*Dustin's POV*
Gosh. Sitting there, next to Mon, really was great. Her light caramel-colored hair was sprinkled with starlight, shining in the glow of the moon. I couldn't see her eyes, but I'm sure they were great, too. Her head was like a little weight on my shoulder; not a bad weight, more like one of those little two-pounders my mom walks around the house with because she thinks it counts as exercising. Either way, it was great.
   It was obvious that Mon was exhausted from the terrifying events that had plagued her that day, but she didn't want to sleep yet; all she wanted was to stare at the sky and sit on the railing of Hopper's porch. With me.
   "Dustin," she said finally.
   "Yes, milady?" I replied like a complete dork.
   She laughed a little breathy giggle before continuing. "Is it weird that we've been friends before, but we're just meeting each other now?"
   "We met in fourth grade."
   "Well, yeah, we introduced ourselves, but we didn't really know each other back then." Mon sighed. "I just thought it was odd that even after five years, you still know really nothing about me."
   It was true. While Mon had apparently paid attention to everything going on at Hawkins Middle School, we never once thought to pay attention to her. Yes, I forgot about her, I'm not gonna make up some weird shit about me secretly loving her this whole time. But I mean, yeah, we could've been a hell of a lot nicer to her.
   While I'm not making up a shitty love story, I have to admit that I may have been slightly... completely in love with her in the fourth and fifth grade. That was the time I transitioned from my girls-are-gross phase to my girls-think-I'm-gross phase, and Monica Harrington happened to be the only girl to talk to me in those years, so she was unfortunate enough to win my affection. Back then, I never thought any of what has happened would happen; I never thought we'd stop talking to her, and I sure as hell never thought she'd seem to reciprocate my feelings from so long ago.
   "How about I ask you something now?" I suggested.
   Mon kept her head on my shoulder; I could hear her faint breath. "I'm listening," she replied.
   Here goes nothing: "Do you think that... maybe... you'd want to go out or something? Ya know, sans the crazy-ass monsters and my crazier-ass friends?"

   I heard her breathing stop for a moment. She moved her head off of my shoulder, looking down past the railing to the pebbles and gravel adorning the front yard.
Well, that went straight to Hell.
   I stayed right where I was, not looking at Mon or saying anything. She had to make the next move, and I was bracing myself for some terrible attempt at "letting me down easy."
   After what seemed like an eternity- looking back, Mon says it was only like nine seconds- she looked me right at me, piercing my heart with her steel-coated eyes. "Yes," she exhaled.
My head snapped up to look back at her. "Yes?" She nodded, making me feel like one of those idiotic teenage girls on Happy Days. "Yes!" Without even thinking, I grabbed the Harrington girl's face and kissed her. This time, I actually got her lips. After getting over the initial shock, she kissed me back, putting her hand in my hair and tugging on a curl.
Mon pulled away for air, then spun around and hopped off the railing, her royal blue slippers making a weird noise on the porch.
What the hell?
   "'Mon," I called quietly after her, running inside to where she sat wth the others on her sleeping bag.
   She looked up at me and smiled casually. "Yeah, what's up, Dustin?"
   I looked from her to my friends, all of whom were watching me intently. I decided that they couldn't hear about this yet (Mike would flip his shit), so I pulled Mon closer to the corner of the room, lowering my voice to a whisper.
   "What the hell just happened?"
   "Well, I came inside, you followed me in, and now we're here," she said brightly, smiling teasingly at me.
   "Nice try, smart ass. I meant, why did you just leave after... after what just happened?"
   Mon thought for a minute, obviously asking herself this question for the first time. "I... I don't know," she uttered, fiddling with the string on her pyjama shorts. "I mean, what are you supposed to do after you kiss someone you've already kissed like twice today?"
   "Not leave, that's for damn sure," I teased, nudging her shoulder with mine.
   Mon looked over at our friends. "You know they're gonna find out eventually, right?"
   I scoffed, putting my arm around her. "They found out before we did, Harrington."
   "Harrington?" She looked up at me. "We're on a last-name basis now, are we, Henderson?"
   Mike called over to us at that point. "Are you guys ever going to sleep? We're all exhausted, and we were waiting for you guys, but it's after midnight."
   I checked my watch. "Holy shit, it really is after midnight." My old clock face (Mike had a digital watch. Nerd.) read 12:15. Mon and I had been talking for over three hours.
   "Damn, are you sure you're reading that thing correctly?" Mon held my wrist in her hand, studying my watch carefully. "Shit, you're right. We should go to bed too."
   We watched as El and Will turned off all of the lights in the cabin until the stars in the sky were our only light source. Mike and El cuddled up on their spots on the floor; Max stared at the ceiling while Lucas stared at Will with maximum annoyance.
   I laid down on top of my sleeping bag, putting the blanket my mom had given me over myself. Mon sat on the floor delicately; she was definitely the most lady-like of the girls, minus the swearing. From her overnight bag, she took what looked at first like a little lump of fabric. I then saw what it really was.
   "You brought a teddy bear?" I asked curiously.
   Mon rolled her eyes. "It helps me sleep," she said shortly, laying on top of her sleeping bag as well, pulling her periwinkle blanket over herself. It was small, but so was she, so t worked perfectly for her.
   "No judgement," I defended myself. "I actually think it's cute."
   "What's with you and cute?" she muttered.
   Mon was just the embodiment of cute. Her style. The way her grey eyes can turn into shining silver when she's happy. Hell, even her voice was like the sound counterpoint of those pictures of puppies and ducklings cuddling. Yeah, it's been a day, and no, I'm not "falling for her" or any of that shit. But yeah, there's definitely something there. I just haven't figured out what it is yet.
   Her eyes slowly closing, I watched as Mon fell asleep on the floor next to me, the teddy bear pulled close to her chest.