❁

with eleven closing the gate, and the whole mess with the hawkins lab, meadow was looking forward to finally getting time away from world-threatening situations. this summer was supposed to be one to remember, and, well, looking back, she supposed it was.

meadow had first started the summer by taking her brother, dustin, to his first retreat at the camp know where summer camp. the boy was thrilled to be at a summer camp ("cool camp", as he and his mother had been calling it) that would teach him about coding and computers, among other things he was interested in.

his sister, on the other hand, was interested in her boyfriend. steve was perfect, and treated meadow better than she could have ever hoped for. their relationship was something that just came so naturally to them; which was great, because meadow was really nervous about an awkward period. things all just seemed to fall into place, though, as they went on their first dinner date during the annual middle school. after the snowball, though, her brother had some things to say to the boy.

"you can't just date my sister, steve. you can't!" dustin exclaimed, frantically pacing the room.

steve gave meadow a nearly pained look, not knowing what to say. "dustin, we both love each other, and we want to be together. i don't understand the problem."

dustin gestured to the both of them, putting emphasis on their intertwined hands. "you guys are the problem! meadow is my role model, and you're my role model, and i look up to both of you and love both of you. and i don't want you to be dating!"

meadow, frustrated, ran her tongue along her teeth. "dustin, i love you too. but i also love steve. and, i'm sorry, but you don't have much of a say on whether we date or not, dude."

he sighed. "i just don't get it."

"i don't get why you were fine with it before," meadow replied, having heard about dustin's previous conversation with steve, "and now suddenly you don't want us to be together."

steve nodded his agreement, standing up to put a hand on dustin's shoulder. he was going to say something meaningful or heartfelt, but the smaller boy scoffed and moved away, leaving steve standing there. he turned to meadow, who was frowning with disappointment, and gave her a small hug before excusing himself. of course, he was briefly stopped by claudia to chat before he could officially leave the house, leaving meadow with dustin.

"why him?" dustin asked after a few minutes of silence. "why did you have to date him?"

meadow, exasperated, held up her hands in defeat. "i don't know what you want from me, dustin. you're being a little shit. steve is my boyfriend, and i'm not going to break up with him just because you don't want me to date him."

"it's not that i don't want you to date him!" dustin said, cutting her off. "i just want to have my two best friends back." he explained, his voice quiet.

his sister couldn't be mad at him when he looked genuinely guilty for making her upset. "bud.." she sighed, ruffling his hair and giving him a small hug. "i'm still your best friend. and so is steve. things are different now, but this different can be good. we just need to get adjusted to the new dynamic."

"are you sure things will be okay? that you guys won't forget about me?" dustin asked, looking up at her through slightly teared-up eyes.

meadow nodded, giving him a smile. "yeah, i promise." she said, squeezing him tighter. "i can assure you that you are stuck with me for the rest of your life; and that's a threat."

he laughed at her joke, smiling up at her. he reluctantly released his grip on her waist, sniffling as he wiped away a slight tear that had formed under his eye. "steve's outside, you should go see him before he leaves." he said. "and tell him i'm sorry about snapping at him. and i'll miss him when i'm at camp."

"okay, i'll tell him."

with that, she left her own room, walking steve out to his car. "he'll come around." steve assured her, holding one of her hands in his as his back leaned on his car. he comfortingly rubbed his thumb along the back of her hand, looking down at her. "i'm serious." he added when she didn't reply.

meadow sighed. "i hope so." steve wrapped his arms around her in a hug. "i've never been in a fight with dustin before. honestly i don't think we've ever really disagreed strongly on anything. i yell at him sometimes, but he knows i love him and support his choices. i just.." she trailed off, feeling steve hold her a little tighter. "i just hope he doesn't make you want to break up with me."

steve pulled away from her, a frown on his face. "what would make you think that?" meadow shrugged, avoiding eye contact. "nothing, especially something he says, is going to ever make me break up with you."

when she still didn't look at him, steve put two fingers under meadow's chin to lift her gaze to meet his eyes. he raised his brows as he scanned her expression.

"you know that, right?" he asked, watching as she let out a sigh, finally releasing her tension and nodding.

"yeah, i know." she replied, making him smile a little. "i just get nervous sometimes, you know? like i don't feel like anything that's happened in the past year has actually happened. i don't believe in ghosts or paranormal stuff, you know?" she watched as he nodded. "so when nothing else seems real, i sometimes just question if this is." she looked at his hands, which were enveloping both of hers. "does that make any sense?" she chuckled a little.

he nodded, his brows creased with thought. "i think that makes sense." he agreed. "but, when you wonder if it's real," he brought her hand up to his lips to kiss her knuckles, "i promise you, it is. and i will always be here, as long as you let me." meadow then smirked, and steve raised a brow. "what?" he asked, chuckling.

