CONNECTION |steve harrington x oc| BOOK 4

chapter 1- boobies

"Dude, let's go!!!" Phoebe pounded on her brother's door with one hand, staring at her watch on the other. "I have a test in first period, I can't be late!"

"Just a second!" Dustin screeched through the closed door. Phoebe pressed her ear to the door and could hear that he was on the phone with someone. Probably Suzie, again. She thought to herself. 

"You can talk to your girlfriend later. If you're not out here in exactly one minute, I'm leaving your ass." She huffed and stomped into the kitchen, grabbing a soda from the fridge. 

"Phoebe, honey, calm down." Her mother soothed. 

"No, he has made me late almost everyday the past two weeks! Mom, please!" She whined as Claudia stood and knocked on Dustin's door. 

"Come on, sweetie. You're gonna be late again." She urged and began opening the door.

"Don't come in, I'm naked!" Dustin yelled instantly, causing Claudia to slam the door shut again. Phoebe's eyes pinched shut. 

"I don't even want to know." She mumbled as she walked out the door. "The dipstick can bike for all I care. Bye." She didn't bother to wait for her mother to return the goodbye before she was out the door. It normally would've been fine that they were a few minutes late, but Phoebe in fact did have a test in her first period Government class. One of her tires had also gone flat yesterday, mysteriously, and she hadn't had time to change it. Steve offered to pick up her and Robin and give them a ride, and they had already been sitting outside for five minutes. "Sorry, sorry. Dustin's doing God knows what on the phone with Suzie, again." She apologized as she climbed into the back of Steve's maroon car.

"Ew, why would you tell me that?" Steve whined, before turning and placing a quick peck on her cheek. 

"Sorry, Pheebs. I needed the mirror." Robin mumbled from the front seat as she moved a comb through her hair. 

"It's all good. I normally would fight, but I had to get up early to warm up my voice, so I had lots of time to actually get ready this morning." Phoebe rambled as Steve began winding through the neighborhoods to get on a main road. 

"Oh, right, you're singing at the pep rally." Steve remembered out loud. "It's weird to not be going to pep rallies and stuff, but at least I get to go to the game tonight. It's been an amazing season." He continued on about basketball, neither of the girls really paying attention. Robin only attended any school event because she was apart of the band, and Phoebe only understood sports to a certain extent. It was more of a reason to hang out with Steve. "Oh, guess what?"

"Huh?"

"We have more intel on Vickie." Steve raised his eyebrows. 

"Oh, my God. Spill! I've been dying to hear more!" Phoebe poked her head between the front seats and look expectantly at Robin. Robin didn't notice after two minutes, weirdly focused on her mascara. 

"Robin, are you even listening to us?" Steve sassed. 

"Yes, um...you were saying something about Dustin and Suzie." She answered half-heartedly before returning to her make-up. 

"That was like five minutes ago, we're onto Vickie now." Phoebe caught her up.

"Ugh, don't get him started. He thinks his figured everything out and now has license to play Cupid, even though I keep telling him to stop." Robin yelled.

"Would you just hear us out!" Steve interjected. 

"Woah, guys! Calm down!" Phoebe tried to settle them but it didn't work. Robin eventually was able to yell over Steve. 

"Cut me some slack, please! Just because you found your soulmate at the ripe age of twelve, no offense, Phoebe, doesn't mean that everyone else does. I don't know how many hours last summer I listened to you go on and on and on about your relationships, past and present, and how complicated they all were. I just don't want to make things harder for myself than they already are." She sighed. "It's also 7:00 in the morning, we have this stupid pep rally. And I woke up looking like a total corpse!" She pulled at her cheeks, annoyed, and Phoebe placed a hand on her shoulder. 

"Oh? You're worried about a basketball pep rally? You expect us to believe that?" Steve sassed. 

"Yeah, so?" Robin whined. 

"So, we all know what this is really about." Phoebe cut in. 

"Right, this is totally about Vickie." Steve agreed, just as Robin disagreed, "Absolutely not."

"Yes it is!" Phoebe demanded. "You know what else?"

"I really don't care." Robin pouted as she put on lip balm. 

"I think you gotta stop pretending to be someone else when you're around her." Steve butt in. "Okay, you just got-gotta be yourself." Both girls looked at him.

"You're quoting me to me. You do realize that?" Robin raised her eyebrows. 

"Well, maybe you need to listen to yourself. Ever think about that, smarty pants?" Steve defended. "I listened to you, and now, Phoebe and I are better than ever. Back in business." He held out a hand over his shoulder and Phoebe slapped in agreement.

"It's not the same thing, okay?" Robin answered, quieter. 

"Well..." Steve started, but Robin went on another rant. 

"Either of you ask out someone, the wrong someone, and they say 'no'. Big deal, nothing happens. Maybe a bruised ego. I ask out the wrong person and, boom, I'm the town pariah."

"I'd buy that, except Vickie is definitely not the wrong girl." Steve continued defending. 

"How so?" Phoebe asked, still not having heard anything new about Vickie. 

"She returned Fast Times paused at 53:05." Phoebe knew exactly where he was going with this. "You know who pauses Fast Times at 53:05?" He paused, waiting for them to answer. "People who like boobies, Robin!" He shouted and Phoebe buried her head in her hands as Robin pinched her eyes shut. 

"Ew, gross. Stop saying boobies." Robin cringed, but Steve continued. 

"Boobies! Boobies! It's not a big deal, okay? I like boobies, you like boobies...Vickie likes boobies! Definitely." Phoebe could not believe these words were actually coming out of his mouth.  The rest of the ride was fairly quiet with faint radio noise filling the background. They pulled up the school and Robin instantly got out. 

"Stop saying that." She bent down to talk through the window and then stormed off, band uniform in tow. Phoebe pulled her backpack on and leaned over the seat to give Steve a hug. 

"She'll be fine, by the end of the day." She consoled Steve, who looked like he felt awful. "It's just way different for her. That's for sure one of the ways we got lucky, not having to deal with that."

"I know, I just..." Steve sighed. "I know she says she's fine around us, but I can tell it bugs her at times. If she had someone and we could double it wouldn't be as bad."

"I know you're trying to help. Just...maybe help in a less graphic way." They both chuckled as Phoebe got out of the car and bent down to Steve's window. "You really like boobies?" She asked sarcastically.

"Only sometimes." He shrugged nonchalantly. 

"Be good at work and maybe you'll see mine later." She whispered as she leaned in and gave him a kiss.