"What is that?" Erica stares down in disgust at El's leg. Mike and Lyn were on either side of El holding her hand.
"There's something in there." Robin watched as something slug shaped moved around in her leg.
"Oh, my poor baby," Lyn kisses El's forehead.
"No!" She screams from the pain.
"Keep her talking. Keep her awake, okay?" Jon told them. He got up and ran to one of the food vendors.
"Stay awake, stay awake. Let's get her on this side." Mike looks at Lyn. He nods his head in the direction he wanted her to go. She nods her head and puts her arms under El ready to lift her.
"I got her." Steve taps her shoulder. Lyn looks at him for a second before nodding. He would have an easier time carrying her then she would. "Easy, easy, easy, easy," He told the boys that were helping move El.
"You know, it's not actually that bad. There was a ...the goalie on my soccer team, Beth Wildfire, this other girl slid into her leg, and the bone came out of her knee, six inches or something, it was insane." Robin rambles on. Everyone gave her a look of disbelief, who in their right mind would think a broken bone is worse than a monster living inside them.
"Robin." Steve cut her off to stop her from going on.
"Yeah?" She took her eyes off the leg to look over at him.
"You're not helping." He shook his head.
"I'm sorry." She said after noticing how everyone was looking at her.
"It's alright Robin. It was a cute attempt to make everyone feel better." Lyn gave her a pat on the back for effort.
Jon ran back over with gloves on. He had a knife and spoon in his hand. "Okay. All right, El? This is going to hurt like hell, okay?" He kneels down by her infected leg.
"Okay." She nods with tears running down her face.
"Need you to stay real still. Here, you're going to want to bite down on this, okay?" He handed her a wooden spoon. She put it in her mouth sideways and bit down.
"Jesus Christ." Steve hissed. Dustin pushes him from El's side to hold her hand. Steve got up to hold on to a trembling Lyn. "Don't look." He pulls her to him, so she could hide her face in his chest. She cries as El's screaming filled her ears, along with everyone else's.
"Is it out yet?" She asks, not being brave enough to look.
"Not yet, he still got to reach in and get it." Steve held on to her tightly.
"Jonathan!" Nancy panicked, making Lyn turn to look. He had almost his whole hand in her leg.
"Stop talking!" He yells back. He didn't feel like he could afford to have his attention anywhere else but on El right now. "Goddamn it!" He yells when the parasite kept moving away from him.
"No! Stop it! Stop! Stop!" El spat out the spoon to scream. Nancy pushes Jon back to get him to remove his hand. "I can do it. I can do it." She sat up and used her powers. She screams in pain as she moves the thing from the backside of her leg to the wound in the front. With one last scream that shattered the display window in the store behind them, she was able to force a worm-like creature out of her leg. She throws it across the food court.
Everyone watches as it tries to crawl away only to be stomp on. Lyn out a breath of relief when she was it wasn't more Russians. It was Hopper, Joyce, and some balding man she never saw before.
They sat around the fountain filling each other in on what they knew. "Okay, so, just to be clear, this big fleshy spider thing that hurt El, it's some kind of gigantic weapon?" Steve as always needs to make sure he understood everything correctly.
"Yes." Nancy nods.
"But instead of, like, screws and metal, the Mind Flayer made its weapon with melted people." He couldn't believe how disgusting the Upside Down could get.
"Yes, exactly," Nancy nodded again. Robin's eyes bounce between Nancy and Steve. She could follow Nancy's story, but she understood Steve's disbelief. But, then with everything she just saw she would believe anything right now.
"Yeah, okay. Yeah, I'm just making sure." Steve nodded his head.
"Are we sure this thing is still out there, still alive?" Joyce asked. Lyn looks over at them, it did sound like El beat it up pretty good.
"El beat the shit out of it, but, yeah, it's still alive," Max told them.
"But if we close the gate again." Will thought of the way they stopped it before.
"We cut the brain off from the body." Max nodded along with him.
"And kill it…. theoretically." Lucas had to add on the last part, because who the hell really knows.
Lyn let out a sigh, before walking away from the group. "Where the hell are you going, Lyn?" Steve yelled after her.
