STRANGER ≪ °❈° ≫ THINGS

The Canvas & The Painter || Steve Harrington

A/N: A huge shoutout and thank you to the lovely @missswiftie89 for requesting this imagine and having this idea! Happy Reading!!! :)

"Shit. Shit, shit, shit." You mumbled under your breath while you pushed yourself to walk faster. You were rushing to get to work as quick as possible. Your heart pounded out of your chest as you let out an exasperated sigh from being out of breath. "Please don't get mad. Please, please don't get mad." You whispered under your breath. You were currently running late again for work the third time this week, and to you that made you feel even more stressed out apart from the other things you were dealing with outside of work.

You let out another exasperated sigh as you walked up to the "Family Video" store door. You took a quick second to prepare yourself to face whatever comment your beloved co-workers would say about you being late for work for the third time this week. As if on cue, you felt your palms become clammy and your knees wobbled as you opened the door to walk inside. You knew your anxiety levels went off the roof the moment you felt your head pound horrendously. Your body became warmer due to the nervousness of realizing you'd be the center of attention the second you walked in the store.

The bell that was connected to the door of the store rang when you entered. As soon as you stepped foot in the store, you spotted both of your co-workers, Robin Buckley and Steve Harrington exchange a laugh towards one another. They stood towards the right side of the store adjacent towards where the door was. There they built a new display for the new films that came in for the week. You quickly crossed your arms against your chest and looked down towards the floor and tried your best to walk past them as fast as you could without being noticed, but you failed miserably.

"Hey there you are!" You heard Robin immediately call out to you. You instantly stopped walking at the sound of her voice and stood still. You kept your head down and didn't bother to turn to look at her. "Where've you been?" You heard Steve ask. Your heart stopped for a split second and you felt your body send waves of panic all over you. You closed your eyes and took in a quick breath before turning around to face them. When you looked up at them, you noticed they both had a "Well? Tell us!" look on their face. Suddenly, you felt your heart pound faster which you felt had now been up toward your throat. You also felt a bit lightheaded. "Great. I've been put on the spot. They must be mad at me." You thought to yourself. "Sorry." You said quickly as you uncrossed your arms against your chest. You locked eyes with Steve for a quick second and then looked over at Robin and did the same. When you realized you had made eye contact with them you began to panic. Your mind instantly thought, "Oh God, they're so mad. Look away! Look away!"

You blinked and quickly shifted your gaze away from Steve and Robin to look down on the floor. "I'm sorry." You said again. "I apologize that I'm late again. I know this is the third time and I'm sorry. It's just-" You rambled on as you brought your hands together and began fidgeting with your fingers. "I lost track of time and the walk to get here was far and you both are probably mad and-" You mumbled nervously, until you heard Robin interrupt you. "Hey Y/N calm down." She said with a chuckle. "Don't stress about it. We've been slow since we've opened today. We're not mad at you." She said. You felt like a weight had been lifted up off of your shoulders just from hearing her words. Your heart rate slowed down bit and the tension in your temples began to go away. You shyly looked back up to look at Steve and Robin who both gave you a small comforting smile. "Yeah don't worry, we understand Y/N. You're good." Steve reassured you. You felt relieved from their words as you gave them a small smile in return. "Phew." You thought to yourself.

"We were just putting up this display to pass time. If you want, you can go ahead and place the returned films from last night back on their designated shelves while we finish here." Robin suggested. Your eyes moved towards where Robin pointed. She pointed towards the checkout counter that had the stack of returned films from the previous night out on the corner. You nodded in response. "Yeah sure. I'll get right to it." You replied, and quickly turned back around to walk towards the checkout counter to start on your task.