Oh to love a girl

July 23 1986

Turning into a grocery shop isle and bumping into Argyle was probably one of the last things Eden expected to happen. In Hawkins that is.

“E-Eden.” he said and started smiling dumbly. “Oh, hi Argyle.”

The man looked like he was thinking really hard and floating in heaven at the same time. “Hawkins?” was what he eventually said.

Yeah, that was a bit of a story…

Her little four eyed shit of a sister had gotten unbearable. Suzie would never shut up about her Dusty bun, and three days ago Eden had had enough. She would never admit to it openly, but seeing her little sister miss that smart-camp boyfriend of hers so much wasn’t easy for Eden. Mainly because the constant whining got on her nerves. But also, that was her little sister still, and she deserves a happy little teen romance, she’s a good kid.

“Can you stop being so fucking annoying about not seeing Dustin?” Eden asked and pressed her hands to her head. “Language!” Suzie nearly screeched. “And no, I don’t know when I’ll see the love of my life again, and when his friends were here he wasn’t even with them! Also, there’s this storm coming up and Cerebro won’t work!” Suzie was now pacing around Eden’s room. Eden couldn’t remember when her little sister decided it was okay to just barge into her room and start complaining about not seeing Dustin. Usually, Eden would listen to her rant about for a few minutes and then kick her out again.

“Ok, then let’s go see him.” Shit, that was a new response. Eden regretted saying that the moment the words left her mouth. “What?” Suzie stopped abruptly, turned and looked at her with wide open eyes. Eden sighed.

“You know, little road trip.”

“We’d never be allowed to go.”

“Make up something about a science treasure hunt or so” Eden suggested.

“That would be lying!” Suzie had a shocked expression on her face.

“Oh my god, oh no!” Eden mocked her shock. She could see how her little sister was thinking.

Getting their parents to let them go on a spontaneous road trip hadn’t been easy. The main concern had surprisingly not been the motive of the trip but that Eden wouldn’t be there to help babysit the other children. But when all the others had solemnly promised to behave (they wouldn’t keep that promise), their parents had decided to let them go.

••••••

Retelling that to Argyle took a few minutes and Eden wasn’t sure if he was even listening or just looking at her. He was a weird guy, but also cute in a way.

“Ooh funky.” was what he said at the end of the story, nodding. Eden smiled and didn’t know what to say. She picked a hair off her black and grey striped t-shirt.

“Wanna come to gamenight?” Argyle asked out of the blue.

“Gamenight?”

“Yeahh. Whole party ‘s there, even superpower girl. And Eddie brings somethin to smoke.”

“Who?” Eden was confused.

“You’ll see, ‘s gonna be fun.” Argyle assured.

“Uhm, I’ll have to ask Suzie, I don’t know if she and Dustin need me to drive them somewhere.”

“Mhh, they prolly gonna be at gamenight.”

Eden thought for a second and then agreed to come by. Argyle gave her the Wheeler’s address and just stood there smiling while Eden walked away. He reminded her of a puppy.

••••••

May 3 1986

“It’s not fair!” Robin sobbed into Steve’s shirt. He made a face thinking about how much snot she was getting on it. But that’s okay, he can wash that.

“I know, Robin, I know.”

After he had seen how shit Robin had looked at work today he had invited her to a spontaneous lasagna dinner. To talk about what had happened. She didn’t want to tell him in Family Video.

Eating on the living room floor, watching breakfast club and drinking Steve’s parents’ unnecessarily expensive wine had helped Robin a bit. She’d even made sure to tell Steve again how much she liked Allison.

Steve couldn’t see it, no matter how many times Robin explained how her nonconformity was super attractive or something like that.

But as soon as the movie had been over, Robin had started sniffling, and finally told Steve what had happened.

“She- she jus kissed him, jus like that an- and I really thought- I thought-“

“That bitch, how dare she.” Steve said while softly combing through Robin’s hair.

