Jailbird || Stranger Things

seventy-eight ➵ damaged goods

"I thought she was coming back for Spring Break?" Robin looked at Steve incredulously as he delivered the contents of Teresa's latest letter he'd received that morning in the mail, although he was unaware of the very out of date information.

    "She said she was gonna go to see El," he shrugged, pulling away from the curb of her house. "I can't be annoyed at her for that."

    Robin rolled her eyes, unable to hold back the annoyance that continued to bubble up at his self-brought heartbreak. Who exactly was it that was constantly searching for a girl in so many others? Oh yeah. Newly crowned (again) King Steve.

    "You're an idiot, Steve Harrington," she declared as she tried to get comfortable in the passenger seat, pulling out her makeup that she'd neglected to do at home.

    "Why?!" he glanced over in protest, eyes latching onto her in confusion before they returned to the straight road.

    "How long are you gonna keep going on dates with girls who are either too much like Reese or not at all? You're just skating around your real issue," she looked through the bag in her lap.

    "I don't know what you're talking about," he turned away, biting the inside of his cheek in an effort to keep quiet. What he really wasn't expecting was the snap of the back of her hand against his upper arm. "Ow!"

    "Dingus," Robin muttered under her breath, turning her attention back to her task at hand. Maybe she was not entirely fair because Reese was also a serious sore point for this topic, but she was too far away to take it out on. Regardless, the girl she thought was incredibly intelligent, and the guy she grew to quite like were starting to be a serious chore to deal with.

    This was not why she listened and went along with Reese's idea of 'space' and 'figuring out what we all want'. This was precisely what Robin had predicted, actually. If only Reese would listen.

    Instead, Steve decided to change the topic and launched into precisely what Robin wanted to avoid. His exploits.

    "Then there's Heidi tomorrow night, but the problem with Heidi is that she's going out of state for college. Do I wanna start another relationship that has no point other than sex, when I don't even want to sleep with her? I mean, I just—I don't know. Does that make sense to you?" he turned halfway through his rant, disappointed in his best friend. "Robin, are you listening?"

    "Uh, yes!" but she wasn't. She was distracted by finishing getting ready for the hellscape of Hawkins high, putting on eyeliner..

    "What did I just say?" he asked with a disbelieving look.

    "Something about sex with Linda."

    "No, I'm talking about Heidi," he huffed, frustrated.

    "W—Cut me some slack, please!" she groaned, swapping out the pencil for mascara, just as exasperated as he was. "Your love life is one of labyrinthine complexity. And it is 7:00 in the morning, we have to go to this stupid pep rally, and I woke up looking like a total corpse!" she complained in a way only a high schooler could, something she was quite aware of but had no option to change.

    "You're worried about a basketball pep rally? You expect me to believe that?" he asked, his voice hiding something she was immediately worried about.

    "Yeah? So?"

    "So we both know what this is about! Okay, I'm not buying that bullshit, this is about Vickie," he replied, shooting her a knowing look. Something he'd been practising in the last nine months of being friends with Robin, because it was quite easy to do so. Finally, he felt he'd found an equal, who thought like him, and accepted him the way he was. His authentic self. Something only Teresa had encouraged before.