chapter six
lily hates boys!

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LILY FORCES STEVE TO AT LEAST let her sneak her groceries back into her house, once a plan to lure in Dustin's lost pet is in place.

He's hesitant — unsure if it would be safe, but she tells him she cannot afford to let them go to waste after spending all her money on them.

He reluctantly agrees.

They pull up outside of the Wright household — keeping a close eye on the pumpkin patch behind it — but there's no sign of any Hawkins Lab employees. Not even one.

"Hey — do you think you can steal one of your dad's guns?" Steve suddenly asks, as though he has a bright idea.

"Absolutely not," Lily responds, before getting out of the car.

She does have another idea, though, of what she might take as a form of defence.

She goes to use the front door, but it appears locked — and it's then she realises her dad's car isn't here. She creeps around the side towards the garage, hoping their spare key is still in its usual hiding spot in the flowerpot. It is.

Lily instead enters her house via the garage, and quickly moves into the kitchen. She puts the groceries away as fast as she can, and scribbles a note on a notepad that says she's staying the night at Tina's. Lily's often had spontaneous sleepovers, before — so this won't appear suspicious.

It's then, her attention turns to how the hell she's going to defend herself against this so-called monster. And the severity of the situation seems to catch up to her, at this moment.

Lily doesn't know whatever the hell made that hole in Dustin's storm cellar, but what she does know is that if it's strong enough to create it in the first place, it's most definitely dangerous. To anyone.

And so she shifts through the many different boxes hoarded inside the garage, only one thing in mind.

Steve and Dustin have been keeping an eye on the pumpkin patch, so they're both surprised to hear the slamming of the garage door, so soon.

And even more surprised when they see Lily storming towards the car with a backpack and a machete.

"Hey — woah, woah, woah!" Steve yells out, getting out of the car with an alarmed expression. "What the hell is that?"

Lily gives him a weird look.

"A pillow," she says, sarcastically. "Got any room in your trunk?"

"No — I mean — why do you have that?!"

"Steve, you just apparently showed me 'proof' of that bullshit story you told me earlier — which means one of those beasts you described is roaming around — what do you expect me to do if we're going to lure one in and it attacks?"

Steve begins to stutter, his wide eyes still focused on the weapon in Lily's hand, before walking over to his trunk and opening it.

"I — just — you're the farmers daughter, wouldn't you bring a gun?"

"I've never shot a gun," Lily says. "But I was a hell of a good baseball player in middle school, in case you don't remember,"

Steve's tone is more gentle, when he says,

"Of course I remember. You used to get a home run almost every time,"

"And how different can this be to swinging a bat?"

It's probably very different — but Lily can't seem to think logistically, and Steve can't seem to find an argument against her statement, so he closes the trunk, and the two get back into his car.

"Why do you have a machete in your garage?" Dustin asks with a frown.

Steve turns and looks at her expectantly, also wanting an answer.

Lily sighs, before letting out a laugh.

"Kind of a weird story," she says, as Steve starts up the car. "My Dad won it, at a fun fair, years ago. He knows how much I love Halloween, and he thought it could be a great addition to one of my costumes — obviously he thought it was fake," she adds, at the appalled look on the boys' faces.

"But, when he found out it was real, he stuffed it away in the garage, saying it was too dangerous. He's less likely to notice this going missing than one of his guns he uses for work."

There's a short pause.

"Sounds like a really sketchy fair," Steve says.

"Oh, it was," Lily replies, almost smiling.

Their conversation is followed by a short silence, only interrupted by Steve's mixtape faintly playing through the car speakers. A mixtape Lily still can't help but notice is heavily influenced by her own taste in music.

'The Chain' by Fleetwood Mac is the next song to come on, and she can feel her stomach sink. This is her favourite song. It has been, since she was ten years old. And Steve knows it. It's impossible to forget how often she would force him to listen to Fleetwood Mac, back in middle school.

He turns the music up, humming along to the lyrics.

Lily folds her arms, and looks out of the window, avoiding Steve's eye.

"Who sings this?" Dustin asks from the backseat.

Lily's attitude drops immediately out of pure shock.

"What?!" she and Steve both stay in unison, Lily whipping her head around to face him. "Are you serious? You're messing with us, right?"

Dustin shrugs, clueless.

"Oh my God," Lily says. "Are you serious? You don't know this song?"

"It's kinda familiar..." Dustin says, in an attempt to save himself.

Lily takes it upon herself to turn it up even louder. Steve struggles to hide his smile.

"Fleetwood Mac, Dustin," she says. "Best band of all time, okay? You're about to hear magic being made,"

Dustin looks like he might disagree, but he stays silent, agreeing to listen to it. This is the first time he's seen Lily not pissed off.

Lily unashamedly sings along with the lyrics, still appalled at Dustin. She only gives Steve half a dirty look when he joins in, slapping his hand on the wheel along to the beat as they drive.

"And if you don't love me now, you will never love me again!"

