SATELLITE [STEVE HARRINGTON]

three months later

double update! make sure you've read "the navigator"

THREE MONTHS LATER

GINNY SINCLAIR HAD NEVER FACED ANYTHING HARDER THAN TALKING TO IRIS' PARENTS AFTER HER DEATH. The cover story was that there was a huge fire at the mall, and that the sheriff gave his life to save as many people as he could. Iris and all the flayed were the ones he could not save.

Mr. and Mrs. Hawthorne hadn't known about Ginny and Iris' last fight, hadn't known she was the reason that Iris went to Billy that night, the reason Iris died.

Steve tried to tell her it wasn't her fault. Ginny lied and told him she believed him.

She'd gotten good at lying over the last three months.

She lied when she left for college at the end of August and told her parents she'd be fine without them.

She lied when she told Steve she was sleeping full nights again, and not waking up from a nightmare every hour or so.

She lied when she said she had homework and couldn't return home on the long weekends.

She lied, left and right, to everyone she loved, not caring about the consequences.

Steve mostly saw through her, but had no clue how to go about it. He'd ruined his relationship with Nancy when her best friend died, how was it that history kept repeating itself?

Maybe it was the fact that she was away at college that was driving them apart, or maybe they were just different.

But the weekend of fall break in mid-October was one of those good weekends, where she got to come home and she and Steve silently agreed to pretend like nothing was wrong.

Only, he didn't even know she was back at first.

He and Robin were still searching for a new job that would hire them both, and the Family Video next to the arcade was their last resort.

Robin looked over his application as they went in. "You put your mom down as a reference?" she wondered aloud.

Steve shrugged. "Yeah, why not? She's like, super well-respected." He opened the door for her and she trailed inside.

"You're such a dingus."

After giving their applications to Keith, the manager, he was still not convinced to hire them.

"Uh, just to be clear," Robin made sure to point out, "We weren't fired, you know. The mall burned down and, like, killed a bunch of people."

Keith glared at them. "Thanks for sharing. Didn't know." He planted their applications back in Robin's hand and pointed at her. "Three favorite movies, go."

"Uh... The Apartment, Hidden Fortress, Children of Paradise," she answered easily.

Keith snapped and pointed at Steve. "You, go."

"Favorite movies?" he asked, eyes wide.

"Did I stutter?"

"Uh..." He shook his head. "Animal House, for sure, um..."

Robin scoffed.

Keith snapped his fingers. "Eyes on me, Harrington."

Steve panicked, biting his lip. "Yeah, uh... Star Wars?" he tried.

"A New Hope?" Keith asked.

Steve faltered. "A new what now?"

The bell rang behind him as someone else entered and Keith demanded, "Which Star Wars?"