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Nancy sighed, leaning back against her office chair. She glanced down at her wrist, her watch indicating it was a quarter past eleven.
She was tired, and she still had a few more essays to grade. Turns out, working as a university professor had some downsides. If she was going to continue grading the last few essays she had left, she needed some caffeine.
Nancy groaned as she stood up and raised her arms to stretch her exhausted body. She kicked her purse under her desk, grabbing the keys to her classroom and closing it behind her. She immediately felt a shiver down her spine. It was cold out in the hallway. She turned around, glancing at the classroom in front of hers. The lights were on. Robin must also be here working on some grades still.
The thought of the taller woman made her heartbeat quicken. She looked so good with that sweater under her trademark tweed blazer and her glasses. Nancy shook her head. She had a reputation to uphold, even if it was just to herself.
She walked towards the staff room, hugging her arms for warmth. She really had to talk to the dean to start turning on the heating in the buildings, winter was just around the corner and temperatures were not getting any higher.
She turned at the corner of the hallway and walked straight into the staff room off to the side and froze. Standing there, making an apparent new batch of fresh coffee, was Robin.
The taller woman had her back turned towards her. She stood in front of the coffee machine, her arms seemingly crossed in front of her.
Nancy took a deep breath, heartbeat going haywire and hesitantly knocked on the slightly open door.
Robin turned around, a startled look on her face that made Nancy slightly quirk her lips.
“Oh! Hey, Wheeler. Late night, huh?” She said with an exhausted smile. Nancy shivered,
“Yeah.” Nancy replied. She rubbed her hands up and down her arms, hoping to create some warmth.
“Is the coffee done yet?” She asked. Robin shook her head,
“No, I just put it a minute or two ago.”
Nancy hummed, an awkward silence following as she sat down by the table in the room. She didn’t really know what to say to Robin most of the time.She got too nervous for some reason. She was debating what to say when Robin spoke again,
“How’s your grading going?” She asked.
Nancy thought about it for a moment, “you know…it’s going.” She chuckled, “For students that want to go into journalism, some of them can’t write or analyze what’s basically being handed to them. And don’t say anything to anyone but…it’s mostly the men, they focus on the wrong things!”
The taller woman’s eyes widened as a small smile made its way into her face, she ducked her head, letting it hang there for a second before she straightened back up, a smirk on her face, “men, right?”
Nancy nodded, chuckling.
“And how is your grading going?” She inquired, smiling.
“Oof.” Robin sagged her shoulders. “If you think your students can’t write for shit, mine simply can’t even pick up the pencil.” She sighed, “I asked them to write an analysis of a movie they enjoy and most of them just give me something basic, no explanation, no deep thoughts on certain scenes they mentioned, nothing! You wouldn’t guess who the majority of the ones that do that are.” She smirked wryly.
Nancy gave her a sympathetic pat on her shoulder, “men, am I right?”
“They truly think they’re gonna be the next Scorsese, Nance! I can’t even laugh in their face.” She whined.
Nancy shivered, whether because of the cold or something else she wasn’t going to address, she didn’t know. She didn’t exactly know how to feel about the other woman using her nickname, but her heart felt like it was doing somersaults.
Robin took off her blazer and stood up, adjusting her glasses. Nancy figured she was going to check on the coffee. She took the opportunity to rub her arms with her hands, once again trying to create some warmth.
She felt the other woman stop behind her and suddenly she was wrapped up in warmth, Robin’s scent flooding her nose.
“Here. Noticed you’ve been shivering since you got here.”
Nancy turned her head to see Robin looking down at her, a soft smile on her face. Nancy quickly turned back. She could feel heat all over her face. She heard Robin chuckling slightly behind her as she stepped away.
“You should know by now to bring your own sweater or something, Wheeler. Especially since the dean takes his sweet time turning on the heaters in the buildings.” She grumbled. Nancy could practically hear her rolling her eyes. She glanced back at Robin.
The woman was once again standing in front of the coffee machine. Her hip cocked to the side, arms crossed in front of her. This time, however, she didn’t have a blazer covering the apparent bulging muscles of her arms. The sweater she was wearing really didn’t do much to hide that fact either. Robin was buff. Nancy couldn’t handle this.
It really wasn’t any secret that Robin was attractive, even some girls on campus fawned over her (which Robin didn’t seem to be aware of and Nancy found it hilarious to watch them fall over each other to talk with Robin through the glass window of her door.) but Nancy had already made up her mind about her.
