CHAPTER NINETY-ONE
VIDEO STORE

Truthfully, Aaron was a little iffy about the entire situation. Although, he hadn't told Dustin that.

On the long walk to the video store where the group of four knew they'd find Steve and Robin, Aaron spent his time thinking over the conversation that had taken place in Dustin's bedroom.

It had been the last thing that Aaron had been expecting to be sprung on him when he and Kimmy arrived at Dustin's house that morning.

Aaron didn't actually know who this Chrissy was, and he doubted Kimmy did either, she'd just gone along with it for Max's sake.

He knew it was bad, but in Aaron's mind the cheerleaders were just grouped together, he didn't actually know who any of them were. It was the same with the basketball team as well as the club Mike and Dustin were apart of - despite his three friends of course.

Aaron just didn't care enough to take notice.

Even though he didn't know who the girl who had died was, Max clearly did. The redhead had even seen her - with Eddie Munson apparently.

Despite Dustin's protests, the blond was more leaning towards the idea of Eddie being guilty in regard to Chrissy.

Of course he didn't say this, he'd seen how defensive Dustin had got when Max questioned it - the two had continued to argue back and forth the entire walk to the video store.

Although, the blond boy agreed with what Max had said. Going solely by what the redhead and told them all, all points of guilt pointed to the older boy.

But then again, the group didn't really have anyone else to accuse.

Max and Dustin appeared to be rushing ahead, walking much faster than Kimmy and Aaron were. The two desperate to see who Steve and Robin would side with.

This left Kimmy and Aaron behind, walking much slower than the other two.

Aaron probably would have been more vocal about his opinion on the matter, even jumping into the debate on the matter if it wasn't for the other girl in the group who'd been much quieter than usual.

Aaron was beginning to stress himself out over her headache she'd told him about earlier, convinced she was going to end up incredibly sick if she didn't get home.

He couldn't help it, he didn't want her to get sick, and that's exactly what he'd convinced himself would happen.

The blond bit the inside of his cheek and began to subconsciously mess around with the black digital watch on his wrist, a habit that seemed to always spiral back to him the second he got the slightest bit nervous.

Suddenly feeling as if someone was looking at him, Aaron shifted his head around to glance at the brunette who was walking next to him.

Not so much surprised to find that she was watching him, but more so with how intently she was. Her gaze taking the boy aback the slightest bit.

Kimmy's dark brows were furrowed and her head was tilted ever so slightly as she watched him, an expression on her face that Aaron couldn't quite decipher.

While it greatly puzzled Aaron, something told him not to draw the attention of the other two to her rather abnormal look she was sending his way.

Instead, he moved to walk closer to her, speaking up in a quiet mumble so only she could hear.

"What?" Aaron stressed, wondering if he'd somehow either done something to offend her, or if he wasn't acting like himself. Whatever it was, it had the boy worrying.

Something in her expression shifted just the slightest bit, it was only small, but the blond noticed.

"Nothing." She quickly dismissed, shaking her head and playing it off as no big deal.

Aaron didn't look convinced. "Sure?"

"Yeah." Kimmy reassured with a perplexed nod. "Sure."

Something inside the blond was screaming at him not to believe her.

Telling him that she'd lied about being fine before and that despite the fact that there were no evident signs of fear or fabrications, there were still those voices in the back of his head reminding him that he had to dig a little deeper when it came to unveiling her true feelings than when it came to others.

He knew his thoughts and concerns on the matter were valid, Aaron knew this for a fact.

And yet, Aaron simply let it go.

"Okay." The blond nodded, doing his best to look as if he wasn't the slightest bit worried.

Kimmy pursed her lips and looked away from him, suddenly not sure what to do. Aaron didn't exactly know what he was supposed to say or do next either.

All he knew was that he'd definitely managed to make it awkward between the two of them.

"I can walk you back home if you want?" Aaron asked the girl cautiously, flexing his hands anxiously as he spoke to her. "I don't want you getting sick-"

"What?" She asked him in a puzzled tone, no maliciousness, just confusion. And still, it sent the boy into a fit of worry.

Aaron took a shaky breath, briefly closed his eyes as he shook his head. Quickly allowing his abrupt nerves to lead to a flood of rambles.

"Just that we still have a while until we'll be at the video store, and even when we get there we won't get home for hours." The blond placed a hand to his head in a dramatic tendency. "And, you've already got a headache. I just think that-"

"Aaron, I'll be fine. It's just a headache." Kimmy assured him, placing her hands in the pockets of her jacket as she looked to the ground. "I'm pretty sure it's fading anyway."

