Me, Myself, and Her

Chapter Forty-Nine

Chapter Forty-Nine: Labyrinth

The two of them stopped by Dustin's, where Max relayed the whole thing to him, and then they decided to go to Family Video.

Lucas wasn't home, Nancy wasn't home, and Mike was out of town. That mean Steve and Robin were their go-to.

They all rode their bikes down, passing by people enjoying their spring break. Annie was so ready to enjoy hers, but of course this had to interrupt. The Upside Down couldn't leave them alone. Not even for a whole year.

Once they arrived at family video, they all hopped off their bikes and leaned them against the front of the building.

Entering, Dustin said, "Hey, Steve."

"You see this? The hell are doing out here with that going on?" Steve asked, gesturing at the television and looking at his sister. "You shouldn't be out riding your bikes right now."

"How many phones do you have?" Dustin asked, completely ignoring Steve's words.

"Someone was murdered."

"How many phones do you have?" Dustin pushed.

Steve looked at Robin. "Uh, two, why?"

"Technically three if you count Kieth's," Robin added, gesturing toward the office in the back.

The kids all looked at each other, Max nodding. "Yeah, three works," she said.

The older two looked confused and then pissed once Dustin pushed his backpack over the counter and slid over to the other side.

"Dude, I bet there was a much easier way to do that," Annie said, looking back and forth between her distraught brother and Robin.

He ignored her, getting himself set up on the computer behind the desk. "What are you doing, dude?" Steve asked.

"Setting up base of operations here," he said.

"Base of operations?"

Max and Annie came around to the back of the counter, choosing the safer entry. They got up next to Dustin and looked as he started looking things up. Steve tried his best to get Dustin away, but the kid refused to move.

To be fair, Steve and Robin would understand the importance of the mission if it got explained to them. But they were on a time crunch, Annie figured they'd get filled in along the way.

"Oh Eddie," Steve sighed when Dustin explained what he was doing. "You're new best friend you think is cooler than me because he plays your nerdy game?"

"Eddie, yes. And I never said that," Dustin countered.

Robin, back over restocking tapes jumped in. "Seriously, guys, maybe on a Monday you can play around in here like toddlers, but it's Saturday. It's our busiest day."

"All right Robin, I empathize, but this cannot wait until Monday," Dustin said.

"Calling Eddie's friends is an emergency?"

"Correct!"

Annie sighed, finally deciding to jump in. "Maybe if we just, I don't know, explain what we're doing- like the whole picture- they'd understand," she said. Steve and Robin were mumbling to each other, but she didn't really care.

"What, what is so important?" Robin asked, turning to face the group again.

Annie looked over to Max, who was slightly hesitant at first. "It's okay, they need to know," she whispered, taking hold of the redhead's hand.