The kids were already getting ready to leave, scrambling up the stairs in a rush of energy and laughter. Lucas shoved Will playfully as they went, joking around like nothing in the world could touch them, while Mike absentmindedly rubbed his cheek, the same spot Chris had pinched earlier, still lingering with embarrassment.
Their footsteps carried all the way up to Nancy's room. Hearing them, Nancy quickly told Barbara she had to hang up, using sleep as an excuse.
{…You just wanted to say goodbye to Chris, right?}
Barbara's teasing voice slipped through the receiver, but Nancy didn't answer. She simply hung up before another word could follow, cutting the line and stepping out of her room. Without hesitation, she made her way downstairs.
By the time she reached the bottom, she saw Mike, Lucas, and Will already heading toward the door, ignoring their presence and she's waiting for Chris and Dustin, who had just come up from the basement.
"Hey, Chris. Are you heading home?" Nancy asked.
"Wow, not even a hi for me?" Dustin cut in, adjusting his cap with mock offense as he looked between them.
"Go outside first," Chris said with a light chuckle, which only made Nancy feel a little more self-conscious under Dustin's knowing expression.
Once Dustin moved along, Chris leaned casually against the stair railing, his posture relaxed as his eyes settled on Nancy. "Hey, what's wrong?"
"Oh…no, nothing," Nancy replied quickly, a faint blush creeping onto her face. She hesitated for a second before adding, "Uhm…I just want to say, ride safe."
The words came out simpler than she intended, and whatever she had originally planned to say stayed unspoken.
Chris laughed softly. "Don't worry, it's just a couple blocks after all." He studied her for a moment longer, a hint of curiosity in his gaze. "What? Is there something you want to say to me? Come on, spill it, Nance."
"Uhm… no. It's nothing important," Nancy said, shaking her head slightly.
She had wanted to ask about the rumor she and Barbara had been talking about earlier, but in the end, she decided she'd just ask Steve another time.
Chris only shrugged, giving a small nod as if accepting her answer. But before he turned to leave, he glanced back at her once more.
"Oh yeah, do you still want to come see us band practice?" he asked.
Nancy blinked, caught off guard. She hadn't expected that question right now.
She knew about his band. The rock band he played in at school, tied to the Hellfire Club. She knew the kind of people in it, the so-called "freaks." And she knew Chris wasn't just part of it.
He was the one leading the band.
Eddie, Jeff, Gareth, and Grant.
Gareth and Grant had only just been recruited, they are freshmen this year and yes, they were all the same kind of "freaks" people often associated with her brother. The Hellfire Club, led by Eddie Munson, had that exact reputation: strange, outcast, and completely outside the social norm. For the longest time, Nancy couldn't understand why Chris would choose to associate himself with them.
Later on, she found out the real reason.
Chris didn't join them only for the club.
He joined them for the band.
He spent a lot of time with the Hellfire Club, more than most students in school and he was actually one of them. He sat at their table, took part in their games, and hung out with them like any other member. But more than anything, he was there because of the music.
Eddie Munson led the club.
But Chris… Chris led the band.
Other students talked, of course. They whispered about Chris hanging out with the so-called freaks, about how someone like him didn't belong there. But Chris never cared. He kept showing up, kept playing with them, kept being exactly who he was without trying to fit into anyone else's expectations.
And maybe that was exactly why Eddie accepted him.
Because Eddie didn't care about that kind of thing either.
So when Nancy heard Chris casually inviting her, 'still inviting her,' even knowing about her relationship with Steve, she was caught off guard.
She didn't expect him to still want her there, to offer her a place in something that was so… him.
And when the words finally settled in her mind, she realized something unsettling.
She didn't know what to say.
Chris noticed the shift in her expression and smiled, like he could read exactly what was going on in her head.
"Don't worry about it," he said, casually reaching out and ruffling her hair. "You can ask Steve first, or maybe ask him to come too."
"…Fine," Nancy replied softly, glancing at him. She didn't push his hand away.
"But only Steve, alright?" Chris added, lowering his hand as his tone turned a little more serious. "I don't want that friend of his coming too."
Nancy tilted her head, confused. "Why?"
"They're assholes. That's why."
With that, Chris turned and started walking off, leaving her standing there.
He was talking about Tommy and Carol, of course. He didn't like either of them, not even a little. One was a slut, the other a complete douchebag, and Chris had no patience for either. But Steve… Steve was different. Somehow, Chris was fine with him.
