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.:·∘⋄;*, CHAPTER THREE: ROLLER-SKATES AND LATE-NIGHT BIKE RIDES .·'*⋄ ''
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"STOP HARRASSING STEVE," commented Rain, trying to pull Robin's arms away from where she was attempting to put another strike on the board. "He's trying his best. He has enough problems with his hair being oppressed by that hat."
Harrington pointed at her, "You know what, Simmons? I take it back, you're not cool anymore."
Crossing her arms over her chest, Rain raised a curved eyebrow in a perfectly aggravating, teasing kind of way. "Getting brave, Harrington," Rain shot back, tossing her head of pretty curls, and pointed a finger right back at him. "Watch out, you might lose your flirting tips." A smirk pulled across her face as she gave him a shit-eating grin and shoved a cherry lollypop between her lips. He groaned in annoyance, and she just shot her eyebrows up again at him. There was a knock from the back room which indicated new stock, and Steve just rolled his eyes and went to collect it.
Rain gave herself a triumphant grin, while Robin peeled away from where she'd been serving some customers. The shorter girl hopped onto the serving counter, smoothing down her sailor's shorts—and Robin followed suit. Since the area between the prices menu and the ice-cream case was a small space, they were pressed side-to-side, and it was impossible not to feel even the other's breaths.
"Don't start being a dingus like Steve," pleaded Robin, pushing both sides of her hair behind her ears as she leant on Rain's shoulder and peered at Rain with her blue eyes. Her hair looked nice like that, Rain noticed.
"Excuse me?" Rain replied in shock, "I am nowhere on Steve's level. I'll have you know I graduated at the top of my class." The red lollypop was enclosed around her glossy lips as she squinted judgementally at Robin. "And I do take pride in that, thank you very much, because it's about the only thing I'm good at."
A teasing smile formed on Robin's face, "Oh, please, you were good at everything. The perfect Hawkins girl."
"Oh?" asked Rain, blinking. She couldn't stop staring at the pretty, angelic curves of Robin's face—the gentle roundness of her lips; the patterns of freckles dotted all along her face, across her pretty nose and high, sloping cheekbones; her vibrant blue eyes which shimmered whenever she laughed at something Rain said—and realised that was exactly why she wasn't the perfect Hawkins girl, and realised how messed up she was. Rain pulled her gaze away from Robin's features, trying to stare at her own nail polish instead. It was foul and wrong of her to think of Robin in that way, especially when that's what Robin thought of Rain: some perfect girl that everyone in Hawkins wanted to be. Noticing her immediate change in attitude, Robin opened her mouth to ask what was wrong.
The dinging of the counter's bell broke the two out of their interaction, turning their heads in that direction. An annoyed woman stood near the register with two snotty children. There was a scowl on her face and she'd clearly been standing there for a good moment without being served.
"Oh, sorry—what do you want?" asked Rain, much-too-quickly slipping on her Ahoy hat and leaving Robin's warm side. If she noticed the disappearance of that heat, she did not show it. She straightened her collar fidgetingly as she served the woman and almost dropped the ice-cream as she handed it over. The lady just glared at her as she threw Rain the coins. "Grumpy old bitch," she grumbled after the woman had left, shoving the money into the cash register. A figure loomed in the edges of her vision and she turned her head towards the person who had arrived across the counter. Who it was took her by surprise, "Oh—Mom?" She pulled her eyebrows together in confusion, leaning on the counter with both arms. Her mother hadn't visited her work before, and she couldn't see a reason why she would now.
"Hi, Rainbow darling, you forgot your wallet," she just smiled at her daughter and held the dainty purse out over the counter. Robin made a slight noise in the back of her throat, and tried to pass it off as a cough. The expression on Rain's face turned from a carefree smile to one with slight mortification. "I'm pretty sure you need that to buy yourself some lunch."
