CHAPTER 33
JUST FRIENDS

IT took Veronica an extra ten minutes to find a staircase that led to the roof of the mall. She managed to find one in the hidden corridor behind their backroom, closed off by a bright, red door with a sign that read: EMERGENCY EXIT. KEEP DOOR CLOSED. Veronica decided that this could be considered an emergency, judging by the sudden urgency in Dustin's voice, and climbed the three-story staircase to the rooftop.

She found Dustin, Robin, and Steve right by the roof's exit, all huddled beneath the side that provided them some shade from the beating sun. Her two coworkers looked ready for an afternoon shift in their uniforms. Dustin crouched over the edge of the roof with a pair of binoculars, hardly noticing Veronica's presence as she trudged over, hands on her hips. "You know," she quipped, "I deserve some kind of award for not only running all the way up here, but for also coming to this shithole on my day off."

"Get down!" Robin whispered loudly and yanked on Veronica's ripped jeans, causing her to abruptly fall to her knees. Her palms hit the cement hard and a trickle of blood seeped onto her pants.

"Oh, fuck," Veronica muttered, clamping a hand over the scrape on her palm. She then blew a strand of hair out of her vision. "This better be good. Why did I have to rush coming over here?"

Dustin hunched down again, allowing the binoculars to hang across his neck. "The Russians are back at the same spot from last night. We've figured out that a keycard opens the room where they're storing all the Imperial Panda stuff. Unfortunately, the Russian with this keycard also has a massive gun."

"Wait," she chimed in, "who is watching over Scoops if you're all here?"

Steve grinned. "Jerry was happy enough to fill in during our break."

"Of course, he was." Veronica rolled her eyes.

"Can we all focus?" Dustin grumbled, waving his hands in front of them. "Whatever's in this room, whatever's in those boxes – they really don't want anybody finding it."

"So it's bombs," Steve clarified.

Veronica shrugged, looking off into the distance. "Or Imperial Panda is now cooking with cat meat and are trying to stock up. The silver cat does feed."

"That is ... so disgusting," Robin replied, playing with the silver chains lying across the nape of her neck. "Okay, guys, listen. There's gotta be a way in. We have to get one of those keycards."

Veronica nodded in agreement as Steve lifted a hand, gaining everyone's attention. "Well, you know," he offered, "I could just take him out."

Robin narrowed her eyes. "Take who out?"

"The Russian guard."

"Steve," Veronica deadpanned, "you, out of all people, cannot take out a guard, especially one with a big ass weapon. I mean, have you seen your arms?" She picked up one of his biceps and wiggled it. "See? Almost like spaghetti."

Steve snatched his arm away and held it close to his chest. "My arms are not like spaghetti!" He defended, noticing the confusion etched on his friends' faces. "What? I sneak up behind him, I knock him out, and I take his keycard. It's easy."

Dustin tilted his head slightly. "Did you not hear the part about the massive gun?"

"Yes, Dustin, I did," Steve replied, flipping his mane of chocolate locks to the side, "and that's why I would be sneaking." He tiptoed his fingers across the cement ground for emphasis.

Veronica slapped her hands onto her knees. "You're not quiet either, Steve."

"Ronnie, you are really not helping me here –"

"Okay, well, please, Steve. Tell me this – and be honest," Dustin said, brows shooting to his forehead, "have you ever actually won a fight?"

Steve frowned. "Okay, that was one time –"

"Yeah," Veronica snorted, "and I had to save you."

"Actually, twice," Dustin corrected, which earned a chuckle from Robin. "Remember. Jonathan? Year prior?"

Steve shook his head at a rapid speed. "That doesn't count."

Dustin grinned. "Why wouldn't it? Because it looked like he beat the shit out of you."

"Oh, yeah," Veronica added, holding up a finger as the memory dawned on her. "I remember you coming into school with a fat lip, crooked nose, swollen eye. It was pretty gnarly."

"I was f –" Steve turned to her, shock plastered over his face. "You really thought I looked cool?"

She shrugged. "Well, yeah, obviously. Even though I heard that you lost badly, I thought it was cool to see Steve 'the Hair' Harrington in his first fistfight."

Robin tore her eyes away from the ground, which she had been staring at for several seconds, allowing an idea to come to fruition. When she met their confused expressions, she smiled, a twinkle of mischief in her blue irises. "I know what might just work."

Before any of them could ask, Robin began to crawl over to the door that Veronica had entered to find them. Steve waved her back over, whispering loudly, "Robin! Get back here!" The blonde simply giggled in his direction. "Where are you even going? You need to tell us the plan first!"

