Once school had ended, Mary had drove Charlie home. They had listened to the radio on the way over, silently enjoying their car ride as they usually did — they'd drove a lot during the summer. The pair would sometimes just get in their cars and race down the old dirt paths — and there were the occasional get out of town days.

       It were during summertime, where the air were still hot and it was appropriate to wear pretty cat-eye sunglasses until nightfall. Mary, Charlie, Steve and Nancy — Jonathan would sometimes tag along too, would get in their cars and drive out to the nearest towns with pretty beaches and deserted Canyons.

      Summer felt like an entirely different universe. They had all truly been happy during that short time when the sky stayed lighter longer and the air more humid. They had laughed around campfires, played around in oceans and screamed from the top of their lungs on top of Canyons.

      Charlie's nightmares hadn't been so bad then, maybe it was because during summer there was so much warmth that didn't resemble The Upside Down in any shape or form. Or maybe it was just the fact they were escaping Hawkins from time to time, his life long dream — even more so after all that had happened; he already had many places in his World Atlas circled with a red marker he very much intended on visiting.

      So yes, driving was certainly a way the teenagers found they could breathe. However, things that could cease them to be able to breathe would be dinners with the family of a girl they couldn't save — poor Barbara Holland's family.

      Charlie had offered to go, but Mary had insisted she'd be alright, even though she wasn't sure she truly would be. But either way, a while after dropping Charlie off she found herself on the front porch of the Holland's family home — although, was it really a family with just two parents and a missing child?

        She were late, not because she hadn't got there on time but because she had smoked at least three cigarettes in her car whilst parked outside before she even moved to the house — she needed time to breathe, time to prepare herself to do a shit ton of lying in order to make two people feel even slightly better.

      Hesitantly Mary rang the doorbell and waited, sorting out her curled short hair hovering below her ears before the door opened, revealing Steve who seemed relieved to see her, "Thank god you're finally here — this is the most uncomfortable meal I've ever been to. Including my fourteenth birthday. Also, you look super pretty." He said, ushering her inside the house and the girl looked at him with an arched eyebrow as she unraveled her scarf.

       "That bad, huh? And thank you, I suppose — I actually did something with my hair for once." She told him with a smile, taking off her coat and hanging it on the coat rack by the door along with her scarf. The first thing Mary noticed about the house was that it had many framed photographs of Barb — too many; she thought it were similar to a shrine.

       Steve led Mary in the direction of the dining room and Mary worried that Barbara's parents would hear how loud her heartbeat was, "It was Mary at the door — there was pretty bad traffic on the roads tonight, hence why she's a little late." Steve announced, giving Mary a swift glance who smiled at him in thanks for the white lie.

      Marsha Holland looked to Steve as he pulled out a seat for Mary at the end of the table, "It's nice to see you, Mary. I'd have answered the door myself but sticky fingers." She proved her point by holding up her hands and wiggling her fingers that were in fact very sticky from the sauces on her slabs of chicken — from the KFC box centre of the table.

      Mary sat down in the chair Steve had pulled out for her as he sat back in his own beside Nancy who offered Mary a small smile, looking rather uncomfortable from where she sat in her pretty grey sweater — the food on her plate barely touched.

       Barb's father looked over at Mary, who's name she had forgotten, maybe because of the nerves, "Mary please, do help yourself to the food — it's still perfectly hot." He told her and the girl pursed her lips in an attempt to smile, but from across the table Steve could tell it was false and his eyes lingered on her for a moment.

      "So Mary," Marsha spoke up and the girl felt a lump from in her throat. She reached across to the KFC box to keep herself busy, "How did you know our Barb?" She asked with a sincere smile and Mary focused on placing her chicken onto her plate as though it were the most important thing in the universe.

       "I uh, I didn't," She admitted, earning a small 'oh' from Marsha and a look from her husband, "I only really knew her from around school — but I met her at the assembly for Will last year." That were the lie they had talked over, since Barb's parents never knew about the get together at Steve's house and Nancy had used the assembly as an excuse.

       Mary picked at the batter on her chicken, although she didn't eat it, "I wasn't in a good way that night, me and my boyfriend had broken up on pretty bad terms." She said and Nancy squirmed in her chair, remembering how she were partly responsible for the breakup.

       Marsha frowned, "Oh sweetheart, I'm so sorry —"

       Mary shook her head, "No, don't be, we're back together now but... But that's not my point. My point is," Mary paused, inhaling deeply, completely forgetting about the chicken in her hands, "I was a mess that night and your daughter, she — she really helped me through it. I didn't have close girl friends to talk to about it, but she cheered me up — she made me feel better." Mary looked across at the married couple who were tearing up at her words.

      Mary cleared the lump in her throat, "Your daughter was a wonderful person." She leaned back in her chair, stuffing some chicken in her mouth to shut herself up from saying more and getting emotional at their dinner table — even though she didn't really have much of an appetite.

