•̩̩͙*˚⁺‧. •̩̩͙*˚⁺‧.˚ *•̩̩͙ ✩. •̩̩͙*˚⁺‧. •̩̩͙*˚⁺‧.˚ *•̩̩͙ ✩. •̩̩͙*˚⁺‧

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

•̩̩͙*˚⁺‧. •̩̩͙*˚⁺‧.˚ *•̩̩͙ ✩. •̩̩͙*˚⁺‧. •̩̩͙*˚⁺‧.˚ *•̩̩͙ ✩. •̩̩͙*˚⁺‧

ONCE AGAIN, NEITHER OF THEM HAD NIGHTMARES. When they woke up on Sunday morning, Addie was happy it was before her alarm went off because that meant a little extra time with Billy before he had to go home. 

When she heard her family starting to get up, she had Billy sneak back out of her window and walk around to the front door so she could "let him in", that way no one would be surprised he was there.

They had a lazy morning, eating cereal and then laying in bed until it was just after 9.

"I'll see you later, yeah?" Billy smiled as he pulled Addie closer for a kiss. He said he didn't think he'd be able to come back tonight, but he'd definitely call her later.

Addie was going to go back to sleep but then Will knocked on her door and asked if she could drive him to the arcade because he didn't want to ride his bike. Before she could say no, he beat her to it.

"Please I have money saved up I'll buy you popcorn from the snack bar."

Damn, he really knew how to get her.

"Aaaand a slushie??"

"Okay okay yes let's go!"

Addie spent the beginning of their car ride wondering what was so important about needing to get to the arcade the second they opened. Sure sometimes it was a little crowded, but was the morning crowd that big?

Sure enough, when they pulled into the parking lot, Mike, Lucas, and Dustin were just arriving. And they were the only ones to enter the arcade. Addie settled into a booth near the snack bar and said she'd let Will know when she wanted her popcorn. She planned on letting him keep his money, but he didn't know that yet.

"Do you think Nancy hates me?" She felt like she was going to have a heart attack when Steve plopped down on the seat across from her. Addie had been reading a book, and she didn't even hear him approach.

"Umm... no? Thanks for scaring me by the way. I haven't really talked to her outside of school lately but I don't think so." Addie closed her book, seeing how upset Steve was.

"Are you sure, has she said anything?"

"I promise she has not said anything to me about you. Did you guys have a fight?"

Steve shrugged. "No, not really. Something seems off though, and I don't know what."

"You wanna talk about it?" The hesitation gave Addie her answer. "You wanna buy your best friend a slushie and then she'll kick your ass at Centipede?"

That put a smile on his face. "You're on. But the loser buys the other a slushie."

"How'd you know I was here anyway?"

"I stopped by your house, Jonathan said you brought Will here. I figured you were gonna just hang out until they were done."

Addie went first, and ended up beating Steve. He'd never admit it but he may have "accidentally" lost right before her score. He appreciated that she listened to him and didn't judge, out loud anyway.

"Alright what flavor?"

"Hmm... surprise me."

After that, while the boys took turns watching each other play games, Steve and Addie had a not-so-friendly competition on a lot of the other ones. All bets were off, and Centipede was the only game that Steve purposefully lost to Addie. That's not to say that he won all the other ones, in fact of the 10 they played, Addie won 6-4.

They settled back into the booth, Addie enjoying her second victory slushie. Steve almost let it slip that he let her win on Centipede, but she was so happy, he kept quiet.

After another hour, the boys all joined them with Mike and Will sitting next to them, and Dustin and Lucas leaning over from the booth right next to theirs.

Dustin went to play one more game of Dig Dug. He saw that someone named "madmax" was close to beating his high score, and he wanted to make sure that he stayed the champion. Addie immediately thought of Billy's step-sister, but stayed quiet.

The boys were starving and somehow convinced Steve to order a large pizza for them to share. After they were done eating, it was decided that they'd have a sleepover. A few more minutes of discussion and they agreed to all go their separate ways and then meet at Mike's after dinner so they could play Dungeons and Dragon's.

Addie pointed out that it was Sunday AKA a school night and would their moms even let them have a sleepover, but they said they'd fib a little. Mike and Will really did have a project together, it just wasn't due until 2 weeks from now but their moms didn't need to know that.

And Dustin and Lucas were paired up for that same project since they had the class together at a different period, but if their moms thought Mike was in the group, surely they'd be allowed to sleep over.

Addie offered to give everyone a ride home, but just then Dustin's mom pulled up and said she'd give Lucas a ride home too.

"Hey dummy give Mike a ride home so you can talk to Nancy." Addie nudged Steve, who was trying to remember which pocket he'd put his keys in.

"Oh good idea. And it takes one to know one."

"You do realize that you're still admitting to being a dummy right?"

"Shut up. You gonna be at their house later when you drop Will off?"

"Hmm, maybe if Nancy isn't doing anything. If not I'll probably just head home."

The ride home was silent for the first couple of minutes, and then Will spoke up.

"Hey Addie?"

"What's up?"

"Do you ever have... nightmares?"

Addie felt like she got goosebumps just hearing him ask that. And she didn't have to ask, she knew what he meant. "Yeah... every so often. It's not nearly as much though."

"Really? What are your dreams about?"

She was worried about talking to him about this. He normally got freaked out whenever the Upside Down was mentioned, and she wondered what this was leading up to.

"Umm... it depends. Most of the time it's about me being back there. But different also, because this time there's like an invisible wall and I can see you and mom and Jonathan, and sometimes Steve's there too, and you're all calling to me and I'm trying to get to you but I'm stuck. And then..."

"Demogorgon's?"

Addie simply nodded, knowing Will was looking at her. "Sometimes there's just one, other times it's a lot."

"Do you think the dreams mean anything?"

"What do you mean?"

"Like, if we're not actually done with all of that stuff?"

They pulled into their driveway just then, and got out, heading straight for Addie's room to continue their discussion.

"I don't think it means something like that. I mean, I think it's definitely different for us because we were trapped in the Upside Down. You were there longer than me of course, but I think we'd be able to sense if something was coming. But since it's only when we're asleep, maybe they're just nightmares. Why, are you having them too?"

"No... I mean yes. But only last night."

"Oh, well if you have another one tonight you can come wake me up and tell me okay?"

Will nodded, satisfied for now. He felt better knowing he wasn't alone with the nightmares, although he was still sad for his sister. But she was probably right. They're just dreams.

•̩̩͙*˚⁺‧. •̩̩͙*˚⁺‧.˚ *•̩̩͙ ✩. •̩̩͙*˚⁺‧. •̩̩͙*˚⁺‧.˚ *•̩̩͙ ✩. •̩̩͙*˚⁺‧

a/n: much shorter chapter but don't mind me just slowly setting up for the next season. it's october in my story, so not long now!