⋆⭒˚.⋆ 𝐎𝐁𝐋𝐈𝐕𝐈𝐎𝐍 ᵃ ˢᵗʳᵃⁿᵍᵉʳ ᵗʰⁱⁿᵍˢ ᵃᶠ

𝟎𝟎𝟖

EIGHT

-- THE FLEA AND THE ACROBAT --

✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧

HOLLY CLOSES the front door behind her. she's not sure who's home at the moment, so she does it quietly, and zach, matty, and sev tiptoe into the hallway as they follow her.

"basement?" holly whispers, turning back to look at the three boys. she's met with a nod from zach and a thumbs-up from matty. sev doesn't respond, but she didn't expect him to.

the four of them walk the few feet to the basement door, and holly eases it open. they start quietly down the stairs, but once the door is closed behind them, matty speaks up.

"i seriously can't believe we just heard all that, i mean..."

holly stops on the second step from the bottom.

"...seriously, i felt like i was eavesdropping..."

zach stops too, and sev's eyes widen on the fourth step as he looks into the room below him.

"...don't you think it was weird that it seemed like she was talking to someone? and what did she mean, stuck? where—"

matty, who's not paying the most amount of attention as he speaks, reaches the fourth step and smacks right into sev's back. sev jumps, stumbling, and hits zach, and zach has to grab holly's shoulders to stop all of them from tumbling down the remaining stairs.

the reason holly had stopped in the first place? sitting on the couch in the center of the basement, staring at the dnd board sev had flipped over a few days before, are mike, dustin, and lucas.

"um...hey, guys..." holly chuckles awkwardly, turning around slightly to shoot matty her best stink-eye. matty shrugs helplessly.

"hey, holly!" mike smiles at her with false sweetness. "what are you guys talking about?"

holly glares at him. "none of your business, mike."

mike raises an eyebrow at her. "okay..."

holly turns abruptly to face her friends. "let's go back up to my room, actually! i think that's a better—"

"why don't you stay down here?" mike interrupts her, feigning innocence. "i'm sure we'd all love to hear what you're just dying to discuss, right guys?" he turns to dustin and lucas, who nod their approval. holly feels very much like she's been set up.

"i actually don't think that's a very good idea," zach speaks up, "you probably wouldn't believe us."

lucas, dustin, and mike share a look. "try us. i'm sure it's not the craziest thing we've heard."