Black Sheep | Robin Buckley

bathroom buddies

Robin is silent in her stall and I feel myself getting more tense by the minute. Was that a mistake? God I hope she doesn't hate me now.

"Robin?" I call out tentatively.

I hear a sigh before she responds "y/n"

There's an awkward pause and then "I'm sorry-" we both speak at once bursting out laughing at ourselves.

"Have you ever been in love?" Her questions takes me by surprise and I frown. Have I? No. No I don't think I have.

Sure I'd enjoyed my relationship with Jolie in the past but it wasn't love.

"No"

"Oh" she mumbles. Please don't tell me I said the wrong thing. "I thought I was the only one"

Her additional sentence makes me relax. "What do you mean?"

"Everyone around me is in a relationship or sort of knows what it feels like" she huffs. I want to see her face, see what she's thinking.

I scoot over to her stall and sit beside her. She looks nervous. I don't like seeing her scared.

"Remember when I told you about gym class and how I liked you for not being a douche?" She whispers.

"Yeah" I reply hesitantly.

"I like liked you, I still do"

Her eyes meet mine and I freeze. Is this-

Then she leans her forehead against mine and continues "please tell me that kiss wasn't a drug induced mistake"

"It wasn't" I breathe shallowly enjoying the contact between us. It was soothing after everything that we'd been through.

A giggle escapes her lips and she pulls back to give me a smirk "I can't believe you just said that- I totally thought you would push me away and call me a d-"

"Robin" I stop her mid ramble "there's nothing weird about you, about us"

I take her hand stroking her knuckles with my thumb slowly.  Her head finds my shoulder and we stay like that until the bathroom door clangs against the wall with the force it's opened with.

We spring apart with wide eyes to see Dustin, Erica and Steve. They all pause seeing us covered in vomit with fingers still intertwined. Shit.

"Well I thought you would never make a move! Took you long enough" the curly haired boy announces. Uhh what?

"Um you - huh I don't-"

"Yeah that whole thing with me egging on Steve was to see your reaction" he shrugs nonchalantly. Excuse me?

Steve glares at the kid but his face softens when he looks at me. "You should have told me"

I swallow the lump in my throat not knowing what to say.

"Erm hello? We have got to get a move on!" Erica hisses waving her arms up and down dramatically.

"Right uh okay" I mutter.

Robin gives me a very pointed look nodding towards my brother. Ugh she wants me to go talk to him. Fine.

As we walk through the mall I tap his shoulder and he turns to face me, his pace slowing so we have some privacy as the others pass by.

"Sorry" I squeak like a scared little kid. I honestly felt like a little kid right now, just like old times. Reminds me of when I'd broken one of mom's expensive vases and went to Steve's room to wake him up and tell him. He'd taken the blame for me and was grounded for three weeks.

His eyebrows lower and he tilts his head down in thought "for what?"

"Not telling you" I mutter.

I feel his arm sling over my shoulder and with his other hand he ruffles my hair "hey, it doesn't really matter I just wanted to be there for you. I never want you to feel... feel like-"

"A freak?" I cut in looking up at him with a weak smile. He nods and kisses the top of my head.

"Because you're not. At least not because you like boobs" he chuckles.

"Hey! What are you implying?" I fake gasp giving him a light shove as his arm falls off of me.

We reach a busier part of the mall where people shuffle out in a large group as it closes. A few angry looking men dressed in black are scattered throughout the crowd. That's totally not ominous at all. Oh and they have guns okay, that's bad.

I nudge Steve's ribs and he gives me a 'what was that for' look. Pointing to the men he glances over and bites his lip "ah shit" he whispers.

We push through some elderly women who give us the stink eye and grab the others "guys we gotta go, right now" I bark.

Steve points to the scary dudes and they quickly catch on "yeah okay, run" Robin nods as we shove back out the clammer of shoppers.

I throw elbows and hips in an attempt to get people to move, the Russians notice the commotion. All the armed men begin following suit and as soon as we break free from the herd we make a beeline across the mall. Steve, leading the group makes a sharp turn, he waves us to follow as he shoves himself between the escalators. He uses the space as a slide down to the bottom floor and breaks off into a run when his feet touch the ground. Quick thinking.

As the Russians race to catch up we slide away and scrabmle for a hiding place. The mall is pretty bare besides the stores which are mostly locked up by now. The food court has some open food bars that aren't protected by shutters, I grab Robin's hand as we run to duck behind a counter together. The group sits in a line not daring to move or speak.

We are so deeply screwed.

***

Everyone holds their breath as the sound of footsteps get closer. There's some whispering in Russian as we wait. Please don't come back here or we are dead as fuck. I struggle to restrain a panicked noise when I hear someone scream in the distance. Then theres a sound of clanging metal and a thunderous crash. Slowly we glance between eachother and carefully peek over the counter, a display car is just a few feet ahead flipped upright. Multiple crushed bodies lay flattened just ahead of it.

How?- Dustin points as he gawks at something on the balcony above us "Eleven?!" He yells midway between mortified and jubilant.

In the centre of the food court we gather around in a huddled group. "Sorry but who are all these people?" Robin questions me.

"Oh uh, that's Eleven she has telekinesis and that's Mike her boyfriend, Will, Lucas and Max" I pause looking up at Johnathan and Nancy "you know those two right?"

"Yes" she huffs trying to take in everything I'd just ranted.

The kids exchange information about how there's this huge human flesh monster trying to kill El and that the mind flayer was trapped in our dimension with us. Dustin tells Mike about how the Russians were trying to reopen the gate to the upsidedown.

While I listen intently I feel Robin reaching for my hand, I let her take it clutching on tight. The loud thud of a body smacking into the floor makes us jump, El lays on her back thrashing in pain. Shrieks echo through the mall and everyone gathers around her.

"What's wrong with her?" Steve questions throwing his hands to his hair like a worried mother.

"Her leg" Max gasps lifting her jeans to reveal a shape in the skin of her ankle. What the actual fuck is that?

"Get it out!" The girl screams from beneath the groups watchful gaze.

Johnathan seems to get an idea as he takes off into one of the kitchen areas. He trots back a minute later holding a heated knife in gloved palms.

"Bite down on this" he instructs as he palces a wooden spoon between her teeth. "This will hurt a lot"