chapter forty-two , Big changes ahead

a/n : you'll see EVERY couple this chapter!!!

━━━━━━━━━━

"On the count of three?"

The boy inhales a deep breath and nods. "Yeah, okay." He then opens his mouth. "Like after we finish saying three or exactly when we say three?"

Sofía purses her lips and tilts her head. "When we say three."

Dustin nods his head. "Okay, are you ready?"

"Yeah. You?"

Dustin gently takes Sofía's hands. He vigorously nods his head which causes Sofía to knit her brows together. "Are you...sure...?"

Dustin's face was a deep red and Sofía noticed that his hands were getting sweaty.

"I just...I think I need some water."

Sofía hands him the cup of water on the shelf and hands it to him. Dustin chugs the water and Sofía raises her brows from how fast he was drinking it. She scratches the side of her face and clears her throat awkwardly.

It's been almost three months since the Snowball dance. Sofía and Dustin wanted to kiss that night. But they also didn't want their friends and schoolmates staring at them when they did. So, they both decided to wait until the time was right. But the two continued to come up with different excuses, putting off the kiss. Hence, why it is now 3 months later...

But now there were no more excuses.

The two have just been hanging out like they would normally hang out. Arcade, DND, the library. But they both knew it felt different. Ever since they told each other how they really felt. It was different. Whenever their fingers would brush or they would both steal a glance from one another.

Dustin finishes drinking the water and he looks at Sofia, who is smiling softly. They were both sitting on Dustin's bed. She lightly taps her fingers against her knees. "If you don't want to do this. We don't have to, I'm fine with us just hanging out like we usually—"

"No, no! I want to. I do." Dustin waves his hands. "I just...want this to be perfect."

Sofia's eyes soften, "Dustin..." She moves some of his curly hair out of his face, which causes his heart to jump into his throat. "...you're so sweet."

Dustin giggles and he takes Sofía's hands once again. She inhales a small breath. "On the count of three?"

Dustin inhales a deep breath, "On the count of three."

A smile twitches onto Sofia's lips and she exhales a breath through her nose. She bites the inside of her lower lip and leans forward. Dustin closes his eyes as Sofia's lips gently press against his. They both freeze. Dustin begins to hear his heartbeat pound through his ears. His hands start to shake in Sofia's.

Sofía pulls away from the kiss and inhales a small breath. Her eyes open and she stares at Dustin while he keeps his eyes shut. Sofía presses her lips into a smile and she pulls her brows together. "Uh, Dustin?"

Dustin's eyes fly open, "Huh? Yeah?"

Sofía giggles softly, she covers her mouth and snorts. "That was...nice." She tilts her head, her cheeks flushed. The girl keeps her eyes on Dustin's, noticing the giddiness across his face. Sofía purses her lips and pokes his cheek with her pointer. Dustin blinks and looks into Sofía's deep brown eyes.

"Are you with me?"

Dustin slightly opens his mouth and he softly smiles. "Y-Yeah, Yeah I'm with you." He takes her hands into his. "Sofía Alvarez?"

Sofía raises her brows, "Yes, Dustin Henderson?"

"Would you like to go on a date with me? Like just the two of us? No one else."

Sofía bites the inside of her cheek. "I would hope it would just be the two of us." She softly giggles.

Dustin's eyes light up, "Can we go right now?"

Sofía then cranes her neck forward. "Like, right now—right now?"

Dustin nods his head and jumps off the bed. He then holds a hand out to Sofía and she takes a moment to look at it. A smile then finds her lips and her cheeks grow hot. Sofía interlocks her fingers with Dustin's and they run out of the room together.

☆

"I don't understand."

Gus purses her lips into a smile. "Do you need help?"

"No, no. I got it..."

"Right, yeah. Of course, you do." Gus nods her head, her eyes squinted.

They both fall silent, and the music coming from the radio continues to softly play. Gus shifts her eyes from her paper back to her boyfriend. "Steve...?"

