Small Town - Steve Harrington × Fem Reader

Part 2 - Starcourt

My parents said I need a Summer job to "keep occupied." Which is annoyingly accurate. All of my friends are out of town for the Summer, leaving me with basically no one to hang out with. I could use some cash anyway.

The mall opened about a month ago, everyone and their mother has been going crazy over it. And, there's a lot of open job positions.
That leads me to today.
The buzz of people's voices around me fill my ears as I make my way through the mall, heading toward my new job. Yay.
I got a job at the smoothie place, Orange Julius. They make, you guessed it, orange smoothies.

As I walk over, I hear a familiar voice from the storefront directly across from Orange Julius. I stop in my tracks and look over. Shit, really? Just my luck, of course Steve works right across from me.
Steve is wearing a ridiculous sailor costume, complete with a little hat. He's standing behind the counter at Scoops Ahoy, arguing with a kid who looks familiar. I stare at him for a few seconds and then keep walking.

~~~~~

It's around lunch, I'm at my station when I look up to see Steve and his coworker walking over: bickering. I can hear the girl talking as they get closer.
"Why is there a whole business dedicated to making an orange drink, I just don't see the appeal!" Steve looks at her with a frustrated expression. "Robin, orange juice is popular! Come on, you don't like orange juice? And it's a smoothie, with sugar in it. You gotta like smoothies!"
"I'm more of an apple juice gal myself, Steve. And smoothies are just - eugh- the texture is all wrong. Mushy, and slimy, those are two things that a fruit flavored substance should never be!"
Steve sighs in exasperation. He looks at me, and our eyes meet for a brief moment before he turns back to Robin.
"Ok well, I'm gonna get a smoothie. You should just try mine."

They both walk up to the counter, Steve awkwardly taps his fingers on it. He looks at me.
"Y/n, I didn't know you worked here?"
I catch Robin giving him a look that tells me he did know that I work here.
"Hi, Steve. Today is actually my first day. I didn't know that you worked at the mall either. What a pleasant surprise."
"Speaking of pleasant," Robin interjects, "it's a pleasure to meet you y/n. I'm Robin, I work at Scoops Ahoy with the idiot to my left who neglected to introduce us."
She reaches her hand out to shake mine, and I take it.
Maybe this was a pleasant surprise after all. Robin seems pretty cool.
"Pleasure to meet you too, Robin. I think I had AP Lit with you, actually. I remember because you were the only Junior in there. You must be pretty smart if you were in advanced English."
Robin shys away a bit, she blushes. "Well, I don't like to toot my own horn, but -"
"Ok, cut the pleasantries. I came over here for a smoothie, not a trip down memory lane," Steve rudely interrupts.

Robin and I both look at each other with the same disgusted expression. I cross my arms across the counter and shift my weight onto them, looking Steve dead in the eye.
"Fine, what size do you want?" Steve looks at me like every thought he had disappeared as soon as I looked at him.
Robin nudges him in the arm because he's clearly somewhere else.
"Uhm-uh. Medium."
I slide my arms off the counter and step back. "K, coming right up." I grab a cup and walk over to the smoothie station.
I hear Steve and Robin mumbling behind me.
They've turned their backs to face me and are leaning on the counter behind them.
"Didn't know you work here, didn't come for a trip down memory lane? You are such bullshit Steve. What the hell was that?"
"Oh, what am I supposed to say? 'Hey, it's really nice to see you. I really miss you, please give me a second chance.' No, Robin, no way." Robin scoffs.
"Fine, fine. Just suffer in silence. Don't whine to me when you're yearning for someone who is literally 20 feet away at all times, and when you unsuccessfully try to get a date with some other girl to fill that hole in your heart."
"I do not have a hole in my heart, Robin. I just- I wish we didn't have to end like that. And it was intirely my fault."

I walk over with Steve's drink and place it on the counter. I clear my throat, making Steve jump and turn around rapidly.
"Your drink"
He looks nervously between the drink and me, then fumbles with his wallet.
"Uh, how much do I owe you?" I observe his franticness and the desperation in his eyes. "3 dollars."
Steve hands me a 5. "Keep the change."
"Thanks."
He takes his drink from the counter and looks at me. "See you around?" He says, a desperation and awkwardness in his voice. "Haven't got much of a choice, do I?" Steve lets out a sort of pained laugh and looks down at his hands. "Yeah, guess not."
"See ya Steve."

He and Robin step away, Robin shoots me a wink before they both turn their backs to me. I watch the sailors walk back to Scoops Ahoy, Steve looking visibly defeated. Robin pats him on the shoulder.
His passes his drink to her, and she takes a sip, immediately moving back and gagging in disgust. I hold in a laugh as I watch them.