Robin knew that the chance Vickie liked girls was small, and the chance that she liked Robin even smaller. But sometimes there were little moments. Or maybe Robin had just imagined that. And yesterday after band practice that boy picked up Vickie and she just- kissed him. Her new boyfriend, it seemed. Yes, it had been a little unrealistic for Robin to hope she would be the one to somewhen kiss Vickie. Seeing how it was clearly someone else kissing Vickie still hurt though.

“I know tha- that it was ju-just a stupid crush, I- I mean she didn’t even know m-me well a-and what i-if no one, no one ever i-is going to l-like me-“

Robin started rambling, again and again interrupted by little sobs or Steve’s comforting words.

When crying on the living room floor became uncomfortable Steve carried her upstairs to his room. She had to admit, having a strong friend was quite cool.

They laid in bed, Robin with her head on Steve’s chest. She liked listening to his heartbeat, and Steve knew how to hold his head so Robin could be comfortable. He was one of the few people she tolerated being physically close.

Her sobs and complaints soon turned into soft sniffles and eventually they both fell asleep in their clothes.

••••••

July 25 1986

Friday evening came and Steve arrived to pick up Robin. Dustin had announced that he already had a ride, but the Sinclair siblings would be with them too. Robin could already hear Lucas and Erica bickering in the backseat. When she opened the door there was a beach towel draped over the seat. “Steve, I’ve been in your car before, you can’t protect it from Robin germs now.” She squiggeled her fingers in front of his eyes, visualizing the Robin germs for him. He chuckled, “No, stupid, it’s because you hate the feeling of sticking to the leather when it’s hot.” Robin’s brain did a little oh and then she smiled at him. “I love you, dingus”.

The children ran ahead as soon as Steve turned off the car in the Wheeler’s driveway.

They let themselves in and headed to the Wheeler’s basement. When Robin got to the middle of the stairs she noticed the two new people. One a girl the kids’ age and one… Allison? The older girl sat in between Argyle and the younger girl. Robin stumbled and nearly fell. Steve grabbed her arm, holding her up.

“Hey, careful!”

“New people”, was all she could say.

Finally safe down the stairs Robin and Steve sat on bean bags, Steve immediately started talking with Eddie, something about sleeping over, and if Steve was a little nervous and Eddie blushed a bit, Robin was the only one to see it.

The two strangers’ names were Suzie and Eden, Suzie, the young one, being Dustin’s girlfriend. Having two little geniuses teaming up against everyone in scrabble was not exactly fair but oh well. And Eden was actually the same age as the older teens.

Argyle, Jonathan and Eddie left the rest of the party after about an hour of boardgames. Argyle asked Eden to come too, but she wanted to stay and play some more. For a second Robin thought she could go sit on the couch next to Eden, where Argyle had been sitting. Oh god, this couldn’t be. Was she already crushing the second she met a new girl? She convinced herself that no, just because Eden was admittedly hot didn’t mean she was crushing on her.

Once the kids decided it was time to switch to movies, Nancy said she would go and look for Jonathan. Robin was confused about what was going on between the two, sometimes everything was perfect and other times they barely talked. But none of her business, right?

Not long after, Argyle came down and asked Eden whether she wanted to come now. “Yeah, sure.” Steve then immediately asked whether Eddie was still there. “And the others too, of course.” he quickly added. He looked at Robin in a way she immediately recognised as a question of whether she would like to join. Robin wasn’t as much a fan of smoking as some others, but the choice between staying with a bunch of kids watching a movie she couldn’t really follow or spending time with Steve, their friends and the undeniably cute Eden was an easy one.

••••••

The Robin girl decided she would also join. She trailed behind Steve, holding the hem of his shirt, saying something about movies. As soon as they stepped out of the door to the back yard Eddie touched a hand to his hair, as if to make sure it looked right. Interesting.

Eden sat down on the dry grass next to Argyle.

