𝐄𝐌𝐎𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐀𝐋 𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐂𝐔𝐄! ✽ 𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘁𝗼𝗻

59

𝐀𝐒 𝐒𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐃𝐀𝐍'𝐒 𝐒𝐀𝐌 𝐆𝐎𝐎𝐃𝐘 𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐄 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐔𝐄𝐃 𝐓𝐎 𝐃𝐖𝐈𝐍𝐃𝐋𝐄, steve and dustin carried out their russian stakeout, taking base in the food court. after the four kids had translated the code, and realized their foreign foes were much closer than they initially thought, they decided their next steps were to hunt them down. dani wanted no part of the action—not at this stage in the game. plus, she had a job to work.

"you see anything?" dustin asked the harrington boy, who was crouched behind the same overly large potted plant. steve peered through their shared pair of binoculars.

"uh, i guess i don't totally know what i'm looking for," steve admitted.

"evil russians," dustin whispered in response.

"yeah, exactly. i don't know what an evil russian looks like."

"tall. blond. not smiling; also look for earpieces, camo, duffle bags, that sorta thing."

"right, okay, duffle bags..." steve's eyes flitted from patron to patron, watching as they gossiped or partook in a hot dog on a stick. before moving on and beginning to scope out the second level of the mall, his gaze fixated directly ahead on sam goody's. he watched intently as dani rang up customers at the register. her lips hooked into a smile. her delicate fingers pressed the keys and gently slid the vinyls into their rightful plastic bags. steve's throat grew dry simply at the sight of her, even from across the food court. although he had a mission to complete, albeit against his own will, he couldn't help but get distracted by sherrie—he always did. 

"dude, you are the worst spy in history, you know that?!" dustin huffed as he tore the binoculars from steve's grip.

"hey, stop," he pleaded, in a low and tender voice. as corny as it was, steve often found that he was at peace just looking at the shaffer girl. despite dustin tugging the binocular's chord over his neck and taking them for himself, steve didn't let his eyes wander from sheridan. he was stuck like glue. his chin plopped into his palm as he sat in silence, continuing to watch dani check out her customers. "isn't she lovely? she reminds me of that stevie wonder song, 'isn't she lovely'..."

dustin glanced momentarily at the boy before going back to the binoculars; before doing another take again, noticing exactly which store was in his line of sight. the young boy scoffed. "you need to tell her," he stated before gazing into the binoculars once more.

"i know," steve acknowledged, throwing his hands up in frustration. "i've had so many chances to tell her! but every moment i think is right gets ruined." still gawking at sherrie, steve continued, "and just when i think i should give up, i look at her and remember why i even started trying in the first place."

dustin's lips pursed into a thin-lipped smile. he realized steve was the only man that, in the time that he had known will and dani, wasn't ashamed of having feelings for her and being expressive of them—moreso than dustin himself. and in his time being friends with steve, this was the only girl dustin could recall that steve had ever gushed about, even when he was still dating nancy wheeler. steve hardly ever shut up about sheridan, besides when he was around her. and dustin wanted to tell steve more than anything that dani felt exactly the same. they were both easily the coolest connections he had, and he wanted them together more than anything. but he knew sheridan would ring his neck if she found out. "giving up isn't an option for you, at this point," dustin teased. but just as the words left his lips, a stoic blond man sauntered across the binocular's lenses.