There's No Place Like Hawkins//Stranger Things. SH

THIRTY SEVEN

The Spy

Dustin and Steve walked down the abandoned railway track, throwing pieces of meat every couple of steps in hopes that it would eventually lure Dustin's pet Demogorgon to them. "All right," Steve spoke, breaking the silence between them, "so let me get this straight. You kept something you knew was probably dangerous- and could kill your sister, might I add- in order to impress a girl who... who you just met?"

"All right, that's grossly oversimplifying things." Dustin told him from where he was walking a few paces ahead. "And it didn't kill Catherine, okay? She's still alive."

"Well, it killed her cat, which is basically like killing her. You know how much she loved that orange furball."

"She'd kill you for calling Mews that, you know."

Steve nodded, not that Dustin saw him do it anyway. "Yeah, well she's not here to kill me. Anyway, why would a girl like some nasty slug anyway? Cat wouldn't." He paused for a moment. "Wait, did she know about this anyway?"

"Yes, yes she did." The young Henderson answered. "And yes, she was grossed out. But she gets grossed out by most things." He steered the topic of conversation away from his sister and back to what they were originally talking about. "And why wouldn't anyone like an interdimensional slug? Because it's awesome."

"Well, even if she thought it was cool, which she didn't, I... I just... I don't know. I just feel like you're trying way too hard."

"Well, not everyone can have your perfect hair, all right?"

"It's not about the hair, man." Steve told him. "The key with girls is just... just acting like you don't care."

"Even if you do?"

"Yeah, exactly. It drives them nuts."

"So, is that how you're gonna get with my sister?" Dustin asked, taking Steve by surprise. "By acting like you don't care?"

"What... what?" The older teen stuttered.

"Well, she likes you and... it seems like you like her too. You've been hanging out with her like all the time."

"Because we're friends, that's what friends do." Steve stopped suddenly as Dustin's words hit him. "Wait, she likes me?"

It was then Dustin realised that he'd let slip his sister's top secret, secret. "You can't tell her that I told you that. She'll kill me."

The two began walking again and Steve nodded his head. "Sure... yeah, no. Won't tell her." Did Catherine Henderson really have a crush on him?

"So, you show them that you don't care. Then what?" Dustin asked.

"You just wait until, uh... until you feel it."

"Feel what?"

"It's like before it's gonna storm, you know? You can't see it, but you can feel it, like this, uh... electricity, you know?" He could hear Cat's voice in his head telling him to shut up and telling him to stop giving out dumb advice to her brother.