"Right, thanks so much, Mama." She took the peach-coloured wallet and tucked it behind the counter. "Thanks for running it out here for me." Her mother just smiled, a perfect, mirror reflection of Rain herself, and nodded in reassurance.
"It's no problem, baby." She shot a glance towards Rain's co-worker, who was standing back with both amusement and slight shock written across her features, eyebrows raised ever-so-slightly. The next words she directed to Robin, smiling. "It's nice to know my daughter's making friends, by the way," her mother said, rather embarrassingly, "she hasn't had many good ones since high school."
"Thanks, Mama," Rain droned, teeth gritted together in a hard line as she winced a little, and her mother just waved goodbye and left the parlour. The short girl was just left with her hands pressed against the counter, blinking.
When Rain's mother had disappeared, Robin let out a loud snort. "Your real name is Rainbow?"
Rain's mouth slipped open in shock and she practically leapt on the girl. "Oh my God, Robin, shut up!" She covered Robin's mouth with her hand, refusing to let her speak. "It's mortifying! Do you want to subject me to public humiliation?"
"Why the Hell is your name Rainbow?" Robin mumbled through Rain's closed fingers. To get Rain's hand off her lips, she stuck out her tongue and licked the girl's palm.
Rain pulled her hand away in disgust. "Ew!" She wiped it on Robin's uniform as the taller girl hopped onto the counter to sit on it. "Gross, Robin. And I don't know, my parents were major hippies. They're past that phase now, but I'm stuck with a name from My Little Pony." Robin snorted, swinging her legs, and Rain looked over. "If you tell anyone, I will seriously never speak to you again." Her arms crossed over her chest and she gave Robin a short glare. "Do you really have to sit up there? You're tall enough already. This is just humiliating."
"You're just short," said Robin, fondness creeping into her voice. She placed her palms down, leaning back against them so she could peer at Rain without having to crane her head down too far. She looked very pretty like that—it was quite unfair on poor Rain.
Rain scrunched up her face, "You're taller than Steve!"
"Steve is short!" Robin defended, raising her eyebrows. Her lips were curled up in amusement, she was trying not to laugh.
"No," accused Rain, pointing her finger at the russet-haired girl, "you're just a giraffe! I could literally climb you if I had any upper strength at all." Rain put her hands on her hips, staring at her ferociously with pouted lips. At the collar, her sailor's uniform was crumpled, and she still held the lollypop tight in her fist.
"I'd like to see you try," fired back Robin, curling one of her legs on the counter. The indications of amusement spread across her face. Her lips were turned up at the corners.
Rain did not remove her hands from her own waist, but rather seemed to hold them there only firmer. She scrunched up her face and glared at Robin through a single eye, mouth puckered. "Is that a challenge, Buckley?" Her nametag reading Rain seemed to shimmer in the fluorescent light, her sharp eyebrow raised in an aggravating arch.
Robin just lowered her head down so it was closer to the girl's height, full lips grinning in playfulness. "I suppose it is."
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STARCOURT MALL WAS always eerie when it was empty. The neon signs of storefronts still glowed through the dark cavernous area, and locking up was never fun. Luckily, Rain had Robin to keep her company tonight, and so even when the dodgy lights of Scoops Ahoy flickered out, Rain wasn't nearly as scared. They'd just finished locking up the back room and now walked through the dim halls towards the exit.
"Can I call you Bow?" Robin asked as they walked side-by-side, her hands held behind her back.
Rain gave her a look, "If you call me Bow, everyone is gonna connect the dots. What's Rain plus Bow? Oh, that's right, a character in My Little Pony." She walked with a slight bounce in her step and retrieved her apple and peach lip-loss from her jean pocket to coat her lips with again.
"Why do you keep referencing My Little Pony?" teased Robin, glancing down at the girl, "A fan?"
Planting her hands on her hips, Rain stopped in her tracks and turned towards Robin with a piercing look on her face. "Yeah, it's good okay! I watched it as a kid, its quality has only improved!" she defended, eyebrows scrunched together.
