❁

the group all made their way to their respective vehicles. "tomorrow will we be doing more translations?" robin asked while steve swung his arm, his fingers intertwined with meadow's.

"maybe. i have to go to work tomorrow since i didn't today." meadow replied, looking over at robin.

"where do you work?" robin asked in response, realizing that she'd never asked.

meadow smiled. "i'm a lifeguard at the pool this summer."

dustin nodded. "yeah, with billy."

steve instantly stopped in his tracks, and meadow bit her lip as robin and dustin turned to look at them. "what." steve said, his voice quiet, as if he didn't believe his ears. "what?" he repeated, looking down at meadow, whose hand had begun to get nervously sweaty.

"uh.. yeah, billy works at the pool, too." she replied, avoiding eye contact with him. she hadn't intended to tell steve, and she certainly hadn't intended to tell him in front of other people.

steve's jaw clenched. "so.. so you work with billy?" meadow nodded, finally making eye contact. dustin and robin awkwardly walked away, wanting to avoid whatever conversation was about to go down.

"i'll be in the car." dustin said. "sorry." he then sped off in the direction of meadow's car, leaving her with steve, whose expression was unreadable.

"yeah. yeah. it's no big deal, really. i avoid him at all costs." meadow turned so she was standing in front of steve, finally looking him in the eyes. "seriously, please don't get worked up about it."

the boy scoffed a little. "so you mean to tell me.. the guy who nearly killed me.. works with you? and sees you every day while i don't?" meadow nodded, a slight smile escaping her lips. "what, why are you smiling?"

"because you're cute when you're jealous." she replied, making him look away for a minute. "you seriously have nothing to worry about. i don't like him, and i don't have to actually hang out with him at work.. it's fine."

steve nodded, pressing a kiss to her cheek. "i trust you, i just don't trust him." he explained, thinking of all the horrible things billy could do to her.

meadow shook her head. "you have nothing to worry about." she repeated, getting into her toes to kiss his lips. when she pulled away, she could tell that something was still bothering him. "what?"

he bit his lip, looking down at his feet. "you promised you'd tell me if things went wrong, remember?" he said, making eye contact with her again. "i just.. i'm not mad, or anything, i just.. i want you to be able to talk to me. even about things like this; even if you think i'll be mad."

her gaze softened. that's why he was upset.. he just wanted her to tell him the truth. she mentally cursed herself for not thinking about how he'd feel about their relationship, instead only thinking about him being mad at billy. she didn't even think that he'd feel insecure in himself, or in their relationship.

"hey." she muttered, making him look at her. "i love you. and i know i can talk to you about anything, more than i can to anyone else. i'm sorry i didn't tell you about this, though. i just didn't want it to be a big deal, you know?"

steve nodded. "yeah, i get it. i probably wouldn't have wanted to say anything, either." he admitted in understanding. after a moment, he let out a loud sigh of relief, his knees bending as he leaned back dramatically. "i feel so much better now, whew."

meadow laughed, looking up at him. "i'm glad."

the two said goodbye and meadow drove home with dustin, unprepared for what was to happen tomorrow.

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

"so what am ilooking for, anyway?" steve asked as he looked through the binoculars, trying to scope out a russian spy. steve had barely gotten any sleep, worried about meadow. although he didn't need to be jealous, and had believed her when she said nothing was going on, he couldn't help but feel insecure about her being with billy.

aside from the fact that he got to see her every time steve didn't, billy was known to take things from steve. he'd seen how, in high school, billy had become the new king of the school. besides, billy seemed to have his life ahead of him. which one of them was wearing a stupid sailor costume?

steve was the world's greatest overthinker, and had managed to stress himself out in only one night. he worried about what would happen if he became too boring, or if meadow just decided he was too overprotective or too clingy. he knew, deep down, that that wouldn't happen. that she was just as infatuated with him as he was with her. but, the other part of him plagued him with the idea that she would fall for someone else.

plus, billy had already talked about how he wanted to date meadow, and steve hated it. "you're not even focused." dustin replied, trying to take the binoculars from steve. "what's on your mind?"