"i can't believe that i have made steve harrington whipped." she said, noticing the slight blush that formed on his cheeks.

he shook his head in embarrassment, only pulling her closer to him in response. "promise me if you ever feel like it isn't real, or, or if something isn't working.. promise that you'll tell me? so we can talk about it?" he was still holding onto her hands with one of his, but his other hand had moved to her waist, keeping her body pressed against his as he leaned on his car.

one thing that meadow had noticed about steve immediately when they started their relationship was that he was learning from his mistakes. the lack of communication between him and nancy had been a large contributor to their downfall, and she could see the flash of "bullshit" that clouded his worried eyes as he thought about it. steve found communication to be the most valuable thing, which was why he now asked her to promise to tell him. to tell him if she ever found their relationship to be bullshit; to just be up front about it.

meadow smiled, getting onto her tiptoes for a moment to kiss his lips. "i'm not going to get bored of you, if that's what you're asking." she knew him too well, and he smiled as she spoke his thoughts aloud. "i love you." she said, and his gaze softened at the words. "and i promise to always talk things out with you, as long as you do the same for me. okay?"

he nodded his agreement, leaning down to kiss her again. "okay."

after a while, dustin did come around, as steve had said. he realized that having steve around wasn't bad at all. although he gagged every time they would kiss, he liked having steve come over. because of steve's bad home life, he actually got to come over a lot.

no one knew much about steve's family, or why they were the way that they were. what they did know, though, was that he hated being at home. any chance he could get to come over to the henderson household, he would take. claudia practically treated him like a son, anyway, and with the henderson family he felt like he could be himself for once.

steve realized, once he was with meadow, that he'd been trying for years to hide behind whatever facade was most preferable for him to have. at school, he was the cool kid. the star basketball player with all the friends and all the girls. but that wasn't him, it never had been. at home, he was the perfect, quiet son, who never did anything out of line. he didn't speak unless spoken to. and that wasn't him, either. with the henderson's, steve was finally at peace. he was just.. him.

some days he would stay in meadow's room, and the two would talk and cuddle. other days, they would watch movies; and sometimes dustin would join them. steve and meadow tried to go out on dates when they could, but neither cared where they were, as long as they were together.

it wasn't like they really had a lot of money, being teenagers, so going on elaborate dates wasn't what either of them expected or desired. steve was secretly a hopeless romantic, and his favorite kind of date was simply a night in. he liked to lay down on meadow's bed, which was always neatly made, an arm around her waist as she rested her head on his chest. from here, he could play with her hair, or her with his. and they'd just talk.

steve thought he could listen to meadow talk for a lifetime and never get tired of it. for being as spunky and sarcastic as she was, she didn't talk much in classroom settings, where he'd known her in the years prior.

because of her more introverted state, no one would ever know why she thought that the outsiders was the greatest movie of all time, or why stephen king wrote the most entertaining books. but steve took pride in the fact that he knew these things about her, that he was the person she talked to about this.

meadow, equally, loved hearing steve talk about his life and experiences. when he was feeling more like ranting, he would talk about why he didn't want to go to college, or why college essays were stupid and he should just not go. he talked about how scared he was that he wouldn't be as smart as her and wouldn't get into a good college, causing them to have to go long distance. he also talked about how much he hated work.

right before summer started, steve's dad began pressuring him to get a job. it was perfect, considering that the starcourt mall was about to open up. steve was planning to work at one of the new clothing stores, or maybe even a shoe store. that's why he was extremely frustrated when his dad, just to embarrass him, landed him a job at scoops ahoy, the icecream parlor.

"please work there with me." steve begged meadow. "it would be so much more fun with you there! the girl i work with is bratty and sarcastic, you'd love her." when he noticed her disinterest, steve pulled out the puppy dog eyes. "we'd get to work together, and i'd get to see you more."

meadow rolled her eyes at his antics. "i would, but, first of all, the uniforms are stupid." she looked at steve's sailor suit and short shorts. "you look like a dork." she spoke fondly, ruffling his hair. "and, second of all, i just got a job."

"yeah? where?" steve asked, happy for her. "are you somewhere else in the mall?"

"actually," meadow said, "i'm going to be a lifeguard this summer at the pool." she didn't think it would be wise to mention her coworkers..

although meadow didn't like billy, she was able to tolerate him in the workplace. he had calmed down, for the most part, when it came to attempting to flirt with her. she still hated him, of course, for trying to run over the kids, for beating up her boyfriend. but, money was money, and she was able to set her harsh feelings aside for a few hours a week. steve, on the other hand, wanted to make billy's face look worse than it already did. he wanted to beat the shit out of him. and if he were to find out that he was seeing meadow every day.. it wouldn't go over well.

steve working at scoops ahoy had turned out to be a great thing for the kids, because he would, if bribed, give them access to a secret entrance to the movie theater. meadow would join them at the movies sometimes as a chaperone (and as a groupie if the movie was for people 17+). other days, she would get done with a shift at her own place of work and visit steve at his, sitting in the back room to read a book while she waited for him to close shop.

after a month of ice cream dates with steve and avoiding billy at the pool, it was finally time for dustin to come home. meadow had joined her mother to pick him up from the camp, and he told meadow (she'd been the one to get out of the car and help him gather his belongings) all about suzie, his new girlfriend.

sadly, the girl had already left by the time meadow was there, so she didn't get to meet her. however, dustin seemed completely whipped for this suzie girl.

once the hendersons were all in the car and on their way home, dustin had grabbed his walkie-talkie, trying to get in contact his friends. "this is gold leader returning to base. does anybody copy? over." he kept repeating, getting no response.

sick and tired of hearing the same thing, meadow turned up the radio in an attempt to drown out his voice. dustin kept talking, so she turned in her seat, annoyed. "dustin, they're probably busy. they'll respond when they can, okay?" her mother sent her a look, and the girl just looked out the window.

dustin stopped, and only later tried once more to contact them again, with no success. they pulled into the driveway, and the boy slumped in his seat, feeling forgotten and unwanted by his friends.

meadow, however, knew of their plan to surprise him, and smiled to herself. after dustin got into his room, unsuspicious, she quickly joined his friends in their hiding spot. when dustin's toys started moving (el's doing, of course), he yelled for his sister frantically, following the toys into the living room.

after they'd surprised him, he screamed, spraying lucas with his hairspray. meadow doubled over with laughter, listening to both boys scream. summer was about to get fun.