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― season three, episode ten;
BACK TO THE FUTURE
0:00 ───|────── 35:04
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4550 words
*.✧ 𝐂𝐇𝐋𝐎𝐄 ✧.*
After slipping inside the building, we entered an all white hallway maze, which I assumed was normally used as back entrances for employees, but was now being used as a escape route.
"Where are we going?" Steve whined, his drugged up mind not comprehending the urgency of the situation. But I understood it just fine, and I shot out my hand, intertwining my fingers with his so I could manually speed up his pace.
"Just trust us, okay?" Dustin snapped, coming up to a dead end, leaving us standing in front of a door. He pressed against the metal handle, peeking out to see if it was safe for us to exit here.
"Your hands are really soft." Steve murmured to me. Even though he was high off of God knows what the Russian's gave him, I couldn't help the fluttering feeling that rippled through my chest.
"Shut up." I hissed, my cheeks flushing.
Steve giggled like a little child. "Awe are you blushing?" He cooed, reaching up his free hand and poking my cheek. "You're so adorable. Isn't she adorable, Robin?"
"Totally adorable." She nodded, reaching out to poke me as well. All I could do was stand there as they took turns stabbing me in the cheek with their pointer fingers, taking multiple breaks to laugh like maniacs.
"All clear." Dustin turned back to us. He furrowed his brow when he saw what they were doing to me. "What the hell are you doing to my sister?"
Steve lowered his hand, but Robin carried on. He shrugged, looking sheepishly at the floor. "Poking her."
"Why?"
"Because..." he jammed his finger into my burning cheek one last time. "She's pretty....adorable. Pretty adorable."
"Yeah," Robin giggled. "Pretty adorable."
"Dustin, please help me." I whispered.
"For the love of God, we have to go!" Dustin rolled his eyes. "Come on!" He added urgently.
The five of us slipped out of the door, entering what appeared to be a movie theater entrance, judging by the patterned carpet and dim lighting. My suspicions were proved correct when we turned a corner and a glowing movie poster adorned the wall.
Back To The Future.
We kept walking, all of us following Dustin's lead. We entered the crowded theater, Steve stopping only to grab a bag of popcorn out of the trash. We ran down the ramp, all the way down to the front row, coming up to two empty seats.
"Sit." Dustin ordered, keeping his voice down.
"No, these seats are too close!" Robin whined, sitting down anyways.
Steve shoveled some of his stolen popcorn into his mouth. "Dude, these seats blow."
"Then don't watch the movie." Dustin snapped, fed up with them.
"We wanna watch it." Robin shot back.
"Then watch it!" Dustin raised his voice, only to be shushed by a man in the next row up. Robin turned around in her seat and shushed him right back.
"Sorry," Dustin apologized to him, and the stranger sat back down, looking annoyed. "Whatever you do," he spoke to the two delirious teens again. "Don't go anywhere."
"Fine, Dad." Steve said snarkily, earning a snicker from Robin.
Dustin chose to ignore them, instead turning down the eisle, walking back all the people inthe fromt row, down to the opposite end. Erica and I followed after him, apologizing profusely to all the poeple whos veiw we were temporarily blocking.
There were two more empty seats on the other end, and Dustin and Erica collapsed into those, sighing heavily. I squatted down beside Dustin in the end chair, resting my forehead against the arm of the seat, taking a deep breath.
"Okay, it's official." Dustin breathed, slumping down. "I'm never having kids."
Without lifting my head from it's resting place, I retorted, "As if somebody would even want to ever have kids with you, nerd."
"What are we doing here?" Erica snapped before Dustin could reply to me.
"We're laying low." He said. "Cooling off. Like Oswald."
"Oswald was found dead in a theater and shot to death." Erica answered quickly.
"A week later." Dustin defended himself.
"The point is, his plan didn't work." Erica scoffed.
"Only because it was a setup."
"What?"
"He was a patsy-"
"Tell me you're joking."
An angry woman from the seat behind Erica, leaning forward, shushing us loudly. "Shh!" Erica hissed right back at her.
"We need to get outta here." She groaned.
Dustin pursed his lips, thinking for a second, before turning to me. "All right, Chloe, you watch Tweedledee and Tweedledum. Make sure they don't go anywhere."
"And where are you two going?" I questioned as they got to their feet.
"To find us a ride outta here." Dustin replied, starting to move towards the exit, Erica on his heels.
I sighed, frustrated to be left out of the plan once again, shuffling across the floor, getting into one of the seats. I peered past the row of people, catching a glimpse of Steve and Robin, who were staring up at the large screen, entranced by the movie.
