CHAPTER NINE:
THE JUNKYARD

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   LIZ HAS HAD many strange things happen in her life ever since the fall of 1983, but she never thought that she would have to leave a trail of red meat for a baby Demogorgon to follow. The three of them, Dustin, Steve and Liz, all carried a white bucket in their hands filled to the brim with red meat. The trio casually walked along the the rusted, old railroad tracks, that were covered in leaves and rocks, that hadn't been used in years. Every few steps, one of them would grab a clump of the raw meat in their hands and toss it onto the tracks until the reached their destination of the old junkyard. Liz and Dustin both remembered it, since that was where they went when the people at Hawkins Lab were after them for having Eleven.

"All right, so let me get this straight." Steve starts, throwing down a clump of red meat onto the leave covered tracks. "You kept something you knew was probably dangerous in order to impress a girl who... who you just met?"

"All right, that's grossly oversimplifying things.

"I mean, why would a girl like some nasty slug anyway?" Steve questions. Liz sighs as she thinks about the girl that they're talking about. She didn't think that Steve knew that Dustin was talking about Max, he probably thought Dustin was talking about someone else. Liz, however, knew that she had no chance against Dustin when it came to Max possibly liking one of them.

"An interdimensional slug? Because it's awesome!"

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

"Well, not everyone can have the Harrington family's perfect hair, all right?" Dustin says, motioning to both Steve and Liz.

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

Liz looks up from the ground and throws a small pile of meat on the ground before sighing at what Steve said and whispering to herself, "You've got to be kidding me."

"Even if you do?" Dustin asks.

"Yeah, exactly. It drives 'em nuts." Steve says, making Liz roll her eyes.

"Then what?"

"You just wait until, uh... until you feel it." Steve answers, throwing a chunk of meat over Liz's head to which she glares at him for. He just winks at her as if to tell her to listen to what they're talking about. As if their conversation could help Liz in any way. She had already felt what Steve was talking about, the day that she first laid eyes on Max.

"Feel what?" Dustin questioned.

"It's like before it's gonna storm, you know?" Steve starts. Despite Liz not liking the conversation with Dustin talking about how to win over Max, she listened. "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," Steve rambles, shaking his head as Liz chuckles at Dustin. "Like a... like a sexual electricity."

"Oh."

"You feel that," Steve says, pointing to Dustin, then slightly turning his gaze to Liz, "and then you make your move.

"So that's when you kiss her?"

"Whoa, whoa. Slow down, Romeo." Steve says, throwing more meat onto the ground. "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." Liz gave Steve a 'what-the-fuck' look which of course he didn't see since she was behind him, but she rolled her eyes at his explanation. "But others, you gotta be slow, you gotta be stealthy, like a... like a ninja."

"What type is Nancy?" Dustin asks.

"Nancy's different." Steve says, which causes Liz to smile slightly. "She's different than the other girls."

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

"Yeah. Yeah, she is."

"But, this girl's special, too, you know." Dustin says. Liz sighs, and nods. Yeah, yeah she is special. "It's just, like, something about her."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hey, hey, hey." Steve says, stopping in his tracks. He throws down another piece of meat, "You're not falling in love with this girl, are you?"

   "Uh... no."

   "Okay, good. Don't." Steve says, now continuing to walk. He casts a glance to Liz before speaking, "She's only gonna break your heart and you're way too young for that shit."

   They walk in silence for a minute as Liz thinks about Max. She knew that she didn't know her enough to be in love with her, but she also knew that she really liked her. Liz knew that she had only known Max for a few days, and she knew that there was only a small chance that Max liked girls, so why even try to compete with any other boy? She had decided right then and there that from that moment forward, she was done liking Max. She didn't care what her heart said, she had to listen to what her brain was telling her: She had no chance.

"Fabergé." Steve finally says, breaking the silence.

"What?" Dustin and Liz ask in unison.

"It's Fabergé Organics." Steve says, pointing to his hair, which makes Liz snort. He glares at her before turning back to Dustin, "Use the shampoo and conditioner, and when your hair's damp... it's not wet, okay? When it's damp... you do four puffs of the Farrah Fawcett spray."

"Farrah Fawcett spray?" Dustin chuckles.

