72. Chapter 72

Mari: I will be introducing Eddie shortly after my edition of Season Three ends. So he will be in it more in my story than in the show, much like how I did with Billy and am trying to do with Robin, so I can flesh out his storyline. Most of his interactions will be with Dustin and Jessica (because of Dustin) until season four though.

a/n: Welcome to all my new readers who have stumbled upon my story due to the new season dropping!

Chapter Seventy-Two

On Tuesday Jessica did give Robin her number and her address. Since the next week was Spring break Jessica suggested they could get together during that time whether it was for the movie or for something else.

Robin had seemed surprised when Jessica actually gave her the information and it made Jessica wonder if someone had ever pranked Robin in that way before. It wouldn't surprise her if someone like Tommy or Carol had done that.

"I still have to work Monday, Wednesday, and Friday next week, but we can think of something to do on the days I'm off."

As Robin had said before, she thought that was cool, and that was that.

Since she had to work the next day Steve asked if she wanted to go out for dinner to celebrate her birthday that night and she agreed, of course. Unless she had a good reason, she never turned down a date with Steve.

"Pick you up at six?"

"Sure," she said, smiling before giving him a quick kiss. "If you can get your hair to cooperate by that time."

"Hey!" he said and shoved her arm playfully. "My hair is perfect already. Anyway, wear something nicer than usual because –"

"I don't do fancy," she warned him.

"It's not gonna be fancy. I just said nicer than our usual dates. It's gonna be like a step up from a diner, but not anything where you'll feel uncomfortable. I had to make a reservation. Something like you wore for Valentine's Day last year is good."

"Okay. That's fine, then. Where're we going?"

"It's a surprise, but it's not in Hawkins."

Jessica grinned when he said that. She loved when they had dates outside of town because they had less of a chance of running into people they knew.

"Can't wait."

When Jessica got home, she let her mom know that she was going out to dinner with Steve that night and then went upstairs to get ready. She had to take a shower and wash her hair before doing anything else, and she wasn't really sure what she was going to wear yet.

She twisted her hair into the towel when she got out of the shower and wrapped another towel around her body before peeking out to make sure Dustin wasn't in the hallway. Since the coast was clear, she hurried to her bedroom and locked the door behind her.

While she was waiting to begin her hair routine, Jessica took a look through her closet to see if anything caught her eye. Steve had said that the place they were going was a step up from a diner, but not super fancy, so she thought semi-formal would work. Any type of dress would work as long as it wasn't flashy or inappropriate, which wasn't a problem for her because she didn't like those type of clothes anyway.

She skipped over a white floral-patterned dress because that was what she wore on the very rare occasion she and her family went to church – they usually only did that on Easter or Christmas Eve, if they were with her grandparents. She also skipped over a dress that she actually liked – because it was comfortable – because it looked like something one would wear to a swimming pool. There was a red knee-length dress with white buttons that was pretty cute, but it looked like something a waitress would wear, so that was out of the question. There was a black floral-patterned one as well.

She wished she knew what Steve was going to wear. She could pick an outfit that would match. She knew he wouldn't be wearing anything too heavy because he ran hot most of the time and it was now beginning to feel like spring time in Hawkins, which meant it would be about forty-five outside at night. He would probably bring a jacket in case she ended up needing it. He almost never wore anything other than jeans unless he had to, and he hated dress shoes, so he probably wouldn't be taking them anywhere that required him to not wear his Adidas.

Jessica eventually ended up picking a forest-green dress with loose sleeves that came to just below her elbows. The skirt stopped at her knees and twirled prettily when she turned around. She chose a black leather belt with a gold buckle to place around her waist. Her shoes matched the belt – black with golden tassels around the top that jingled quietly when she walked.

She went with her usual style of make-up – minimal, light brown eye shadow and nude glow lip gloss – and she put her hair up in a loose braid that fell over her left shoulder.

By the time she was satisfied, it was already 5:30 so Jessica went downstairs to wait for Steve to get there. He was usually a few minutes early anyway.

"Oh, you look so beautiful," her mom gushed when she reached the living room.

"Mom!"

"Well, you do. Wait until Steve sees."

Jessica blushed even as she grinned because she knew Steve would definitely appreciate the outfit because it showed off her legs.

Steve pulled up to the Henderson house around 5:45, parked in the driveway, got out of his car and hurried to the front door. He knocked and then went on in like he normally did.

