained at the wrists. She felt the heavy weight there, the restriction on her movement—but when Tea looked down at them the scene was different. It flickered in and out and now she was connected with an IV; her fingers were bleeding; but then, no, it was her wrist, and she was holding the scarred bloodstained mess up to her chest; and when she looked around again she was alone. Clocks flickered, metal surgical instruments rattled, there was... there was a tank. She looked at it and suddenly felt like she couldn't breathe. Her head... it burned like wildfire, scorched and broken, stung—and then... there was none of that. The bright lights cleared just enough.

          There was a woman. She had brunette hair but her face was hidden by the fluorescent light. The fragment flickered and then she was gone—like it had gone in rewind. The world was glitching like a VHS tape. Tea was in a tiled room. There was a reflection of her in the wall, except that she was bloody. Someone was gripping her arms. Maybe she was crying, perhaps not. It all flickered but they still held her. Her eyes were wide— looked— looked up. A man; she knew him. In the light his brown and white hair shone. Flicker. Flicker again. White—so much white it was impossible to see anything else—more and more and more and more, until—

          "Put her back under." Everything went blurry and white, like the world was filled up with water. It filled up and up and up, and Tea couldn't see anymore. Far away in the distance, there was screaming.

         Dorotea blinked, and the little flow of fragments was broken. As if a charge passed through the electricity, the lights above her faintly flickered. It was so gentle that she could have missed it. Tea looked over at the radio to her left, like her gaze had been drawn there. Her pretty features were surprisingly calm, hair falling in strands over her cheekbones and lashes, and as her eyes landed on the piece of electronic, the radio switched on. There was no song playing, simply a random talk-station. "So now, we have a caller who wants to tell us about her experience with a husband who—"

         This time, Tea was not frightened. There was no fear aching to jump up her veins; no heartbeat speeding up in her chest—simply just calmness resting inside. It was like a form of serenity had suddenly overcome her. The radio was just there and there was nothing it could do to hurt her. She felt the static from the skin on her face to her toes, lighting up her skin like some sort of comet. It vibrated through her being gently—like something beautiful and good. Slowly, very slowly, Dorotea reached out her fingertips towards the radio, as if she was trying to touch a star. 

         And gently, silently, with only a gentle buzz, the radio switched off. Tea stared at it miraculously. The same buzzing feeling danced over her fingertips—hovered there, a gentle kiss. She felt the static electricity quietly all the way through the bones in her hand. Her body hummed with it. Since she'd been a little girl, she'd always felt a little that way, with it deep beneath her skin, but now it was here, all at the surface. Tea felt strangely at peace.

         Tea did not quite understand. But it felt right, like she was suddenly understanding some deeper part of herself. It was like she didn't need to even peel back any layers, because who she was was just lying there beneath the surface, and this was it. And, very suddenly, Tea understood something. She didn't know why, or how, or in what manner it had come about, but Dorotea Gray understood that she had done that. Dorotea Gray could switch off radios without needing to touch them.

         How? How is it possible? The static feeling didn't leave her, now. It was like it was tucked permanently into her system. It was just part of her. Tea lifted her fingers up to her eyes and gently inspected them. Beyond the bandaging, there were scars from a lifetime ago—from the car crash—and along the backs of her hands too, and on her wrist and legs, and all her life they'd seemed so faded and insignificant, but now, Tea thought, maybe not so much. Even the one on her ear. Tea reached her hand up and touched the top of her ear, where the uneven scar was, and held it like it contained some secret to her life.

         "Tea," said Nancy at the door before opening it. The action drew Tea out of whatever daze she'd been in. Her lilypad green eyes glanced up at Nancy serenely, inspecting the curves and edges of her pretty face. Over her shoulders peeked the two boys, just their faces showing. It was almost a mirror image of earlier—except this time Steve and Jonathan looked a bit more sheepish and sorry. "We're ready to talk properly now."

         The boys nodded and looked guilty, following the lithe, pretty Nancy Wheeler into the room. Nancy had tied some of her shoulder-length hair up in a ponytail, with the shorter curls falling out at the front and framing her face. She looked angelic. 

         As they entered back into the room, Tea suddenly felt stupid for just sitting and watching them. "I'm sorry, I can't stand all that well," she explained, and pointed a shaky hand at her bandaged feet. "I— um, I was running for a long time." She'd expected Nancy to tell them about that story—she must have, for it to make any sense—but both boys still eyed her in concern. She knew there was blood soaking through the bandages on the bottom of her feet as she spoke. 

         "Oh, don't worry about it," said Steve as his foot tapped a bit on the ground. "Sorry about earlier." He looked genuinely guilty, but Tea just smiled a little in forgiveness. "It's just, we didn't expect to have any more monster stuff. We're still recovering from the last time." He ran his fingers through his dark hair and Tea pondered just what exactly had gone down last time. Nancy said it was classified, but Tea was aching to find out. 