"I'm getting a new pair of wedges since these ones are ruined and a pair of converse because my feet are starting to hurt." She points down at her shoes. "In fact, Dustin go, get a new backpack?" She looks at her brother.
"Seriously?" He raises an eyebrow at his sister telling him to steal.
"Yeah! For most of us this is our third time saving the world and what have we gotten in return? The government threatens us to keep our mouth shut and nightmares while we're sleeping and awake. I'm getting compensation for my pain and suffering." She turns back around to head to the store to get her things.
The teens looked at each other before running off. "Be quick," Joyce told them. In less than ten minutes they were all back by the foundation, each with a new backpack full of things and with new shoes on.
"Yoo-hoo! Yoo-hoo!" The balding man in a wife-beater and cut off shorts that were introduced to them as Murray Bauman was waving around some papers.
"You say this guy is smart." She whispers to Nancy.
"Yeah, he is. He is also a little insane." She whispers back to her.
"It's more than a little." Jon scoffed from the other side of Nancy.
Murray took them to a table in the food court to spread out his papers. "Okay, this is what Alexei called the hub. Now, the hub takes us to the vault room." He points down at his map. Lyn stares down at in from her seat next to Joyce. It was an accurate drawing from what she could tell. But, it was going to be hard to walk in there like how he was telling them to. They would be shot on sight.
"Okay, where's the gate?" Hopper looks down at the map.
"Right here, I don't know the scale on this, but I think it's fairly close to the vault room, maybe 50 feet or so." Murray shrugs.
"Try 500." Lyn let out a giggle. "The entrance might be in this mall, but this lair is almost the same size as Hawkins." She shook her head at their ignorance.
"What, you're just going to waltz in there like its commie Disneyland or something?" Erica steps up to the table next to Lyn.
"I'm sorry, who are you?" Murray mockingly questions the child talking to him like he was stupid.
"Erica Sinclair. Who are you?" She put her hand on her hips. Lyn chuckled at Murray's face. He clearly had no idea who he was talking too. She doubts he was ready for Erica's knowledgeable sass.
"Murray Bauman," He said his name slowly, not completely sure he wanted her to know.
"Listen, Mr. Bunman, I'm not trying to tell you how to do things, but I've been down in that shithole for 24 hours." She stares down Murray before turning to Hopper. "And with all due respect, you do what this man tells you, you're all going to die."
"I'm sorry, why is this four-year-old speaking to me?" He points at Erica like she was an annoying fly.
"Um, I'm ten, you bald bastard!" She stood on her tippy toes to snap at him. Lyn once again laughs at the older man's face. His jaw was on the floor by her insult when she was sure he heard worst from others.
"Erica!" Lucas scolds her for talking to an adult like that.
"Just the facts!" She screams back at him.
"She's right. You're all going to die, but you don't have to." Dustin moves to stand between Erica and his sister. "Excuse me. Sorry, may I?" He asks Murray, pointing to the chair the man was standing in front of.
"Please." He said sarcastically as he moved out of the way. Dustin took the empty seat. Erica took the last remain seat.
"Okay, see this room here? This is a storage facility. There's a hatch in here that feeds into their underground ventilation system. That will lead you to the base of the weapon. It's a bit of a maze down there, but between me, Lyn, and Erica, we can show you the way." Dustin points to himself and the two girls next to him. The girls nod that they would do it.
"You can show us the way?" Hopper said slowly.
"Don't worry, you can do all the fighting and the dangerous hero shit, and we'll just be your navigators." Dustin smiles while he nodded. He liked his plan.
"No. Nope," Hopper shook his head. He walks away to take a machine gun from a dead Russian. Joyce and Murray follow his example, raiding the other dead bodies.
Lyn, Steve, and Robin move to sit on the counter of a food vendor. "Steve, will you rub my feet?" She put her feet on his lap.
"What? Right now," He stares at her pouting face in disbelief.
"I don't think that wise. What if Russians come in right now? You would have to run bare feet and with all this glass around." She pointed to the display window and the hotdog vendor booth.
"True," She nodded but didn't remove her feet from Steve.
"Here, I'll rub your leg." He massaged her right leg, not wanting to touch the one with the bruised muscle.