"I know, but-"

"Seriously, it's no big deal." The girl told him carefully with a sigh, looking up from the ground and allowing her dark blue eyes to meet his dark green eyes gaze. "Don't worry about it."

Don't worry about it. Aaron wasn't stupid, he knew what she meant - don't worry about me.

Aaron narrowed his eyes slightly and scrunched his nose, looking to her in almost offence. In some strange way, he was practically offended that she'd think that way.

Aaron wanted to tell her that he couldn't just stop worrying about her, that he spent most of his time worrying about her and that he wouldn't be able to stop himself any time soon.

He wanted to, but he didn't.

Instead he simply shrugged, looking away from her while he allowed himself to stress out further.

Sure, Aaron should be stressed over the fact that there was someone who had just been brutally murdered the night prior. But all he could focus on was Kimmy's wellbeing, despite the fact it was most likely nothing.

No one else would care if they or anyone they knew had a headache, but Aaron was known as a bit of a... freak when it came to germs or sickness.

He was back messing around with his watch, trying not to show anyone just how stressed he'd really made himself.

Kimmy didn't say anything to comfort him, despite clearly seeing he was in a mess over his own overthinking, she said nothing. Most likely because she didn't know what to say. Instead, she shuffled closer to him and grabbed his hand as discreetly as she could so the others wouldn't notice how worked up he'd got himself.

They didn't even look at each other, both of the teenagers simply looking ahead while Aaron allowed Kimmy to lace their fingers together.

After several moments, the boy snuck a glance at the girl, only to find she was no longer watching him. In fact she was looking away from him, watching out towards the trees as they passed.

After longer than he'd have liked to admit, the boy looked away.

...

"Hey, Steve. Robin." Kimmy nodded at the older two nonchalantly upon entering the video store.

"You see this?" Steve scoffed at Robin while motioning to the group of four rather frantic looking children who had just barged through the front door of his work place.

"How many phones does this place have?" Aaron asked his older brother in a much calmer voice than he probably should have as he leaned against the desk Steve and Robin were behind.

"You know someone was murdered?" The older boy asked his brother with a wide eyed expression.

The blond simply shrugged. "I know-"

"How many phones do you have?" Dustin repeated Aaron's previous question, only much firmer, seeing as the blond had already managed to steer off topic.

"Two." Was Steve's reluctant answer, along with an eye roll. "Why?"

"Technically three, if you count Keith's." Robin interjected herself into the conversation with a tired expression.

"Yeah," Dustin nodded while looking to Max with raised brows. "Three works."

"What is he doing?" Steve asked Kimmy with an unamused look, motioning to Dustin with his pen.

"Better not to ask." Kimmy answered in a mockingly sweet tone as she scrunched her face up in faux irritation.

Kimmy actually didn't know what the two were planning, they had been too far ahead on the walk over for either she or Aaron to hear.

Jumping in surprise, Kimmy snapped her head over to the source of a loud thudding noise, surprised to find that Dustin had thrown his backpack over the desk and was now trying to throw himself over also.

"Dustin!" Aaron exclaimed with raised brows and a baffled expression. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Setting up base of operations." The curly haired boy replied with a simple shrug as he settled himself down in front of the computer.

"Base of operations?" Steve scoffed, walking up to the boy while tilting his head back in frustration. "Get off that."

"I need it." Came Dustin's quiet response as he continued to type frantically on the computer.

"For what?" The older boy practically demanded, voice cracking with frustration.

"Need to find Eddie's friends' phone numbers." Dustin answered as if it was the simplest thing in the world. Still, never once looking away from the computer screen.

With a tug on his jacket, Aaron followed Kimmy as she and Max walked around to get behind the desk the correct way to see what it was Dustin was actually doing.

"Oh," Steve's answer was dragged on, suddenly more angered than he had been moments before. "Your new best friend you think is cooler than me because he plays your stupid nerdy game."

Kimmy furrowed her brows and glanced to Steve, unaware that for one, Eddie and Dustin were actually that close. And secondly, that Steve and Dustin weren't as close anymore.

"Yes- I never said that!" Dustin span around on his chair, slamming his hands against the desk in front of him while doing so.

Kimmy rolled her eyes, knowing that a fight was most likely about to break out between the two.

