Beverly and Alicia sat in the back room, waiting for Steve, Chris, Robin, and Dustin to bribe Erica with ice cream. The two girls didn't want Dylan to spot them at Scoops Ahoy and drag them back to work, so they opted to hide in the back.

Steve then came walking over, an annoyed look on his face. "What did my sister say to you?" Alicia asked him, expecting Erica to be a little brat to all of them.

"She wants more fudge," he answered quietly, pursing his lips together.

Beverly snorted while Alicia just rolled her eyes. Steve's lips upturned a bit at Beverly's laugh before he went back over to give the girl what she wanted.

Beverly then turned to look at Alicia. "So..." she began, raising her eyebrows.

"So?" Alicia repeated, confused.

"So are we gonna address this Robin thing going on?" Beverly teased, giving the girl a mischievous grin. Alicia blushed, glancing away from her best friend. "Aha! I knew it!"

"Shhh!" Alicia quickly shushed her.

"What? They don't know what we could be talking about," Beverly argued and Alicia shook her head. "Okay, but, seriously. Do you like her?"

"I don't know...maybe?" Alicia replied with a shrug. "She's just, like, really smart, and funny, and pretty. And she doesn't take anyones shit either and she's just, like, cool."

Beverly grinned at the girl's description of Robin. "You totally like her," Beverly said.

Alicia sighed, "Okay, yeah, maybe I do." Beverly began to squeal and Alicia quickly shushed her again. "Would you stop? She's obviously not into me, we don't even know if she's gay," Alicia whispered at the end so no one heard.

"Okay, yeah, but we don't know if she's not gay, either," Beverly countered.

"Well, Chris obviously likes her and she probably likes him, too, with the way they make fun of Steve together," Alicia pointed out.

"Oh, my God, you noticed that, too? I thought I was the only one," Beverly said and Alicia nodded. "He like totally follows her around and does whatever she says. I guess it would be kinda cute if we weren't exes and if you didn't like her."

"Well, it's not like I'd have a chance with her anyway." Beverly quickly whacked her friends arm. "Hey!"

"Don't say that. You could totally have a chance with her. Yeah, you don't know if she's capable of reciprocating feelings, but it wouldn't hurt to try and find out," Beverly spoke.

"It's not as easy as it seems, Bev. I mean...It's different for me. You can go around seeing if any guy likes you and if they don't, it's no problem. But if I were to do that with the wrong girl...I'd be shamed," Alicia described sadly. "I just don't know if I could be able to handle that. I mean, I haven't even came out to my family."

Beverly frowned at the girl's words, realizing that she had been a little inconsiderate. "I'm sorry, Alli. I just want you to be happy," she told her, squeezing her hand.

"Yeah. Thanks," Alicia replied with a sad smile. "I mean, I literally just started talking to her, so I need to...feel it out, too," she added and Beverly nodded. "But, anyway, since I told you about my 'crush'. You're gonna tell me about yours."

Beverly laughed awkwardly. "Pfft, what crush?" she asked, playing dumb. Alicia gave her friend a knowing look, not taking any bullshit. "Okay...fine. Yes...maybe I do like Steve. But only a little!"

"A little?" Alicia echoed, not buying.

"Okay, maybe a lot," Beverly admitted embarrassedly.

"Carmen and I literally knew it," Alicia stated proudly.

Beverly playfully rolled her eyes. "Yeah, you guys did," she admitted.

"Why the change of heart about him?"

"Well, after what happened at the Snow Ball last year, I guess my old feelings came back. And with the whole teaming up thing to fight those Demodogs...I realized that when we weren't fighting, we were actually an amazing team," she explained to Alicia, who listened intently. "And I guess the reason why I got so mad at Steve in the first place at the original Snow Ball was because...I was in love with him."

"In love?" Alicia asked in shock.

"Well — well, maybe l-love is a strong word. But I had liked him a lot. And I think that had fueled my anger towards him since I was so embarrassed," Beverly quickly replied, not wanting to move too fast. "And, I don't know, I feel like we've come a long way."

"Yeah, you two definitely have," Alicia agreed. "And he totally likes you, too."

Beverly gave her friend an incredulous look. "What are you talking about? There's no way he likes me after years of me torturing him."

"I don't knowwwww," Alicia replied in a singsong voice. "He always gets really nervous around you and is always trying to talk to you."

"How do you always notice these sort of things?" Beverly questioned.

