𝐷𝑜𝑝𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑒, 𝑆𝑒𝑟𝑜𝑡𝑜𝑛𝑖𝑛, 𝑂𝑥𝑦𝑡𝑜𝑐𝑖𝑛- 𝑅𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒

𝐸𝑙𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛- 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑑𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑔𝑎𝑚𝑒

Traffic was slow in family video. Robin was rustling with her sweater sleeve, the trim of the wrist pulling loose in its tracks. It was a dark fawn colour, ribbed and knitted in its simplistic pattern. In honesty, it was an unrealistic fashion choice for the season, but she liked to feel the heat piling into it. General heat was better than having your skin burned by the rays.

Steve was sat slumped against the u-shaped counter, counting down the minutes until store closure. There was still quite a while to wait- yet it didn't seem to stop him. The silence was torture, every buzz and whine of the television unit being heard overhead. Robin needed conversation, talking, something to wrap her head around and something to ponder over. She had to make it happen somehow- however, topics of choice were not very wide in options. It was either stock-talk, talk about going home, or just more silence.
It didn't stop her. She thought to herself until something clicked into her mind, and as usual, it didn't take long to do so. Buckley cleared her throat, not removing eyes from her continued work on the sleeve.

"So," she spoke, eyes still directed down, "when're they planning on doing that campaign?"

Harrington turned to her, tongue pushing on the inside of his cheek.
"What?"

"The D&D campaign...at your house?"

The confusion turned into dissatisfaction.
"Oh, yeah, that. We've got two days until all hell breaks loose... I mean, I get that they had to relocate 'cause school's closed for the summer, but my house?"

"Well," Robin huffed, "at least they still include you somehow- since you won't play and all that."

"It's not like you to see the good in things."

"Maybe I've changed."

"Maybe you haven't. You're too stuck in your ways."

"...true."

The two of them softly chuckled, slowly shaking their heads in union. They knew each other too well to believe stupid things like that.

Steve silenced again, paused for a moment, and then opened his mouth while running his hand through his flopped-over hair.
"I hope they won't be around too late."

"Some people play for hours, apparently- like when the boys played for ten hours straight on a school night that one time."

Steve smiled.
"Yeah, I remember that. They're mental."

"Tell me about it."

"I have to find out what time they're coming, too. I'm busy in the day."

Robin blinked.
"How so?"

"I'm going to Lucy's Café, remember?"

"Oh! Yes- with Rachel!"

Harrington laughed.
"Why are you so excited about remembering that? Thought you hated hearing of it."

She sat straight, crossing her legs onto the chair.
"It's like a quiz at this point. If I had a dollar every time I had to guess which girl it was, I'd literally be rich."

"Barely."

"In my terms of rich- yes, I absolutely would."

"Oh yeah, I forgot that you're poor."

"Very funny. Anyway, what time is that going on?"

A thought sprung into her mind, and she attempted to ignore it, even though it was a good idea.

"Twelve."

"Perfect!"

"What?"

"Nothing. You enjoy."

Steve's expression looked that of a human question mark, if such a thing was even possible. Thankfully though, he was used to Robin's strange outbursts of emotion, so didn't think too much on the matter.
"Thank you?"

"You're welcome."

They both sunk back into the awfully unwilling silence. The plan that had come to Robin's mind a moment before lingered. It was the wrong thing to do, but it was terribly intriguing.
In two days, Steve was going on yet another date. In two days, Robin had the chance to find out what was going so wrong on all of them. Morally, it was incorrect, but moral sometimes overpowered the situation, and this time, she was going to let it. It was just a matter of how.

She cast her mind back to the last call she had made to California. The main purpose of it was to make contact with Nancy, yes, however a very key arrangement was waiting to be made; a coffee date with Joyce Byers.

Now was her chance. She'd book it for two days time, twelve p.m.

It was a sturdy plan, as it wasn't like she was going spy mode on the man. If he spotted her, it wasn't the biggest deal- town was small, café options even smaller. It would be classed as nothing but a happy little coincidence.

The dating game was on.