"You know as your honorary big sis, I feel offended that you didn't ask me to go with you to pick out something to wear." Frankie joked as she started separating strands of Max's long red locks. The younger girl just winced as Frankie pulled through a pretty stubborn knot and made a face.

"I didn't go shopping for an outfit." Max said with a bland sort of voice.

"Well, you didn't invite me to help you pick one out either." Frankie replied with the same monotone key.

"But," Frankie said as she started a small braid, gathering the pieces of hair framing Max's face. "all is forgiven since you decided that I would be best suited to do your hair."

"You told me you were going to do it Frankie." Rolling her eyes dramatically, the older girl pulled a bit at Max's hair, grinning at the surprised noise that escaped the red head's lips.

"And you let me so that's all that matters."

Fingers twisting the knotty strands, Frankie tried her best not to be rough with the younger girl, but she couldn't help the accidental pulls that were a result of her random curls. Finally finishing the stubborn braid, Frankie grabbed a few bobby pins from the dresser and secured the hair in place. The brunette moved towards her bag and dug into the rabbits hole looking for one specific thing. Letting out an 'aha', Frankie grinned at Max through the mirror as she lifted a beautiful clip into the air for her to see. Pulling the braid back a bit so she could clip the clip into place, Max started wincing again.

"Ow, ow. That hurts." Max said trying to pull her head away from Frankie's insisting hands. The older girl just shook her head before smiling.

"Calm down, its almost done."She said, grabbing a can of hairspray from the edge of the sink so she could spray the braid down.

When she didn't receive a snarky reply, Frankie turned towards the girl with a frown. Max's eyes were trained on something behind her. Frankie turned her head over her shoulder spotting the tall figure of Max's step brother passing by the open bathroom door. Fully turning her body, Frankie raised her chin as she stared down the blond teen. He didn't make any moves to come closer, just stared at the two girls with a blank look on his face. Frankie hobbled in her cast towards Billy with pursed lips before slamming the door in his face.

"Forget the hairspray, grab your sweater and let's get out of here." Frankie announced shakily while dumping the stuff she brought right back into a tote bag. Swinging it over her shoulder, she grabbed her jacket and crutches and led the two out of the bathroom and towards the door.

"Have a great time Max!" Susan called out as the two rushed out the door and into Frankie's little car. The two girls waved goodbye before buckling themselves in, wanting to be as far away from that house as humanly possible.

"Ready?" Frankie asked a little breathlessly from struggling to place her what felt like fifty pound leg into the car comfortably. She honestly couldn't wait until she got her stupid cast sawed off, that thing was more trouble than it was worth.

"Ready as I'll ever be." Max muttered sarcastically, although Frankie could hear the slightest twinge of nerves peeking through. Turning towards the thirteen year old, Frankie grinned with a laugh. She had an idea, and she hoped it worked.

"Did I ever tell you about the time I kneed Bobby Morris in the nuts at homecoming my freshman year of high school?" The older girl felt the energy in the car do a complete one eighty as Max turned to her with a guffaw.

"No you didn't!"

Max's nerves disappeared in an instant as she began to laugh at Frankie's story. Thoughts about making a fool out of herself or being weird in front of her friends vanished as they pulled out of the driveway and onto the road.

"So, it was freshman year and Bobby Morris had been pestering me about homecoming basically the entire month of September..."

-

Steve Harrington and Dustin Henderson had finally pulled up to the middle school gymnasium later that night. The dance had started about thirty minutes ago and Dustin was fashionably late per Steve's suggestion. As soon as Steve unlocked the doors, Dustin became a nervous mess. He felt his palms begin to sweat as he reached for the rearview mirror to catch a glimpse of himself.

"Come on. You look great, okay?" Steve reassured him as he swatted his hands away from the mirror.

"Now you're gonna go in there-"

"Yeah."

"Look like a million bucks."

"Yeah!"

"And you're going to slay them dead." Steve grinned at the younger boy with a supportive smile.

"Like a lion. Purrrr."

Steve grimaced, "Don't do that, okay?"

"Okay." Dustin nodded with a swallow, feeling the nerves start to come back.

