Babysitting adventures with Robin Buckley

gays

"Just you and me." I say to Holly, as we wait in her room for the boys to finish the movie.

"You and me." She repeats. We're playing with her little doll house. She's the mom and I'm the... other mom. Yes, maybe I did make the parents lesbians... She grabs the son doll.

"He should die." She says. That caught me by surprise. She really only repeats things. I'm sort of creeped out right now.

"What?" I say, concerned. She continues to take the doll and put him in the pool. She makes screaming noises while making the doll flail around. Then... silence. She stops moving the doll.

"Gone." She says, sighing. I just stare at her in absolute shock.

"Should we... have a funeral?" I suggest.

"Yes." She answers plainly. She takes her doll out of the pool and places him on the ground. She takes a thing of blue playdough and covers him with it. Then, she takes a rock she has in her room for some reason, and places it upright in the playdough.

"Just like El." She says.

"Who's El..." I ask hesitantly. If it's an invisible friend I'm packing my things and moving to Europe.

"Mike's friend... she's gone now." She says, shrugging.

"Gone like... like dead?" I ask.

"Yep." She sighs.

"Right... and is El... invisible?" I say.

"No, she lived in our basement for months, and than some old lady told us she's a dangerous criminal." She says, nonchalantly.

"Oh." I say. I really don't know what to do with that information. Is she making this all up? Whatever, not my business.

"I'm... gonna go check on your brother." I say, slowly getting up. She shrugs.

"Okay." And then just continues playing. I sneak downstairs so I don't disrupt the movie. When I walk to the living room, I see Mike's arm placed around Will's shoulder. And then Will lays his head on Mike's shoulder. Holy shit... I leave as quietly and as quickly as possible.  

Okay not that I'm nosey or anything, I just want to see where this goes. I mean, I don't usually see people... like me in Hawkins. It sort of comforts me. We're here. In Hawkins. Whether people like it or not. I watch as Mike and Will inch their faces close together, slowly. Then their lips lock. I walk in.

"Do... you guys want any snacks?" I ask. They break apart quickly.

"This isn't... we weren't..." Mike starts. I give him a thumbs up and mouth, "Nice." then walk out of the living room.