"Graduation is in 2 weeks."

Gus raises her brows, "Yes it is."

"And I didn't get into any colleges," Steve says.

"That is correct." Gus tilts her head.

Steve taps his pencil against the paper. Steve was sitting in his desk chair while Gus was lying on his bed doing homework. He had been trying to figure out a way to ask his dad if he could join his company for a job. But the Harrington boy was shitting bricks. Steve kept saying he had to come up with a way to ask his dad himself. But he kept coming up blank. Gus was patient and she knew that Steve would ask her when he needed it.

Steve tangles a hand in his hair and Gus laughs. He spins around in his chair and looks at the girl. "Is there something funny here?"

Gus frowns and she shrugs her shoulders. "Just enjoying the view of your...father-son struggles."

Steve raises his brows, "Oh, because your relationship with your father is going so well?"

Gus upside down smiles. "One of them. Yeah." She giggles. "The only one that matters."

Steve couldn't help the smile that formed across his lips. Gus has been glowing these past few months. Even though the girl had been held back another year, she wasn't allowing that to get her down. Steve was so proud of the person Gus was becoming.

"It's good to see you happy, you know?"

Gus raises her brows, "That's right...you don't really see me happy, huh? You were usually the person making my life a living hell."

Steve's smile drops and Gus takes notice in his guilt-ridden expression.

"God...I was kind of a dick." Steve scratches behind his ear. Gus sputters her lips and sits up, "Kind of?"

They both laugh. Gus hops off the bed and makes her way over to her boyfriend. "Okay, let me help."

"August—"

"Steve..." she turns her head to meet his eyes. Their faces were inches away from each other. Steve's eyes flit to her lips then he looks back at her hazel green eyes. Gus smirks, "Let me help you, all right?" She places a hand over his. "It never hurts to get some help."

Steve slightly parts his lips, wanting to say the words. It's too soon. He closes his mouth. Steve already knew the strong feelings he had toward Gus, he just didn't want to rush things. He didn't want to overwhelm her. She would totally freak.

"You're the best you know that?" Steve softly murmurs.

Gus deadpans, "Tell me something I don't know, lover boy." She then sits on his lap and looks across the written words on the paper.

Steve places his chin on her shoulder and watches as she edits his work.

☆

Faint music plays in the background of the room. It was still quiet, but comforting. Neither girls felt forced to fill the silence, because they didn't have to. They both felt so comfortable with each other it wasn't necessary to talk. Fallon's eyes were on her magazine, she runs her tongue over her teeth. Then she looks at Robin, the Buckley girl was mouthing words as she scribbled across her homework.

Fallon pulls her brows together as Robin bites at her fingernail while she writes across her paper.

"You're doing it again."

Robin quietly hums and looks at Fallon. Her blue eyes meet Fallon's dark brown ones. The short-haired girl raises her brows, "I...what?"

Fallon swipes her tongue across her lower lip and chuckles. Robin's stomach flutters. Fallon points her pen at Robin's finger. "You're biting your nail."

Robin realizes what she's doing and takes her lip from in between her teeth. "Oh. Sorry."

"You don't have to apologize Robin." Fallon says with a shrug. "You just told me to tell you every time you start biting your lip."

"My mom says it's a bad habit." Robin sighs.

"Mmm, it is." Fallon nods.

Robin nervously chuckles from the arch of Fallon's brow. Her face gets hot and looks back at her homework. Fallon keeps her eyes on Robin for a moment and her heart begins to beat faster than before. "Hey, Rob?"

Robin quickly lifts her gaze to Fallon's, eager to hear what she has to say. "Yes—yeah?"

A small smile cracks onto Fallon's lips. "Do you want to get out of here? My brain's kind of fried..."

Robin raises her brows, "Oh thank god—I'm so glad I'm not alone in that."

