~~~Steve~~~
I sat in the break room with my head in my hands, feeling very down on myself for the simple reason that right now my life feels like a complete and utter fail.
I am working at an ice cream place in the mall making three bucks an hour, I can't go to college which makes me ineligible for most jobs, Most of my friends are children, and they have more active social lives than I do because my friends are off doing a summer internship and actually doing something with their lives despite being a year younger than me, and my girlfriend just walked out because I shot down her idea of us living together with no explanation whatsoever.
To be honest, I would love to live with Riley. I think it would be awesome and it would make me feel a little better about my life right now but...I can't. I can't do it. My life is already in the trash as it is, I'm already not where I'm supposed to be for my age, I'm already doing life wrong. I'm not gonna do our relationship wrong too.
Riley deserves to have a man who can take care of her. She needs a guy with a good job, who can give her financial security and a house; make a life for her. I can't do that right now, and I don't want to move in with her and take such a big relationship step until I know for sure that I can be that guy. But I don't want to tell her that, in case she realizes what a loser I am and decides that she can find those things elsewhere.
So now she's mad at me, aside from the fact that I think she was already mad at me for the whole flirting game, even if she said she wasn't, and she's probably upset and confused, and wondering why she's even wasting time on me, so its possible I can't even do that right and I'm gonna lose one of the only things in my life that I actually have going for me right now.
My self-deprecating thoughts were cut off by the sound of Robin talking to someone outside of the break room.
"Hi."
"Hi."
"I'm Dustin."
"I'm Robin."
"Pleasure to meet you. Uh, is-is he here?"
"Is who here?" I was already at the door at this point, busting through it to see the person I needed to see most in this moment. I threw my hands up in the air.
"Henderson!" He laughed and I walked around the corner as Robin gave us both weird looks. "Henderson! He's back!"
"I'm back! You got the job!"
"I got the job!" I walked over to him, playing a fake trumpet before we both fell into our secret handshake, which ended with a mimed lightsaber battle, me getting stabbed in the stomach by Dustin before we both started laughing again.
"How many children are you friends with?" Robin questioned. I sighed, letting my smile fall before gesturing to Robin.
"Does Riley work here too?" He asked.
"Yeah, she does. She was just here a second ago before Dingus no doubt said something stupid and ticked her off." Robin said. Dustin furrowed his eyebrows at me.
"Its a long story. Let me treat you to a banana boat and I'll fill you in." I said.
~~~
I explained everything that had happened the past month to Dustin with Riley saying she loved me, the apartment thing the flirting game, all of it.
"She's probably fed up with me by now." I said, raking a hand through my hair.
"So wait, let me get this straight," He said, "Riley said she loved you, and you couldn't say it back...because of Nancy."
"Yeah."
"And then she finds out that you've been flirting with other girls behind her back."
"Not seriously, but yeah."
"And now you say you think its a bad idea for you to live together but you won't tell her why?" I nodded. "Dude, she's not fed up, she probably thinks you want to break up with her."
"What?!" I exclaimed.
"Look at all of those things you just told me from her perspective. Either you've still got a thing for Nancy and are just using her as a rebound, or you're sick of her and trying to figure out how to break up with her."
"Oh my gosh...OH my gosh!" I leaned back against the booth, putting my hands over my face.
"Steve, it'll be fine. Riley's an understanding person, you just have to talk to her."
"Yeah, if she doesn't break up with me first." I said. "But anyway, that's my drama. How was camp?"
"It was amazing. I actually um...I met a girlfriend of my own." My eyes widened.
"No way." He smiled. "Henderson!"
"She's amazing. Her name is Suzie with a 'Z', she's from Utah. She's gorgeous, like Pheobe Cates but hotter."
"No way."
"Mhm."
"Hotter than Pheobe Cates?"
"Mhm. Brilliant, too. And she doesn't even care that my real pearls are still coming in. She says kissing is better without teeth." He said. I had to admit, I was slightly skeptical, but I wasn't going to tell him that.
"Wow...yeah. That's great, proud of you, man. That's ro-that's kinda romantic, that's like...wow."
"Hm." He shrugged, nodding in agreement.
"So do you really just get to eat as much of this as you want?"
"Yeah, I mean sure. ITs not really a good idea for me, though. I might be a pretty crappy boyfriend but the least I can do is stay in shape for Riley."
"Yeah, and how's that working out for you?" Robin called from across the room.
"Ignore her." I said.
"She seems cool."
"She's not. So, where are the other knuckleheads?" I questioned.
"They ditched me yesterday." He said.
"No."
"My first day back. Can you believe that crap?!"
"Whoa. Seriously?"
"I swear." He said, shoveling another spoonful of ice cream into his mouth. "They're gonna regret it though, big time, when they don't get to share in my glory."
"Glory?" I questioned. "What glory?" He scooted closer to me.
"So last night, we're trying to get in contact with Suzie, and uh..." He trailed off, looking around the restaurant. "Iinterceptedasecretrussiancommunication." He whispered into his hand.
"What?"
"Uh..." He looked around again before cupping a hand over his mouth, "Iinterceptedasecretrussiancommuncation."
"Just speak louder."
"I intercepted a secret Russian Communication!" He exclaimed, causing everyone to turn around and look at us.
"Jeez, shh. Yeah, ok, that's what I thought you said." I replied. "What-what does that mean?"
"It means, Steve, we could be heroes. True American heroes."
"Huh."
"Mhmm. Well, Riley too, because let's be honest, the two of us wouldn't last a day without here."
"Yeah, yeah, no arguments here." I said. "But what's the catch?'
"No catch, I just need you guys' help."
"With what?" He unzipped his backpack, pulling out a Russian-English dictionary.
"Translation."
"Yeah...that'll definitely be Riley's department."
"Ok, I'll go find her and we'll meet back here. Hopefully she's still in the mall somewhere." I nodded in agreement.