❁

feeling empty as she flushed her puke down the toilet. "the ceiling stopped spinning for me." robin said. "is it done spinning for you guys?"

the girl looked up at the ceiling, surprised to find that it had stopped. "yeah, yeah, it's not spinning anymore." she chuckled lightly, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand as she brushed through her already bloody hair with a hand.

"do you think we puked it all up?" steve asked robin.

she shrugged. "i don't know, interrogate me."

steve nodded. "okay, interrogate you. uh... when was the last time you, uh, peed your pants?"

"today." robin replied.

"what?" steve and meadow asked in unison, the latter laughing to herself.

"when the russian doctor took out the bone saw." robin explained.

steve chuckled, and meadow laughed herself, taking her hair tie off of her wrist and using it to pull her curly hair into a lazy half up- half down, yanking out the front strands so that they remained in her face.

"it was just a little bit though." robin defended herself.

steve shook his head. "yeah, it's definitely still in her system." he said to meadow.

meadow then slid under the divide between the stalls, now sitting next to steve in his. he put an arm around her, feeling his whole body loosen all of its pent up tension as soon as she was in his sight.

steve hadn't been in the right state of mind when meadow was brought back to him, but now he almost got emotional, as if it were a do-over of their reunion. "i'm glad you're okay." he whispered, hearing robin almost fall asleep in the other stall.

the girl looked up at him from her spot on his shoulder. "i'm glad you're okay, too." she smiled. "i'd kiss you but you sold my brother to commies and your breath smells like throw up."

he chuckled, looking around. "do you have like.. a mint?" he asked, making her giggle. she reached into the pockets of her jacket (well, his jacket), turning them out to show she didn't have mints. "come on, there's gotta be like.. a vending machine that sells mints around here." he said, making her laugh again.

"fine." she said to him, putting her fingers under his chin and meeting his lips in a tender kiss. steve smiled, bringing her closer to him as her fingers threaded through his hair. "i missed you." she whispered, resting her forehead on his. "i also missed us nearly dying together."

"yeah, the nearly dying part i could do without." steve replied, seeing her nose crinkle as she laughed. "i love you." he said, looking into her eyes.

meadow loved the way he looked at her. almost everytime, his eyes would gloss over. he looked almost emotional, like he was simply overwhelmed with love. he never looked at nancy like that, dustin would always tell her, making her blush and roll her eyes, ruffling her brother's hair. steve looked at meadow as if she were breakable glass, as if she were so beautiful she could break. and maybe that was why he always felt the need to protect her.

but, this time, the look wasn't breakable, like she always imagined it to be. as she scanned his eyes, meadow realized that steve was looking at her in mere awe. maybe he didn't think she was breakable, maybe, the entire time, he'd just been in awe of her strength and resilience, and had wanted to do nothing the entire time but save her like she was saving him.

"i love you, steve." she whispered, seeing his lips curve into a dimpled smile. "you still smell like shit though."

steve threw his head back in a genuine laugh, intertwining their fingers. "oh, i'm so sorry about dustin by the way. i didn't mean to-"

meadow shook her head. "you were drugged, steve, i get it. still, you could make it up to me by taking me out to dinner after all of this."

"yes ma'am." steve nodded, an adoring smile on his face.

the silence was comfortable as the two looked at each other, wordlessly saying nothing and everything all at once. they understood each other. and, after the past day and a half, they knew that they didn't have anything to worry about. whatever happened, they were going to make it through all of this.

"hey, robin?" meadow asked after a few moments of gazing into steve's eyes. "robin, did you od in there?"

a grunt answered her question. "no." she said, and they heard shuffling as she sat up. meadow slid underneath the stall and into robin's. "the floor is disgusting." robin said, looking over at her, shocked that she was sliding onto the bathroom floor.

"well, we already have blood and puke on our shirts, so." steve shrugged, sliding underneath the stall to be closer to them.

robin looked down at her feet, and steve knew what she was thinking about. he placed a comforting hand on her knee, and meadow looked up at the both of them. "are you okay?" she asked robin, her eyes softening.

she wasn't there when robin came out to steve, and had evidently missed a bonding experience between the two. "what's going on?" meadow asked softly, looking to robin.

