FORTY-ONE: BACK TO THE FUTURE
("The Bite" I)
"WHEE!" PENNY CHEERED, AS DUSTIN SPED DOWN THE LONG WALKWAY, GRIPPING ON TO STEVE'S SHIRT.
Her boyfriend, on the other hand, didn't like how fast the curly-haired boy was going. "Jesus, slow down!"
"Yeah, what is this, like, the Indy 500?" Robin asked, slurring her words.
"It's Indy 300," Steve corrected.
"Isn't it the Indy 5000?" Penny questioned, confused.
"No, dinguses, it's 500!" Robin defended.
"It's 300!" Steve argued, holding up three fingers.
"5000. It's 5000!" Penny screamed, defending her stance.
"Let's say a million," Robin decided. The three laughed loudly at that.
"That's such a big number!" Penny said, as her jaw dropped. "Wow!"
"What is wrong with them?" Erica asked Dustin.
"I don't know," the curly-haired boy revealed.
"You're the smart one, you should know," Charlie said, grabbing the last granola bar from his fanny pack—he actually did have extras, he just didn't tell anyone to keep it for himself. He took a bite, causing some crumbs to fall on his shirt.
"Dustin, watch out!" Margaret alerted, as they came up on a pile of barrels. Dustin was too slow and they ended up crashing into them.
"Shit!" he cursed.
The three teens in the back groaned at the impact of their heads hitting the barrier in the vehicle.
Dustin turned his head around and asked, "You guys alright back there?"
They groaned in response.
"They aren't alright," Charlie observed.
"They're fine," Dustin assured.
They just went with what Dustin said and hopped out of the red vehicle. Dustin opened the back of it to get his friends out.
"Come on. We gotta go, now," he informed the older teens.
"Come on!" Erica rushed, seeing them not.
"Let's go!" Dustin ordered.
"Get your asses up before I pull you out myself!" Margaret snapped. She helped Dustin and Charlie pull the teens out of the back. Margaret pulled Steve out a little too hard, because the boy ended up falling on the ground. Charlie let out a laugh at the sight, as well as Margaret
"Ow!" Steve winced. "We're coming."
"Here goes nothing," Dustin said, moving towards the elevator. He placed his keycard in a little machine beside the elevator. The boy ordered everyone inside and they did as they were told.
Penny, Steve, and Robin began to cheer, as the elevator went down.
"Hey! You look like you're surfing!" Robin recognized, as she pushed Steve on top of a red transporter.
"Yeah!" Steve cheered. "Whoa!"
Penny laughed from her position on the floor. Charlie looked at her in disgust and pulled her up.
"I can't believe I'm dating a surfer," Penny said to her brother, as he held onto her tightly.
"You're not. You are actually dating an idiot," Charlie revealed, copying her happy tone.
"A cute idiot," Penny corrected, smirking as she nudged her brother.
"They seem drunk," Erica said to Dustin, observing them.
"Why would they be drunk?" asked Dustin.
"Maybe the Russians gave them some alcohol," Margaret concluded, crossing her arms over her chest.
Charlie looked over at the girl. "What?"
"Look, maybe they were trying to get them arrested for underage drinking," Margaret defended her idea. "You never know."
"I'm a natural! Check it out!" Steve shouted, gaining everyone's attention.
"I'm gonna marry him," Penny said, proudly pointing at him.
"I'm gonna marry you, too. We should get married—" Robin pushed the cart from under Steve, sending him on the ground. "Whoop!"
"Wipeout!" Robin said, pointing at him, as she laughed. That caused Penny and Steve to laugh as well.
Dustin strolled over to Steve, and placed his hand on the boy's forehead. He was shocked at the warmth. "He's burning up."
"You're burning up," Steve remarked.
"One sec, one sec," said Dustin, trying to check his eyes. Steve tried to stop Dustin.
"God, no," the Harrington boy protested, as Dustin began checking his face, his hand trying to push Dustin away.
"Steve, Steve."
"Ow!" he groaned, when Dustin opened his eyes to check his pupils.
"His pupils are super dilated," Dustin revealed to Charlie, Margaret, and Erica, after his inspection.
"Maybe he's drugged," Erica thought.
"Ugh. Boop!" Steve booped Dustin's noise, making Margaret and Charlie try to stifle their laughter.
Dustin slapped the boy's face, lightly, trying to gain his attention. "Steve, are you drugged?"
"How many times, Dad? I don't do drugs. It's only marijuana," Steve assured, hitting Dustin's nose.
"He's high as a fucking kite," Charlie commented.
"This isn't funny, okay? I need to know what they did to you. Are you gonna die on us?" Dustin asked, seriously.