"Thank you." She gave him a closed eye smile. She kept her eyes closed, leaned back, and enjoyed herself.
"Guys, come on. We got to go to the Ham radio." Dustin ran over to them.
"The what?" Lyn opens her eyes to ask him.
"We are going to navigate for Hopper, but to do that we need to get to my radio I built at camp that is at the highest point in Hawkins. Now come on, we need a driver." He threw the keys at Steve.
"Come on, the car is out front." Erica pulled Lyn off the counter and onto her feet.
"Alright, I'm coming." She let the girl drag her. Robin follows them all out. Lyn let out a low whistle when she saw the 1984 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz.
"Oh, man, now this, this is what I'm talkin' about!" Steve cheers.
"Todd father," Robin read the license plate with narrow eyes.
"Oh, screw Todd! Steve's her daddy now." Steve jumped into the driver's seat.
"Did you just talk about yourself in the third person?" Robin opens the front door and pushes the seat up to let Erica in before getting in the back herself.
"Did he just call himself daddy?" Erica points out the weirdest thing about that sentence.
"He does that when he gets excited," Lyn told them as she got in the passenger seat.
"I'm sorry I asked." Erica scoffs.
"All right, where are we going?" He bounced around in his seat as he turned on the car.
"Weathertop," Dustin jumped into the backseat.
"Weather-what?" He turns around to look at Dustin confused. He has been living in Hawkins his whole life and he never heard of a Weathertop.
"It a hill in Hawkins." His girlfriend told him.
"Just drive." Dustin orders.
"Okay. Jesus." Steve reversed the car out and drove off.
Your Love Keeps Lifting Me by Jackie Wilson was booming out of the car's speakers as Steve speed down the road. "Jesus, how far is this place, man?" Steve was starting to doubt this hill was even in Hawkins.
"Relax, we're almost there," Dustin reassured him.
"Suzie must be pretty special, huh? I mean, if you built this thing and lugged it all the way to the middle of nowhere just to talk to her?" Robin thought it was quite romantic for a young teen to do that. Most guys she knew had to be told to open the door for their dates.
"I mean, nobody's scientifically perfect, but Suzie's about as close to being perfect as any human could possibly be." Dustin wore the big goof smile that he had whenever he talked about her.
"She sounds made-up to me. She sounds made-up to you?" Erica leaned forward to look at the two in the front.
"No, she sounds real to me," Lyn said in one breath as she stares out to the side.
"Why are you hesitating, Steve?" Dustin leans forward to hiss at him.
"I'm… I'm... I'm not! I'm not! I think she sounds real. You know, totally, absolutely real." Steve was lucky that Dustin couldn't see his face, so he didn't know he was lying.
"Left, turn left." Dustin noticed that they were coming up on the hill.
"There's not a road here." Steve looked out to a field.
"Turn left now!" Dustin demands. They were about to pass it if Steve kept going.
"Jesus!" Steve cursed when Dustin yelled in his ear. "Hang on!" He told them. They went over the rough terrain. Lyn held on to her seat, even with the seat belt she was bouncing everywhere.
"We're not going to make it!" Robin looked up at the large hill in front of them.
"Yes, we are. Come on, baby." Steve praised the car like a horse as he gas it up the hill. It made it up half away before it refused to move.
"Guess the Todd father has its limitations." Robin jumped out of the car.
"Don't look so disappointed, Steve. She is made for luxury, not for work." Lyn gave his shoulder a squeeze. She got out of the car and lifted the seat up to let Dustin and Erica out. With a sigh, Steve put the car in park and got out also. They walk the rest of the way up the hill.
When they got to the top, Dustin changed the ham radio to the channel that Hopper was supposed to be on. "Bald Eagle, do you copy? Bald Eagle, I repeat, this is Scoops Troop. Do you copy?" He spoke into the microphone.
"Yes, I copy." Murray's sighs could be heard through the radio.
Dustin smiled at all of them before speaking to Murray again. "Call sign?" He asks, like he had to make sure it was really him.
"Bald Eagle," He mutters.
"Please repeat." Dustin teases.
"Bald Eagle! This is Bald Eagle!" He yells through the radio.
