Vecna's Curse, Part 1

3rd Person's POV

"Then Vickie laughed. And it wasn't like a cheap, fake laugh either. It was like....It was a real, genuine laugh." Robin paced back and forth.

"Of course she laughed. It's my muppet joke, it's hilarious."

Valerie stopped stacking VHSs into Steve's arms, "I'm sorry, your muppet joke?"

"Yeah." Steve snatched the VHS out of her hand.

"Yeah I would believe you, except you were high and very recently rejected when that happened."

"Who cares whose joke it was? Vickie laughed and everything was just like... It was perfect." Robin interrupted them and started pacing again.

"But?" Valerie asked.

"But I'm having this problem where it's like, I should stop talking. I have said everything I need to say." She furrows her eyebrows, "But then I guess I get nervous and the words keep spilling out and it's like my... my brain is moving faster than my mouth or.. or rather my... my mouth is moving faster than my brain. And it's like I'm-"

Valerie grabs Robin by the shoulders, "You're doing it right now."

Robin sighs and backs away until she hits the wall, "I'm hopeless."

"Eh, we both are." Steve joins her side.

"Stop sulking and watch a movie with me. Robin you get to choose." Upon hearing Valerie's words Robin's face lights up again and she happily skips away.

"Why does she always get to choose." He groaned.

"Maybe if you hadn't brought that horrible date to the game last night-"

"I think I found our morning movie," Robin spins around with the VHS in her hand, "Doctor Zhivago."

"Ugh, you know I don't do double VHS."

"But it's about doomed love." Robin explains.

"Oh, well, that's relatable." Steve agrees.

"You're now going to make me watch a sulky depressing movie?" Valerie glared at them.

"But Julie Christie is b-b-bonkers hot in this. Like seriously the most beautiful creature I have ever seen in my life." Robin turns on the TV.

"We're in the Forest Hills trailer part in east Roane County. We don't have a lot of details now but we can confirm that the body of a Hawkins High student was discovered early this morning. Police have not yet released the name-"

"Holy shit." Steve whispered.

"although we are told they're currently in the process of notifying the family."

"Do you think-"

"No, no they closed the gate there's no way." Steve looked at Valerie.

"Yeah, I guess. You're right." Valerie said, but the thought was still there in the back of her mind. It always will be.

"Kinda killed the mood for a movie, huh." Robin lets out an uneasy laugh.

The doors to the store suddenly flung open, as Max and Dustin rushed through.

"Hey, Guys." Dustin said.

"You see this?" Steve points to the TV.

"How many phones do you have?"

"Someone was murdered." Valerie scoffs.

"How many phones do you have?" Dustin gripped the counter.

"Three. Why? Technically four, if you count Keith's in the back." Steve replied.

"Yeah, three works." Max nodded at Dustin

Dustin pushed his bag over the counter, jumped up and slid over it himself. Pushing everything else off in the process.

"No, no, no! My tapes! Dude." Steve threw his arms up in the air.

"This is what happens when you're best friends with a fourteen year old." Valerie grumbled.

"He's your brother!"

Valerie shrugs.

Steve runs over to Dustin, "What are you doing, man?"

"Setting up base of operations." Dustin doesn't bother looking at him, as he types away.

"Base of what now?" Valerie appears at his other side to see the computer screen too.

"What do you need it for?" Steve asks.

"Looking up Eddie's friends' phone numbers." Dustin continues typing.

"Oh Eddie. Your new best friend Eddie who you think is cooler than me because he plays your nerdy game." Steve rolls his eyes.

"I never said that." Dustin finally stops typing to look at Steve.

"Wow it's like you guys are dating." Valerie raises her eyebrows.

"Seriously guys maybe you can play around on a monday, but today is our busiest day." Robin picks up the fallen tapes.

"Robin, I totally empathise, but this cannot wait until monday."

"What, because calling Eddie's friends is an emergency?" Robin furiously puts the papers down on the counter.

"Correct!"

"Do you want to strangle him or should I?" Valerie asks Robin.

"We could take turns." She grinned at Valerie

"Can you just fill them in while I do this?" Dustin asks Max.

"Fill us in on what?" Valerie asks.

And so Max finally gave them some answers. About Chrissy appearing at Eddie's house in the middle of the night, about the flickering of the lights and how Eddie screamed and left his house in a panic.

"Dustin I can't believe you introduced me to a murderer last night." Valerie puts her hands on her hips.

"Eddie is not a murderer. And you're weren't even invited!"

"Guys, I might have a lead." Max gets off the phone.

"Seriously?" Dustin asks.

"Yeah. Apparently, Eddie gets his drugs from some guy named Reefer Rick, and sometimes he crashes there."

"That sounds about right, where does this Reefer Rick live?" Valerie asks, receiving a glare from Dustin in the process.

"See that's the thing.... no one knows. He's more of a legend than someone people actually know."

"Last name?" Dustin asks.

"I don't know about that either." Max shrugs.

"Bet the cops know the last name." Steve mutters.

"What?" Max asks.

"Listen, if this Reefer Rick's actually a drug dealer, I guarantee you he's been busted at some point. Means he's in the system." Steve explains.

"The cops?" Dustin gets up, "Really Steve? that's your suggestion?"

"I just think they should be filled in on what's going on."

"You think Eddie's guilty, don't you?" Dustin scowls.

"I mean.." Valerie speaks up, "Kinda, you can't just rule it out."

"That's precisely what we're trying to do here." Max says.

"Innocent until proven guilty. I guess." Steve chimes in.

"And maybe we'd have a little bit more luck if you spent less time trying to find a girlfriend and more time trying to find Eddie!" Dustin yells.

"Somebody has to attend to the customers. We've got a very big selection in here. It can be super overwhelming." Steve tries to defend himself, not that it convinced anybody.

"You know what, it can be." Valerie's eyes light up, as she rushes to the computer.

"What are you doing?" Max stands beside her.

"Maybe we don't need a last name. Twelve Ricks already have accounts here."

"That's a lot of Ricks." Max sighs.

"So let's narrow it down." Valerie was determined.

They went through all the movies the Ricks had rented. First one turned out to be a family man, so not likely. The second one was into rom-coms. They finally came across Rick Lipton, who seemed to have rented the whole of the Cheech and Chong's franchise.

Dustin chuckled, "Bingo."

They looked at his location.

"That's in the middle of nowhere." Max grinned.

"Perfect place to hide." Valerie nods.

[A/N: Yeah I know, filler chapters suck. But we're almost there dw.]