Here is chapter two!
Dustin
He paced up and down the front hallway of the house as Lucas, Mike, and Will sat in the living room, watching as he slowly but surely began to lose his shit.
"Barb was taken by a Demogorgan at a party right Mike?" Dustin says suddenly, pointing at his friend.
"Yeah...but there are high school parties all the time...doesn't mean she'll get nabbed." Lucas chimes in
Dustin continues to pace "She doesn't know what's happened around here. What if she does something dumb?" He says looking to them again as he hears her moving upstairs. "What if she'd walking home and she gets kidnapped? What then?"
Will stiffens slightly at the mention but says nothing. Mike throws an arm around his shoulder "Then we'll figure it out, just like we did with Will. We know more about the upside down now. We'll be fine. She'll be ok. Just quit worrying."
Dustin huffs "I am being paranoid..." He sits on the couch and rubs his face "I don't like being the man of the house." he groans. "It was his job to take care of all of this dating crap. Another ball he dropped." He groans
Will smiles "Come on, we can all play D&D and wait for her to get home tonight. My mom already said I could stay over tonight. We'll just game here instead of at Mike's" The party agrees to help him wait up for Violet without worrying her about the Upside Down.
An hour later
Dustin had answered the door to find a even more made up than normal Chrissy. She had her red hair loose around her shoulders and instead of her cheerleading uniform she wore a light blue dress that fell to her knees and white flats. "Hi! Your sister is upstairs right?"
He nods and she lets herself in, heading up to Violet's room. "Why does she talk to me like I'm four? We'll be right there in the same school next year!" He gripes to himself as he hears the upstairs door slam.
"I brought some extra clothes, just in case we can't find anything for you to wear!"
"That was really nice of you...but you didn't have to." Violet says, she'd already gotten dressed into what she thought was party appropriate. She was wearing a light blue t-shirt, jeans, and sneakers with her hair up in a ponytail.
"It's no trouble, I just thought it'd be nice if we got to know eachother." Chrissy smiles and opens up the closet doors and began looking through the clothes that hung there.
"Why?" Violet asks. She couldn't help it. Chrissy turned to her looking a little confused. "Well Jason was telling me he thought you'd make a good cheerleader. He said he remembered you being sporty when you were last in Hawkins. Besides, I don't think you should be alone all the time. A party can help you make friends, find a boyfriend, and have some fun."
"I was in softball...but I quit. And I'm not much of a cheer...cheerleader person." Violet was nervously playing with the hem of her shirt.
"Well...here." She hands Violet a deep purple dress from the closet. "If you hate the party after an hour I'll make Jason take us back ok? Just give it a try though." She smiles. Violet nods silently, changing into the dress, it was an off the shoulder style with sleeves down to her elbows. It flared out at the waist into a tulle skirt that reached mid thigh. She comes back into her bedroom and sees Chrissy going through her make up, she looks up "You look great!"
It was only after another 40 minutes of Chrissy fussing with her hair and make up that she was deemed presentable. "You're going to knock Andy dead" she grins.
"Who's Andy?" Violet asks as she takes in her reflection. She'd been given a smoky eye look with dark pink lips.
"He's on the basketball team with Jason. He's pretty cute...and I may have heard that he thinks you're hot." Violet balked a little "He doesn't even know me."
"Well tonight is his chance to then." Chrissy fixes her own lipstick just as a car horn sounds from outside. "That's Jason, we'd better go. He's not very patient." She drags Violet downstairs, passing the boys who were in the midst of battling a Banderhobb, an ugly frog looking creature. As she passed the doorway Dustin calls "Be back by midnight Vi!"
"Ok!" Violet calls back before Chrissy manages to get her out the door. When they get to the car she sees Jason still in his letterman jacket in the driver's seat but the backseat was mercifully empty. She slides into the backseat as Jason greets Chrissy with a kiss. "You look hot babe...and you look nice too Henderson!" he calls back, putting the car in gear.
Steve
Frankly, Steve had no clue why he'd agreed to come to the party. He was graduating and excited to, but he didn't really want to hang around his peers at the moment. They were all giddily talking about the future, their college careers getting ready to take off. He felt like he'd stayed still while the rest of them were on their way. Out of Hawkins...He took another long drink of his beer. Sighing as he heard cheering from outside, Billy doing yet another keg stand. Maybe the night would be more fun if he were drunk...he thought with a roll of his eyes.
