vegas | robin buckley

7. tammy again

***

Jackie hands Erica her millionth sample spoon as Robin stands towards the back, taking her headphones off so they rest around her neck.

"Final sample," Robin announces, watching Jackie's dead movements amused.

"What, why?" Erica stares.

"Because you're abusing company policy," Jackie falls gratefully into Robin with a sigh.

"Where's the sailor man? What's he doing?" Erica tries as Jackie basically takes a nap standing up with her back to Robin's side, her head resting on her shoulder.

Jackie's not necessarily short for her age, but Robin still has like two inches on her, even if Jackie acts taller.

The two girls share a look before answering simultaneously, Robin turning to Erica while Jackie just faces away, closing her eyes again.

"Spy craft."

This just confuses Erica to the point of giving up on the sample spoons, her and her friends taking a seat at a booth as Jackie hops up on the ledge where the window into the back room is, resting her feet finally.

The girls aren't lying about the spy thing, Steve and Dustin thought it'd be a good idea if they went out to the main area of the mall and kept a lookout for any suspicious people.

"Remind me why I agreed to work here again," Jackie says as Robin moves the tape recorder to the side so they can sit next to each other.

"Maybe. . . for this?" Robin reaches back into the shelf under the window ledge they're sitting on and hands Jackie and envelope. "Congrats on your first paycheck."

"Oh, nice," Jackie decides not to open the envelope yet, putting to the side so she could get it later. "Wanna get lunch? It's on me," she asks Robin, slightly joking but also kinda serious.

Jackie doesn't know what it is, but there's something about Robin that keeps drawing her to her.

Both of them fell asleep during their movie last night, and after Jackie woke up around 4 AM to see her arm still around Robin, the girl sleeping peacefully, she knew there was something up.

She wouldn't say she was into her, I mean, she doesn't even know if she's gay or not, but she'd totally like to get to know her more, in a friendly way. Totally platonic.

"Let's do it, a Mexican place opened up in the food court? Our break's in ten?" Robin agrees.

There's another thing too, Jackie kinda keeps forgetting she's trying to get Steve and Robin together. Maybe her subconscious has finally realized her attempts are futile? Either way, that kinda track feels like a dead end, so she guesses she should start finding someone else for him - maybe when they're done with the whole secret Russian code thing though.

"Sounds like a date," Jackie nods before someone walks up to the cash register.

"You guys are going on a date?" Tammy Thompson's voice sounds like nails on a chalkboard to Jackie's ears.

"A friend date," she manages to answer without any annoyance in her voice.

"As friends," Robin adds on to clarify.

"Cool, I could tag along," Tammy then says, making Robin and Jackie both have to mask their confused looks. "We're friends, right?"

"Yeah," Robin's voice comes from beside Jackie, and this time Jackie doesn't hesitate to turn and stare at Robin, taken aback.

"Um," Jackie knows both girls are now waiting for her answer, looking for mutual agreement. "I mean, well, I dunno if my paycheck covers lunch for three," Jackie tries joking to turn Tammy down easily, not really in the mood to hang out with the girl who was supposed to be in Tennessee right now.

Her joke doesn't land the way it's supposed to, either that or Robin has some ulterior motive, because the girl next to her speaks up again, "I can cover some of it, then," Robin nods at Jackie as if she's doing her a favor. "I got paid too," she picks up her own envelope to wave it a bit.

"Awesome," Tammy smiles, clapping her hands together slightly. "See you guys in ten."

"What just happened?" Jackie thinks out loud, moving to help the next dude in line.

"I thought you were friends with Tammy," Robin tries playing off.

"I guess," Jackie ain't sure how to answer without being suspicious. "Yeah, I don't know, it all just happened kinda fast- I mean, don't you think she just kind of invited herself?" Jackie has never known how to put her thoughts into words properly.

"I guess, but it's cool she wants to hang out," Robin answers. "I mean- cool, like, nice of her? Kinda. Like, I'm just shocked is all, y'know? Like I wasn't sure if I even could say no, because I was so shocked she even asked in the first place. I don't know," Robin similarly lets her mouth get ahead of her brain, and Jackie looks at her kinda amused after handing the costumer his ice cream.

The rest of the store is fairly empty save for Erica and her friends, and Steve and Dustin said they'd be back soon anyway, so now Jackie's just waiting for Robin to make the first move in leading them out, not in any rush to get to Tammy.

A knock at the back door causes both girls to turn their heads, and Robin instinctively going through the window to answer it.

"I'll get it, then we can head out?" She confirms to Jackie, the curly haired girl nodding in confirmation as she starts removing the ridiculous bobby pins from her hat and hair.

She hears Robin talking vaguely with the guy in the back, and starts looking out the door to see if Steve would be coming in anytime soon before Robin rushes back to the front frantically.

"We can't get lunch with Tammy."

Thank God.

a/n:
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