"Hey, Rosemary."
"Hey, Robin."
The clang of Rosemary's trunk rattles the car when she slams it down, hoisting a suitcase full of laundry out with a grunt.
She registers the Buckley girl passing by her house and waving, no doubt on her way to Steve's to hitch a ride to Family Video, or maybe they're just hanging out.
Funny. Rosemary thinks how long it's been since she's seen Steve herself.
Time sure flies.
But she and the boy next door have stood still in the same spot for over six months.
Despite this, she flashes her teeth in a wide smile at Robin, happy to see her familiar, freckled face smiling back.
"Long time, no see!" Robin calls. "Spring break?"
"Yeah, two whole weeks," Rosemary responds, trying hard to sound disappointed about it, like it's some inconvenience to be back in little, old Hawkins after spreading her wings in college. But, a home-bird at heart, she can't help but feel a tiny flame of excitement flickering inside her stomach, to be back in her hometown's nest.
Robin cocks her thumb at the Harrington house.
"Does dipshit know you're back?" She asks.
Rosemary's lips part, her answer stuck in her throat.
"Uh, no," she eventually stammers. "No, he doesn't."
She drops her eyes to the ground, takes a big breath, then hauls her suitcase along the sidewalk with a weak smile buckling across her cheeks.
Meanwhile, Robin notices the girl next door's reaction, her mouth twitching with impatience.
"He never asked you out, did he?" She eventually questions, tone slightly pointed, though not in Rosie's direction. His.
Rosemary only snickers ruefully, glancing back up at the Buckley girl and replying, "No, he did not." Before pressing her lips together into a thin line.
Robin casts the girl a knowing look, shielding her eyes against the sun but nevertheless reaching out to offer her some physical form of sympathy.
She states quite bluntly, "You know? He's my best friend and all, but he sure is an idiot sometimes."
The derogatory comment pulls a giggle out of Rosemary in the form of a snort, before she nervously tucks a tuft of hair behind her ear.
"Your words, not mine," she hums, still smirking.
However, the grin she wears is short-lived, fading into itself when, speak of the devil, Steve emerges from his house. He frowns, peering down to adjust the name-tag on his green waistcoat, the colour of dark puke and totally cramping the whole 'charming and handsome' thing he's got going for himself.
He twirls a set of car-keys on his finger.
"Alright, Rob, ready to rock and roll?" He jokes, earning a groan from his best friend in response.
She complains, "please stop saying that, I beg of you."
"Oh, you hate it? You've never said." But his sneakers scud against the ground when he freezes. Seeing her. "Rosie..." he utters, bereft and masking it poorly, where even the butterflies in his gut betray him. "You're back."
The girl next door smiles crookedly, awkwardly.
"Yeah, guess I am," is all she can think to reply.
After, she labours to lug the massive suitcase up her drive, dragging it clumsily along it with two hands. It pretty much weighs a tonne, and this is all the strength she can muster, with the sheer, colossal mountain of laundry it contains.
YOU ARE READING
Love Grows: Steve Harrington's Girl Next Door
Fanfic"God, you're fucking pretty," he blurts. "Funny," she utters. "Was gonna say the exact same thing about you." ________________________________________ Steve Harrington never really gave Rosemary much of a thought. Why should he? She's just the weird...
