a helping hand | ronance

FIVE

NANCY DIDN'T ASK any other questions about robin, and instead they had started to get to know each other. by the time nancy left, robin had came to the conclusion that the brunette was her new friend.

robin called steve the minute after nancy left, rolling her eyes at the thirty seven missed calls and fifty six missed texts.

"hey," robin said once she heard steve pick up.

"you send me a weird, bland message about not needing a ride and then don't respond for hours?" robin could sense a relieved tone in steve's voice. "you worried me, rob"

"sorry, i was hanging out with someone"

"who? was it a girl? are you gonna have a girlfriend? you're growing up so quick!" steve teased.

"nancy wheeler, so no. not a girlfriend"

"nancy? what was nancy wheeler at your house?"

"she noticed me feeling off- remember yesterday wben i told you she saw me throwing up? yeah, she still remembered which is honestly pretty weird and nothing i'm used to but still, she remembered i was feeling bad and checked on me today. she offered to keep me company after school so she came over for a bit. we just hung out and got to know each other and she's actually really nice and considerate and i think we're friends now, which is great, really great. she's so funny too, i swear i was laughing like a complete idiot the whole time she was over"

"are you done confessing your love for wheeler now?"

"what? my love? no, steve, you have this all wrong"

"do i?" he asked, a hint of amusement in his voice. "you told me yourself that you ramble when you have a crush. you're rambling right now"

"i don't like nancy like that," robin insisted.

"sure," he smiled. "you two would be cute though"

-

nancy and robin became closer over the next two weeks. they hung out more, they talked more. however, as the days went on, it was getting harder and harder to come up with excuses as to why robin was puking every day.

speaking of robin's pregnancy, she had gotten a check-up at the doctor to find that she was three months along already, and the gender of her baby would be female.

robin grew more anxious after learning how far along she was. she used to think she had plenty of time, though she knew how far along she was already. she could remember that day down to the minor details. however, hearing it out loud made it feel so much sooner.

nancy began coming over after school every day, something that robin loved. one day, she had asked if she could sleep over. robin agreed, of course, and the two went to bed around 1am.

when robin woke up the next morning, she was already feeling sick. she checked the time to see it was only 11pm, and nancy still appeared to be asleep next to her. robin used this opportunity to slip out of bed and shuffle down the hallway. she went straight to the bathroom, leaning down next to the toilet to throw up.

she didn't hear nancy coming down the hallway as she continued puking. robin had left the bathroom door open on accident, and nancy hesitantly poked her head inside. once she saw robin, she entered the room and sat down next to her. nancy pulled robin's hair back with one hand and used her other hand to rub her back.

once robin was done puking, she flushed the toilet and brushed her teeth to get the bad taste out of her mouth. nancy sat on the floor, watching robin with a confused look on her face.

"okay, what is going on?" nancy finally asked, causing robin to look over at her. "i know you didn't eat breakfast, i watched you wake up"

fuck, robin thought. she knew there was no way to get out of this. she had to finally come clean and tell nancy the truth. so, through many tears, robin told nancy everything that had happened to lead up to her pregnancy.

robin was terrified of what nancy was going to say when she finished telling her everything. nancy was silent when she finished, looking at robin with a sympathetic look on her face. nancy gave her a hug, causing even more tears to fall from robin's eyes.

"i'm so sorry," nancy said into robin's hair, "i'm here for you, okay? always"

"thank you," robin managed to get out.

-

nancy had kept her promise, and over the next few days, nancy had been at her house to keep her company. she tried to stay away from the conversation of robin's pregnancy, besides asking her if she was okay or wanted anything. however, one day, she couldn't refrain from asking a question.

"are you excited?" nancy had asked. "for the baby, i mean"

"excited?" robin repeated, looking over at the brunette. "no, not really. it's just a constant reminder of what happened"

"i'm sorry. i shouldn't have asked that. i just remembered the one time we had talked about kids, and you had said how you had maybe wanted a kid in the future. a little girl"

"i know," robin nodded her head, "but i didn't mean now. i have barely any money, and my mom doesn't even know. i can't really hide it from her for much longer. i don't know how she'll react"

"i know it's scary, but you do need to tell her," nancy told her. robin nodded her head in agreement.

"robin, i'm here," steve called unexpectedly, causing robin to jump. he knocked on the door before entering, not expecting to see nancy on the bed with her. "oh, i didn't know you had somebody else here"

"it's fine," nancy smiled. "you can join us"

steve looked over at robin before joining them on robin's bed. he gave robin a smile once he sat down, handing her food he had picked up on the way there.

"thank you," robin told him with a smile, digging into the bag of food that was just handed to her.

steve and nancy looked at each other, shifting on the bed in the awkward silence. they eventually were able to strike up a conversation, and they actually got along really well.

watching her two close friends get along made robin smile to herself. she was happy to know that she had two friends by her side.