"You're gonna be great." Steve said sincerely holding his hand up for Dustin to take in a friendly hand grab.

"Knock 'em dead!" Steve called out as Dustin jumped out of the car. The curly haired boy turned his head to the side and fist pumped the air lightly in response. Steve laughed it off and watched him walk inside the gym with a new air of confidence.

Steve's eyes trailed past Dustin and caught sight of Nancy Wheeler. She looked radiant with her hair curled and her beautiful dress. Nancy smiled at one of the kids as she handed them a cup of punch and Steve felt content. She was gorgeous and everything he wanted once, but not anymore. Blinking once, Steve's eyes wandered off to the side widening a bit.

There, standing just outside the gym door was Frankie.

He saw her nervous smirk before he noticed anything else and that alone made his heart pick up. She leaned against the wall, her good leg crossed over her cast and crutches stuck underneath her armpits. She was wearing a long sleeved dark green shirt that was covered with her baggie jean jacket. Her high waisted jeans were macgyvered to fit around her boot (her mom had just cut off the bottom of one of the legs). And because of the boot she was forced to wear a pair of sneakers, but Steve thought she looked breathtaking.

Frankie lifted her arm and one of the crutches up in a greeting and giggled as he quickly opened his door and ran out to meet her. He didn't know how long she was out in the cold (two minutes) and was still cautious around her boot (which he shouldn't be), so he basically sprinted over to her.

"Hey." He whispered a little breathlessly as he stood in front of her.

She smiled softly. "Hey."

They stared at each other a little longer than necessary, but neither of them noticed. Ever since the accident, things between the two were off but not in a bad way. They were just unsure of what was going on between them and neither teen wanted to be the first to confirm or deny anything. They were both too guarded and unsure, not knowing what to make out of any of this.

Steve had just been dumped by Nancy minutes before he met Frankie. He was cautious about starting anything, about getting his heart broken even though he knew Frankie would never do that. He felt like he was falling too quickly for the brunette and didn't want to start anything so fast after his breakup with Nancy, although she seemed to have gotten over the two of them quite quickly. He was just so scared about the prospect of falling for someone that he didn't want to even think about it unless he was sure the other person felt the same way.

Frankie on the other hand had never been with anyone romantically. There had been guys that made advances on her but she was always on high alert, not sure what anyones intentions were. She had seen what happened to her mom, her dad had left as soon as he found out she was pregnant. Being wary of men was her specialty.Steve was the first boy she had ever had a crush on and now he liked her? It was a weird feeling and the matter of fact was it scared her. Feeling attraction to someone was one thing, but actually having that person feel the same way back is where it made Frankie's brain hurt.

They both liked each other, but neither one wanted to admit it to other, scared they were going to get hurt.

They were honestly two huge disasters.

"Do you want to get out of here?" Steve asked with a charming smile and a hand out.

Frankie stared at his rough hands, probably cold from the winter air and nodded, "Yeah, I'd like that."

She grabbed his hand and frowned as he shook it off.

"Your crutches."

Frankie looked at him with confusion before handing him her crutches and watching him turn around in a crouch.

"Get on." He said before turning his head to look at her. "Like old times."

Remembering how she got the cast in the first place, Frankie laughed loudly before gripping onto his shoulders. Crouching down, Frankie tried her hardest to jump onto his back. She didn't get that much off the ground, but Steve just jostled her onto his back, the two teens giggling with red noses and cheeks to match.

Beginning a sprint off to his car, Steve felt his heart beat wildly in his chest. He felt pure happiness at that moment and when Frankie bent over and kissed the apple of his cheek softly, he knew there was no other place he'd rather be than with her.

AUTHORS NOTE

there will be a part 2 of this story I know the ending kind of sucked but I didn't want to get them together together yet bc I love a slow burn and all that jazz lol anyways I'm so excited about ST3 and will get something up probably as soon as I binge the season tonight at midnight lol anyways thank you all so much for being supportive of this story it means so much considering this is the first story I've ever finished and how popular it became anyways thank you so much and Frankie and I will see you later!!!