He was surprised to see Jessica waiting for him in the living room because she was usually a few minutes late when it came to their dates.

"You look great," he said as he took in her dress – green was a good color on her – and the length of her legs that led to the ankle boots. He even liked that she'd done something different to her hair. It made her look a little older – or at least a little more mature – which he guessed fit since she was going to be nineteen soon.

Steve had chosen black jeans with a white dress-shirt tucked into them, along with his usual tennis shoes. It matched pretty well with Jessica's almost casual dress.

He'd brought a dinner jacket along with him, but it was in the car, and it was for Jessica if she needed it later.

"I have to get a couple pictures," Ms. Henderson said. "Wait here."

"Mom . . ."

"You guys got dressed up. I want pictures."

Steve grinned at Jessica's obvious distaste at the fact that her mom wanted pictures.

"Come on, let your mom have this." He went to her and pulled her up from the couch so he could give her a hug.

"I mean, it's not like she's not gonna have prom pictures soon."

"That's not the –" Steve stopped and looked at her. "You wanna go to prom? You hate school dances. The last one you went to was our sixth grade Snow Ball."

Jessica shrugged, almost sheepishly, and said, "Yeah, well, I figured you'd want to go. And it will be our last one, so . . ."

Prom was about a month away, so they had plenty of time to plan for it, but Steve really was surprised that she wanted to go. Then again, what she'd said was true: it was their last school dance.

Her mom came back with the camera so Steve and Jessica went to stand in front of the staircase so she could take the pictures she wanted. She only took five or six of them so Jessica didn't mind.

"Don't forget you have school in the morning. Be back by eleven."

"Will do," Steve said.

Once outside, Steve led Jessica to the car and opened the door for her. He didn't let her get in right away. He pulled her to him so he could kiss her quickly but deeply.

"You ready?"

"Yeah. Can you tell me where we're going now?"

"Nope. Kidnapping you."

"Mm, right. Can you at least tell me what we're going to be eating?"

"Well, it is an Italian place, but they have other food as well, so . . ."

Jessica got in and waited for Steve to get in the driver's side. She honestly had no clue where they were going. He'd said they were going somewhere outside of Hawkins, so they weren't going to Enzo's, which was the only Italian place Jessica knew about.

Some Prince song was playing when Steve got in and started the car. Jessica only knew a few of his songs, but she was sure this one was "When Doves Cry".

"Hey, Steve?"

"Hm?"

"You don't mind that I'm gonna be hanging out with Robin next week, right?"

"Why would I mind?"

"Well, because next week is Spring break and last year you had me all to yourself for the whole week pretty much."

"Last year we went to my parents lake house. This year, I chose not to go because I'm eighteen, and my mom said it was my choice. Since my dad has pretty much accepted that I don't want to work for him, he didn't argue. I'll still be around most of the week."

"Okay."

A Cyndi Lauper song came on and Jessica began singing along with it. It wasn't until the song was over that Jessica brought Robin up again.

"So . . . are you sure you don't know Robin? She seems to have already formed an opinion of you. And Nancy."

"Nope. I only know what you've told me."

"Hm. Well, she said Nancy's a priss and you're a dingus."

Steve glanced her way. "What's a dingus?"

Jessica laughed. "I have no clue. I think she made it up."

Steve drove for another twenty minutes or so and they mostly just sang along to the radio. It was mostly pop music, but eventually a Van Halen song came on and she knew the only reason Steve didn't change the station was because she liked that type of music as well as what they had already been listening to.

When they finally reached the restaurant, Jessica realized they were two towns over, on the main road where stores and restaurants lined the street. Steve parked in front of one that was named Roma's.

"Have you ever been here?"

"Once," Steve answered. "One of my dad's business dinners. Wasn't fun, but I'm sure this one will make up for it."

Steve got out, came around the car, and opened the door for her. Jessica usually let him open the door to let her in the car but didn't wait for him to let her out. Steve liked doing it though, so she let him this time since they were actually on a date.

The restaurant was on the small side, but it was cozy, and Jessica liked that. The walls were a mocha color, the tables and chairs wooden. There was a bar with stools to the right of the entrance and a wall-length bench seat to the left.

A hostess led them to a table in the back when Steve said he'd made a reservation and took their drink orders. They both said they would start with water and would wait until they ordered food to get something else.

