Chapter Nine: Confessions

Lydia lay slumped against the bathroom sinks, head clutched in her hands. Her stomach was churning uncomfortably, though she doubted there could be anything possibly left inside.

"The ceiling stopped spinning for me," Robin announced from the stall. "Is it still spinning for you guys?"

Lydia slowly opened her eyes. The room was still in motion. She groaned. "No."

"Holy shit," Steve said. "You think we puked it all up?"

"Maybe," Robin replied. "Ask me something. Interrogate me," she said, putting on a fake Russian accent.

Lydia reached her hand up and clutched the edge of the sink, which she used to help haul herself from the sticky bathroom floor – she didn't even want to think about what she'd just been sat in.

Lydia paused for a moment to steady herself, and then lifted her head, catching sight of her dishevelled appearance in the mirror. Dark hair falling out of her ponytail in messy strands, dried blood at the corner of her mouth and mascara smudged underneath her eyes. It was certainly a look, for sure.

"Okay. Interrogate you. Sure," Steve deliberated. "Um, when was the last time you, uh, peed your pants?"

"Today," Robin admitted.

"What?" Both Lydia and Steve asked together.

"When the Russian doctor took out the bone saw," Robin elaborated. "It was just a little bit, though."

"Yeah, it's definitely still in her system," Steve directed his words to Lydia, who looked over her shoulder to give him a small smile. She then ran her hands underneath the cold water tap and splashed her face.

"All right, my turn," Robin said. "Who wants a question first?"

"I'm going to get a drink from the water fountain," Lydia informed them. "My mouth is dry as hell."

"Okay," Robin replied.

Lydia dried her hands on her jeans and headed towards the door.

"Okay. Hit me," Steve said.

There was a brief pause. "Have you ever been in love?"

With one hand placed on the door, the question made Lydia stop in her tracks. She wasn't entirely sure why, but she felt compelled to, almost curious to hear his answer.

"Yep," Steve replied. "Nancy Wheeler. First semester, senior year." He imitated a gunshot sound.

Lydia stifled a small smile as she hovered unseen by the door.

"Oh, my God," Robin said. "She's such a priss."

Steve hummed. "Turns out, not really."

Robin scoffed disbelievingly at his response. Lydia moved to open the door, but hesitated once more. What the hell was getting into her? Like, she knew she definitely shouldn't be eavesdropping, but it felt as if some unseen force was rooting her to the spot.

"Are you still in love with Nancy?"

"No," Steve answered.

"Why not?"

"I think it's because I found someone who's a little bit better for me." There was a long lapse of silence after his admission. Worst of all, Lydia felt her stomach suddenly drop. Oh god, was she going to throw up again? "It's crazy," Steve continued. "Ever since Dustin got home, he's been saying, you know, you gotta find your Suzie. You gotta find your Suzie."

"Wait, who's Suzie?" Robin asked.

"It's some girl from camp," he explained. "I guess his girlfriend. To be honest with you, I'm not one hundred sure she's even real. But that's not– that's not really the point."

Lydia inched closer to the door again. She should leave. She really, really should leave. Her brain seemed fully comprehensive of that, but her limbs were clearly not.

"That doesn't matter," Steve dismissed. "The point is, this girl, you know, the one that I like, it's somebody that I barely even talked much to in school. And I don't even know why. Maybe 'cause Tommy H would've made fun of me or I wouldn't be prom king. It's stupid."

Lydia pressed her back closer to the wall and held her breath. If she moved now, opened the door, it would make a noise, right? Robin and Steve would hear and think she was secretly spying on them the whole time – which, like, she kinda was but still. Lydia stayed put.

"I mean, Dustin's right, it's all just a bunch of bullshit anyways," Steve continued. "Because, when I think about it, I should've been hanging out with this girl the whole time. But I...I'm such an idiot. Like, I spent years crushing on her, but I could never just...admit my true feelings. So I pretended not to like her and– don't get me wrong, she's a pain in the ass– but God, I do, I really do. But it's been such a long time now that I honestly don't think there's any way to tell her the truth."

Lydia gnawed on her bottom lip as she listened. She felt bad for intruding. It was information she definitely should not know, but there was some sort of intrinsic desire to find out who he was talking about because – oh dear god, was that uncomfortable tightness coiling in her stomach and squeezing at her heart because Lydia...cared?

"I feel like, this summer, I have laughed harder than I have laughed in a really long time," Steve admitted. "And the best part about this whole mess is that I've been able to get to know her better. Like, I mean, she just casually joined us in cracking Russian codes and–"

Wait a minute...

"If she hadn't then I probably wouldn't have finally found out that the gum incident is why she hated me. So, maybe we can move on from that now," Steve and Robin both chuckled. "I'm so glad that all of this has brought the two of you into my life. Really, I am."

