Surviving Hawkins (Stranger Things Story)

Chapter 13

A/N~A bit of  a shorter chapter to just fill in the gap. The next one is going to be a lot of flashbacks to fill in information. Hope you guys enjoy!
Wordcount~1627

Nancy and Robin took turns explaining their relationships with Elyse. When they had finished, the girl sat in front of them was definitely confused. "Okay, so let me get this straight. You guys have the same ex, who I just so happen to look like, and you guys don't even think that's a little weird?" Nancy and Robin share a look. "No, not really. I mean we both kind of had feelings for each other before hand. Then, Elyse showed up so obviously neither of us were going to act on it. But, then things let it happen. Not going to question it honestly." Elyse looked between the two, astonishment taking over at how calm they both are about their whole relationship. She really did hope for a relationship like theirs. Which brought her mind back to Lil. With not talking to anyone the past few days, that included Lil. "Alright then."

"Wait, who had feelings first?" Elyse asked, stirring that question in robin and Nancy. To be completely honest, neither of them had really talked about that. "I mean, I probably realized my feelings that day we had gone to the library." Nancy's eyes widened. "Yeah, I caught feelings first. By like, a lot." Robin looked at her confused. "What do you mean? We had literally met a day before." Nancy looked at Robin, rolling her eyes slightly. "Uh, Starcourt." Robin's eyes widened more. Elyse grew shocked too. Knowing that had happened in 85', that meant Nancy had feelings almost a full year before Robin even considered she may have feelings for Nancy. "Holy shit." Robin said just under her breath. "Yep. I know, shocking." Robin shook her head in disbelief. "Okay, but you like, hated me when we first met."

"I didn't hate you. I wanted to get to know you first. And to be fair, I thought you and Steve were a thing first. But, the whole 'platonic with a capital P' thing made it very clear. Then, you know, Elyse showed up." Robin let out a sigh, dropping her head in her hands for a moment. "Alright then. That's great to know. I mean, to be fair, Steve did ask me out literally that day at Starcourt. Then, I told him it wasn't going to happen. So, not entirely wrong." All three of them let a small laugh. "Okay, well I should probably walk back home in case my mom woke up. Cause she might actually kill me. She honestly kind of scares me now." Nancy let out a sigh, shaking her head lightly. "I don't blame you. She is kind of scary." Robin agrees, earning a look from Nancy. "You can't say that!" Robin raises her hands in defense. "What? It's true! You scare me too sometimes." The two continue back and forth as Elyse heads down the driveway, back to her house.

{Flashback to March 23rd, 1986.}

{Nancy's POV}

As we walked through the trailer park, I got an idea. "Whoa, whoa, Nance. Nance!" Steve said as I walked away from the group. My idea is a shot in the dark, I don't even know if it makes sense. "Where are you going?" I hesitate to answer him. I don't even know why I think this'll answer anything. "Oh, there's just something I wanna check out first." I say, hoping none of them pry into it. "Something you wanna share with us?" Damn it, Dustin. I can't tell them I don't even trust my own theory. Maybe I can get Robin to come with me. "I don't want to waste your time. It's a real shot in the dark."

"Yeah, okay. Are you out of your mind? Flying solo with this Vecna creep on the loose?" Steve shut up. I can handle myself. I subtly roll my eyes at his concern. "No, it's too dangerous. You need someone to..." He turns to face the others, tossing his car keys to Robin. Damn it. Pain in my ass. "Here. I'll stick with Nance." Concern floods Robin's face. "Take the car, check out the shrink." I scoff under my breath. What the hell, Steve. "I don't think you want me driving your car?" Robin speaks up. "Why?" Steve asks. Don't ask questions, Steve. Just let her come with me instead. "I don't have a license." She what? My brows furrow in confusion. "Why don't you have a license?"

