Chapter Text
Robin walks down the stairs precisely at 10:15 am. The only time she could do downstairs without her parents hovering around on Saturday’s. Her mother will spend her weekend mornings outside absorbing the little sun she can get while her father will catch up on novels he’s reading. It’s harder to know exactly where he’ll be in the house, often sitting anywhere that suits him at a given time.
Today he’s in the living room, on the couch up against the staircase. He was looking at her, glasses too low and bed hair he has yet to comb after waking up. His knees were up to his chest, making him look almost childlike.
A small smile to her. “Nice to see you come down, Robby.”
Smiling back, “Getting ready to go to work.”
“Even on Saturday?”
She wanted to say that she worked every Saturday, but it felt like a meaningless thing to pick on.
“Someone’s gotta monitor those rental films.” She says with a thumbs up. Not sure why she did that.
“I see.” Her father responds as if what she had said was anything insightful.
They look at each other for a few seconds before Robin slowly walks over to the kitchen to find something to eat before going to work for too many hours.
Satisfied with a simple two slices of toast, she brings her plate up with her to her room to eat as she gets dressed for work. Jeans, a t-shirt, and that stupid mandatory green vest they have to wear. It beats Scoop Ahoy at least.
“Is your friend driving you?”
She’s unsure if her dad was trying to avoid acknowledging Steve as a possible boyfriend or if he genuinely forgot his name. It wasn’t much to think about. She grabbed her helmet from their overloaded coatrack and fastened it on.
“Nah I’ll ride my bike.”
He smiled, telling her to take care. And with that she was off.
Right as she was about to walk into Family Videos, she can see some kid arguing with Keith.
She quickly identified the stout stature and head of wild curls bushing out of a cap. Cursing Dustin’s name, she opens the door.
Dustin turns around and gives her a toothless grin that spreads to his eyes.
“Robin! So nice to see someone that will actually be able to help me.” And he’s facing Keith again.
“We can’t rent The Fly to minors without parental guidance, dipstick.” Keith responds in his usual nonchalant tone.
“I did that yesterday!”
“Steve doesn’t count I want to see your actual parents.”
“Steve is an adult and my mom would never let me watch it.” His voice sure did carry when he was upset.
Customers cruising through the isles were slowly beginning to look uncomfortable.
“Wow okay, it’s okay guys we can find a solution.” Robin tried.
“By not being a complete stick in the mud and letting me rent The Fly?”
Robin paused, pointed at him as a gesture of reasoning. “No…but we can lend you an also gruesome but PG-13 movie.”
Robin expected the frustrated reaction she received, a dramatic sigh and hands covering his eyes as he paced in a small line.
“This is so stupid none of these movies are even scary anymore” well that awakened the empathetic friend part of Robin’s brain.
“Dustin…”
“Why don’t you just come back in four years Henderson”
“Shut up Keith!”
Keith scrunches his face at the much shorter and much younger boy.
That does it. Robin pulls Dustin’s wrist. He looks at her in confusion.
“Keith I’m gonna talk to Dustin real quick, you can put it on break.”
Head forward and arms raised, says loudly “You haven’t even clocked in yet”
Ignoring Dustin’s mumbled questions and complaints, she pushed him out the door.
“Okaythanksbye!” she yells over her shoulder.
The door closes behind her with a tone appropriate jingle.
“You’re store policies suck.” He says pointedly, but considerably quieter than a second ago.
“Sorry bud, they’re actually pretty standard.” Robin mentally gagged at her own statement. Way to sound like a suit and tie.
A wave of silence passed the two.
He walked to his bike that was sitting nicely against Robin’s. He took his helmet off the handle and fastened it on top of the hat he was already wearing.
“Oh well. I’m sure we’ll think of something else to do. Nice seeing you Robin.
“Dustin wait.” She reached out.
“I know Keith is easy to get annoyed by but is there any other reason why you’re so riled up over The Fly?”
The helmet is back off.
“It’s the first thing we’ve been able to agree on doing since Will and El moved. Will was always good at getting everyone to cooperate. El would like anything which meant less complaining from Mike but now none of us can agree on anything except for, of course, watching a stupid movie none of us can even get our hands-on.”
This would also explain him traveling alone it seems.
There was an itch at the back of her ear. She’s not exactly well versed in giving advice.
“You guys lost two party members. I guess it makes sense that there would be more conflict than usual.”
Dustin looked around, like he wanted to find something to complain about. When he’s done with that he quickly fixes his hat before sitting down against the store’s age-old wall.
“I don’t think anything will ever be the same.”
