Chapter 42

The only person that got the privilege of changing clothes wasn’t the girl dressed like a candy-striper, but the girl who smelled like weed. But now she didn’t, because she was wearing one of Robin’s sweaters, the red one that she keeps in Sofia’s house, paired with denim jeans and her black vans.

When she came in, people asked her how she was feeling. They probably could tell by Dustin that they had fought, although she’s sure he’d never actually say it to anyone. 

But Sofia did hate that they were asking her that, instead to the girl who’s family got attacked. She hated the attention, so she replied quickly and the questions died there.

Sofia gave Nancy a hug. She knew no words could help her, and she had no words to give.

As they were all finally there, Robin and Will started explaining what happened. Because she had already told Sofia over breakfast, the girl sank into the sofa, sitting next to Steve.

“How can you be sure? Sure that Derek’s the next target?” Nancy asked, trying to put the puzzle pieces together.

“Because I saw. I’ve learned that when I’m close enough to the hive mind, I can tap into it, into Vecna’s mind. I can see who he’s targeting. The first time it happened, I saw through Holly’s eyes the same day she was taken. And this morning, it happened again. Only this time, I wasn’t Holly. I was someone else” Will explained.

It was in that moment, hearing Will speak, that Sofia remembered he caught her and Robin making out. She got nervous, but she’s always had her suspicions about him. 

She switched her gaze from Will to Robin, just to look at her girlfriend because why not, but she was already looking at her. Sofia blushed, a grin threatened Robin’s lips.

“Were you seeing through the eyes of… of Vecna or of Derek?” Steve asked, getting confused.

“Both. I… I was Vecna, but inside Derek’s mind” Will tried to explain, unsure of what was happening to him.

“Vecna’s like a psychic serial killer. He stalks his victims, but he does it by invading their minds. That’s what he did with Cher and Max” Robin explained, only to say Cher’s name slightly lower, because only in the middle of the sentence did she realize what she was going to say.

Jesus. Cher. Sofia hadn’t even been to her grave yet.

“Yeah, but the way he’s doing it this time is different. We did some digging at the hospital. It turns out that before he took Holly, Vecna stalked her. But… he didn’t appear as Vecna. He appeared as Henry. As a friend” Nancy explained, news to all of them.

“We think he was trying to earn her trust. Now, why he went to all that trouble, we don’t know. But I highly doubt his long-term goal is friendship” Mike joked.

“So, what do we do?” Sofia asked, trying to get back on track with all of this.

“We have to stop him… Stop him by saving Derek” Will said, before moving on to his plan.

He turned the projector on and explained his plan. 

“That’s actually insane” Sofia said, right when Will mentioned blindfolding a child.

“It’s so that Vecna can’t find him” Robin said, as if it were that simple. She also should’ve told this part to Sofia during breakfast.

“You’re okay with this?” Sofia asked Robin, trying to figure out if she was going insane or not.

“You literally ran over three children” Robin responded, leveling with her girlfriend.

“Evil teenagers” Sofia corrected her, in the middle of all the talk that was going on in the room.

“Yeah, well, the Turnbows are rich. Doesn’t that make them kind of evil?” Robin asked, trying to get her girlfriend on board with it. She knew it was a crazy plan, but they were living through crazy times.

Sofia paused for a moment. “Fair enough” she said, sinking back into the sofa once again, focusing on what the rest of the group was talking about.

“Even if by some miracle this plan even works, Holly’s still missing. Hop and El, still MIA. This doesn’t bring us any closer to finding Vecna. This plan just buys us and Derek some time. That’s it” Dustin argued.

“Not necessarily. We’re gonna need to recruit someone that the family trusts, someone that can gain access to the house. This person will knock the family out. Then we’ll extract the family” Mike explained.

“Knock them out?” Joyce asked, confused.

“Well, safely. With sleeping pills or something” Mike responded.

“I can get some benzos. Those things could knock an elephant on its ass” Sofia suggested, looking at everyone but Dustin, knowing he was just going to scoff or something.

Sofia was driving with Robin by her side and Will on the backseat. Why did he want to go with them? Sofia didn’t know, but Robin seemed happy about it so she was happy too.

Before they got in the car, Robin told word by word her conversation with Will to Sofia, and she was glad she didn’t have to go through all that trouble now.

“Tell me, Will, do you like Madonna?” Sofia asked, because she had put one of her many Madonna tapes on.

