𝐏𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐎𝐮𝐭 𝐏𝐢𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐬 ➤ 𝑹. 𝑩𝒖𝒄𝒌𝒍𝒆𝒚

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐄𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍

┌─────────────────┐

"𝘼𝙣𝙙 𝙞𝙩'𝙨 𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙨𝙝𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨, '𝙘𝙖𝙪𝙨𝙚 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙤𝙣𝙚'𝙨 𝙜𝙤𝙣𝙣𝙖 𝙘𝙖𝙨𝙝 𝙞𝙣"

└─────────────────┘

𝐉𝐮𝐥𝐲 𝟐𝐧𝐝, 𝐌𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐲

𝐀𝐒 𝐈𝐓 turned out, while they didn't have one, they needed another option. Desperately.

After half an hour of Dustin attempting to fit into the vent, even despite his child-size frame and lack of collar bones, he still couldn't quite manage, and no one was allowing to risk the chance of him getting stuck halfway. Valerie had been reading the whole time, doing her best to ignore the whole fiasco.

"Did that work?" Steve asked her, unable to look up properly due to the fact he was currently propping Dustin up on his shoulders. The boy's torso was halfway through the opening, but his legs stuck out awkwardly, kicking uselessly against Steve's arms.

The girl's eyes flickered up from the page to stare back at him blankly.

"I'll leave you to figure that out. Orang bodoh," she replied impassively, tossing her book onto the table and brushing past a mildly annoyed Robin to step out into the shop. She needed some fresh air. To her surprise, the blonde followed, resuming her position behind the display counter as Valerie sent her a bemused look.

"What are you doing?" she asked, glancing around the store searching for waiting customers but everyone was seated, munching happily on their ice cream. Robin paused, setting down her ice-cream scoop, "Didn't you come out to order something? I'm not going to let you serve yourself."

"Wouldn't be the first time," Valerie replied pointedly and Robin groaned, "Are you ever going to let that go?"

She shrugged and with a coy smile, gestured to the summer special on the board, "Depends, are you going to give me the triple choc cookie butter sundae for free?"

"You already know the answer to that," Robin muttered, obediently grabbing out the ingredients with a roll of her eyes. Valerie grinned triumphantly, leaning over the counter to watch her make the dessert.

"In that case," she added on, "I'll have extra —"

"Ahoy, sailors? All hands on deck!"

An irritatingly grating voice cut her off brusquely and a small hand reached in front of her to tap the bell on the counter. Valerie spun around to see a shorter, dark-skinned girl standing behind her, tapping her foot impatiently. Lucas's little sister, Erica, she recognised with a scowl, she'd had to babysit her once — an occurrence that she was never going to allow twice.

"Wait your turn, Erica," Valerie told her, not impolitely, before turning back to Robin, who already had her sundae ready. She took it gladly.

"God, I hate that kid," she mumbled to Robin, who shrugged impassively, her eyes flickering over to the group of hyperactive children in the line. With her dessert in hand, Valerie probably should have sat down, but she didn't, instead, she paused for a moment as she glanced back into the staff room, where Steve and Dustin were resting dejectedly, then back at Erica.

She chewed thoughtfully on a piece of fudge brownie she'd pulled off the top of her sundae, but in truth, she'd already made a decision.

"Hey, Erica," Valerie spoke up, her voice instantly friendlier, an octave higher than usual, lowering her sundae slightly as she smiled back at the girl, "you're not claustrophobic by any chance, are you?"