"I will later," she quipped, holding onto the metallic doorknob. "I need to go downstairs, grab our money from the tip jar, and then I'll be back, okay?"

Veronica's stare narrowed. "The tip jar? A third of that is mine and Steve's! Jerry won't let you do that."

"Jerry doesn't notice a thing. He leaves three teenagers in charge of his ice cream parlor, for Christ sake." She pulled open the door as softly as she could. "I need cash."

"Well, where are you even going?" Steve asked in defeat.

"To find a way into that room. A safe way," she clarified. "In the meantime, both of you get to Scoops so we can send Jerry home, sling ice cream, behave, and don't get beat up. I'll be back in a jiff!"

Robin saluted them and shut the door before anyone could react. Dustin released a giant huff, spinning back to the scene below, binoculars fixated on the loading dock. Steve and Veronica followed his lead, eyeing the Russians as they filtered in and out of the room filled to the brink with boxes for Imperial Panda and Kaufman Shoes. Veronica bit the inside of her cheek as the situation before them became all the more real. She turned to Steve.

"Let's pretend the Russians get to us and blow up Hawkins, maybe even all of Indiana," she proposed. "Now that you're dead, what are you gonna do with your life?"

Steve snickered, "You think Heaven's got cherry slushies?"

•••

Veronica's attitude became increasingly more annoyed as the hours went on without Robin. Not only was she forced to work on her day off, but she had to shove herself into a random uniform they had lying around that was most definitely not her size. The small shirt cinched her chest in so tightly that she was sure that she'd definitely be in pain tomorrow morning. There was no way for her to fit into a pair of sailor shorts, and Steve wasn't about to make her wear something that practically showed her whole ass crack, so she wore her ripped jeans with the iconic Scoops Ahoy vest. Lucky her.

"Enjoy," she muttered in a bored tone, handing two cones of cookie dough ice cream to the teenage couple in front of her. They sent Veronica a sweet smile before taking their cones and walking away with their hands entwined. Her lip curled back in disgust. Couple shit made her sick, even if she had participated in it at some points in her life.

Steve twirled his trusty scooper in one hand and popped it into the pocket of his apron. He looked over at Veronica, who was tying her hair into a sloppy ponytail, and noticed her fake smile sink automatically as the previous couple left the counter. Licking his lips, Steve hesitated before sliding over and leaning against the freezer, just a foot away from her. The electricity from her touch was calling out to him, begging for the smallest brush of his hand against hers to remember what once was – what her warm skin felt like on his – but Steve didn't move an inch. He wouldn't until she wanted him to.

"Are you okay?" He asked, taking off his hat and spinning it around one of his fingers. "You look upset."

Veronica wiped the sweat that was forming on her brow. Despite the mall being fairly new, the AC system wasn't too great, even in an ice cream parlor. "I just don't want to be here today, Steve. I want to be home," she stressed, "alone."

"You don't want to be here," he continued with a quirked brow, "or you don't want to be around me?"

She shot him a glare, anger flaring within her dark irises. Veronica's hands formed into fists, and she wasn't quite sure why. She didn't want to be angry with Steve; she never did. But she hated when he was right, because that was her job, and it annoyed her to no end that he just had to bring up this subject when she was in the worst mood ever. It was like he was just asking for her to blow up.

Veronica whacked her scooper on the counter before stomping out of Scoops Ahoy. Steve slapped his hands onto his sides, mentally scolding himself for questioning her in the first place, and watched Veronica's boots clomp towards the food court. The parlor was filled with a few families and a group of teenagers, but Steve still ran after her as if they were completely empty.

She could sense his presence from a mile away, and Veronica quickly turned on her heel to face Steve as he sauntered towards her, eyebrows raised in confusion. "There are customers in there," she said, gesturing to Scoops. "Why did you follow me?"

"Because I wanted to make sure you're okay," he replied, as if the answer was obvious – and maybe, it really was. "Just because we're broken up, doesn't mean I stopped caring, Veronica. I'm not one of your old dickhead boyfriends that you can throw away after a breakup. You're one of my best friends."

Steve felt like sewing his lips shut as the confession rolled off his tongue. He felt like he had been bottling those words forever, and from Veronica's shocked expression, he wondered if he really had. She then ran two hands down her face, issuing a groan of exasperation, and shook her head while holding her palms to her cheeks.

"I need to be at college – like, now," she whispered, but it was loud enough for Steve to hear over the energetic crowds. "I won't have to be around this, and you ... Steve, you can find another girl who thinks that you hold the world at your fingertips. We have to grow up. We can't be seventeen anymore."

