One

Chapter Two- Part Two

"Phina!" Zoe yells, "You've got more children looking for you!"
   Phina rolls her eyes, putting her scissors and the ribbon she'd been cutting down on her station. She'd barely made it through two arrangements in the time she'd been here, could she not go an hour without being summoned by the party. It was common for the kids to come in and talk to her, usually complaining about one thing or another, and she loved it, but sometimes it was really hard to work when they were here, especially when Lucas decides he needs to ask her about every single flower and if she thought Max would like them.
   Phina moves towards the door, maneuvering her way through boxes and boxes of ribbons, flowers, and other items she needed for this particularly large order. She peaks her head out the door, looking at the two children in question.
   "El? Max?" Phina's brows furrowed as she looked at the two girls, she'd been expecting the boys, maybe even Max, but El was definitely not supposed to be here, Hopper's orders. "What are you two doing here, actually, El what are you doing here? You know what, never mind, I don't wanna know. If Hopper finds out, I was never apart of this. Come back here, I've got stuff to finish up."
   The two girls glance at each other quickly and scramble after the older girl who quickly ducks back into the room.
   Phina knew that El had been basically locked away in her's and Hopper's cabin, only allowed just around the property. She understood Hopper's reasons, but Phina knew it was a little extreme to keep her locked away. El's a teenage girl, she needs to be able to experience the world. She'd spent enough of her life locked up, Phina didn't think she needed to spend anymore of it like that.
   "What's up?"
   Phina sits back down at her station, continuing to cut the red, white, and blue ribbons. Another tacky Fourth of July arrangement, one that Phina couldn't wait to be done with.
   "Well," Max starts, "El here is having a bit of trouble with your shithead of a brother."
   Phina spins to look at the girls, "What the hell did he do? I'll beat his ass. No, no, better yet, I'll fireball his ass. That little shit won't know what's coming."
   El's eyes widen, surprised about the girl's outburst, Max just grins. Phina catches the actual fear in El's eyes, no doubt imagining exactly what Phina was detailing.
   "Relax," Phina snorts, "I'm not gonna actually hurt him, El. Well, maybe just a little, but he'll live. Now what exactly am I beating my brother up for?"
   "He lies to me," El says shortly, "He lies and ignores me. He told me your grandmother was sick."
   "Which she obviously isn't, and he's lying just to be a dick," Max snaps, huffing as she crosses her arms over her chest, leaning back against the wall behind her.
   "That little shit!" Phina yells, "How dare he bring Nana into this?"
   "Do you know why he lies?" El asks.
   Phina frowns, detecting the hurt in her tone. Oh she most definitely was going to beat his ass.
   "No sweetie, I don't," Phina sighs, and shifts so she's completely facing the girl, "But all I'm gonna say is, relationships are built on trust and honesty. Next time you see him, he better give you a good explanation and if he doesn't want to be honest with you, dump his ass, he ain't worth your time."
   Max grins widely, jumping away from the wall, "Exactly!"
The older girl had a feeling Max had already given El similar advice.
   El nods slowly, "Dump his ass."
   Phina nods, of course she feels bad for her brother, but she will not tolerate him treating El like this, she wouldn't tolerate it from any of them. And Phina knows it's a bit extreme to actually dump him, but it probably wouldn't last that long, the two were inseparable, they're also in that early teen phase of off and on again relationships, and all this would be is a major lesson for Mike.
   "Now, I've got work to do," Phina says, "You two, are gonna go have fun and stop thinking about stupid boys for the rest of the day, got it?"
   "Got it!"
   The girls left, each with a small flower tucked in their hair. Phina continued to work on the order, she thinks they're for some sort of party, an expensive one two considering the size of the order. Some sort of rich people Fourth of July party that would most likely happen in Steve's neighborhood.
   She made it halfway through the order before Zoe walks through the door with three boys in tow.
   "And there's even more children here to see you," Zoe says, "Seriously dude, how many kids do you hangout with?"
   Phina glances at them, her eyes narrowing when they land on Mike, Lucas, and Will. The boys freeze under her glare, eyes all going wide.
   "Too many," Phina says to Zoe, who takes Phina's tone as her cue to leave, "I'm gonna wring your little necks."
   "You know?" Mike cries.
