This is the companion piece to my other fic Crimson Wings (Billy/OC) but it can be read alone. It's set just before season 1 (an entire year before Crimson Wings).
Special thanks to the editor: ilypopxtart333 ! You were amazing
I do not own ST but I wish I did. Who doesn't?
Please enjoy!
PART ONE
THE FALL
They met the summer before her sister died, when the leaves were still green, yet the weather was growing colder; a tell-tale sign of summer's end. In the winter and after it had happened, they carried on with their lives separately, alone as many people are. After the next summer, one filled with lust and betrayal, they found each other as the frost settled on dead petals.
CHAPTER 1: THE CIRCLE
August 1984
Moss colored smoke filled the cabin and spoke of drug use as it thickly swirled into the partygoers' lungs, adding to the toxicity of the town. The punch bowl reminded Steve of biology last year, when he had been made – along with the rest of his class – to dissect a frog and when he had punctured its small dead body with the stainless-steel scalpel, rancid blood mixed with stomach acid had spurted out, staining his white polo shirt. The punch bowl reminded Steve of that exact color. But he still drank it.
Jude, at the very moment Steve had shuddered from the frog blood swirling into his stomach, had been called over by Freddie who sat in a circle with six others – Freddie's boyfriend, Betty, Gloria, Todd, Carol and Tommy H. Jude joined them, nervous – it was, after all her first teen rager. She dodged through drunk dancers as she made her way to the circle. Once there, she sat cross-legged and adjusted the hem of her white dress so that only the edges of her calves showed.
"Hey, Steve!" Tommy H. shouted, voice guffawing over to him who still lamely grimaced at the punch bowl, empty cup in hand. "Steve, get over here!"
Steve dropped the plastic cup on the marble counter – which was already overflowing with used cups and bottles stolen from the liquor cabinets of multiple of the guests' parents – and walked over to them. When spotted by Jude, her palms became sweaty. For Jude, it was undeniable how handsome he was, yet she was still more swayed by Todd, who sat across from her with his eyes bloodshot and glazed over. It wasn't puzzling as to who smoked most of the weed before the stash had gone dry.
"So, we're playing spin the bottle." Carol said.
"Yep." Tommy H. nodded, dumb and excited.
Freddie's boyfriends told her to go first. She span it, her cheeks the color of pale strawberries as it landed on Carol. They'd pecked nervously, but at the cheering of Freddie's boyfriend and Tommy H., Freddie had deepened it.
Jude looked away, her own cheeks warming as her eyes latched onto Todd, his blue eyes and blonde hair drawing her in, though he was watching the girls make out with an open mouth, not drawn to Jude in the slightest. She thought he looked like an angel, like one of the one's from Mother's paintings of whatever religious icon she had chosen to mirror that month.
It went like this; they each took turns, and each shared saliva – Tommy had landed on Gloria, Gloria had landed on Todd (and Jude had scowled through the slobbery duration of it), Todd landed on Carol but before they kissed, she suggested a change.
Carol spoke; "Hey, how about we switch it up a little?"
"And do what?" Todd asked.
"Seven minutes in Heaven." Carol said, her head tilted upward as if she were a Queen ruling over her court.
Heads around the circle nodded as they gave their affirmations.
"And I feel we've all been quite rude. Jude, right?" She said, pretty blue eyes piercing into Jude.
"Judy." She said, before biting her lip. All eyes in the circle were on her.
"I've never seen you at a party before. This your first?" Carol asked, calculating.
She nodded as pink filled her cheeks.
"How about we give you the first go then." She nodded at me, and a killer smile formed.
"Uh, sure." She nodded again.
"Go on, Judy!" Freddie's boyfriend said, urging her to take her turn.
She reached out, ignoring the shivers that prickled down her spine like a thousand pine needles. Her fingers met the cold glass and she span it. Her eyes nervously darted at Todd. But as the bottle slowed, it passed over him and went to the next person. Her eyes tentatively travelled up and found Steve.
The circle cheered, Tommy H. being the loudest of the bunch with his voice matching the pounding music coming from Tina's Hi-Fi stereo stack.
What happened next was quick, blurry. The girls dragged Jude to the bathroom and Steve was thrown in too. The door slammed shut. The music vibrated along the floor, like the pounding that came from Jude's chest.
