One

Chapter Six - part two

   "Dustin, this is Lucas. Do you copy? Dustin?"
   Steve and Dustin pull different things out of the trunk to catch Dart, the weird thing Dustin had kept as a pet. Phina was sitting on the roof of Steve's car, letting them deal with the gross buckets of bloody meat that they had brought to bait the creature.
   "Well, well, well. Look who it is," Dustin says into his headset.
   "Sorry, man," Lucas replies, "my stupid sister turned it off."
   "Well, when you were having sister problems," Dustin chides, "Dart grew again. He escaped, and I'm pretty sure he's a baby Demogorgon."
   "Wait, what," Lucas asks.
   "I'll explain later," Dustin answers, "Just meet me, Steve, and Phina at the old junkyard."
   "Steve," Lucas asks.
   "And bring your binoculars and wrist rocket," Dustin says over him.
   "Steve Harrington," Luca exclaims.
   Steve closes the trunk, "all right, let's go."
   "Just be there, stat," Dustin yells at Lucas, "over and out."
   Phina slides off the car, now wearing a pair of Steve's mom's jeans, one of Steve's t-shirts, and one of his jackets. She also wore a pair of his mom's hiking boots that were half a size too big for her feet but when tied tightly fit just right. Her head had begun to feel better and she could walk without feeling dizzy now. 
   Even though she was feeling better now, Steve still watched her carefully to make sure she was alright. As they walked towards the train tracks, she ran her fingers across every tree, smiling when she did. The trees seemed to lean into her touch, whatever power she had made them come alive even in the late fall and early winter season. 
   "Steve?"
   He shakes his head, "huh?"
   Phina looks back at him, "did you hear me?"
   "Sorry," he smiles.
   She grins, "I said, I made a perimeter. If anything comes within a mile of us I'll know instantly."
   Steve laughs, "it still amazes me that you can do that."
   She shakes her head, "it would be larger, but this whole head thing is messing with my Earth affinity."
   "Jesus," Steve chuckles, "a mile wide perimeter and you're calling it the minimum. How strong are you?"
   She shrugs, "my power seems to grow with me every day. I don't know my limits because I haven't found them yet."
   "You make Steve and his stupid bat seem useless now," Dustin laughs, "I wish I would have found you first."
   Steve throws a piece of meat at Dustin, "shut up."
   Phina laughs making Steve smile, "I don't think you're useless, Steve."
   With that, she walks forward, ahead of the two boys. Steve watches her as she does, a large smile on his lips.

   "All right, so let me get this straight," Steve says, "you kept something you knew was probably dangerous in order to impress a girl who... you just met?"
   Phina had walked farther ahead of the boys so she could focus on the nature around her, with them talking, it was hard to know if the things in her perimeter were just little harmless animals or the creature they were looking for.
   "All right," Dustin answers, "that's grossly oversimplifying things."
   "I mean." Steve throws another piece of meat on the ground. "Why would a girl like some nasty sug anyway?"
   "An interdimensional slug?" Dustin drops a piece. "Because it's awesome."
   "Well, even if she thought it was cool," Steve says, "which she didn't, I... I just... I don't know. I just feel like you're trying way too hard."
   "Well, not everyone can have your perfect hair, all right," Dustin grumbles.
   "It's not about the hair, man," Steve says, "the key with girls is just... just acting like you don't care."
   "Even if you do?" Dustin looks back at Steve.
   "Yeah," Steve nods, "exactly. It drives them nuts."
   "Then what," Dustin asks.
   "You just wait until, uh..." Steve toss meat behind him. "Until you feel it."
   "Feel what?"
   Steve glances forward at the red-haired girl in front of them, "it's like before it's gonna storm, you know? You can't see it, but you can feel it, like this, uh... electricity, you know?"
   "Oh, like in the electromagnetic field when the clouds in the atmosphere," Dustin says.
   Steve shakes his head, cutting the boy off, "no, no, no, no, no. Like a... Like a sexual electricity."
   Dustin drops a meat, "oh."
   "You feel that and then you make your move," Steve says, throwing down a piece of meat.
   "So that's when you kiss her," Dustin asks.
   "No, whoa, whoa," Steve exclaims, "slow down, Romeo."
   "Sorry," Dustin mumbles.
   "Sure, okay, some girls, yeah, they want you to be aggressive, you know, strong, hot and heavy, like a," Steve tries to explain, "I don't know, like a lion."
   Dustin hums, nodding his head. 
   "But others, you gotta be slow, you gotta be stealthy, like a," Steve continues, "like a ninja."
   Dustin nods again, "what type is Nancy?"
   "Nancy's different," Steve says quickly, "she's different than the other girls."
   Dustin nods, looking ahead of them, "what about Phina?"

   Steve slows, looking at the girl, "Phina? Phina's special, I don't think there is a type to describe her."

   The younger boy watches the girl, "yeah, she definitely special. But this girl's special, too, you know? It's just, like, something about her."
   "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hey, hey, hey," Steve says, stopping the boy.

   "What," Dustin asks.

   Steve throws down another chunk of meat, "you're not falling in love with this girl, are you?"

   "Uh, no," Dustin stutters, "no."

   "Okay, good," Steve nods, "don't."
   "I won't."

   "Good, she's only gonna break your heart." He throws a chunk of meat harshly at the ground. "And you're way too young for that shit."

   But who was Steve to tell this kid not to fall in love with a girl? Who was he to say that when he couldn't even follow his own advice?

   He looks forward at the red-haired girl and then the upset boy by his side, "Fabergé."
   "What," Dustin asks him.

   Steve sighs, pointing to his hair, "it's Fabergé Organics. Use the shampoo and conditioner and when your hair's damp, not wet, okay? When it's damp."

   "Damp," Dustin nods.

   "You do four puffs of the Farrah Fawcett spray," Steve continues.
   Dustin slows down, grinning from ear to ear, "Farrah Fawcett spray?"
   "Yeah," Steve says, turning towards the boy with a glare, "Farrah Fawcett, you tell anyone I just told you that and your ass is grass. You're dead, Henderson. Do you understand?"
   Dustin nods, still grinning, "yeah."

   Steve sighs, "okay."

   He turns away from the kid, quickly walking forward so he wouldn't be able to the kids grinning face anymore. He stops when he sees another grinning face up ahead. Phina had stopped and her hands were resting on her hips.

   "You coming, Farrah Fawcett," she yells back at him.

   Steve's face goes warm, "how did you hear that!"

   She gestures around them, "the trees, Steve. They hear everything."

   "And how much did your trees hear," he asks, walking forward again so they wouldn't have to yell at each other.
   She smirks, thinking over the words the trees whispered to her, "enough."

   They heard more than enough.

-1200 words-
   How much does she know? What will that little conversation bring up? Who knows? Well, I do, but that's not the point. Tell me what you thought of this chapter. I really like the interactions between Steve and Dustin in the show so I didn't want to change it much, hope I worked Phina in there well enough.
-Morgan