039. THE WORLD MIGHT END AGAIN
"hide my head, i want to drown my sorrow"
-mad world, tears for fears
˗ˏˋ ★ ˎˊ˗ The next morning, Kat, Steve, and Robin were at work, trying to find movie to play.
Kat and Steve were restocking the shelves, and Robin was retelling the story of Vickie laughing at Steve's Muppet joke.
"And then Vickie laughed. And it wasn't, like, a cheap, fake laugh either. It was like...It was a real, genuine laugh," she said, following the two around the aisles.
Steve handed a few VHSes to Kat. "Of course she laughed. It's my Muppet joke. It's hilarious."
Kat nodded in agreement. "I think you might be reading too much into it."
"But she laughed!" Robin repeated, still holding onto her hope. "Everything was just like...perfect!"
"But?" Steve prompted, knowing there was a but coming.
"But I'm having this problem where it's like, I should stop talking. I have said everything I need to say. But then I guess I get nervous, and the words keep spilling out, and it's like my—my brain is moving faster than my mouth, or rather my mouth is moving faster than my brain. It's just like I'm digging this hole for myself, and I want to stop digging, I'm trying to stop digging, but I can't stop digging, and—"
Kat turned around to face Robin. "You're doing it right now, Robin," she said, grabbing her shoulder.
Robin sighed, covering her face with her hands and leaning her back against the wall. "I'm hopeless," she groaned.
As Robin and Steve started talking about combining their personalities, Kat went through the aisles to find a morning movie for the day.
As usual, she gravitated towards the drama movies. Baal, Witness, Suburbia, Terms of Endearment. Kat picked up the Terms of Endearment box, reading the back as she walked over to Robin and Steve. "Hey, what about this one for the morning?" she asked, holding up the box.
Robin shrugged. "We did that one two weeks ago," she said before gasping and running over to a shelf. "Dr. Zhivago!" Robin held onto the box like it was her child.
Steve shook his head. "Come on, you know I don't do double VHS."
Kat snickered. "Yeah, cause you always forget to put the second one in," she commented.
"But it's about doomed love," she insisted, already running to turn on the TV above the counter. "It's relatable and Julie Christie is b-b-bonkers hot in this. Like, seriously, the most beautiful creature I have ever seen in my life."
She flicked on the TV, but the newscast captured all of their attention. A woman stood somberly in front of many people while holding a microphone.
"We're in the Forest Hills trailer park in east Roane County. We don't have a lot of details now, but we can confirm that the body of a Hawkins High student was discovered early this morning. Police have not yet released the name at this time."
"Holy shit," Steve whispered to himself.
Kat ran over to the phone, quickly punching in numbers.
"What are you doing?" Steve asked, cocking a brow.
She brought the phone to her ear. "I'm calling Dustin," she said as the ringing sound droned in her ear. It was on the last ring when someone finally picked up.
"Hello?" the voice on the other end said, but it wasn't Dustin.
"Hey, Mom, is Dustin there?"
"He's in his room right now, why?"
She let out a sigh of relief. "No reason, thanks."
"After you get off work we have to ta—"
Kat hung up, cutting Mom off mid-sentence. She'll forget by then, anyways.
Robin and Steve sat there with expecting eyes.
"It's not him," she spoke out as the two let out relieved sighs. "Thank God," Kat whispered to herself, rubbing her eyes.
—
˗ˏˋ ★ ˎˊ˗ It was only a half an hour later when Max and Dustin came storming into Family Video.
"How many phones do you have?" Dustin asked quietly as the three teens were still glued to the news channel.
"Dude, did you see this?" Steve asked, pointing to the TV. "Someone was murdered."
Dustin disregarded Steve's question, shaking his head back and forth. "How many phones do you have?" he repeated, this time more urgently.
Kat shrugged, not seeing any point. "Two, why?"
"Technically three, if you count Keith's in the back," Robin added as Max and Dustin looked to each other, talking with their eyes.
Dustin then launched his backpack over the counter, knocking off Kat's pile of tapes. He then launched himself over the counter, which knocked everything else off that wasn't already.
Without giving another look, he sat down at the computer and started frantically typing.
"Dustin!" Kat scolded, reading the computer over his shoulder. "What are you doing?"
"Setting up base of operations," is all Dustin replied with.
Robin scoffed, picking up all of the tapes from the ground. "Base of operations?" she repeated.
Steve grabbed at Dustin's shoulder. "Get off of that."
"No, I need it."
"For what?"
"For Eddie's friends' phone numbers."
Steve rolled his eyes. "Oh, Eddie. Your new best friend you think is cooler than me because he plays your nerdy game?" he asked sarcastically.
Kat turned to face Steve, looking at him over her shoulder. "You jealous, Harrington?"Steve just gave an unappreciative look as a response.
Eddie was the leader of The Hellfire Club, a Dungeons and Dragons group that Dustin, Mike, and Lucas joined at the beginning of their freshman year. He was a two-time super senior, and a well known drug dealer. Kat wasn't totally a fan of Eddie and Dustin being somewhat friends, but Dustin had been the happiest he's been in a while, so Kat couldn't complain.
"Seriously, you guys, maybe on a Monday you can play around, but it's Saturday," Robin said, repositioning the things on the counter. "It's our busiest day."
Dustin didn't pull his eyes away from the screen. "Robin, I totally empathize, but this cannot wait until Monday."
"What, cause calling all of Eddie's friends is such a dire emergency?" Kat said with an eye roll.
"Correct!" Dustin shouted, angrily turning to Max. "Can you fill them in while I do this?"
"Fill us in on what?" Kat asked in annoyance, looking at Max and Dustin with wide eyes.
—
˗ˏˋ ★ ˎˊ˗ "Chrissy Cunningham?" Kat repeated for what felt like the thousandth time.
