Ghost of You // Vance Hopper

V

MORE ROBIN CONTENT FOR YOU GUYS BEFORE SEEING VANCE AGAIN!! This chapter is kinda shitty and written bad, I apologize :(. I'm incredibly tired rn, but I'll try my best tomorrow to make a better written chapter!
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Thursday 1978.
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The trip back home felt like a dream. One minute you were sitting down talking to Vance for whatever reason, the next you were sprinting back to your house to inform Robin of what the hell happened.
"Mom, I'm home!" You swung the front door open and made an exaggerated grand entrance, throwing your backpack near the coat rack before slipping off your shoes and tossing them into the shoe bin. Walking further into the house, you noticed how dead silent it was, and how there was no sign whatsoever of your mom. That was until you checked the living room.

She was sprawled out on the couch with the TV still on. Some old horror movie was playing at low volume, probably just to lull her to sleep. She tended to do that, watch a movie in order to go to sleep, so you usually left the TV on until she was snoring. Staring at her made you remember just minutes ago when you thought Vance was taking you behind the building to beat you senseless, but he never did. It also reminded you that calling Robin needed to happen now. You ran to the kitchen and spent almost an entire minute dialing him, trying to get the numbers that were practically nailed into your head right.
"Robin! Pick up, pick up." Finally, a click was heard and Robin's voice echoed through the receiver.

"Hello?" You heard him greet through the static.

"Robin! I have so much to tell you, but I also have to make dinner since my mom is sleeping."

"Go on, Cariño. Why's your mom sleeping so early? I thought she got home later." You shrugged as you pulled out bread from the cupboard and cheese out of the fridge. He could hear the plastic fumbling from both items so he waited a minute for your answer. You adjusted the phone onto your shoulder and leaned the side of your head onto it as you stuck your tongue out in concentration trying to make the grilled cheese sandwich you wanted.
"Sorry. Okay, yes. I forgot to tell you my mom has been taking the night shifts instead all this month since she was offered more money. But anyway, you know how I accidentally stole Vance Hopper's pocket knife?"

You heard rustling through the line, so Robin was most likely moving around on his bed. Boy can never sit still.
"...yeah?" He didn't like where you were going with your story at the mention of Vance, but you didn't seem upset. You seemed.. excited, in a way?
"Well, I went to return it while he was playing his dumb pinball game and he sorta, kinda.. dragged me behind the building? He didn't do anything bad, but we talked for a little while. It was so weird, he was speaking to me as if we were friends up until I caught him staring at my hand. I waved it in front of his face to snap him out of it, and he stormed off like I just told him he stank or something." You took a deep breath after talking, trying to steady again it as you used a spatula to transfer the sandwich onto a paper plate next to the stove.

"That was a lot. He didn't yell at you or anything?" Robin sounded bewildered, like you just told him the strangest thing ever.
"He told me he didn't hit girls, but yeah, he did yell at me. It wasn't anything too bad, but it almost seemed out of character for him. It's not everyday you see the petty thief and school bully hanging out behind the Grab N' Go." Robin agreed with a chuckle, relieved that you were safe and at home.
"Oh, speaking of Grab N' Go—" you cut him off at the sound of your mom yelling something from the living room and whispered a nimble 'be right back'.

Faint stomping could be heard from the living room, signaling you to hang up the phone. Your mom clearly wasn't in a good mood. You picked up your plate with the sandwich and made your way upstairs, locking your bedroom door once reaching it. You had an upstairs phone in your room for the sole purpose of calling Robin, and you weren't ashamed to admit it. You had never officially dated someone, only had crushes. And you weren't gonna lie, you had a crush on Robin at one point. I meant, who didn't?

The magazine under your bed was just screaming at you to read it, so you flipped it open and took it with you to dial Robin's home number in after placing the sandwich on your bed. He answered immediately knowing it was you and asked what made you hang up.
"I accidentally woke up my mom, and she's angry now. What were you trying to ask me a minute ago?" You brushed it off lightly and again leaned your phone on your shoulder and side of your head as you laid on the ground. There weren't many interesting pages, but you continued reading and grabbed your grilled cheese.
"Oh. I was gonna ask if on Friday you wanted to go to the drive-in and watch whatever's on? And if you could get snacks tomorrow, you'll have a chance to see your little novio again!" Robin teased you and snickered to himself. He emphasized 'novio', getting his point across.

"I'll hang up right now. I'm gonna barf, that is so disgusting. Me and Vance? Never. But yeah, I'll get the snacks— on one condition." The rustling over the line stopped, Robin suddenly stopped moving around to hear the condition.
"You let me sleepover at your house tomorrow night."

"Deal."

"Hey, but what if I actually run into Vance again tomorrow? What do I even say? What if he actually beats my ass this time?" Robin stopped your spiraling right there before it got too bad. He was always the one that needed to calm you down when you did that, as you were one to worry. He wasn't there to stop you from spiraling in the parking lot when you weighed your options for what you could've done, and ended up making matters worse. You needed Robin just as much as he needed you. You couldn't even imagine life without him, it was impossible!
"Don't even worry about it. If he starts getting aggressive, just run. If something feels off, come to my house immediately. I don't want you getting hurt again. Didn't you mention he said he didn't hit girls? I think you'll be fine."

You heard the boy pop something into his mouth. Would you be okay though? You had a bad feeling about tomorrow, for some reason. Something just felt.. off. Wait.
"Are you eating my candy?" You gasped, pretending to even be mildly surprised at Robin eating the candy you left at his house just days ago.
"My room, my rules. And whatever happened to your little saying, 'Mi casa es su casa'?" Curse you for not thinking ahead! Soon enough, Robin was gonna show up to school in one of your sweaters and claim it as his own! It would either end up torn apart from a fight or smelly from him and Finney being all over each other. God, high school boys were so icky.
"Yeah, yeah. Whatever." By now, the grilled cheese sandwich was completely gone, and you'd already flipped through the entire magazine.
"Shit! Now I have to wait for another issue. This is all your fault." You stifled back a laugh, getting ready to never hear the end of what just came out of your mouth.

"What? My fault? Not my fault you're like, ungodly smart and good at reading!" Nevermind. You completely disregarded the fact that Robin wasn't even physically able to insult you at all. That boy loved you too much. He was like the brother you never had, and the one you definitely did not want living in your house. His room was something else, like entering a junkyard, but it smelled at least 10x worse.
"Thanks. I'm gonna go to bed, and hopefully run into Vance tomorrow so I can stall and spend less time in your smelly ass room." You giggled, and ignored the boy's irritated sigh, knowing for sure that he was smiling and shaking his head as well.

"Whatever. You know you love me. Goodnight, Cariño. Don't miss me too much when you go to bed!" You didn't even respond, but instead hung up on Robin, slamming the phone onto the wall stand. Just as you did it, you heard one last gasp emit from the boy before he was gone.

Just a few more hours until seeing Pinball Vance. But, yes, you did sort of want those hours to pass by faster.