SATELLITE [STEVE HARRINGTON]

happy birthday to ginny

"OH, THAT TASTES SO GOOD. Steve, can you taste the air?" Robin cheered, as soon as they set foot outside. They stuck their tongues out, trailing along behind Ginny and the kids.

"I taste it! I taste it!"

"Stop!" said a voice, suddenly. Two guards— surely Russians— raced towards them outside the gate.

Dustin cursed. "Shit! Come on!"

They spun around, each grabbing one of Steve or Robin's arms and dragging them the other way, back into the mall.

"Okay, okay, woo!" Robin cheered. "Why are we running?"

They raced through the halls connecting the stores. Ginny almost laughed, thinking about how they were sneaking their friends into the movies the other day so they wouldn't have to pay. Now, they snuck into the movies to escape being captured by evil Russians. Again.

Dustin led them into a showing of Back to the Future. The theater was almost full, save a few seats up front. "You two, sit! Ginny, stay with them!" Dustin ordered, pointing to the seats.

Steve, who had found a bag of popcorn somewhere, whined. Robin hissed, "No! No, these seats are too close!"

"Dude, these seats blow!" he cried, as Ginny slung him into the seat next to her.

"Then don't watch the movie," Dustin said.

"But we wanna watch it."

"Then watch it!" Dustin yelled, spurring a crowd of people to "Shhh!" He rolled his eyes and looked at Ginny. "Make sure they don't leave."

"Yeah, I got it. I'm not stupid, Dustin," Ginny said, huffing.

Dustin and Erica darted to two seats on the other end of the row. Steve enjoyed his bag of popcorn, entranced by the screen like a two year old child.

Ginny sighed and buried her head in her hands, as Robin stole some of Steve's popcorn. "This is officially the worst birthday ever," she muttered, which was her first mistake.

"Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to yooooou," Steve began to sing in a very high pitched falsetto. He waved a piece of trash-popcorn through the air, like a mother feeding something to her child, as he sang. "Happy Birthday to Ginny—"

"Shhh!" A lady behind them said.

Ginny glared. She turned back to Steve, who had made a pouty face when told to be quiet.

He started to fake cry. "You didn't want my gift," he whined, his head sinking.

Ginny sighed. "No, no, don't cry— it's just—"

Steve wailed. "I got this for you and you don't even want it—!"

"That's not—" Ginny sighed as he planted his face in her collarbone, pouting. She clenched her jaw when he waggled the piece of popcorn in her face.

"Please, eat it," he whined. "It's your gift, eat it. Go on. Eat it. Go on."

Robin started to chant, hitting her fists on the arms of her chair. "Eat it, eat it, eat it—"

"Fine!" Ginny yanked the popcorn from his hand and tossed it over her shoulder, pretending to chew. "Mmm, so good, thank you Steve."

He giggled and joined Robin in a fit of laughter. "That popcorn was from the trash!" the girl guffawed. "And you ate it!"

Ginny rolled her eyes. They giggled about that for a few more minutes, but at least they were somewhat quiet, eating the popcorn themselves.

"I'm so thirsty!" Robin whined suddenly. She stood. "Thirsty."