Robin gave into that itch. This is definitely Steve’s territory. While Dustin is a generally goofy kid, he’s no stranger to mood swings. It’s something she’s seen Steve walkthrough with a breeze. Robin, however, isn’t as used to having children for friends. Honestly how do you respond to a kid who has just said something bleak but probably true?
“Probably not”
He didn’t react.
“Sorry.” She tried regardless
At that he smiled. Not his toothy grin, but a close tug of the mouth.
“How about a new plan. You rent out Critters, a pg-13 horror movie and tonight you guys can get pizza, on me”
“You’re getting us pizza?” there’s the toothy grin
That had to be a good sign.
“You’ll be at the Wheeler kid’s house right?”
“So long as he doesn’t throw us out”
“Oh okay. That’s not something to worry about. No worries though, I’ll be there”
Following the boy’s lead, Robin stood up and walked back into the video store.
And with a single copy of critters in hand, Dustin was the door. Not before Keith said to Robin’s side “Don’t forget that was your break.”
*
Robin was flicking pieces of torn receipts across the cashier counter when Steve came in for his shift.
“Sup Harrington, wanna play paper hockey I came up with it just as I said it.”
His eyebrows furrowed but he smiled. He gave her that expression a lot.
“I’ll pass for now.”
“Dustin came in today.” His eyebrows raised
“Alone?”
“Yeah, he said the gang’s been fighting a lot. I figured it had something to do with it. A movie was the one thing they could agree on.”
“Huh.”
“Huh?”
“It’s just…these kids, especially Dustin, it’s hard to imagine a movie being the glorious item they agree on. It’s simple, and easy, and not crazy at all.”
“Hence, the fact that they are fighting, Harrington.”
“Hmm I guess. They’ve always been fighting over something since I’ve gotten to know Dustin at least. Strange he didn’t say what.”
Robin can’t act like she knows these kids better than Steve, she’s not sure if she can disagree with him either. Things might very well be different this time. It’s been two months since their encounter with Russians and the mind flayer. She’s still not quite sure what that is…or was. She hasn’t bothered to ask. She hopes they all manage to stay friends. They’re a cute group.
“I ended up promising them pizza.”
Steve laughed.
“He just seemed really torn up and was yelling at Keith when I walked in.”
“He always yells at Keith” Steve shrugged
“Okay. Yeah, but still…friend crisis suck.” Not like Robin had that much experience with this. A fair share of toxic friendships in middle school that inevitably fell apart and the very casual friendships in high school that didn’t exist beyond the classroom.
“Yeah you’re right about that.” Steve agrees. Knowing his old friend groups, she’s sure he has more (and worse) experiences than her.
“They’re all good kids though…all nerdy. They’ll be friends for life.”
“I hope so…”
“You guys done talking about your kids because if I have to hear about twelve-year-old drama via adults any longer I’ll drown myself.”
“You know he might have a point.”
*
With two pizza’s in hand, Robin opened the door to the Wheeler’s basement. She’s done this only one other time and it was with Steve. That time they were carrying four half-gallon containers of glycerin. When they asked the kids what it was for they got a rush of answers neither were able to keep up with. Anyways knocking the door would be pointless. None of them would open it.
“Robin!” Dustin welcomed, grinning.
“I bring you your pizza.”
Max (Robin thinks that’s what her name is) raised her hands up. One of them was holding a can of pringles. “No one told me we were getting pizza.”
Lucas, who was laying on the girl’s side, repositioned himself so that he was looking up at her. “Who cares its pizza”
Dustin got up and took the pizza from Robin’s arms. Placing them on a small table near the staircase and opening the one on top just to make sure he approved of the pizza offered.
She assumed it was good enough when he pulled out two slices. The others lined up and Robin took that as a sign for her to leave.
Then there was a figure that came down the stairs in a quick blur. Brown hair pulled back with a headband and a matching pair of pajamas (Robin didn’t know people actually did that). Seeing Nancy in two days succession isn’t exactly common. That’s why she took a mental note of it. From the staircase, she looked over the room. Her eyes stayed on Robin the longest, eyebrows furrowed in confusion, which, fair enough. Robin gestured towards the pizza.
“I brought-
“Pizza”
“Yeah.”
“That’s nice” Nancy said, face unchanging. A part of Robin wanted to believe it was sarcasm. “Thanks.” she started backing up to the door.
“Okay have fun with Creepers or what was it- I forgot” her voice faded off, hand brushing against the doorknob.
She’s hit with the summer night breeze. The kind of weather that’s on its last few days.
