ASPEN | Stranger Things

Chapter Thirteen | Translation

Chapter Thirteen | Translation

Dustin and I enter the Starcourt the next morning to visit Steve at the Ahoy Icecream Shop. Robin was there, looking at us with a blank face.

"Hi." Dustin grinned at Robin.

"Hi." Robin replied.

"I'm Dustin," Dustin introduced himself.

"I'm Robin," Robin says back. "You're Aspen, aren't you?" She nods her head towards me. "Or are you Max?"

"She's redhead." Dustin cuts in. "I- I mean Aspen, yeah. A pleasure to meet you. Uh- is he here?"

"Is who here?" Robin asked, raising an eyebrow. She knows me and she knows exactly who we're talking about.

The door then opens, revealing Steve who looked super excited. "Henderson!" Dustin laughs, showing another grin. "Henderson!" Steve celebrates, walking towards us. "He's back! He's back!"

"I'm back!" Dustin happily says. "You got the job!"

"I got the job!" Steve repeats. They then did a little handshake and I looked over at Robin who looked like she doesn't give a crap about any of this.

Robin leans forward on the counter. "How many children are you friends with?"

Steve sighed. Dustin then orders ice cream and we all sat down at a booth in the mall. "No, no way. Hotter than Phoebe Cates? No." Steve denied.

Obviously, Dustin's telling him about Suzie. "Mm-hmm," Dustin nodded. I rolled my eyes. "Brilliant, too. And she doesn't even care my real pearls are coming in. She says kissing is better without teeth."

Steve and I glanced at each other and Dustin went back to his ice cream. "Wow," Steve stated. "Yeah, that's great. Proud of you, man. That's ro- that's kind of romantic. That's like... wow."

"So did you really just get as much of this you want?" Dustin gestured towards the ice cream.

"Yeah, sure." Steve nodded. "It's not really a good idea for me, though. I gotta keep in shape for the ladies."

I smiled up at him. "Yeah, and how is that working out for you?" Robin questioned my thoughts from the ice cream shop.

"My thoughts exactly!" I exclaimed out loud and Robin smiled at me, laughing.

"Ignore her." Steve said. "I would say ignore you, redhead, but I really can't."

"Stop calling me redhead!" I groan in annoyance. Dustin says it one time and now it's stuck with me for life.

"She seems cool," Dustin commented.

Steve shakes his head. "She's not. So, where are the other knuckleheads?"

"They ditched me yesterday," Dustin frowned.

"Hey! I didn't." I whacked his arm.

"Right, sorry, they ditched us yesterday." Dustin corrected.

"No," Steve cocks his head at him.

"My first day back." Dustin complained. "Can you believe that shit?"

"Woah. Seriously?" Steve looked offended as Dustin did.

"I swear to God." Dustin muttered. "They're gonna regret it, though, big time, when they don't get to share my glory," I whacked his arm again. "Ow! Our glory, our glory,"

"That's what I thought, bitch," I mutter.

"Glory? What glory?" Steve questions.

Dustin lowers his voice. "So, last night, we're trying to get in contact with Suzie..."