𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐲 𝐰𝐚𝐲

vi. daisy bell.

     

     THE THREE teens were now in the backroom of Scoops Ahoy, listening to the recording of the Russian communication Dustin told them about. Steve was walking back and forth, eating a banana as James just stared at him the entire time. "So what do you think?" Dustin asked after he paused the recording. "It sounded familiar." Dteve said as he took another bite of the fruit.

"What?" James said, suddenly snapping out of his zoning out moment. "The music." Steve pointed and James sighed, looking away. "The music right there at the end." He said as he wiped his mouth and James glanced back up. "Why are you listening to the music, Steve? Listen to the Russian! We're translating Russian!" Dustin exclaimed as he pointed towards the recorder on the table.

"I'm trying to listen to the Russian, but there's music playing—" The swinging door opened, Robin walking in. "Alright, babysitting time is over. You need to get in there." She says as Steve just backed away, stopping next to James. "Hey, my board. That was important data, shitbirds." Robin said as she looked at the whiteboard where she supposedly kept score if Steve ruled or he sucked.

James remembered a funny joke about how he can confirm that Steve definitely... sucked. It earned him a smack on his arm. "I guarantee you, what we're doing is way more important than your data." Dustin says as he gestured. "Yeah? And how do you know these Russians are up to no good anyways?" Robin asked as she stopped in front of the table that now separated her and the boys.

"How does she know about the Russians?" Dustin turned towards the two older teens. "I don't know." Steve said as he shrugged and James looked at his boyfriend right away. "You told her?" He whispers. "It wasn't me." Steve shook his head. "Hello, I can hear you." Robin says out loud. "Actually, I can hear everything. You are both extremely loud, James would have gotten away with it." She said as she pointed to the teen who smirks.

"You think you have evil Russians plotting against our country, on tape, and you're trying to translate, but haven't figured out a single word because you didn't realize Russians use an entirely different alphabet than we do." She says as Dustin and Steve look at each other and James squinted his eyes at Steve. "Sound about right?"

"I like her. She should help us. Let her listen to it." James said as he stood up, picking up the recorder which Steve immediately snatched out of his hand. "What do you think you're doing?" He asked and James glares. "She can help us. Right, Rob?" He looked towards the teenage girl.

"I'm fluent in four languages." The blonde confirms. "Russian?" Dustin asked and Robin looks at him. "Ou-yay are-yay umb-day." She says and James smirks as Steve and Dustin exclaim in excitement. "Holy shit!" Dustin says with a grin.

"That was Pig Latin, dummies." James says. "But I can speak Spanish and French and Italian, and I'ge been in band for 12 years. My ears are little geniuses, trust me." Robin says and James held out his hand towards Steve. "Uh..." Steve hesitated anyway. "Come on, it's your turn to sling ice cream, my turn to translate. I don't even want credit. I'm just bored." She says and Steve sets the recorder into James' hand, looking into his eyes.

"Thank you. Also, can you bring me two scoops of strawberry ice cream?" He smiled and Steve just passed by Robin, taking the ice cream scooper from his hands. "Sure thing..." He replied and James sat down, pressing the play button.

The recording played almost the millionth time that day as James tried to listen in on it. Robin was pacing. "Wait, that last part, just one more time." Robin pointed to the recorder in Dustin's hand. "Okay." He said softly before playing it over again. "Okay, that word. Um... it's pronounced dly-nna-ya." She said and James grabbed the notepad. "Dly-nna-ya." Dustin nodded.