For Always.

Two.

"Antoinette, wake up, honey." Her mother hummed, gently shaking her shoulder. "Come on."

"Mm." She mumbled from under the covers, rolling over. "I don't feel good." She groaned. Her mother pressed a hand to her forehead, frowning at her.

"You don't have a temperature, darling."

"I just... I couldn't sleep and I'm so exhausted and... this sounds so stupid, but I promised Nancy I'd go to this party with her and I-"

"Hey." Her mother said, cutting her off. "You had me at, 'I'm so exhausted'." She smiled. "If you need it, take the day off. And if you feel well enough, go to the party."

"Thanks, mom." She smiled, as her mother left her room. Dustin looked at their mom, his concern for his sister only growing more dominant in his mind. However, he shrugged it off, and rushed down to his bike, excited to be in costume for Halloween. He pulled open the door, and was almost punched in the face by Steve as he was about to knock.

"Oh, hi." Dustin sighed. "She's not coming, she's sick."

"What do you mean by sick?" He asked.

"I don't know. Maybe sick of your shit." He spat out of nowhere.

"Okay, I understand that you're unusually protective of your sister, and I respect it... but I'm gonna need you to tell me what I've done wrong this time so I can fix it." Dustin narrowed his eyes at him, simply staring at him for a moment.

"When's her birthday?" He asked, and it seemed to hit him then.

"Oh my god." He breathed, slapping a hand to his forehead. "I can't believe I forgot!"

"Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm." Dustin hummed. "Okay, see-ya." He said, about to close the door when Steve held it open.

"Is she upset with me?"

"No. But I am." He warned. "Unfortunately, she really really cares about you for some reason, so... I'm about to give you one piece of advice, and don't expect anymore, ever again."

"Uh, okay."

"She's sad because her roses died." There was a moment of silence, and Dustin sighed. "Hint hint: she likes roses and needs new ones. Get in your car."

"Oh! Right. Thanks." Steve turned on his heal, jumping back into his car. Dustin shook his head, finally climbing onto his bike.

-----

"So... what I'm understanding is..." She began, the radio up to her mouth with her other hand pressed against her head. "You wanna know if I would mind if you guys asked some girl called Max to come trick-or-treating with you?"

"Well, we thought we should ask. You're senior dungeon master." Lucas said.

"Are you asking if she can go trick-or-treating, or if she can join the party?"

"Either is fine." Dustin spoke up.

"No! Toni, tell them we don't need anyone else in party!" Mike screeched quickly.

"Why don't we talk about this later? I'm pretty sure you guys will get into trouble hiding in the AV room when you should be in class."

"How does she know we hide in the AV room?" Will questioned.

"Goodbye, you guys." She said with a laugh, placing the walkie down, and pulling the covers over her shoulder. She immediately managed to drift to sleep. At least...

...she though it was sleep, but...

...she was wrong.