~when doves cry - prince & the revolution-
"HOW THE HELL DID YOU GET IT IN THERE?"
Jennifer, Steve, and Dustin were standing above the door to the Henderson storm cellar, where Dustin said he had trapped the lizard-monster from before.
"I lured him," Dustin answered. "He almost got me, too,"
"Smart, Dustin," Jennifer scoffed. "Really smart to try and trap a monster that killed and ate your cat,"
"Well, it all worked out, didn't it, Jenny?" Dustin retorted, putting his hands on his hips.
Steve moved forward and pointed his flashlight at the doors and tapped them slightly with his bat.
"You're sure it's in there?" he asked, resulting in a nod from Dustin. "I don't hear shit,"
"He's in there," Dustin confirmed.
Steve glanced at Dustin before tapping the doors again, but nothing happened. He slammed his bat against the door, but still heard nothing.
"All right, listen, kid. I swear, if this is some sort of Halloween prank," Steve shone his flashlight in the kids face, resulting in Dustin leaning his head back and squinting. "You're dead,"
"It's not,"
"All right?"
"It's not a prank!" Dustin whined, his eyes now closed. "Get it out of my face!"
"Okay, no more bickering, you two," Jen decided, raising her eyebrows at Steve. "You got a key for this thing, Dusty?"
"Don't call me that," Dustin muttered, shaking his head and walking away.
Dustin soon returned and handed a key to Jenny. She crouched down before unlocking the padlock on the door.
"Steve, you're opening it," she decided, straightening up again.
"What, why?" he asked, his hands up in confusion.
"Just open it, Steve," Dustin told him.
"Yeah, Steve," Jennifer nodded. "Listen to the kid,"
Steve looked between Jen and Dustin before shaking his head in disbelief. He removed the chain from the door handles and pried open the door cautiously. Jennifer took the flashlight from his hands and leaned over his shoulder, shining it into the dark room below.
"Let me see that," Steve said, reaching over his shoulder for it.
Jennifer handed him the flashlight and he shined it into the cellar, revealing nothing.
"He must be further down there," Dustin decided, shrugging his shoulders. "I'll stay up here in case he tries to escape,"
Steve and Jen both straightened up before sending Dustin an un-impressed look. Steve turned back towards the stairs and sighed while shaking his head.
"Well, Stevie, let's get 'er done," Jen decided, handing the boy his bat.
"No, Jen, stay up here with Henderson," Steve said, pointing his bat at her.
"Oh, I'll stay behind you," Jennifer rolled her eyes, sliding her machete holster over her back. "I promise,"
Steve pulled his lips into a straight line and moved his bat up and down a bit more before groaning and nodding his head.
"Fine, yeah, whatever," he agreed reluctantly. "Stay behind me,"
Jennifer made eye contact with Dustin before pointing at Steve and rolling her eyes. Dustin snickered quietly before Jennifer followed Steve down the stairs. She held her machete out in front of her, readying herself for any monsters that may appear.
When they finally reached flat ground, Steve grabbed ahold of a string, lighting up a small light bulb.
"I don't see anything," Jennifer admitted, looking around.
"Yeah, me-," Steve's sentence was cut short when he caught sight of something in the corner of the room.
Steve turned away from Jennifer before bending over to pick something up. When he turned back around, Jennifer was disgusted to see there was some sort of skin on the end of his bat.
"Ugh, gross!" she exclaimed, backing away from the boy. "Dustin, get your ass down here!"
Dustin's heavy steps sounded on the stairs and he soon entered the cellar, his eyes wide and breathing heavy.
"What? What happened?" he asked, looking around.
Jennifer nodded towards Steve's bat and Dustin swore when he noticed the skin hanging off of it. Steve then moved his flashlight to point towards something that Jen hadn't noticed before.
A hole in the wall.
"Oh, shit!" Dustin exclaimed.
The trio moved towards the hole before crouching in front of it, Jennifer resting her hands on the two boys shoulders to balance herself.
"No way," Dustin mumbled.
"Well, this is just fucking awesome," Jennifer exclaimed, standing back up.
*
After their findings from the night before, Steve, Dustin, and Jennifer met back up bright and early the next morning to take down Dustin's cat-eating monster.
First, they had gotten enough raw meat to fill three buckets. Jennifer had been the one to suggest some rubber gloves since she seriously didn't want to have to smell the boys after they were touching raw meat.
They also got ahold of some gasoline.
Why?
Jennifer couldn't answer that.
The trio was stationed in Jennifer's driveway again, taking the supplies from her trunk. Jennifer was glad that she had decided to get up early, meaning her parents were still inside, drinking their coffee and watching the morning news.
Dustin excused himself from the group before beginning a conversation into the mic and headphones that were connected to his walkie.
"Well, well, well, look who it is," Dustin taunted.
While Dustin continued his conversation, Jennifer and Steve continued to set stuff on the ground from the girl's trunk. Steve slid his bat into a backpack before sliding it onto his back. Jennifer did the same with her machete holster.
"All right, let's go," Steve said, picking up one of the buckets.
Jennifer picked up the container of gasoline and watched as Dustin picked up the other bucket of meat.
"Just be there, stat!" Dustin exclaimed. "Over and out,"
The trio walked straight into the forest until they found the train tracks that Dustin claimed would lead them to a junk yard.
The sun had risen higher into the sky and yet the air still hadn't warmed up. Jennifer was grateful that she had worn her jacket.