"do you guys remember tammy thompson from school?" meadow and steve sent each other a look of confusion before nodding. "she.. i asked her out, like, earlier this week, and she turned me down."

meadow didn't even blink before moving closer to robin and putting an arm around her. "she's an idiot, robin. you are amazing. you're funny, you're.. you're smart. you.." meadow laughed a little, "you cracked secret russian codes. you are awesome, robin."

robin smiled to meadow, resting her head on her friend's shoulder. "thank you." she whispered, feeling meadow pull her closer into a hug.

the thing that made robin tear up was the fact that meadow didn't even question robin liking tammy. she didn't recoil, or act weirded out by her. it wasn't even in the question. she had made a true friend this summer, she thought, in both steve and meadow.

"she's a total dud." steve said after a moment.

an offended robin shook her head. "she is not."

"yes, she is." steve argued. "she wants to be, like, a singer. she wants to move to, like, nashville and shit."

"she has dreams." robin defended her, making meadow laugh.

"she can't even hold a tune." steve continued. "she's practically tone-deaf. have you heard her? all the time. you see me now tonight." he began to sing atonally, making meadow throw her head back in laughter.

robin shook her head. "she does not sound like that."

"she sounds exactly like that." steve and meadow said in unison, looking at each other with amused grins. "that's a great impersonation of her." steve added.

"you sound like a muppet." robin said.

"she sounds like a muppet!" meadow and steve laughed, seeing robin try not to agree with them.

"she sounds like a muppet giving birth." steve continued, watching as meadow held her sides, laughing at him as he sang like kermit. "and if you could hold me tight-"

meadow and robin joined in, all three singing as if they were kermit. "we'll be holding on forever!"

they all laughed, and meadow rested her head on robin's shoulder as a silent way to show support for her, her beaten up converse stacked on the toilet seat. their laughter continued as the door opened, revealing an angry dustin and erica.

"okay. what the hell?" dustin asked, marching up to the three laughing teens. they just looked at each other and laughed some more, steve falling over. after the three had calmed down, dustin carefully opened the bathroom door. the group all looked out at the crowd of people leaving the movie theater. "blend." dustin said, leading the way into the group.

meadow found herself next to a tall man, holding steve's hand so he wouldn't get lost. "well, shit, that worked." erica said.

the group all tried to look as normal as possible, despite the blood that covered their clothes, and the obvious suspicion in their eyes. they weaved their way easily through the large group of shoppers, keeping their heads low.

"course it worked." dustin replied. "we just have to get on the bus with the test of these plebes, and home sweet home, here we come."

steve looked over at him. "uh, dustin?"

"what?"

"yeah, we might not wanna go to your house."

meadow slapped steve's shoulder lightly. "you fucking dingus." she said, remembering what he'd done.

"why?" dustin asked, looking to his sister while trying to be inconspicuous.

"well, i might've told them your full name." steve said sheepishly.

dustin looked over his shoulder barely. "what is wrong with you?" he angrily whispered.

"dude, i was drugged."

"so?"

"so?"

"so you resist." dustin whispered. "you tough it out. you tough it out like a man."

steve got offended. "oh, yeah, it's easy for you to say."

"guys?" robin whispered, looking straight ahead. meadow followed her gaze, seeing a tall and threatening man in the middle of the crowd. she could tell that he was one of the russians because he wasn't trying to blend in, and was obviously holding some sort of weapon.

"abort." dustin said. the man turned, staring directly at the group. "abort, abort." he repeated, turning and following his sister as she ran through the crowd of people.

meadow and robin reached the escalators first, seeing them as the only way out. "shit." meadow said, sitting down in the gap between the two slides and going down. "wee." she mumbled under her breath, hitting the ground and helping dustin and erica as they slid down behind her.

they had all run to the first hiding place that they could, which happened to be behind a counter. there were russian guards all around the mall now, and they were speaking to each other through radio. meadow was sitting on the ground, her back pressed tight against the counter. she held her brother's hand in one hand and her boyfriend's in the other, squished between them.

erica's shoe squeaked, and meadow held her breath, hearing one of the men move closer and usher over his friends. they were toast. well, she thought, at least i'm going out with a bang.

the footsteps of the men got closer and closer, and all meadow could hear were their feet and the sound of her own heart beating.

as soon as she heard one of them cock their gun, a car started honking. it was too loud to not be inside. but.. why would a car be inside the mall? it kept honking, and meadow turned to steve, who was equally as confused.

suddenly, something loud skidded across the floor, and the guards all yelled a little. as soon as it was quiet, meadow, dustin, steve, robin, and erica hesitantly peeked over their counter.

a car had knocked the men all over, and, to meadow's surprise, at the top of the staircase stood eleven, followed by jonathan, nancy, mike, max, lucas, and will.

they were saved.