History Together | Ronance

#04 Old crush new feeling

Nancy brings me to the library while explaining her Victor Creel theory. It sounds conspicuous to say the very least but atleast it had my mind on something other then utter gay panic. "So if hes 70 years old that would make him a grandpa murder who can turn invisible and lift people into the air"

She sighs as we reach the counter "it doesn't make sense I know, I said it was a shot in the dark"

"I know but I thought you were being modest but you truly meant shot in the dark. Like we are snipers wearing blindfolds who've been spun around 50 times" I use an over extravagant analogy to convey my whirlwind of thoughts.

She dings the bell for service once then twice then in a string of taps. Is she mad? Its hard to tell. Before I can rant anymore a lady comes up to help us. "Can we have the key to the basement archives please?" She asks.

Looking at her now I remember the determination in her eyes I used to be fond of back in Mrs Click's class. No wait that's weird why am I thinking about all that time ago. Whatever. She does seem mad though.

"Did I come off mean or condescending or something?" I ask worried I'd already ruined the mood.

"No" she pouts and I can't tell if shes being sarcastic. God why is she so hard to read.

I have to fix this. "Its just you seem annoyed and i don't really have a filter or strong grasp of social cues. So if I say something that upsets you just know that its a flaw, believe me my mother reminds me daily" why on earth did I say that last part.

"Got it" she huffs through gritted teeth barley making eye contact.

"Alright ladies here you go" the receptionist returns holding out a set of keys to us. "Have fun"

Nancy takes them with her tight knitted brows "we'll...try"

I look to the librarian who looks back at me sharing an empathetic look. I shrug and trape after the uptight girl.

~

Down in the basement we're seated opposite eachother scrolling through paper after paper. Every article is a boring retell of the last, Victor went crazy and killed his family- same old same old. My attention span is wearing thin and I struggle to stay focused.

"Anything juicy over there?" I call over to Nancy out of pure monotony.

"Nope"

"What are we looking for exactly?" With no response I beckon her "Nance?"

Her head slowly emerges as she peers over to my side looking irked.

"Any mentions of dark wizards, alternate dimensions?"

"I don't know okay?" She snaps "it seems like this is a big waste of time and it seems like you're bored so why don't you call Steve? I'm sure he'll come pick you up" she rants, leaving her chair to get distance between us.

Okay so she was definitely angry. Wait. Steve? She doesn't think we- no way. Come on that's ridiculous!

"You do know that Steve and I are totally not a thing, right?"

"What?" She gasps still with a sharp tone.

"Well I figured you and Jonathan were still going strong but I want you to know Steve and I and platonic with a capital P!" I make my way closer to her with urgent hand gestures.

She sighs and shakes her head refusing to make eye contact with me. I don't know why I want her to believe me so badly but she can't seriously think I'd get with Steve?

"Incase it's adding any tension between us" I add frantically.

"It wasn't" she looks at me now, her eyes are wide and from what I can put together she seems unconvinced maybe just bothered by my general ramblings.

My attention is swooped away as I find one of my favourite paper titles "the Weekly Watcher, I can't believe they have this!"

Nancy scoffs "don't they write about Bigfoot and UFO's?"

Uhm yeah and we're looking for a magic monster man? "First of all UFO's are real- Bigfoot I'm still on the fence about but may I remind you we're searching for information on dark wizards, if someone's gonna write about that its these writers"

She raises a groomed brow letting her interest pike. I think I've finally got on her good side! Kind of...

We agree to try it out and as I scroll she quips at seeing the first headline "ah Elvis cloned by aliens"

Her had is gripping her own hair as though she were ready to claw it out if I opened my mouth again, I couldn't help it- "you never know"

She turns to face me with a deadly gleam in her icy pools, squinted eyelids indicated her unhappiness with my comment. There was a feeling in my gut when we locked yes for a brief moment, something sharp and uncomfortable and slightly ticklish.

She steps away from me in a second and the short tension that had gripped us fades. I go back to scrolling to get my mind of the odd encounter "Victor Creel claims vengeful demon killed family!" I use a theatrical voice to humour myself.

"Ha ha" Nance mutters from somewhere behind me.

"I'm not joking" I retort as I continue to read "according to several insiders Victor believed he was haunted by a demon- allegedly he had a priest attempt to exorcise the demon from his home"

Nancy is back beside me leaning over my shoulder. My head thrums with nerdy excitement as i think back on combinations of horror movies "pretty crazy for the 50's. Excorsist wasn't even out yet"

"Keep going" she commands with a shrill inflection.

I'm shocked into motion by her bossy instruction and do as she says. She had this effect on me- like she could get my attention in an instant.

"He calimed that the excorsism failed but it angered the demon which then killed his family and left him alive as punishment"

"Yeah well that's pretty convenient for Victor"

"Yeah or super inconvenient" I snap back "Victor was declined insane by the court- what if this was why?"

Nancy has a sudden realization and nods actually agreeing with me "the plea bargain- the records were sealed"

"So... Maybe this demon was Vecna?" I smirk feeling proud to have gained her trust.

We both rush back out and return the keys. It's dark out when we stride through the doors to get to the parking lot, I attempt contact through the walkie talkie to update the others "Dustin do you copy?"

"Yeah I copy"

"So- Nancy's a genius!" I remark proudly "her shot in the dark was a bullseye!" This girl was insanely clever or maybe just insanely lucky but either way it was amazing. "Vecnas victims date all the way back to 1959"

"That's totally bonkers but we've got business to deal with right now" the kid on the radio informs me.

"What are you doing?"

"Breaking and entering into school to steal some super confidential files"

"Can you repeat that?" I tease.

"Just get your ass over here" he grunts.

Nancy half whispers half shouts from the drivers side of the car "I thought they were talking to Miss Kelly!"

Again, I find myself agreeing with the overly stressed girl "we leave them alone for two hours!"