HOUNDS OF LOVE
[ CHAPTER SIX: A GROUP UNDIVIDED ]
"WERE YOU SPYING ON US KID?"
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"SO, LET ME GET THIS STRAIGHT, I ended my six hour long campaign with the guys from work just so I could teach King Steve, Russian?"
As they surrounded Keith from his spot sitting on a chair in the backroom of Scoops Ahoy, the three teens and Dustin looked at him sheepishly. They nodded half heartedly not sure if that was the real reason but still not trying to beat around the bush.
"We could all actually learn Russian." Dustin chimed in from his spot in between Frankie and Steve.
Robin rolled her eyes at the younger kid. "What Dingus Jr here means is that we need you to translate this message."
"The Russian message." Steve blurted out before backtracking as Robin elbowed him in the side.
Keith stared Steve down with a glare and even though King Steve wouldn't have been scared, the regular Steve that was standing in the backroom of Scoops rubbed his neck uncomfortably. With that, Keith rose from his seat with a groan.
"Frankie, this is ridiculous. I'm going home."
Grabbing his arm as he started to walk towards the exit, Frankie quickly went to stand in front of him and his way out. He stared at the window separating the back to the front of the restaurant, not looking anywhere near her.
"Chester."
He still wasn't looking down at her and Frankie pushed a piece of hair behind her ear nervously.
"Ches."
She grabbed both his hands with hers and tugged lightly to get him to look at her.
"Keith, please."
Keith Cardarople and Franny Walsh have been friends since the beginning of time, well that's what Frankie would tell anyone if they asked how long they've been friends for. In reality they've been each other's best friend since middle school, but it's honestly felt longer than that. They knew each other's tell tale signs which is why when Keith looked down at Frankie just then, he could tell she was being completely serious and actually did need his help.
"Stop looking at me like that." He muttered with a roll of his eyes going back to the seat he was previously inhabiting.
"Way to go Cardarople." Robin let out with a teasing grin.
"Yeah, yeah, you both owe me an ice cream." He huffed out while opening the English to Russian dictionary laying on the table.
"How about some USS Butterscotch for the ol' Keithster?" Steve called out excitedly as he raced to the front of the store, flipping his scooper as he went.
"Don't you dare start calling me that, Harrington!" Keith shouted with a frown on his face.
He looked towards Frankie in disbelief. The only thing she did was shrug her shoulders with a smug smile. Sputtering a few times, Keith rolled his eyes before taking the dictionary and standing by the white board pretending to read it. Frankie let out a quiet chuckle before skipping to his side and hugging his arm in a silent thanks.
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THE FIVE HAD BEEN AT IT trying to get the gist of the Russian code for the past hour. Steve and Robin had switched every fifteen minutes or so, each getting bored of slinging ice cream and just wanting to know the message. Dustin was growing antsy especially because it's been him, Robin and Keith stuck in the back together not getting anywhere.
"I thought you knew Russian." Dustin looked to Keith with a roll of his eyes.
"I do know Russian, you little turd." The older teen massaged his temples as he rolled his head backwards.
Dustin scoffed. "Okay, well if you did know Russian, could you maybe tell us what this guy's Russian message is?"
"Russian is a complicated language, okay? It's not on the same wave length as English. The grammar structure is a completely different one on top of the fact that the Russian alphabet is a pain in the ass to learn. Also, distinguishing between hard and soft sounds and articulation between a newbie like me and a probably fluent native like this guy is kind of difficult, so if you could lay off that'd be great." Keith stared down Dustin while ending his spiel with a sarcastic smile.
Dustin kept his mouth closed as Keith reached across and snatched the recorder out of his hand. Making a face that was met back by a scoff, Dustin just turned towards the spot Robin was and felt his brows furrow. Robin was balancing on the two back legs of the chair while closing her eyes like she was asleep. How she stayed perfectly still was a mystery.
"So, the first sentence is 'the week is long'-"
"You said that an hour ago~."
Keith continued with a roll of his eyes, ignoring the jab from the girl who was pretending to be asleep.