My gaze fell back to my lap, my stomach starting to sink as I replayed Steve's words in my head.
You're so adorable.
You're pretty...adorable.
The memory stung, because I knew that he had no idea what he was saying, and he didn't mean any of those words. I just kind of wish that he did.
*.✧ 𝐀𝐒𝐇𝐋𝐄𝐘 ✧.*
Nancy found a rock in the parking lot, throwing it right at the glass doors, shattering one of the panes. Then, she marched right through the opening that she had made, entering the store.
Using my free hand to open the backseat door, I slid out, finding my footing against the concrete. I kept my other hand around El's shoulder, being careful but also quick with getting her out of the car, Max on her other side helping me.
"I got her."
I turned to see that Mike was staring at me expectedly, wanting me to let him take El.
"I can take her, Mike, it's not a problem." I shrugged. "I want to, actually-"
"Ashley, come on." He said firmly, and before I knew what I was doing, I was clamping my jaw shut and moving El's arm off of my shoulder and onto Mike's. I couldn't seem to stand up for myself anymore, the fire that I found last year having vanished completely.
Unfortunately that fire had a name, and I had loved that fire, but it was gone now. And there was nothing I could do to get her-it back.
I wrapped my arms around my stomach, hugging myself, wanting to jump back into the car, and never come back out. But then I felt a hand on the back of my arm.
"You okay?"
Facing Will, I forced a tight lipped smile. "Yeah, fine."
He wasn't satisfied with my answer, I could tell, but I didn't want to tell him the truth, so he'd have to take that for now.
The rest of us entered the building after Nancy, following her as she marched determinedly down the middle aisle. She grabbed a bottle of rubbing alcohol and a package of gauze from one of the shelves before she faced us. "Okay, get her down."
Max and Mike helped El slide down to the floor, propping her back against the shelf. She winced with every movement, the intense pain that she was in was clear.
"Let me see." Nancy sighed, sitting down beside the injured girl. She hooked her fingertips under the hem of El's pants, pulling up the leg gently.
A large gash came into view, and El groaned as the air hit the wound. Blood oozed from the cut, dripping down the side of her leg and staining the floor. I sucked in a breath as I took in the severity of the injury, my stomach churning.
Nancy ripped the top off the pack of gauze strips, starting to open one, but Max stopped her. "What are you doing?"
"I'm cleaning the wound." Nancy replied.
"No," Max shook her head. "First, we need to stop the bleeding, then clean, then disinfect, then bandage."
Nancy blinked at her, and Max sighed. "I skateboard, trust me." She added.
She took the strip from Nancy, putting it gently on top of the gash, not pushing down on it yet. "Mike, hold this." She commanded, and he did so, putting his hand on top of the canvas, putting pressure on El's leg, making her cry out in pain.
"Keep the pressure on it nice and firm, okay?" Max told him before looking back at Nancy. "We're gonna need water, soap."
"Yeah, okay." Nancy nodded quickly, impressed. Her and Jonathan pushed themselves off of the floor, heading out of the aisle to go look for the things that Max required.
Something moved in the corner of my eye, and I snapped my head to look at Lucas, who was unzipping his backpack and turning it over, all of the contents spilling out onto the floor.
"What the hell are you doing?" I hissed at him.
He looked over at me innocently. "Does any of this help?"
"No." I squinted, shaking my head at him.
Max rolled her eyes. "Go get me a washcloth and a bowl."
"A bowl?" Lucas questioned.
"Lucas." Max gritted her teeth.
"O-okay!" He nodded fast.
He and Will turned to leave, but I hesitated, wanting to stay with El, until Max told me, "Ashley, go with them and make sure they get the right shit, okay?"
"Okay." I nodded.
"You think that we won't?" Lucas furrowed his brow, turning back around to question Max.
"I know that you won't." She corrected him. "Now, go, hurry!"
The three of us left the row, stepping out into the main area to find the right aisle.
"Wouldn't the bowls be with the cereal?" Lucas broke the momentary silence.
"What?" I was giving him a confused look yet again.
"I mean," he shrugged. "What else do you use a bowl for?"
"Please tell me you're joking." I breathed.
"I-I'm not." He hesitated to answer my non rhetorical statement.
Bringing my hand up to my face, I let my forehead hit my palm. "Oh my God, it amazes me how stupid you are."
"Hey!" Lucas gasped. "I thought you liked me."
I shrugged. "I mean, you're my favorite one of Will's friends. But my point still stands."
"I thought bowls would be with the cereal too." Will piped up. "Do you think I'm stupid?"
I reassured him, "No, just Lucas."
