chapter forty-four:
freaky angel

Ramona paced back and forth behind the counter, phone pressed to her ear and shoulder, while her hand held the notebook paper with messily scribbled numbers down.

She bit her lip, eyebrows furrowing in concentration as the phone's ringing came to a stop, followed by a short answering machine message.

Ramona grumbled to herself, slamming the phone down, earning a few annoyed glances from customers, glances that she ignored.

She gently pushed Dustin to the side, plucking the marker from his hand and crossing off another name. At his glance, she muttered no luck and handed him the marker back.

Dustin huffed, glancing over at Max. Ramona followed his gaze. Though it drifted from Max to Steve rather quickly. Being busy with a customer, Ramona assumed her stare would go unnoticed. Steve, oblivious as ever, proved her right.

Her dark eyes trailed over him, unashamedly lingering on the way his uniform shirt clung to his arms.

Ramona loved his arms, she'd put them in her top five favorite things about him. While swearing up and down that she was anything but a sap, the opposite was true. Ramona was a sap, through and through, proving it when she sheepishly admitted to Robin that (as cliché as it was) her top favorite was his smile.

When Steve smiled, each and every time he did, Ramona felt something inside her burst, rushing through her like water out of a broken dam. Something that she couldn't quite pinpoint, but something she felt was intoxicating.

Sometimes, while he was sound asleep and Ramona was wide awake, her mind wandering to the sound of his heart beat (which was her second favorite thing). She'd find herself wondering how she could have ever hated him in the first place.

The answer was clear, he used to be a jackass.

But Steve now? Her Steve? Was anything but, and it was hard to imagine that just a short time ago, Ramona wanted to rip the head off of his ego inflated shoulders.

She couldn't imagine it. Seeing how gentle and tender he was with her now, more than willing to kiss the very ground she walked on. (Secretly, she would kiss the ground he walked on, too.)

"Ramona." Dustin's voice snapped her out of her daze, turning to the younger boy who held an annoyed look on his face. "Stop drooling over Steve!"

"Wha- Hey!" Ramona raised her hand, knocking the hat off of his head. "I am so not drooling!"

Dustin gasped in horror, reaching down and picking his hat up from he ground. "Keep your hands off! I'm sorry, she's inconsiderate."

"Stop talking to the hat, Dusty." Ramona rolled her eyes, "You look insane."

"I'll stop talking to my hat when you stop drooling over Steve in front of me!" Dustin accused

"I will smack you." Ramona threatened, "I wasn't drooling. I was... simply watching.. him work.."

"You so are drooling!" Robin agreed, smiling cheekily at her. "It's gross! You're eye fucking him!"

"Ew!" Dustin scrunched his face up, "Gross! I don't wanna think about that!"

"Nuh uh!"  Ramona directed her comment to Robin.

"Yes huh!" Robin crossed her arms, a sly smirk curving onto her lips.

"Hey, guys." Max's voice trickled with nerves, pulling them out of their argument and putting their attention onto her. "I think I have a lead."

Ramona perked up, mouth twitching up in a smile, "A lead? A good one?"

"A real one?" Robin clarified.

"I think so," Max nodded, glancing over at Ramona who gave her an encouraging nod. "Yes."

"Seriously?" Dustin spun around, eyes lighting up as Max nodded in confirmation. "What is it?"

"So, Eddie apparently gets his drugs from some guy named Reefer Rick and sometimes Eddie crashes there."

"Do you know how many Ricks there are?" Ramona scoffed, crossing her arms and leaning against the counter. Not failing to notice Dustin's eyes trained on the scars littering her arms, for a moment she felt insecurity clawing at her heart. Though, her head told her that there were bigger and more important things at play. "The cook at the diner's name was Rick. It's a typical name."

"Still," Robin urged,"Sounds promising. Where does this Reefer Rick live?"

Max grimaced, "See? That's the thing.. No one knows. He's more of a.. of a legend, than someone people actually know. "

"What about a last name?" Dustin pushed.