       Marsha put her hand over her heart as her husband smiled, "Thank you, dear. We needed to hear that. At least she did something nice before she ran away." All three of them felt it in that moment. All of their eyes turned downwards and they fell silent. Mary tried her hardest to stay calm, Nancy tried not to cry and Steve tried not to feel guilty.

         Nancy shifted in her seat, desperate to change the subject, "So, I noticed a for sale sign in your front yard — is that, is that the neighbours or..." Nancy trailed off whilst Mary stared straight ahead with intense eyes which Steve picked up on and he mouthed 'you okay?' over at her, in which she nodded a little.

      Marsha looked to her husband with almost excitement, "You wanna tell them?" The three teens exchanged glances.

       Her husband shrugged, "Go ahead."

        Marsha sat up a little straighter, "We hired a man named Murray Bauman." Mary furrowed her brows at that. Murray was a conspirator that was glued to her father's hip, always trying to tell him the newest conspiracy. The latest was aliens in Hawkins.

       "Have either of you heard of him?"

      Mary licked her dry lips, "Yeah," She said whilst Steve and Nancy said 'no'. Marsha and her husband looked at her, "He's never out of the station, he follows my dad around like a lost puppy — he's a fake, desperate for attention." Her words didn't seem to please the Holland's, in fact, Mr Holland looked rather annoyed.

       "Nonsense," He accused, "He was an investigative journalist. He worked for the Chicago Sun-Times — he's well known." Mr Holland's tried clueing her in but the girl looked down to her plate, knowing that it didn't matter who Murray used to be because now he were just a man with too many conspiracies and no papers to publish them.

       Marsha gave her husband a look, "Anyway, he's freelance now and he's agreed to take the case." Mary almost asked what case until she realised the woman was speaking about her daughter, the daughter she presumed to be a runaway from home.

       Nancy could barely find words and apparently neither could Steve, they both rushed out sentences whilst Mary stayed mute, "That's — that's great, right? Really great!" Steve's enthusiasm was false, knowing that there truly was no case to be solved — Barbara Holland was dead and that was the end of it.

      "Um, what exactly does that mean though?" Nancy inquired, furrowing her brows as her leg jittered from underneath the table whilst Mary just silently picked at the chicken around her plate and kept her head down.

       Apparently Mr Holland spoke his next harsh words without thinking about who was at the end of their table, "Means he's gonna do what that lazy son of a bitch Jim Hop —" Marsha hit her husbands shoulder, but it were too late, Mary had already heard what he was going to say.

       She stopped fiddling with the strips of chicken and looked up to meet the man's gaze. She wiped her hands on her shorts and sat up straight whilst both Steve and Nancy watched in anticipation, "Go on, Mr Holland. Finish that sentence." She said calmly and cooly, staring him right in the face.

       Mrs Holland was quick to try and cover up her husbands rude words, "Oh, he meant nothing bad by it, dear! Eat your chicken —"

       Mary glared, "I don't want to eat the chicken," She snapped, looking across the table, "I wanna know who the hell your husband thinks he is to talk about my dad like that —"

       "Mary —"

      Nancy's attempt was cut off when the brunette kept talking, "You have no right to call my dad lazy, you arrogant pig." Mary's words were practically a growl and both Mr and Mrs Holland's mouths flew open, as did Nancy's — Steve's not so much; he knew his best friends temper especially when it came to people insulting her family.

       "Mary Hopper, I will not allow that kind of talk in my own house!" Marsha exclaimed, getting to her feet, but Mary didn't care for her words, not when they had insulted her father and then tried to cover it up.

        Mary got to her feet too, screwing her face up, "Oh, shut it!" She snapped whilst Steve slid farther down his chair, looking anywhere but the scene in front of him and Nancy's face paled, "You's don't know half the shit my dads done for this town, you's know nothing of what he's been through!" She was yelling now, her eyes burning with hot unshed tears and at the sight of them, Nancy diverted her gaze.

      Mary's anger was at boiling pot, just ready to tip the scale which she would soon feel the aftermath of, "Your daughter ran away? So fuck! I don't blame her since how much of judgemental pricks her parents are! My dad lost his daughter, I lost a sister, she died! She's dead! So don't you dare — don't you even try and demean my father, especially whilst I'm sitting right down the table from you!"

      Steve had slowly gotten from his seat during the girls words, since she had started to uncontrollably sob right there at the end of the dining table. But she had moved out of the way before he could even touch her, tears streaming down her cheeks and her face a broken image.

      She stepped back, staring at Mr and Mrs Holland whom seemed horrified by her outburst. Mary slowly put her hand up, "I wouldn't sell your house just to pay Murray, Mrs Holland — it'd be a waste of time." And with that, she turned her back, grabbed her coat and scarf so roughly from the rack that the whole thing toppled over and she left the house, slamming the door shut behind her.