Music was playing softly in the background. Jessica was surprised when she recognized it as "Footloose." She had expected there to be quiet violin music or some other instrumental type music.

Their waitress brought them water and a basket of breadsticks along with two menus.

"Thank you," Steve said.

"You're welcome. I'll be back to take your orders shortly."

Jessica ignored the menu for the moment to try a breadstick and closed her eyes in pleasure at the taste. The bread was warm and fresh and covered in a light butter and garlic spread.

"These are so good."

Steve smiled at her assessment and tried one for himself before they both looked over their menus.

Jessica decided on lasagna with a side salad; Steve decided to go with chicken alfredo. They ended up sharing anyway. They ordered sweet tea since Steve had to drive and Jessica wasn't much of a drinker anyway.

After eating their main course the waitress brought them a dessert menu. Jessica wasn't going to order anything, claiming that she'd had enough already, but Steve told her to go ahead because it was for her birthday.

"Fine. We can share a piece of cheesecake then. With strawberry sauce."

While they were waiting for the dessert to come out, Steve brought out a black velvet box that was long enough to hold a necklace and placed it on the table in front of her.

She reached for it and slowly opened it. Inside was a charm bracelet rather than the necklace she had thought it had been. It was personalized and it had been made for this very occasion. The charms consisted of the letter J, a silver pendant in the form of a birthday cake – she could tell because of the candles -, a silver heart, the number 19, and a silver flower. It was dainty and not made for every day use. She could tell it was mostly meant to commemorate her turning 19.

She pushed the box back to Steve and held out her wrist. "Help me put it on?"

Steve smiled and did as she asked. Once the bracelet was secured on her wrist she shook it a bit – mostly to hear the jingle-jangle of the charms but also so she could see it shine in the light.

"Where did you find this?"

"A shop in a mall. I went to Indianapolis one day while you were working."

She smiled and shook her wrist again. "It's pretty. And thoughtful, and I want to kiss you but the table's in the way."

"What a rude table," Steve said.

"Very rude."

Steve pulled his chair around so he could sit beside her instead of across from her and Jessica immediately leaned in to kiss his cheek first and then his lips

The waitress brought the cheesecake out and placed it between them before walking away again, taking their dinner plates with her.

"It's your birthday dessert, you get the first bite."

"Mm-hm."

Jessica liked cheesecake – it was probably right up there with plain chocolate – but it was so rich she couldn't eat a lot of it.

"Hey, Steve? Can I ask you something?"

"You can ask me anything."

"Okay. It's something that's been bothering me for a while because I think it's something that's bothering you, but you never said anything."

"Okay . . . I have no idea what you're talking about."

"The fight with Billy. You pushed him because . . . because he said that you're keeping me here."

"Well, yeah, he shouldn't have said that," Steve said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"No, he shouldn't have. But . . . I know you, and you don't get violent unless something is actually bothering you. It's like a last resort with you, which . . . I'm glad, but you reacted violently to what he said, so it has to be bothering you. I was kind of waiting for you to bring it up, but you didn't, so . . ."

Steve inhaled deeply before saying, "You sure you wanna talk about this now? I mean, we're on a date."

"If it's bothering you, yes, I want to talk about it."

"Okay. Well, it's not bothering me, exactly, but the thought has crossed my mind once or twice, and having Billy say it out loud made it . . . more real." Steve sighed. "I mean, it is true. You have so many options open to you, academically. You could probably get into any university you wanted to. Your grades are definitely there."

He paused, but Jessica could tell he had more to say so she waited for him to continue so she wouldn't interrupt his train of thought.

"It's not so much that I think I'm holding you back because if you wanted to go away to college I wouldn't stop you, and I'd try to find a way to go with you, but I just . . . Sometimes I feel like – like if you do stay here, you might resent me for it later."

Jessica's breath caught in her chest. She'd had no idea it was that bad, that Steve had thought about it that way.

"Steve. I would never resent you for – for anything like that. If I stay here or stay with you, period, it's my choice."

"No, I know that – I do – but I can't control where my mind goes sometimes."

Jessica knew that Steve sometimes thought that even his parents resented having him. They hadn't had the freedom to do what they wanted when they wanted until he was old enough to stay home without them; his dad didn't like that Steve wouldn't do what he wanted and work for him, which caused a lot of friction to the point where Steve avoided his dad altogether sometimes; Steve's old friend group had stopped hanging out with him when he stopped doing what they wanted and acting the way they did.

