wild one - steve harrington

that's life

The three girls walked with a spring in their step toward the car park lot, Roxy swinging the keys around her finger. Just as they exited the mall, she heard voices that none of them wanted to hear. Unfortunately, they saw the boys. "Oh, you've got to be shitting me." Max said, and Roxy stepped forward, squaring her shoulders intimidatingly. Putting a protective hand on El's shoulder and fixating a glare, Roxy walked forward. Max and El followed suit. "Isn't this a nice surprise." Max showed off her sarcasm. Mike, Lucas, and Will looked scared, something that Roxy smirked at.

"What are you doing here?" Mike asked angrily, pointing at El. Roxy, stepping forward, raised her eyebrows at Mike.

"She was having fun. With us, not you." Roxy said, smiling meanly at him. He looked at Roxy, first angry, but his eyes showed a quick flash of fright before turning away from her.

"What's wrong with you? You know she's not allowed to be here." Mike said, looking from Roxy to Max. Roxy rolled her eyes.

"What is she, your little pet?" Max asked, getting angrier.

"Yeah. Am I your pet?" El repeated. Roxy gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze. Mike denied it, but he wasn't going to get away that easy. "Why do you treat me like garbage?" She continued. "You said Nana was sick."

"She is." Mike said, but Roxy could tell he was bad at lying. "She is. She is sick." He said again, waving his arms to gesture Lucas and Will to back him up. Roxy scoffed, laughing.

"She is sick. She is. She's super sick. That's why we're here actually." Lucas piped in, but it was too late.

"Yeah, we're shopping. Not for us, but for Nana. Also, we're here to get a gift for you." Mike half-lied. All three girls had their eyes narrowed, very obviously suspicious. "Just, we couldn't find anything that suited you, and I only have like, $3.50, so it's hard."

"Super hard. It's- it's expensive." Lucas said, glancing at Max.

"You lie." El said, and Roxy nodded. Mike clearly didn't try recovering. "Why do you lie?" She looked back at the keys that were still swinging, and Roxy got the message. "I dump your ass."

Roxy grabbed Max's shoulder, mouth agape. The first real drama to happen in months and they were both shocked. El walked past Roxy and Max to the car, and the other girls followed. They piled into the car, and all burst out laughing. Roxy put on some music, and after Max high-fived the only single girl in the car, they drove off. 

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It got to the evening, and Roxy was about to head out to meet Steve at the mall. She knew he'd probably be there with Robin and Dustin but what better plans did she have? She wondered into her brother's room, but he wasn't there. Huh. She thought. She wasn't worried. Billy and his long term relationship with Motel 6. She grabbed a brown jacket off his bed, threw it on, and left. 

Robin looked more surprised than Dustin when Roxy strolled into their 'secret meeting'. "Hey." Roxy said, and they both said it back. Roxy stood next to Steve who slipped his hand into the back pocket of her denim shorts. After about ten minutes of further decoding and Roxy randomly nodding in agreement to things she didn't understand, they finished translating the message. 

"The week is long, the silver cat feeds when blue meets yellow in the west." Steve, Dustin and Robin read aloud. Roxy waited, lips pursed, for something to happen. But her silence was met with that from the others, seemingly hitting a dead end. They decided to leave, and Roxy decided to invite Steve over to her place. He'd have to sneak in, of course. 

"I mean, it's just- it can't be right." Steve said as he drew the garage-like door shut after they filed out of the parlour. Roxy walked ahead of the group, lost in her own world. She thought about her brother, about the amount of fun she had that day with the girls, and she thought about Steve. She was never one to think about the future over the present, but she admitted to herself that she wished it would last. If anything were to change in her life, if any piece were to be removed, she feared she would go back to the emotionless girl she was before. 

"It's obviously a code." Dustin said, Roxy now hearing their conversation. Her eyes scanned the emptiness of the mall. 

"What do you mean, a code?" Steve asked as they all wandered aimlessly through the mall, following Roxy. 

"Like a super-secret spy code." Dustin answered, completely serious. 

"Look at us. Secret agents. At least I have a gun." Roxy replied, poking fun at the situation. As usual. Robin laughed.

"I'm serious. It's Russians we're talking about." Dustin replied. 

"That's a total stretch." Steve added. They were still walking, very slowly, taking in the silence of what would usually be the hustle and bustle of a normal day in Hawkins. 

"I don't know, is it?" Robin asked, challenging the idea of shutting down Dustin's theory.

"You're buying into this?" Steve asked, finally caught up to Roxy. He put his arm around her shoulders, matching her walking pace. 

"Listen, just for kicks, let's entertain the possibility that it is a secret Russian transmission." Robin suggested. "What'd you think they were gonna say? 'Fire warhead at noon?'"

"There is a point there." Roxy replied, only half her mind into the conversation. 

"Exactly." 

"And my translation is correct." They were both trying to convince Steve, whereas Roxy was simply amusing herself. "I know that for sure, so... 'the silver cat feeds'. Why would anyone talk like that unless they're trying to mask the meaning of their message?" Robin continued. 

"Exactly." Dustin said once again. 

"Why would anyone mask the true meaning of their message unless the message was somehow sensitive?" Robin went on.

"Exactly." Dustin and Roxy said. Though, Roxy was more making fun of Dustin, knowing what he would say. He gave her a look and she winked playfully at him. 

"So I guess that confirms your suspicion?" Robin said, raising her eyebrows. 

"Evil Russians."