Steve had been bouncing his leg in absolute anguish and anxiety for the past hour, his back starting to ache from sitting in the chair for so long. After serving ice cream for about an hour and a half, with no sign of Christine or Officer Mustache he had given Robin the reigns and decided he needed to sit down, his stomach starting to turn with worry. What kind of lunch lasted for almost 3 hours?

He had been chewing on the inside of his cheek fit about thirty minutes now, his eyes glued to the Russian alphabet and the translation of the message that was still up on the whiteboard. He figured that he could decode anything that was spelled in Russian by now, because he had been staring for so long he almost thought he had it completely memorized.

"Is he...alright?" Erica whispered to Dustin who was sitting in the booth beside her, the two of them waiting impatiently for the after hours to come so that they could get their plan started. Dustin looked where she was looking, seeing Steve through the back window and then looking back at her.

"Why do you ask?"

"Because he hasn't blinked in 3 minutes and I'm starting to think his ass is glued to the chair. Listen if your guy isn't gonna be able to-"

"He's fine. He's just anxious."

"What's he anxious about? He's not the one crawling through a bunch of air ducts to get into a secret room with a bunch of heavily armed men." Erica said in a semi hushed tone, Dustin shaking his head at her and trying to calm down her sass.

"Not that. He's anxious because the girl he likes is out on a date with another guy and she's not back yet." Dustin explained, gesturing towards the doorway with an obvious look.

"The girl he likes? Well why is he just sitting there and not doing anything about it?" Erica asked, giving him a questioning look as she ate some of her ice cream. She had been eating ice cream for almost three hours now, and she still wasn't getting tired of it.

"Because he is in deep denial of the fact that he's in love with her." Dustin said with a longing gaze, seeming as if he was telling a story. Ericas lip curled up in some kind of disgust, the girl blinking a few times before speaking.

"Oh are you talking about Christine?"

"So you see it too?" Dustin asked, looking over at her and dropping his head into his hand.

"I mind my own business when it comes to people I don't care much about but it's almost embarrassing how much those two make them googly eyes at each other. It almost makes me sick. Actually I'm feeling a little like I might vomit just thinking about it." Erica said, the disgust still on her face as Dustins mouth opened.

"Okay ew. Don't do that. But yeah I know. I mean look at him, he looks like his dog just died." Dustin said, both of them looking back at Steve who had finally moved, the boy hunched over the table with his head in his hands.

"Sometimes it amazes me how dumb a person can be." Erica said, nodding her head as she looked away from the depressing site of Steve Harrington.

There was a lull in customer activity, Robin leaning against the countertop behind the register and turning her head slightly to look at Steve who was now halfway laid out across the table in dramatic fashion. She fully turned, figuring maybe she should check on him.

"Hey Steve...you okay dingus?" She asked in a concerned tone, the girl having never seen him act like this. He groaned against the table, his face covered by his arms as her lip curled up in discomfort, the girl not quite wanting to check on him but feeling like she had to, because he was so upset. She heard some light conversation to her right, an idea coming to her head as she looked at Dustin. She hurried around the counter to the boy, grabbing him by the shirt and starting to whisper.

"You need to check on him." Dustin shook his head immediately , his face falling as he refused from the jump.

"No. No I'm not doing it."

"Oh come on you guys are friends or whatever. Look at him, he's like a sad little puppy and it's really bringing the morale of the store down. Go check on him." Robing said, gesturing towards the window with her head. Dustin looked between her and the window, groaning as he realized he probably did need to check on him. He had never seen Steve this upset, and nothing had even happened. Dustin pushed Robins hand of his shirt, letting out a sigh as he walked towards the break room with a defeated stagger. He pushed through the door, looking over the pitiful sight of Steve , his hair flopped around his head and his face in his arms in the table. He was sitting in a weird angle, Dustin feeling extremely uncomfortable now that he was actually in the room.