Robin just snorted, laughing loudly. It rung around the empty mall, but Rain just smiled and rolled her eyes and kept walking, holding the backpack over her shoulder as she unpinned her Scoops nametag. "Anyway, it'll only be me, I promise! And I won't do it around anyone else. But it's kind of adorable, you have to admit!" The two of them pushed through the glass double doors at the mall's entrance—the last ones to leave for the night.
Rain glanced at her, briefly pushing her lips in a thin line. Then a small smile broke out on them, "Fine, but only when no one else can hear, okay? I don't need more public ridicule." They stopped by Robin's bicycle which was chained out the front of the mall. As Robin unlocked her bike, Rain dug into her bag to pull out a pair of roller-skates. She began to undo the laces.
"You're skating home?" asked Robin with her brows raised in scepticism as she adjusted the helmet on her head.
"Yes," Rain said, sounding offended at the judgement in Robin's tone. "It's good exercise, okay? Like running, but faster. And it makes me look cool." She slipped her foot in one of the roller-skates, tightening the straps. They were peach-coloured and matched her polished nails and the clips in her hair. Based on the quality of them, Robin assumed they were pretty expensive—which surprised her, because if Rain's family was rich, what the Hell was she doing working in a place like Scoops Ahoy? "See? I look like I could be in a roller derby or something." She strapped her own helmet around her chin and gave Robin one of her pretty smiles.
Robin pulled her bike off the rack as Rain stood up on both her feet, managing to keep her balance remarkably well. The girls peered through the dark haze of a night and Robin spoke up after a moment, mounting her bike. "At least let me bike with you to your house. It's dark—we don't want you getting jumped in roller-skates now, do we?"
With a roll of her eyes and a pause of contemplation, Rain nodded. "I guess it couldn't hurt, with you as my bodyguard." She slung her backpack over her shoulders and glided out of the covered area, "Just don't leave me behind, alright Buckley?"
Robin started after her on her bike, "Wouldn't dream of it."
The night air was cold on their faces and the stars shone down upon them. Wind disrupted strands of their hair and sent it flickering across their faces. It was the perfect night to be out and about in Hawkins—the small town where nothing ever happens could be pretty, on some occasions. Rain thought Robin was prettier, but she would never tell Robin that—and she shouldn't be thinking that anyway! She forced herself not to look at the girl beside her, who seemed have been both the best part of her day and the thorn in her side ever since she started working at Scoops Ahoy. God, why could she not be normal for once in her life? This little thing she had was going to get her in trouble. Rain pressed a hand against her full lips, a habit she often partook in whenever she was in contemplation, and she bit her thumb a little. After a few moments of skating, Rain relaxed, and her hands rubbed across her tired face instead.
"So why do you work in Scoops?" asked Robin, maintaining her speed alongside Rain, who was skating with leisure as she adjusted her hair. "I mean—you smashed school. Why aren't you working at a more prestigious job?" Her fingers picked at the grooves on her bike handlebars as the bicycle glided carelessly.
Agile on her skates, Rain pushed her hands through her hair, shoving it back into the bike helmet as best she could. "I want to be an author or a journalist," she explained, "While I'm trying to get that running, it's easiest to work at a place where I have the spare time to practice my writing. And I hear the men at Hawkins Post are some real pigs." She shoved her hands in the pockets of her jeans, which were splattered with coloured patches of all kinds that she'd sewn on. Rain shrugged her shoulders and looked up at the street ahead. "So, I suppose the only option is to get really good at journalism, go to college, and then start my own newspaper." Her voice carried through the night air as if the task she was proposing was no great feat.
"Optimistic," commented Robin, "like your name." They seemed to be doing more talking than riding and were covering much less ground than they'd expected—but neither girl seemed to mind.