Fallon laughs softly. Both girls sit up and stare at each other. "So, what do you wanna do? Where do you wanna go?"

Fallon tilts her head, "You know...I've never been to the arcade before."

Robin cranes her neck forward. "In all the years that you've been Gus' friend, you've never been forced to go to the arcade?"

Fallon holds her hands up and shrugs. "I've got many skills. And distracting Gus from her objectives is one of them." She hops off the bed and grabs Robin's hand.

No one else was able to hold Robin like that without making her skin crawl or her pulling away from them. But Fallon was so different. When Fallon touched Robin, she didn't want her to stop. It not only made her body hot, but it soothed her. Fallon lightly tugs Robin's hand and the short-haired girl rises to her feet.

Fallon turns to Robin and knits her brows together. "You okay?" She tilts her head to one side, noticing Robin's beet red face. Robin slightly opens her mouth. She then closes her mouth. The Buckley girl softly hums and vigorously nods her head. Fallon bites her lower lip and smiles.

"Cool."

The two girls run out of the room.

...

"To the left."

"That's what I did."

Hopper shakes his head and Gus squints her eyes. "I know my right from my left, Hop!"

"From what I can see—ya don't."

Gus' mouth hangs open. She then slams her mouth shut and growls. "You should be happy I love you."

"Yeah, yeah—I love you too. Now can we please move this?" Hopper motions to the dresser.

Over the past few months, Hopper came to the realization that Gus and Eleven were both getting older. And that meant they needed their own rooms. Hopper has been working on adding an extension to the cabin. And the only people around to help were Gus and Eleven. And right now, Eleven was spending time with Mike. So, it was just two stubborn and aggravated family members.

"Ow—splinter!"

Gus giggles, she points at Hopper. He snaps his eyes up at her, "Do you want your own room?"

"Of course I do." Gus rolls her eyes. "But, you know that we can't do this just by ourselves. We need help."

"Yeah? Whose gonna help us?"

Gus holds her arms out. "Uh, hello? We have so many monster hunting badass people we know." She then waves her arms around. "Please, please please call Jonathan, Steve, Nancy, Fallon—anyone else."

Hopper squints his eyes, "Yeah, you would want me to call Steve, wouldn't you?"

Gus groans and covers her mouth. "Fine. I'll call them." She walks down the hall. Hopper let's out an unstable laugh. "Oh, like hell you will!" He follows after her, his boots thudding against the wood floors.

Gus grabs the phone and starts to dial a number. She places the phone against her ear. "August, put the phone down."

Gus arches a brow, challenging her father. He lets out a scoff, "If you don't put that phone down, you're grounded."

Gus holds up a hand, "I'm 18."

"If you're still going to highschool. I can still ground you. That's the rule."

"Who came up with that rule?" Gus cocks her head to the side.

"I did! Now—"

One of the room doors swings open and Eleven pops her head out. "Can you please be quiet?"

Not even waiting to receive an answer, she closes the door with a soft thud. Gus and Hopper stare at the door for a moment. Then they both look at each other, the same thought crossing their minds. Gus sets the phone on the counter, she walks over to the room door with Hopper beside her.

"Hey, maybe, you guys should open the door." Gus speaks. "Like, right now."

"And there's no maybe in this situation—open the damn door, before I take it off."

"Hey, hey, calm down, papa bear." Gus holds her hands out to him. She then scoffs, "God..." she looks at the door again and knocks on it. "Ellie?"

The door opens and Gus looks at the two kids reading comic books on the bed. Hopper shakes his head, "One person on the bed, the other on the floor."

Mike holds a hand up, "We're not even doing anything—"

"That's a lie." Gus snorts.

"Dude!"

Gus innocently bunches her shoulders and purses her lips. Hopper continues to reprimand Eleven and Mike, Gus takes this time to walk back over to the phone and presses it against her ear.

"Hey, Steve?"

"August?"

A smile immediately forms on the girl's lips. "I'm here."