Needless to say, Steve had abandonment issues.

"You know, I never told you about the conversation I had with Billy at that party. He brought up what I would do if you weren't in the picture. If I would want to move or go somewhere else, travel someday."

They were close enough together that she could grab his hand.

"You know what I told him? That, yes, I would like to travel and see the world. But Steve . . . I wanna do those things with you. And yeah, I wanna go to school somewhere close, but that's not just because of you. I mean, Dustin's here and my mom is here. Nancy and Jonathan and the other kids. I don't want to leave them either."

Jessica couldn't help but notice the look of adoration Steve was giving her. His eyes were the softest she'd ever seen them and his smile matched.

"I love you," he said, "so much."

"I love you too." She leaned forward to kiss him again, this time softly to match the emotion they were both feeling. When she pulled back, she gave him a silly grin. "See, if you had just told me how you were feeling, I could have set your mind right before now and you wouldn't have had to worry about it."

"Yeah, yeah. I'm . . . working on it."

"I know. And you're getting better. I don't mind reminding you every once in a while."

Steve kissed her once more before one of his hands landed just above her knee. His hand was warm because he was always warm, and it felt nice on her skin. She even laughed a bit when he squeezed gently.

"Steve?"

"Hm?"

"Maybe we should . . . stop somewhere before we go home." She looked at him, playfully batted her lashes, and sent him what she hoped was a suggestive smile. "You know, so we can do things we can't do at home . . ."

She watched as Steve basically stopped breathing for a second as the meaning of her words caught up to him.

"We could get in the backseat," she said, leaning closer so she could talk even more quietly than she already was. "I could be on top. I know you like having me on top when I'm in a skirt."

Steve cursed softly, and Jessica laughed as his brain short-circuited.

"You're such a tease," Steve said, squeezing her leg and moving his hand a little farther up to the edge of her skirt.

She grabbed the hand that was slowly making its way even further up her thigh and said, "Well, get us out of here and I'll do more than tease."

Needless to say, Steve quickly asked for the check and paid for their meal so they could get out of there.

Despite the fact that they stopped somewhere on the way back to Jessica's house, they still got back by eleven that night. Steve walked her to the door, but he didn't stay because his parents were home.

Jessica's legs were sore from her making good on her 'teasing' but it had been well worth it. Steve was always so pretty when he came undone beneath her on the rare occasion she actually did get to be on top.

She'd made sure she looked presentable before going inside the house. Her mom knew she and Steve were having sex, but that didn't mean she wanted to flaunt it by looking as if they had just done it before coming home.

Her mom was watching the news when Jessica came into the living room. There was some story about nuclear testing being done in Nevada. Her science teacher had mentioned it in class a few times and Jessica had never said anything, but it scared the crap out of her. Any type of nuclear anything could have serious fallout if one wasn't careful.

"Hey, Mom," she said.

"Hey, sweetie." When Jessica sat down on the couch beside her, she said, "So, where did y'all go?"

"A place called Roma's. It's an Italian place about twenty minutes away. I had lasagna." She lifted her arm up to show off her charm bracelet. "Look what Steve got me."

"Very pretty."

"It jingles." Jessica shook her wrist to prove that it did, in fact, jingle.

"I see that." Her mom shook her head fondly at Jessica's obvious joy from her gift. "Dustin's already in bed, but he left you a gift in your room."

Jessica honestly hadn't been expecting a gift from Dustin yet, so she was intrigued to see what it was. She kissed her mom on the cheek before heading up to her room.

The gift she found made her smile a bit. Dustin only had his allowance money to rely on, so he hadn't been able to get her anything big, but he'd still gotten her a card and a square box of chocolates.

Both Steve and Dustin were trying to make her gain weight, apparently.

Jessica made sure to thank Dustin the next morning before leaving to go to school. He was at the kitchen table eating cereal, so she mussed his curls a bit as she said thank you. She pushed a little harder than she had to, leading his face closer to his bowl.

"Hey," he exclaimed. "Jess!"

She laughed. "I wasn't actually gonna make you faceplant in your bowl."

"Not that. I actually did my hair this morning."

"Oh please, you look fine."

She could tell there was actually some kind of product in his hair, though, and his curls held their place despite her having messed with them.

