The rest of the week was filled with Steve and I trying to "bump into" Robin, but never quite succeeding. Every time we saw her, we chickened out and ended up hanging out instead. Tonight Steve and I were hanging out in my living room drinking some Slurpees we had gotten at a gas station, suddenly we hear a knock at the door. I glance over at Steve, who is currently laying on my living room floor and watching the ceiling fan spin. Seriously, it takes so little to entertain this man. He looks back at me for a few seconds and shrugs as I get up to answer the door. Another knock sounds as I make my way to the front door and undo the lock. I open my front door to find Nancy Wheeler standing in the snow holding a notebook.
Except, it's not her notebook. It's mine, well, I guess it's more Steve's now. Oh sweet mother of god. What has he done now?
Nancy looks over my shoulder and starts to speak, "Hey Y/n, is Steve here?" She looks over my shoulder for the second time and squints a bit. I know she can see Steve lying on the floor behind me, and seeing as I am Steve's wing woman, I smile as sweetly as possible and nod. I step aside and let her in.
I shut the door behind me as she continues to talk, "He left this in Chemistry today. I went to drop it off at his house, but he wasn't home. So I figured he must be here." I guess that was the logical conclusion since I and Steve we pretty much inseparable now, but part of me still wondered how Nancy knew where I lived. Must be those reporter skills I guess, or she was stalking me. I chose to believe the former at this moment.
I hear steve whispering multiple shits from the living room and an odd amount of muffled banging and thumping. I step in front of the doorway, blocking Nancy from the living room as I shout, "Steve! Nancy's here!"
A few moments later, after even more muffled shits were said, Steve appears behind me and I step to the side. He leans against the doorframe and attempts to be 'casual' like he's told me to be so many times. It never works for me, but it works perfectly for him. He somehow looks like he's been leaning against this doorframe his whole life. After a few beats of awkward silence and shifting feet, I decide to leave the kids to it.
"Alright, well. I've got to go, uh, let my dog in." I say as I brush past Steve and give him a wink.
I go to the living room and pick up the remote as I hear some laughter from the entryway. I guess it's going pretty well. I scroll through channels for a few minutes and eventually land on some stupid game show. A few more minutes pass and I hear the front door shut as Steve saunters back into the living room with the biggest grin I think I've ever seen.
"What are you smiling at Smartass?" I ask as he walks over to the couch and sits down.
"Guess who just asked Nancy Wheeler on a date!?" He says, looking at me and doing a fake drumroll on the coffee table.
"Oooo. This is a tough one. Let me think for a second," I joke as he rolls his eyes. "I've got it! Tommy!" This earns me a soft smack to the back of the head with the notebook Nancy gave back to him.
"No Dumbass! I did!" he says excitedly, practically bouncing up and down in his seat. I had never seen him this excited before. He was practically walking on sunshine.
I roll my eyes and sarcastically reply, "Oh wow! I never could've guessed that!" He stops bouncing to glare at me. "Seriously Steve, congrats! I know you've wanted to do that for a while now," I say with a smile. "When are you guys going out?"
"We're going to the movies tomorrow," he says, finally calming down a bit and putting his feet up on the coffee table.
"You're joking," I say as I stare at him and start to smile.
"I'm not?" he questions, looking confused.
"Steve! This is perfect! I'm going to the movies with Robin tomorrow too!" I practically yell. "We're both having first dates on the same night! That way if something goes bad we can help each other!"
He looks at me and smirks, "Oh Swan Lake, I won't be needing help. But don't worry Y/n if you crash and burn the Steveinator will show up with the fire extinguisher."
He did not just call himself the 'Steveinator'. What the actual fuck?
"Never call yourself that again," I manage to say as I start to laugh.
We both start laughing maniacally and he shouts, "What? I thought it was catchy!"
"It's not Steve. It's really not."
After a few hours of aimlessly watching TV and talking about our dates tomorrow night, Steve and I fall asleep in my living room. Both of our parents were out of town for the long weekend, so we knew it would be fine if he stayed the night. My mom was doing an overnight nursing conference and Steve's parents were just gone, like usual. I knew it bothered him that they were never home, but I didn't want to press it. He was such a nice and funny guy, but under it all, I could tell it hurt him. He was one of those people where you slowly gain his trust, and eventually, he'll open up. I knew he'd talk about it when he was ready.
We woke up to my alarm going off upstairs in my bedroom, and when Steve sat up from his tangle of blankets on the floor he had the most atrocious bedhead. Like I am talking standing up on end from all directions bad. I stifled a laugh as he yawned and the image of an electrocuted cat came to my mind. I walked to the bathroom and started my morning routine, and before I knew Steve was driving me to school and we were in English class. When I sat my stuff on my desk I found a small origami swan with some writing on it. After I opened it I figured out it was a note from Robin, telling me that she would pick me up at 6 for the movie tonight.
After Steve dropped me off I raced up to my room to pick out an outfit. I knew I had a couple of hours, but I wanted to make sure I looked my absolute best. I decided that a form-fitting black sweater, a pair of mom jeans, and my docs were the way to go. I didn't do much to my hair and I put on a few swipes of mascara. After I was done getting ready I played some music and danced around my room, because what can I say? I'm a sucker for a solo dance party.
An hour or so later I was waiting anxiously in my living room, peeking through the blinds, as Robin pulled up and I heard a honk. I waited a few seconds, to hopefully avoid looking like a psychopath and then opened my front door. And boy, did she look absolutely beautiful.
As she let me into the car I was stunned into silence. She was wearing a navy button-up that accentuated her eyes and a pair of jeans. It was a simple outfit, but she didn't really need to do much to look excellent. Cruel Summer by Banarama hummed in the background as she started the car and we sat in silence.
After a few not-so-subtle coughs she looked over at me and broke the quiet, "So Y/n, cat got your tongue?"
"Yeah, something like that. It's just..." she looked at me and raised her eyebrows as her fingers drummed on the steering wheel along with the beat. "You look... really beautiful."
"Really? I could say the same about you," she said smiling and nudging me. I could feel myself turning red. I didn't know how to respond. "Hope you don't mind, but I made a slight change of plans," she said as she turned down a street that I knew wasn't the way to the movie theater.
"As long as I still get popcorn, I don't care," I said, nervously looking out the window and fidgeting with the hem of my shirt. "I mean, just don't like kill me or anything," I chuckled and looked over at her.
She turned down another street, laughed, and smacked my shoulder, "I don't know y/n, the woods are looking awful tempting tonight, wouldn't you say?" she said as she looked over at me. I giggled because I wasn't sure how to respond. "So, I'm going to let you in on a little secret," she said, stopping at the red light.
"Oh?" I said as I turned to face her. "Pray tell. I do love a good secret."
"I figured you would," she said. I waited expectantly as she sighed, "We're not actually going to the movie theater."
Um, excuse me? I had already gathered that, but she did just mention killing me... As a joke, but still. Was she going to take me out into the woods and murder me instead? I mean it's not completely impossible, but I could probably outrun her if I really needed to. I think.
My voice shook, "Where, um, exactly are we going?"
She looked at me and grinned, "Well, it's still a movie, but we're going to the drive-in."