He stood at the railing of the upstairs, it was set right over the front door of the house. He was people watching, there were a few jocks (sophomores) that were completely loaded, making them pretty fun to watch. Just as they were getting interesting the door opened, drawing Steve's eye. In walked one of the Junior basketball players with his girlfriend...and just Violet. He smiled as he remembered her mumbling her name. It had been kind of cute. Nancy had been all confidence. Just like most girls he tended to date. She looked nice, he decided. Definitely out of her element though. She was playing with her fingers and looking around nervously. Her hair seemed a little familiar. Like he'd seen it before, just not on her. He shrugged and turned to some girl that was attempting to drunkenly get past him. Whn he turned back to his perch Violet had disappeared.
Violet
Violet was quite quickly abandoned by Chrissy and Jason as they entered the house, Jason quickly running to get drinks and Chrissy running after him, giggling. Violet found herself in the kitchen of the house, she'd quickly grabbed the only coke in sight and began to sip off of it. Trying her best to blend into the wallpaper. She peeked out of the kitchen door, as most of the noise seemed to be coming from the patio. There was someone doing a keg stand...she cocked her head to the side to try and see who it was when a hand slapped itself onto the wall just above her head. A tall, broad shouldered jock in his letterman jacket grinned at her. His eyes were a little out of focus and his breath smelled heavily of beer. "Hey there Henderson. You look good tonight" He slurred slightly as he spoke, her eyes began to water from the fumes of his breath.
"Hi...thank you" Violet said quietly looking to her side and wondering if she could direct his attention elsewhere. She caught the name on the side of his jacket, it was Andy. Well she'd have to disappoint Chrissy it would seem.
"You wanna dance?"
"I'm not sure you're in a state to dance." Violet gave him a smile that felt more like a grimace.
"Aw worried about me? I can handle more than what I've drank. Don't worry your pretty head about it." He suddenly brought his other hand up to her cheek "But I wouldn't say no if you wanted to take care of me a little."
"I'm good, thanks. I just...I don't think so." She starts to slip out from under his arm when he caught her free hand. "Hey come on, let loose a little. I can get you a real drink." He looked down at her coke and smirked. "There's punch if you can't handle beer."
"Really I'm fine. I don't feel like drinking tonight" Violet said a little louder, pulling her hand from his grasp. He straightens his shoulders a little "Why're you being so stuck up? Think I'm not good enough?" His voice is rising and his slurred speech is getting worse with his anger.
"Violet! That's where you've been all night! I was looking for you baby" Comes a sudden familiar voice, an arm slings around her shoulders and she's enveloped in that sandalwood and musk sent again, she couldn't help but breathe in the scent before answering. "Hey, I was going to come find you but I got to talking to...Andy?" She asks, feigning innocence. Andy's brow was still furrowed in his anger but he no longer looked ready to punch a wall.
"Harrington...I didn't know you were here."
"Yeah well, my girl didn't want to go to her first Hawkins party alone, so I told her I'd meet her here." Steve looks down at her with those chocolate eyes and flashes her a grin. "You look gorgeous baby" Violet blushes and gives him a smile in return. "So what were you and Violet talking about Andy?" He asks, turning back to the drunken junior.
"I was just...I was hitting on her Harrington. I didn't know she was dating you." He says, his eyes cold as he seemed to have a staring contest with Steve. Steve smiled in return, "Well I can see why, she looks great but alas, she's very much taken. May want to ask next time friend." She slapped Andy shoulder in a friendly but certainly firm way. "Let's go Vi. There was someone I wanted you to meet anyway." Steve grins at her and steers her upstairs. Violet is still subconsciously breathing in his scent, it was relaxing for some reason. He steered her further upstairs until they found an abandoned bedroom. He closes the door behind them and looks at her sheepishly. "Sorry about all that...you just looked like you needed rescuing."
"Well...I appreciate you being my knight in shining armor." She bites her lip and looks down at her black booted feet.
"Why are you here?...if you don't my asking." Steve took a seat on the bed, keeping his eyes on her.
