Here's chapter 4, hope you enjoy! I do not own Stranger Things
Odette
She stood behind the counter at the record store, chewing on the end of a twizzler as she idly read a magazine her boss had left behind when she'd left for the evening. "Well hello fair maiden!" She looks up, honestly expecting Eddie with the word choice but finds herself facing Gareth Emerson. "Hey! How have you been doing?" She smiles, dropping the magazine and grinning at the fluffy haired teen.
"Looking for a new Iron Maiden tape, one of mine gave out last night." She laughs and points him to the heavy metal section off in a corner. He grins again and goes in search of his preferred tape as she boredly stares at Scoops Ahoy just outside the walkway of the record shop. She hadn't seen Steve all afternoon and as it got later and later in the day she'd begun to pout, he could have told her he wouldn't be at the mall. She grins at Gareth as he comes back to the counter, tape in hand and a sheepish smile on his face. "I wish these fuckers would last."
"Well I'd be out of a job" She smirks "So how's band practice been going?"
He leans on the counter, drumming his fingers idly on the counter top as he thought carefully "It's been pretty good, we've even got Tuesday night gigs set up...we'll probably have an audience of drunks but we gotta start somewhere." He shrugs and shoots her another smile. "You should come to one of our practices!"
"Why can't I come to a gig?"
"Cause there's no way Eddie's letting you in a bar surrounded by drunk dudes." He smirks with a knowing glint in his eye as she groans "Of course little defenseless Odette would be hopeless to fall into the arms of the first 40 year old drunk that pitches woo" She rolls her eyes. "Has he complained about me wanting to date or something?"
"Nope. Warned the band off of you is more like it." He chuckles a little, fiddling with the tape in his fingers like he couldn't keep them still "He's worried we'll corrupt you"
She makes a pitchy noise of disdain before shoving his shoulder playfully "You're going to corrupt me? I live with Eddie Munson and he thinks you're going to corrupt me. Maybe the weed really has fucked with his head or something" Gareth guffaws and rewards her with a beaming smile. "Oh the irony right?"
She takes his money for the tape, still griping about how over protective Eddie is. "You'd think he'd want me to date a guy he knows and trusts! But nooooo no no, if you've got Y chromosomes you're evil!" She hands him his change "I guess I've got to be a lesbian or a nun"
"Lesbians are hot" Gareth grins, earning another playful shove "Not funny!" She slips his tape into a small bag and hands him his receipt "I should get going, your brother will kill poor Gareth the Great if I'm late to Hellfire again. I'll see if I can talk him into bringing you to a gig" He says with a wink
"No, I'm good really, he probably won't rock as hard with baby sis getting hit on in the audience. Kick his ass in game though" She returns his grin and slowly turns back to her magazine, ending up reading through the entire thing before her shift is even over. As it gets later and later, the customers slowly trickle out until it's dead as disco. She starts to meander around the store, looking at every genre of music...making sure each section is set up well and wouldn't have to be fixed at closing time. She'd gotten lost in the pop section when a hand on her shoulder scared her out of her mind. She turned wildly to find Steve smiling apologetically at her. "Hey, sorry! Didn't mean to spook you gorgeous." She blushes but welcomes his peck on the lips before turning to fix the tapes she'd knocked askew.
"You weren't at work today, day off?"
"Nope I had to call in. The kids had an emergency for me" He says with an obvious roll of the eyes. "When I got over there I found out they were just trying to rent an R rated movie and needed me to get it for them."
She giggles "Really? What a great dad" She smirks when he scoffs but doesn't deny it. Once she's got the section fixed she turns and wraps her arms around his neck, bringing his lips back down to hers. She feels herself getting backed up into the shelves as he slides his tongue along her bottom lip, she pulls back for air and to stop them from going any farther, lest a customer come in. Instead she just took him in a little, his brown eyes were more alert than they'd been since she'd met him. The bags under his eyes had all but disappeared, and his lips held an easy smile. "You look like you're feeling better"
He chuckles "I am...thanks...for worrying about me I guess." He lets his fingers stroke her sides as he continues to hold her although the look on his face made her think he was feeling awkward.