"meadow's gonna break up with me." steve mumbled, looking at the center of the mall.

dustin stopped looking through the binoculars, his gaze shifting to steve. "what?" he asked, thinking it was a joke until he noticed steve's sad expression. "why, what happened?"

steve sighed. "she's hanging out with hargrove, the guy who beat me up."

the younger boy sent him a look as if he was stupid. "you're worried about billy? she hates him."

"i know, i know, but something just.. i don't know i just.. i just feel it." he looked down at his hands, sniffing to avoid crying. steve looked back up, putting on a brave face.

"dude." dustin dropped the binoculars completely, looking steve in the eye. "she's whipped for you. she might not act like it, but it's true. she seriously loves you, man. and no one, especially not billy hargrove, will get in the way of that. you're cool, you have your.. your hair. you're funny, and you're awesome. now, can you please help me look for this russian guy so she'll think you're even more awesome?"

steve smiled, putting a hand on dustin's shoulder. "thanks, man. when did you become the one who gives advice?"

dustin smiled back at him. "maybe i just know my sister too well. but the one thing i know for a fact, steve, is that she's never felt a fraction of the way she feels about you towards anyone else. you might not see it, but me and my mom, we do."

"see what?" he asked, not sure what he was getting at.

"the way that you just.. you make her different." he said. "a good different. the kind where she's just genuinely happy. and i don't think we've gotten to see her like that in forever. now, it's just.. it's all the time. it's like you brought her back to life, or something." he told him.

steve looked down at the other boy, shocked. "really? you actually see that?"

dustin nodded. "absolutely. i know that you.. you can get into your head about this stuff. but please, don't ever say that she's going to break up with you, because it just isn't true."

the older boy put an arm around his friends' shoulders, pulling him to his side. "thanks, dude, that really means a lot to me. and, also, i'm glad you don't hate me."

"i never hated you, i just don't want to see you eat my sister's face all the time."

"you say it like it's a scene from a horror movie, dude, it can't be that bad." steve complained.

"no, you're not the one who has to see it. absolutely torturous, the complete mawing-" he imitated making out with the air, sticking his tongue out and making kissing noises.

steve pushed the boy away, crinkling his nose. "shut up, no, that is absolutely not what i look like." he complained as dustin attempted to do a smoldering look.

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

when eleven and max hadfound the bloody lifeguard supplies in billy's bathroom, they had immediately assumed the worst for meadow. she was the only lifeguard they knew personally, and they knew that she also had a history with billy that would make her a potential target.

as meadow was packing up her bags, the rain ending her shift early, the two girls showed up at the front desk. meadow put her towel into her duffel bag, turning as she heard her coworkers talking. max and eleven instantly ran over to her, hugging her torso. "what.. what happened?" she asked, looking down at them.

"we were spying on billy and we thought he'd done something to you." max said, explaining the blood on the whistle. "we also found this." eleven held up a lifeguard fanny pack. "we were afraid it was you but that guy said it belonged to heather."

meadow furrowed a brow. "heather wasn't at work today." she said, looking down at the red fanny pack. "you think something happened to her?" she asked eleven, who nodded. "you need a picture, right?" meadow tore down the photo of heather from the bulletin board of lifeguards.

she hadn't seen eleven use her powers since the day in the kiddy pool in the hawkins gym, but she remembered the items necessary for eleven to successfully find and locate someone.

"can you find her?" max asked as she and meadow turned on all of the showers for a makeshift static. eleven put on blacked out goggles, setting the photo in front of her crossed legs.

after a couple minutes, eleven lowered the goggles, panting deeply. "what did you see?" meadow asked, holding her hand.

"she.. she's in danger." she replied, looking over at meadow.

meadow took in a deep breath. "then we gotta help her."