Steve Harrington ✩

You were his best friend, but deep down you always wanted more than that. You knew Steve dated a lot of girls, so why had he never seen you in any way other than platonically? You'd seen him go from one girl to another, but you knew they were just flings and that he'd never loved any of them. This time it was different. He'd started dating Nancy Wheeler. It didn't seem any different from his other relationships, but you could tell. The sparkle in his eyes when he talked about her, how he canceled your movie nights to go with her, how he bought her flowers every day, how he'd stopped seeing other girls. He was in love with her. Did it hurt? Yes. You weren't selfish, and you knew he had every right to be with someone else. What hurt was how easily he abandoned your friendship for a girl he'd met a few months earlier.

He stopped calling you, stopped picking you up or dropping you off at home, stopped going to the movies at your house on Saturdays, stopped calling you at night to wish you goodnight. And neither did you. You stopped calling him, stopped going to his house, stopped bringing him cookies for breakfast, stopped wearing the matching friendship bracelet you had. And Steve noticed it instantly. He leaned back against the locker, his arm around Nancy's shoulders, and his gaze fell on you, holding his notebooks in front of your locker. He smiled gently at the sight. How could you have changed so much in three months? He saw how your hair was no longer tied up, now cascading down your back, how you had traded those dress pants for pink skirts, how you no longer wore his friendship bracelet. He frowned at the sight of your bare wrist, once covered by the silver bracelet with his initial; in fact, he had one just like it, but with yours. When Nancy said goodbye to him to go to class, he immediately approached your locker and looked you in the eyes.