"I...Chrissy pretty much decided I was going. I think she...I think she wanted me to get together with that guy downstairs" Violet shrugged, setting her coke down on the dresser to her right. "I didn't...I didn't think it was worth the fight, not coming I mean. She was insistent."
Steve shook his head, "Well you didn't seem to be having much fun downstairs...or did I misread the situation" He leaned forward, his elbos on his knees as he spoke. His right hand wiping at his upper lip subconsciously. He was wearing an older looking red sweater, dark brown pants, and a pair of sneakers.
"I wasn't...but I figured it would be fine for an hour or so before I went home." Violet muttered
"Well...if you wanted to I could take you home now. I'm not really interested in staying myself" He smiles as he runs a hand sheepishly through his hair.
"Are you...are you doing that on purpose?" Violet suddenly asks, the question falls from her lips, seemingly on its own. He looks at her in shock.
"What am I doing?"
"You're doing that thing...like trying hard to be hot but act like you're not. It's...I don't know..." She feels the heat rise in her cheeks once more, "I'm sorry...that was rude..."
"Was it? Because I think all you did was call me hot." He gets up and smirks slightly, "I think I can deal with being hot." Violet smiles slightly, in spite of the still rising heat in her cheeks. "I meant what I said downstairs by the way"
She bites her lip yet again before she slowly formed her response, "The part where we were dating...or the part where I looked gorgeous?"
He chuckles and looks towards his feet. "Well...for us to be dating I'd have to take you out."
"Oh, that's too bad" She lets a giggle fall from her lips. Steve is about to say something when a loud knock sounds at the door. Violet turns to open it when Steve stops her. "Who is it?" He calls through the door.
"It's Chrissy! Is Violet in there?!" She asks, shouting to be heard over the music and through the door. Steve looks to Violet and raises an eyebrow, he leans close and whispers "Should we keep the act up?" She nods silently and Steve smiles slightly. He reaches up to his hair and proceeds to mess it up thoroughly before he goes to the door and opens it a few inches. "She is, may I ask what you need?" Steve's voice is full of barely suppressed laughter.
"Oh...I mean...I wanted to talk to her..."
"We'll be out in a couple minutes." Steve says with a smile before closing the door in Chrissy's face. "Better mess up that lipstick a little bit" he whispers in her ear, quickly Violet wiped at her mouth with her hand a little; smearing her lipstick slightly. She goes to wipe the lipstick off of her thumb onto her dress when Steve suddenly grabs her hand. He takes her thumb and rubs it over his lips slightly roughly, leaving just the faintest touch of color on his lips in little sploches. "Do i look like you kissed me?" He smiles, she nods wordlessly, trying not to dwell on how soft his lips had been against the skin of her thumb. He holds out his hand to her and says "Let's go then". She takes his hand and he swings the door open to see Chrissy waiting there, looking slightly uncomfortable.
"Hey...I'm sorry it looks like I...interrupted you two...I mean...I didn't know you two were a thing." She says haltingly over the music drifting up the stairs. Violet goes to answer when Steve interjects, "We wanted to keep it quiet at first. I'm not one for big public breakups when we've only been together a couple weeks. She and I were trying to take it slow, you know?" Chrissy looked from Steve to Violet for a few moments before smiling slightly, "Well...I guess you two are really cute together...I wish you'd mentioned it though. I kind of told Andy that you thought he was cute too" She blushes
"I didn't say that though...I don't think i'd seen him until today." Violet uttered softly
"I know...I just thought it would be helpful...sorry about that. You two Steve...I guess, I'll see you guys later!" She awkwardly excuses herself and makes a dash for the nearby bathroom. "Well that was interesting" Steve smirks. "Let's get you out of here" Steve starts to lead her by the hand, down the stairs and across to the front door when Jason bumps into Violet and spills his solo cup of beer all over the front of her dress.
"Oh shit! Party foul, sorry about that H-what are you doing with Harrington?" Jason pauses, staring at Steve as though he was a complete alien to him.
"I'm her boyfriend, she and I decided to meet here instead of me taking her. But the party's been a little lame, so we're heading out" Jason looks skeptically at him before turning back to Violet. "I thought you were single...anyway, sorry about that I guess. See you guys Monday?" He says, his voice practically dripping in suspicion.