The tiny bathroom had one light source; a dull almost pink lightbulb coming from above the mirror. She studied their dull figures – Steve's was much taller and thinner than her own – which were almost void of all detail, more liken to silhouettes but there was one thing she could make out; his eyes. At the very moment she discerned this, his eyes met hers in the reflection. She looked away, cheeks hotter than before.
Neither of them knew what to say. Then Steve thought of something;
"I don't think I've ever seen you before." He said, leaning against the counter. "You just move here?"
"Um, no." Jude said before she shrugged. "We've lived here since I was born."
"We?" He sat back against the sink.
"My parents. My sister." She said. "Um, you might know my sister, she's in the same grade as you."
"Really?" He raised his eyebrows. "Who?"
"Barbara Holland?"
"Uh, no, I don't know her, sorry."
"That's fine." She shrugged again.
"Judy, right?" He asked, a small smile playing at his lips.
She nodded.
"Judy Holland." He said, testing the name on his tongue. "Nice to meet you. I'm Ste-"
"Steve." She interrupted before she tucked a stray curl behind her ear. "Sorry. It's just- I already know you."
The curl she had tucked behind her ear came free and Steve thought about putting it back for her, but something about her hair being so out of place made her seem all the more appealing.
"So, what grade are you in?" He asked, nodding at her. "I mean, you already know everything about me."
Jude laughed, her cheeks heating before she told him the answer.
A thump against the bathroom door interrupted them and a booming voice told them to 'get on with it' came from behind the thin wood. It was Tommy's voice, Steve realised.
"Start making out already!" Another voice joined in with the cheering. Jude frowned; the voice sounded like Todd.
"You've only got five minutes left." Tommy H. said, before he thumped the door twice more. "I'm not hearing any moaning yet!"
Jude's eyes widened, and Steve gave a wry chuckle.
"They're right." He said before he stepped forward. "We should probably get a move on."
Her knees hit the edge of the bathtub. He stepped closer. His breath tickled Jude's rosy cheeks, cooling them; yet somehow making them feel even hotter. He tucked the stray copper curl from her brow and tucked it behind her ear.
He caught her eyes just as his lips longed to catch hers.
"Can I kiss you now?" He said.
"Yes, please." She said.
Her eyes drifted shut as his lips descended.
The kiss was as soft as silk, but quickly became harder, demanding, controlling. He had sensed how inexperienced Jude was, yet he'd been patient as she learnt how to smooth her tongue over his. His hands soon grazed over her shoulders, her back, her bottom. He'd held her there and groped her for a few lingering moments before deepening the kiss and moving his hands to wrap around her waist, pulling her budding breasts flush against his chest.
All the while Jude had grasped onto his shoulders and felt the hard heat beneath his shirt. Her fingers had explored the heated flesh of his neck before they took refuge in his thick hair, tangling the brown tresses between her fingers. A small whine left her lips.
The door opened to loud cheers of 'King Steve'.
They parted, lips swollen and red.
And just like that, Heaven was over.
September 1984
Where is she? Jude asked herself, arms rubbing at her shoulders as her breath swirled off into the night air. She stood at the curb outside the movie theatre, wondering when her sister was going to pick her up. Her eyes desperately searched for her sister's dinky little car and wondered if she'd ever come. She'd promised to pick her up after all. But she was missing.
She'd just seen All the Right Moves with Freddie, whose mouth had gaped in childlike wonder whenever Lea Thompson (her new icon) had come on screen and once it had finished, they'd walked outside, finding that the sun had vanished leaving the sky an inky blue.
Mrs. Buell – Freddie's mother – had been waiting across the street in her convertible sports car, the one Freddie said her parents fought about. She was ten minutes early to pick her up and had been kind enough to offer Jude a ride home. She had declined though, insisting that Barb would be there soon. As Jude shook her head, she decided that her decision had been a crappy mistake and thought that perhaps if she had agreed to Mrs. Buell, then she would have been home by now.
Jude looked down the road again and practically willed Barb's stodgy car to appear. This did not happen. She was nowhere to be found. Barb is so dead when I get home, Jude thought, lips pursed and eyes narrowed to slits.
She glanced down at her watch. It was 8:53. Her curfew was at 'ten sharp'. Her father had made her repeat 'ten sharp' back to him as her mother checked her face for any obvious signs of makeup. There had been occasions when she had been sent back into the house for applying her mascara too thickly or her lipstick too red.