"Boop," Steve uttered, booping the boy's nose again.
"We all die, my strange little child friend. It's just a matter of how... and when," Robin said crazily, as she played with her hair.
"Shut up!" Charlie and Margaret shushed.
"She sounds like some crazed weirdo from The Twilight Zone," Margaret stated, remembering all the times her brother made her watch the show, and all the nightmares she got from it.
"They're gonna be looking for us up there, so I need you to tell me where you parked your car," Dustin ordered the older boy.
"Oh, can we make a pit stop at the food court?" Steve begged.
"Yes!" Penny agreed, already tasting the food.
"I would kill for a hot dog on a stick," Robin revealed.
"Ooh!" Steve voiced, thinking about the savory goodness.
"All right. Yeah, food. Yes, you can have as much food as you want," Dustin agreed.
"That's why I love you, Dusty-bun," Penny smiled at the boy.
"I love you, too. But you can only have all of that food if Steve tells me where his car is parked," Dustin bribed.
"Uh-oh," Steve said, remembering what happened previously.
"Uh-oh?" Dustin repeated.
"The car's off the board," Steve responded.
"What?"
"They took the keys," he said, answering Dustin. He started digging through his empty pockets. "The Russians, they took the keys. Like, forever ago. That's a bummer right?"
"And my keys are in the pocket of my uniform... which is at the cleaners," Penny remembered. "Oops."
The drugged teens all laughed at their misfortune.
Dustin looked at the others who just sighed.
"We're screwed," Margaret mumbled.
☾➴☆♡☽
"OH!" Penny, Steve, and Robin said very satisfied, feeling the fresh air, as they exited the elevator.
"Oh, my God that taste so good. Ah!" Robin tasted the air and felt as if she was on cloud nine. "Steve, Penny, can you taste the air!"
"I taste it! I taste it!" Steve cheered.
"It tastes so good!" Penny commented, happily, spinning around. "Guys, I think I'm a ballerina," Penny informed everyone, before doing a leap. The horrible leap backfired, and Penny fell flat on her face, giving her a small cut on her cheek. Penny groaned at the impact.
Steve and Robin clapped at Penny's leap, thinking that it was the greatest leap ever in their little drugged minds.
"Babe, that was awesome," Steve complimented proudly, as Charlie came to her side and lifted her up.
"Thank you, my love," Penny thanked, doing a bow. "Forget directing, I'm gonna be a dancer."
"I'd stick to directing," Charlie said, shutting down her idea. The boy suddenly stopped in his tracks, seeing people that he did not want to see.
"Stop!" ordered two guards, pulling out their guns as a metal gate opened.
"Shit!" Dustin shouted. "Come on! Come on!"
The four sober kids grabbed the older teens' hands and pulled them over to the door that would lead them back into the mall.
"Why are we running?" Steve asked, opening the door. He grabbed Penny away from Charlie and pulled her closer to him. The boy grabbed the hand of the Hopper girl, making her blush.
"Woo!" Robin cheered, throwing her hands up.
Dustin shut the door and led the others through the mall.
Even though she was extremely high on Russian drugs, Penny recognized where Dustin was leading them. It was the secret way to the movie theater.
"Whoa!" Steve exclaimed, as Erica dragged him.
"Where are we going?" she asked the curly-haired boy.
"Just trust me," he pleaded. Reaching a door, Dustin opened it and looked around to make sure the coast was clear. Seeing that it was, he said, "All clear."
He led everyone into a theater, where Back to the Future was playing.
Before going in, Steve grabbed a bag of popcorn and stuffed it in his mouth, making Penny disgusted.
Dustin opened the doors of the theater, and Penny smiled.
"I've wanted to see this movie so bad. Frank and I were supposed to go yesterday, but this happened," Penny whispered to everyone, making sure to use proper theater etiquette.
"Come on," Dustin urged, ignoring his friend. They quickly followed after him.
"You three, sit," Dustin commanded, pointing down at three empty chairs incredibly close to the screen.
"No, no, no! These seats are too close," Robin protested.
"She's right," Penny agreed.
"Dude, these seats blow," Steve informed Dustin, as he, Robin, and Penny sat down.
"Then don't watch the movie," the curly-haired boy advised, not wanting to deal with them.
"We wanna watch it," Robin defended.
"Yeah," Penny nodded, leaning her head on Steve's shoulder. In response, Steve wrapped his arm around her.
"Then watch it!" Dustin snapped.
"Shh!" some man shushed from behind Robin.
Robin turned her head around and did the same to him.
"Sorry," Dustin apologized. "Whatever you do, don't... go... anywhere."
"Fine, Dad," Steve joked.
Robin and Penny both snickered.