"Yep see you." Steve pulls her out the door as Violet tries in vain to shake the drips of beer off of her skirt. "Here I can give you a blanket or something to dry off" Steve mutters as they get to his car. He starts rifling through the trunk when tears finally prick her eyes. "It's no use! I stink like beer. My mother is going to kill me." She whimpers softly to herself.
"I mean...you could sneak in can't you?"
"My mother is the world's lightest sleeper. She'll hear me come in." She groans, sitting on the curb defeatedly. "So much for having any freedom to do anything"
"Hey...how does your mom feel about sleepovers?" Steve asks slowly
"She's not opposed as far as I know...with girls, not boys."
"Well I could take you to my place, you'll shower, wash your dress, and then I can drive you back in the morning. No beer smell and you mom thinks you just had an impromptu girls night." Steve grins to himself, marveling at his own genius.
"What about your parents? Won't they be upset about you bringing home some random girl?"
"Out of town for the weekend. What do you say?" He grins
"Can...can I use your phone when we get to your house?" She asks, she didn't want Dustin freaking out at her again.
"Of course" he hands her the blanket to towel off with before opening the passenger side door for her. "Your chariot awaits my lady" He bows deeply with his voice lined with sarcasm.
"Ever the knight aren't we?" Violet can't help but grin at him as she slips into the seat. He shuts the door after her and climbs into the driver's seat. As he started the car Total Eclipse of the Heart by Bonnie Tyler began to play. Violet began to hum along with the melody as he drove, the further they got from the party the more and more silent the scenery became. As they pulled up to a large house along a hardly lit street the song ends. He pulls into the drive and parks. "Welcome to the Harrington residence." He mutters Violet gets out, still holding the now damp blanket "It's really nice Steve"
"That's what they tell me" He takes his keys out of the ignition and locks the car before heading up to the door with her in tow. He opens it up and holds the door open for her, the dark house cold and uninviting beyond the threshold. She steps in tentatively and reaches for a light switch. "Uh, I'll get you something of mine to wear in a sec so you can shower...but you'll have to use my bedroom, mom will notice if the guest rooms have been used. Steve says as he locks the door behind them. "I'll take the couch."
"I can't kick you out of your own bed Steve, really I can take the couch." Violet begins but he interrupts. "I don't know what time they're getting back tomorrow, don't want them walking in on a girl on the couch...no matter how pretty." He smiles.
"Well I still can't kick you out of your bed. I could sleep on the floor" Violet says, following him up the stairs
"Am I going to win this argument?" He asks, suddenly turning to look at her.
"No." She can't help but smile slightly
"Fine. I think we can be grownups and share a bed for the evening then hm?" He turns to a small closet, opening it and pulling a light grey towel.
Violet feels heat at the tips of her ears as they turn red "I can sleep on the floor Steve"
"I can't let a lady sleep on the hard floor when I've got a nice big bed to myself. There's room for two sweetheart" He smirks, sliding the towel into her fingers. "Go ahead and call home in the kitchen while I grab you some clothes." He turns towards the bedrooms and enters one at the far end of the hall. Violet, still blushing turns and heads down the stairs and wanders until she finds the kitchen.
She dials the number for her house and waits, here eyes on the clock above the kitchen sink. It was already 10:30. The phone rang 5 or 6 times before someone finally answered. "Hello?" Dustin's voice sprang from the receiver.
"Hey, it's Violet. I um...I ran into a friend tonight and we decided to have a girls night since the party sucked. I won't be home tonight, will you let mom know I'm at a friend's house?"
"What friend?"
Violet felt her mouth go dry as she tried desperately to think of someone Dustin wouldn't know, "a girl from my English class nosey" She says, trying to put a hint of humor in her voice.
"Ok...as long as you're safe I guess. Are you still going to come with us to the arcade tomorrow?"
"Of course. I can meet you there if you want."
"Sure"
"10am ok?"
"No, we'll probably sleep late. We'll meet you at like 1." Came Dustin's bored tone. She could hear wild laughter from his end and smiled. "I've got to go Vi, they're killing goblins without me! Love you!" He hung up before she could even reply. She chuckled to herself as she hung up the receiver on the wall.
"Brother or sister?" Came the sudden presence of Steve, he was leaning against the doorway, smiling at her.