Jude cursed at herself as the wind picked up, causing her dress to flutter around her calves like curtains billowing in a light summer breeze. But it was not summer anymore. The warmth which had soaked into Hawkins like smooth honey was gone now, leaving behind grey clouds and frosted grass. She shivered as she let her eyes squeeze shut, trying to assess her situation. She was stranded and cold and didn't even have enough change for a payphone. The only lucky thing about her situation was that she had enough time to walk home before 'ten sharp'. And so, she began to walk – cursing at herself once more as her new loafers began to rub at the soft skin of her ankles with every step.
As Jude reached the emptied Maple Street, a car slowed before making a U-turn and pulling up next to her. In a second of dread, she thought it could be some creep pulling up to kidnap her. Darker thoughts spread like cancer in her mind. She inhaled deeply and reminded herself that this was Hawkins. Nothing bad ever happened here. But, what if it was about to? What if she was really about to be kidnapped? She thought of mom. And of pop. And Barb too. They would be torn up and would never stop looking for their missing daughter. Jude knew Barb would blame herself for it.
Jude starred at the car with the weight of trepidation heavy in her gut as the window inched its way down. She could see a figure, but her eyes hadn't adjusted to the darkness filling the car yet. A clicking noise was made, and the driver lit up. Her eyes found the flame first. It flickered and cast shades of orange around the inside of the car. The orange light latched onto someone's face as they brought the Zippo lighter to their cigarette.
"Hey, Judy." He said, lips around the cigarette.
Jude shivered at his voice which was supple as sin.
It was Steve Harrington.
"Wanna ride?" He asked.
"…Yes, please." She said, composing herself.
She opened the door and climbed into the passenger seat, heart pounding from being close to him again. She told him her address and he started driving. She looked to his hands on the steering wheel and thought of how they had grazed over her shoulders, back, and then her bottom in Tina's bathroom a few weeks earlier. Jude began to get paranoid over whether he could see the blush that sat in her skin, though fortunately the car was pitch-dark, the only light coming from the streetlamps they passed and the end of Steve's cigarette.
"I didn't know you smoked." Jude said.
"I guess it turns out you don't know everything about me after all." He said, the cigarette bobbing between his lips with every word.
"I'm sorry if… if before at the party- if I was a bit creepy. I mean, everyone knows you anyway."
"Everyone, huh?"
She looked at him in exasperation not fully grasping that he was playing with her.
"You're King Steve." She told him as if he hadn't heard that phrase before. And he had heard it plenty, probably too much, what with his greater than average ego.
"Am I?" He asked.
She starred at him. A puff of smoke left his lips. Jude wondered what he meant by that and who else he could possibly be. She smiled as the thought of him really being her kidnapper crossed her mind.
"Why're you smiling?" Steve asked, his own smile spreading across his cheeks.
"Nothing." Jude said, biting her bottom lip.
"Oh, really?" He asked. "Pretty smile like that? You'd think there was a cute boy around or something."
He looked behind him then, pretending to search for a cute boy in the backseat. As if he wasn't aware that he was the cute boy. Cocky bastard, Jude thought, as she rolled her eyes at his show.
"I was smiling because when you were pulling up beside me- I don't know, it's weird…" She trailed off, glancing down at her lap and feeling sheepish before looking back up to him.
His eyebrows raised for her to continue.
"I thought you were going to kidnap me." She confessed.
"What?" He smirked, but his eyebrows were drawn together.
Jude grimaced as the familiar weight of embarrassment crushed her throat and sped her heart up.
"It was stupid." She admitted before shaking her head. "Sorry."
"Don't apologise." Steve bit his lip as he looked at her. "And it's not stupid. You were just scared." He glanced back at the road, then locked his eyes back onto hers before he continued. "And don't worry, I'm not gonna kidnap you… not unless you want me to."
Jude felt her cheeks turn apple-red. She hoped it was a pretty blush rather than the blotchy kind that too often spread down her neck and onto her chest.
"I wouldn't mind." She barely noticed the words leave her lips. She could feel birds beat in her chest, wings beating as they tried to escape only to find they were trapped by her ribcage.
"How 'bout we find a place to park." He asked, though it didn't sound like a question.
Jude wanted more than anything in that moment to say 'yes' or nod her head and blush prettily but the dashboard in his car read 9:30, which left half an hour in between then and 'ten sharp'.
"I can't." She told him, and at the risk of sounding like a square, she added, "Curfew's at 10."
"Yeah, well that sucks." He said, eyes focused on the spot his headlights lit up.
