Peak at my current writing project!
Okay, SO!! This is gonna be a steve harrington x reader, but this prologue is just to start building the world around the story before that actually begins! Let me know what you guys think about this!
The second the clock hit four PM on Friday, I practically ran out of the Family Video, which was the old, dingy, video rental store I had been working at since it opened and my only co-worker? An even older and dingier man named Keith. God, I wish some other teenagers would come work here.
I didn’t bother saying goodbye to Keith because my mind was already set on my weekend plans, doing absolutely nothing. What? It’s the summer of 1983, I just finished my first year of high school, and I’m looking forward to not having to listen to any more of Mr. Scott’s boring lectures. The second I step outside, I can feel it, summer; I close my eyes and breathe it in, which is promptly interrupted by the screeching noise coming directly from my brother, Dustin’s, mouth, who looks to be heading into the arcade across the street with his friends, Mike, Lucas, and Will. I roll my eyes while starting to get onto my bike.
Sometimes when I’m riding through the streets of Hawkins, I close my eyes, just to prove to myself how well I know this town. The mayor's office to my right, the police station on my left, the general store just up ahead, the old radio station up that hill and so on. I know some people, like my best friend, Nancy, can’t wait to get out of Hawkins, but I kinda like the small town life, it feels right.
When I finally see the familiar beige siding of the Newby bookshop and the fiery red brick and overhanging plants of the apartment placed directly on top of the bookshop, I get this giddy rush; the bookshop is my favourite hideout in all of Hawkins, the little cafe where the owner, Bob, makes the perfect hot cocoa, the comfy couches hidden throughout so you can just curl up and absolutely fall in love with a book, gets the shop to feel like its got some type of spell on it that makes it just perfect. The little bell on the top of the door jingles when I open it, signalling to both Bob and his senior golden retriever, Bear, my presence in the store. Bear greets me with a smile and big wags from his tail. I happily oblige to his little happy wiggles he’s doing and give him lots of pets.
I look up from him when I hear a heavy object drop and hear Bob sigh; he has placed down a big brown box that’s overflowing with books on a counter. I shoot up, excited to see the new shipment of books, when I notice that Bob has his hands suspiciously placed behind his back. I eye him up and down before asking,
“Whatcha got there, Bob?” He looks around the store, pretending not to hear my question. He lets out a humorous sigh, then says,
“It is such a shame that there is no one around who absolutely loves reading, seeing as I just got this new book set…” His hands appear in front of him, holding a velvet black box with a pink lace design that reads “Jane Austen: The Complete Works”. I look at Bob and then the box and then him again, and then the box again. I squeal in excitement and jump up and down. A big grin spreads across both mine and Bob’s faces.
I ask, “How much is it? I just got off work, and I have mon-” Bob cuts me off by handing me the box and says, “It’s a gift. A birthday gift.” My birthday was a week ago, and this is one of the best gifts I have ever received. I give Bob a huge hug and yell, “Thank you so much! Best birthday ever,” to him as I leave the store. I gotta get home to start reading!
I can tell before I even enter the house that it is packed full of chaos tonight, in our driveway are four bikes and a red Beamer I don’t recognize. Once I open the door, my theory is immediately proven right as I am hit in the face with a twelve-sided dice. Oh, right, it’s Dustin’s Dungeons and Dragons night, how could I forget that was tonight? Normally, I’d be screaming at Dustin and his weird friends to calm down, but I am taken aback when I spot the douchiest of douches, “King” Steve Harrington, sitting on my couch, with my brother and his friends. I am absolutely baffled by this sight until I see who he’s sitting with, my best friend, Nancy, whose brother, Mike, is here playing DnD, seeming to be arguing for “just five more minutes.” The second she spots me, she shoots up to come hug me, leaving Steve’s arm practically floating in the spot it was just on her and a bewildered look on Steve’s face. After she releases me from her tight hug, she pulls me by the wrist up into my room.
Once we’re up in my room, I show her my birthday gift from the bookshop, to which she asks if she can borrow the books once I’m done with them. Jane Austen was the first thing that Nancy and I bonded about, actually. On the first day of high school, we both ended up in the library during lunch, specifically in the classic literature section, which sparked our discussion on authors, which led to us becoming the bestest of friends. I look back at my best friend and see a troubled look on her face.
“What’s wrong, Nance?” I ask, putting a hand on her shoulder. She dramatically falls backward onto my bed while letting out the biggest sigh I’ve ever heard.
“I was gonna do it tonight y’know.” Oh. This. Nancy has been dating “King” Steve for the last month, and she has told me every single day of this month that it has been the worst month of her life. On top of that, every day for the last two weeks, she has said she’s gonna break up with him. And it’s not that she’s not ballsy enough to, in fact she might be the more courageous person I know, so no, it’s not that she’s not brave enough to, instead, we’ve joking, saying that the universe keeps getting in her way, like on Tuesday, she was gonna break up with him but when she got to his house, his mom answered the door and told her that he was at basketball practice. Or tonight, for example, she invited him over to her house so she could break up with him, but as she answered the door, Mike asked for a ride to Dustin’s house, to which both of them obliged, which is why they were both even at my house to begin with. I stand up from my spot on the edge of my bed to place my new book set on my shelf in front of my window. It looks perfect there with all of my other books; it fits right in.
I glance out my window, and I see my mom and dad outside, yelling at each other. Not just their usual arguments, which have been happening more often than not recently, my dad is sitting on a chair, head in his hands, and my mom is talking to him, but doesn't look angry like she usually does when talking to him; she just looks tired. “Hey Nance,” I call over to her, “I’d love to talk about why you should break up with Steve in a minute, but come look. My parents, I think they’re fighting?” Nancy gets up from my bed and mumbles something along the lines of “What do you mean you think they’re fighting?” Once she reaches the window, she assesses them for a minute before turning back to me, “I don’t think it’s anything serious, probably just talking. Like, whenever my parents have a serious fight, they’re like screaming at each other, but they look pretty calm, so it’s probably nothing.” Probably, nothing. I repeat that in my head, but I can’t shake the feeling that it is something. I try to distract myself by letting myself indulge in the teenage drama that is Steve and Nancy’s relationship.
Once all of Dustin's little gremlin friends have cleared out, and Nancy is leaving while swearing that she’s gonna break up with him tonight, I finally get myself ready for bed. Right as I’m on the cusp of sleep, my door opens up and the hallway light spills in. I sit up and see my mom and dad in my doorway. My mom's eyes are puffy, like she’s been crying for a long time, and my dad has huge bags under his eyes; had I seriously not noticed that on either of them? They sit down on my bed, and before I can get a word out, my dad says, “Honey, you know your mom, and I love you and your brother very much. Nothing can ever change how much we love you.” I groggily nod my head, my mom opens her mouth, and a sob escapes, and she’s breathing shakily, but she manages to get out, “Your father and I are getting a divorce.”
Oh. I guess that argument was something.
arisreads: please do not copy, translate or post my work as your own under any circumstances!!
credits for dividers and lines @uzmacchiato (i have the ones i've used reblogged 😋)
