𝐀𝐏𝐎𝐂𝐀𝐋𝐘𝐏𝐒𝐄
𝟏𝟐. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐎𝐥𝐝 𝐉𝐮𝐧𝐤𝐲𝐚𝐫𝐝
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"OH YEAH, THIS WILL DO," Steve nodded, his black ray bans perched atop his nose "this will do just fine. Good call, dude."
He patted Dustin's back twice before moving deeper into the old junkyard, eyes examining the surroundings as he thought of what to do. Lorelei turned to look at Dustin, and she smiled to herself as she saw the proud look he had on his face; no doubt caused by Steve's compliment.
"Come on, Frizzy-" Lorelei spoke up, her headphones around her neck and her mixtape within the pocket of her jean shorts "we should hurry up - the sun's going to start setting soon."
To say she was tired would be an understatement. Lorelei had spent the entire day walking around with Dustin and Steve - planning and creating their master plan. And now the real work would start because they had to find a way to keep themselves safe if Dart actually did follow the trail they had set.
Her eyes looked around the old junkyard before them - taking in a piece of rubber, scraps of metal, and old vehicles that were scattered around in a mess; completely forgotten. She winced as she stretched out her back, feeling the knots that had been bothering her for a long time strain.
With a deep sigh - one that said, what the hell did I get myself into? - Lorelei followed Steve, continuing the trail of meat to a middle point in the field before dunking the rest of the content into a large pile. She immediately removed the gloves that had been on her hands and threw them down to the floor beside the meat in disgust.
"So what's the plan?" Lorelei asked, her hands on her hips as she continued surveying the area.
"Barricade that bus, and wait for Dart," Dustin pointed at the bus.
"And you really think that your little buddy is going to follow the trail here?" Lorelei questioned "I mean - he looked pretty animalistic Frizzy, wouldn't he prefer something fresher? You know, the thrill of the kill that animals get and all."
"Dart isn't a murderer," Dustin tried to defend.
"He ate Mews, Frizzy!" Lorelei argued, "for all we know, your poor mother is still out there searching for her."
"That was different," the boy scowled, not yet willing to admit his mistake of having brought Dart to his home.
Lorelei stayed silent, watching as Dustin moved away from her and walked towards Steve, with the two of them talking silently amongst themselves. Her eyes looked up at the sky, squinting at the harsh rays of sunlight that penetrated her vision and she quickly looked away.
With all the walking and excitement, she suddenly felt heat creep up on her skin, littering her pores with sweat. Lorelei shrugged off her leather jacket in hopes of relieving some of the warmth, leaving her in her white tank top and jeans. If she was going to work anymore, she would at least be comfortable doing it.
Without so much as a second thought, she threw the jacket into the bus, not even looking back before she walked back over to Steve and Dustin.
"Look man, I just think that we need to be realistic here-" she heard Steve speaking as she neared them.
"I just don't get why we need to kill him right away," Dustin shrugged "it's an amazing scientific discovery."
"Your pet is a monster, Frizzy-" Lorelei heaved "we have to kill it." Steve and Dustin turned around at her voice, and she stood taller under their gaze, keeping her eyes so trailed on Dustin that she did not notice how Steve was staring straight at her "I don't know about you, but I can't sleep knowing that thing is loose."
"We could trap him and hand him over to the lab," Dustin offered weakly, already knowing what the answer would be.
"Based on what I read about that lab in my father's files, that would be a very shitty idea," Lorelei pointed out. Dustin averted his eyes from her, now looking down at the floor and Lorelei sighed under her breath "I know you've grown attached to Dart - but it's for the best."
"Yeah," Dustin replied, looking up at her for another short moment before he walked away.
Lorelei watched him go, crossing her arms over her chest and biting down on the inside of her cheek. As far as baby-sitting went, she was convinced that she had gotten stuck with one of the sweetest kids - but he sure was giving her a run for her money.