The bathroom was silent enough to hear a pin drop. Lydia's pulse was racing frantically. And her hand was gripping onto the doorframe as if her life depended on it because, suddenly, she had lost all the fucking feeling in her legs. Steve was talking about her.

"Robin?" Steve rapped his knuckles against the door. "Robin, did you just OD in there?"

"No," Robin eventually answered, sounding a little dumbfounded. "I'm still alive." Lydia heard some shuffling and a slight crash. She wanted to peep her head back around the wall and see what was going on, but resisted the temptation. "The floor's disgusting."

"Yeah, well, I already got a bunch of blood and puke on my shirt," Steve countered. Lydia assumed he'd moved underneath the gap into Robin's stall. "So, what do you think?"

"She sounds awesome."

"Yeah" Steve confirmed. Lydia could feel herself blushing and honestly? She needed to get a grip. "And what about the guy?"

"I think he needs to grow some balls and tell her," Robin replied. Lydia bit back a smile. "I mean, it's pretty obvious to everyone besides Lydia that you have feelings for her."

Okay, rude.

"I don't think she sees me the way I see her," Steve responded, sounding disheartened.

Lydia's heart sank to the pit of her stomach as she reflected on the way she'd treated him. Sure, it wasn't without good reason, he'd been a completely dick throughout high school. Plus, he was always just as mean to her as she was to him. But now Steve had admitted that it was because he was burying his true feelings, so maybe, deep down, that was what Lydia was doing too?

"Listen to me, Steve," Robin began. "It's shocked me to my core, but I like you. I really like you. And Lydia will kill me for saying this but, no matter how hard she tries to mask it through her teasing, Lydia likes you too." Robin was right, Lydia was going to kill her. "But you have to know, Steve, we're not like your other friends. And Lydia is definitely not Nancy Wheeler."

"Robin, that's exactly why I like spending time with you both," Steve said.

Robin exhaled heavily. "Okay. Look, Lydia is seriously one of a kind. Like, I would do anything for her. I love her with all my heart, and hey, do you remember what I said about Click's class? About me being jealous and, like, obsessed?"

"Yeah?"

"It isn't because I had a crush on you," Robin clarified, and Lydia realised where she was going. "It's because Tammy Thompson wouldn't stop staring at you. I wanted her to look at me. But she couldn't pull her eyes away from you and your stupid hair. And I didn't understand, because you would get bagel crumbs all over the floor. And you asked dumb questions. And you were a douchebag. And– and you didn't even like her, and I would go home and just scream into my pillow. The only person that was ever there for me, who ever tried to understand, was Lydie. She never dropped me, she just listened and learned and tried to turn into the best wing-woman. And I owe her so much for that."

"But..." Steve trailed. Lydia drew in a deep breath, waiting in anticipation for his reaction. Robin had trusted him enough to open up, and Lydia really fucking hoped that wasn't a mistake. Like, she wasn't an inherently violent person, but she would simply have to give him a black eye to match his other one. "Tammy Thompson's a girl."

"Steve," Robin prompted softly.

"Yeah?" He paused. Lydia prayed he was going to react like a decent human being. "Oh. Oh. Holy shit."

"Yeah." Robin went quiet. "Holy shit. Steve did you OD over there?"

"No, I just, uh just thinking," Steve replied, sounding a little distracted. "Okay. I mean, yeah. Tammy Thompson, you know, she's cute and all, but I mean, she's a total dud."

Lydia breathed out in relief, resting her head against the wall as a smile formed on her lips. Thank you Steve Harrington.

"She is not," Robin argued.

Steve laughed. "Yes, she is. She wants to be, like, a singer. She wants to move to, like, Nashville and shit."

"She has dreams," Robin defended.

"She can't even hold a tune," Steve countered. "She's practically tone-deaf. Have you heard her?"

"All the time."

Lydia grinned as Steve attempted to imitate Tammy's voice. Robin's laughter filled the room. "She does not sound like that! You sound like a Muppet."

"She sounds like a Muppet," Steve chuckled, both him and Robin bursting into a song, putting on a Kermit voice.

Lydia heart warmed at the sound of them. She decided it was definitely time to slip out of the room and let them have their moment. But as Lydia reached for the handle, the door flung open, almost whacking her in the face.

Dustin stormed inside, placing both hands on his hips as he faced the bathroom stall Robin and Steve were slumped inside.

"Okay," Dustin started. Lydia and Erica followed in after him. Robin and Steve turned their heads in surprise, sharing a brief glance as they took in Dustin's very stern and serious expression. And then they burst into laughter. "What the hell, guys?!"

A/N

Just the cutest 🥺