Dingus | Robin Buckley x Reader

Chapter Four|Just hope

I sit on my sofa, bored. Robin and Steve have shifts at Family Video, leaving me home. I play with my (h/c) hair. Then, the phone rings.

Desperate for something, I rush to the phone. Picking it up, I cradle it under my ear. "Hello?" my voice echoes.

"Oh, hi sweetie," my father says. What the hell does he want?

"Hi Dad," I say begrudgingly.

"Um, sweetie. We need you here, in Orlando. I'll pick you up at the airport."

"Why?"

"Your mom. She- she's had an accident," he swallows his sorrow uselessly.

"Give me a plane, I'll be there in 6 hours," I say and hang up the phone. I know I was desperate for something to happen but this is not what I was thinking. My mom. I don't even know what's happened to her. I feel lost and hopeless, my mom is my rock. I can't even imagine life without her.

~time skip bought to you by a lazy writer~

(A/n: I've never been on a plane so cut me some slack ok 😂)

Staring out the window into the clouds does not ease the knot of anxiety in my stomach. In fact, it only worsens. I don't know why I thought it would work; I'm terrified of heights. I remove my eyes from the world outside and look at the chair in front of me. White leather with creases from overuse. This does nothing to distract me either so I look down the aisle of seats. There's hardly anyone on this plane to Orlando so I look for an air-hostess; after all, I'm hungry.

I can't find one so I swipe a pretzel bag from the trolley and sit back down. The saltiness of the pretzels makes me cringe and rethink my choice but I can't be bothered to get up again. Besides, the seatbelt sign was flashing again; we were going to land pretty soon.

~another time skip because I'm lazyyy~

As I stand on the escalator going down to the lobby, I spot my father in his signature suit and ridiculous tie. When I was little, we used to have competitions of who could find the silliest tie in the store. The winner would get an ice cream sundae on the way home and the loser would get fruit. Naturally, we both wanted to win.

"Dad," I squeal as I run into his comforting arms.

"This is a pleasant surprise," he chuckles as I pull away from the hug. I guess he's right, I've been really anti-social since I've started dating Robin. But I've been doing it so when I inevitably tell him, it will cushion the blow.

"How's Mom?" I ask, we will have to talk about it one way or another.

"The doctors say she's stabilising," he says and I can detect that he has a lump in his throat. I imagine what it'd feel like if something happened to Robin and I realise for the first time what agony he must be going through.

I sympathetically pat his shoulder. "It's going to be okay," I tell him softly. The words that escape my mouth aren't a reassurance or the truth, they're just hope. The words are meant to soothe me more than him.

"I've got to call my work, tell them I'm not coming in anytime soon," I change the subject drastically. Dad doesn't give me a response, only nodding and I see tears in his eyes. I walk to the nearest payphone and dial the familiar number of my work.

"Hello, this is Robin speaking. How can I help?" Robin says. I missed her voice so much.

"Hi Rob, it's y/n," I smile.

"Y/n, oh my god. How are you?" she excitedly says. She reminds me of a puppy.

"Um," I pause, looking at my father. He smiles at me and I give a quick smile back. "I'm in Orlando," I decide to say.

"Orlando?" she asks, confused.

"My mother, she's ill." I swallow the lump in my throat before continuing. "I'm not coming back to Hawkins for a few days. Could you tell Keith?"

"Why would I tell Keith?" she asks defensively and anxiously.

"He's my manager," I state the obvious, a bit of a question in my voice. I know that Robin is jealous of literally everyone who talks to me, but this is getting a bit too far.

"Oh." She sounds relieved. "Yeah, I'll tell him. I'm gonna miss you, you know."

"Thanks and I'm missing you so much already!" I say, the smile returning.

"Hang on, Steve wants to talk to you," she says begrudgingly and hands the phone over to Steve. I wait expectantly.

"Hey. So as your boyfriend, I'm legally obligated to ask how you ended up in Orlando."

"Shut up," I giggle. "A plane."

"Duh, but what brings you there?" he asks.

Tears well up in my eyes, my throat is dry and I find myself unable to speak. "Uh," I mumble.

"Move, dingus!" Robin's voice says behind the phone, muffled. "I'll tell him later. Are you okay?" Her voice is clearer, she obviously pushed Steve out of the way.

"I-"

"You dingus!" she yells at Steve and Steve lets out a muffled 'ow'. She's hit him. "Seriously, are you okay?" Concern laces her voice.

"I, I just need to see her."

"Okay, we'll go then. Call me later, let me know how she is."

And as soon as that, the monotone noise plays in my ear, telling me they'd hung up. I sigh and walk over to my father.

"Everything okay, hun?" he asks, so concerned. I'm not ready for this to go away. But it will.

I can only nod, otherwise tears would escape from my eyes. I didn't want that to happen.

"No bags, huh?"

I chuckle, I flew here in such a rush. He shakes his head at my behaviour and we walk out of the airport together.