"Copy that. Good to hear your voice, Bald Eagle. What's your 20?" Dustin snickers as he gets down to business.
"We reached the vent. I'll contact you when I need you, until then, silence." Murray hiss.
"Roger that, Bald Eagle. This is Scoops Troop, going radio silent. 10-10, over," Dustin put the microphone down.
"This is very impressive, Dustin." Lyn looked over the radio that her brother built. It was out here during the storm and it was still in working order.
"Thank you." He took a bow. Lyn, Robin, and Steve sat back as the kids guide Murray through the vents every time he ran into a junction. Lyn might have been there with them, but she was only following their lead. She spent most of the time in the vents praying to calm her anxiety.
"Scoops Troop, this is Hm… Bald Eagle. I've reached another junction." Murray called out for them.
"This is what?" Dustin turned to Erica.
"The fourth junction," She told him.
"All right, so if memory serves, this is right after the My Little Pony thesis." He said.
"We went left, so he has to go right." She told him.
"Right. Fly right, Bald Eagle. Fly right." Dustin repeated into the microphone.
"Roger that, flying right," Murray sneers, clearly still bitter about his call sign.
"What's the My Little Pony thesis?" Robin put her head between the two of them.
"Don't get him started." Erica shook her head.
"Get him started? Just tell me." Robin begs now that her curiosity has peaked.
"It's about if my little pony is nerdy or not?" Lyn told her.
"Now I'm really interested," Robin smirks at Erica.
"Hey, guys?" Steve called them. They look up to see Steve standing at the edge of the hill. He waved them over, so they got up to see what he was looking at.
"Fuck." Lyn curse at the sight of the mall's lights flickering on and off.
They ran back to the radio. Dustin grabbed the microphone. "Griswold Family, this is Scoops Troop! Do you copy? Over! Griswold Family, I repeat, this is Scoops Troop." He repeated over and over.
Steve got up and ran down the hill. Lyn dashes off after him. "Where are you guys going?" Erica yells at their backs.
"We're going to get them the hell out of there! Stay here, contact the others!" Steve yells back as he kept running. Lyn and Steve jump back into the car. He started up the car, turning the high beams on.
"Wait! Wait!" Robin waved her hands in the air. She jumps into the back seat with the walkie in her hand. Steve reverse down the hill and speed back to the mall.
When they got to the parking lot they saw Billy's Camaro heading right towards the Wheeler's car that had most of the kids in it. Jonathan was in the driver's seat with Nancy standing in front of the car shooting at Billy.
"Hold on!" Steve screams as he pushes the gas pedal to the floor and T-boning the Camaro. It flew to the side and it looked like Billy was knocked out at the wheel.
"Are you okay?" Steve looked at his girlfriend and then at Robin.
"Ask me tomorrow?" Robin let out the breath she was holding.
"Me too," Lyn got out and looked at the sad state both of the beautiful cars were in. She was never so grateful she left Darling at home.
"Oh, shit!" Robin whispers. Lyn looked up to see the shadow monster standing on top of the mall. It let out a mighty roar in anger that they beat his human warrior.
The Wheeler's car pulled up alongside them. "Get in!" The three teens squeeze into the back of the car that was already packed with boxes of fireworks. Jonathan speed away from the mall. The monster jumped off the roof and ran after them.
The three in the back stares in fear at the monster that was on their tail. "Dusty-bun, you copy?" A cute cheerful voice came over the radio.
"I copy, Suzie-poo. It sounds much better now, thanks." Dustin said through the radio next.
Lyn, Robin, and Steve looked down at the radio before looking up at each other, "Suzie."
"Okay, so, listen, do you know Planck's constant?" Dustin asks her.
"Do you know the Earth orbits the sun?" She shot back like the two were obvious things.
"Okay, so I know it starts with two sixes, but what's the rest?" Dustin rattles his brain for the equation.
"Okay, let me just be clear on this. I haven't heard from you in a week, and now you want a mathematical equation that you should know so you can save the world?" Suzie sasses her boyfriend.
"Despite the situation, I like that she is not letting him off the hook." Lyn looked down at the walkie like Suzie would pop out of it to meet her in person. Steve gave her a look then pointed out the window to the monster that was chasing them. "I said despite the situation." She hisses.