"Thanks. And Happy Birthday."

"Thank you."

Jessica made herself two pieces of toast to take with her before going in the living room, where her mom was on the couch with Mews 2.0 – or Tews as they had decided on calling her – on her lap.

"Happy Birthday," her mom said.

"Thanks."

"You'll get your gifts after school."

"Okay. I've gotta head out. Love you."

Steve was waiting in the school parking lot when Jessica pulled in beside his car. She dragged her bookbag from the passenger seat before getting out. She had on a navy-blue shirt with a light jacket over it and black jeans that hugged her hips tightly. He knew that the shirt was the kind that hung off the shoulders so he guessed she planned on wearing the jacket while she was in school. If she took it off, she would probably be sent to the office for breaking the dress code.

He swung an arm over her shoulders when she reached him and they began walking towards the school entrance. He pressed a kiss to the side of her head and wished her a happy birthday. If they hadn't already skipped a few days that semester, he would have suggested them taking the day off and going to celebrate.

"So . . . my parents are going to be at the lake house for Spring Break like usual. They're leaving on Monday. But I was thinking that we could have a sleepover for the kids? Give you a reason to stay at my house and all."

The last part was said teasingly. He knew that if she didn't want to stay at his place, he could always stay at hers.

"That would be cool. Although Hopper might actually start having heart attacks if we keep taking El out of that cabin."

"Well, it'll be at the house, not actually in a crowded place."

"That's true. And I think it's good for her to get out actually. Plus, it helps her and Max get closer."

They reached her locker, where she got what she would need for the first half of her day.

"Anyway, I'm hanging out with Robin on Tuesday, and she might spend the night. I'm not sure. Mom hasn't met her yet, but you know Mom has no problem opening up her home to people, so . . ."

"True." Steve smiled. "What are y'all gonna do?"

"Maybe a movie, but I was thinking of going to Indianapolis with her so we could check out the record store and the book store. I'm actually interested in what type of things she likes. She hasn't really said anything aside from romantic-comedies aren't her thing."

"They aren't yours either, so at least you have that in common."

Steve walked Jessica to first period, as he normally did, and they kissed briefly before she took off into the classroom.

Billy wasn't in the first half of first period, but Jessica didn't see any sign of injury when he finally did get to class. He didn't talk to her just as he hadn't been since he'd come back to school, and she didn't try to talk to him either.

They went over the play they'd been reading because they were going to have a test on it that Friday and then had a worksheet to do where they had to translate some of the phrases used into modern language. At least they didn't have to write a paper this time.

Her next three classes flew by and then she and Robin did their routine walk to the cafeteria. Robin wished her a happy birthday and Jessica mentioned that she and a few friends – the kids mostly – were meeting at the quarry on Saturday for a get together for her birthday and that Robin could come if she wanted to. Jessica knew Robin was kind of iffy about Steve and Nancy, so she didn't pressure her about it, just casually let her know that she was welcome.

In the cafeteria both Nancy and Jonathan wished her a happy birthday before she and Steve went to stand in the lunch line.

The rest of the day went by smoothly aside from having to start practicing for the mile again in gym class. At least it wasn't freezing like it had been the year before when they'd started running outside.

She was surprised to find that she was a little better than she had been the year before – most because she had listened to Steve and didn't go all out during the first lap so she was able to run longer – but because of the workout she'd had the night before her legs did not like that she had to run.

Steve didn't say anything, but she could tell he noticed because of the smug looks he sent her way while they were jogging. It made her roll her eyes and shove him playfully.

When the day was over and Jessica was getting her things together to take home, she noticed an envelope at the bottom of her locker. Steve was beside her, talking, when she reached down and picked it up.

The envelope was plain white aside from the word "Billy" on the front of it.

She held it in front of her for so long that Steve gently took it from her. He didn't try to open it, which was good because she wouldn't have let him, and she didn't want to hurt him by making him think she wanted to keep it from him. But she did want to for now. Billy had gone to the trouble of putting it in her locker so it was obviously something he'd meant for only her eyes. Aside from that, there were things about Billy that Steve didn't know, and Jessica didn't want him accidentally finding out when she knew Billy wouldn't want him to.

"Jess?"

She looked up at him before taking the envelope back and stuffing it into her bookbag.

"I – I'll open it later. I have to get home so I can get ready for work."