Chapter Text
Steve wasn’t known for being a friendly person. He wasn’t intentionally cold, but he was usually hanging out with Sodapop, and Soda was the one known for being a nice person. Steve let him have that. Steve had other qualities.
He was smart. So smart that even though he hated chemistry he was making an A in the class. He’d never tell anyone that, though.
He was a good listener. He could talk a lot, but conversation was a two-way street and he got that. His dad didn’t really listen to him at home, and the least Steve could do was make other people feel heard.
He was good with cars. Hell, he was great with cars. So great, it was actually a legal problem.
But that’s not what this is about.
Today, Tuesday, Steve was nice. Friendly, even.
Tuesday was lab day in chemistry. Lab day meant notebooks under the desks. Lab day meant goggles and gloves. And, the worst part, lab day meant lab partners. Sodapop was always Steve’s lab partner up until a couple of months ago. Then, he dropped out and Steve had to do the unthinkable - get to know the people in his class.
They were a weird bunch of high schoolers. Almost like the guidance counselor had given up and just assigned all the odd kids to one science block together.
“Happy lab day, boys and girls. You know the drill - time to pair up.” Everyone looked for their usual partners as Mr. Brownlee explained the lab instructions.
Steve looked around for his random partner of the week.
He was partnered with Kevin last week, and after Kevin dropped a beaker and almost burned holes in their shoes, Steve vowed never again.
He worked with Laura Ann the week before. She was okay, she just talked way too much.
Steve’s eyes skimmed over the people in the classroom. Robbie? No, he smelled. Goldie? She was too nervous and had to double check everything. Steve didn’t have time for that- he was always right the first time.
Dana. He hadn’t worked with Dana yet.
Dana had long brown brown hair that hung limply around her shoulders. She didn’t style it like the other girls in their class; she didn’t style it at all. She also didn’t talk much, but was always scribbling in her notebook. Steve figured she was a writer or something.
He strode over to her confidently. “Hey, Dana.”
Dana looked up at him with confusion. “Steve Randle. I wasn’t expecting it to be you, but these things can be unpredictable.”
Steve narrowed his eyes. He was starting to understand why she didn’t have a partner. “Sure, Dana. Whatever you say. Look, do you want to be lab partners?”
She didn’t say anything, just stood up and followed him to a lab table.
“You can’t bring your notebook with you. It has to stay under your desk.” Steve said as Dana placed her papers and pen on the table. “Safety concern.”
“I never would have taken you for a rule follower, Steve Randle.”
“I’m not.”
“Then my notebook stays.”
“Fine, then. Spill something on it and let it burn up, see if I care. Just don’t start crying and say I didn’t warn you.” Steve reached for his goggles.
Dana did the same, positioning the strap around her long hair. “Today’s lab doesn’t burn, Steve Randle. It bubbles.”
“Stop saying my full name.”
Dana made a face.
“Please.” Steve added. See. Nice?
He began setting up the equipment that they needed. Two flasks, a pair of tongs, some droppers… This was a repeat of last week’s lab, with one added variable.
Dana picked up her notebook and began flipping through it.
“Hey, in your notes anywhere does it say how much water to start with?”
“Are you lonely, Steve?”
Steve almost dropped what he was holding. “What did you say?”
“Are you lonely?”
“No?” Then as a much more confident afterthought, “I’m not interested in whatever it is you’re offering.” He took a casual step away from her, widening the distance between them.
“A love potion.”
It was at that moment that Steve decided he would definitely have a different lab partner next week.
“You know what? I’m all good on potions. Thanks, Dana.”
“But, I already spent all night planning it for you.”
Steve looked around the room, praying there was someone else without a partner that he could switch with. Everyone else was paired up and beginning their experiments.
“I don’t really need a love potion,” he said quietly.
“Are you seeing someone?”
“Not anymore.”
“Then you need a love potion, Steve. Call it destiny, or fate, or whatever you want. Why else would I have prepared one, and then become your lab partner?”
“Okay, fine. Sure. I need a love potion.” Steve mimed drinking something. “Ta da. Wow, it worked! You know what I’d love right now? For you to tell me how much water we need to start this lab.”
“You’re not a very funny person, Steve.”
Yeah, he knew. That was Soda’s thing, too. “Please, Dana. I’m trying to be kind. Let’s just get this lab over with.”
“Fine. I’m still missing an ingredient, anyway. I’ll find you later on today and give you the finished product. But first, a very important question. What time do you wake up in the morning?”
Steve sighed. “6:30 ish I guess. Why do you ask?”
Dana drew six tallies in her notebook under a small paragraph of illegible scribble. “Thank you.”
“Dana-”
“Forty.”
“Forty what?!”
“Forty milliliters of water. That’s how much we need to start, Steve.”
---
At the end of the day, Steve was leaving his things in his locker. He had homework, but he already knew he wasn’t going to do it. He was going to go to work, go to the Curtis’s house, and then get home late enough to avoid conversation with his Dad. Foolproof plan. Worked like a charm every time.
He closed his locker door and jumped back. “Dana!”
“I’m ready for you now, Steve Randle.”
“How long were you standing behind my locker door?” He hadn’t even heard her walk up.
“Long enough.” She thrust a small glass bottle toward him. “I understand you may not trust this path just yet, so you can thank me later.”
“I. . . uh.”
“Take it,” she prompted.
