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Steve attends the funeral of Barbara Holland. He is one of the handful of people present who actually know how she died. He can't say that, of course.
In the parking lot, he sees, for the first time, Nancy lean into Jonathan like lovers do. They don't do that at school. Steve thinks they're together, but he's not sure.
Nancy and Steve are not together. Of that he is very sure indeed.
***
The basketball team has a New Year's Eve party at Patrick's house. Steve attends because it is expected of him. He drinks five Pabst Blue Ribbons, kisses a random girl at midnight, and leaves.
***
Steve and Dustin don't have a lot of overlapping interests, but one they find is comedy. Dustin has a wide collection of records: Monty Python (the one with two grooves on one side), George Carlin, Richard Pryor, National Lampoon stuff. They meet at Dustin's place, usually, so they don't have to see Steve's dad, and spend the afternoon cackling.
***
Steve fills out two college applications. One to the University of Indiana at Bloomington. One to Case Western. He really wishes he still had an straight-A girlfriend to help him with the essays.
***
The week after the Snow Ball, a van drives very slowly through the neighborhood. Twice. The second time, Steve writes down the license plate number, to tell the others.
I always feel like somebody's watching me
And I have no privacy...
He never liked that song. He resents how damned relevant it is to his life now.
***
Larry Bird is fucking awesome. Steve wishes he played for the Pacers, but the Celtics are cool, too.
***
The Byers don't have cable. The Wheelers confine the gang to Mike's basement. At the Sinclairs, Lucas's littler sister Erica controls the TV, and you don't want to cross her. No one ever suggests going to Max's house.
Which means if they want to watch MTV, they need to do it at Dustin's. Mrs. Henderson doesn't mind, she's just thrilled her little boy has friends. They commandeer the living room, watching Music Television for hours. Everyone has their favorites, but everyone watches everything: Run-DMC, Wham!, Motley Crüe, Cyndi Lauper. Each video is a surprise, a little revelation.
***
Max and Lucas break up, then get back together again a week later. Steve gives Lucas a pep talk, tells him he shouldn't let her screw with his head like that. Steve does not expect this talk to do any good. It doesn't--a month later comes another breakup.
***
Early February sees a blizzard. School is out, but that doesn't stop Steve from picking up Dustin, and Mike, and Will, and Lucas, and Max, and driving them to Macintosh Hill. They spend the whole day sledding, throwing snowballs, laughing.
About halfway through, the thought occurs to him that this is a strange way for the captain of the basketball team to spend a day off. He doesn't care.
***
They hang around at the new mall, Starcourt, a lot. One night in the Sam Goody, “Just a Gigolo” comes on the PA.
Diamond David Lee Roth! Steve loves the man, loves everything about the man, and he loves this song. He forms his hand around an invisible microphone and starts to swoon about the store, lip-syncing.
I'm just a gigolo
everywhere I go...
Dustin and the guys, they're not embarrassed, they're cheering him on. Steve dances down the aisles, doing all the moves from video, slides to his knees in front of a clump of girls, igniting paroxysms of giggling.
I'm so sad and lonely
sad and lonely, sad and lonely
Won't some sweet mama
come take a chance with me
'Cause I ain't so bad...
***
Coach paces the room. Steve sits bolt upright in a chair.
“What happened to your attitude, Harrington? You're bringing down the whole team!”
He refrains from decking Coach.
He refrains from throwing the chair through a window.
He refrains from storming through the halls of Hawkins High screaming “We are surrounded by monsters! Wake up! Monsters!”
He says “Yes, Coach.”
He's very proud of himself.
Which he can't tell anyone. Except Dustin. Who doesn't say anything, but nods, and Steve knows he understands. He is so fucking grateful to have one person who understands.
***
The worst one is: he's standing outside Hawkins Lab again. The lights go off in the building. Suddenly he's alone, all alone, and he's inside the fence now, he can hear the demo-dogs baying, he's trying to climb the fence, but it's too late, they're almost on him, and no one can help him, he's all alone...
Steve never gets back to sleep after that nightmare. He puts on his Walkman and listens to music until dawn.
***
Steve is really blown away by “To Kill A Mockingbird,” to the point where he manages to get a B- on his paper. It's the best grade he gets in English all year.
***
Really late at night, Dustin will talk about his dad. The situation is different from Will's (Dad is an asshole, Dad left) or Steve's (Dad is an asshole, Dad still around). Dustin loves both his parents, and they both love him, but they got divorced, and the divorce got mean. Dustin doesn't know what to do.
Sometimes when he's hearing this Steve thinks We fought monsters! We fought demons! Yet somehow this is tougher. Steve always listens.
***
Steve plays Dungeons & Dragons once.
All he knew about the game was that it was the province of Eddie Munson and his crew of wastoids, and sometimes it made you go crazy and kill people, like the guy from Bosom Buddies in that TV movie. But it means a lot to the crew, so he gives it a chance.