She didn’t even realise that she was looking at Robin until Argyle next to her nudged her gently. “Dude, s’ your turn.” he said and handed her the joint. The group continued smoking, and as her brain began slowing down and she started feeling lighter Eden began to wonder how relationships worked in this group. Jonathan seemed to be dating Nancy, they shotgunned a few times and almost started making out. Robin and Steve were… weird. Eden tried to figure out whether they were a couple or not. They almost always touched, his hand on her shoulder, then her nose buried in his arm, giggling. Robin, clearly a lightweight, and very high right now repeatedly bumped her knee sideways into Steve’s and she seemed to find it hilarious.

But at the same time the two had not kissed a single time this whole evening. And Steve looked like the type of guy who liked showing off his girlfriend.

Eden really liked this strange group of friends. She had never seen anything like it. A jock smoking weed with a metalhead and a brains-sweetheart while cuddling, well… Robin. Eden couldn’t categorize her as easy as some of the others. She wore jeans shorts and a colorful button up. She didn’t seem to be one of the typical "outsiders" from school, but she also didn't look sporty or like a smartass. Theater kid maybe, Eden thought.

••••••

Eden was swimming in the stars when she suddenly heard someone ask “Eden? You wanna stay here or come over to mine?”

It took a second until Eden realized an answer was expected. “Hmm?” She sat up and looked to Steve, who seemed to have asked. “The kids fell asleep, they’re gonna stay over here. If you don’t wanna go back to the motel you can come over to mine with Eddie and Robin.”

Eden really was tired now, so not having to drive to the dirty motel just outside of town sounded wonderful, and she told Steve so.

Sitting in the back with Eddie was… an experience. The guy couldn’t sit still for a second. During the short ride to Steve’s home he had leaned over the front sears three times to change the tape, always to a different metal album. He shared band and song trivia for every track. Robin sighed. “Eddie, you told this before, and as much as I’d love to hear it again, did it occur to you that you could be bothering our guest.” “But she neeeds to know!” he countered, while dramatically gesturing with his arms. Eden just chuckled and kept to herself that she already knew a lot of the things he sounded so excited to talk about. She liked music, and while metal wasn’t her favorite genre she always found herself enjoying it when she did listen to it.

Driving trough the summer night listening to Judas Priest woke Eden up again, and she didn’t feel like sleeping at all when the four of them pulled into the driveway of Steve’s house. Steve’s villa, Steve’s mansion, omg that guy had a giant house. “Holy shit dude, are you like, some billionaire?” Steve looked at her weird, “No- My parents, my dad-“he smiled weakly “it’s just a house.” Eden nodded. Don’t comment on Steve’s money, understood. She didn’t want to say something about it again, but when they stepped into the living room and the pool glowed blue outside, she couldn’t stop herself. “OMG, a pool! You have a pool! Fuck, I wish I had a swimsuit.”

••••••

“You can use one of mine!” Robin heard herself blurt out. She immediately shot an ‘I’m sorry’ view at Steve. But when she saw how Eden’s eyes lit up she didn’t feel that sorry anymore. “I mean- Steve? Is it okay if we go swimming?” Steve chuckled a little “Sure.” He turned to Eddie but Robin couldn’t hear what he said to him. She had grabbed Eden’s hand and started sprinting upstairs, better be fast or the girl might change her mind.

“I have a blue bikini and a red bathing suit here, I’ll find them in a second.” Robin was rummaging trough the bottom drawer of the dresser  in the guest room. “You live here?” Eden asked, sounding a bit surprised. “Nah, not really, I mean I do spend a lot of time here, but I live with my parents. But because I’m here so often I share this dresser with Eddie, he’s here a lot too, but I’m Steve’s best friend, his soulmate, you know-“ and that was probably not at all interesting for Eden. “Sorry. Blue or red?” Eden looked at her amusedly.

“Blue. And what are you sorry for?”