"'Feed the something cat' is the next, then 'when blue something yellow the something'. I just can't make out the structure." Keith stared at the letters written on the board that Robin and Dustin did prior to him arriving.
Robin and Dustin stood up on either side of him, both trying to wrap their heads around the letters. They grew silent, the only sound in the room being the freezer wheezing every couple of seconds which had soon turned into white noise.
"Steve!"
The girlish laugh could be heard from the thin window separating the two rooms and all three of them turned towards the noise quickly. Robin made eye contact with both boys making sure they understood that they needed to be as quiet as possible even going as far as pointing at them and then putting a finger up to her lips.
The three then tip toed their way to the door and opened it slightly. Dustin stood in front of Robin and Robin in front of Keith. Cracking the door open even more, heads one above the other, they stared at the scene awaiting them on the other side.
Frankie was sitting on the counter underneath the menu for the ice cream shop. Her legs dangled off of the cold plaster and her high top blue converse swung in an unmethodical manor. She had stripped off her heavy cropped denim jacket and was wearing a t shirt with the arms cut off tucked into her high wasted jeans.
She was fighting Steve's long arms which were trying to put his Scoops sailor hat on top of her head and she was failing with a grin on her face. Steve had moved in between her legs and tugged both her hands into one of his, swiftly laying the dorky hat atop of her brunette waves.
"How do I look?" She asked jokingly as she adjusted the hat more firmly on her head.
Steve grabbed her hands from messing with the stiff fabric and linked their fingers together. Pressing himself as close to her as the counter allowed, Steve pulled their joined hands into her lap and smiled nervously up at Frankie.
"You look beautiful."
Frankie felt blood rush up to her cheeks and her stomach swirl in the most amazing way. Blinking a few times down at Steve, Frankie squeezed his hands that were in hers. Both teens looked at each other in awe, not sure what to say next.
BANG
Frankie and Steve turned their heads to the side at the sound and felt their eyes widen as Dustin fell through the swinging door and onto his knees. Steve stared at the younger boy in annoyance, knowing that the moment was ruined while Frankie looked behind her and into the frosted glass. She could see two figures scurrying and frowned in embarrassment realizing that not only Dustin had seen what had transpired between her and Steve but so did Robin and Chester.
"Were you spying on us, kid?" Steve asked the younger boy, removing himself from Frankie's side and walking over to where Dustin was still on his knees. Helping him up, Steve pushed the boy into the backroom, Dustin apologizing profusely as the door swung back in place.
Frankie jumped off her spot on the counter and followed the two into the back knowing that Chester was about to grill her as soon as they were alone. Rubbing her am, she looked upon the group in front of her with an amused yet embarrassed grin.
Robin was pretending to write on the board, holding the marking the opposite way it should have went. She was subtly looking behind her at Steve and Dustin who were whispering in the corner. When she notice Frankie staring at her with a raised brow, she quickly turned back around and started erasing stuff with her fingers.
Keith was rewinding the tape recording while pretending he had been sitting at the table the entire time. When he made eye contact with Frankie, his mouth that was in a plain line turned up smugly. Her eyebrow came up automatically and his did too although slower and more dramatic. With a click of the play button, Frankie broke eye contact when her cheeks bloomed red again and looked down at her shoes.
The Russian's voice was loud and pronounced in the quiet room, and Robin stared at Keith as the wheels started turning in his head. His knees hit the table top as he scrambled to get up. Taking the marker from Robin's hand, Keith held the recorder between his shoulder and ear. He erased the translated sentences he had wrote down before and scribbled down the new ones.
"I got it." He whispered to himself, before turning towards the group with a small smile. "I fucking got it!"
"Wait, what?" Frankie asked as she walked over to Keith to see if he was lying. Dustin and Steve surrounded the three and they all stared down at the white board in confusion.
"The week is long. The silver cat feeds. When blue meets yellow in the west." The group read the message out loud each growing more and more at a loss to what was written in marker ink.
"Well, what the hell could that mean?" Steve voiced out, but everyone was too busy trying to wrap their heads around the mysterious message. If Keith's translation was right, they were in way over their heads.
AUTHORS NOTE
sorry I take forever to update also I love Steve and Fran