"You used to be my favorite one of Will's siblings." Lucas scoffed. "But now I think I favor Jonathan."
"Ouch" I clutched my heart in mock dramatics. "My ego!"
This earned a laugh from Will, but Lucas had already gotten distracted. "Oh shit." He murmured, mesmerized by whatever had caught his eye.
Will and I followed his gaze to see what he was staring at, seeing that it was a tall, elaborately decorated firework display stand. Lucas eagerly ran up to it, grabbing one of the boxes from the top. "Satan's baby." He read the name of the explosive. He looked over his shoulder at Will and I as we approached him. "You guys ever shot one of these suckers?"
I shook my head and Will asked him, "No. Is it sweet?"
"That's an understatement." Lucas grinned.
"That doesn't look like a bowl." Max's voice made all three of us jump, turning to see her staring angrily down at us with her hands on her hips.
"Nah, it's way better." Lucas was unfazed by his disapproving girlfriend. He held up the box so that she could see it better, tapping one of the labels on the front. "There is a reason this warning label says 18 or older. This sucker is filled with 150 grains of black powder, aka gunpowder."
He tossed the box to Max, who caught it, still looking disappointedly at us. Lucas went on, "Strap two of these together, and it's bigger than an M-80. Five of them, we've got ourselves a stick of dynamite."
"You wanna kill that thing with fireworks?" Max asked him.
"Do you have a better idea?"
"Uh, yeah, Eleven." She said, throwing the box back at him, the sharp cardboard corners hitting him directly in the stomach. But still, he didn't back down. "Against that thing?" He questioned. "She's gonna need some backup."
Max rolled her eyes, turning and walking away, muttering under her breath. Once she was far enough away, I looked to Lucas. "I like your plan." I whispered, scared that if Max heard me she might hurt me or something.
"I thought you said I was stupid?" Lucas smirked confidently.
"You have your moments." I admitted. "But I really think this could work."
He smiled proudly for another moment before handing the box over to Will. "Hold this." He said. He started to grab more and more boxes of the fireworks, stacking them on top of one another until they towered high into the air. Once Will couldn't hold anymore, he moved onto giving me some.
"Ow!" I yelped. "Injured elbow, remember?"
"You're the one who insists on not getting a doctor and just wearing a lousy brace." Lucas pointed out, continuing to hand me boxes. I scowled at him, accepting my defeat.
"I can't see anything!" Will complained, the tall tower of boxes covering his eyes.
"Me either." I said, the only thing in my sight was yellow cardboard.
"I'll get a cart, stay there." Lucas' voice got quieter as he left us alone.
"Jesus Christ, he's back to being stupid again." I groaned.
Although I couldn't see Will, I could hear the smile in his voice as he responded, "Yeah."
Silence fell over us as we focused on not dropping the fireworks that were weighing down our arms. Then, Will broke the quiet, speaking with reluctance. "Why did you look sad when you got out of the car?"
My heart fell, along with my playful spirits. "Oh, um..." I racked my brain to come up with an excuse. "I d-don't know, just have a lot of my mind, ya know."
"Yeah, I know." He paused for a moment before going on. "I was just wondering if...if Mike said something to you? I know that he's been kind of mean to you lately and I don't know why. He's been acting-"
"Will, it's fine." I cut him off. "He didn't say anything." That was a lie. "I was just thinking, okay?"
"Yeah, o-okay." He seemed defeated at my answer, of lack of one. We didn't have to gravel in the silence for two long cause Lucas had returned to us, pushing a shopping cart along with him.
"Load it up." He bellowed in a funny accent, unaware of the heavy energy between Will and I. We let the stacks fall from our arms into the basket of the cart, avoiding eye contact once they were out of our faces.
"Dustin!" Mike could be heard screeching from a few aisles over, which grabbed our attention. We ran back to where he and El were still sitting on the floor.
"What is going on?" I asked, looking up to see Nancy, Jonathan and Max also joining us in the aisle.
"It was Dustin...h-he started talking. But I couldn't understand him, his voice was going in and out. Mike rambled, looking stressed. "I only heard him say Code Red, and something about the gate."
"Wait..." Lucas' eyes widened. "You don't think he means...The Gate."
"What other gate is there?" Mike narrowed his eyes at him.
"Did he say where he was?" Nancy asked, cutting them off before it could turn into an argument.
"No! Like I said, he was breaking up." Mike sighed frustratedly.
"I can find him." El tried to move, but was immediately met with seething pain from her shin.
"El, you don't have to." I reassured her. "We can find another way. You should rest, you-"
She shook her head, cutting me off. "I will find him."