She turned to Steve, who had now removed the sunglasses from the slope of his nose, placing them within his backpack instead. Her hand reached out, grabbing the mixtape from the pockets of her pants and handing it over to him once more; her eyes clearly saying 'if you lose this, I kill you.'
"You can still leave if you want," Steve offered plainly "I could cover for you."
"And leave you in charge of Dustin?" Lorelei raised her brows "as much as the two of you think you have this handled, you need me, Harrington. A helping hand is a helping hand - and right now, you don't have many."
"You sure?" he pushed, and the look he was giving her was plain and simple, telling her that despite her efforts to mask it, he knew she did not want to be here.
"Listen, am I scared shitless? Yes." Lorelei explained "am I going to run away like a little baby? No."
Steve nodded his head, eyes running over her face for a moment just like they seemed to do every time she said something which surprised him. Finally, after what felt like ages, he turned away, arms waving around and calling Dustin over.
"Did you get the gasoline, Henderson?" he asked, placing his hands on his hips.
"It's over there," Dustin motioned with his head, walking over to the gasoline with heaving breaths.
"Why would we need gasoline?" Lorelei crinkled her nose up at Steve.
"To um-" he turned to look at Dustin, ensuring that the boy was not looking before dragging his hand over his neck, imitating a knife cutting through it.
"Kill it?" Lorelei checked with a whisper.
"Yeah," Steve nodded "trust me - I should know."
Lorelei breathed in deeply, not wishing to ask anything else. After all, Steve and Dustin had already explained to her what had happened the last year, down to the very last detail. She just didn't want to hear it again or be reminded of it.
Her legs were aching from the long walk that it took to get to the junkyard, and she leaned down for a moment, placing her hands on her knees and trying to soothe the pain. It didn't help that her entire body was incredibly tense from the last few days - stress had always manifested within Lorelei's body seeing as her mind rarely let itself be affected. She figured that physical pain was easier to deal with - simpler if you will.
The disgusting, squelching sound of meat hitting the floor snapped her out of her thoughts, and she turned to see that Dustin had just overturned the last few contents of his bucket atop the pile that she and Steve had created.
"I asked for medium-well!" a voice yelled out, one that Lorelei vaguely recognized.
She turned around to see two people walking down the hill toward them, a girl and a boy. Lorelei guessed that the boy, who was grinning and holding onto a bike as he wandered towards them, was Lucas - the friend which whom Dustin had been communicating on the walkie-talkie with.
The second person, however, was a complete mystery. A girl with flaming red hair, which was brightened by the sun, and a small scowl on her lips as she followed behind Lucas. Lorelei suddenly remembered that she had seen that girl once before, walking out of none other than Billy Hargrove's car in the school parking lot. His sister.
"Who's that girl?" Steve asked Dustin, head motioning to the girl, but he obtained no response from Dustin, who looked frozen in place.
"It's Billy's sister," Lorelei whispered to Steve.
"Damn, you're right," Steve acknowledged "but what is she doing here?"
Lorelei shrugged slightly, but as she looked back at Dustin, who looked absolutely miserable, and the girl, who was walking beside Lucas, it suddenly clicked. The barely audible sigh that tumbled past Dustin's lips was the confirmation she needed as she turned to Steve with her answer.
"That's the girl," she murmured in his ear "the one he was talking about."
"But she's here with Lucas," Steve furrowed his brows.
"Yeah, and look at how miserable Dustin looks," Lorelei pointed out, making sure that Dustin could not hear what she was saying.
"Holy shit," Steve whistled.
By then, Lucas and the girl had already headed down the slope of the hill, and they were nearing the trio quickly. Lucas discarded his bicycle to the side, walking up to Dustin and looking over at Steve and Lorelei for a moment.
"You sure took your sweet time," Dustin scolded.
"Hi guys," Lucas smiled with a wave.
"Who's this?" Steve asked, finger-pointing at Max.