   "How do you know already?" Lucas snaps, "How?"
   "Of course she knows!" Will snaps, "Girls always know!"
Phina sighs, "Doesn't matter how! All that matters is that I'm mad at you. All of you! For multiple reasons!"
   They all flinch slightly, shuffling in their spots like the scolded children they are. Will glances at her and she feels a little guilty for grouping him in with the other two. She nods her head once, letting him know that this is mostly just for Mike and Lucas but still slightly towards him given that all of them ditched Dustin.
   "I'm sorry," Mike starts, "I just-"
   "Ah," Phina snaps, "I don't wanna hear it, save the apologies for El."
   Mike hangs his head, "Can you help me pick out flowers?"
   Phina sighs, just pointing at the door, "Pick something for yourself, Mike, I'm busy."
   She knows it's a little harsh, but she is busy, and honestly she's way to mad at her brother to help him. He'll figure it out on his own, she can't hold his hand through every screw up he has.
   The three boys leave the back room, bickering underneath their breaths about something that she barely could understand. Something about I told you so from Will and a shut up from Lucas.
   "That was brutal man," Zoe says, popping her head through the door.
   Phina sighs, "Well, the little shits deserved it."
   "Sure they did," she grins, "Anyways, Jess is here to finish all this up."
   Phina glances at the clock on the wall, she hadn't noticed how long she'd been working. It had felt like only minutes had gone by, but apparently hours had.
"Oh," she frowns, "I didn't get as much done as I wanted to..."
"Don't worry about it," Zoe shrugs, "Jess can have this finished up by closing."
Phina nods once but she can't help but feel guilty. Usually she could get big orders like this done in an hour or two, maybe even less on a good day.
It's nothing really, but something in the back of her mind keeps bugging her about all the way to the ice cream shop.
When she gets there, Steve's up front dealing with a band off little kids lead by Erica, Lucas's little sister. The sight is enough to bring Phina back to the present.
"You'v tried that one six times already!" Steve snaps, pinching the bridge of his nose, "Are you gonna buy something our are you just trying to test my patience?"
Phina snorts, moving up to the counter, "Erica, give the man a break."
The little girl looks up at her, "I'm not doing anything, I'm just trying to try the mint chocolate chip but he won't give it to me."
"Tell you what?" Phina says, "How about I buy you a cone of mint chocolate chip and give you some coins to go spend at the arcade?"
Erica frowns, "But I just want-"
"And a brownie," Phina cuts in.
"Deal."
The little girl leads her band of kids out of the shop, probably towards the arcade and Phina turns back to Steve with a grin. The boy is already smiling at her, his eyes full of gratitude.
"You are a life saver, Wheeler," he says.
"I know, Harrington." She reaches out and pats his shoulder, "I know. So, where we at in the translation?"
   Her tone holds a somewhat sarcastic lilt to it. It wasn't that she didn't believe Dustin, but she doubted it was some big Russian code that the four of them were gonna crack and save America with. It was probably just some radio channel he picked up.
"Not far," Steve chuckles, "Robin's taking a crack at it."
Robin opens the little windows to the back room, probably hearing her name, "You, about time, get back here we've almost got something."
She slams the little doors closed and Phina snorts, "Looks like I've been summoned."
Steve sighs, "And I'm being left alone again, great."
She smiles, leaning on the counter, "Oh don't pout."
"I'm pouting and there's nothing you can do to change it," he says, pouting his lips in emphasis as he leans forward too.
"Oh yeah?"
   "Yeah-"
   She catches his lips with her own, keeping it light and quick, pulling back just enough to feel him smile against her.
"Ok, I guess there was something you could do about it," he admits.
   "Told ya so," she sings, pulling back all the way.
   He rolls his eyes and points a thumb towards the back door, "Better get in there before Dustin drags you back himself."
   "Phina!" Dustin yells, "Get your ass back here!"
   "Jesus Dusty," she laughs, "Calm down! I'm coming!"
   The girl rolls her eyes and smiles at Steve once more before she moves into the back room. Steve chuckles to himself, turning back to the counter where a line was slowly forming. He put on his brightest Steve Harrington smile and took their orders, all the while his mind was drifting back to the red curls and bright green eyes that made his day just that much better.