Chapter Text
Robin was chilling at Billy and Steve’s as usual. She missed working at Starbucks with her dingus, but her parents had told her she needed to concentrate on school this year as well as college applications. She really had no idea where she wanted to go or what she wanted to major in, but she certainly wasn’t going to tell them that.
“Why do you look so glum, Rob?” Steve inquired. He had a towel slung around his hips and was using another towel to dry his hair.
“Ugh… put on some clothes will ya?” she groaned, shielding her eyes. She didn’t even have to look to know that Billy was probably drooling right now. Sometimes they were just too gross for words.
“You know Billy hates the smell of coffee so forgive me if I’m trying to please my boyfriend,” he replied haughtily.
“Babe, you please me in lots of different…” Billy began.
“Okay that’s it,” Robin declared. “I’m leaving. You two are making me sick.”
“Rob, don’t be like that. I will put on some clothes and Billy will go in the other room so you can tell me what’s on your mind.”
She peaked between her fingers to see Billy going out on their balcony for a smoke and Steve going into their room to get dressed.
Robin sat back against the couch. She was on the floor, knees close to her chest and her arms were wrapped around her legs. It was the position she took when she was most uncomfortable.
Her friend came back to the living room and plopped down next to her. “What’s up?”
“It’s just lonely at school. I mean it was before, but… Never mind. It’s stupid.”
“It’s not. But I get it. Too bad I didn’t fail senior year so I could be in class with you this semester. I did come close though.”
His lame joke brought a small smile to Robin’s face. “Shut up, dingus.”
They sat in silence for awhile, which was surprisingly comfortable. It was only broken by Steve’s phone ringing. Leaning over, he took a look at the caller ID. “Hmm… It’s Nancy. That’s weird. I thought she was in Chicago visiting Jonathan.”
He picked up the phone, “Hey, Nance… what’s up?” There was quiet for a long while and Robin sensed something was wrong.
“God, what a fuckin’ asshole. I’m sorry. You can definitely come over if you want. Robin’s over here, too.”
A few more words were exchanged before Steve hung up the phone. “Well,” he said, turning towards her, “She went all the way over there just for him to break up with her. Kinda shitty if you ask me.”
“Did she say why?”
“She did… I think at least. It was kind of hard to understand through the crying.” He made a worried face, which prompted Robin to give him a reassuring squeeze.
“I guess I better let Billy know we’ll be having one more for dinner. I think he was planning on making spaghetti anyway. Can you let Nancy in when she gets here? I’m not much help in the kitchen but damn do I love to watch him cook.”
“Get out of here you weirdo,” Robin laughed. And with a shove from her, Steve got up and practically skipped to get his boyfriend.
Robin hadn’t thought much of Nancy when they were in school at the same time. She thought the other girl was just a little too much of a perfectionist to by any fun. Also the details on Nancy and Steve’s break-up were still unclear to her and the fact they were still friends was baffling. But when they were altogether it wasn’t so bad. Mainly because the kids were there, too, and it was utter chaos. Oh and Jonathan, too. The couple were attached at the hip.
Robin thought even less of Jonathan. Sure he took nice pictures, but what other redeeming quality did he have? She wasn’t into boys, but even she was aware that Steve was clearly the better option.
She almost didn’t hear it because it was so faint, but it was definitely a knock on Steve’s apartment door. Robin got up and went to open it. Of course she came face to face with Nancy Wheeler. Little Miss Perfect sure didn’t look that way now. Her mascara was smeared and her clothes rumpled.
“Hey, come in,” Robin said softly. “Steve and Billy are in the kitchen I think, making dinner.”
“I’m not really hungry,” the other girl sniffled.
“When was the last time you ate though?”
“I don’t remember.”
“Then you are hungry, you’re just too upset to realize it. Come on.” Robin grabbed Nancy’s arm and tugged her gently to where the boys were.
“Hey Nancy,” Billy waved from his spot by the stovetop.
Steve didn’t say anything he just sprinted over and wrapped her in a huge hug.
Meanwhile Robin leaned against the doorframe and watched this exchange feeling a little left out. She didn’t know Nancy well enough to say anything meaningful and it might be weird giving her a hug.
“Okay, Nance. Sit down and spill. What exactly was his reasoning? You had planned out everything and then he goes and fucks everything up! It doesn’t make sense.” Steve was practically fuming. He’d probably try to punch Jonathan (and lose again) if the other boy was here.
“I don’t really want to talk about it right now. I just feel sort of stupid.”
Steve looked like he was about to press for more details, but Billy laid a hand on his shoulder and he immediately stopped.
“I think it’s a good night for wine, don’t you?” Billy suggested.
“Since when do we have wine?”
“Since I stole it from your parent’s house when we were moving all your shit into here.”
“Couldn’t you have stolen something better than wine. Yuck.”
“What makes you think I didn’t?”
Robin cleared her throat loudly. Now was not the time for dumb and dumber to act like a bickering old couple.
Billy took the hint. “Steve go get it. It’s in the pantry over there. And some glasses, too. No fucking red solo cups or I swear to god…”
Another loud cough from Robin shut him up again. She rolled her eyes. Honestly she felt bad for Nancy if this was the only place besides home that she had to go. These idiots were the worst at comforting people.
Nancy didn’t seem to be paying any attention, though. She was completely zoned out. That wasn’t good. Robin had never dated anyone before but she’d had enough one-sided heartbreak to know that being in your head too much was not a good place to be.
She crossed the room and touched the other girl gently on the shoulder. “Hey do you want to clean up a bit?”
Nancy looked up at Robin as if noticing her for the first time. “Uh, yeah sure.” When she stood up she did so very unsteadily. Robin immediately grabbed her hand and helped her along.
Luckily the boys had a half bath for guests. She didn’t even what to know what their bathroom was like. Probably filled with more hair products than the local beauty supply store. So she led Nancy into the tiny bathroom.
She wet some tissues and began to slowly remove the streaks of makeup from Nancy’s face. Not ideal method to use, but it was the best she had.
After her task was complete she stepped back and looked at the other girl. Her cheeks were red, but she looked pretty. Which was definitely something that Robin had never considered.
“Thanks,” Nancy whispered. “I don’t look so much like a raccoon.”
A joke! That was a good sign.
“Yeah the raccoon look isn’t very in right now. Or so I’ve heard.”
Robin reached over and pushed back a strand of hair that was covering one of the girl’s eyes. Again something she never noticed were Nancy’s eyes.
“I guess we should go and eat dinner. Those cooking classes Billy took really paid off. I was getting fat coming over here and just eating takeout all the damn time,” Robin laughed.
“That’s true. There’s only so many times you can eat pizza in one week.”
They smiled at each other briefly before heading back into the kitchen. Maybe the rest of the year would be easier for both of them with one more friend.