"I thought I lost you."

Gus shakes her head and keeps her eyes on the counter. "That's never happening, Harrington. You're stuck with me."

Steve softly laughs and his face grows hot. "Good."

"So, what's up? Did you need help with something or did you just want to hear my voice?"

Gus rolls her lips into her mouth and a giddy feeling flutters in her chest. "A little bit of both, actually." She shifts her eyes to Hopper, who was still talking to the kids.

"Hopper's giving me my own room, which means he needs to add an extension to the cabin." Gus tilts her head to the ceiling. "He and I keep butting heads."

"Say no more. I will be there in 20."

Gus bites the inside of her cheek and smiles. "Thanks, Steve. You're the best"

"Tell me something I don't know, Guster."

Gus' face heats up but she laughs it off and hangs up the phone. Gus stares at her phone for a moment, her face not cooling down anytime soon.

"Hey, Hop. Steve's coming over!"

"What?! Call him back and tell him to stay away!"

Gus rolls her eyes and turns to Hopper. She leans her back against the counter. "Hop, you're quite literally about to kill Mike." She tilts her head. "While you're busy with murder. We'll work on the room."

"August—"

"I get you don't like Steve. But I like him, so...ease up."

Hopper folds his arms and huffs. "I'm a protective father. I'm not allowed to ease up."

Gus softly chuckles, "Not only are you a protective father, but you're also an amazing one."

Hopper stops pouting and looks at the brunette. She bunches her shoulders, "If being mean to Steve is what you want. Go for it."

...

"You told him it was okay to be mean to me?!"

Gus scratches her ear, "I mean, I don't remember the exact words, but...yeah."

"Aw, what?!"

"He looked sad when he was pouting. I couldn't have him stay sad." Gus presses her hands together. "You understand, right?"

Steve keeps his eyes on Gus' puppy dog eyes. His heart clenches and he lets out a breath, a smile on his lips. "Of course, I understand. Your relationship with Hopper is important. I don't want to get into the middle of that."

"Hey, Steve..." Gus walks over to him. Steve looks over at her, his soft brown eyes on her hazel green ones. Gus stands toe to toe with the boy, her head tilted up at him. She interlocks her fingers with his. Gus' brows were furrowed but her eyes were soft.

"You're important to me too." Her voice was gentle enough for Steve to understand that she was serious. "Like really important."

Steve raises his brows and a small smile forms on his lips. "Seriously?"

Gus cranes her neck forward. "Did you forget about me almost dying for you almost 2 months ago?"

Steve purses his lips. "Oh, yeah, that's right."

Gus rolls her eyes with a smirk on her lips.

"Also, the dozens of journal entries you wrote, fantasizing about being with me." Steve points at her. "Can't forget about that."

Gus inhales a breath and her face grows hot. "Sh-shut up and help me move this." She grabs one end of the shelf.

Steve laughs at Gus' flustered state. "Yes ma'am."

☆

"I can't believe this..."

"I won?" Fallon softly smiles. She looks at Robin, who's mouth was basically on the floor. "I-I won."

Robin tangles bout her hands into her chestnut brown hair. "I don't believe this. You've never been here." She looks at Fallon.

Fallon raises her brows, "Maybe I'm just a natural Born gamer." She then claps her hands. "I won! Yay!"

Robin takes a moment to watch Fallon soak in her victory. She takes her hands from her hair and a small smile forms on her lips. Watching Fallon's dimples deepen and her muse of a laugh echo through her ears, made Robin's hearts accelerate. "And you won in heels." She motions to the hot pink pumps Fallon was wearing. Fallon lifts one leg up and bunches her shoulders.

"Who said I can't have it all?" Fallon giggles. Robin softly chuckles. "You were...you are amazing, Fal."

Fallon's laughter quiets down and she meets Robin's sapphire blue eyes. Her stomach flutters and her face grows hot. "I learned from the best." She nudges Robin.