*.✧ 𝐂𝐇𝐋𝐎𝐄 ✧.*
The movie was just getting good when I felt somebody fling themselves into the chair beside me. Unfortunately, it was Dustin, and he was staring at me expectedly, breathing heavily.
"Do you have any batteries?" He asked. "Double A?"
"Why the hell would I have batteries?" I hissed.
"I always carry batteries." His face fell.
"I don't." I snapped. "And if you always carry them, then why do you need some?"
"I need eight." He looked down at the walkie talkie in his hand.
I rolled my eyes, changing the subject, "Where's Erica?"
"She's right outside." Dustin answered quickly. "I still need-" he leaned forward to look past me, and his eyes widened.
"Where...are...they?" He drew out the words, his voice trembling with anger.
I sucked in a breath when I realized he was talking about Steve and Robin. Hesitatingly, almost not wanting to look, I peered down the row.
The two end seats were empty.
"Oh shit." I breathed, turning back to Dustin with wide eyes.
We stated at each other for a moment, before we sprung into action. We jumped up from our seats, creeping as quickly as we could whilst not making too much noise towards the exit. Dustin flung the door open, and Erica was revealed to be waiting right outside. "Well, did you get your damn batteries?"
"They're gone." Was all Dustin said, walking right past her, with me right on his heels.
"What are you talking about?" Erica hurried to follow us.
"Steve and Robin." He snapped. "They're not in their seats."
"You were supposed to watch them." Erica elbowed me in the gut, and the blow was surprisingly hard for how much smaller she was than me.
"I swear I only looked away for a second." I said through gritted teeth, the pain shooting from my stomach to my shoulder.
Dustin abruptly stopped walking, causing Erica and I to run into him. He whipped around to face us, annoyed. "Let's split up, yeah?" He commanded. "We can cover more of the mall that way."
"Okay, yeah." I breathed, running a hand through my brunette curls.
"Roger that." Erica nodded.
They left my side, Erica going left and Dustin going right. "I guess I'll go up here." I mumbled to no one in particular, making my way over to the escalator, which had just a few people on it. I wasn't in the mood to shove anyone, so I just stood calmly, waiting my turn, as if my heart was beating out of my chest.
Finally, I reached the second floor and that's when I started speed walking. I passed multiple stores, peeking in through the boarded up windows, all of the shops closed for the night. The mall was just waiting for the movie to end and then all the guests would be be gone and it could shut down.
"What's something you've never told anyone?"
I immediately stopped walking, sucking in a breath. That sounded like Steve.
Approaching a bathroom door where I had heard the sound coming from, I pressed my ear against the cold wood, listening closely. There was no more noise for a few moments, and I almost gave up and walked away, but then I heard Robin speak.
"Do you remember what I said about Click's Class?"
I sucked in a breath, trying not to alert them to my presence.
She went on. "About me being jealous and, like, obsessed."
"Yeah."
"It isn't because I had a crush on you. It's because..."
Oh my God.
My finger trembled as they pressed against the door, tears pricking the corners of my eyes as I listened to my best friend speak.
"She wouldn't stop staring at you." Robin's voice trembled.
"Mrs. Click?" Steve was confused, but I knew exactly what story Robin was telling him. I had heard it before, many times, when she would call me on the phone crying over it.
She laughed at him. "T-tammy Thompson." She spoke as if the words were stuck in her throat. "I wanted her to look at me. But, she couldn't tear her eyes away from you, and your stupid hair. And I didn't understand, because you would get bagel crumbs all over the floor. And you asked dumb questions. And you were a douchebag."
I swallowed hard as the tears threatened to spill over. Robin went on, "And...and you didn't even like her and...I would go home, and just scream into my pillow."
"But..." Steve stammered. "Tammy Thompson's a girl."
"Steve." Her voice was barely above a whisper, but I heard it. I brought my hand up to cover my mouth in awe as I realized the gravity of what she had just told him. My heart swelled with pride and a tear leaked from my eye, wetting my face.
"Yeah?" He still didn't get it.
A pause, and then, "Oh."
"Oh." Robin repeated what he said.
"Holy shit." Steve breathed.
"Yeah, holy shit." She sighed, voice still trembling with nerves.
"I mean," he said. "Tammy Thompson, you know, she's cute and all, but...she's a total dud."
"She is not." Robin defended her taste in women.
"Yes she is." Steve insisted. "She wants to be, like, a singer. She wants to move to Nashville and shit."
"She has dreams!"
"She can't even hold a tune. She's practically tone-deaf. Have you heard her?"
The anxious feeling that was making me feel sick lifted from my stomach from Steve's reaction. I bit my lip to stop from laughing out loud from joy and relief.
