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Vickie's phone screen lights up as it receives an incoming call. Her ringtone— Pink Pony Club by Chappel Roan— rings from where her phone lays on the floor.
She glances away from her book to see who is calling— Rockin' Robin 💖💖.
A smile tugs at her lips. Vickie sets her book on her mattress, pages down, and slips onto the floor. She sits leaning against the long side of her bedframe, and answers the phone.
Robin launches into conversation before the phone is against Vickies face.
"—should come over to Steve's! Like, right now. So we can get ready. Steve's coming with us, too, if you don't mind. Well, you probably don't, 'cause it wasn't really gonna be a date anyway, and he kind of third-wheels us a lot. And the kids are coming, too, it's a lot of— but anyway—"
"Get ready for what?" Vickie interrupts, once it becomes obvious that Robin's just going to keep rambling on.
"Oh! We're going to pride."
"It is June, isn't it? That's crazy, it feels like it was August just yesterday. Um, yeah I'll be on my way in a minute. Who's all going to be there?"
"Steve is here, obviously; Eddie's on his way; plus the kids are all here already, which is Lucas; Erica; Dustin; Max; Mike; Will; and Jane. And then Nancy's here, too; and she brought Chrissy. Oh, Jonathan's here as well, he brought Will and Jane. And Mike, for some reason, even though his sister also came, and brought Lucas and Erica, but I guess he was already at the Byers house?"
"I'll be there in ten?"
"See you then, Vick, I love you! Sorry, I can't, uh, stay on the phone, I'm trying to rally everyone into partners, 'cause we're all gonna paint our flags on our faces, and it's, like, a bonding activity or whatever Steve said, to, like, paint on eachothers cheeks? And, uh, don't worry, I know you don't really know any of them super well, but I did make sure to claim you as my partner, so you didn't end up with someone you don't want to be with."
"I love you, Robbie. I love you a lot, you know that?"
"Yeah! Uh, sorry, I have to go for real now. Love you, bye!"
"Love you," Vickie... ungreets? (That's not a word. Is there a word for greet but for goodbyes? That's something she'll have to ask Robin.) Before ending the call.
She quickly changes into a flowy yellow top and white overall shorts— the summer heat is no joke, and she is not going to pride in her pajamas.
Vickie grabs her car keys from the kitchen counter, and leaves a note for her grandpa that lets him know she's okay and hasn't gone missing.
The drive to Steve's house isn't too bad, only about seven minutes or so. She clicks on the radio at low volume and lets Whitney Houston's angelic voice into her car.
(Oh, I wanna dance with somebody)
(I wanna feel the heat with somebody)
(Yeah, I wanna dance with somebody)
(With somebody who loves me)
Vickie hesitates when she gets to the door. Is she supposed to knock or can she just walk right in? She's never come here without Robin, who always just walks in, but she isn't sure if Robin is the rule or the exception.
She decides to knock, just to be safe. Robin opens the door for her— very quickly, actually, so she must've been either waiting right next to the door, or she ran across the house to answer it.
"Hey," she breathes, heaving. She's out of breath, so it was probably the second option, Vickie deducts.
"Hi," Vickie replies.
Robin grabs Vickie's freckled arm, pulling her into the house. Vickie (successfully) scrambles to close the front door with her right arm.
It occurs to her suddenly that she's never actually met any of the kids. Robin talks about them a lot, sure, but it's hard to attach faces to the names when she's never seen them.
Robin gestures to two boys sitting on the couch, gossiping with eachother. One boy has messy, short black hair and a pale face, while the other has a brown bowl cut and a mole above his lip. They have matching facepaint painted on their right cheeks— dark teal, light teal, white, light blue, dark blue. "Mike and Will," Robin introduces.
She then gestures to two kids on the chaise lounge. "Lucas and Erica." The boy, Lucas, has a flag painted on his own cheek— pink, purple, and blue. He's painting on Erica's— his sister's?— cheeks. Unlike the three boys Vickie's seen so far, she has paint on both her cheeks. On the left— blue, pink, white, pink, blue. On the right— orange, yellow, white, light blue, dark blue.
Robin pivots, still dragging Vickie along. They go to the kitchen, where four young adults are sitting. From left to right, Steve, Jonathan, Nancy, and a girl Vickie has never seen before, who she assumes must be Chrissy. They all have painted cheeks, too. Steve— pink, purple, blue. Jonathan— his is interesting. It's mostly stripes of gray, but there's a block of rainbow stripes in the middle. Nancy and Chrissy's look the same— dark orange, orange, white, pink, dark pink. "You know Steve, Jonathan, and Nancy already," Robin acknowledges, each of the friends waving to Vickie at their respective mentions, "and this is Chrissy, Nancy's girlfriend."
Chrissy waves shyly. "Hi, Vickie."
"Nice to meet you, Chrissy," Vickie states.
Robin spins on her heels, dragging her into a side room. Two more kids in here. One has short ginger hair and is in a wheelchair, while the other has long brown hair and is painting a flag on the ginger's face. Brown-hair already has facepaint— pink, yellow, blue. Ginger, like Erica, has paint on both of their cheeks. The one that Brown-hair is currently painting— pink, purple, blue. And the other— yellow, white, purple, black. "Max and Jane," Robin introduces, before turning heel and dragging Vickie out again.
They go up the stairs, and into a guest bedroom with a wide-open door. Eddie is braiding a kid's hair. The kid in question must be Dustin, because she's been introduced to every other kid already. Although, she's heard from Robin that Dustin has been trying to figure out a different name. They both have facepaint on already. Eddie— dark teal, light teal, white, blue, dark blue. Dustin— blue, pink, white, pink, blue on one cheek, and dark orange, orange, white, pink, dark pink, on the other.
"Eddie and Dustin," Robin exclaims with a smile. Dustin smiles at Robin, showing off her teeth— braces newly removed, Vickie's heard.
"Let's go get ready, Robbie," Vickie suggests. "Yeah! Yeah, that's, lets do that."
There's a bin, in the corner of the room, that has the packs of facepaint piled into it. Vickie grabs one with the oranges, pinks, and white, passing it to her girlfriend, before grabbing one with pink, purple, and blue for herself.