“Oh, you know, that was probably not very interesting, sometimes I talk too much, about things that aren’t really interesting and usually people get annoyed, but Steve doesn’t mind, which is maybe one of the reasons he’s my best friend, aside from the obvious.” Robin stopped herself, Eden probably didn’t know about the mall, or the Upside Down, did she? Robin got nervous, thinking that maybe Eden would ask what those obvious reasons were. Instead she asked “So you’re not together?”, while pulling her t-shirt over her head. Robin immediately spun around, busying herself with pretending to organise the drawer. “What, no! He’s my soulmate, but like capital P platonic.”

“Aah.”, was all Eden answered. While Robin was still looking for a response the other girl asked “Can you help me tie this?” Robin turned around and saw Eden with her back to Robin, holding out the strings of the bikini. “S-sure.” Robin’s hands might have been shaking a little. Why was she so nervous, she had only met the other girl a few hours prior. One couldn’t develop a crush in such a short time, right?

“Are you not gonna swim?” Eden sounded almost shy asking this “You know, I’d feel kinda awkward being the only one…”

Robin only then realised that she hadn’t changed yet. “Oh, no, definitely, absolutely am I gonna swim.” “Great!” Eden smiled a quick smile and let herself fall backwards onto the guest bed. Robin changed as quickly as she could.

Robin grabbed two towels and they stepped out into the hallway. The bedroom had been dim, out of habit Robin had only turned on the bedside lamp, she hated the big light. But the hallway was brightly lit, and Robin had to stop herself from looking too long at how Eden’s boobs filled the bikini so differently than her own. She heard an internal Steve scream Boobies and cringed a little. Don’t be fucking creepy Robin, she told herself. Then a real Steve scream asked how much longer they’d be up there. “COMING!” Robin shouted and started sprinting down the stairs, leaving Eden to hurry after her.

••••••

Eddie and Steve had prepared snacks, which the four of them were now eating, sitting on the floor in the blue light of the pool. Steve complained about Robin dripping pool water all over the snacks. But Robin just couldn’t help carelessly munching chips while mesmerised by the shapes the underwater lights painted on Eden’s face. And just for the record, Eden was dripping everywhere too.

Eddie was leaning on Steve’s shoulders, nearly asleep. The two boys decided to go to sleep soon after. “Show her how the shower works. Night you two.”, was all Steve said while pushing half asleep Eddie into the living room.

“Ooh yea, shower, come on” Robin said, picking up the bowls. She quickly sat them down on the kitchen counter and then trailed ahead to the guest bathroom. While Eden was showering Robin put out a pyjama for her, and if it was a shirt that was a bit shorter than the others, that was her secret.

When Robin was finally done showering too, wearing her pyjamas with little sheep on them, the sky outside was already getting brighter again. “So, uhm, should I-“ Eden looked a little shy, playing with one of her bracelets “What?” Robin asked, now struggling to keep her eyes open while adjusting the pillows. “You know, go downstairs, sleep on a couch?”

Did Eden want to do that? Robin was immediately afraid that she might have made the other girl uncomfortable, shit. God, Robin felt hopelessly lost. “I thought you sleep here but uhh, if you wanna go down I- I can show you the blankets…”

“Oh, no, good, I do want to sleep here, just thought maybe you’d prefer having the bed for yourself” Eden smiled softly.

“No, I’d like to have you here, I mean I like sharing, sharing beds, with nice people at least, I mean, you, you are nice, I-“ Robin forced herself to shut up. Hell, why could she not act normal for once. She just shook her head and smiled at Eden, climbed into bed and turned off the lamp. She heard the sheets rustling and felt the weight of Eden’s body move around next to her. “Robin?”, the girl asked into the dark. “Yeah?” “You’re weird.”

Robin felt her heart stop for a second. She knew that, but ouch. When she was about to apologize, Eden added softly “I like that.”, and after a few seconds “It’s really nice we like, met. Today. You’re sweet.”

That was not at all what Robin had expected the other girl to say. Her heart hammered in her chest, and she was sure that her cheeks were burning up. Oh no, Robin, don’t go falling for that girl you only just met.

“Thanks.”, was all she could croak out, but it seemed like the other girl already fell asleep.