It's difficult to admit, but this is the very first moment in many years that Lily is in Steve Harrington's presence and isn't feeling complete hatred. And she's transported back to middle school, where she could sing and dance and love without any consequences. And boys spent time with her because they enjoyed her company, not because they needed something from her or because they had ulterior motives. And she had nothing to heal from, because she had nothing that was broken. When life was lived genuinely, and because of that, it couldn't have been any brighter.

High School Lily seems to have forgotten that love really is the most important thing of all. And not only romance, in particular — just having love inside her. In her body, in her soul.

Instead, she's let herself turn sour.

But even something as little as loving your favourite song can breathe life into a cold, toughened heart.

"Dustin, you better be listening, because this is the best bit," Lily announces to the boy in the backseat, as the guitar solo of The Chain approaches.

"She's right, Henderson," says Steve.

Lily shakes and bops her head to Buckingham's guitar as it plays, blonde hair flying in all directions, and Steve performs his best attempt at headbanging without crashing the car.

He hadn't realised he'd missed this, so much. And he'll never forgive himself for letting the social pressures of high school get in the way of it. Because Steve knows, deep down, he could be offered all the popularity in the world — but singing along to Fleetwood Mac with Lily Wright might still just win him over.

Even Dustin is getting into the song, sitting in the backseat, despite not knowing the words, and he watches with a wide grin at the two teenagers before him — Lily now singing Stevie Nicks' lines whilst Steve joins in with Lindsey Buckingham.

"Chain keep us together!"

"Running in the shadows!"

It's when the song ends, Lily comes to her senses, and begins to question what the fuck she is doing. She quickly returns to her quiet manner and despite the joy that had crept up onto Steve's face at the two of them both singing together, it's obvious that things between them are still frosty — well, from Lily's side, anyways.

She's really not sure what came over her, just now.

They begin to unload buckets of cow meat and gasoline out of Steve's trunk as a result of their plan to capture Dustin's pet monster, of whom Lily learned is named Dart. All three of them linger in complete silence until Dustin's walkie talkie starts to crackle.

"Dustin! This is Lucas, do you copy? Dustin?" A voice speaks.

"Well, well, well, look who it is," Dustin responds.

"Sorry, man. My stupid sister turned it off,"

"Well, while you were having sister problems, Dart grew again, he escaped — and I'm pretty sure he's a baby Demogorgon,"

"Wait... what?"

Lily gets out her machete and packs it safely into her backpack — ignoring the uneasy glance from Steve, who's packing his own weapon.

"I'll explain later, just meet me, Steve and Lily at the old junkyard,"

"Steve Harrington?"

"And bring your binoculars and wrist rocket,"

"Who's Lily?"

"Alright, let's go," Steve says.

The three of them begin to head towards the trees — Dustin finishing his quick conversation with,

"Just be there, stat! Over and out,"

Lily lingers behind the two boys as they start to walk through the woods towards the train tracks, throwing down meat like they're in a more twisted version of Hansel & Gretel. She asks who Dustin was talking to on his walkie, and he explains how it was his friend, Lucas — who was in on 'all this'.

Maybe it's the major build up of trust issues over the years, but Lily still cannot seem to find it in herself to fully believe them, despite the fact that she'd chosen to, earlier.

So, it's then she decides to get Dustin to explain everything that happened last year. Despite his hesitations ('Didn't Steve already tell you?') he does so.

Lily feels like the smartest person ever. Because she'll catch Dustin out. Steve's story was so in-depth and specific, there's no way both of them could have exactly the same story planned out — if they're lying.

But she doesn't catch Dustin out. She keeps an eye on Steve as the boy talks, to see if he's secretly giving him tips to ensure their stories are similar, but he doesn't. And not one detail is out of place.

Lily can't believe this is happening. And she also can't believe she's been dragged into it.

"You finally believe us?" Steve asks her with a snarky tone, and she doesn't say anything.

Instead, she frustratingly throws a handful of meat onto the ground.

She has no choice, now, but to.

"...Okay, but how does everything that happened last year link to what's happening now?" Lily asks.

This sends Dustin off on another ramble, mentioning some new girl called Max — and Lily hates to admit it, but the more ridiculous the story is getting, the more believable it seems to be. Nobody could make this up. Nobody sane, anyways.

She continues to linger behind as the trio make their way further down the train tracks — no longer engaging with the conversation but listening, instead. She feels a little bewildered at how Steve Harrington has managed to prove her wrong — and maybe a little embarrassed, too. But that still doesn't erase the pit of anger that still lingers in her stomach and she finds herself scowling as she listens to the two boys talk.

Any flicker of joy she got from singing along to 'The Chain' earlier has certainly been dissolved, since then.

"Alright, so let me get this straight," Steve says. "You kept something you knew was probably dangerous in order to impress a girl... who you just met?"

"Alright, that's grossly oversimplifying things,"

"I mean, why would a girl like some nasty slug, anyway?"

"And interdimensional slug? Because it's awesome,"

"Well, even if she thought it was cool, which she didn't, I... I just... I don't know, I feel like you're trying way too hard, man,"

"Well, not everyone can have your perfect hair, alright?" Dustin says.