Robin had been incredibly smug when they first met each other. She seemed to think she had Nancy all figured out. She found out later, Robin was best friends with one of her exes, Steve Harrington. She and Steve hadn’t ended on good terms so to speak, Nancy was convinced he probably told Robin all about it and that was why Robin thought she knew her. But Nancy wasn’t the same person when she and Steve broke it off in high school. Hell, she wasn’t even the same person she was in college. But Robin liked teasing her all about it.
She was constantly making references that only Nancy and Steve knew from the time they dated (which annoyed her every time. I mean, who even shares that, Steve?!). She knew of the inside jokes as well. Apparently , Steve must’ve shared everything with Robin. Made her think she knew her at all. She liked to make a point to invite her to go hang out with them. Nancy doubted Steve would have agreed to that, so she declined. She wasn’t kidding when she said she and Steve had a bad break up. Robin must’ve had a bad idea for a joke, clearly.
Robin just wasn’t someone Nancy should date. Because, apart from all of that. Robin had once questioned Nancy in a school meeting. Something Nancy wouldn’t ever forgive her for (she was, of course, kidding. Maybe.).
Even so, Nancy thought Robin was attractive. She was tall, apparently toned enough that it was noticeable through her sweater, had freckles everywhere from what she could see (which Nancy thought was cute), had the prettiest blue eyes she’d ever laid her eyes on behind round glasses, that just made her ten times more attractive, her laugh was contagious (she constantly fought the urge to smile when she heard it), her hands were big , she constantly fantasized of those hands simply holding her but most of all, she liked her smile.
Robin had a beautiful smile. She couldn’t deal with it.
She didn’t realize she had zoned out until Robin placed a coffee cup in front of her.
“Thinkin’ real hard there, Nance.” She said with a smile. Nancy glanced away,
“Yeah, well, I still have a few more essays to grade so…” She grimaced, “I just want to go home.” She looked back at Robin. She was practically laying on the seat, her long legs stretched out under the table. She noticed she didn’t have a cup of coffee in front of her like she did.
“Where’s your cup?” Nancy asked as she put her arms through the sleeves of the blazer and picked up the cup to warm her freezing fingers.
“Oh.” She chuckled nervously, “I don’t drink coffee. Makes my heart, like, beat. Like I can actually feel it beat, y’know? Anyway, I don’t really like that.” She glanced away, rubbing the back of her neck.
Nancy, pushing her concern over that to the side for the moment, furrowed her brows, “why were you making coffee if you don’t drink any?” She questioned.
“Well, you came here looking for coffee, right?” She shrugged, “I also…wanted to bring it to you.” She added quietly.
Nancy felt herself flush, “why?”
Robin shrugged again, clearly flustered, “I wanted to talk to you?”
“Why?”
She smiled shyly, “I like talking with you, Nance.”
Nancy was floored. This was news to her. “But… why ?”
Robin turned pink, “I just do, Nancy. I think you’re cool.” She took a breath, “I think you’re cool and I want to spend time with you and really get to know you and be friends with you. Steve has told me so much about you and even if I feel like I know you, I only know a part of you from the past. Maybe you’ve changed, maybe not but I still want to get to know you. You seem like a really great person to be around even if you glare at me all the time, like you hate me or something.” She finishes with a bashful shrug.
It was Nancy’s turn to turn pink, speechless. She hadn’t really realized that was how Robin felt. She suddenly felt guilty over that last part. She didn’t actually hate Robin. Sure, she held a grudge that was stupid really but she didn’t hate her for questioning her. Robin had raised a good point then and she had even applied it afterward. She just had felt petty because she hadn’t thought of it herself first.
Robin was probably the closest thing to a friend she had in this place. She didn’t socialize much, thought it a waste of time. She didn’t want to make friends that wouldn’t really understand her. But Robin…didn’t give up. She kept insisting on talking with her. Pestering her at moments, entertaining at others but she, more often than not, made Nancy smile to herself. She kept at it until Nancy grew fond of her, even with the fact that Nancy really wanted to keep her useless grudge. Dislike her, her rambles and her frantic hands that talked on their own sometimes. Kept going until Nancy secretly considered her a friend .
She felt the need to reassure Robin of that.
“I…I don’t hate you, Robin…” She took a deep breath, “I… was holding a grudge…a stupid grudge.” She gritted out. Nancy’s shoulders slumped, “It was a dumb grudge for a dumb reason. I’m sorry…I made you feel like I hated you. I never did. I don’t. You might be the only actual friend I have on this campus.” she chuckled softly. “I’m sorry, Robin.” She looked back into Robin’s eyes.