Steve took the bottle, but didn’t open it. “Look, Dana. I appreciate you being my lab partner today, but-” he looked down at the bottle. “Wait, why is there a number eight scratched into it?” For eight girlfriends? Did it only last eight hours? Was this thing going to get him laid eight times? He rubbed his thumb over the rough etchings.
“This is my eighth attempt at a love potion.”
“You’ve done this seven other times?”
“It’s my calling. I didn’t choose it; it was chosen for me.”
“Okay. Thanks, Dana.” He put it in his pocket. He’ll throw it out later.
“No, Steve Randle. You have to take it now.”
“Why?”
“I have to watch you for side effects. They’re usually immediate.”
“Oh my God.”
“I’m serious.”
“You know what, Dana?” Steve leaned against his closed locker, the cold metal biting through the sleeve of his t-shirt. “I was thinking today after chemistry. Your last name is Ruth, right?”
She nodded in affirmation.
“So your last name is Ruth and you made a love potion. You know, like the song. Love Potion Number 9.”
“I’m not familiar.”
“It’s popular!”
“I don’t listen to music.” Dana said.
“Who doesn’t listen to music?”
Dana just stared at him. “How does the song go?”
“I took my troubles down to Madame Ruth / You know the lady with the gold-capped tooth-”
“That’s not me, Steve-”
“Not the important part of the song, Dana. Then, it goes- She’s got a pad down on 34th and Vine / Sellin’ little bottles of Love Potion Number Nine.”
“Wow, Steve. I don’t know if anyone’s ever told you, but you have a terrible singing voice.”
“Gee, thanks. That means a lot coming from a girl that doesn’t even listen to music.”
“Besides. She sounds unreliable. You should never sell a love potion. A love potion calls for a trade.”
Steve leaned away a little. “What? I didn’t trade you anything for this.” Not that he believed it was real.
“You did, Steve. Your friendship today in class.”
“No, no, no. Sorry, Dana, but I don’t know you well enough-”
“Also, this is a love potion number eight,” she continued. “Not nine. Wildly inaccurate. I don’t know how you made this connection.”
Steve rolled his eyes sarcastically. “Fair point. Well, goodbye, Dana. I’ll see you tomorrow in class.”
“Drink it, Steve! It’ll be good for you.”
“Shouldn’t I… I don’t know, give this to someone else? Isn’t that how it works? I give this to someone that I want to fall in love with me ?” Steve didn’t know who he would give it to. His last relationship ended sort of rough, and he wasn’t looking to be with anyone new right now.
He shakes the bottle and squints through the glass. The liquid inside is clear and sparkling, like pop bubbles. Steve pulls off the stopper and sniffs the contents. It doesn’t smell like anything.
“Is this water?”
“It’s a love potion, Steve. I already explained that. Now, please drink it so I can go home. You’re going to make me late for my after-school job.”
Steve tilted his head back and poured the contents down his throat. It didn’t smell like anything, but it was a little sweet and felt like soda water going down.
He blinked.
“Well, I guess that’s it. Thanks, Dana. I’ll let you know if it works.”
Dana’s eyes went wide. “You didn’t fall over!”
“Uh, no. I didn’t.”
“Or vomit!”
“Nope.”
She smiled for the first time, a pretty smile that was full of pride. “I’m getting so much better at this!”
“Dana- what? What does that mean?”
But she was already gone, running down the hallway to her after-school job.
---
When Steve got to the DX, he headed straight to the back to grab the extra work shirt that he kept there. He didn’t feel any different, and he didn’t fall in love with the first person he saw, either. Thank God. When he heard Mr. Brownlee coming down the hallway as they were both leaving the building, he scrunched his eyes together in a panic, worried that the potion - which, by the way he did not believe was real - was real.
He opened his eyes when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Mr. Brownlee had stopped him in the hallway. “Steven, it’s easier to navigate the building when your eyes are open. . . Are you alright, son?”
“Mhm. Fine. See you tomorrow Mr. B!”
Steve hurried away before anything weird happened, but when he tried to conjure up thoughts of Mr. Brownlee in his mind, he felt. . . nothing.
So the whole potion thing was a bust.
Steve felt relief wash over him. He was never going to talk to Dana Ruth again.
“Hey, Steve.” Sodapop walks into the back room with a box that he drops on top of another box. “New shipment came in. They got it right, this time.”
Soda was already in his DX shirt, but he had been working all day already. “You alright, man? You have a funny look on your face.”
Steve wanted to tell him so badly. If there was anyone who would understand just how absurd Steve’s day was, it was Soda. He would tell Soda and they would laugh and laugh and Steve would feel better about the fact that he just drank bubbly liquid from a weird girl who didn’t listen to music. Soda would tease him about the love potion working any time a girl laid eyes on him. Steve would roll his eyes but play along.
But, if he told Soda, he’d have to explain why he drank the damn thing in the first place, and he didn’t even know the answer to that one. Maybe it was best to just keep it to himself. Besides, Soda was the one who was good at telling stories.
Steve was the one who tried to be friendly for a day and instantly regretted it.
Steve adjusted his expression. “Yeah, man. I’m good. What’d I miss? Anything exciting happen today?”
Sodapop got a mischievous glint in his eye as he started talking about this old man that came in earlier, and whether or not he could have been a spy, and how the place was probably bugged now. As Steve listened to him talk, he felt a warm feeling spreading through his chest. He really liked his best friend, he really did.
And he definitely didn’t need a stupid potion to tell him that.