“Jonathan would hate me if I listened to Madonna” Will answered, looking out the window.

“Of course he would… party pooper” Sofia said, glancing over at Robin only to find her smiling at her.

The ride stayed pretty much quiet until they arrived at the trailer park. “Stay here, okay?” Sofia said, her hand firm on Robin’s knee.

Robin nodded and watched as Sofia knocked on Keith’s door. A heavy sigh escaped from her once she saw her go inside.

“What are you worried about?” Will asked, and Robin couldn’t believe she was about to rant to a sixteen year old.

“Nothing” Robin said, before turning on her seat so she was facing Will. “She just hasn’t been well lately. And I don’t like Gareth. He clearly thinks she’s hot and that something might happen between them”.

“You really trust her, then” Will said, his mind curious to know more about this relationship, one he wouldn’t think he’d find in Hawkins.

“Of course I do” Robin said, straight away, because never has she doubted Sofia’s loyalty. “And Gareth is Gareth, so…”.

Will chuckled. Not that he could picture his face, because he really couldn’t. All he knew was that he used to be in the Hellfire Club and that he’s always stoned.

He stayed in his thoughts for a moment. “So, how did you know that, with Sofia, right? How did you know that Sofia wanted to…”.

“Make out?” Robin asked, turning on her seat again.

“To date” Will asked, hesitating slightly.

Robin was all smiles. “You know, there were, like, signals. Shared looks, touch of hands, awkward tension… It all just kind of accrued, like a snowball rolling down a hill, until it was obvious” she explained, thinking of those first months after she met Sofia.

“How obvious?” Will asked, like he was searching for something, for an answer of something deep inside him, and Robin knew.

“Let’s just say we had a sleepover” Robin said, recalling that first kiss, one that they first buried, but that changed their dynamic forever.

When Sofia entered Gareth’s house, she could feel something was wrong. The walls were naked, no more posters, the fridge was turned off, the tv had disappeared, everything was in boxes.

Gareth was panting, his hair all messy, but he rejected the previous rush and looked calm for Sofia. “What’s thou wish for today, princess?” he asked, as a joke but not really, bowing to her.

“What’s going on here?” Sofia asked, finding it all a little bit bizarre. 

“I’m… doing a makeover. I had an epiphany last night. You were in it” Gareth answered, and Sofia got even more weirded out. He’s lying.

“Okay…” Sofia said, slowly nodding, “I need some benzos”.

“Benzos? Didn’t know you were into that kind of thing” Gareth said, a pleasant smile on his face. He started walking to the bedroom, where he had everything, and Sofia followed him.

“Yeah, well, I am now” Sofia said, looking around the empty room, some floorboards out.

“Life in paradise must be tough” Gareth said, picking up different bags, trying to find the benzos.

“What?” Sofia asked, all nervous now. What the fuck does he mean. Why is he so tense. Why is the house like this.

“You and Harrington” Gareth replied, as if it were obvious.

“Oh, no. We’re not a thing” Sofia said, trying not to die of laughter, really containing any incriminating smiles.

“Oh, that’s… that’s good” Gareth said, taking an orange bottle out of a plastic bag.

Sofia didn’t say anything. The house was dead silent. Usually he’s listening to music. It’s weird.

“I need two. How much is it?” Sofia asked, the silence of the house creeping her out.

“For you nothing, baby” Gareth replied, a foolish smile on his lips. He handed her the two bottles, and when she went to grab them he pulled back and grabbed her hand. “If I were to leave… would you miss me?”.

She stared uncomfortably at him. Just say whatever. Get out of here. “Yeah” she replied, a shaky breath leaving her mouth.

Gareth smiled proudly and kissed her hand. She couldn’t move. “You want anything else?” he asked, letting go of her hand and handing her the two pill bottles.

“No. Bye” Sofia said, turning around and walking away quickly.

She shut the door and cleaning her hand against her jeans. Rushing into the car, she rapidly closed the door shut.

“Is everything okay?” Robin asked straight away, the change of demeanor of her girlfriend very obvious.

“He was acting so weird” Sofia said, quietly, as if she let a thought escape accidentally.

“Maybe he was on something” Will suggested, looking between the two girls.

“Yeah, maybe” Sofia said, flashing a soft smile that Will saw by the rearview mirror. Robin knew there was something more to it. 

A quick shared look between the two.

“I’m going to start a rumor” Robin said, jumping onto her bed. Everyone was going to re-group at the Squawk before heading to the Turnbow’s, so Sofia dropped Will off with Joyce and drove with Robin to her house so she could change clothes.