Robin laughed gleefully as Steve went on cracking jokes, mocking Tammy's bad singing, "You see me now tonight...you see me-"
"She does not sound like that!" Robin exclaimed.
"She sounds exactly like that. That's a great impersonation of her."
"She does not!" Robin giggled. "You sound like a muppet."
"She sounds like a muppet!" Steve said, laughing. "She sounds like a Muppet giving birth."
Robin burst into a fit of laughter, and Steve joined in with her. I rested my forehead against the door, letting out a sigh of relief. Eventually their laughing died down and it was quiet once again.
When Steve spoke again, his voice was meek. "You've really never told anybody that before?"
"I told Chloe, so don't let your ego inflate too much." Robin replied.
"Oh...Chloe." Steve sighed as he said my name, and my heart caught in my throat.
"I know that you like her, Steve." Robin said softly.
"I do not." Steve scoffed. A pause, then he backtracked. "Maybe I do. But it doesn't matter, she's Dustin's sister and your best friend, I mean, that's weird right?"
My chest squeezed. It was exactly what I had thought, what I had feared but known all along. I was off-limits.
"I think that you have to stop caring about what other people think of you." Robin said. "Just do what makes you happy"
"Since when were you so inspirational?"
"Since you became a self-pitying dingus."
"Alright, that's fair." Steve chuckled dryly.
"But seriously," Robin urged. "She really likes you, I can tell. The way that she looks at you dude, it's crazy. She's never been this way with anybody else before. I think you should go for it."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah." A beat, then she spoke again, "What do you like about her?"
"Well," Steve inhaled sharply. "Dustin kept telling me that I had find my Suzie-"
"Who's Suzie?" Robin interjected.
"Some girl that he met at camp, I guess she's his girlfriend." Steve shrugged. "I'm not sure that she's even real. But, that's not the point. I think he just means that you should find somebody who compliments you, somebody that fits with you like puzzle pieces or some shit like that."
"Okay Mr. Simile."
"I'm pretty sure that was a metaphor."
"You're totally wrong." Robin scoffed. "But go on."
"People have said that to me before, you know? I just never really knew what it meant. I just kept dating these girls that would earn me popularity points or help me stay cool, but I don't think I ever actually liked them."
"Did you like Nancy?"
"That's different."
My heart had been floating, but now it was sinking once again.
"Anyways," Steve shook off the thought of this 'Nancy'. "I feel like Chloe doesn't judge me, she laughs at my stupid jokes, and she helps me with any idea that I have, without questioning it. She has my sense of humor, and she makes me laugh as well. She makes me feel...kind of...invincible, I guess."
He swallowed hard, then he went on, "But not invincible like Mr. Cool Guy or Mr. Popular. Invincible like I can just be me, I can say anything and do anything and she'll never make fun of me or leave me, nothing like that. I feel like she'd always have my back, and that's what makes me feel invincible. I think I could do anything with her, from skydiving to sitting in an empty room in silence, and I'd still feel complete. It's a feeling I've never had with anybody ever before, not even Nancy.
"I guess I thought I loved Nancy, but I don't think I knew what love was back then. When I was around her, I always felt this pressure, like I had to keep proving myself to her every second that we were together. I don't...I don't feel that way about Chloe, I mean, I've only known her for a couple weeks but she makes me feel so comfortable. I think that's what real love feels like. But hey, what do I know? I'm just a self-pitying dingus, right?"
"Wow." Robin breathed. "That was beautiful. And no, I think you might be onto something. I know little to nothing about love too, but that sounds...perfect."
"We are hopeless." Steve chuckled. "Two idiots who have never been in love trying to give love advice, I mean, who do we think we are?"
Robin giggled, and then it was quiet. She broke the pause, keeping her voice down, "I think you should tell her."
"Tell her what?"
"All that shit you just told me, stupid." She sighed. "I think you should go for it."
Steve hesitated. "You don't think that Dustin will be mad?"
"Maybe. But he'll get over it. He looks up to you a lot and he loves Chloe. He'll want you both to be happy."
Steve didn't say anything to this for a moment, but then he was cracking another joke. "You should be a therapist."
"You think?" Robin inquired.
"Yeah, you're good at this...advice thing."
"Thanks, Steve."
"Anytime, Rob."
My chest was filled with so many emotions all at once. Relief, that I had found the two escapees. Pride, feeling overwhelmingly proud of Robin for coming out to Steve. Anxiety, because Robin had just told Steve that I like him. And happiness, that he liked me back, and wanted to ask me out. Maybe everything would work out after all.
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