Dustin nodded. "Yes, that's what Max saw, her in her cheerleader outfit."
"But she was at the basketball game yesterday, she was fine," Kat told them, knowing that everyone knew anyways.
Dustin picked up a phone. "Now she's not, and Eddie is missing, and we're going to find him," he said, tossing the phone to her, pulling the cord tight as it stayed plugged into the wall.
Kat sighed, pressing the numbers to one of the phone numbers on the computer screen.
It rang a few times before someone picked up. "Hello?" the person said.
"Hey, is this Gareth Emerson?" Kat asked, looking back at the computer screen.
"Yeah, who's this?"
"Uh, it's a friend of Eddie's. Would you have any idea where Eddie goes often? Does he run away often?"
"Well, I mean, I'm not supposed to say this, but sometimes he crashes at his suppliers house."
"Okay, who's his supplier?"
"Everyone calls him Reefer Rick. Total mystery of a guy. No one knows what he looks like or anything."
"Reefer Rick," Kat repeated. "Does this Reefer Rick have a last name, or, you know, any other identifiable information?"
"Nah, man."
"You can't just say, 'nah, man', work with me here!"
"I told you! Dude's a complete mystery. Good luck finding him," Gareth said, then hung up.
Kat put the phone back down, turning around to face the rest of the group on their own phone calls. "I think I have a lead," she said, slightly unsure. "Eddie's supplier is this some guy named Reefer Rick, and sometimes Eddie crashes there."
"That sounds promising." Robin grinned. "Where does Reefer Rick guy live?"
Kat squinted, trying to find a good way to say, 'I actually have no idea, Gareth was almost no help at all'. "Well, he's sort of...a legend, more than someone people actually know. This kid said people don't even know what he looks like."
"Last name?" Dustin asked.
"No, I don't know. Said he's a total mystery."
"I bet the cops know the last name," Steve butted in, making Kat look to him with confusion.
"I'm gonna let you think about what you just said for a second," she said patronizingly, looking at him from over her shoulder.
Steve shrugged, walking around to the front of the counter. "I meant it. Cops," he repeated. "I mean, listen, if this Reefer Rick is actually a drug dealer, I guarantee you he's been busted at some point. Means he's in the system."
"The cops?" Dustin asked incredulously. "Really, Steve? That's your suggestion?"
Steve threw his hands in the air, giving up. "I mean, I think at this point they should be filled in on what's going on."
"You think Eddie's guilty, don't you?" Dustin asked accusingly, raising his eyebrows as he took a step closer to him.
He raised his hands in a fake surrender. "I believe in innocent until proven guilty, all that constitutional shit. I just don't think that we can, y'know...rule it out."
"That's precisely what we're trying to do here, Steve," Kat said with an eye roll, gesturing to the phones sitting on the counter.
Dustin pointed to Kat in agreement. "And maybe we'd have a little bit more luck if you spent less time tying to find a girlfriend and more time trying to find Eddie!"
"I mean, someone has to attend to the costumers, right?" Steve shouted in defense, gesturing around the store, which was empty, and was not helping his case.
"Especially if they're babes, right?" Robin winked, a smirk growing on her face.
Kat had started to drown the argument out, staring at the computer. If Reefer Rick doesn't have a last name, they could narrow it down through the system. If Reefer Rick had an account at Family Video, his last name and address will be in the system.
She ran over to the computer, looking up every Rick in the system.
"What are you doing?" Max asked, reading over Kat's shoulder.
Kat continued typing. "We don't need last name," she said as twelve different Rick's appear on the screen. "Twelve Rick's already have accounts here." Everyone else gathered around the computer, hanging onto Kat's words. "So, let's narrow it down." She pressed on the first Rick, Rick Adlerman. "Rick Adlerman's latest rentals are Annie and Dumbo. What are the chances our drug dealer has a family?"
"No."
"Not likely."
Next one, Rick Conroy. "Rick Conroy, Sixteen Candles, Teen Wolf, Romancing the Stone."
Everyone shook their heads.
"Rick Joiner. Mask, Footloose, Grease."
"No, don't think so."
"Definitely not."
Next, Rick Lipton. "Okay, Rick Lipton. Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Cheech & Chong's Next Movie, Cheech & Chong's Nice Dreams, Cheech & Chong's Up in Smoke," Kat read, chuckling as she finished.
"Bingo," Steve said, shaking Kat's shoulder in celebration.
"Lipton?" Max asked, looking closer at the screen.
Kat nodded. "Like the tea, 2121 Holland Road. That's out by Lover's Lake."
"Middle of nowhere," Dustin pointed out.
"The perfect place to hide," Kat finished just before everyone rushed out of the store and into their cars.
Kat locked the door, flipping the sign to closed before she followed in everyone's footsteps to her and Steve's car.
Robin got into the passenger side, and Max got into the backseat as Dustin went straight to Steve's BMW.
As Kat pulled out behind Steve, she couldn't help but notice Robin keep staring at her and holding back a laugh.
"What is so funny over there?" Kat asked, giving a small look to Robin.
"Just funny," she said, shrugging. "Steve touched your shoulder and you still don't get it."
"Get what?"
"You'll find out soon enough."
"Seriously, Robin, get what?"
"You're supposed to find out yourself. It doesn't work when someone else tells you."
˗ˏˋ ★ ˎˊ˗
chapta 39 how you so fine
so i'm rewatching stranger things rn and dustin's mom is so nice i feel sad making her a bitch here but all my oc's are gonna have mommy issues it's just a given
okay also how would you guys potentially feel if i made a fic based on another show/movie??
(stuff like obx, wednesday, scream, back to the future, baby sitters club, riverdale)
(obx and wednesday are my biggest contenders i really like them)
11/15/24