"Hey buddy...how we doing?" Dustin said, pulling out the chair beside Steve and sitting in it warily. Steve just groaned again, Dustins face scrunching up into a coy little expression as he thought of how to get Steve out of this temporary funk. He grabbed him by the shoulder, urging him to sit up and watching as Steve just flopped back, his eyes closed and a frown permanently stitched into his face. He opened his eyes with a look of complete agony, Dustin wanting to roll his eyes at how absolutely dramatic this all was. "Alright let's talk about it Steve. Come on. Tell me what's going on in that big giant head of yours."

"I'm sick."

"Sick of what? Sick of-" Steve cut him off, his downcast eyes giving Dustin an idea of what was going on in his head.

"No like I'm physically sick. My stomach hurts. I feel all icky like I'm gonna vomit and I don't know... I'm stressed. Is there like a stomach bug going around or like the flu? When is flu seas-"

"Steve I don't think you're sick." Dustin cut him off, shaking his head. Steve gave him a look of disbelief, wondering how Dustin was to tell him that he was or was not sick.  "You're just-"

"What is going on in here?" Christine Wheeler asked from the doorway, Dustin feeling extremely relieved now that she was here and he didn't have to talk to  Steve. Steve on the other hand was not relieved, the boys stomach ache going away but his face dropping at the sight of her.

"How many hours does it take you on average to eat a lunch?" Steve asked, Dustins eyes widening as he watched Christines own face drop at the comment.

"Well we went to lunch and then we talked for awhile ab-"

"For 3 hours? Just talked? You sure about that?" Robin and Erica had now come into the break room, wanting to witness whatever was about to happen between the two.

"What are you suggesting, mom?" She asked, her tone getting defensive as he shrugged.

"Ten bucks on Christine." Robin said to Erica, the girl giving her a nod and a covert handshake.

"I'm not suggesting anything I'm just saying you can do a lot in 3 hours." Steve was very much suggesting something, Christine reading between the lines and realizing what he was saying.

"Even if something did happen it wouldn't be any of your business." Christine said in a condescending and sardonic tone. Steve didn't like that, his mouth dropping open as he looking at her with a sneer.

"Not my business? Hello are you forgetting the part where I'm your best friend. It's all my business." He gestured to himself, Christine rolling her eyes as Dustin jumped into the conversation, trying to stop it from blossoming into a full blown argument.

"I think Steve's just trying to say he was worried about you because you were gone so long." The younger boy said, easing the tension a little bit as Christine didn't seem to believe him.

"He doesn't look worried, he looks like an asshole." Christine said with a peering smile that made Steve's blood boil the tiniest bit.

"Trust me he was worried. He was practically moping in here for 2 hours because you hadn't come back yet." Robin chimed in, the girl stepping forwards a tiny bit to put emphasis on her words. Christines hand shit up to her heart, a fake smile crossing her lips as she looked at the man himself.

"Aw how sweet. You just cant live without me huh?" Steve scoffed at her suggestion, the other three sharing a look as he started to get defensive again.

"Not that I cant live without you, I was just nervous because you were going out with a 48 year old man who could do god only knows what to you." Steve said, making Christine roll her eyes.

"He's 30!" She corrected him again, Steve uncrossing his arms and waving her off.

"Whatever."

"Whatever." She said back, both of them calling a truce and turning to look at the other three. Erica sucked in a short breath, her attention going to Robin who was looking between the two who were clearly lost in their own thoughts and holding in comments towards each other.

"$10."

"For what? They didn't even fight." Robin said as she looked down at the younger girl, Erica giving her a look that said she didn't care what Robin had to say.

"Just because you owe me. Now pay up." Robin held her ground for a moment, the girl eventually letting out a defeated groan and teaching into her pocket. She pushed the the dollar bill into Ericas hand, Christine watching the exchange with a small glint of humor in her eyes before she spoke.

"I'm sorry are we gonna do this or did I come back just to get lectured by my mother over here?" Steve gave her an impassive look at this comment, shaking his head and dropping back down into the chair he had been inhabiting did mere hours.

"Yeah let's do this." Dustin said, looking to Erica who gave him a confirming nod.

"Get the ladder."