slut [ eddie munson ]

021

The trio of girls stayed close as they moved throughout the upstairs level, the beams of Nancy and Robin's flashlights illuminating the dark rooms. After searching every room for some sort of clue, they gave up and went back downstairs to rejoin the group.

Talia strayed ahead of the two other girls, startling when the sharp sound of glass shattering echoed from the room she was approaching. Hurrying her pace, she jumped as Steve came stumbling backwards from the room. He was obviously distressed, frantically swiping at his clothes.

"Woah," Talia said, concerned for what might have happened, "what's wrong?" She repeated her question when it took Steve too long to answer, the boy continuing to try and wipe something off of him.

"There's a spider," Steve panted, still searching his clothes for the tiny arachnid.

Talia's worry dissipated, the shorter girl rolling her eyes at Steve's dramatics.

"Really?" She deadpanned, "I thought you were like...possessed or something. This is not the time to be scared of spiders, Steve."

"It was a black widow," Steve defended himself, "besides, you would of freaked out if you saw one of those crawling all over you."

Talia rolled her eyes again, but said nothing. Steve took that as a win. He pulled the door shut behind him, turning to face the girl again as Nancy rounded the corner and joined them, "Don't go in there."

Nancy grimaced as she caught a look at the boy's hair, moving past Talia and reaching her hand out, "oh...oh."

"What?" Steve said, flinching away from Nancy's reach.

"Wait, it's just..." Nancy said, still trying to pull the cobwebs from his hair.

"Something?" Steve panicked, moving further away from the girl.

"Wait, stop moving."

"Okay," Steve relented, pausing.

"Stop. I just...I got it. I got it," Nancy pulled the cobwebs from his hair, finally.

"Thank you," Steve said, still slightly panicking.

Robin finally joined the trio, casting a questioning glance at Talia. Talia shook her head slightly, arms folded in front of her as she watched her cousin and ex-best friend in amusement.

"Spider," Talia muttered, eyes still focused on the two.

"If there's a spider in there, you're never gonna find it till it lays eggs and all the babies spill out," Robin called, knowing the Harrington boy was scared of them.

"What's wrong with you?" Steve asked, distressed at the thought, "Robin, seriously."

Robin just laughed, moving past them. Talia hid her own laughter, following after her.

"You're funny, Buckley," Talia mused, nudging the girl as she caught up to her. Robin turned her face away, hiding a grin.

"You're not so bad yourself, Wheeler."

"Oh, yeah?"

"Yeah, you're not what I expected."

"And what did you expect?" Talia asked, surveying their surroundings. She could faintly hear Nancy and Steve still talking behind them, but made no effort to listen in on their conversation.

"Not sure," Robin lied slightly, "you just always seemed kind of...scary? Unapproachable, I guess."

"Scary?" She questioned, finding it hard to believe anyone would find a five foot three girl scary.