'tis the damn season

Twenty-Nine: I Think He Knows

"I want you, bless my soul, I ain't gotta tell him I think he knows"

I sit behind the counter, watching Robin organize stacks of returned movies, and listening while she rambles on about Vicki and how she feels like she's ruining her shot with her.

"The words, they just keep spilling out and my brain is moving faster than my mouth, or rather my mouth is moving faster than my brain, and it feels like I'm digging this hole for myself and I want to stop digging, and I'm trying to stop digging, and I'm... doing it right now aren't I?"

"A little bit," I wince. "But that doesn't have to be a flaw," I say, trying to turn this around.

She cocks her head to the side at me, like I'm crazy.

"Robin, you're a great talker," I say. "You can make a conversation out of anything, and you're like the funniest person I know. There's no way Vicki is going to dislike you because of your rambling. If anything I think she'll see it as an asset."

"She's right," Steve says, from behind an aisle. "Being yourself is the key."

Robin rolls her eyes at him from where he can't see. "That's easy enough for you guys to say," she mumbles. "You two are practically friends with benefits without the benefits."

My eyes are open so wide they feel dry. I couldn't believe she'd just said that out loud. I mean, she'd made comments about Steve and I before, but never while he was in the room.

"What?" He asks, clearly having heard her, and coming over to us.

Robin looked like she really wanted to dig that hole now. She shrugs pretending like she didn't say anything at all.

Steve looks at me, and I shake my head, and shrug, acting as if I have no idea what she's talking about. And technically I didn't. Steve and I were just friends. That was it, and that was all it was ever going to be.

Robin just rolls her eyes eventually. "Oh c'mon guys," she sighs. "You're both acting as if I don't talk separately with you about each other."

My breath caught in my throat. I didn't talk to Robin about Steve. Well, I guess maybe sometimes, but she was making it sound like we went to our sleepovers and gossiped about him. Did Steve and Robin gossip about me?

"And I've come to the conclusion, that you're both just in denial."

"What?" I scoff.

"Yeah, Robin you're way off here okay?"

Way off? What was way off supposed to mean?

Steve and I look at each other both of us smiling awkwardly at the situation Robin created.

"Yeah, no," I laugh. "We're just—,"

"Friends," Steve finishes.

Robin still doesn't look convinced as her eyes flick between us. "Yeah, we'll see," she scoffs. "What should we watch? I'm feeling like Back to the Future."

How the heck was I supposed to just move on, after she dropped that bomb on us. Now I was paranoid. What did her and Steve talk about? Now I was going to be even more on edge around him than I already was.

Robin walks around the counter, where I am, turning on the TV hanging from the ceiling with Back to the Future in her hand. The news is what turns on first, and it's one of the police officers.

"What the hell?" She mumbles, looking at the screen, and turning up the volume.

"A Hawkins High student was found dead this morning, cause is yet to be determined, but a potential homicide has not yet been ruled out."