Cosmic Optimist [1] {STEVE HARRINGTON}

eight.

Chapter 8: He's Got That Farrah Fawcett Hair

The sun had risen by the time Steve had parked his car off the road near the train tracks. Dustin was fully awake and ready to ignore the awkwardness that seemed to float around Steve and Tali, the latter had her headset on. The trio began unloading the meat buckets from the trunk of the car when someone must have radioed Dustin because he began a sort of monologue, "Well, well, well, look who it is,"

As the teens lugged the last buckets from the car Dustin continued his conversation, "Well, when you were having sister problems, Dart grew again, he escaped, and I'm pretty sure he's a baby demogorgon, I'll explain later. Just meet me, my sister, and Steve at the old junkyard. And bring your binoculars and wrist rocket".

Tali grabbed one last bucket as Steve closed up the trunk, "Alright, let's go," he called out to the younger boy.

"Just be there, stat. Over and out," Dustin tells them as they begin walking toward the old railroad trail next to his sister.

"Mike?" she asked.

"Lucas," he responds as they reach the metal tracks, they begin dropping pieces of meat onto the ground. They slosh as they hit the ground, Tali cringes at the feeling of the raw meat under her yellow gloved hands.

"All right, so let me get this straight" Steve says from behind her and Dustin, who walk ahead. "You kept something you knew was probably dangerous in order to impress a girl...who you just met?"

"All right, that's grossly oversimplifying things," Dustin notes.

"I mean, why would a girl like some nasty slug anyway?" Steve asks.

"Because maybe it looks like it could be a baby Silvisaurus," Tali adds, shoving her brother with her elbow.

"Like a what?"

"A dinosaur," she sings a skip in her step as she tries to avoid a splash from the raw meat that falls. She was feeling a lot better about her situation. A piece of her still clinging to the idea that she could be dreaming, regardless with no monsters near currently she didn't find it in herself to be scared.

"Maybe she'd like an inter dimensional slug because it's awesome," Dustin adds.

Tali glances behind her at the older boy, "He's got a real good point, before Dart ate my cat, I thought he was pretty awesome". She looks up to the sky for a moment, blowing a kiss, then grumbling, "But now I will avenge Mews".

Steve scrunches up his nose and walks ahead of her to meet Dustin's steps, "I'm gonna pretend I didn't hear that. And well even if she thought it was cool, which she didn't, I... I just... I don't know I just feel like you're trying way to hard".

"Well, not everyone can have your perfect hair, all right?" Dustin mumbles looking down at his feet. Tali swipes the headset off her ears to listen to the conversation better.

"It's not about the hair, man," Steve shakes his head, "The key with girls is just acting like you don't care".

"Um no," she interjects stepping to the other side of her brother, "Dustin you don't need perfect hair or to pretend not to care. This chick is crazy not to like you little bro," she reassured him.

Dustin shakes off his sister's words thinking she was just being a good sister. Instead, he turns to look at Steve and asks, "You act like you don't care, even if you do?"

"Yeah, exactly. Drives them nuts," Steve says.

Tali waves her hands up in the air in defeat and sighs, "Sure, okay, just don't listen to your sister," slowing her place to walk behind them once again, "Who is a girl if I may add."

"Then what?" Dustin asks obviously believing the advice Steve was giving him.

"You just wait until you, uh till you feel it," Steve answers seeming unsure.

"Feel what?"

"It's like before it's gonna storm, you know?" Tali quirks her eyebrows up, "You can't see it, but you can feel it, like this, uh...electricity, you know?"

"I don't think anyone knows what you're talking about," she mumbles, still dropping meat pieces every couple steps.

"Oh, like in the electromagnetic field when the clouds in the atmosphere-" Dustin is interrupted by Steve.

"No, no, no, no, no. Like a... like a sexual electricity," Steve explains.

"Oh".

From behind them, Tali's face scrunches up. Figuring Dustin needs some kind of older male figure in his life for advice, she shrugs her headset back on carefully, The Smiths playing softly.

They walk for another minute before Steve comes to a stop from in-front of Tali causing her to lower her music a bit as he says, "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hey, hey, hey".

"What?" Dustin asks.

"You're not falling in love with this girl, are you?" Steve questions chucking a piece of meat to the ground rather aggressively. The brunette's eyes going from Dustin to Steve wondering what she missed in the conversation.

"No, no" the younger boy shakes his head.

"Okay, good. Don't," Steve warns him continuing to walk down the path.

"I won't," Dustin assures him.

"She's only gonna break your heart, and your way too young for that shit," he says glancing at the boy and shaking his head.

"Shit," Tali declares, "I should probably turn this back up, too early for that kind of conversation," she adds, but keeps the volume low.They walk a bit more the air around them seemingly different.

Steve looks back at Tali then at Dustin, "Fabergé," he mumbles.

"Bless you," the teen girl says thinking Steve sneezed.

"What?" Dustin asks.

"It's Fabergé Organics. Use the shampoo and conditioner, and when your hair's damp... it's not wet, okay? When it's damp," The older boy explains. Dustin mumbling beside him to show that he's following his orders. "You do four puffs of the Farrah Fawcett spray," Steve continues.

"Farrah Fawcett spray?" The two siblings ask. Tali giggling at the thought of the teal can with a picture of the woman in Steve's bathroom and him ridiculously applying it to his hair. Some cheesy jingle playing, he's got Farrah Fawcett hair, we all want Farrah Fawcett hair.

Steve turns to glance behind him at the older girl in mock threat, "Yeah, Farrah Fawcett". He halts for a moment, stopping to point his gloved finger in Dustin's face, "You tell anyone I just told you that and your ass is grass. You're dead, Henderson. Do you understand?"

"Yup," Dustin mumbles.

"Hey, you too," he adds causing Tali to look up at him his finger in her face as well.

She moves his hand out of her face, "Yeah, yeah, Harrington don't get your Farrah Fawcett hair in a twist," she tells him pushing the two boys in front of her out of the way, so she was leading them.

"That's not even a saying," He retorted but Tali was already up ahead an electric guitar solo playing in her ears as she danced around doing the air guitar.

"Farrah Fawcett really?" Dustin jokes.

"I mean, she's hot," Steve adds.

"Yeah," Dustin agrees.

Steve points toward the dark-haired girl, "So is she always like that," he asks. The eldest Henderson sibling was now on full performance mode her floral robe flowing in the air. It seemed counter effective, but she was still throwing meat on the ground.

"Yeah, most of the time," Dustin laughs at his sister with Steve joins him.