Chapter Text
The flight to Pennsylvania wasn’t so bad — endless clouds and a beautiful sunrise
added to the scene. Nancy leans back in her seat, shaking off any nerves she still holds within. She glances through her window as the sky — blue turning to a yellow glow — lands on her face. Despite her attempt, she can’t wait nor imagine seeing the four’s faces again. As the flight goes on, she can’t help but think about it — Jonathan, Steve… Robin.
At this thought, she pauses — her breath hitches but not knowing as to why.
This always happens, yet she just doesn’t understand. When she came to Emerson, she gained new friends, new experiences… but something- someone still lingered in her head.
The plane gradually gets closer to the land, making her nerves increase. It shouldn’t be that bad, right? I mean they are still close friends, well, ignoring the distance between. Especially since every week, Robin and Jonathan would send letters to her college. She just hopes things aren’t too different.
When Nancy gets off the plane, she's welcomed with unfamiliarity, that is nothing new of
course. Six years of her life have been unfamiliar territory. She looks around at the glistening terrazzo flooring, the people heading to their flights or leaving. She sighs, grabbing her purple luggage from the baggage claim, before heading out.
It's early morning — the sun is extremely bright, so extreme that Nancy squints
as if the bright star is mere inches away. Nancy waits outside of the airport, awaiting the arrival of a certain blonde, and the two boys. She sits on a wooden bench outside the airport with her luggage, when a deep voice (debatable) speaks up from behind.
“Nancy?”
Nancy’s head turns so fast, it would give her a headache. It's Steve with his unchanging big hair, Nancy smiles and gets up from the bench.
“Steve! How have.. Uh, you been?” it comes out awkward, but with no rude undertone. She gives him a hug, the texture of his jacket touches her fingers, he hugs back smiling. Nancy eventually pulls back.
Steve laughs slightly before speaking, “Uhm, a lot?”
Nancy replies, “Me too. But, how.. How are you then?”
“Pretty solid, I mean- the kids are stressing me out, otherwise it's great. Coaching has been a rather cool time” Harrington scratches his nose, a nervous tendency, he pauses then speaks again, “You?”
“College has been great. You know what? Making friends was surprisingly easy, it had a minor struggle in the beginning. But I found some really great people-”
A raspy voice speaks up from Nancy’s right, “Nancy?”
The familiar voice made her body tense.
“Robin?” She turns her head to the origin of the voice.
It's Robin, her long blonde hair made brighter with the sun hitting its back. The way Robin stands there before walking up with the red converse that she wears maybe a bit too much. She’s wearing a red blue and orange striped shirt with a jean jacket hanging onto her shoulders. Robin walks closer, making Nancy snap out of it.
“How have you guys been? It's been so long!” Robin gives Steve a hug, then goes over to hug Nancy. Yet, there's a slight hesitation — Nancy doesn’t notice — Steve does, so he gives a slight look of intrigue, he shrugs it off when Robin gives her a hug.
When Robin wraps her arms around Nancy, she feels both loose and stiff. It’s indescribable, yet Nancy sinks into her touch so much that it feels so comfortable. When Robin pulls away, part of Nancy wishes she could stay there longer. But she mourns the loss of Robin’s touch. The hug’s release took time — as soon as the touch was gone it was gone.
The three of them await for Jonathan’s arrival — he takes almost an hour to
arrive, when he does, he gives each of the three a hug.
“Sorry, the airport was too big, I got freaking lost. It's basically a maze in there.”
Robin comments, acknowledging the others “Did you guys get lost too? Or~ was it just him”
Almost synchronized, Steve and Nancy look at each other, before looking back at Robin shaking heads.
“Anyways, my uncle’s home is not far from here, so we can walk… I mean… If you guys would like to? I don’t-”
Nancy instantly reassures Robin’s worry.
“No, it's fine! I’m fine with walking, right, guys?” She looks over at the boys.