"Yeah, Farrah Fawcett." Steve says, stopping once again. "Either of you tell anyone I just told you guys that and your asses are grass. You're dead, Henderson... and you too, Elizabeth Marie. Do you understand?"

"Yup." Dustin nods.

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   An hour or so later, they came upon a clearing which was the old junkyard. It was the same as the last time Liz had been there. The bus was still there, but even more rusted and scorched from the sun. The sides were still lined with abandoned cars and sheet metal. The sun shone brightly over the large area, and it was actually quite nice out if it weren't for the fact that they were trying to capture a mini Demogorgon.

   "Oh, yeah. Yeah, this'll do." Steve nods before starting down the hill and taking his sunglasses off, which he had put on a few minutes earlier. "This will do just fine. Good call, dude."

   They started to arrange things, and put their plan in motion. Steve put his things in the bus, which was large enough for all of them. The rest of the meat in their buckets was poured into a pile in the middle of the junkyard.

   "I SAID MEDIUM WELL!"

   The trio looked up, finding that a smiling and waving Lucas Sinclair standing atop a hill with the familiar redhead standing next to him. They started to walk down the hill towards them, and the redhead smiled and waved slightly towards them. Steve had a confused look on his face as he looked at the redheaded girl, "Who's that?"

   "Max." Liz answers as Dustin is too busy frowning at the fact that his best friend is with his crush. Steve gives her a look, wanting to know if it's the Max. She nods, and he purses his lips before rubbing her shoulder.

   As Lucas and Max come over to them, Liz avoids Max's gaze, and grabs Lucas's arm, "We need to talk."

   They walk over behind an abandoned car, and kneel down. Both Liz and Dustin wanted to know why the hell Max was here, when Lucas knew what they were doing. Dustin's eyes widened once Lucas explained, "You told her?"

   "So what?" Lucas asks.

   Liz scoffs, "So what? Just telling her about it puts her in danger, but bringing her here is even worse! She could get hurt, Lucas!"

   "Yeah, we all agreed not to tell her and to look for Dart." Dustin agrees.

   "Who you conveniently found." Lucas states.

   "Are you suggesting that I'm lying?" Dustin questions. Liz purses her lips, knowing that he did lie, but doesn't wanna tell Lucas about it.

   "I'm saying you have a creepy little bond with him." Lucas says.

   "Yeah, that was before he turned into a Demogorgon." Dustin defends.

   "And you haven't heard from Mike?" Lucas questions, looking between both of them. "Either of you?"

   "No." They say together.

   "Or Will?"

   "No."

   "Hopper?"

   "No! No one is around!" Dustin yells, annoyed. "Why do you think I'm with Steve Harrington? Thankfully, Liz was with him, but the only reason he's here is because I couldn't get in contact with any of you! Something's—"

   "—Wrong. I agree." Lucas interrupts, nodding. "Which is why we need as much help as we can get."

   They hear a grunt come from Max as she lifts sheet metal and sets it against the bus. They all stand up and look at her. Lucas sighs, "She didn't believe me anyway."

   "You probably didn't tell it right." Dustin says.

   Liz chuckles, "That must be it. It's better that she doesn't believe it. It keeps her safer, but I still don't think it was a good idea."

   Lucas sighs, and holds out his hans, "Well, we good?"

   Liz and Dustin smile at him before Steve bangs a metal chair against the car they were standing by. They all jump as he yells, "Hey! Dickheads! How come the only one helping me out is this random girl? We lose light in forty minutes. Let's go."

The boys sigh in annoyance, but get up and start helping. Liz starts to walk towards them, but gets pulled back by Steve, "Are you gonna be okay?"

Liz furrows her brows at her brother, "Yeah, I'll be fine. Why?"

Steve raises his eyebrows, "Liz, yesterday you came home balling your eyes out because of that girl. It's barely been 24 hours."

Liz smiles at her brother, "I'll be fine. Besides, I'm over her."

Steve gives her a look, but she ignores him and starts walking over to the boys to help. As she gets closer to Max and hears her infectious laugh, she curses herself, Fuck, I'm so not over her.

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A/N:

[ 1718 WORDS ]

this chapter wasn't gonna be this long
but it is so i hope you enjoyed!