Sadness, depression, emotions that clouded the air and kept those that attended in tears. The funeral wasn’t huge by any means. Ironic for someone who had the title of king in Highschool. One might think the world all over would have come by to pay their respects to the man, but that just wasn’t meant to be. Instead what stood was a small group of friends and family that supported and cherished Steve Harrington over the years. His parents said their peace, a few of his highschool friends that kept in touch, but mostly the air truly saddened when Dustin stepped up to say a few words about Steve. Speaking of their time together, speaking of Steve’s deepest darkest secret and how it helped change his life, the Farah Fawcett spray. The advice the two shared, the good times, if ever there was someone Dustin could call a best friend it was Steve. Most at that funeral shared a similar opinion and experience with Steve. While he might not have been the easiest guy to get along with at times, it was his heart that drew so many in and his heart that made it an honor to know him. But it was the aftermath of the funeral, the last few moments everyone had with Steve before he was to be taken away, that was when the petite blonde walked up toward the podium where she hoped she’d find Nancy Wheeler. It was unmistakable, like Dustin, she’d be the one in a strong sense of pain.


“Nancy, Nancy Wheeler…” The shaky voice from the blonde spoke, hoping to get her attention. Her bright green eyes looked back at Nancy, smudged from the make up that was compromised thanks to the tears she just wiped from her face. “Hi I’m…well my names Denise and I was, a friend of Steve’s. He uh…” She said with an inevitable lump welling in her throat. Trying to speak, such a simple action that became as complicated as decoding a rubix cube or Russian code at this point. “I’m sorry.” She said clearing her throat some before she spoke again. “Steve was a good friend to me. He helped me during some dark times and made sure I had what I needed to help take care of my little boy. He was a good guy, someone I owed so much too. The least I could have done was try to make him happy, try to make him smile, but no matter what I did I could never get him to smile. I thought maybe it was just a dark mysterious thing about him, but I found out there were two things that always brought that smile out of him. When he mentioned Dustin over there…” She said pointing his way, the same Dustin who spoke with Steve’s parents. “And especially when he mentioned you. He always spoke about you, always spoke wonders. God, everytime he mentioned the name Nancy Wheeler, his eyes lit up like it was the fourth of July.” She said with a chuckle at the thought. “You were truly someone special in his life. And I…well.”

Dear Nance,

So, you know I was never good at writing. Heck the last time I tried I made a stupid sports analogy to try and compare to my family. God just thinking back on it, how did you not laugh in my face? It was so stupid. Heh, but I guess that’s you right? Nancy Wheeler always seeing the best in people even when they don’t see it themselves. Well here goes, I’m going to give this a try so if I sound dumb along the way, please bare with me. I’m sorry that I left like I did that day. My heart and my mind weren’t exactly agreeing on what they wanted and I…I panicked. I left because my heart wanted you, wanted you as more than a friend. But my mind raced and kept going back to all the moments with us. To the stupid thing I did when I accused you of cheating on me with Jonathan. To the fight we had about Barb, to the fight we had before I left. It just kept replaying all the bad moments we had and it nagged at me, telling me it was just doomed to happen again. I was confused and like an idiot, I ran. Tommy might have been an asshole, but he was always right about one thing, whenever something felt like it was too much to handle I…I ran. And I ran again when I should have stood up and been a man, stood up and talked to you. Instead of calling you, instead of talking to you I ran over here to Wisconsin and stationed myself off. It wasn’t fair to you Nance, it was selfish of me and I never should have done it.

Well, I’m done being an idiot. I’ve been working at this mechanic shop and I managed to get enough money saved up to buy a one way ticket back home. I just need to pick up this check at the end of the week and I’ll be set. In the meantime I’m writing you this letter to give you a heads up. I’ll take any slaps, any yelling, anything you have to throw at me. If it means I’ll get to see the beautiful Nancy Wheeler again then so be it. This time, I’m not giving up on us. I’m on my way to the post office right now to mail this out. I’m coming home Nance, because I love you and I truly believe in us. I’ll see you soon.

Love Steve