Steve pursed his lips, remaining quiet. Veronica instantly regretted her response.

Funny thing was, she remembered him having this exact look on the day of their breakup. They had been sitting at Ma's Diner on a Friday night. Steve was complaining about how his dad was trying to teach him a lesson for slacking off in high school, forcing him to now work because he didn't get into the three colleges he applied to. (And why would he? He hardly got a grade higher than a C.) Veronica knew it was the worst time to drop a bomb on him, but she didn't want their summer to continue as a façade. Both fully knew that a breakup was inevitable, especially since Veronica had chosen to go to a school in Pennsylvania, but neither had said a word about it. The subject was something that they wanted to avoid, though they knew it was inescapable.

When she mentioned that it was probably time for them to take a break, his face had fallen. His stare was distant, as if he had been completely cut off from the world. Veronica hoped she wouldn't see him look at her like that again, but here they were.

"Why did you offer me the job at Scoops?" She asked, voice barely above a murmur. Steve chewed on the inside of his cheek. "Do you think it's normal for us to be hanging out again after we broke up?" Veronica looked away and slapped a hand against her thigh. "Maybe I should just quit. Save us both the drama. I'll just be poor at school."

Now, Veronica realized what she was doing was wrong, and she didn't mean to do it. Despite people calling her a blueberry-haired bitch sometimes, her heart was warm on the inside, not cold. She was flawed and broken, but she could stitch herself back together and forget all the bad she'd done. Veronica didn't want to take out her anger, or trauma, or any in between, on Steve, but it was happening and she couldn't stop it. She wanted to be involved with Dustin's investigation because she thought it would help her destress, but all it was doing was reminding her of what once was, of the terrors that lingered within the Upside Down, and now Steve was dealing with the aftermath.

He approached her hesitantly, standing just a foot away, while their hands begged for contact. Sometimes, Veronica missed holding onto him. "Well, you are the one that asked for the job. I wanted to help you out. Amigo to amigo –"

"I'm an amiga –"

"I thought it would be good for us," Steve continued and ran a hand through his hair. "I wanted to spend time with you before you left for four goddamn months, Ronnie. I thought ..." He shook his head. "I thought we could learn to be friends again by working together. There, I said it."

The memories were coming back in flashes, wrapping themselves tightly around her brain like a boa suffocating its prey. Everything was happening all at once. Memories danced across her vision. She remembered their first date. She remembered their nights at the local drive-in. She remembered their study hangouts, which would almost always result in them making out on Steve's bed until they heard his dad climbing up the stairs. She remembered when he first held her hand, and he told her that friends don't do that. But most of all, she remembered when he brought her close at the Snowflake Ball, stepping on her toes as they tried to dance, and Veronica knew from the kindness in his eyes that this guy – Steve fucking Harrington, the King of Hawkins – he was going to ruin her. She would remember him for the rest of her life.

Veronica blinked, bringing herself back to reality, and focusing in on Steve's doe eyes. She swallowed hard, allowing her tough exterior to shed, as she replied, "We can't be just friends, Steve."

Steve pursed his lips. He opened his mouth to say –

"Hey, guys!"

Veronica stared at her ex-boyfriend for a second longer, releasing an aggravated exhale from her nostrils, before turning around at Robin's voice. Steve stood like a statue, hardly able to keep himself from spinning Veronica back around and telling her that she was right, that they shouldn't be just friends and he would sacrifice his compulsive, teenaged horniness just to be with her, even if it was long-distance.

But Steve didn't, because he cared more about Veronica Moreda's future than she did.

Robin approached them with a large grin, which slowly faded as she noticed the growing tension between the former couple. She held up a tube of paper in one hand and her car keys in the other. Tilting her head to the side, she asked, "Am I interrupting something?"

•••

Robin slapped the thin paper onto the table in the backroom of Scoops and unveiled it for them all to see. She held one end to keep it open, while Dustin tugged onto the other, eyes growing wide with interest at what laid before him. Steve and Veronica stood at two separate ends of the table, allowing the tension between them to simmer, yet not boil over. Veronica tried not to focus on him, and instead, stared at what seemed like a map. She scratched the top of her head.

"It is fascinating what twenty bucks will get you at the County Recorder's Office," Robin said proudly.

"What is it?" Veronica asked, leaning in to read the fine print dotted across the page.

Robin grinned. "Starcourt Mall. The complete blueprints." She pointed to a circle at the far end of the paper, which Veronica could only guess represented the food court. "So, this is us, Scoops, and this –" Her finger glided across the page. "­– Is where we want to get."