She walks over to her bike that she haphazardly tossed in the grass and the helmet a few inches away.
Bringing her bike up, helmet dangling on her wrist, she hears the click of the back door. Weird.
“Robin?” A silvery voice. Definitely not Dustin coming out to tell her she should’ve added toppings or forgot her keys. Even Weirder.
She put on her helmet.
“Yeah?” Robin has no idea why Nancy wants to talk to her right now. Or ever, actually.
“I’m sorry if I made things awkward or uncomfortable last night.”
“What?”
“I mean I understand why you would be, but-
Oh. Robin knows what this is.
“Wait no, uh, Steve and I are just friends.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah.”
“Just friends for now or just friends.”
“Definitely just friends.”
“Oh”
“Yeah.” They repeated.
Nancy laughed, it was short and probably meant to fill the dead air.
“Sorry…it’s just I could’ve sworn I made things awkward last night.”
“You didn’t.” That was me. She thought but couldn’t say out loud. Not even she could fully comprehend the way she cocoons herself from other girls. Regardless, her words seemed to do the trick. Nancy’s shoulders relaxed and her lips naturally curved as if she was smiling without even realizing.
“Okay, good.”
…
“How is your car, by the way?” Robin tried. The small, natural curve left for a much more forced smile.
“Still not working.” She let out a short laugh. “I just got that car too.”
“Jeez…that sucks.”
“Is it a used car then? Why do you think it broke down?”
The forced smile faltered.
“Yeah it’s an old car.” And her tone shortened
Okay. Nancy’s car is a bad subject.
“That…” don’t say ‘sucks’ you’ve already said that.
“-s too bad…” Robin finishes, ready to change topics.
“-It all just feels so silly. I mean a part of me, I think, is afraid of driving again.”
Listening to her, Robin realizes how unnerving it would be for her car to break down while all alone in the middle of the night. With what they have gone through the thoughts going through her head must’ve been hellish.
“No, I think that makes a lot of sense.”
Nancy’s eyes now bore into her own. Clear, intense, but still held a relative softness. Somehow Nancy Wheeler, high school priss and former girlfriend of Steve, standing in front of her barefooted and in matching pjs, left Robin feeling frozen and engaged in whatever the girl she barely knew was trying to say. And Robin was sure there was more she was trying to say.
But she continued to stare at Robin like she was hoping she would say something. She’s certainly weirder than Robin would’ve expected. Robin had no idea what Nancy could possibly want from her.
Robin is brought back to the pause in their conversation when Nancy let out a huff of air that was probably meant to be a laugh but fell flat.
“Are you just saying that to be nice to me?” The question mildly irked Robin. For the first time since Scoops Ahoy she felt the urge to respond with the same sort of snide sarcasm she used to give Steve. No, not everyone is trying to let you down gently, Wheeler. However, Robin is sitting on her bicycle so maybe it does look like she’s talking out of her ass.
“No…I think it’s really hard to be alone, especially outdoors, with what you’ve been through-look, you won’t see it but I’m beelining it home-I hate riding this thing at night but it’s always been my way around so shit…I don’t know. Every time I get on this seat I hope it’ll feel normal again and it never does.” And she definitely said too much. Her palms are sweaty and there’s a random itch at the back of her neck.
“Right? It’s like I want to prove to myself I still do everything and then I just…” She looks like she’s gotten lost in her thoughts. “I just…It just happens.”
“Your car breaking down?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay just making sure.”
She laughs. Shortly.
“That’s all I really wanted to say.” Robin believed her a little more this time.
“It’s a pleasure to help,” why did she say that, “I think I feel a bit better myself” she said, fastening her helmet.
“You know…telling me what you just did right before you ride off to wherever does not have me feeling too confident about your wellbeing”
What a strange way to phrase that.
“Eh, I’ll be fine. It’s not that bad.” Robin waves her hand dismissively.
“How far is it?”
“…Like, ten minutes?”
Nancy looked up in pensive silence as if she was determining whether or not Robin could ride home for her.
“Okay.” She did not look okay.
“I’m serious I know these roads like the back of my hand okay and if I speed up I can cut it by two minutes.”
“Two whole minutes?”
“Uh, yeah actually.”
They both smiled.
“Okay.” She said again, this time sounding a little more lighthearted.
Smiling. Robin waved in response, a quiet goodbye on the tip of her tongue.
She looked ahead and peddled slowly to the curb. She never heard the back door close, but she didn’t look back. Keeping her word, she rode as fast as her legs let her. Strangely enough they felt lighter.