"Suzie-poo, I promise, I will make it up to you as soon as possible." Dustin pledges with her.
"You can make it up to me now." Suzie had her cheerful tone back.
"What?" He gasps.
"I want to hear it." She demands.
"Not right now." He shook his head, even though only Erica could see him.
"Yes, now, Dusty-bun," She whines.
"Suzie-poo, this is urgent." He pledges with her.
"Yes, yes, you're saving the world, I heard you the first time, but Ged is also saving Earthsea and he's about to confront the shadow, so this is Suzie, signing off." She was done with Dustin's foolishness. First, he doesn't connect her for days, when he does it only because he wants information for Dungeon and Dragons campaign that he was playing with his friends.
She was about to push the turn off button when Dustin caved. "Wait, Wait, Wait! Okay. Okay."
"What the hell can be so bad that he doesn't want us to hear," Steve stared down at the walkie.
"Turn around look at what you see in her face. The mirror of your dreams," Dustin sang the theme to Never Ending Story.
"What's wrong with your brother?" Steve shook his head as he turned to his girlfriend.
"He's' a romantic." Lyn smiles down at the walkie as Suzie joins him in the song. "Besides we sing songs together in the car all the time." She shrugs.
Robin giggles into her hands. "No, that's not the same. We sing popular songs on the radio, not some random songs that are not even about love." Steve defended himself as he nudged Robin with his foot to get her to stop laughing.
"It's not a random song. It's the theme song to the Never Ending Story." Robin told him.
"Somehow that seems worse." Steve shook his head again, in disgust.
"Planck's constant is 662607004." She told him at the end of the song.
"You just saved the world." Dustin cheers.
"Gosh, I miss you, Dusty-bun." Suzie sings to him.
"And I miss you more, Suzie-poo." He gushes.
"I miss you more, multiplied by all the stars in our galaxy." She obviously played this lovey-dovey game to win.
"No, I miss you... " Dustin was saying back to her when the radio cut off.
"Thank god." Steve let out a sigh of relief, along with Will who was sitting in front of them.
"Does Steve do that?" Robin asks.
"Nope," Lyn pops the P out. Steve wasn't one to gush about his feelings neither was she. They both prefer action over talk.
"It's turning around," Steve yelled. Robin and Lyn look out the window to see the shadow monster walking away from them.
"What?" Jonathan yells back.
"It's turning around!" Lyn confirmed.
"Maybe we wore it out." Lucas hopes.
"I don't think so. Hold on." Jon made a sharp U-turn and followed the monster. It led them back to the mall.
Once they were back at the mall, they jumped out of the car. "Fuck," Lyn swore that the Camaro driver's seat is empty.
"Everyone grabs a box of fireworks," Lucas told them. Everyone grabbed a box and ran into the mall. Lyn followed the crowd up the escalator to the second floor.
"It has to come back here, the food court only place big enough for it. So spread around the perimeter. When it comes, we'll light it up." Jonathan gave them the game plan. They nod before spreading out. Lyn, Robin, and Steve took one corner. Will and Lucas went to another. Jonathan and Nancy went to their own corner.
They watch Billy come in holding El and put her down on the floor. He leans down and whispers something to her. The shadow monster climbed in through the roof. It leans down and opens its mouth to shallow El. Will throws the first firework. It turns to roar at them. "Flay this, you ugly piece of shit," Lucas screamed as he threw a firework into his mouth. The thing cried out and shook his head in the same way a dog does when it is wet.
Lyn along with everyone else started to light up fireworks as fast as they could to throw it at the monster. "Hey asshole, over here," Steve screamed making it turn to them. He throws his firework at his head. Lyn personally was aiming for his butt.
"Steve, we're running out," Lyn said when she grabbed a firework from the bottom of their last box.
"Dustin, we're running out of time." He yells into the walkie.
"Close the gate," Dustin yelled to Joyce and Hopper.
"They got the code how long ago, shouldn't it be done already." Lyn wondered if they were even still alive.
"Fuck, we're out." Robin curses. Lyn ran to the side, so she could see where El was. Billy was standing in front of El. When it shot out its long devil tongue to grab her, he grabbed it. He let out a scream as he held it back.