"So what?' Veronica shrugged. "We just walk?"

"Not exactly, lady." Dustin wagged his finger. "We walk. We get spotted, and then shot on spot."

Steve furrowed his brow. "I don't really see a way in."

Robin ripped the paper off the table to reveal yet another piece underneath it. However, this one looked like it was made of a bunch of rectangular tunnels. "There's not if you're talking exclusively about doors."

"Air ducts," Dustin whispered with a smile that reached his ears.

"Exactly," Robin agreed, striding over to her whiteboard and picking up a dry erase marker. She circled a large square air duct at the top of the paper. "Turns out, this secret room needs air just like any old room. And these air ducts lead all the way ..." She dragged her marker down a straight passage, stopping in the middle of the page to circle a particular spot. "Here."

Robin looked up at the ventilation shaft with a grin, before quickly walking over to the emergency toolbox in the corner of the room. After sifting through the pile of tools that were never once used, she plucked a screwdriver out and pushed it in Steve's direction. "C'mon, Lover Boy. Do us a favor and open the vent."

Steve realized he didn't have much choice in the matter. He frowned and snatched the screwdriver out of Robin's grip. Digging the tiny ladder out of the back, Steve leaned it just under the vent and climbed. It took him a few minutes, but he was eventually able to lift the metal frame off the shaft and place it on the floor. Dustin then handed him a flashlight, which Steve used to peek inside the darkness of the air duct, but found nothing but dust.

"Well, who's going up there?" Veronica asked, sitting on the table with crossed legs. "What about you, kid? You'll most likely fit."

Steve hummed under his breath. "Yeah, I don't know, Moreda. It's, like, super tight."

"I'll fit," Dustin added. "Trust me. No collarbones, remember?"

Robin looked to Veronica with a bugged-out expression as Dustin climbed the ladder. "Uh – excuse me?"

"Oh, he's, uh – yeah, he's got some disease." Steve paused to think of the name. "Chry – uh ... It's chrydo – something."

"Cleidocranial dysplasia," Veronica finished.

"That's it!" He snapped in his ex-girlfriend's direction, but looked away awkwardly once their eyes met. "He's missing bones and stuff. He can bend like Gumbo."

Robin raised a brow. "You mean, Gumby."

"I'm pretty sure it's Gumbo."

"Steve," Veronica clarified, "gumbo is a food dish –"

"Someone just shut up and push me!" Dustin shouted, legs dangling from outside the vent.

Steve groaned, "Fine, I'll do it." Placing one foot on the first step of the ladder, Steve grabbed the bottom of Dustin's sneakers and started to push. Veronica giggled at the thought of it looking like a child's birth.

"Not my feet, dumbass." Dustin sighed loudly. "Push my ass!"

"What?" Steve narrowed his eyes.

Dustin wiggled his feet. "Touch my butt! I don't care! C'mon!"

Steve shook his head and climbed the ladder more, pressing onto Dustin's behind to push him further into the vent. It did nothing. Steve used all the strength he had as Dustin screamed, "Push harder! You're playing with my legs!"

Veronica and Robin shared a look of despair.

"Okay, I'm just gonna shove you. Ready?" Steve asked, now resting Dustin's legs on his back and gripping his ankles. Dustin encouraged him to do so and Steve started to count down from three, before trying to jostle his younger friend in. Once again, Dustin did not move an inch. Veronica glanced at her chipped nails.

The bell on the outside counter began to ring excessively.

"Ahoy, sailors!" Erica Sinclair exclaimed, waving her hands around. "All hands on deck! Ahoy! Get over here and serve me some samples."

Looking up from her nails, Veronica met Robin's eyes, who was already sending her a knowing glance. They beamed in each other's direction before Veronica turned back to the window and eyed Erica, who was still pounding her fist onto the bell. With a shit-eating grin, Veronica muttered, "I think I know who will fit in there."

•••

A/N: Listen.............I know it may seem like Ronnie is being an asshole with her little outburst in this chapter, but I think it's pretty valid!!! (But lmao I'm biased.) She's going through a ton of shit and trauma, and working with her ex really ain't helping her get over him like she thought it would. So naturally, that would result in a blow up from her. She's tough and flawed most of the time, but she's also human!! Both her and Steve are soft on the inside, we just gotta wait some time for them to patch things up 🥺🥺🥺

Idk why I just explained all of that because all it shows is that I'm biased about Veronica asdhfhijks

( made by JustSav )