𝗨𝗚𝗟𝗬 // 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝘃𝗲 𝗛𝗮𝗿𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘁𝗼𝗻

056

We stumble back into the trailer, where Eddie is knelt down drinking a beer, "what? Why are you guys back so quick?"

"We gotta go!" I ignore his question and shout, slamming myself face first into the passenger seat and as I move around to sit properly, Steve is starting the vehicle.

"What- why?" Lucas shouts at the group, confusion spreading over his face before the youngest Sinclair speaks up, "your old friends are here."

***

Golden flowers and shiny leafs float around us as we hide out in a large field, a grating sawing noise beside me as Nancy Wheeler works her magic, cutting the end of her gun.

Me and max aren't quite sure how it works, but she assures us the action means she won't miss.
There's a look of recognition on Max's face as I too remember the last time we all stood like this, in star court mall, right before Billy came in.

Max asked if she would kill him.
This time, she hopes she will.

Once Nancy is done she stands there with the gun proudly in her arms before laying it politely on the ground and sitting with it in front of her on the grass.
Max's eyes look between us, "I'm gonna go see how Lucas is doing.."

And then there we are, a roaring silence between us as I think of where to start, what to say.

"I didn't know you were friends," she lets out, the catalyst to a long needed conversation, "I know."

She squeezes one eye shut and grimaces in anticipation, "so you didn't think I stole her away?"

I can't help the sigh that escapes my lips, she must read me and Robin like a book, "we did, me and Robin, but that was silly.. Barb isn't an object to be taken." I mention her name as if it's a secret to dance around, a poison from my lips coated in shame.

I stopped hating Nancy Wheeler a while ago, my jealousy growing to intrigue as I became friends with the fearless girl, watching her hunt monsters like people hunt men.

In freshman year, me and Robin used to rant away about her, I'd watch Barb and her in the halls and feel a sadness I could never replicate at the idea of my best friend lost forever. But Barb wasn't lost then, not yet anyways.

Nancy sighs, "I assume Steve told you, about that night."
I nod lightly, "he told me his side, but he said the rest was your story to tell."

I remember it well, the way a tear fell down his cheek as he remembered his regrets, he'd told me the first time we met after we defeated the mind flayer.

He told me I had every right to leave him behind, to forget about Steve Harrington.

I told him I couldn't do that.

Nancys eyes cloud with tears, "Ruby please believe me when I say thats the biggest mistake of my life I-" she begins to rant, tears falling like raindrops, like a thunderstorm, "I should've been there! I should've walked out that door and gone home with her I-"

She falls to the ground, kneeling on the grass as she sobs, hands clenching the ground beneath her, uncaring of the dirt etching itself into her finger nails.

She whimpers out, "I killed her."

All these years I found myself resenting Nancy after Barb disappeared, but..