Summer Savings [Byler]

Chapter 25

To Will's relief, Nancy was lovely. She was kind and genuine, taking an interest in him throughout the drive and asking him all sorts of questions about himself.

"So, where are you from, Will?" Nancy carried on with her onslaught of questions, not that Will minded. He enjoyed talking to her.

"Hawkins - it's a small town. I was glad to be out of it for a while," he let out a small laugh, and as Nancy reciprocated, it dawned on him just how small Redwood was, and that she probably felt the same way.

"I'll bet," she smiled.

"You know Robin?" Will interrupted quickly, changing the topic. "Yeah," Nancy answered, not taking her eyes off the road to glance at the two boys on her backseat. "How do you know her?" She looked at Will through the rear-view, and he could see one of her eyebrows was raised.

"I'm staying at her B&B. She's very nice," he answered. He cringed a little at the formality of his speech, but he was still getting used to Nancy, and he wanted to come across as polite and well-mannered.

"Yeah, she is," Nancy replied.

Will felt a pair of eyes on him, and tore his gaze away from Nancy in the rear-view, and came face to face with Mike. Mike had a small scowl on his face, clearly feeling left out from the conversation. Will smirked, and Mike rolled his eyes, cracking a smile.

"What are you guys gonna do today?" Nancy spoke up again, and Mike shrugged, before realising Nancy couldn't see this.

"I don't know," he said instead. "Get lunch, maybe shop, see if there's any arcades or activities. Maybe see a movie."

"I didn't bring any money," Will spoke up quickly, letting out a gasp of suprise. "I didn't realise we'd be going out - I left it all at Cedar!"

"Oh, that's okay. I'll pay," Mike shrugged nonchalantly, but Will shook his head firmly.

"No, I'm not making you pay."

Nancy stepped in suddenly. "Mike, you pay. Will - you can pay him back when you two get home, okay?" The answer was firm, but kind. She wasn't holding either of them to this deal, and it was simply a suggestion.

Will jumped at it, however. "Yes! That's fine. I'll pay you back tomorrow, Mike."

"Sure," Mike stated audibly, whilst at the same time shaking his head "no", with a grin on his face. Will elbowed him sharply and he let out a yelp, and then both boys turned away to face their respective windows with a huff, neither actually mad but merely pretending.

***

Nancy pulled smoothly into the parking lot, silencing the engine and stepping out. Mike and Will followed suit.

"Mike," she said, whilst locking the car door, "I'll be ready to leave at five, either be here or I'm leaving without you." She looked to Will to reassure him she was joking, before turning and heading off down a side street.

"What's she doing?" Will asked, turning to Mike.

"Don't know, don't care," he said simply with a shrug, before linking arms with Will and starting forwards.

***

As they walked, Mike gently unlinked his arm from Will's, sliding his arm down so their fingers laced together. Will stiffened, barely daring to look down. Mike, with his usual 'cool and unbothered' demeanour reassured him, and he allowed himself to relax. This still didn't stop him from thinking thay every passer-by was scowling at them; every giggling group of kids whispering about them. But it was tolerable, and he wanted to be able to do things like this with Mike - why shouldn't he?