“Ooh, please do” Sofia said, closing the door behind her.

“I think Will might be-“

“Gay? Yeah, I mean… he’s always been a little different” Sofia said, finishing Robin’s sentence. If someone knows what it’s like to be different, it’s these two girls.

“Today, in the car, he asked me how I knew you wanted to date me” Robin said, sitting up to look at Sofia, who was fixing her hair in the mirror. “And, I don’t know, it seemed like he was asking for research purposes”.

“That’s nice, I’m glad he trusts you enough for that. I honestly didn’t see it coming. You’re like his gay Yoda” Sofia said, looking at Robin through the mirror.

Robin laughs at that while getting up. She walks over to Sofia and wraps her arms around her waist, hugging her from behind. “How did you know you wanted to date me anyway?” Sofia asked with a cheeky smile, placing her hands over Robin’s.

“You were all I could think about. I loved it when we touched but I just felt miserable because I couldn’t have you, and I wasn’t even 100% sure if you liked girls. The tension was just unbearable” Robin said, not hesitating, not even slightly. Her voice vibrated against Sofia’s neck. “And you’re still all I think about”.

Sofia smiled and turned around. She kissed Robin, getting wrapped in her taste. And as she kissed her, softly but full of love, her mind wandered to a realization. What Nancy saw, it became true. What Nancy saw, it became true. What Nancy saw, it became true.

What Sofia saw, it might just come true. And so Sofia kissed her more passionately, before letting go and hugging her tightly. She buried her face in Robin’s chest, whose arms stayed firmly wrapped around her waist.

“I love you” Sofia said, calmly, her voice soft.

“I love you too” Robin said, before kissing the top of her head. “Hey… what happen at Gareth’s?”.

Sofia groaned, letting go of the hug but not Robin, so she was still wrapped in her. “He was packing everything and acting really weird” Sofia responded, her hands resting on Robin’s shoulders.

“Weird how?” Robin asked, furrowing her eyebrows.

“I don’t know… He asked if me and Steve were a thing and if I’d miss him if he ever left” Sofia replied, an oblivious look on her face, while Robin just looked disgusted. “And then he kissed my hand”.

“He kissed your hand?” Robin repeated, more disgusted now. “What the fuck is wrong with him… I told you he thinks you’re hot”.

“Yeah, well. What can I do about that?” Sofia said, smiling, trying to calm Robin down, because she is hers and no one else’s. He hand travelled to the back of Robin’s neck, rubbing it softly.

“You can like… marry me” Robin said, calmer, softer, as the words came out of her mouth before she could even think.

Sofia chuckled, before realizing the serene look on Robin’s face. “What?” she asked, quietly, because their distance didn’t even require a loud voice. Her hand stopped moving but stayed in place.

Okay, Robin was nervous now. Why did she say that out loud. 

“I mean, he did kiss your hand. It was your left one, yeah?” she asked, and Sofia nodded as she grabbed that hand. “It had to be, your right one is always on your pocket. But if you had a little something on your left ring finger… he wouldn’t kiss it”.

“So this is about him kissing my hand?” Sofia asked, slightly joking, but also serious, completely flabbergasted.

“This is about me loving you” Robin said, hand still holding Sofia’s, looking deep into her eyes.

Sofia was by now smiling from ear to ear. What the fuck. Is she even real. “I… I don’t know what to say” she said, her girlfriend’s behavior so out of the blue, like always, but now so shocking.

Robin laughed too, having not planned all of this. But it was natural, it was them.

“If I ask you, with an actual ring, far away from this town… W-will you say yes?” Robin asked, so so nervous, her blue eyes searching for an answer before spoken.

“I will” Sofia said, laughing, too, in shock. 

So, Robin kissed her hand. She was so happy that she jumped into Robin’s arms, making her trip backwards onto the bed. Sofia filled Robin with kisses. All over her face, her neck.

Their bodies intertwined. November 4th. Their second year anniversary just a few days ago. Doesn’t matter. 

It’s better to keep Robin while she has her. Maybe it was really just Vecna trying to scare her. Or maybe not. So it’s better to tie the knot.

How is this girl even real? What did she do in another life to be deserving of Robin. She thought about it as she watched the girl change into new clothes.

“Do you think it’ll ever be legal? For us?” Sofia asked, watching as Robin put a hair clip.

“Maybe”.