         Tea scratched over the bandages on her hands. "That's alright, I understand. I'm sorry I don't have all the answers for you." She was genuinely apologetic, because she wanted nothing more than to be able to understand what thoughts were going on in her own head.

         "Okay, so now that everyone's on the same page, let's get properly introduced," said Nancy, sitting down on the duvet beside Tea. Steve took Nancy's desk chair while Jonathan sat on the actual desk. "This is Dorotea Gray," she told her friends, reaching out a hand to Tea. Tentatively, Tea took it. "She's been seeing monsters but she doesn't know why. Tea, this is Steve Harrington. He's an idiot, but he means well." Steve pulled a faux offended expression but Jonathan just snickered. The edges of Tea's lips turned up a little at the extra comments. Nancy then gestured towards Jonathan. "This is Jonathan Byers, my boyfriend." He smiled kindly at her. Oh, thought Tea. Boyfriend. She blinked a few times in surprise and a little tinge of disappointment. Tea swallowed it quickly. "His little brother, Will, also encountered a monster two years ago, so that's kind of how we all got introduced to this... monster bullshit." Nancy sounded a little angry as she said the last part. There was an undeniable bite in her words. Jonathan nodded grimly—but there was something else in both boys' expression that indicated to Tea that it was perhaps not the whole story, and there was some sadness in their eyes. Words caught in Nancy's throat, but she tried to be strong when she spoke. "It's been happening ever since then."

         "And now Tea's seeing monsters," added Steve, without an ounce of malice. He seemed like the kind of guy who would have been popular in high school, with his incredible hair and handsome face and muscular arms, but he also seemed much kinder than any of the popular kids she'd ever known. He had a gentle expression and his eyes were more concerned and confused than anything.

         "And now Tea's seeing monsters," Nancy agreed as Dorotea nodded her head. Some of her long strands of hair fell over her eyes.

         It seemed to surprise them when she spoke without being asked a question, her voice low but strong. "The monsters, when I see them, they... waver. As if they're not completely there. Like it's... from a dream. Or a different plane of existence, or like it's made out of heat waves. At first, I did think they were just hallucinations, but... I've never had hallucinations before Hawkins. And these monsters feel real." When she looked up at the three of them, her pretty eyes were desperate. They showed deep fear. "And it's not just outside that I've seen them—I saw it right there, in Nancy's mirror." Dorotea pointed her shaky bandaged finger at Nancy Wheeler's en suite. They all followed her gaze to the mirror in which the thousand-eyed-monster had appeared in just the other day. "But when I turned around it was gone. It just... makes no sense." She pushed her fingers against her cheeks in an effort to calm down her heartbeat. The fear in her expression was raw and real.

         "We believe you," said Jonathan. "This kind of stuff would only happen in Hawkins." He had his arms wrapped protectively around himself. Steve just nodded in silent agreement with his fingers pressed against his cheek. "So why can only Tea see it?" Jonathan asked, much less intimidating now. He was hunched up a bit defensively, nervously, with his shoulders pulled up by his ears. His fingers tapped along his arm while his arms crossed. In a way, he reminded Tea a little of herself.

         Dorotea rubbed her hands together and sighed. "I'm not sure. I know they're not really there, because when I get interrupted—like when Nancy appeared in the room after I saw one in the mirror—they disappear. It's like a bad dream, but I know it's not a dream." Both of her hands reached up to dig into her thick hair, pulling at strands up by her scalp. "Their presence... I can almost feel it. I get shivers, and goosebumps, and I just know that something is there. But I never had these problems back in Wildwood." She bit her lip. "My parents hated me going into the woods alone, though, so maybe that's part of it."

         "You think they knew?" Nancy tested, chin resting on her knuckles as she sat calmly beside Tea. It felt natural, as if they'd known each other forever. 

         Tea's brows pulled together in confusion. "I don't know if they knew, but they were right to be worried about the woods. Because that's where I ran." They were silent, letting her think—which was so sweet that it made her heart swell, because other than her parents, Tea had never really had anyone who stopped talking to let the over-anxious girl process her own thoughts—and Tea was grateful for it. "It was like an instinct. I kind of... don't remember most of it. It felt like I was running for minutes, but it must have been hours, and— and only when I reached the Hawkins woods and collapsed did I realise how exhausted and sore I was. It was like I didn't tire that entire way—like my body was just going no matter what." Her fingers stung and burn from their wounds, and her feet too. Tea clasped her hands together. "I don't... understand it, but as soon as I arrived here I started seeing the monster."