"I'm just very observant," Alicia answered plainly. "But, come on, you should really do something about it since its obvious you both like each other to anyone."

"Is it that obvious?" Beverly asked in concern and Alicia nodded. She groaned to herself, placing her hands over her eyes. "Okay, but, what if you're just confusing him being friendly with him being not friendly? I mean, you've never really seen us as friends before."

Alicia sighed. "I mean, I could be, but definitely not. The Steve I knew was smooth with people. This Steve...not so much."

"Okay, but, he was trying to flirt with girls when I went to go see him the other day," Beverly pointed out.

"When you went to go see him?" Alicia asked in confusion and Beverly made a face. "Oh, my God, you're totally head over heels for him." Beverly groaned again, knowing that she was too deep into this crush to try and whisk it away. "Okay, and so what if he was flirting with girls? He could have been trying to make you jealous. Or, which is more plausible, he was trying to deny his own feelings for you like you were doing with him."

Beverly sighed. "I don't know. I just hope that this whole Russian thing is small and blows over so we don't have another crazy year, and maybe, just maybe...I could do something about my feelings."

✦ ✧ ✦

"Erica, do you copy?" Robin asked over the walkie talkie later that night. They were able to bribe Erica with free ice cream for life at Scoops Ahoy, so while Erica got ready to climb through the air ducts, the six of them waited on top of the roof.

"Mm-hmm. I copy," Erica answered. "You nerds in position or what?"

"Yeah, we're in position. It's all quiet here, so you've got the green light," Robin told her.

"Green light, roger that. Commence Operation Child Endangerment," Erica responded.

Alicia took the walkie talkie from Robin. "Erica, can we not call it that? I don't need an even more guilty conscience for doing this," Alicia told her.

"See you on the other side, nerds," Erica ignored Alicia's plea, making her sigh. She gave the walkie talkie back to Robin, who took it with a short grin.

"I think she's forgetting that we were both cheerleaders," Beverly said to Alicia, and she nodded. Robin subtly rolled her eyes at Beverly's comment, but Chris noticed. He furrowed his brows slightly at the action, but didn't say anything.

"Yeah, and that Chris and I were basketball players," Steve added. "Well, before you quit," he said to Chris.

"Oh, thanks for reminding me. I totally forgot that I quit," Chris replied sarcastically, earning a snort from Robin. Beverly and Alicia gave each other a knowing glance before they looked back down at the door.

"I didn't know you quit," Dustin spoke up as he kept looking through his binoculars.

"Oh, I'm surprised Mike didn't tell you," Chris said, his tone still sarcastic.

"Yeah, he never talks about you," Dustin told him bluntly, making them all glance at Chris. He blinked at Dustin's words, not expecting him to say that whatsoever. But, he showed no emotion on his face from it, not wanting to convey how he truly felt about knowing that piece of information: hurt.

"Seems like Mike," Chris muttered nonchalantly, shaking his head.

"All right, nerds. I'm there," Erica said after a long moment of waiting.

Alicia sighed in relief and Beverly patted her arm. "Do you — do you see anything?" Robin asked.

"Yeah, I see those boring boxes you're so excited about," Erica answered.

"Any guards?"

"Negative."

"Booby traps?" Robin inquired about.

"If I could see them, they'd be pretty shit traps, wouldn't they?" Erica cheeked and Alicia shook her head at her sister's words.

"Thank you for that," Robin replied dryly.

"Sorry about her," Alicia apologized for her sister.

"Oh, don't worry about it. She's...entertaining," Robin assured her and Alicia smiled.

"I'm in," Erica then said after a moment.

"Oh, God," Steve breathed out, running his hands through his hair.

"I'm sure she'll be fine," Beverly whispered over to Steve, nodding her head.

"Oh, I know she will. I'm just worried about the fact that I'm gonna have to give her free ice cream without our boss knowing," Steve replied and Beverly let out a quiet laugh, smiling at him.

They all looked towards the door down below where it began to open. They all glanced at each other excitedly before Erica walked out, placing a hand on her hip. "Free ice cream for life!" she announced and Beverly let out a relieved chuckle, before all of them got up to go rush down there.

authors note
alicia is too smart for all
of them istg she always knows
everythinggg. but two updates in a span
of like an hour and a half?? i wanted to
spoil you guyssss hehe (also bc i felt like
these two chapters were kinda boring and
i wanted to speed it up a bit) but yeah don't
forget to vote and comment!!