rumours | robin buckley

14. fever dream

FEVER DREAM
friday, march 7th

Beth still had butterflies in her stomach and an odd happy feeling in her head. Last night had been some sort of a fever dream.

She basically skipped down the stairs to the lobby like an idiot.

Today was another busy day. They packed their things and left them in the hotel's lobby, then met their guide from yesterday in the front, ready to dive in the secrets of New York again.

They walked more. Beth's feet had already had enough of this yesterday, and more exercise didn't help. Robin offered to carry her, and Beth frowned at her. Way too poetic.

Their guide told everything that was essential about each building, street and area. History, tracig and great events, the development of the city. And he could answer every single question you could ever think of.

"This feels too much like school like right now." Kate commented, listening to the guide preaching about geography.

"This is a school trip, after all." Cassie laughed.

"It's pretty interesting." Robin threw in.

After lunch (in a small and homely Italian restaurant), everyone came to the conclusion that they had pretty much no money left. Beth stared sadly at her last twenty dollars.

"We could go buy some Ice cream? I have enough for that." Kate suggested.

"Ice cream? It's the beginning of March." Stacy laughed, leaning into Chris who was clutching his jacket.

"You really eat ice cream this time of the year?" Beth asked, and Katw threw her hands up.

"Okay, nevermind. Anybody have a better idea?"

After a long silence, Cassie spoke up: "Honestly.. I'd kill to just sit down right now."

"Yeah." Stacy said. "Don't get me wrong, this has definitely been one of the best experiences of my life-" She sighed. "..but I'm so tired."

Everyone agreed, and then the seven of them sat down on the pavement and enjoyed the last minutes of the city. It was nice.

Beth was tired too. She was so tired.

—

When the bus back home left at around 4pm, everyone was acting like they had just ran a marathon or survived a week in the jungle or whatever. It really felt like that. They stared out of the window as the city disappeared in the distance and quieted.

Thirty minutes to the drive, Stacy had fallen asleep with her Kim Wilde cassette still playing. Chris gently pulled the headseat from the girl, trying not to wake her up. Stacy mumbled in her sleep, tossed around before settling her head on the boy's shoulder. Beth smiled at the two.

"Corny." Robin whispered.

"Adorable." Beth corrected. "But-" she adjusted and leaned her own head to Robin's shoulder.
"I'm sure your shoulder is better."

"Are you a professional shoulder-reviewer?"

"Absolutely. I have a degree."

Their banter died down when the girls doze off to sleep. It was weirdly easy to fall asleep against eachother just like that, in a bus, in an uncomfortable position. They slept soundly for quite a while before getting woken up by Kate.

"Are we stopping?"

—

It was cold outside. They had decided to wait and get some fresh air, but this air was more than fresh.

Beth was standing outside the gas station with Cassie. She shivered and pulled her cardigan on tighter, clutching her sandwich. Two girls came out of the little shop and rushed by them, hoping back to the bus.

Cassie broke the silence.

"It's you and Robin, isn't it?"

Oh. The question was sudden, but somehow Beth had known to expect it.

It was only a matter of time how soon Cassie would've figured it all out, anyway.

"Yeah."

The girl looked at Beth. "That's great. I hope you're happy." Beth could hear that she meant that.

"Oh, trust me, I am happy."

There was a silence, and the girls just stared at their shoes. Beth couldn't help but Start worrying: "You won't, like..."

"Tell anyone? No." Cassie smiled, and then, out of nowhere, gave Beth the quickest hug. The girl was startled, and then Cassie had pulled back.
"I'm glad. That you're happy."

It felt funny to have a conversation like that in the back of a gas station.

"I hope you're happy?" Beth said, more like a question.

"I am. I have great friends." She smiled, and then the others bursted out of the door, breaking the moment.

"What are you two still freezing here?"

Everyone eventually got back to the bus, carrying their shoppings and constantly yawning.

The four girls shared their snacks, snatching chips and skittles and sandwich-pieces from eachother, pulling together some sort of a dinner.

They talked quietly, going on about the trip: the fire alarm incident, all the places they saw, all the things they bought, all the pigeons they chased, etc etc.

"Overall, success." Robin hissed her s's. "At least I would say."

"Agreed. This was just as good as the seniors said." Cassie nodded.

"It was better! Excluding the fire alarm thing."

"Never forgetting this."

—

Finally, just before midnight, they passed the familiar 'welcome to Hawkins' sign, and the teachers took a tour around the bus: waking everyone up and informing that they were arriving back home.

Beth had luckily got some more sleep during the drive. She rubbed her eyes and flexed her feet, drinking the final sips from her water. God, it would feel great to walk on solid ground again after sitting so long. And then go to sleep on her own bed -even better.

As the bus parked on the school grounds, people rushed out to get their things and hop into their parent's cars. To go home.

After several goodbyes and wawes, there were only a dozen students left on the parking lot: including Beth and Robin, who were both shivering.

"What are you gonna do first when you get home?" Beth asked.

"Sleep. I'm gonna run to my bed and get cozy and fall asleep and sleep until the end of the world." Robin preached. "I swear to god."

"Amen." Beth put her hands up.

The night sky was full of stars.

A car pulled to the parking lot -Beth's mother's car. The girl sighed and gathered her packages. She felt kind of bad, leaving Robin here by herself. The girl looked like she would freeze to death soon.

Beth had the sudden urge to kiss Robin goodbye, but she really couldn't.

"I'll call you tomorrow. First thing in the morning, promise." She said, looking at the girl with tired eyes. "Good night, Robin."

"Good night."