𝐋𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 -- s. harrington

→ thirty-two.

THE GROUP HAD positioned themselves in a line on the rooftop so that they could spy on the armed people below. Andrea was between Dustin and Steve and Robin was at the end of the row. The four of them were soaking wet and Andrea wished she hadn't worn a pair of shorts on the particular day it was calling for a downpour.

          "Look for Imperial Panda and Kaufman Shoes," Robin said and blinked away the raindrops that were balancing on her eyelashes.

          Dustin brought the binoculars up to his eyes and scanned the area quickly, but it wasn't long before he found someone in a yellow raincoat, pushing cardboard boxes with pandas on them. "They're with that whistling guy, ten o'clock," he said, pointing toward the guy in yellow.

          "What do you think's in there?" Steve asked and wiped his eyes to clear the water that had formed in them - of course he'd choose to not wear a jacket with a hood.

          "Guns, bombs?" Dustin suggested.

          "Information about aliens, probably," Andrea piped up and bit down on her lip to keep herself from snickering.

          "Chemical weapons?" Robin offered and glanced over at Andrea, a small smile forming on her face. "But aliens work, too."

          "Whatever it is, they're armed to the teeth," Dustin pointed out once his eyes landed on a huge man with a very large gun in his hands.

          Steve squeezed his eyes shut and wiped them with his fingers again. "Great," he said and screwed his eyelids tighter together. "That's great." He opened up one eye and looked back down at the loading bay.

          Andrea furrowed her eyebrows and leaned closer to the edge, trying to get a better look at what was happening below them. She saw the guns, the yellow raincoats and the boxes and all of it made her stomach twist and turn. She planted her hands on the edge of the roof and sighed, squinting her eyes so rain wouldn't get in them. How did she always end up in situations like these?

          Dustin continued to analyze the area, surveying the land and watching as everyone moved around. Quickly, he brought the binoculars back to the man in the yellow raincoat. Another man wearing all black slid a keycard into a panel and a set of doors opened up, revealing a room filled with boxes.

          "Hey, what's in there?" Robin asked, her voice rising slightly as the rain started beating down on them even harder.

          "It's just more boxes," Dustin replied.

          "Can we please go back inside? I don't want to get shot," Andrea said and scrunched up her nose, adjusting the hood of her jacket that protected her perfectly straightened hair from the rain. She folded her arms over herself, silently cursing the fact that the zipper of her raincoat had broken off as she was trying to zip it up before they stepped out onto the roof. "Can we just go, please? All this rain is making me want to pee."

          "Let me check it out," Steve said and reached toward the binoculars, causing Dustin the yank them back.

          "No, I'm still looking," Dustin spat and tried as hard as he could to keep the binoculars out of Steve's hands.

          "Lemme see it," Steve said and continued to yank on the binoculars, desperately fighting against Dustin so he could see.

          "Guys," Andrea said and tapped Dustin's shoulder. She raised her eyebrows as she watched the boys fight with the things, her body tensing each time the binoculars came close to slamming against the metal roofing that they were peeking over. "Guys, if you keep fighting the bin-" Her words were cut off by the ding of the binoculars slamming against the roof and echoing through the air. "I tried."

          "Duck!" Dustin whispered harshly and dropped down onto his back.

          Steve wrapped an arm around Andrea and yanked her toward him once he lowered to the ground, causing his girlfriend to land on her side. He pulled her closer and kept her back pressed against his side, huffing out quick breaths.

          "We gotta get back inside," Andrea said softly to Dustin and the young boy nodded quickly. "Let's go back before we become four rugs on the floor of an evil Russian's house."

* * * *

The four of them walked quickly down the hall and turned a corner, none of them daring to look back to see if they were being followed. All of them panted and all of their hearts were beating roughly in their chests, threatening to break through if one more scary thing happened to them.

          Yet again, Andrea had been pulled into something dangerous and not fun. Last year, she was fighting against evil dog-things and this year she was going to fight against evil Russians - it was definitely a running theme with Andrea. She just couldn't catch a break, the poor girl.

          To be fair, though, it was her own fault that she participated in these things. Both this year and last year, she could've walked away from the situation but she ended up staying because she loved the people that were involved.

          Andrea's hand slipped into Steve's as they walked, lacing their fingers together tightly. Her other hand wrapped around his bicep and she walked as close to him as she could. "I'm convinced we'll all end up rugs," she joked and looked over at Dustin who let out a small laugh.

          "Well, I think we found your Russians," Robin said and looked over at Steve, huffing out a sigh a second later.

          "My dad's gonna kill me when he finds out that I'm looking for Russians," Andrea said and squeezed her boyfriend's hand even tighter, sliding just a bit closer as they continued to walk down the empty hallway. "I'm way too young to die."

          "No one is dying," Steve said and gave Andrea's hand a light squeeze before loosening his grip slightly. "We'll be fine, alright? We just need to figure out a plan."

          "Alright, Steve, what do you propose we do to stop a gang of evil Russians?" Andrea questioned and raised her eyebrows at Steve, awaiting an answer which she didn't end up getting. "Good talk, Harrington."

* * * *

Andrea opened up her front door and stepped inside, closing it and locking it up behind her. She kicked off her wet shoes and pulled off her raincoat, hanging the dripping wet thing onto the coat rack. With a groan, she peeled off her wet socks and trudged upstairs to the bathroom to take a quick shower.

          Once out of the shower, Andrea wrapped herself in a towel and scurried across the hallway into her bedroom. She shut the door behind her and made sure that her curtains were closed before pulling clothes out of her dresser to get dressed.

          Andrea yanked one of Steve's t-shirts down over her head and pulled on a pair of pyjama shorts before climbing into bed. Once again, Billy was on her mind. Her worrying had gotten a lot worse the longer she was unaware of where he was or what he was doing. The girl's stomach began to knot up and she felt sick to her stomach just thinking about Billy.

          "Just go to sleep, Andrea," she whispered to herself and closed her eyes, resting her head comfortably against her pillow. "Worry about it tomorrow."