"Don't you worry, Steven." Aaron jumped into the conversation, Kimmy placing a hand to her head at his mocking tone, knowing he was about to make things worse. "There is nothing cool about that weirdo-"

"Aaron!" Dustin gasped in great offence, his jaw dropping at his words. "You don't even know Eddie-"

"Trust me, I've seen enough." The blond scoffed, rolling his eyes while crossing his arms over his chest. "I have seen enough."

"You're so judgemental." Dustin shook his head at the blond.

"Well, someone has to be." Aaron shrugged once more, before raising his brows and using one of his hands to wave around to emphasise his point. "God forbid I ever find out that my kid is prancing around the cafeteria on all the tables like he did yesterday, oh, my god, I don't know how I'd live with myself-"

"Jesus, at least he doesn't walk about wearing polo-shirts and sweaters." Dustin motioned to the blond with a disapproving stare. "At least Eddie has his own style and is cool-"

"What's wrong with my sweaters and-"

"Everything." Dustin nodded, turning back to the computer in front of him when Aaron did nothing but send him an offended look.

Kimmy hid a smile at the blond's look, taking her time to look at what he was wearing.

Sure enough, he had a red plaid sweater on with the collars of his blue shirt he had on underneath just poking out. He had his jeans on, as well as his white trainers that the boy cleaned whenever he had the chance.

"I like your shirts and sweaters." Kimmy told Aaron with an honest nod, doing her best to hide her amused smirk at how fast he grew flustered.

Despite trying to look to her with an expression that was blank, he was unable to do so. His cheeks had flushed pink and he could not look her in the eyes, despite only sending him the smallest of a compliment that could possibly be given.

"Thanks." Aaron mumbled in a small voice, clearing his throat while looking away.

"You should be grateful." Kimmy heard Steve scoff from behind her. "I've told you a million times what to wear and you never want to listen, this is where it gets you-"

Aaron turned to face his brother, smacking him on the head. "Shut up."

"Seriously, you guys, maybe on a Monday you can play around, but it's Saturday." Robin sighed, already having moved to re-stack the tapes Dustin had managed to knock over while jumping the desk. "It's our busiest day."

"Robin, I empathize, but this cannot wait." Dustin droned on, now facing the computer once more, sounding as if he truly could not have cared less.

"Oh, my god!" Steve yelled, placing his hands over his eyes as he groaned out in frustration.

"Oh, so calling Eddies friends is an emergency?" Robin snapped, now spinning around to face the boy with an irked expression.

"Correct!" Dustin yelled back. The boy then scoffed, looking to Max with an urgent look. "Can you fill them in while I do this?"

"Not like we're here or anything." Aaron scoffed in Kimmy's ear, causing the girl to snicker the slightest bit and push him mockingly.

"Fill us in on what?" Steve spoke with such a blunt voice, that the eyeroll could practically be heard through his voice.

"The cheerleader's dead and Eddie killed her," Aaron shrugged, turning to face his brother with a simple shrug. "Max saw her dead body-"

"Aaron, that is... crazily oversimplifying things." Max shook her head at him.

"But you did see her dead body!" Aaron exclaimed, brows furrowed in confusion.

"Stop saying that!" Max scowled at him. "I don't want people knowing that."

"Jesus, Max, it's just Steve and Robin." The blond rolled his eyes while motioning to the older two behind him. "Chill out."

"You are telling me to chill out?" Max's eyes widened with such disbelief that she looked as if she'd actually misheard him. "You are the least chill person I know!"

Aaron couldn't argue with that, instead he simply narrowed his eyes and turned his gaze away from her. "That's irrelevant."

"Wait, wait, wait." Steve stressed while waving his hands around. "What- what cheerleader is dead?"

"Chrissy Cunningham." Max nodded solemnly.

"Shit." Steve gasped, his brows abruptly furrowing in confusion. "Wait, what does that have to do with Eddie?"

...

Just over an hour later, and the group of four had pretty much caught Steve and Robin up to what Max had told them all earlier that morning.

Dustin had also managed to find a decent amount of phone numbers for Eddie's friends, the three phones in use until a mere minutes ago when Max had caught the attention of them all.

The redhead was so adamant that she had a lead on where Eddie was, that it had everyone hanging their phones up to listen to whatever it was she had to say.

"Apparently, Eddie gets his drugs from some guy named Reefer Rick." Max hesitantly told the group, as if she wasn't fully confident in her answer. "And, sometimes Eddie crashes there."

"Sounds promising." Robin grinned.

"Where does Reefer Rick live?" Dustin queried with a stressed expression.