"He's protecting her." Lyn gasp. She cried as she saw that it latch onto him with its multiple arms. He lets out one final scream as it shot one of its sharp tentacles into his chest. It was sad to see that turning point for Billy from being that hurt little boy to becoming a man was going to be his last moment on earth. She watched in shock as it dropped Billy's limp dead body to the floor. It wasn't that it was done with him. The monster let go because it was dying too. It let out its own screams of pain as it stumbled around knocking into things.
"Get down." Steve pulls Lyn to the floor when one of the tentacles swings their way. Lyn popped back up to look over the edge when she heard a loud thump. She saw it lying dead in the middle of the food court. Lyn ran down the escalator and over to Max who was leaning over his dead body.
"Billy. Billy, wake up. Billy, get up. Please, Billy, Billy! Billy, Billy, I'm sorry." She begs him.
"It's okay. It's okay. It's okay. It's okay." El pulled Max into her arms and rubbed her back. Lyn knelt down and joined the girl's hug.
"He wasn't evil. He wasn't bad." Max sobs.
"No, he wasn't. He was a tortured soul who didn't know how to deal with his pain." She gave her a kiss on the forehead.
They looked up when they heard footsteps. They let out a breath of relief when they saw it was firemen. "Come on, you guys." They were guided outside and led to see in the back of the emergency vehicles, where they were all examined.
Lyn was standing by the EMT while they looked over Mike. "El," He called out to his girlfriend. Lyn looked back to see her crying as she looked at Joyce and Will hugging.
"I got it." She reassures him. She went over and pulled El into a hug. She let the girl cry on her shoulder until she didn't have the energy to cry anymore. Steve came over and carried El to the back of one of the ambulances.
Steve pulled up to the Family Video store that was next to the arcade. "You put your mom down as a reference?" Robin looked down at Steve's resume.
"I couldn't talk him out of it," Lyn told her as she got out of Darling.
"Yeah. Why not? She's, like, super well-respected." Steve got out of the car. He opened the door to the Family Video for the two girls.
"You're such a dingus." Robin shook her head as she went inside.
"I'm going to look around while you have your interview. Good Luck." Lyn gave him a kiss before going to look through the videos.
Steve and Robin walked over to the front counter and handed Keith their resumes. "Just to be clear, we weren't fired, you know. The mall burned down and, like, killed a bunch of people." Robin reminded him.
"Thanks for sharing, didn't know." He rolls his eyes. The mall burning down was all anyone was talking about. "Three favorite movies go." He points at Robin.
"Uh… The Apartment, Hidden Fortress, Children of Paradise." She listed off.
"You, go." He points at Steve.
"Favorite movies?" He had to think. He practiced typical interview questions with Lyn, this wasn't one of them.
"Did I stutter?" He kept his finger pointed at Steve.
"Uh… Animal House, for sure." His eyes searched for Rosalyn. She was friends with his guy, maybe she could help him out.
"Um, eyes on me, Harrington." He snapped his finger in Steve's face then pointed a finger at each eye.
"Yeah… uh… Star Wars," He thought about the movies that Dustin made him watch.
"A New Hope?" Keith names his favorite one.
"A new what-now?" Steve didn't know what he was asking him.
"Which Star Wars?" He was already exhausted by having to have a conversation with this guy.
"The one with the teddy bears. Duh," He tried to make the noise that they did in the movie. Robin hung her head letting him know to move on. "No? Uh Oh, the one that just came out. The movie that just came out, the one with the DeLorean and Alex P. Keaton, and he's trying to bang his mom. The time..." He stopped trying to explain it when he saw Keith's weird out face and Robin slam her head down on the counter. "Yeah, those are my top three. Classics," He held up three fingers.
"You start Monday." He points at Robin. "You start never," He pointed at Steve.
"Will you just, um… will you give us a minute?" Robin leaned in to whisper to Steve.
"Why?" Steve asked. He didn't want to leave Robin alone with this creep. He heard how he used to perv on Nancy.
"Steve, go see how Lyn is doing?" She pushed him in that direction. He let out a sigh as he walked over to his girlfriend. He came up from behind and wrapped his arms around her waist. He put his chin on her shoulder and looked at the video she had in her hands, Rebel without a Cause.
