𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗲, steve harrington

45. QUANTUM PHYSICS, BABY

"... Yeah, yeah, that too." He nodded. "So... what's the problem? You obviously know what song it is, what do you need to figure out?"

"Why it was playing in the transmission. I don't get it." Sadie's focus landed momentarily on her finger yet again and, with the cease of the bleeding the tissue was tossed aside in a lane attempt to make it to her waste paper basket, which she would no doubt move in the morning.

"It's a pretty popular song." Steve shrugged. "And, you know, the Commies enjoy a good fair to hide their invasions behind. I don't know.. would it help disguise their message or something? Aim to throw people off?"

"Well it can't be that, considering we translated it." Sadie hummed, but whilst she had thrown away his idea like it was nothing Steve was more than happy with his contribution; he would do anything just to help her process a little easier, and whether it be closer to noon than four in the morning, this was just another of those times. "But it's such a classic American... and British, I guess, song. If they wanted to distract people they would play some crap in their own language to ensure unwanted translators had a hard time deciphering their code."

"Nothing remotely Communist about using a fair ground jingle to hide a coded message in, is there?"

"No... no... not if it's American." Sadie threaded her fingers beneath the pages of notes she had created for the matters at hand, scanning the pages as though they weren't already committed to memory. "Unless..."

"Unless?" The silence was eerie on the other end, and he could only hear the sound of Sadie's breathing and brief murmurs to herself.

"It could be something about location.' Sadie told him. "Just... I just need a moment to think."

And the silence hung between them, weighted with anticipation for her genius to pull through. Steve was no longer half-asleep and alert as he waited, finding himself rolling on the energy of expectation to some great revelation to come from this. Location alone was vague, but if Sadie had finally found something

"...Steve."

"Ah, thank god, thought you were thinking too hard and your brain straight exploded there for a moment."

"No such luck... but promise you won't hate me."

"Surely I can't hate you anymore than I do for waking me up at this time." He replied, smiling despite himself. "Come on, pretty girl, what is it?"

"Do you have your keys from that time you locked up the mall?"

"Yeah, never got asked for them back... why?"

"Come pick me up. And bring a few quarters."

✧

Sadie snuck out of her house with ease. She certainly didn't have a lot of practise - there were far more counts of her helping people, namely her boyfriend, in, rather than her getting out - but it wasn't that hard to clear a space on her windowsill, move her desk chair to just below it and hoist herself up and out the open window, skirting around the house as she came to sit on her porch.

As the dawn approached the morning, her silent neighbourhood came to life with the flickering-off of the buzzing streetlamps and the bark of the Robertsons' dog as birds silhouetted against a slowly brightening blue sky flew across their yard. Then, just a little way down the road, Johnny Boyle left to fish on Lover's Lake as he always did and minutes later, somewhere she could hear the rumble of an approaching car, an all too familiar sound.