Rain squinted at her, unsure if the taller girl was mocking her or not. She pursed her glossy lips and raised her brows, "Yeah, well my parents were pretty accurate when they named me that." Her roller-skates deftly lifted over a crack in the pavement. Gently, her fingertips twirled in the strands of hair that were hanging by her face. Rainbow. How fucking fitting. She couldn't decide if the thought that came to her mind was bemused or bitter, but it thudded around her skull for a while. "What about yours? Robin. Your parents DC fans or something?"
Robin just shrugged, eyes aimed ahead of them as she bike skimmed across the empty street. "Well, yeah, I'm a pretty big fan of the comics myself," Robin admitted after a second of pondering, "My dad introduced me to them when I was little, and I still read them." She shrugged a little, prepared to be ridiculed at her nerdy hobbies. Rain just grinned.
"Oh, that's cool! I never read any of them, I'm more of a Marvel gal myself, I have to admit. You know, Jean Grey, Storm, Emma Frost, Polaris." She shrugged a little, and then realised she was only listing women, "And... like... Wolverine and stuff. I have a pretty big collection. Now you know where all my Scoops earnings are going." There was a pretty grin on her face which shone in the drips of moonlight hanging from above. "Maybe you could introduce me to DC," Rain suggested, trying to be nonchalant. "I could use a guide."
A smile appeared on Robin's lips, "I don't even know where I would start. There are so many."
Rain just shrugged and looked over at the taller girl, who in turn glanced at her. "We'll just start with your favourites." Their chatting continued as they rode down the empty streets with only the streetlamps' glows to guide them.
Rain came to a stop at one of the houses shining with light, and Robin applied her breaks. It was a big house; Rain's parents must have been very wealthy—with at least two stories, a double garage, and Robin suspected it must have had a pool or spa out back. "Oh, this is you?" she asked as they made their way up the stone path, a bit disappointed that their ride was over already.
"Yeah," Rain said, nodding as she unlocked her front door. She stepped inside it, turned and looked at Robin for a moment too long, running her fingers through some of her loose strands of hair. "Do you want to come in for some dinner? We could watch a movie or something—I'm sure my parents won't mind, and it would be nice to have some company." She leaned up against the doorframe, watching Robin with her dark, pretty eyes.
For a moment, Robin's mind seemed to freeze. "Oh—I probably shouldn't," she said, shaking her head and tightening her grip on the backstrap straps over her shoulders, "I need to get home."
"You shouldn't, or you don't want to?" Rain questioned without sugar-coating it. Her pinkie finger was pressed against her full lips, and it was a dangerously pretty look on her.
Robin was forced to look away. "I have some chemistry study to catch up on, okay! I have a test on Wednesday that I need to get a good grade on, and I don't really understand what's happening in the class." She stepped back to grab a hold of her bike handles with a smile. Some strands of her hair flew in front of her face.
Rain just grinned. "Maybe next time I can help you study! I aced chem, you know!" she called, with her hands cupped by her mouth to raise her voice over the wind.
"I know, Princess!" Robin called, and Rain's heart did an honest-to-god flip in her chest, lurching against her ribs. She almost lost balance and her feet would have rolled out from under her had she not been holding the doorframe so tight and was trying very hard to not reveal herself as a giant lesbian. Robin gave her a little salute, kicking the stand up on her bike and perching over its seat. "I'll see you at work tomorrow, 'kay, Bow?"
Rain's face pressed against the doorframe, watching the tall girl on her bike in the driveway. "I'll see you then!" she shouted back, heart still fluttering and breath wispy. Robin gave her a little wave as she rode off down the street, and Rain just groaned in defeat and slammed her head against the doorframe.
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it has taken me SO LONG to get this chapter out. i'm so sorry, school is literally insane at the moment, i haven't had a chance to write any of my stories at all. i graduate in like 60 days so it's super hectic. as soon as i'm done though, i'll be writing non-stop, so yay me !!
this chapter is just rain and robin being gay
word count: 3,123
20.09.2019.