"'Dad'," Penny repeated, cracking herself up. Her face turned serious remembering her own father. She looked at her brother, jaw dropped. "Charlie, Dad's probably so worried."
"He's fine," Charlie assured, with a shrug, not really caring.
Dustin, Erica, Margaret, and Charlie abandoned the teens, once they were settled. While Erica and Dustin sat further down from the drugged trio, Charlie and Margaret found seats in the very back of the theater.
"I can't believe this is my life now," Margaret revealed, as she and Charlie sat down, with a chuckle.
"At least you weren't stuck in a dark parallel dimension for a few days, but yeah, I get what you're saying," Charlie joked, nudging her arm a bit.
Margaret smiled at that. "Yeah." She looked down at Penny's backpack that Charlie placed on his lap. "You should've filmed them. They're so crazy high."
"Not as crazy as you drunk," Charlie remarked, remembering the Halloween party last year.
"Don't remind me," Margaret said, shaking her head, in embarrassment.
"You started dancing like you were some person in New York doing it for money. I applaud you on your skills, though," Charlie complimented.
"Thanks." Margaret remembered that day and smiled fondly, but frowned a bit, remembering Charlie leaving her. She also remembered seeing him kiss some random girl. She wished she could forget.
Charlie noticed the girls' upset state and worry washed over his features. He placed a hand on her shoulder "Madge, you okay?"
"I'm fine," she lied, shrugging his hand off.
Charlie was hurt at the action. "You can tell me if something's wrong."
"I'm fine!" she snapped a bit too loud.
"Shh!" a man shushed beside them.
"I'm sorry," Margaret apologized, truly meaning it.
"Tell me what's wrong, please," Charlie begged.
"No," Margaret shook her head. "I don't have to. It's not your place to know."
"That's true. You don't have to tell me anything. But I care about what you have to say, and I care about whatever's bothering you. I'm your... friend, Madge. You can tell me anything," Charlie assured.
She sighed, knowing he was right. "Well, there was this guy that I liked—like. At the Halloween party, I saw him kissing some girl. I, um... I thought about it, when you brought up the party," Margaret revealed.
Charlie wanted to cry, hearing that she liked a boy. He was hurt. Charlie understood that everyone that you liked wouldn't always feel the same way. But this one hurt more than any rejection he had ever faced—which was few. He'd never felt this way about anyone before. The first time he laid eyes on Margaret, he thought she was the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen. And ever since that day, he told himself to never tell her, because he knew if he did, she wouldn't feel the same way. She was too good for him. She always would be.
"I'm sorry, Madge," Charlie sympathized, through the pain. "It's his loss."
Margaret smiled at his words. "Thank you."
"Of course," he replied, a smirk forming on his face. "You wanna know something?"
"What?" Margaret asked, copying his playful tone.
"I was gonna take you to watch this movie. Penny told me about it and I thought you'd like to see it," Charlie revealed.
"Really?" Margaret asked, surprised. Charlie nodded at her words. "I thought that you'd take Lois to the movies."
Charlie shook his head, scrunching up his nose. "Lois is cool and all, but you're my best friend. I'd rather see this with you."
Margaret blushed at his words. "Me, too."
"Good to know," Charlie nodded. "Uh, Happy Fourth of July, by the way."
"Same to you. I wish we could go to the fair with everyone. I was really looking forward to eating a bunch of cotton candy. And imagine going on the ferris wheel. Ryan would be so scared," Margaret said, chuckling at the thought.
Charlie was about to agree with her but the man beside them shushed them once more.
"Shut up," he scolded, in a whisper-like voice. "I'll get the usher, if you two don't shut up."
"We're sorry, okay," Charlie apologized.
"You better be," the man muttered.
Charlie and Margaret looked at each other, before mouthing, "Bitch," at each other in reference to the man. They chuckled at that.
"He looks like Benjamin Franklin," Margaret whispered to Charlie, trying not to laugh.
Charlie bit on his lip to hold in his laughter. "He does," he said, barely able to get it out.
Margaret held on to the boy and buried her head in his chest to prevent the laugh threatening to come out of her mouth.
Charlie blushed a bit at the action.
"If you two wanna make out, I suggest you do it in the bathroom. Have a bit of class," the man scolded, with a scoff.
"We're not gonna make out. We were just trying not to laugh, out of respect for you and everyone else," Charlie whispered, partially lying.
"Thank you," the man thanked, genuinely appreciative.
Margaret and Charlie looked at each other and tried not to laugh, once again. After they calmed themselves down, they focused their attention on the movie, not noticing the trio that they were supposed to be looking after leave the theater.
(AN: MARGARET AND CHARLIE 😍 >>> Anyway... I hope you enjoyed the chapter!)
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