Steve drifted off, trying to put together why Dustin would do what he did.

"just to impress a girl you just met?"Armani finished, dropping a piece of raw meat on the ground infront of her. She was infront of the two boys, her feet dragged on as she tried to stop from gagging at the smell of the meat.

"Okay, that's grossly oversimplifying things" Dustin shook his head.

"I mean why would a girl like some nasty slug anyways?" Steve asked.

Armani shrugged, "maybe she's into nature and weird animal alien things." She looked up, "i mean, i think it's gross, but she might not"

Dustin nodded in agreement. "It's awesome! It's an inter-dimensional slug"

Steve shrugged the two off.

"Well even if she thought it was cool, which she didn't, I just.. I just think you're trying way too hard, man" steve confessed.

"Well not everyone can have your perfect hair, alright?" Dustin retorted, causing Armani to stifle a laugh.

"It's not about the hair, man" Steve said, tossing a piece of the raw meat behind him.

"The key with girls is just..acting like you don't care" he finished, Armani looked back at him and rolled her eyes.

"Even if you do?" Dustin asked, "yeah exactly. It drives them nuts" Steve spoke expertly.

"That's not true." Armani interjected, turning around to walk backwards. "The only thing that will do is make sure she moves on to someone else."

"Well then what?"

"Then you wait, until uh– until you feel it" Steve nudged Dustins arm as Armani shook her head.

"Feel what?" Dustin asked.

"It's like just before its gonna storm you know. You can't see it, but you can feel it, like this uh– electricity, you know?" Steve continued.

"oh, like in the electro magnetic field when the clouds in the atmosphere–"

"no, no no no no. Like a...like a sexual electricity" Steve said, causing Armani to stop and groan.

"Steve, he's a kid.That is not something that's going to happen" she said.

"It will eventually" Steve shrugged, putting an arm around her "we're just prepping him for the world, alright."

Armani rolled her eyes, "go on then, Harrington."

"You feel that, and then you make your move" Steve said.

"So that's when you kiss her?" Dustin asked, Steve looked up at him.

"Woah woah woah, slow down Romeo."

"Sorry," Dustin looked back at the two teens.

"Sure, okay, some girls, yeah. They want you to be aggressive. Strong, hot and heavy, like a.. I don't know, like a lion."

"yuck" Armani shrugged Steve's arm off.

"But others, you gotta be slow, you gotta be stealthy like a...ninja" Steve continued his advice.

"What type are you, Armani?" Dustin turned around, Armani lifted her eyebrows in surprise.

"I don't know, I haven't thought about it"

"you're different from the other girls, Mani." Steve said, turning to her with a smile, which she returned.

"What about Nancy?" She asked, Steve shrugged.

"She's..She's different too."

"That's a pretty special thing I guess," Dustin said.

"Yeah, she is" Steve agreed, although he didn't specify which she he was talking about.

"This girls special too, you know. It's just, something about her.."

"Woah, woah, woah, hey," Armani looked up, continuing to toss raw meat on the ground, as Steve interrupted Dustin. "You're not falling in love with this girl, are you?" Steve asked.

The three stopped as Dustin looked up, shaking his head.

"No, no. No"

"okay, good. Don't" Steve spoke sharply, Armani nodding.

"Just be careful."

"i will," Dustin assured her.

The three kept walking. "She's only gonna break your heart and you're way to young for that shit" Steve said,

Armani frowned at him, hoping he wasn't being too harsh on Dustin. "I wouldn't say that, but you're still very young, Dustin, so it's not the end of the world if she doesn't like you." Armani patted the young teen on his shoulder, "besides, theres plenty of girls in the world, and any of them would be lucky to be with you" she smiled at him.

Dustin returned it with a toothy grin before looking at the older boy.

"I'm stealing your girl, Steve" he purred.

—

Armani's feet dragged on as the day went by. Every step she took made her miss her bed more and more. Not to mention she had a test to take the next day. When the three finally arrived at an abandoned junkyard, Armani nodded in approval, glad that the endless walking was over.

"Oh yeah, this'll do" Steve nodded. walking ahead, the trio dumped the remaining meat onto a pile. They turned as a voice spoke loudly, "I said medium well!" Armani recognized the boy as Lucas, another of Will's friends, although she had never seen the girl before.

"Who's that?" Steve asked, him and Armani turned to Dustin and recognized his expression.

"that's her, isn't it, Henderson?" Armani asked, receiving only a slight nod in response as the two younger kids joined them.

"Shit!" Armani had been placing metal pieces on the bus, making sure it was as safe and secure as possible from those monsters, when a piece landed on her arm, where the bruise was still healing.

"Hey, you okay Mani?" Steve came out of the bus, taking her hand in his. "You just keep getting hurt, don't you" he said with a light chuckle, Armani nodded.

"It's fine, I'm sure theres more to come tonight" she assured him.

"Don't worry about it. I'll handle everything" Steve said to which Armani shook her head, "no way. That thing broke through a cement wall and tunneled further than we could see." She insisted, "I'm not letting you do shit alone, Harrington."

Steve sighed, "yeah, alright. But when I throw the lighter, you're behind me, okay?" Steve looked at her, and Armani knew her only choice was to agree with him.

"Yeah." She muttered.

"Hey love birds, care to help out?" Dustin called, Armani rolled her eyes as she pulled her jacket sleeve down over the injury.

"Shut it, Henderson" She muttered, turning to Steve who had been looking at her with a glazed expression.

"Do I have raw meat on my face" She asked jokingly, cocking an eyebrow as she flashed steve a smile, to which he nodded before shaking his head furiously, coming out of whatever trance he was in.

"No, no. I was just- thinking." he stepped back into the bus, his stomach uneasy and his heart pounding slightly faster than before.

When the bus was finally ready and seemed it would hold up against Dart, that was the name of the slug given by Dustin, the three kids and two teenagers set up inside.

Armani sat next to Steve, her nerves grew as time went on. Steve looked over, he sensed her worry and scooted closer to her. His hand wrapped around hers, squeezing it to reassure her that it would be fine.

Dustin sent them a devious smile from across the bus, Steve frowned at him. "It's a waiting game now," he whispered.