He breathed in deeply, then held the breath for a long second before he exhaled. He glanced back me, a plan forming in those darkly mischievous eyes.
"We can meet up another time, right?" He asked, hopeful.
"Um…"
"Come on. We'll have fun."
She licked her lips. He smiled, trying to persuade her. Jude smiled back, loving how in that moment, he was focused only on her.
…
He pulled up to the house and parked. Jude looked at the time (9:51) and a huff of breath left her. She wished she could've been more rebellious – she could've parked with him and then when she arrived home to angry parents, she could've lied and said she was so late because Barb hadn't picked her up. Why did she only come up with that now?
"Well, we're here." Steve said, eyes focused on the orange light coming from the window where a black silhouette of pop with a book his hand was found.
"Thanks, Steve." She said as a sweet smile moulded itself onto her lips.
"Not gonna thank me some other way?" He said.
"What 'other way' were you thinking of?" She asked.
He raised his hand from his lap and tapped his cheek twice.
A kiss.
That's what he wanted.
She looked behind Steve to where the house sat. The living room lights were on, which created a burnt orange rectangle in the darkness. She saw pop's plump silhouette raise his glass to his mouth, the other hand still holding his book. He could simply walk over to the window, push aside the curtain and see her kissing Steve. But what reason would he have to abandon his book?
Jude looked back to Steve, his soft smile and pale cheeks, and her hormones decided that she didn't care if anyone saw.
The leather creaked under her. She leaned forward into the empty space between them and aimed to press her pink lips to where one of his moles sat just off centre on his cheek. As she got closer, close enough to feel the heat coming off him, he moved. Her lips pressed to his. For a fleeting moment she thought about pulling back but his hands came up to grab the back of her neck and his fingers tangled in her copper curls, imprisoning her.
All fears of her parents seeing them through the living room window melted away as he dragged his tongue across her bottom lip.
She whimpered.
Her mouth opened and allowed entranced for his skilled tongue to meet her amateur one. She swiftly grew confident and placed her hands onto the back of his head so that their positions mirrored. She held onto his hair and fisted it as she pulled him closer. She needed him closer. She wanted to feel more of him.
Their tongues and lips danced together, growing more vicious with every groan and suck and lick. His hands smoothed down to her waist, his fingers tracing circles on her thin white dress. She squirmed. Her lungs started to burn.
Their mouths made a pop sound as they pulled away for air. Her forehead leant against his cheekbone as they tried to catch their breaths. As her head pulled away from his, Jude saw just how dark his eyes were. Normally they were a chocolate brown, honeyed in sunshine, but now they were almost black. Jude couldn't figure out whether they were dark because of the lighting (or lack thereof) in the car or whether his pupils had dilated in lust.
A smirk spread across his lips, mischief in his eyes which she mistook as fondness. The kind of fondness she naïvely thought led to a relationship.
"That was a hell of a thank you." Steve said, voice rough.
She dragged her eyes from his to check the time. Seven minutes had passed. She smiled and thought how their little make out session had been Seven Minutes in Heaven Part II. A girlish and superstitious part of her decided that 7 was now her new lucky number.
She got out of his car and waved at him through the window before he drove off, his car kicking up a bitter gust of wind which hit her and sent a chill scuttling down her spine. She pressed her lips together and felt how swollen they were from kissing.
When she entered the house, she saw each member of the family in their separate places. Neat and tidy. Mom was dusting her 1ft figurine of the Virgin Mary which sat on a side table in the living room, pop had his feet kicked up on the coffee table with his book in hand, and Barb sat at the dining table doing homework.
Mom had paused dusting and had kissed Jude's cheek before wrinkling her nose.
"Have you been smoking?" Mom asked.
"No. There was a group of people outside the theatre smoking when I was waiting for Barb to pick me up." Jude said, before biting the inside of her cheek – a sign of her deceit.
"Oh. Stay away from those people in future, okay honey." Mom said.
"Okay. Um, are you going to say anything to Barb? She didn't come pick me up." She said, voice lowered.
"Of course. Just not now." She said, tapping Jude's shoulder twice before picking up her pink feather duster and carrying on with dusting the photographs on the cupboard.
Jude frowned before stomping over to the dining table.
"Barbara!" Jude smacked Barb's shoulder. Pop gave Jude a stern look from over his chair. "Why weren't you there to pick me up?"
"Oh, shit." Barb's eyes widened a little.