"Well someone's got to. No more bad dreams?" She leans in closer, feeling at home there. She feels him relax a little more and rest his chin on her head "Nope. Not one...it's a little weird."
"Tea before bed works wonders" She breathes in his scent of sandalwood and presses her cheek to his chest.
"Well you've made a believer out of me." Steve runs a hand up her back and around her shoulders, holding her closer "You busy after work?"
"Nope. Not a thing" She grins up at him and meets his lips in a kiss. "What did you have in mind?"
"Picnic dinner and a midnight swim?" She could feel his breath hot on her hair as he spoke and she nodded, accidentally knocking his chin. "Hey"
"Sorry" She giggles slightly, touching his chin gently "Poor baby"
He rolls his eyes "How long till you're out of here?" She steals a look at the clock above the register "About an hour" She groans sadly
He chuckles "I'm going to go get our dinner then, before you headbutt me again."
"It was an accident!" She pouts, pulling him down so she can kiss his chin gently. "Big baby" He rolls his eyes affectionately but laughs all the same. "I'll pick you up in an hour Odette"
She waited patiently outside the darkening mall for Steve, she didn't see his car just yet and the dark of the night was beginning to put her on edge. She felt like someone was staring at her even though she knew that the parking lot was abandoned. She let out a breathe of nerves and closed her eyes, listening to the sounds of the night as she waited...the night had gone silent...all but one noise, so soft she'd almost missed it. "To build...what you see" whispered through the air. She turns over her shoulder, finding nothing there. The voice had been garbled, almost as though it was more than one voice. But there was nothing there. No one there. The sound of tires on asphalt pulls her from her worries, she finds Steve's car pulling up to the curb with the windows down. Stevie Nicks crooning softly from the radio. She gets in gratefully, greeting him with a kiss to the cheek.
She can smell the pizza in the back of the car and out of the corner of her eye she can see a couple towels as well as a blanket sitting on the backseat with their dinner. "So where are we swimming?"
"Well the pool's being cleaned this weekend so I was thinking Lover's Lake if that's ok?" He begins to drive out of the parking lot, tapping his fingers to Rhiannon on the radio.
"That sounds nice, I haven't gotten up to the lake around here...like I maybe went when I was little" She smiles slightly.
"Your brother doesn't do that kind of thing?" He asks
"Nah, my brother's an indoor boy." She sighs contentedly "I used to sneak out with my friends back home...we'd go out of the city on Friday nights...and we'd find the first woods we could...getting as far as we could from all the lights...that's the only time I could ever see the stars."
"Do you miss them?" Steve asks, sparing a glance at her before letting his eyes fix back on the road ahead. She nods "Of course...they were more like sisters...but we still talk. A lot of phone calls back...they've been thinking of visiting before summer ends." She grins at the thought of the girls running through Hawkins, doing nothing but stirring the pot as much as they could.
"I'd love to meet them if they do...if you want me to that is" His tone is nonchalant but his fingers gripped the wheel a little harder than before.
She smiles slightly "They'd love to meet you; they didn't quite believe me when I told them I had a boyfriend" She laughs
"Why not? Do I sound too good to be true?" He jokes slightly, winking at her
"A little...you're definitely a charmer" She leans over and lays her head on his shoulder, batting her eyelashes at him with a chuckle before sitting back up "But it's more me that made it weird."
"How?"
"Well I had probably talked to a total of three boys before meeting you...not including my brother or uncle." She looks at her shoes, a little embarrassed.
"Really?" Steve looks confused as he turns down a dirt road leading up to Lover's Lake "Like...total? I know ballet sounds like a chick-fest...but what about school?"