"I'm poor." I zone out after that. This is so completely ridiculous. As I'm about to say Robin can come with me, she beats me to it. "All right, okay. This is stupid." Robin walks forward, taking the walkie from Dusting. She hands Steve his keys back. "Us ladies, will stick together." She comes to stand next to me. I look at her, immediately looking a the ground after, hoping it isn't too obvious about how happy I am. "Unless, you think we need you to protect us." Robin says, giving Steve a smirk. I try holding in a laugh. I give a little smile to the group as Robin and I walk away. Success.

{End of flashback.}
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When Elyse got back to her house, once again quietly sneaking inside. When she made it up the stairs, walking to her bedroom. Closing the door behind her, she walked over and practically collapsed into her bed. Her mind was running a million miles a minute. "Why does life have to be so weird?" She said to herself. She knew life was complicated, everyone knows that. But, never did she expect this. She wanted to just fall asleep and never wake up. She didn't want to deal with this weird shit ever. As she slowly started to drift off to sleep, she heard a faint tapping on her window. She tried to ignore it, assuming it was her imagination. After a minute, the sound got louder. She let out a huff, getting out of bed and walking over to her window.

She saw the familiar silhouette of Lil. Because of course she wouldn't be able to ignore her for much longer. She opened the window, holding her hand out to help Lil through. "Okay. What is going on with you? You've been avoiding everyone!" The two girls walked over to the bed, sitting down on the edge. Elyse was looking everywhere but at Lil. She was hoping she would have more time to prepare for this conversation. "I-that night, it scared the shit out of me. So, I needed a break from people." Elyse sighed, her head collapsing into her hands. She felt a comforting touch on her back. Lil was gently rubbing her hand on Elyse's back. "Okay. Well, you know I'm here for you, right? You don't have to go through this alone." Elyse was fighting tears back. She hated this feeling. She felt stuck between two different lives. Like she couldn't choose who she is, like she had to just be what the universe plans. Or rather, what Vecna expects. "Thank you." She lets out, just above a whisper.

"Do you....want to talk about that night? And what happened?" Lil asks, careful of her words. She had been wanting to talk about the kiss specifically. But, knowing Elyse, she knew she couldn't keep it bottled up much longer. Elyse let out a small scoff. "I'm serious, El. I know you. You don't do well with bottling things up. What did Nancy say to you that night?" Elyse hated the fact that Lil was very much right. She didn't do good with bottling up her emotions. She let out a sigh, picking her head up to look at Lil. "I don't want to talk about that. It isn't important. I want to talk about the other thing." Both girls looked at each other for a moment, the silence was deafening. Lil finally spoke. "Look, I don't want you to feel like you have to date me just because we both have feelings for each other. You're stressed right now. I don't want to add to it. So, whatever you want to do, I'll go with it." Elyse didn't know what to say. She wanted to date Lil, but after everything, she didn't know if she could. "I...I want to date you, I really do. I've waited for this moment for years. But, after what happened with Dan, I don't know if I'm ready. I don't want anything bad happening to you. I wouldn't be able to live with myself."

Lil lifted her other hand to rest gently on Elyse's cheek. Her thumb wiping away small tears. "That's okay. Let's just focus on what's going on right now. And we can deal with that later. Okay?" Lil said, causing a small smile to form on Elyse's lips. "Thank you." Was all she could manage to say. She was trying to hold back tears. Over the past week she had done so much crying, it was shocking she even had tears left at this point. "Is there anything else you want to talk about?" Lil asked, her voice soft, trying not for Elyse into talking, but letting her know that she could talk about what's bothering her. "I-yeah. Um, the-the last week or so....I've been uh-I've been having these really vivid dreams-er rather nightmares. I don't know. It sounds stupid, I know." Elyse let her head drop a bit, regretting her words instantly. Lil pulled the girl into a hug, her hand coming to rest gently on the back of Elyse's head. "It's not stupid. I promise." Elyse let out a shaky sigh before letting all of the words fall from her mouth like a waterfall. The stress of having not talked about it clearly having taken its toll on her. Elyse talked for nearly 3 hours, Lil listening intently at every word.