"How did it go?" Lyn asks.
"Just let me hold you." He kisses her shoulder. Right, now it felt like the only good thing he had going for him was her. It made him more clingy than normal. Rosalyn didn't seem to mind it since she felt clingy since their third near-death experience.
"You're going to find a job, don't worry about it." She knew that he probably wasn't going to get the job when she saw Keith at the front counter. He had a grudge against him. Lyn couldn't blame Keith, who would like the guy that made fun of them in high school.
When Steve was gone, Robin turned back to her new co-worker. "All right, you have to understand, Keith, I know his taste is a bit pedestrian, but the dingus has other qualities."
"He's a douche bag of the highest order, Robin." He couldn't believe that he had to remind his friend of this fact. She was the one that was complaining about how she had to work with him all summer.
"He was a bit of a prick to us in high school, I'll grant you that, but he remains a total chick magnet." She leans on the counter.
"Yeah, okay, and this is relevant to me, how?" He narrows his eyes at his friend. If anything he saw this was another con about Steve working here. No girl would want to talk to him with pretty boy Steve around.
"Uh, Earth to Keith. The ladies will come in just to see him. They'll come in droves. Droves, Keith. We sold so much ice cream they had to get a second shipment in from Michigan. Goddamn Michigan, Keith. And these ladies, these ladies are hot. They're so very hot." She drags out the last two sentences, thinking about all the pretty ladies that come through Scoops Ahoy. "He already has a girlfriend. He's going to need your assistance to keep them off of him." She cleared her throat as she got herself back on track.
"What's in it for you? You got a thing for him or something?" He wondered why she was pulling so hard for the guy.
Keith and Robin turned their heads when they heard something drop. Steve stumbled into a cardboard cutout. "Goddammit," He passes his resume to Lyn who was behind him and picked up the cutout. He let out an appreciated hum when he saw it was Phoebe Cates in a red bikini.
"We're just, um… We're just friends." Robin told him.
"Oh! Fast Times. Fast Times. Ever heard of it? Top three for me, Keith." He turns the cutout to them.
"I'll see you Monday." He sneers at Steve.
"For real?" His jaw dropped.
"Don't make me regret this." He gave him the evil eye.
"That's great, we can celebrate tonight. Mom is making your favorite, Steve. Robin is coming too." Lyn grabbed onto Steve's arm.
"I am?" Robin asks, not knowing that she had plans.
"Yeah. Now, come on we have to get over to the Byer's. I want to say goodbye." She pulls Steve out.
"See you Monday, Keith." Steve waves bye.
They got into Darling and made their way to the house. When they pulled up everyone was standing around the Ford Pinto. Everyone was hugging and crying. Rosalyn threw the car door open and ran over to the group to pull Will into a hug.
"You made it." Will smiles at Lyn.
"I wouldn't miss this for anything. I even made Steve break a few laws." She let go to ruffle his hair.
"Thanks, Steve." Will looks over at the older teen.
"No problem. I'm used to being ordered around by now." He teases.
"Promise me, that you won't become a hermit. You have to make new friends and go on adventures, maybe have a little romance." She smiled despite the tears running down her face. She reaches out to give Will a playful hit on the shoulder.
"I'll promise everything, but the last part." He laughs.
"I'll take what I can get, I guess." She pulls him into another tight hug.
"Lyn, I have to breathe." He gasps. She laughs as she lets go.
She got tackled into a hug by El. "I'm going to miss you. You were my first protector." She whispers into the older teen's ear. She closes her eyes as she thought back to the night that Lyn swears to her that she wouldn't let the bad people take her. When everyone else was pushing her to save Will with no thought about her life, Lyn was the only one worried about her too. Lyn protected and loved her at first sight. It was something she didn't think was going to come around often.
"I think you protected me a lot more than I protected you." Lyn laughs. "I'm going to miss you too, so much."
"Can you give me one last forehead kiss?" El asks.
"I'll give you one, but it is not the last." Lyn lean back and give her a kiss on the forehead. After she gave a hug to Jonathan and Joyce, they got in their cars and drove off, leaving everyone in tears.