There must have been some sort of greater power from above, because after weeks, Robin was fucking finally getting a shift partner. Fuck yeah.
She knew that there was a relatively common chance that her shift partner would be a massive dickhead, but for now she held onto hope. They should be arriving here when the shift started, and it had started around twenty minutes ago.
The clock ticked by slowly. Ah, they were late. Robin tried not to judge too hard; she's had her own difficult mornings and the theater wasn't a very morning friendly place.
About twenty minutes after shift started, someone burst through the door. Robin's head lifted in interest, only to guffaw when she recognized him as the man that accompanied Ms. Black Licorice a couple of weeks ago.
He managed to look even more dumb in the uniform than Robin ever could. She let out a loud laugh, catching his attention as his face caught aflame.
"Shut up, I'm trying my best over here!" He mumbled, taking a second to catch his breath before joining Robin behind the counter. He looked at her for a second before something lit up in his eyes.
"Hey! I know you! You're the uh.. Register person that served Nancy and I. Right?" Robin hummed, leaning on the counter to better face him.
"Indeed I am. Did your girl enjoy the black licorice?" She teased. Surprisingly, instead of jumping to her defense, he laughed. It was a bit pained.
"Yeah, but she wouldn't shut up about the whole interaction. Every once in a while she'd mention it. I think it's either incredibly stupid or incredibly hilarious."
"Oh, that's fantastic. I don't think I've ever had such a big effect on anyone's life. Man, I should really insult people's candy choices more often." She rang up a family, handing them their candy without making any smart-ass comments, thank you very much.
"Steve." Her shift partner finally said. She furrowed her eyebrows.
"Huh..?
"Steve. M'name's Steve. Figured that if we were gonna be shift partners then we should at least know each other's names, right?"
Robin grinned a bit, sticking out her hand in an offering.
"Robin. Pleased to meet you, Steve. You're stuck with me for however long you're staying at this god-forsaken movie theater."
Steve chuckled, shaking his head and eyeing the shift manager subtly from across the room, who was leaning on the popcorn counter and trying to flirt with some girl. She looked uncomfortable and finally managed to sidle away from him. Robin internally wrinkled her nose in disgust.
"How long have you been working here?" He prodded, seemingly desperate for some sort of entertainment. Robin felt a pang of pity for Steve, as it did get pretty boring around here.
"A month or so, I believe. I'm hoping to find a better job soon, but I haven't put too much thought into it."
Steve hummed absently, watching a group of girls around his age with interest. Robin elbowed him, jolting him out of his thoughts. Whatever they might be.
"Hmm?" He said dumbly, looking at her.
"You have a girlfriend, right? Ms. Black Licorice?"
Steve winced.
"Eh.. we broke up last week. It's been a whole shitty ordeal, but in the end we agreed on being just friends."
"And you're not.. Happy with that?" She poked, opting for a more detailed answer.
"Uh.. no? How'd you know?"
"I can tell. Shame, too. She won't be visiting during our shifts?"
"I don't think so. It would be pretty awkward, wouldn't it?" He said sheepishly, running an absent hand through his hair with a sigh.
"Damn. Who else am I gonna make fun of for their candy choice?"
She'd lost Steve's attention again. He was gazing off in the distance.
"Are you.. Good, man? Was the breakup rougher than you're putting it out to be?"
He nodded miserably, contemplating for a second before throwing his hands up in exasperation.
"We both fucked up big time, but she seems to be handling it far better than me. I've dated before. But this.. It's messing me up, Robin."
Robin felt a pang of pity. She'd never dated majorly before; being a raging women-liker in this town wasn't exactly looked on to be normal. Part of her wondered what it was like to be so upset over something like a breakup.
"Shit. That's tough." It was a blunt response on Robin's part, but it conveyed her emotions properly. She had trouble doing that sometimes.
"Yeah. Yeah, it is. I just–" He was cut off as the doors opened, catching both Robin and Steve's attention. Steve shut his mouth with an audible click, his eyes widening.
"Shit," He muttered, somehow managing to sound even more miserable than he already did.
Naturally, in the flesh, was the devil herself. Or, at least, in Steve's eyes. Robin didn't know enough about her, besides her questionable candy choices and her respectable taste in movies.
"Oh. You." Was what Nancy first said, stopping by the register where Steve and Robin were. Robin felt a wave of amusement. Was Nancy expecting her to not be at the place that she worked?
"Hey Nance," Said Steve, sounding strained. Robin patted him comfortingly on the shoulder.
"Hey Steve." She replied. Robin did not like the apparent sexual tension in the air, nor did she like to be next to the people fueling it. Nancy looked at Robin for a second, her expression unreadable.
"Are you here to get more black licorice?" She teased, trying to calm down the tension in any way that she could. Nancy gritted her teeth, crossing her arms sternly. She vaguely reminded Robin of her old history teacher, back in high school.
"No. I'm here to talk to Steve. Are you free?" Nancy had completely averted her attention from Robin, apparently ignoring her entirely. It pissed Robin off a little bit. Steve subtly turned to Robin, the expression on his face close to that of a plea for help.
"He's not, actually." Robin cut in. Both of them looked at her expectantly. "Our shift manager would be on his ass if he ditched his shift. He'd probably get fired, since he's new. Come back at a different time, Nancy." Her expression was firm, which surprised all three of them. (Yeah, Robin included.)
Nancy looked like she was about to protest, or complain, or at this point talk to the shift manager herself.
"She's right. I'm sorry, Nancy. We can talk sometime later, okay?" Nancy didn't respond, worrying on her lips and pinching her expression a bit. With another disappointed sigh, she turned on a heel and left back through the door. A line had built up, which was a bit embarrassing, but luckily nobody commented on it.
"Thank you." Steve breathed, sounding more sincere than she'd heard him in the small time that she knew him.
"Yeah. I don't want to deal with you crying like a kicked puppy now, do I?" She teased lightheartedly. He chuckled, and that was that. They continued on their shift with small comments here and there, absently saying goodbye at the end of their shared shift.
And out of all the people that Robin could have been working with, Steve wasn't that bad.
a/n
expect weekly updates !! nancy'll get there eventually.- ghostie
YOU ARE READING
1980s horror film - ronance
Romance"I'm.. really not that into guys." - Robin Buckley always thought that she was going to go somewhere with her life. Yet, here she was. Working at a measly movie theater. And to make things worse, she definitely insulted the wrong person's candy cho...