         That response seem to put all of the teenagers into thought. Tea sat there anxiously awaiting their response, unsure if she should continue speaking to clarify. Her lips were parted a little, waiting to do just that. Before she could, Steve, who looked as if an idea had just struck him, spoke up. "The Gate is sealed, right?" he asked, his eyebrows drawn together in concern. "I mean, El, she got rid of it."

         Jonathan nodded surely. "Will got chills whenever the Upside Down was open, remember? If it wasn't closed, we'd know by now." He seemed certain about that fact, but Dorotea had no idea what they were talking about.

         "What's that?" she asked with scrunched-up features. "The Gate? The Upside Down?" Her eyes searched the faces of each of the three people sat in front of her, with varying responses. Steve went quiet and his eyes widened as if he was afraid he'd blurt something out; Jonathan had a bit of a grim expression on his face; and Nancy looked a little pained that she apparently wasn't allowed to tell Dorotea anything. "It has to do with the monster, doesn't it?"

         Very slowly, Nancy Wheeler nodded. "The monsters... they come from something that's like... another world. Another dimension, of sorts. We call it the Upside Down, but the entrance to that dimension is called the Gate. When it's open—that's when the monsters come through. But it's closed, as far as we know."

          Another world? No, that didn't make sense. About a thousand thoughts were running through Tea's head, each more confused than the next. Alternate dimensions didn't exist. They were something out of only sci-fi movies and novels—they didn't exist in reality. But then again, neither did monsters. "So, if it's closed, then why am I seeing them?" Her voice was a little bit taught with panic and fright—a little higher than usual. Even her face was tense and eyebrows drawn together with nervousness. I want it to go away. I just want it to go away.

         "I don't know," Steve sighed. There was a gentle scar above his right eyebrow that shimmered when his face pinched in confusion. He pushed some of his wild, floppy hair back out over his forehead. "It doesn't make any sense."

         The evening rays of the sun poured through Nancy's windows and illuminated each of them. The setting dawn speckled light over Tea's pointed features—her splashes of freckles, long lashes, trembling lips and lithe neck—and kissed the edges of her hair to create a slight halo of sunshine around her head. It did the same to Nancy, who was sitting beside her, had the edges of her features glowing in the orange light, a single side of her face illuminated in such a goddess-like manner. It lit Jonathan and Steve up the same, so they all looked beautiful. Ethereal, even. Jonathan's eyes glittered like pools of caramel and honey; Steve's hair glowed in the sunrays. The heat was a calming reminder that Tea was still alive. Nancy bit her lip. "Tea, did you use to live here?" Nancy asked, deep in thought. 

         The question was a bit disorientating—and was about the last thing she thought Nancy might ask her. Her eyebrows furrowed. "Um, I don't think so. I— I wouldn't remember... but, my adoptive parents never mentioned it. I don't think so." She was biting her lip so much that it was beginning to hurt. Tea's mind craned to remember anything, but it was all just a blank spot in her mind. Why would that matter?

         "We should check that out," said Jonathan quickly. Tea's eyes darted to meet his, full of confusion. "Strange stuff goes on around here, Tea. If we find out that your birth parents came from Hawkins... we can probably figure out what the monsters have to do with you." His eyes were kind and sympathetic—like he perhaps understood. He did say his little brother encountered a monster, and Tea suddenly found her heart clenching up hoping that he was safe. 

         Dorotea was happy to comply with that. She nodded, not nearly as nervous as she had been earlier in the day. Though her fingers still twisted together in a nervous manner. "Okay." Her smile was a little unsure and wobbly, but it was a smile nonetheless. Tea thought she could Nancy looking at her proudly from her side—but she couldn't quite be sure.

         "I have a triple free tomorrow," Steve spoke up, glancing towards Tea. "Last few lessons, that's couple of hours to poke around. I can take you downtown if you want, and we can look around and maybe see if the police department have any records of your heritage." He seemed so willing to help, with his knuckles propping up his chin and one of his legs drawn up towards his chest. The fingers of his other hand tapped urgently against his knee.

         "Really?" Tea asked softly. "You'd do that?" No one from Wildwood other than her parents had ever really cared about her in that way. It was a bit unnerving to hear from an almost-stranger. But Steve's eyes were only sincere, and Tea thought—well, if Nancy's been so kind, then why wouldn't her friends? Tea felt warm inside her chest.

         Steve nodded with an, "Mhmm." He did look a bit concerned, though. "I was just going to go study instead, but I think getting to the bottom of this first is much more important. If Hopper and Joyce are uncontactable, we don't want something to do with the Upside Down happening while they're gone. Or it'll just be us and the kids." Tea had no clue who the 'kids' were, but all three teenagers looked determined at Steve's words. Little siblings, perhaps. She already knew Jonathan and Nancy had some. "So, yeah, I'm happy to do that." His knee was jolting again. Perhaps, Tea thought, he was nervous. 

