Brave Like You (Steve Harrington)

Twenty-One.

-Candace-

Robin has become obsessed with translating the rest of the transmission. While Dustin and Steve are out in the mall trying to see if they can find an evil Russian, Robin and I hold down the fort at Scoops Ahoy and serve ice cream.

We told Erica Sinclair that she couldn't have any more samples today because she was abusing company policy. She got mad and took off with her friends. "I can't believe you're helping us," I told her, smiling, she smiled back softly and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Yeah, well, I like translating things, and your friend is pretty cool."

"I take it you're not talking about Steve, are you?" I joke with her, she laughs.

"Definitely not," she says, "But it was kind of cool that he figured out the song yesterday. That was actually pretty helpful."

I nod, agreeing, "Yeah, he has his moments sometimes."

She slightly changes the subject for a moment, still talking about Steve, but something else. I can tell her question has been on her mind a lot lately. "Does it bother you when he flirts with all of the girls that come in here all the time?"

"Sometimes," I admit, "I know he's not trying to hurt me or anything, but it still stings. He told me chasing me got him nowhere. I think he just, I don't know, gave up on me. Does that make sense?"

She nods, "Well, can you blame him?"

"No," I admit, "Not really. He wants to move on."

"Unless you decide you actually want to go out with him. You know if you just told him that you wanted to he would stop all this nonsense and date you."

"But would that make you happy?" I ask, eyeing her to see her reaction.

"If it would make you happy, yeah," She admits. "Why do you think I've put up with him being around all year? Because I see how happy having him around makes you. He's an idiot, yeah, but he's bound to get a date eventually if he keeps trying hard enough. If you want to date him, you better tell him, and I mean soon."

Customers approached the counter then, and I took their orders. Robin went back to her translations. She had pretty much the entire thing cracked about halfway through our shift.

She was certain that it was: "The week is long. The silver cat feeds when blue meets yellow in the west. A trip to China sounds nice if you tread lightly."

She was also convinced that the delivery guy that delivered us more ice cream had something to do with it. She ran through the parlor as Steve and Dustin returned from their spying. We all watched as she stood on a bench in the middle of the food court, looking around spinning to see everything. She surveyed her notes in her notepad, and she kept looking around.

"Robin," Steve said as we approached her, "What are you doing?"

She hopped down off the bench. "I cracked it. I cracked the code."

She told us her theory. That the delivery service called Lynx was bringing in whatever it was the Russians were transporting into the mall. Dustin was able to hide out on the roof of the mall in the direction where Robin said to go.

He saw the entrance, and reported back with his findings. "They have key cards. They open the door. The only problem is the guard also has a massive gun. Whatever's in that room, whatever's in those boxes, they really don't want anybody finding it."

"But there's gotta be a way in," Robin said, sounding hopeful.

Steve tossed his white sailor hat onto the table, "I could just take him out."