"Uh, my little brother." She says, trying to shake the jolt of fear she'd gotten from him. He holds out a small bundle of clothes with an apologetic grin "They'll be a bit big on you...and sorry if I scared you"
"It's ok, I guess I'm just a jumpy person. Um...shower is upstairs?" He nods and she heads up in search of it, vaguely hearing him pick up the phone himself.
Steve
Steve quickly dialed the number for Mike's house, knowing the boys played D&D on friday nights there. He listened to the ring only once or twice before someone picked up. "Wheeler household, Nancy speaking" came the tired voice of the eldest Wheeler daughter.
"Hey Nance, it's Steve. I was wondering if Dustin and the boys were over there."
"No, they're all at Dustin's house. Why?"
"Dustin's just been bugging me to meet up lately. Not sure why, I'll go ahead and ring him on the walkie. Thanks Nance."
"Bye." Nancy hangs up on the other line "Well no lost love there huh?" He mutters, hanging the receiver on the wall for the final time of the evening. He passed the bathroom, hearing Violet softly humming on the other side. He slips into his room and digs in his side table for the walkie and when he pulls it out he sighs. He pulls out the antenna and presses the button. "Dustin?"
He waits for a few minutes before trying again, knowing he probably hadn't heard it the first time. "Dustin. It's Steve man."
"What's up? Any monsters for the party?"
"No nerd. I just thought I'd let you know I can't meet up tomorrow. I've got an interview at the mall."
"Seriously man? Of all days?"
"Yep. I can't miss it. We can try for a movie night soon though ok?"
"Fine. You'd better get that job." Dustin says before allowing the crackle to die down. "Night Steve"
Steve stows the Walkie back in the bedside table and lays down on his bed. Vaguely he hears the shower stop along with the hum of Violet start up again, louder this time. "And we'll only be making it right...cause we'll never be wrong" he hears her sing and he chuckles to himself. He closes his eyes, listening to her singing to herself just across the hall. When she stops he opens his eyes slightly, only to hear the door open. "Steve...could I use your washer for this stuff?" He lifts his head slightly, she looked disheveled in his too big sweater that fell almost to her knees. Her hair was wet and scraggly as it fell down her back.
"Yeah, I can take it." He got up reaching out to it before she takes a step back "I can do it." He holds his hands up in defeat. "The laundry room is down by the kitchen" He smiles and watches her walk out of sight, her small feet padding down the stairs.
Violet
The rest of the night had felt only slightly awkward. She'd sat in the laundry room for close to half an hour, waiting for the washer to be done with her dress so she could throw it in the dryer. When she'd finally ventured upstairs she walked through the open door of Steve's room to find him completely bare, facing the doorway. He wasn't looking at her, he was toweling off his hair. She squeaked and covered her face, feeling for the doorknob to shut the door. She heard Steve react to her presence as he shouted in surprise. She heard him open a drawer, hopefully for underwear or something.
"Sorry!" She squeaked
"No! I um...I forgot to shut the door I guess. You can look now. I have pants on." He said, when she uncovered her eyes she saw that he was as beet red as she felt and sheepishly rubbing the back of his head.
"I...thanks. For having pants on...should we go..go to bed?" She asks feeling her cheeks redden further. Really after seeing him NAKED you ask to go to bed? she thought to herself.
"Ha...yeah, are you sure you don't want me on the couch downstairs?" He asks
"I'm sure." She quickly slides into the bed and covers her face with the blankets, hiding her embarrassment. Violet felt the bed dip as he got into the bed and under the covers. "Thank you again Steve, I owe you one."
"I guess...we should probably talk in the morning though." He yawns
"About what?"
"Well the whole school is going to think we're dating by monday. You ok with that?"
"I...I mean"
"I am if I'm honest. But if you don't want that then we can have a very public break up at lunch or something" He turns the lights off and shifts in the bed so he's facing her.
"Can...can I think about it?"
"Yeah, no rush. Night" He yawns again. She turns so her back is facing him, her heart racing as she thought about it. She'd certainly not mind dating Steve. He was certainly kind...and handsome. She began to yawn herself, she nuzzled her nose into the pillow and allowed his intoxicating scent to overtake her intrusive thoughts concerning the young man behind her.