When he arrives at the Wheelers' basement, Will hands him a piece of paper covered with numbers.
“You are Picled the Pellucid,” Will says. “A half-elf cavalier.”
Right.
For the next three hours, Steve has no idea what's going on. Things come to a head when they're fighting a “neo-otyugh” (they show him a picture. It doesn't help.) and an argument breaks out between Mike and Lucas over whether a magic spell can do something or other. Steve contemplates claiming an attack of explosive diarrhea and getting out of there.
But Will looks so lost. He's endured more than any of them, and Steve can tell the other three don't care as much as they used to.
He claps his hands together and says “All right, gentlemen! We've got a neo-oytugh to deal with here!” Mike and Lucas snap to and everyone rolls dice and apparently they win. Will is laughing and happy.
There is no followup invitation. Steve is not surprised.
***
Eleven is still out at Hopper's cabin. After the Snow Ball, the chief goes back to not letting her leave. Mike is pissed, but everybody understands why it has to be that way.
***
The Breakfast Club is fucking awesome. Steve manages not to cry when Emilio Estevez rants about his father.
***
One night Steve drops Will off last, around midnight. He walks the kid to the door and opens it first, just in case.
In the circle of light cast by an open refrigerator stand Nancy and Jonathan. Each is wearing a T-shirt and underwear. When they see Steve, they jump like startled deer in headlights, dash down the hall towards Jonathan's room. The fridge shuts, returning the Byers household to darkness.
So that's where that stands. Good to know.
***
Steve's driving through downtown one day. At a red light, he realizes the vehicle opposite him is the cruiser of the chief of police.
Their eyes lock. Hop throws Steve a little two-finger gesture, half-wave and half-salute. Which Steve returns.
The light turns green and they both drive off.
It's funny--Steve once figured that if he had any interaction with Chief Hopper, it would be getting busted. Now it felt good to see the man, real good.
***
Once the snow melts, Steve finds himself an impromptu basketball coach. Two on two, usually Lucas & Dustin versus Mike & Will. He stands on the sidelines shouting encouragement to both sides, giving tips, instructing in technique.
Lucas & Dustin typically win, and not because of Dustin. Steve corners Lucas when he can.
“Have you thought about going out for the team next year?”
“What? No.”
“You should. I'm serious, dude. You've got some talent.”
Lucas says he'll think about it.
***
It's a chance meeting in the Sinclairs' driveway. He's dropping off Dustin, who's spending the night. Nancy is dropping off Mike. Steve climbs into his car to leave, decides he's not going to get a better opportunity to say what needs said, and climbs back out.
“Got a second?”
She pauses, walks to a point about six feet in front of him. “Sure.”
“Uh—uh--I just wanted to say that it's really good to see you and Jonathan together. I'm glad to see you happy. And—uh-um--uh—I'm sorry for being such a shitty boyfriend.”
She rushes at him and Steve braces to get slapped, but instead she grabs the lapels of his jean jacket with both hands.
“You were not a shitty boyfriend.”
Her knuckles white as she clings to his jacket, her big blue eyes boring into his.
“You did some shitty things. I did some shitty things. But you're not a bad person. You fought beside us, shoulder to shoulder. You were brave.”
The smell of her perfume again, so close. He can't speak.
“None of this was supposed to happen. Nobody expected it. Jonathan and I went into the fire together, and when we came out, we were hand in hand. But that's not because of anything you did. It just happened. Like Barb. Like Bob Newby. Like everything else. It wasn't your fault. It wasn't my fault. It just happened.”
“Yeah,” is all he can get out.
She reaches up and, with her thumb, wipes away a tear from his cheek he didn't realize was there. Then she turns and walks back to the station wagon.
But there's one last question.
“Nance...have you had any nightmares?”
She freezes, turns back, and says “Not when Jonathan is next to me.”
The station wagon gracefully backs out of the driveway and cruises away. The moment is over.
***
The video for Prince's “Raspberry Beret” is fucking awesome. Steve sings along when the song comes on the car radio.
***
Steve is going to graduate from Hawkins High solely because star athletes are not held to the same standards as everyone else.
***
Joyce Byers throws a last-day-of-school dinner party. Steve rounds up the usual suspects. Nancy is there, sitting next to Jonathan. Steve finds he's come to look forward to Joyce's beef stroganoff.
Then—wonder of wonders!-Hopper shows up, with Eleven. There's a huge shout. Everyone is laughing, and happy.
He looks around the room and realizes: This is where I feel completely safe. The only place. Here, with these people.
***
It's been eight months, and no sign of anyone looking for Eleven. Hopper tells Mike he can come to the cabin sometimes if he's careful. Steve suspects Hopper does not know what he's in for.
***
The second college rejection comes in. His dad hits the roof. Three days later, Steve is informed he has a job at the mall. He'll be slinging ice cream. To teach him how the real world works.
This is going to be the most boring summer ever.
Steve can't wait.