Lily almost laughs.

"It's not about the hair, man," Steve says. "The key with girls is just... just acting like you don't care,"

Is he serious?

Lily's still watching the conversation unfold with a look of disbelief slowly creeping onto her face.

"Even if you do?" Dustin asks.

"Yeah, exactly. It drives them nuts,"

Lily scoffs. It's almost as if she isn't even there.

"Then what?"

"You just wait until, uh... until you feel it,"

"Feel what?"

"It's like before it's gonna storm, you know? You can't see it, but you can feel it, like this, uh... electricity, you know?"

"Oh, like in the electromagnetic field when the clouds in the atmosphere—"

"No, no, no, no, no. Like a... like a sexual electricity,"

"Oh,"

"You feel that and then you make your move,"

"So that's when you kiss her?"

"No, woah, woah. Slow down, Romeo. Sure okay, some girls, yeah, they want you to be aggressive. You know, strong, hot and heavy, like a... I don't know, like a lion."

Lily's rolling her eyes so much she's sure they're about to fall out of her skull. She feels bitter as she listens to her ex talk about his techniques when it comes to romancing women. All she can think, at the moment, is 'I hate boys'.

"But others, you gotta be slow, you gotta be stealthy, like a... like a ninja,"

She can't help but realise, as she listens to Steve ramble on about girls, is how different he is. He never had a weird, strategic approach with her. He wasn't hot and heavy or slow and stealthy, he was her best friend, and they held a profound bond for years until they both realised during a conversation late at night that they had both fallen madly in love — as madly in love as you do when you're thirteen.

Lily honestly felt as though they were never strangers, her and Steve, not even for a moment.

And now she hardly recognises him.

"What type is Nancy?" Dustin asks.

"Nancy's different," Steve says. "She's different than the other girls."

Lily feels like she's been punched in the gut. And Steve pauses for a moment, too, before glancing at her over his shoulder — like he's just remembered she's there. She doesn't look at him, though — she keeps her eyes firmly on the track in front of them.

"Yeah she seems pretty special, I guess," Dustin continues.

"Yeah," Steve says, more quietly. "Yeah, she is."

The usual burning sensation of anger no longer sits at the bottom of Lily's stomach — it's a cold, empty pit, instead, that feels like it's continuously growing. Her heart is sinking with it.

"But this girl's special too, you know, it's just like, something about her,"

"Woah, woah, woah, hey, hey, hey," Steve starts to stutter. He stops walking, and puts his arm out to stop Dustin.

"What?"

"You're not falling in love with this girl, are you?"

"No," Dustin says. "No,"

"Okay, good," Steve says, glancing at Lily once again with what almost looks like an apologetic expression. "Don't," he adds, nodding back at Dustin.

"I won't," Dustin says.

"She's only gonna break your heart and you're way too young for that shit,"

Lily's heard enough.

"This is such bullshit," she pipes up, and both boys turn their heads with surprise at her outburst.

Steve frowns.

"The best way to get a girls attention is show her you don't care' — that's not true. Like at all,"

Dustin looks between the two teenagers, awkwardly

"Showing a girl you care is one of the best things you can do, Dustin," Lily tells him.

"How do you know?" Steve quickly retorts.

She scowls at him.

"Because I'm a girl, Steve. A real life girl."

Dustin pauses for a moment and looks towards Steve for clarification — and it's at this moment Lily gives up. If Dustin doesn't want her advice and would rather listen to her pathetic ex, then so be it. Good luck, Henderson.

They walk for a few more moments in silence, until Steve reveals some big secret to Dustin which is only the fact that he uses Fabergé Organics on his hair — as if he's the only person in the world that does. And it's nothing new to Lily, anyways. She can remember when he used to spend all his money on cans of hairspray and then complain when he couldn't afford to buy a new album when it was released.

It's all useless bits of information, really, stored in her brain from years of knowing someone who is now a stranger to her. What do you do with all the knowledge of someone's little quirks and interests and favourite things when they're not apart of your life, anymore? Lily doesn't know how to dispose of it all.

And her brain keeps revisiting the conversation Steve had with Dustin about 'getting girls'. Listening to the way he spoke about them sets off a strange emotion in her chest. Almost like a confirmation that he really isn't the boy she once knew.

The version of Steve she grew up with and loved is no longer around — and it's a shock when she realises that she doesn't feel sad about it like she usually does. Instead she senses some sort of relief within herself. Like she's just taken a step forward to moving on, and leaving any sort of emotion, good or bad, towards Steve Harrington, behind.

She's starting to feel free again.

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AUTHORS NOTE

💗 hiiiiii guys sorry I haven't updated in ages, I started uni about a month ago so I've been vv busy with that but I'm all settled in and doing good now so hopefully I'll get more time to write!!!

💗 anywayysssss we're getting into the thick of season 2 rn and lilys clearly in her healing girl era luv her sm, steves being steve but I have big plans for these two and can't wait to write more and get it out to you guys!!

💗 I hope you enjoyed!! let me know what you thought xxx