The night was dark, lit only by the streetlights that dotted the deserted streets of Hawkins. You were walking home, the silence broken only by the soft sound of your footsteps against the asphalt. The town felt stranger than ever, with the sense that something was always lurking in the shadows. You knew that feeling all too well, especially after everything that happened last year.

As you approached the corner of the street, you heard the familiar rumble of an engine coming closer. A car pulled up beside you, and Steve Harrington’s smiling face appeared at the window.

"Hey, you okay?" Steve asked, leaning slightly out of the window. "It’s late. Want a ride?"

You hesitated for a moment. Your relationship with Steve was... complicated. After what happened with Nancy and everything that followed, you found yourself getting closer to Steve. He had changed, somehow. He wasn’t the popular, self-centered guy you knew from school anymore. There was an unexpected maturity emerging in him, a sense of responsibility that made him seem different. Better.