"My grandmother insisted on me going to an all girl's catholic academy. This will be my first year in a normal high school." She smiles nervously as he pulls up to the edge of the dirt road, overlooking the lake beyond. The surface of it glittered in the pale moonlight like polished glass.
"Well I'm honored to be boy number four!" He chuckles slightly "You know Robin was convinced that you liked me."
"That's because I told her about a week after I met you. She was my first friend that wasn't through my brother actually." She gets out of the car as he turns to her looking a little disappointed "Shouldn't you tell me that you liked me before my coworker?"
"And you told Robin that you thought I was hot before you told me?" She smirks at him as she kicked off her shoes "Getting out of the car or not?" He hurriedly gets out of the car, also losing his shoes.
"So Robin told you I said-...what are you doing?" He averts his gaze as she pulls her shirt off to reveal the white lacy bra she was wearing underneath. "I'm not swimming in all of my clothes!" She slips her skirt off too and lays them neatly on the hood of the car with her shoes. "Are you going to swim in jeans?"
He blushes slightly before pulling off his own shirt and jeans, leaving him in a pair of red boxers. She bites her lip, suddenly feeling shy as he takes her in almost greedily. She launches herself towards the water's edge, hearing him laugh as he chases her down. She gets into the water, shivering as she felt the cold liquid wash over her summer toasted skin. Warmth spread over her skin as Steve's hands found her waist, pulling her further into the water with him. She gasps as they fall in, submerging completely. When she resurfaces coughing slightly she splashes him in revenge "Jerk"
As he charged for her in the water she swam as fast as her feet would push her, giggling when she felt his hand wrap gently around her ankle, pulling her back to him. "Got you" He gasps lightly in her ear as he pulls her wriggling form against him. She presses her lips to his giddily, the water lapping at their chins.
The night seemed to last forever, the two of them shortly getting tired and returning to the shore. They dried off as best they could and laid on Steve's blanket, eating the pizza and gazing up at the stars above them. Odette pointed out every constellation and telling their stories as she did. Finally Steve turned onto his side to look at her, she was still in her underwear and her hair was slowly drying, frizzing as it did. She looked adorable.
"You know if you take a picture it'll last longer." She turns on her side too, facing him with a grin. "So how many girls have you taken up to Lover's Lake?"
"Full honesty?" He asks quietly, looking into her blue eyes with his chocolate one. She nods and he chuckles "No one else...kind of makes me look dumb when I've got a pool in my backyard"
She rolls her eyes "To who? You've got natures pool right there"
"That's why. That's why I took you and not any of the other girls I've dated. My last girlfriend would have talked about how much of a waste of money my pool is if I don't even use it!" He laughs at the thought, turning to look back at the sky above. "There was the one before that too...she would have said I could have at least spent the money to take her out to dinner first instead of pizza" he rolls his eyes "The one before that would have told me it was gross to go swimming in a lake. God forbid a fish touched her or something" He scrunches his nose up "I'm not sure about the one before that...I don't even think I got past kissing her...let alone having a midnight swim with her."
Odette scooted a little closer to him, still facing his damp form. "I think this was perfect Steve." He turns his head back to her, their noses almost touching. "Yeah?"
"Yeah. I don't think it matters what we do. We just...we should have fun doing whatever it is." She presses a kiss to his nose. "Now I don't know about you...but I'm cold." She pulls herself even closer to him so that there's enough free blanket to pull around them. "Is this ok?"
He nods, slipping his arm around her and helping to get the blanket around his other side. "I could take you home if you're cold"
"I don't want our night to end so soon." She presses a kiss to his lips "You could warm me up Stevie." He doesn't need much more convincing, letting his other hand run up and down her thigh as he joins their lips.
A few hours later
They'd fallen asleep on the soft ground of the shore by Lover's Lake in one another's arms only for Odette to wake up to Steve twitching. She sits up a little, looking at him in the moonlight and hearing him groan in his sleep...at first she just thought that he was trying to get back to sleep but then he whispers something "Dustin...I can't do it."