“It’s all good, my leg fell asleep on the flight. It needs to wake up”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah”
Each moment as they walk to Robin’s uncle’s house, the sidewalk was
casted by the sunlight of the early morning. Their footsteps pattered together. Nancy was walking alongside Jon, and Robin was talking with Steve. For some reason, Nancy wants to go to talk to her. Every once and awhile, her eyes would look up from the concrete to take a glance at Robin — her eyes felt not so heavy but rather light in that moment— watching as Robin laughed with Steve. She felt her heart do this strange surge of weightlessness? This feeling is not particularly unfamiliar, she has felt it before, but now that Robin is near again… it's almost a constant.
Before she even knows it, they're at this huge house, the white fences are tall as it borders the house. Seemingly nine to ten feet.
“Damn, how rich is this uncle of yours?” Steve mutters, but loud enough for them to hear.
“Pretty rich, but he’s not mega-mega rich, you know? Sometimes it's hard to tell exactly because he claims he’s not as rich. But I doubt, I think he’s just trying to stay humble. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. But A for effort, I guess… Wait- is that true? Because I've always asked why, because it starts with an e not an a. Anyways, at least he tries to stay humble,” she shrugs.
Nancy raises an eyebrow, “Is he really?”
Sighing a response — the blonde replies as she inputs the code, “Sometimes?”
The fence opens, displaying recently mowed grass, not as good apparently since there's patches of uncut grass. They walk up the stone pathway to the porch, Robin knocks on the door. There's a few moments of silence, and the four just look down at the porch standing awkwardly. Finally, the door opens to a man in his late forties, maybe early fifties? He has dark brown hair that matches his eyes, he notices Robin — giving a nod of acknowledgement — he opens the door for the four.
Nancy reciprocates the nod, making Steve and Jonathan give a nod of their own. They drag their luggages across the tiled floor, until Robin goes over to a wooden door, she opens it, and its stairs leading to the basement. Robin descends down the wooden stairs to turn on the lights of the basement. When she does, the three take their luggages slowly down the stairs, carrying it slightly to avoid loud noises.
The basement was a wooden one, reminding Nancy of hers back home. It was surprisingly huge, with a few couches and a table with chairs on her far right. There’s a large deep maroon carpet on the floor under the couches — complimenting the browns of the wood.
“You guys can just put your luggages aside for now… come!” Robin encourages, as she goes over to the table waiting for the others.
Nancy, maybe a bit too fast, puts her luggage against the wall, and was the first one who gets to the table. When Robin sits, so does Nancy. The boys put their luggages against the wall too, before heading over to sit with the girls.
“So, Jonathan, how have you been this past month? You know, besides getting lost?” Robin chuckles lightly, Jonathan’s hands swipe the bridge of his nose, trying to hide a smile.
“Uhm, well. My mom and Hopper are still happily engaged, NYU has been great to me and uh,” Jonathan puts his hand together to remember. But then his hands open, when he finally knows, “Oh, and Will sends me letters from his place in New York!”
Nancy looks over at Steve nodding. She looks back at Jonathan and speaks up once again — folding her arms, “And you? How's that anti-capitalist cannibalism movie going?”
“Right, it's going solid. I was going to start working on it soon, but I'm having some struggles with casting. Hey, Robin, is it okay if I come over a bit more often to film? When I get the cast of course,”
“Sure! I mean I’ll have to ask him first since I’m only here once a month. But I’ll see if he’s okay with it.” She pauses, “What about you, Steve?”
The conversation goes on, and Nancy can’t help but look at Robin. The way she’d laugh at every joke said or scrunch her nose when (mostly Steve) said something ridiculous. The way she’d talk and talk and just talk when an opportunity opens. Nancy can’t help smiling or laughing when Robin says a funny and quick remark. She looks down at her hands placed in her crossed legs. Steve talks about funny moments and mishaps at baseball games, earning a laugh from Jon and Robin. When Robin laughs again, the familiar feeling of lightness falls upon her again. She feels a pair of eyes on her, but before she can even look up, someone speaks,
“And you, Nance?”