STRANGEST THINGS I HATE ABOUT YOU || steddie

chapter five: hideout part 2

'Fuck. What'd I get myself into?' Steve mumbles, pacing back and forth. Robin is laying on his bed, fully stretched out, following him with her eyes, slowly starting to get dizzy from the boy's constant movement.

'Harrington, calm down.' She sighs. 'Nothing bad's happened yet.'

Steve stops in his tracks, slowly turning to face the brown-haired girl. 'Yet?' he exclaims, 'Yet?' The word leaves his lips once more, pitch a bit higher, and he slowly shakes his head. 'Can't believe it.'

'Oh, come on. That's just a phrase.' Robin sits up, tucks her hair behind her ears and claps to signal she has something to say. Steve looks at her, exasperated. 'Listen. It's gonna be alright. You're just gonna have a friendly chat with him. It's not like I expect you to seduce the guy.'

'What do you expect from me, Robin?' That question causes the girl to double back, her eyes wide, but expectant. Is that the Steve Harrington many have talked about? Confident, blunt, and a little bit clueless.

'I-' Steve doesn't even let the girl finish before he starts speaking again.

'What is your motive? Why do you want me to do this? Wait, I've got another good question. Why me?' Words fly out at such speed, Robin struggles to fully understand him, a weird grimace taking over her face.

'You're just a loner Steve, okay? Eddie was a loner too. I just thought you'd be able to connect because of that...'

'You only answered the easiest question.' A pause. 'Why are you doing this, Robin?' Steve sits down on the floor by the head of the bed, leaning his arms on the mattress, facing Robin. He makes eye contact with the girl, trying to get her to speak, but she breaks the contact and looks away.

'You don't have to know everything about me Steve. We're not friends. And it's personal.' That statement gets Steve even more curious. No sarcasm. No jokes. This seems unlike her earlier behaviour.

'I just want to know if I'm getting into deep shit I won't be able to get out of.' The boy exhales, a breath he has not even realised he was holding. He gets him arms off the bed and leans back, looking up at the ceiling, extremely tired, even though the night hasn't started yet.

'Don't worry. You can dip any time you want to. Promise.' Robin sticks out her pinky towards the blonde. He looks back at her, unsure.

'Really? Pinky promise? What are we, five?' Steve raises his eyebrow in amusement.

'Steve, don't be a prick.' Robin smiles at him and shakes her hand to encourage Steve to go along with it.

Steve unwillingly gets up on his knees and reaches out to intertwine his pinky finger with hers. Robin taps her thumb on his and lays back down with a satisfied smile. 'Did you forget you were supposed to help me get ready?' Steve questions, an unwilling smile on his face.

She places a pillow over her mouth to muffle a whine, but gets off the bed anyway and takes her bag. 'Sadly, I am not a punk, so I don't have much, but I feel like overdoing it wouldn't do you any good.' She looks through her bag and takes out a small pink jewellery box.

'Didn't think you'd like pink.' Steve points out, trying to engage in some small talk.

'Why? Because I'm not girly enough for it?' Robin giggles at Steve's embarrassed expression, tempted to tease him further. 'That's sexist of you, Steve.'

'No! I didn't mean to- It's just. I-' Steve enters panic mode and struggles to say anything reasonable.

'I'm just joking.' Robin looks at Steve's shaky hands, and how he's playing with his fingers and picks at the skin around his nails. 'I got this box from my friend. They're very important to me, so I didn't have the heart to tell them that I hate pink.' Robin explains, catching Steve's attention.