      Nancy had her head in her hands, massaging her temples whilst Mr Holland got up to comfort his wife — Steve lingered by the chair Mary had been in, "What an atrocious child." Marsha gasped, earning a look from Steve before Nancy was getting out of her seat.

      "Excuse me, I need to go to the bathroom." Nancy said the same time Mr Holland said to his wife 'just like her father'.

        Steve stood alone at the dinner he hadn't even wanted to go to in the first place. He looked outside to where Mary's car was still parked before back to the Holland's, "She's not atrocious," He spoke up, gaining their attention, "She's the strongest person I've ever met — she and her dads been through a lot, you probably should have considered that before you insulted him."

      Steve lingered a moment longer, "And she's probably right. I wouldn't sell your house." Without another word, Steve went to the bathroom, knocked on the door and told Nancy that he was going to check on Mary whogave a mumble of a reply.

   After storming out of the house, tears all over her face and hair wildly blowing in the wind Mary had stormed to her car, hugging her waist as she went. She had flung the door open before slamming it shut — the hysterical girl had clutched onto the steering wheel, hanging her head as she wheezed for air, tears dropping from her eyes and onto her jeans — formal like ones she had wore for those people inside that horrid house.

       Anger washing over her body like a tidal wave, she had left out a strangled cry as she hit the steering wheel multiple times with the palms of her hands. Her hair was all over her face by the time she were done as she pushed her forehead against the steering wheel, clutching onto it as she sobbed.

      A few short moments later, the passenger side door opened up and Steve got into the car. He didn't wait a moment before he reached out, pulling the girl into his arms who continued to cry, her whole body shaking as she crumbled into him.

      "Hey, Mare — it's alright, you're alright." He soothed her, his hands stroking the top of her hair comfortingly, his arms wrapped around her body as she clung to his chest, smearing some mascara on his shirt but he didn't care.

       "It's not alright. Everyone — everyone pretends like it's alright, but — but it's not. It's not, Steve! It's not alright!" Mary was an emotional wreck in his arms, her head pounding from the warm tears, her gaze blurry, her back hurting with each sob.

      Steve sighed into her hair, pulling her closer, "I know," He admitted, "We're all sort of pretending. Just like those idiots in there — they know your dad did what he could." He assured her but from his chest, Mary shook her head.

       "They don't though, they don't know everything my dad did to try and find Barb, who's dead! Not missing, dead! My dad did everything, he went to Hawkins Lab, he almost got himself killed, he tore our house apart just to make sure we weren't being spied on! He went into the god damn Upside Down for them!"

     Steve was frowning deeply, not knowing what he could do to comfort his best friend other then try to talk some sense into her and hopefully make her calm down a little — he couldn't stand seeing her in so much pain and the last time he had saw her cry the way she was was after Sara's death.

     "Mary, hey, Mare," Steve grasped at her face from his chest and made her look up at him, but she were still crying hard, "We know — we know what your dad did and that's all that matters. What those assholes think doesn't mean a thing, Mare. Alright? You hear me?" He gave a shake of her head and after a moment she nodded.

      Steve sighed in relief, wiping away her tears with his thumbs as her breathing slowed down and her whimpering stopped, "What's really bothering you? There's something else going on." He realised and she swallowed hard, moving from his hold and throwing herself onto the drivers seat, leaning her knees against the steering wheel.

        "I don't know: everything?" She said, sniffling a little as she tried to fix her smeared mascara in the rear view mirror, "Everything's been building up, Steve. What happened last year, whether or not I'm going to college, school, working with my dad, the pressure of everything! It's hard to study when every time I'm alone I start thinking about The Upside Down — and this weather, it's bullshit! Everything was great during summer, we were happy, warm! Now that winters back I just have this dreadful feeling that winter isn't what it used to be — it's The Upside Down."

     Mary hadn't realised how long she had been wanting that off her chest for, how even so much as the weather could upset her. She'd held it in for a year and it felt good to finally let it out, even though it took a breakdown to eventually say it all.

     Steve was watching her sadly, "Mare, I have no idea what that place was like so I can't understand your perspective — or Charlie's. But everything's alright now, what happened last year is over and now it's time for you to just figure yourself out, okay? It's your year, Mary — our year, senior year. We have to enjoy it." Mary was watching him speak in content, even though she still looked a mess with her skin blotchy and smudged mascara and a red nose — but still, watching Steve speak to her she seemed beautifully broken.

      Mary leaned across the gap between the seats, pressing her lips gently against Steve's cheek before she pulled back a few inches from his face, smiling, "What would I do without you, Steve Harrington?" She said, smiling into his eyes, in which he did the same as he tilted his head.

      "You'd survive."

                             ———

     What would I do without Steve and Mary? They're iconic! Also Mary completely ended the Holland's :)))