"Language, Barbara." Pop cuts in as he stands from his Lay-Z-Boy. Jude could tell he wanted to leave now that the silence had dissipated – or maybe, Jude thought, he wanted to leave because I was here now.
"Sorry, pop." Barb said.
"Saint Barbara." Jude muttered as she rolled her eyes. She crossed her arms and huffed as she sat on the table next to Barb's homework.
"Jude, sit your butt on a seat, not my clean table." Mom said as she made her way from the cupboard and across the room before exiting through the door which led to hallway, her pink feather duster in hand.
Jude didn't budge. Pop looked at her firmly but didn't say anything.
"I'm sorry, Judy." Barb gave a sympathetic look. "Nancy had an emergency."
"An emergency?" She raised her eyebrows in question.
"It's true." Pop cut in again, in a not-so-chipper voice. He moved over to the bookshelf and returned the book he'd been reading. "The phone bill will be proof of that."
Barb scoffed.
Jude narrowed her eyes at Barb, making it crystal clear that Barb would elaborate as to why Nancy was more important than her own darling sister. Jude was mad, yes, but felt conflicted as to whether Nancy's emergency was good or not. After all, if Barb had picked her up then she wouldn't have gotten to see Steve again. She wouldn't have gotten to press her tongue against his. Or feel his hands on her waist. Or feel his hair between her fingers.
Barb gestured to pop with a nod at his back, communicating with sister-telepathy to wait until he had exited the room before I would speak. Jude glared at pop's back as she watched him leave.
"So, is Saint Barbara going to enlighten me now?" She asked, impatient yet her voice was kept low as to not draw pop back.
"Well," Barb said, as a coy smile spread onto her freckled face. "It's about a boy."
"Seriously?" She tilted her head. "You blew me off for boy trouble? And not even your own but someone else's?"
"Look, I was just worried about Nancy." Barb said.
"Fine." Jude raised a hand for Barb to stop talking. "Which boy is it, then?"
"Ugh, that's the worst part." Barb whined. "Nancy's smart and all, but she can be really dense sometimes."
"Who is it?" She asked. "Do I know him?"
"Girl code says I can't tell you." Barb shrugged.
Jude raised an eyebrow. "Okay, you owe me one for not picking me up and I think sister code trumps girl code any day. It's like double since we're both girls and sisters, y'know."
It was Barb's turn to raise an eyebrow.
"Spill, Molly Ringwald." Jude said. "I'm bored and I need a little drama right now."
"You're so predictable." Barb gave a little laugh. "It figures that's the only reason you'd want to know. It's not like you actually care about Nancy's poor life choices."
"Why would I?" She raised her hands, exasperated. "She's your friend, not mine."
"Are you still mad about that time she wore your dress?" Barb teased.
Her eyes grew wider.
"Ugh, please don't bring that up. And no, I'm not still mad." She scoffed as if what Barb had said had been absurd. "And she didn't just wear my dress, she ruined it."
Barb's eyes rolled back.
"It was stained!" Her voice rose.
Barb laughed. Neither of them could remember what had made the miniscule tan mark on the white cotton of Jude's lace dress, but Barb did remember how Jude had complained about wearing the dress before, always saying she hated never being allowed to wear anything above the knee. Nancy had borrowed the dress to wear out the day after a sleepover – a last-minute plan so Nancy hadn't brought any of her own clothes – and since Jude seemed to hate the dress, Barb had thought Nancy could totally take it.
"Just tell me who the guy is." Jude pouted and dropped from her place on the table, kneeling down on the floor with her hands in prayer. She gave Barb her version of puppy dog eyes, a look which had stopped working on mom and pop years ago, and because Barb knew of the deficiency of this look when it came to their parents, Barb pitied her and gave in each time.
"Fine." Barb waved her hand. "It's that caveman Harrington."
She stilled then. Her puppy dog look frosted over with ice.
"Harrington." She repeated, dumbly. "As in… Steve?"
"Who else?" Barb asked, voice dripping with distain.
A poisonous concoction of confusion mixed with bitter betrayal spread through Jude's eyes and made her sweet face seem as cold and dead as winter.
…
EDIT: 04/12/18 – I changed it from Barb's POV to no ones. It didn't change much.
Hey! I've been planning and writing little bits of this story since December 2017 so I hoped you enjoyed it.
Please let me know what you think.
Thanks.
Ps. Updates will probably be slow. Sorry! Blame uni, Crimson Wings and Billy motherfucking Hargrove.