"Steve?" She whispers, touching his face gently. He flinched harshly in his sleep, his arm that was around her waist pulling her closer as he mumbles again "Please don't. Please! I can't I can't-"
"Steve!" She sits up completely now shaking the brunette a little. He's breathing heavily in his sleep now, she could feel his hands shaking underneath the blankets. "Fuck...don't touch them-" Odette shakes him harder now and his eyes fly open.
"Steve it's ok" She whispers when he finally opens his eyes. He's breathing heavily and he sits up too, burying his nose in the crook of her neck. "Are you ok?" Odette asks softly, letting her fingers stroke his thankfully dry hair.
"Yeah...it's...I forgot the tea tonight." He sighs "Sorry"
"Don't be. Do you want to talk about it?" He shakes his head, pulling her into his lap tiredly "Just..thanks for waking me up."
"Anytime." She pulls the blanket up so it's around his shoulders, one hand going back to stroking his hair as he catches his breath. "Want me to take you home?"
"Nah, let's stay here..." He sits up to look at her with red rimmed eyes that she doesn't mention. "I don't think you should be alone after one like that." She presses a chaste kiss to his lips. "But we can probably go sit in the car." She giggles, trying to lighten his mood a little.
"You don't have to-"
"Shhh." She presses a finger to his lips "Do you want me to go home?"
He shakes his head, still holding her on his lap. "Then we're going to sit in the back of your car." She stands up, stretching tiredly before holding out her hand to him. "Come on" she pulls him up to his car and makes him lay down across the backseat. She crawls over top of him and settles there on his chest, wrapping the blanket around them once more. She presses a kiss over his heart as she looks up at him, "Do you think you can go back to sleep?"
"Probably not" Steve sighs into the open air of the car above them, almost glaring at the ceiling like he blamed it for his nightmares.
She rubbed her hand along his arm soothingly "That's ok, we can just relax" He frustratedly runs a hand down his face "I'm sorry about this. It's pathetic-"
She sat up, straddling his lap and almost glowered down at him "You are not pathetic Steve. Everyone has nightmares, you'll get through it."
He gives her a small smile and lets out another sigh "You're pretty like that"
"Like what?" She tries to give him a reassuring smile, not liking that he'd changed the topic.
"Well you're always pretty, but you sitting on top of me...hair a mess, smiling at me...pretty." He runs his hands up her thighs and up to her waist, his raking his eyes over her.
"Does it make you feel better?" She whispers, seeing the tension slowly lift from his shoulders
"Yeah..." He leans up, pulling her down slightly to meet his lips. She giggles slightly, catching his attention "What?"
"I'm sure it has nothing to do with me being in my underwear" She smirks down at him with a blush on her cheeks "Nope nothing at all." He chuckles, burying a hand in her hair.
Slowly the fog rose on the windows of the dark BMW; the two teens oblivious to the evil that had just consumed a part of Billy Hargrove.
The morning sun rose over Lover's Lake, shining its soft light into the BMW still parked on the shore. Clothes still sitting on the hood of the car as the owners of said clothes dozed gently in the backseat. They were completely unaware of the sheriff's vehicle pulling up the dirt road nearby.
The knock of Hopper's knuckles startled them both from their light sleep and sent them both into a panic. Odette hurriedly pulled on her bra, thankful for the still fogged windows. "One second!" Steve shouted gruffly, pulling on the red boxers he'd left on the floor of his car. "Harrington. I'm waiting!" Hopper's exasperated voice called through the window once again. Steve handed Odette the blanket to wrap around herself while he just got out of the car on the side opposite the officer.
"Hey Hop" Steve tried to say brightly but faltered slightly under the hard gaze of the older man. "Where's the newest lady friend?"
Odette stepped out of the car sheepishly, trying to straighten her dark frizzy hair. "Hi..." She leans into Steve's side, nervous as she was only in her underwear and a blanket. Hopper sighed and looked the both of them over "Your parents know you've been parking with a boy?"
