Me, Myself, and Her

Chapter Eight

Chapter Eight: Out of the Woods

The trio got up the very next morning to get ready for their mission: catching and possibly killing Dart. Not knowing what that would be like, Annie got dressed in some jeans, a t-shirt with a jacket, and some sneakers. It was a bit different than her usual wardrobe, but they were going to be in the woods- no time for her usual wardrobe.

Steve had picked up a bunch of raw meat (she dared not ask where and how) before coming back home to pick Annie up and then Dustin. He directed Steve to a particular spot to start their journey.

When they got there and parked, a sudden static came over Dustin's radio. "Dustin!"

They were busy unloading everything, so only Dustin really paid attention. All Annie knew was that it was Lucas on the other end. She was also busy grabbing the buckets of meat and putting gloves on.

When one of the buckets got to close to her face, she gagged and had to step away. "You okay there Annie?" Steve asked, setting his bucket down to make sure she was good. Unable to answer verbally, she just gave a thumbs up and took some deep breaths to chill out.

"God this is disgusting," Annie muttered.

"All right, let's go," Steve called, closing the trunk of his car. Annie felt bad, knowing that smell would stick around for quite a while in the trunk. Dustin finished talking to Lucas and then got his own supplies up and followed the Harrington siblings.

Annie was curious since she didn't hear a lot of the conversation. "That was Lucas, right?" she asked. Dustin nodded. "Are we getting some back up out here?" she asked next, to which Dustin nodded again.

As they walked, Annie had the awful realization that today was Sunday, and she was supposed to hang out with Max at the movies. "Shit!"

Steve glared at her. "Hey," he chided and nudged her arm with his elbow.

"Sorry, I just forgot today's Sunday," she said and frowned at herself. Steve got it instantly and felt bad for his lovestruck sister.

Dustin was super confused however. "What about Sunday? Is something happening?"

Steve opened his mouth to explain, but Annie was quicker. "Nothing, it's nothing," she answered, slightly saddened. God she really hoped Max wouldn't be pissed off at her. Maybe they could even finish this up early enough that she could still meet with Max, just later.

Annie decided to stick to her own thoughts and ignored the boys' conversation beside her. The only things on her mind were dropping meat every once in a while and how she was going to explain this to Max.

It was weird how quick Annie trusted the boys, and she knew Max would not trust them as easily. She was so lost in her thoughts that she barely even paid attention to the conversation Steve and Dustin were having, coincidentally about the same girl, though none of them knew that.

"All right, so let me get this straight. You kept something you knew was probably dangerous in order to impress a girl you just met?" Steve asked, completely confused with his line of logic- especially when it involves a Demogorgan.

Dustin scoffed. "All right, that's grossly oversimplifying things," he defended.

"I mean why would a girl like some nasty slug anyway?" Steve pestered. He seriously couldn't wrap his head around such logic. His sister would never like such a thing, what girl would?

And Dustin couldn't understand how Steve didn't get it. "An inter dimensional slug? Uh, because it's awesome," he answered.

"Well, even if she thought it was cool, which she didn't, I just... I don't know, man, I just feel like you're trying way too hard," Steve concluded.