The babysitters club|| Steve Harrington

32

"Robin?" He tapped on the stall door to his right, "Robin, did you just OD in there?"

"No" Came her response, though it sounded rough, like she was trying to fight a battle with herself. God, that inner battle thing was really going around for everyone, huh? "I... am still alive" She sighed.

Steve wasn't sure where this could lead, what could happen. But he had to talk to her. He knew he did. Making up his mind, he scooched to the wall his stall shared with Robin's. And as gross as it was, he slid under the stall partition to be on Robin's side.

"The floor's disgusting" She said. She was sitting with her back against the opposite wall. Unlike Matteo and Steve, she wasn't covered in blood, though she had a few injuries.

"Yeah, well, I've already got a bunch of blood and puke on my shirt, so..." He shrugged. The bathroom floor was the least of his worries. In the back of his mind, he knew he was forgetting about something, but he'd had a hell of a day, so he focused on Robin. "What do you think?"

She propped up her foot onto the stall partition next to him. Her red converse, like Matteo's, were doodled on and had a bunch of writing on them. It felt very distinctly Robin-like.

"About?"

She could not be this thick. She just wasn't that stupid. Right?

"This girl" Steve wasn't sure if he had ever felt this nervous with anyone, mostly because his brain kept saying- wrong wrong wrong. He chose not to listen to his brain. Robin was right right right.

"She sounds awesome" Robin said, but she didn't look very thrilled about it and she spoke with a tone that made Steve think she wasn't exactly head over heels for him. He'd handled enough rejection this past month, he wasn't sure if he could handle more.

His life had made a complete 360 degree the past few years. He'd gone from top of the popularity chain to confessing his feelings for a girl on a bathroom stall floor. It made him a bit crazy sometimes. He hated the change, hated how he suddenly wasn't considered attractive. It made him feel weak and gross and detestable and undesired.

It was everything he hated.

Robin's eyes kept looking over his shoulder, like she was trying to search for something over the horizon but the stall partition was blocking her view.

"She is awesome" Steve tried to keep his voice from shaking, "And what about the guy?" he asked, referring to himself.

"I think he's on drugs and he's not thinking straight"

Ouch. That one did hurt, a lot more than the other sort of rejections had. Because Steve knew Robin now, unlike the girls that showed up to buy ice cream. It hurt. Everything hurt.

"Really? 'Cause I think he's thinking a lot more clearly than usual" He tried to assure her. If she doubted anything between him and Matteo– that wasn't true. There was nothing. Because Steve wasn't queer. He wasn't gay. He wasn't.

"He's not" Robin insisted and for a second, Steve thought she read his mind, agreeing with him that he wasn't gay. "Look..." She went on, "He doesn't even know this girl. He didn't know her or her weird friend until a few days ago. Never paid attention. Her weird friend means a lot to her and I think this guy if he really did know them both- like really know them, I don't think he'd even want to be their friend."

"No, that's not true," Steve leaned ahead, "No way that's true. I don't care that DeAngelo likes guys, I swear it wasn't just the drugs talking."

Did she really think Steve wouldn't like her just because her friend was into dudes? It might seem from an outside perspective, that Steve hadn't changed at all. That he was still the guy that called Jonathan Byers a queer and spread rumors about Matteo. But he'd changed, he really did.