"That's the thing." The girl with red hair sighed. "No one knows. He's more of a... a legend than someone that people actually know."

Dustin went to scoff but stopped himself, closing his eyes momentarily and shaking his head. "Last name?"

"I don't know that either." Max reluctantly nodded.

"What do you know about Reefer Rick, Max?" Dustin sighed, going to pick up the telephone that was on the receiver once more before Aaron's voice stopped him.

"The cops will know his last name." Aaron shrugged, leaning against the desk he was stood behind while messing around with his fingers.

"What?" Dustin sighed, frustration clear as day in his voice.

"The cops." Aaron repeated, raising his head to look to his curly haired friend with a wide eyed expression. "You know, the police. I don't know if you're aware, but finding missing people is a big part of their job."

"Yeah," Steve surprised Aaron by agreeing. "And if this Reefer Rick is actually a drug dealer, I guarantee you he's been busted at some point. He'll be in the system."

"The cops?" Dustin scoffed once more, shaking his head at the two brothers. "Really, guys? That's your suggestion?"

"Do you have a better idea that you would like to share with the group, Dustin?" Aaron mocked, raising his brows and tilting his head. "Please do-"

"I just think that the cops should be filled in on what's going on." Steve shrugged, messing around with a rubix cube. "What we know."

"You think Eddie's guilty, don't you?" Dustin snapped, looking between the two boys with an almost hurt expression.

"Yeah-"

"No-"

"Uh- no." Aaron corrected himself quickly when Kimmy motioned to the hurt expression on Dustin's face. "No, course not. But we have to think of the other possibilities. We can't just rule it out."

"I mean, I'm all for innocent until proven guilty, and all that constitutional shit." Steve tried to backtrack frantically. "But you know, we can't rule it out. Just like... like Aaron said."

"Ruling Eddie out is precisely what we're trying to do here, Steve." Kimmy reminded the older boy, motioning to the telephone in front of him.

"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 ranted at his older friend, evidently stressed out of his mind.

"Somebody had to attend to the customers!" Steve yelled back at him, causing a pang of anxiousness to rush through her.

"Especially if they're babes, right?" Robin smirked at Steve, the older boy merely rolling his eyes in response.

"Hey, not fair, okay? I attend to all customers equally, babes and non-babes alike." Steve rolled his eyes, looking bored out of his mind.

The door to the store opened, causing Steve to pause and glance to the door, instantly looking back to the group upon finding out it was a boy who'd walked through the door. "We've got a very big selection in here. It can be super overwhelming for people."

"Yeah, it can be." Robin grinned, snapping her gaze away from Steve as she rushed to the computer, leaving the group utterly perplexed.

"What are you doing?" Kimmy asked in a puzzled tone, watching carefully as Robin began typing frantically.

"Maybe we don't need a last name." The older girl shrugged, Kimmy watching as a list of names slowly popped up on the screen. "Look, twelve Ricks have accounts here."

"That's a lot of Ricks." Max mused quietly.

"Yeah, but we can narrow it down." Was Robin's simple response. "We can see what movies they've rented. Base it on that."

Kimmy wasn't sure that it was a very strong base to go off of. If Kimmy knew anything from the movies she had watched with Aaron, drug dealers most likely wouldn't use their real name for both personal and business matters. And certainly not for renting movies.

Well, unless he was an idiot. Either that or Kimmy knew a lot less than she originally would have thought.

Several moments later and the group had narrowed it down to one of the twelve Rick's, simply based on movie choices.

"Bingo." Robin snickered while looking to the group. "2121 Holland Road."

"That's out by Lovers Lake." Steve mumbled, sounding very much confused. "Middle of nowhere."

"Exactly." Robin agreed with an amused look. "It's a perfect place to hide."

Kimmy raised her brows, turning to look at Max to see what the girl thought of the matter. The redhead simply shrugged at Kimmy, as though to say there wasn't much to lose from double checking.

With that said, the group took off, rushing out the store and to wherever it was they believed Eddie to be hiding.

...

😁😁😁😁😁 sorry for not updating in a while, I've been super busy and trying to write has been hard but i promise it won't be as long for updates anymore!!!

It's so difficult to write about a couple when I've never actually been in a relationship omg😭😭😭

Anyway I hope everyone had a great day and enjoyed the chapter!!!!

Tysm for all the support it means sm to me!!

Also this isn't proofread so I'm sorry if there are any mistakes!!

- AJ :)