"This is Max," Lucas introduced "she's new in town."
Lorelei turned to look at the girl - Max, who was shifting uncomfortably from one foot to the other, her arms crossed over her chest defensively.
"Um, hi," She spoke quietly, a small laugh tumbling from her lips at the absurdity of the situation.
"You brought Steve and your babysitter," Lucas pointed out "seriously?"
"Um- I have a name dipshit," Lorelei scoffed, but she was cut off by Steve's elbow jamming into her side. "It's Lorelei," she mumbled slowly, and Lucas nodded in her direction for a moment.
"You brought Max," Dustin replied, "why did you tell her?"
"I'm right here," Max raised her hand with a scowl.
Dustin and Lucas turned to her for a moment before they both wandered off, no doubt to argue a bit more away from the other three and their curious ears.
"And then there were three," Lorelei spoke up, an uncomfortable smile on her face.
"I'm Steve," he raised his hand up for Max to shake, which she did with confidence.
"Max," she repeated her name for the formality of it all before letting go of his hand and turning to Lorelei "you're Lorelei, right? Lucas said you were new to town too."
"Yeah," Lorelei shook the girl's hand "and did Lucas tell you everything?"
"He did," Max nodded "I still don't believe it though - do you?"
"I do now," Lorelei sighed "but don't worry - you'll believe it soon enough."
"How'd you find out?" Max inquired, and Steve turned to look at Lorelei's reaction as she answered.
"It's a long story," Lorelei shrugged "one involves me freaking out multiple times - so you know, you're handling this pretty well."
Max stayed silent, turning over to where Lucas and Dustin were for a moment. She looked quite uncomfortable to be there, but based on how she carried herself, Lorelei guessed the girl was not one to easily be intimidated.
"We should probably start securing the bus," Lorelei remarked, looking over at Steve.
"Yeah," Steve nodded, looking over at the pieces of scrap metal "you and Max start with those pieces of metal over there - I'm going to call the other two."
Lorelei agreed, and she quickly motioned for Max to follow her as they both began grabbing the pieces of metal and placing them over every little area of the bus, careful to make sure that not a single window or entrance would be exposed.
"Hey! Shitheads," Lorelei smiled to herself as she heard Steve yell out at the boys "how come the only two helping me out are Lorelei and this random girl? We lose light in twenty minutes, let's go."
"We're going," Dustin brushed Steve off.
"Let's go!" he yelled one more time, clapping his hands at them impatiently before he walked back to Lorelei and Max.
Lorelei smirked up at him once he reached her "troubles in babysitting, Harrington?"
"Those kids are real trouble," he mumbled, reaching up to secure one of the windows on the bus.
"Trust me, I know," Lorelei huffed, recalling her first time babysitting Dustin and how he had given her a run for her money.
She turned away from Steve, taking another piece of metal in her hands and lifting it over her head to carry it over to the bus. His eyes followed her for a moment, and he wondered why she hadn't just left when he told her to - after all, nothing was really keeping her there. But still, she stayed and helped out. It was admirable.
They all got to work during those last few twenty minutes they had as the sun was setting over the horizon. Lorelei had never hurried so much in her life as she ran all over the place, securing the bus and helping with the gasoline as well. There was no way she was going to die because of Dustin's little pet, and if that meant she had to spend her afternoon hauling metal from place to place, then so be it.
She tied her hair away from her face as she worked, and as much as her arm and legs ached, she pushed through, making sure that everything was done. And by the time they all shuffled into the bus, the sun had almost set over the horizon, with the last bits of orange glimmering in the sky.
Lorelei grabbed her leather jacket, placing it back over her arms as she sat down on the floor of the bus and heaved a deep breath. Steve sat himself down next to her once he had secured the door, and he looked over at her for a moment, trying to read if she was nervous or afraid. But she was a closed book as she stared down at her hands.
All that was left to do now, was wait.
Wait for whatever came next - and hope for the best.
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