         "That's a good plan," agreed Nancy slowly, though she did look a little hesitant at first. "Mom doesn't know Tea's here so you'd have to sneak her out the window."

         Tea's eyes widened almost comically. "Out the window?"

         Hiding a small smile, Nancy nodded in response. "Yeah, Steve's kind of used to it. He'll be able to get you out no problem." Surely Nancy wouldn't let Tea go if she didn't trust Steve; if she didn't think Tea would be completely safe. Nancy tucked some of her own hair behind her ears. "Is that okay?"

         For a long moment, Tea thought about it, about all the possibilities. All the dangers were echoing in her head. It felt like being home again—being afraid and paranoid about everything that came around the corner, about everyone in the proximity. It was how Dorotea had always been. But then she thought, they want to help me. Not a lot of people had wanted to help Tea before. "Okay," she agreed. Her voice was mellow, like always. "Um, what time?" She tucked her fingers in her lap to stop them from jolting.

         Steve shrugged, "Around eleven? I'll come pick you up." He whirled his car keys around his index finger with a grin, like a dork, and it made Tea smile too. Jonathan rolled his eyes with a grin and Nancy hid a smirk behind her hand. 

         "Okay," repeated Tea again, softer and quieter this time, just in mellow agreement. Her green eyes were so sweet and gentle—they looked at everything with fear, but not this. This seemed safe and okay. There was no fright trapped in her pretty irises, now, Nancy Wheeler noted. "Let's do it."

         Taking that as the signal of their plan and the disbanding of their meeting—Steve Harrington stood up and stretched. When he reached his arms up towards the ceiling, he seemed impossibly tall. Tea noted the muscles in his wrists and where his toned stomach was visible at his sweater lifting slightly. Despite it all, he seemed like the kind of person she'd want to hug. "Well, I guess that's decided," he said as he broke out of the stretch and Jonathan stood up too. "Eleven sharp, alright? I'll pull up out the side so Karen doesn't see." It seemed a little like he was an expert in this—Tea wondered just why he'd needed to get in through Nancy's window so many times before.

         "I guess so," said Nancy, who stood too—and Tea wanted to, but couldn't quite, so she stayed sat with her legs curled beneath her. Nancy was so small compared to the rest of them, so short and petite, but somehow she still seemed fiercer than all of them. "Steve and Tea, meet us back here after school ends." God, Nancy was so pretty. Tea nodded mechanically while Steve did it so casually it seemed almost automatic—a little over-the-top, flinging the front of his hair over his face.

         "We'll be back tomorrow, then, Nancy," promised Jonathan. He leaned forward to kiss her and so did Nancy, but there was something awkward about it. Tea's stomach clenched a little in a way that she didn't quite understand but her lilypad eyes just watched as their lips met. Something felt weird about it, and Tea was pretty sure it wasn't just her. Jonathan's stance was a little stiff and Nancy's was a little too relaxed. The kiss was shorter than Tea would have expected, and was broken off equally by the both of them. Perhaps a decision to spare Steve and Tea feelings of awkwardness—in fact, Steve was staring at them a little dejectedly with his arms wrapped over his chest, but not in a sign of any anger, and why?—but something in Tea recognised that it was something else. Nancy looked a little blank, not in a good way, and Jonathan looked awkward, and Tea immediately felt weird too. "See you later," she said, just to break the silence, which made Nancy glance over at her. Nance swiped her thumb over her own lips—which was a weird thing to do after just kissing your boyfriend—and Jonathan nodded to her. Steve just looked relieved to be free of Nancy and Jonathan kissing. Maybe he knew something about them.

         "Later!" exclaimed Steve, before practically fleeing the bedroom in a presumed escape.

         Jonathan followed him with his hands tucked in his pockets. "Bye," he offered kindly, ducking out of the now-open door. For a moment he seemed to leave. But then he popped his head back around the doorframe and smiled at her sincerely with his shaggy hair half falling into his eyes. "It was nice meeting you, Tea," he added, and then ducked away. How strange, thought Tea, at the scene that had unfolded in just the last thirty seconds.

         Nancy still had her fingers against her mouth, as if she was thinking something over—and that made Tea feel all types of ways, but she just stayed seated on the bed innocently with her hands in her lap. Fading footsteps retreated down the steps and the front door creaked, and then Tea and Nancy were once again left alone.

༉*ೃ༄

defending a girl u've been hiding in ur bedroom from ur boyfriend and ex-boyfriend: fellas, is it gay?

also fun fact, tea is named after the main character in the bone witch bc that's like my favourite book series and i loved her name so much

also in this + like all my series the monster hunting trio are all best friends bc i do not believe the show when it says that nancy and jonathan did not get closer with or remain friends with steve after almost dying together like twice

currently unedited, sorry!

word count: 5,476

22.02.2020.