She bit her lip "I live with my Uncle and my brother...my uncle knows" Her voice is so quiet Hopper had barely caught her words. His brow furrows "How old are you?"
"I just turned 18 a few weeks ago." She feels herself shrinking into Steve's side as the questioning continued. He thankfully slid an arm around her comfortingly, keeping her steady as her head spun in fear.
"Harrington-...you can't just-...did you at least use protection son?" She felt herself pale significantly as Steve nods hurriedly although they'd completely forgotten it. She began to shake slightly as she heard the echo of Hopper telling Steve to clean up and quit doing this in public. She takes her clothes from Steve and pulls them on quickly, thankful that Hopper had already pulled away.
"Sorry I-...I didn't think anyone would notice the car up here." Steve says quietly Odette gets into the car without a word and pulls her knees up to her chest. "I'm just...he's not going to tell anyone right?!"
"Nah, Hopper knows it's private. If he wanted it broadcasted he'd have taken us in." She nods and rests her chin on her knees "Do you regret last night?"
"No...I regret not using a condom" She whispers as the fear rises like bile in her again. "Not like I think you have anything" She says quickly looking at him closely as he sat, both hands gripping the wheel tightly in front of him. She bites her lip "I really don't regret it" She mumbles again, sounding more and more like a broken record.
Steve finally looks at her "I...I'm sorry I didn't even think about it...dumbass..." He its the steering wheel "Well...we'll use condoms from now on...if you want to do it again?"
She blushes at the thought, pulling at her messy hair "I...I would. But with protection" She smiles just a little through her worry. "I guess...we'll hope for the best?"
Steve nods putting the car into gear and backing out of his spot on the dusty road. The car is silent save for the radio playing to fill the void. She bites her lip as they get closer and closer to the trailer park, she'd been having him drop her at the entrance so Eddie didn't get an eyeful...but he'd probably still be passed out after the late night at Hellfire. They're pulling down the road leading home when she finally lets a burning question fall from her still slightly swollen lips "I'm your only...current lady friend right?"
Steve blushes a little but doesn't smile. "Yeah...I know I've got a rep...but I don't sleep around when I've seen a girl for more than one date."
She flushes with embarrassment and feels like her heart has been clutched in a cold grip. "I didn't mean it like that...we just never made it clear that we were...exclusive I guess. I'd like to be." She feels the clutch over her heart grow tighter as she made a fool of herself and hurt Steve's feelings. But it all lifted as she felt his fingertips flutter across her hand. Her eyes shoot to his and he's smiling a little now. "I'd like that too."
She lets her giddy smile brush across her cheeks, intertwining their fingers. "So we're like official?"
He nods, humming as he turns into the trailer park. "I could meet your family soon...if you want" Steve sounds less casual now, like he's testing the waters.
"I've got to ease my brother into it Steve...he's been pretty harsh about me being around new people here. So I don't want you two meeting to come to blows, he just needs to get used to the idea before you're in front of him. Is that ok?"
He looks unsure for a second "I don't love the sneaking around...but ok. Just...soon?"
She nods but smirks slightly "Soon...but that's coming from the guy who took me parking in a secluded place...is that not sneaking?"
He smirks right back "I could have been sneakier...we still got caught." He stops the car near the entrance by the park mail boxes and leans over to kiss her. She lets him join their lips and loses herself for just a moment before she pulls away. "You've got work today...and I need to shower." She lets him give her one more peck on the lips before she gets out of the car. He rolls down his window "You free tomorrow night?"
She smiles slightly "I'll tell my brother Robin's having a sleep over?"
He grins at her, nodding. "Don't get in too much trouble"
"No promises!" She begins the short walk to her trailer as she hears the tires of the BMW pull away and out of the gravel road of the trailer park. She's giddy as she enters the trailer, unaware of the storm waiting just inside.