Robin laughs, "Don't let Gus hear you say that, she'd have both our heads."

"Then it'll just be our secret." Fallon quickly shifts her eyes to Robin's lips then back to her eyes. Robin didn't notice, because she was too busy trying to keep her eyes away from Fallon. Anytime Robin would keep her eyes on Fallon, everything else would drown out around her. So, she kept her eyes glued to the Pac-Man game. "So, you had fun?"

"I had so much fun, Rob." Fallon raises a hand to touch Robin's hand, but she quickly stops. It came so much naturally to her, she almost forgot that they were just friends. Fallon drops her hand and exhales through her nose. "Thank you."

Robin softly chuckles and forces herself to look at Fallon and her voice gets caught in her throat. "You don't have to thank me. I like hanging with you, Fallon."

They both stand there for a moment and stare at each other. Fallon's heart begins to pound against her chest and she rolls her lips into her mouth. She grabs her cup and nervously bites on the red straw. "Let's go to the next game I can beat you at."

Robin laughs, "Yeah—we'll see."

...

Ever since they got into a relationship, Gus and Steve figured out that they were the horniest couple. They haven't had sex yet, but they have done things. Gus wanted to have sex and so did Steve, but he wanted it to be perfect for her. He wanted her first time to be everything she dreamed of. But Gus just wanted him.

Gus let's out a soft moan as Steve lightly bites her neck. The couple managed to start making out on Steve's bed and ended up on the carpet floor. Steve's hand slides under her shirt and he slightly pulls away from the girl.

"This okay?" He presses his knee against her core. Gus inhales a shaky breath and she nods her head.

"Oh, yeah. I'm good." Gus quickly reconnects their lips. She slightly sits up and takes her jacket off.

"Do you wanna work on the homework?" Steve breathes against her lips, his hands shaky with arousal.

Gus opens her eyes, meeting Steve's. Her breathing was heavy and her heartbeat was pounding through her ears. Everything in her mind was screaming for more. She wanted more Steve. That's all. Homework be damned.

"Not really." She shakes her head. Gus cups the back of his neck and kisses Steve's neck. A small breath leaves his lips, his eyes fall shut, and he hangs his head low. Gus bites her lower lip and smirks. She wraps her legs around his waist and switches positions so he was on the bottom. A small grunt leaves Steve's lips and he keeps his eyes glued to Gus', small pants leaving his lips.

Gus grips the end of her shirt and takes it off, revealing a black laced bralette over her chest. Steve exhales a sharp breath, his eyes travel across her body. "Holy shit, Gus."

"Stop acting like you've be never seen a girl in a bra before." Gus quirks a brow. In all honesty, the confidence Gus was feeling right now was all pretend. This wasn't even a bra she would wear on a daily basis. She wore sports bra most of the time. But she and Fallon went shopping last week and Gus spent most of her time looking for new bras and panties.

He slowly shakes his head. "No one like this." His hands then grip her waist. "You still manage to take my breath away. No matter what—"

Gus cuts off Steve's cheesy statement by smashing her lips onto his. And he kisses her back. His hands tighten around her waist and slowly moves her hips back and forth, causing her breathing to hitch. "Shit." Gus softly whispers.

No matter how much Steve wanted to have sex with Gus, he also felt nervous for her. He didn't want to rush anything for her. Even if they never ended up doing anything Steve would be fine with it. He was just lucky to be with her.

"Do you wanna go to the bed?" She shakily whispers.

Steve raises his brows and an uncertainty grows in his eyes. "Gus, I don't know..."

"Well...what about you?" Gus asks.

Steve raises his brows and chuckles, noticing her shifting her eyes to his lower region. "It's fine. Don't worry about me." He sits up and Gus straddles his waist.

"Steve—"

"I promise." Steve cups her neck and keeps his eyes on hers. Gus' strong hazel green eyes search his gentle coffee brown ones. She bites her lower lip, keeping her thoughts to herself (for the first time EVER) and nods her head. "Okay."