"I don't know that one either."

Ramona threw her arms up in frustration, growing increasingly annoyed. "Max, you're kidding."

"Bet the cops know his last name." Steve suggested, mindlessly shuffling through movies.

"What?"

"Cops," Steve repeated, turning and leaning on the counter to face the group. "I mean, listen. If this Reefer Rick guy is actually a drug dealer, I guarantee you he's been arrested at some point. Means he's in the system."

"The cops?" Dustin's voice was dripping with disbelief. "Really, Steve? That's your suggestion? Your genius?"

"I mean, I think they should be filled in on what's going on here." Steve said, looking to Ramona for backup. Before she could get a word out, Dustin had already stepped forward.

"You think Eddie's guilty, don't you?" Dustin accused quickly.

"Woah, woah." Steve shrugged, waving his hands around. "I believe in innocent until proven guilty, all that constitutional bullshit. I just think we.. I don't know, can't rule it out."

"That's precisely what we're trying to do here." Max pointed out, Dustin nodding along with her in agreement.

"And maybe, just maybe, we'd have a little more luck if you'd spend less time shuffling through the same five movies and more time trying to find Eddie!"

"Steve.." Ramona trailed off, tilting her head to the side. Steve's eyes darted over to her, watching as her bangs fell into her eyes. "He didn't do this. Eddie looks scary but he's an angel."

"An angel, huh?" Steve huffed, standing straight and squaring his shoulders. "Last I checked, angles don't kill people!"

"Have you ever read the Bible?" Ramona questioned, "There's an entire section dedicated to precisely that."

"Okay- Whatever- I need to tend to customers, okay? We have a very large selection, and it is very overwhelming for some people!" Steve drummed his hands on the counter and backed up.

Robin stood straight, eyes lighting up as an idea clicked in her head. "Yeah! We do."

Max watched Robin, a questioning look crossing her face as Ramona sat herself in front of the computer, typing something into it quickly. "What are you doing?"

"Maybe we don't need a last name." Robin replied, eyes darting across the screen, lips turning up into a victorious grin.

Ramona shared a look with Steve, nodding her head as an indication for him to join them behind the counter.

"Twelve Ricks already have accounts here." Robin's words were punctuated by twelve different last names appearing on the screen.

"That's a lot of Ricks.." Max mumbled, Steve nodding in agreement from where he stood behind Ramona.

"So, let's narrow it down." Robin trailed off, hitting the space bar to open the first man's account. "Rick Alderman's recent purchases are Annie and Dumbo. What are the chances our drug dealer has a family?"

"Not likely." At Max's downturn, Robin hit the space bar again to open the second account.

"Alright, Rick Conroy... Sixteen Candles, Teen Wolf, and Romancing the Stone."

"Sixteen Candles? I love that mov-"

"No." Dustin and Max, in unison, again turned down Robin.

"Okay....Rick Joiner, Footloose, and Grease."

"Okay!" Ramona clapped, "Rick Joiner is my kind of guy. Footloose is my favorite.. Oh, but.. Uh, no. Not our guy."

"Rick Kimbrough.. The Blue Lagoon and Splash."

Chuckles left the groups lips, followed by a unanimous no.

"Okay, Rick Lipton, Fast Times at Ridgemont, Cheech & Chong's Next Movie, Cheech & Chong's Nice Dreams, Cheech & Chong's Up In Smoke."

"Jesus." Ramona muttered, shaking her head.

"Hahaha!" Dustin chuckled, smile brightening. "Bingo!"

"Lipton?"

"Spelled like the tea."  Robin answered, "2121 Holland Road."

"That's out by Lovers Lake." Dustin pointed out.

"Middle of nowhere." Max hummed.

"It's so peaceful there." Ramona agreed. "Quiet."

"Perfect place to hide." Robin grinned, pushing the chair back and shutting off the computer.

"Let's go find that sucker."

~~

a/n: this was bad . also my work scheduled me for shifts on days i put as unavailable?? weird .