maneater - chapter one
"if you're in it for love, you ain't gonna get too far"
this is the 'first' part of the andromeda series! still working on an official title for it all, but when it's set in stone, that'll be how you can easily find these works :)
mdni at all times! ageless/empty blogs are not welcome here!!
steve harrington had always had a bit of a thing for the emotionally distant women, even if no one would dare point it out to the boy. maybe it's the abandonment from his parents, but it's most definitely not the healthiest thing in the world for him, in fact more often than not leaving him heartbroken, such is the case with the last 'girlfriend' he'd had, nancy wheeler.
after barb's disappearance, she had gone from interested like the sweet, naive schoolgirl falling head-first for the captain of the basketball team like his parents would've hoped for him– if they were actually around, mind you– to detached, then eventually very obviously palling around with jonathan byers.
after accepting the fact that nancy was never really his to begin with– and accepting the heart-aching sting of unrequited love, another emptiness in his life that swallows him whole with loneliness– things had mostly re-stabilized. he was back to hating classes, having tommy and carol still chirping in his ear like nothing had happened. like him and tommy didn't get into a fight last year around this time, before steve had been back into the endless cycle of girls throwing themselves at him, basketball, and feeling oh so alone.
and now, lo and behold, the year he's bound to graduate and he's been applying to colleges and universities left and right, he saw billy hargrove and his two sisters.
sure, he already had a bone to pick with billy himself– the kid had the whole bad-boy thing going on, all the girls that hadn't had a chance to get swayed or swooned over king steve were utterly enamored– but he was pretty indifferent about the young redhead, knowing that the kids would eventually have something to say and he'd get an earful secondhand from nancy.
no, his interest was in the dirty blonde in the leather jacket with cherry-red lips and a furrow in her brows.
she'd been cold and detached when he had first approached her. fine, cool, he totally gets it. but seeing the way billy had given him the nastiest side-eye for greeting his sibling? it lit a fire in him, something he hadn't really felt for a while, and seeing her in his first class of the day stoked it, the flames licking within him, even if he can feel the sting of guilt knowing that this new student is just as interesting to him as nancy had been.
his eyes were locked on her, even as he pretended to laugh along with whatever stupid jest tommy had made that had carol smacking his shoulder and lecturing him, and the way she shifted her balance from foot to foot in front of the class as the insufferable chem teacher continues to ask her about herself.
"we moved from orange county. me, my brother, our half-sister, step-mom and our dad." her tone is full of boredom; she'd rather be anywhere but here, he can feel it coming off of her in waves, but his curious mind swirls at all the possibilities of what she'd rather be doing.
the thought of the girl in a cheerleading uniform just didn't fit. no, she's not the type of girl to spell out a cheer, to shake those ruffled pompoms and get the crowd roaring with excitement. nor was she the sports type; the idea of seeing her in short volleyball shorts is being filed away for later, though, don't get him wrong.
no, the first thought that comes to his head about what she would be doing is something steve harrington would've avoided a year ago.
it's strange to him; he'd never been a big fan of heavier music, always preferring catchy, danceable songs about love, parties, and other light topics, but he could close his eyes now and hear music blasting from an amplifier. she's the type to smell like vanilla and cinnamon, mostly to cover the smell of nicotine from sharing a pack with that ratty brother of hers.
the longer he watches her clash against the teachers' attempt to integrate the outsider into the class community, the more he can imagine of her. the type to drink beer at a party, to hang around whatever friends her brother had because the girls bore her with their chatty nature and mindless gossip.
as much as he wants nothing to do with the 'hargrove' name, he'd give up as many practices as possible to get so much as a glimpse into this girls personal life.
watching the girl walk with confidence but no real anger in her gait to the back of the class, sitting herself down at a table with no other students to be left the hell alone, steve finds himself staring down at his watch. he could swing skipping practice today, maybe, just to see if she'd talk to him more.
"this kinda looks like your old girlfriend, hahaha!" - scotty, evil dead (1981)
steve is, quite honestly, indifferent about the fact that he didn't choose to just skip basketball practice today. on the downside, hargrove is here, smirking and snide and really just giving far too much sass, making him seem like a scrawny kid who only got called the captain of the team because he was king steve.
he'd be absolutely fuming and ready to bitch and moan about this all afternoon and evening to anyone who'll listen– tommy, probably, and try to tone it down a bit more when he's around nancy later– if there wasn't a certain cherry-lipped blonde sitting on the stands, flipping through some boring, keep-you-busy magazine.
sure, he knows the girl won't talk much with him, but it means that the very least he can do is focus more on the game, if only to selfishly hope he'll catch her eye and at least be talked to more than a scowled out greeting. he's dying to talk to someone who doesn't know him as the same prick he was throughout highschool, he's realized.
someone who doesn't, hasn't, or never will associate him with that horrid label of king steve. maybe someone who'll look at him, what he does hanging around the school and occasionally chauffering around some of the kids, and see someone interesting. valuable. worth her time.
too bad his train of thought distracts him from keeping his footing, because it makes it much easier for billy to knock him off his feet, leaving steve to slam down against the scuffed gym floor. now that's embarrassing, he thinks to himself, what a way to make a first impression.
he's not sure whether or not billy had seen the glances towards his sister, he assumes it's the reason for the abrupt shove to the ground, especially in a no-contact sport like basketball. one thing he's very well aware of, however, is the pair of eyes on him from high up in the stands, watching his movements. it makes part of him feel elated; the idea of finally catching her attention, even if it's just because of a loud noise and a human concern for pain, sends a ripple of excitement through his veins.
steve is helped up to his feet, but not before billy mutters something he doesn't quite catch or process right away. "should've planted your feet," the californian mutters, then continuing on with the game like nothing had happened, the jeering and taunts continuing.
steve is no fool; knows that billy hargrove is aiming to dethrone him as king of hawkins high.
a year ago, that might have irked him. his popularity was all that kept his facade together, the glue that kept steve harrington from being exposed as a kid, desparately seeking meaningful connection, something he'd never gotten from his parents. he doesn't like seeking external validation, but because he'd never truly gotten it unconditionally from his parents, he knows it's what he needs to survive. and christ, what's so wrong with him that he doesn't deserve even a single attaboy?
but now? now that he and nancy have been slowly falling apart and he's having to face the fact that he's lost his first love, who he's been turning around for, reforming from his old ways for? now that tommy hagan and carol perkins are only faking friendship with steve, all because steve wouldn't let them call nancy a whore for hanging around jonathan byers?
he couldn't care less. as long as he has something to keep his mind off of the loneliness that seeps into his bones, a reason to stay as far away from his empty home as possible, a reason to come to school every day.. he's alright. at least, he hopes he is.
as he puts on the facade of not being affected or rattled by this entire revelation from the floor of the hawkins high basketball court, he notices that billy hargrove's sister watches intently from the stands, no longer bored and flipping through her magazine to occupy her idle hands and mind.
it's strange, how even just that brings a smile to his face.