Gus leans forward and gingerly kisses him. Steve's heart jumps into his throat and he kisses her back, his hands gripping her thighs; making sure neither of them fell.

Gus' anticipation for sex would grow everyday. She knew that Steve wanted to wait for the perfect time. And Gus appreciated that, but at the same time, she didn't need anything special. Because the special thing in her life was Steve.

☆

"So..."

"Nothing." Gus sips her milkshake.

Fallon purses her lips, "I mean, not nothing. You did stuff."

"Yeah, but it didn't involve his penis—"

"Gross." Fallon squeezes her eyes shut and shakes her head. "I don't need to hear about Steve's..." she dry heaves."

Gus rolls her eyes, "Oh, come on, do you think I want to hear about your and Robin's need to not confess your feelings?"

"Gus, if I confess to Robin and she doesn't feel the same way about me—I'll have to move out of town." Fallon throws her hands up.

"She likes you, Fal." Gus chuckles. "Trust me."

"Why should I trust you when you never realized my feelings for you?" Fallon cocks her head to the side.

Gus sips her milkshakes and hums. "Huh...you're right." She then frowns. "But this one's obvious—"

"My crush on you was obvious." Fallon says.

Gus clicks her tongue and wags her finger. "I dunno...it was kind of quiet until you made out with me."

"Uh, you made out with me." Fallon retorts.

"Yeah. After you kissed me." Gus bunches her shoulders. "Because you liiiiked me."

Fallon rolls her eyes. "I'm not paying for your milkshake anymore."

"Aw, what? Because I'm right?"

"Because you're annoying." Fallon cranes her neck forward.

Gus then lets out a deep giggle. "Yeah...I am."

Fallon shakes her head and softly laughs.

...

"So, you two are...?"

"Together?"

Dustin looks down at his hand and sees Sofiía soft hand interlocked with his. His heart begins to ram against his chest more than before

"Holy shit—look at his face!" Lucas points at Dustin. "It's so red!"

The kids begin to laugh at him. Sofía softly giggles, "Guys, knock it off." She rolls her lips into her mouth and inspects Dustin's face. "Your face is super red, though."

Dustin rubs at his cheeks with both his hands. "Goddammit."

"So, you guys aren't going to like...kiss in front of us, right?" Mike shifts uncomfortably.

Sofía tilts her head. "Do you and El kiss in front of us? Do Lucas and Max kiss in front of us?"

"N-No—"

"Then why would you ask that question, Michael?" Sofía crosses her arms. Dustin raises his brows, he then folds his arms. "Yeah, Michael—"

"Oh, shut up, Dustin." Mike grumbles and sinks into his seat.

Sofía smirks, she walks over to Mike and wraps her arms around him, showing him her teasing was just for fun. Mike grumbles, but a smile ghosts his lips from Sofía's warm hug. "Get off—"

"Oh, you love me." Sofía stands up and walks back over to Dustin.

"Wait, so, what exactly are you guys gonna do when Dustin goes to camp?" Will asks, his hand raises.

"Break up—"

"Lucas!" Max nudges her boyfriend. Lucas groans, "Ow, I was kidding!" He then looks at the couple. "I was kidding, guys."

Dustin and Sofía both had the same nervous look across their faces. The look of fear and uncertainty. Dustin was leaving for camp in the summer. That was in 4 months. What were they going to do?

"Uh, I mean...we still have time." Sofía chuckles.

"Well, time goes by fast." Mike murmurs, his arms crossed.

Out of the corner of her eye, Sofía notices Dustin tense. She looks at him and her own fear increases. They had just started going out. Did they really have to worry about this?

━━━━━━━━━━

author's note.

we're baaaack 😏

Also I'm sorry if this chapter was weird, I'm still trying to get back in the zone of writing August 😭

words : 4490