keep driving

eleven

Today was Thursday, two days before Robins birthday party. Nancy was wrapping her gifts, that she had gotten two weeks in advance. She always likes to over-prepare incase of the worst. She got her a bracelet, with an R and N on it. She knew Robin would like it, since she loves jewelry that has a meaning. She would keep this bracelet on the rest of her life.

Nancys phone began to ring. She picked it up to hear a mans voice on the end of the line.

"Nance?"

"Steve? Is that you?"

"Haha, yeah...hey.... I know you're probably busy, y'know, preparing for the girlfriends party and everything...."

She made an inaudible cringe at the term "the girlfriend." Not because he called Robin her girlfriend, but because he said "the" in front of it. Or maybe everything Steve does makes Nancy uncomfortable, she wasn't sure.

"...but I was wondering if you could help me get her a gift. I'm not the best at gifts especially for someone with her strange personality. And you probably know her best. So I thought you could help."

"Uh.. yeah, sure! Do you wanna meet at the mall or something? How about an hour?"

"That'd be great!"

Nancy actually felt good about hanging out with Steve. Not because he was her ex, she's 99% sure she isn't even into guys at this point. But because she saw how close him and Robin are, and she secretly wanted to have the same type of relationship with him too.

When they met at the mall, Nancy arrived first so she sat in her locked car. A few minutes later, she heard a knock on the window. A smiling Steve.

"Harrington you scared the shit out of me."

He laughed and shrugged. They walked into the mall and soon realized this was gonna be a long day. Too many stores, none of which scream robin. Steve eventually spotted a photo booth and suggested that him and Nancy took pictures for Robin, because they're "the two best people in her life" or something. Nancy knew she was way above Steve's level to Robin but she let him believe what he wanted. They hopped in the photo booth, and put a quarter in. Steve was messing with the camera and didn't even realize the first picture was about to be taken. Nancy knew, but she liked seeing Steve frantic and stressed. Not in an evil way, she just thought it was funny. The rest of the pictures turned out perfect, and while they waited for the photo strip to print they stayed sitting in the photobooth together. It was awkward for a moment, until Steve spoke up.

"Im really happy, you know, for you and Robin. I've never seen her this happy. I've never seen you this happy either, which is slightly bruising my ego but it's okay. I'm just glad you two found eachother." He says, with a smile.

"Thanks Steve. Really. You're right, I am the happiest I've been in a long time. Probably ever, no offense. She's just so perfect, the way she does everything, the way she gets so excited over the littlest things, the way she's so messy when she eats, the way she puts her feet up on the dashboard when I drive. Every little thing she does just drives me crazy, Steve. It's almost concerning."

"You're in love, Nance."

"Really? You think so? I mean, I love her, a lot, but this feeling is so new to me. Not because she's a girl, but because I've never cared about someone so much. Maybe you're right."

"Well, I am the expert on women, you can always come to me if you need to talk about her."

Nancy shoved Steve out of the photobooth, falling through the curtains and causing him to fall out onto the ground, right as three girls were walking by.

"Hey!" He tried to get their attention, but they all rolled their eyes at him.

"Expert on women, huh?"

Steve rolled his eyes.

They finally found a store that looked almost Robin-ish. There were a lot of rocks Nancy didn't understand but Robin seemed to have a lot of them around her room. Nancy and Steve asked a worker for help because they were completely lost, and they told her it was for a girlfriend. The employee ended up helping them find a rose quartz on a necklace. She told them is was for love and protection, which is exactly what they wanted.

Before they left, they decided to stop and get a pretzel. Steve chewed with his mouth open and it made Nancy sick. She stayed quiet, though. His feelings were already hurt from the rejection he faced by those girls earlier.

"Hey Steve."

"Yeah Nance?"

"You aren't all that bad. You're not a total douche anymore, it's nice."

"I try."

She gently punches his shoulder and they got up and left. When they got to the cars Steve heard Nancy saying , "Shit!"

"Nance? You alright?"

"My doors are locked."

"So...unlock them?"

"The keys are in the car, jackass."

"Oh..shit."

The two panicked and tried to grab the keys through the slightly cracked window, but even Nancy's wrists couldn't fit. Steve then remembered that he had the old ribbon he wore for his Scoops Ahoy outfit.

"What the hell Steve, you haven't worked there in a year. Have you never cleaned your car? Ever?"

"That's a conversation for another time."

He tied the end of it in a loop and stuck it through the window, and after about 5 minutes he got the keys out.

He was sweating but pretended it was nothing.  As soon as Nancy was about to get into her car, he said something again.

"Hey Nance, thanks for doing this. Means a lot."

"I did it for Robin, not you."

"Fair enough."

Nancy was really happy she spent time with Steve today. She was happy he was back in her life, but in a better way. This was the first time the two had been alone together since they dated and she expected him to pull something douchey and ruin everything but he was actually really sweet.