Risky Business ｡ Stranger Things

3 : War Games

Annoyance still pumped through Prue's bloodstream as Patrick Turner dutifully walk her to her car after stopping off at her locker. The afternoon air was cool with winter not too far off and a fierce wind played with the brunette's hair. Patrick's hand was warm around hers and she looked down at their fingers intertwined, but the irritation she felt over Billy Hargrove didn't ease.

"Who was that guy you were talking to?" Patrick asked in a voice infused with curiosity and jealousy. Patrick was tall and strong with a freckled face; his eyes were kind and he had a contagious laugh. And every so often he would give her a lop-sided grin that would pluck at her heartstrings. Selena had been right when she had said that he was loved by jocks and nerds alike. Patrick Turner was just a likeable guy all around. So, the jealousy in his voice was a new concept to Prue Owens.

She hesitated, turning slightly to face her boyfriend. "Oh, that's the new guy. The very one everyone's been talking about." She let go of Patrick's hand, seeing her car up ahead and her younger brother waiting beside it and staring off into the distance. "Billy Hargrove," she drawled out, playing around with his name on her lips.

"I heard he was into dudes," he replied, shoving his hands deep into his pockets.

Prue nodded as she tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. "Yeah, Selena heard that too." She finally stepped closer to Patrick, pressing her palms flat against his torso. "Look, I gotta go. I have a shift at the arcade and I have to drop Grey off at home first..." she admitted lamely.

"He does look a little tired," Patrick observed with a smile directed at Grey by the car. "Lunch tomorrow?"

Her eyebrows notched together. "Don't you have student council during lunch?"

"I do, but I'll just skip it." Patrick's warm hands embraced the sides of her face. "I'd rather hang out with you anyway." He leaned down as Prue raised herself up on her toes, their lips meeting in the middle. The kiss was familiar and comfortable. Patrick waved Prue off, shouting out a hey to Grey before heading to his own car. Both of the Owens siblings packed into the years-old car and after a few tries, the car sprung to life.

"How was school?" Prue asked, looking away from the road before her for a short moment. Grey's brown hair waved against his forehead and the coloured stripes of his shirt complemented his eyes well.

"There's this new girl," he said shyly, looking down at his hands in his lap. Numerous dying trees aglow with orange flashed by outside the window.

"Maxine, right?" Grey's eyes flickered to his older sister in a heartbeat, his face lighting up in the most adorable and bashful way.

"How did you know?" His voice broke with astonishment. "Wait, it was Selena, wasn't it?"

"She's like a dog with a bone when it comes to Hawkins gossip," she laughed. "Besides, Maxine's brother is in high school."

"Max has a brother," he mumbled, tossing around the slice of information in his mind. "That makes it four things that I know about her." Prue didn't need to see her baby brother's face to know that a crimson blush was creeping across his cheeks and neck.

"Oh, really?" she obliged him, in a tone just shy of teasing. "What are the other three things?"

Grey seemed truly delighted to talk about Maxine. "Well, that her name is Maxine but she prefers Max. She has a skateboard and lived in California."

"And let me guess, she's totally cute with long blonde hair," Prue added, pulling down their street, Kerley, which was close to the grounds of the Hawkins National Laboratory, where their father worked.

"Nope. She has red hair, almost orange, actually," he stated with pride in his voice about knowing that extra detail about the Hargrove girl.

"Huh." Prue swung right into the driveway of their relatively wealthy house. "Her brother's blond." Dusk was just starting to crawl slowly across the sky and there were no lights glowing through the windows of the Owens house.