Dustin had continued to fill them in on details while the two boys dropped pieces of meat along the tracks. Jennifer trailed ahead, swinging the container of gasoline as she walked.
"All right, so let me get this straight," Steve began. "You kept something you knew was probably dangerous in order to impress some girl who... you just met?"
Jennifer let out a quiet giggle and glanced over her shoulder to make eye contact with Steve.
"All right, that's grossly oversimplifying things," Dustin shook his head.
"I mean, why would a girl like some nasty slug anyway?" Steve asked, shaking his head.
"An inter-dimensional slug? Because it's awesome," Dustin argued.
Jennifer tilted her head and glanced back at the boy. "I'm just letting you know, Dustin," she began. "If a guy got me a slug, I wouldn't be impressed. Like at all,"
"Okay, well she's not like you, Jennifer," Dustin argued. "She's cool,"
Jennifer's jaw dropped in mock offence and she looked at Steve with wide eyes.
"Wow, Dusty-Bun," she scoffed. "You're breaking my heart,"
"I'll always have a place for you in my heart, Jen," Dustin admitted, tossing a piece of meat on the ground.
Jennifer shook her head with a small smile on her face. She always knew Dustin had a crush on her. She heard all about it when Matt would complain about it to her.
"Okay, Dustin, even if she thought it was cool, which she didn't, I- I just... I don't know. I just feel like you're trying way too hard, man," Steve admitted.
"Well, not everyone can have your perfect hair, all right?" Dustin complained, shaking his head.
"It's not about the hair, man," Steve told the younger boy. "The key with girls is just... just acting like you don't care,"
Jennifer stopped walking at this. She turned so that she could look at both boys at once. Steve didn't notice that she had stopped walking and ended up walking straight into her. Before she could fall, Steve steadied her by grabbing onto her arm.
"What the hell are you doing?" he asked, moving her to the side and continuing to walk.
Jennifer fell into step with the two boys and shook her head. "Dustin, don't listen to a thing Steve tells you about girls, alright?" she said.
Steve's head turned and he looked at Jennifer with furrowed eyebrows.
"Why wouldn't Dustin want to listen to me?" he asked. "It may have escaped your notice, Jenny, but I get a lot of chicks,"
Jennifer rolled her eyes at this. "Dustin doesn't want a lot of chicks, Steve," she argued. "He wants one nice girl,"
"Okay, well my advice is going to get him that one nice girl," Steve retorted, moving his hands around as he spoke. "Dustin, listen to me. Acting like you don't care is all you have to do,"
"Even if you do?" Dustin asked.
"Yeah, exactly," Steve nodded. "It drives them nuts,"
"No!" Jennifer exclaimed, resulting in both boys looking over at her. "What drives girls crazy are douchebags like you,"
Steve motioned towards Jennifer while smirking at Dustin.
"Point proven,"
Jennifer's cheeks flushed red and she cursed at Steve before speed walking ahead and leaving their conversation.
"Oh, Jenny, come on!" Steve called, his smirk not leaving his face. "I was kidding,"
Jennifer only flipped him off over her shoulder, not bothering to look back.
"Okay, so, as I was saying..." Steve trailed off, directing his attention back to Dustin.
"Okay, so then what?" Dustin asked.
"You just wait until, uh... until you feel it," Steve told him, glancing up at Jennifer.
"Feel what?"
Steve was transferred back to Halloween night. When Jennifer and himself had been dancing in his living room. After they had tripped and the girl had landed straight on top of him.
"It's like before it's gonna storm, you know?" Steve explained, his eyes seemingly attached to the girl in front of him. "You can't see it, but you can feel it, like this, uh... electricity, you know?"
"Oh, like in the electromagnetic field when the clouds in the atmosphere-,"
"No, no, no, no, no," Steve cut the boy off. "Like a... like a sexual electricity,"
Jennifer's eyes widened and she stopped walking again. She turned around and looked at the boy with wide, angry eyes.
"Steve!" she yelled.
"Okay, okay, not a sexual electricity, but like a... a- you know what I mean," Steve stammered, glancing at Jen. "You feel that and then you make your move,"
Jennifer glared at Steve once more before turning around and walking again, trying to block out their conversation.
"So that's when you kiss her?" Dustin asked, resulting in Jennifer stifling a small laugh.
"No, whoa, whoa!" Steve shook his head and held out his hand. "Slow down, Romeo,"
"Sorry,"
"Sure, okay, some girls, yeah, they want you to be aggressive. You know, strong, hot and heavy, like a... I don't know, like a lion," Steve explained, moving his hands around as he spoke. "But others, you gotta be slow, you gotta be stealthy, like a... like a ninja,"
"What type is Jen?" Dustin asked, glancing up at the girl ahead.
Jennifer turned around slightly and shot Dustin a really? look before turning to look at Steve and sending him a warning glare that said "you better choose your next words wisely".
"No, no, Jens different," Steve started, glancing up at the girl as he spoke. "She's different from the other girls,"
"Aw, Steve, I'm honoured. Truly," Jennifer said while placing a hand to her heart.
Dustin smiled as he watched the interaction, before looking back down to his feet.
"Yeah, she seems pretty special," he muttered.
Jennifer had begun to walk again, meaning that she was just out of earshot of the two's conversation.
"Yeah," Steve agreed, watching her as she walked away. "Yeah, she is,"
*
Jennifer's not like other girls.
She's different🔥
These chapters are finally starting to get more interesting! Stay tuned.