"You should smile more."
Came out of nowhere as Nancy snapped around to find the assailant, nearly breaking her neck in the process. Because truly how was that statement supposed to make someone feel? I should smile more? She scoffs internally. Of f*cking course, I should be smiling right now. Right in this exact moment as the universe was literally imploding on her. Her the amazingly put-together Nancy Wheeler who made no mistakes and toed the line. Nancy freaking Wheeler who got straight A's and dated boys like Steve "The Hair" Harrington or Jonathan Byers. Straight, boy-loving, prefect, prissy Nancy Wheeler. Yet here she was, not smiling while making mistakes and being a complete mess. Her hair was all too flat she thought as she quickly swiped away the small tears that had started to spill over. The action most definitely smudging her makeup, but she couldn't bring herself to care as she tore her eyes away from Steve and Robin. Turning on her heels her beyond irritated glare fell on an unexpecting metal head standing less than a foot or two away. Eddie's face morphed into a look of pure fear as she crossed her arms narrowing her gaze at the boy, watching him immediately shrink on impact.
"Now, why would you say that Eddie Munson?" She interrogated elongating his name as it left her lips, basking in his panic as his eyes darted around landing all around her. The brown pupils not once settling upon her own.
"I - I just…" He started, moving his hand up to nervously rub at the back of his neck. "I like seeing my friends smile?" He offered with a small forced grin as he met her onlooking eyes scanning them for the hostility that he quickly found.
"Oh, ohhh is that so?" Nancy asked with raised eyebrows.
"Yeah! Besides fake smiles help the mood." He said lifting his hands up in a shrug as he turned his attention to the ground digging his heel into the dirt before continuing. "You know, if it makes you feel any better I'm not smiling all that much either."
"And what makes you think I need to "help my mood" hmmm?" She questioned pressing her lips into a tight line, her annoyance growing at his assumptions.
"Come on, Wheeler, you're not exactly coy with your displeasure." He said leveling with her. Shocking her into silence as she risked a glance at the couple.
Big mistake.
Her vision was soon filled with oh-so-cocky Steve leaning into Robin whispering ever so slowly in her ear and making Nancy's blood boil. Yet it was apparently something quite hilarious as Robin bellowed out in laughter. Her chuckling form leaned back and grabbed at her abdomen in amusement. Come on, Steve is not that funny, she thought but was quickly cut short as Robin threw her head back in laughter. Her exposed neck became taunt with each chuckle as the muscles rippled below throwing her sweet giggles through Nancy's eavesdropping ears. The sound and sight quickly became too much as her throat gasped as if someone was choking it closed, fresh tears stinging at her eyes threatening to break free.
No, not here.
She thought dragging her eyes to the dirt beneath her and stubbing her sneakers at it knowing she'd just have to clean them later. She dug deeper and deeper allowing the dust to cling to her once white shoes in frustration as her heart ached more and more to be the reason for the laughter falling from Robin's lips. How much she longed to be Steve. The thought shocked her, but she just wanted to make Robin happy was all, platonically, of course. That's what friends dreamed of for one another.
"Uh, Nancy?" Eddie mumbled ducking down in an attempt to catch her eye.
Quickly clearing her throat Nancy stood up straighter fixing her gaze past him to her car.
"My mother needs me at home, I'll see you later. Give them my goodbyes." She lied.
Then without another word or glance, she set her sights and beelined for her car parked on the street brushing past Eddie as he mumbled a quick goodbye. She nearly reached the handle when she heard the two yelling out. Steve's voice came first making her pick up her pace as Robin's trailed behind it with a simple "Nancy!" as if she wasn't completely breaking the other girl. She ignored them trudging on and acting as if she didn't hear their shouts. As she pulled her car door open and frantically ducked inside she knew that they would know better. That they knew Nancy would have been able to hear them clear as day, after all she hadn't been that far away from where they had stood by the front steps of Steve's parent's house. But for now, they let her be and she turned out onto the road with no intentions of going home. The tears exploded from her as she drove away pushing the pedal closer to the floor and putting as much distance as she could between herself and Robin.
This can not be happening.
She thought as the tears flowed faster than her car could go. Hawkins flew by as she slowly came to the realization that it was time to go it alone. That Robin was happy with Steve and that if Nancy was a true friend she had to be happy for them. And she knew that the only way to do so was to stay as far away from them as possible. Besides, they wouldn't miss her with how entangled in each other they were. Driving past the leaving Hawkins sign she sighed deciding to take a trip to the family's nearby cabin for as long as she needed to recollect herself. It was best this way she thought trying to believe it herself.