…And Nancy didn't understand why.
As Chris made his way toward the front door, he passed through the living room again, just like before. And when he glanced up…
He saw her.
And just like that, a small smile returned to his face.
------
Karen sat in the living room beside her husband, the television casting a soft glow across the space. To anyone else, it looked like a quiet, ordinary evening, just another family moment.
But her mind was somewhere else entirely.
She found herself thinking about Chris.
Just like her daughter had been.
Karen was a woman, she understood things Nancy might still be figuring out. She knew the difference between a man's casual glance and something more. She had felt it before, the inappropriate stares, the way some men looked at her like they wanted something from her, like their eyes lingered just a second too long.
She knew what desire looked like.
Karen let out a quiet breath, her gaze drifting toward her husband. He was completely absorbed in the television, unaware of the storm quietly building inside her.
But what unsettled her the most… was that what she had felt from Chris wasn't the same.
Chris.
The neighbor's kid.
She had known him ever since Claudia moved into town. Known him since Dustin became friends with Mike. He had always been polite, kind, respectful toward her and her family.
And yet… she had never felt that from him before.
Had he been hiding it all this time?
That boy who had always been so good to them?
…No.
He wasn't a boy anymore.
The realization settled heavily in her chest.
She couldn't do this. She shouldn't even be thinking about this. He wasn't a child anymore! and that was exactly why this felt so wrong. She couldn't open her heart to something like this, couldn't allow even the smallest possibility to take root.
She needed to straighten herself out.
To put a stop to these thoughts before they went any further.
Her eyes flicked back to her husband again, still staring at the television with almost excessive focus.
Yeah.
She had a good family.
A stable life.
She wasn't going to throw that away.
"I'm going to check on the kids," Karen said, pushing herself up from the sofa.
Her husband only gave a distracted grunt in response, a vague "uhm" without even looking away from the screen.
Karen turned, intending to head toward the basement but before she could even leave the living room, she saw Mike's friends already coming up, bags slung over their shoulders.
"Oh, you guys are heading home?" she asked. "Where's Chris?"
"He's behind us!" Lucas answered quickly, not even slowing down.
Will, Lucas, and Mike were already halfway to the door, their excitement obvious with a little murmur that they wanted to see Chris's bike again, probably hoping to climb on it and pretend they were bikers.
Karen let out a small sigh, her eyes shifting toward the hallway.
Right then, Dustin and Chris emerged from the basement.
She was just about to call out to him, but Chris stopped in front of Nancy and began talking to her.
She smiled, looking at them. 'Yeah, it's better if Nancy has Chris.' She thought to herself and nodded, even ignoring Dustin who ran past her.
Karen was still standing there, watching Chris and Nancy. She saw him pat Nancy's head and Nancy blush for his kind and loving gesture. But as he walked away, she saw him smile at her.
It was the same smile as before. She saw him looking at her face first, but his pupils also dilated and he glanced at her body. She flinched at that, but because Nancy was still watching from the door, she tried to ignore his stare.
"Oh, Chris, are you going home?" She said stupidly. Of course he was going home!
"Yeah," Chris simply said, and as they passed, his hand deliberately touched Karen's.
No. He's aiming at her back thigh.
She flinched for a moment, perhaps a little gasp escaped her lips, but Chris didn't care at that, she maybe even thinking that he's trying hard to stop smiling. He still stood beside her and looked at Ted with his hand touching her lightly through her jeans.
"Good night, Ted," Chris said with a smile. Ted didn't know what Chris did, he just glanced at him and made a huge effort to give him a little wave.
"Oh, yeah, ride safe kid," Ted said before focusing on the TV again.
Nancy also didn't see Chris's hand brushing against her mother's back thigh; her gaze was distracted by Ted's ignorant gesture to Chris which made her grumble and roll her eyes.
"Good night, Karen," Chris said quietly from behind her, his hand deliberately touching her ass now. It was only a touch that seemed accidental, but Karen knew it was intentional.
She even felt that touch through her jeans, though it was only for a few seconds before Chris walked back out the door of the Wheeler house.
Karen turned and looked at Chris, who was also looking at her with a smirk on his face.
She gulped down, not wanting to have eye contact with him again, which made Chris chuckle at that and leave the house with his chuckles still echoing in Karen's head.
She couldn't help but curse and didn't do anything for those seconds. It's just gonna make a fire for him and it's already crossed the line for Karen. But there's something in her mind that troubled her completely.
….Why doesn't she react to that?