Robin looked stunned. Nancy could see the slow blush that spread all over her face, all the way down her neck. She could feel her heart beating wildly in her chest, awaiting Robin’s response. She looked on as she opened her mouth to speak but Nancy beat her to it.
She opened her mouth again, “I do want to be your friend, Robin. I just…didn’t know how. How to start the conversation. How to…bond with you. I…was nervous.” She shyly admitted, fidgeting with the buttons of Robin’s tweed blazer. She could still smell her scent surrounding her. Robin smelled of earthy forest. How did she smell of a forest? Nancy didn’t know and she didn’t care to find out. She just liked her scent. Not even mentioning the hint of cologne she could pick up under it. She thought maybe it could be Steve’s since she figured they might live together but she knew for a fact Steve preferred strongly scented colognes, the ones that made you sneeze with how strong they were.
She never liked those.
That meant this cologne was Robin’s and Nancy really couldn’t be blamed for pressing her nose subtly into the collar of the blazer, still waiting for Robin to respond to her confession.
Robin still looked shocked. She looked like a fish out of water with her gaping mouth. Nancy hid her smile behind the blazer. Robin blinked, clearing her throat, face still flushed,
“That’s…great to know.” She smiled tentatively. “I uh…” she cleared her throat again, “I usually am…nervous too, y’know? I really did think you hated me…but I still wanted to be your friend.” She finished with a sad smile. Nancy for a moment could see something flash in her eyes before Robin quickly turned her head to the side, swallowing. Nancy followed the movement down her throat, quickly pulling her eyes back onto Robin’s face.
“Okay…so are we friends? As in, officially?” Nancy shyly asked. Robin’s head snapped towards her, a slow smile making its way onto her face,
“Yeah…I mean, if you want, of course.” She affirmed.
“I do.” Nancy smiled.
“Great!” Robin grinned. She hesitated before she opened her mouth again, “Does that mean you’ll finally agree to hanging out with Steve and I?”
Nancy balked. She sighed, “Robin…I don’t think Steve would really agree to that. I mean…he must’ve told you how we ended things…”
“So?”
Nancy's eyes widened, “what do you mean so ? Aren’t you supposed to be on Steve’s side at least on this?”
“ So ? Sorry to break it to you Nance,” she grinned, “but it was Steve’s idea to invite you all this time in the first place. And I mean, he did tell me how you both ended things but he also admitted he was a bad boyfriend to you then. He said he wasn’t providing you what you really needed. He wasn’t there for you the way you needed him to be. He can see that now, Nance. He wants to apologize to you.”
Nancy couldn’t believe what she was hearing. All this time she thought he didn’t want anything to do with her. He would have had his reasons. She really wasn’t kidding when she said they ended badly. But here Robin was, telling her he was the one inviting her to hang out with them. He wanted to apologize to her. Something she didn’t really feel like she deserved. She could feel her eyes burn slightly.
“Does he now…?” She whispered.
“Yeah. And um, I do wanna say. He wasn’t the only one who invited you.” Robin admitted. “I did tell him beforehand but most of the time…it was me. I wasn’t kidding, Wheeler. I wanted to be your friend.”
Nancy flushed, her smile turned teasing, “you wanted to be my friend that badly, Buckley?”
“Hell yeah, I did. Once again, Wheeler, you’re the coolest person I know. Now drink your coffee. It’s gonna get cold”
“Oh shit!” Nancy cursed, as she took a sip of her now lukewarm coffee. Robin laughed. “Yeah laugh it up, Robin.” She grumbled before smiling.
“Okay, well as fun as this heart to heart was, I do need to finish grading some papers.” Robin groaned. She stood up grabbing her keys to her classroom. Nancy reluctantly made to take off the blazer.
Robin stopped her, covering her hands with her own. Nancy stared at her ring covered fingers. She blushed, her eyes traveling back to her face. Robin smiled, “no need. You can keep it.” she said.
Nancy opened her mouth to argue, but Robin beat her to it once more. “I don’t really need it right now, Nance. I’m not cold. Besides…” she hesitated before she seemed to steel herself, “it… looks better on you.” She released her hands slowly. She nodded at her.
“See you in the morning, Wheeler.”
Nancy watched her go,
“Yeah…see you.”
Later, she would go home after finishing up the last essay of the night, still wearing the tweed blazer Robin lent her.
The morning after she would arrive on campus, feeling eyes on her from every angle. Her mouth twitched. She can already hear the whispers behind her back.
Oh well, nothing she hasn’t dealt with before.