#instead i'm trusting the scene where she invites him to tina's party and they are clearly friends

[storybookwolf]

Nancy Wheeler, Matchmaker (for day 6 of Jancy Week 2019, Idiots in love and/or Forelsket [how you feel when you first begin to fall in love])

August, 1984

As Miss Walsh’s junior history class filed out of the room, Jonathan was intently reading Fahrenheit 451, oblivious as always to the mass of students around him. Nancy nudged him with her hip to get his attention. “Hey, do you want to come to Travis’s party this weekend? Steve and I can pick you up.”

Jonathan cocked his head to the side, looking at Nancy with his eyebrows raised in his best are you kidding me? expression. “Absolutely not.”

“Come on, why not? Are you afraid you might actually have fun?” she teased.

“It’s my greatest fear,” he said, deadpan. “But seriously, you know I don’t go to parties. They’re full of people, and I don’t like people.”

Nancy rolled her eyes. “You like some people.”

“Okay, fine, I like three people: my mom, Will and you. But if you keep trying to get me to go to parties, the list might be down to two.”

“Got it. I won’t bring it up again,” said Nancy. “Are you still up for studying after school today?”

“Sure,” he said. “I’ll meet you at my car.” They parted at the end of the hallway, him heading towards the art rooms and her towards the labs.

Nancy paused for a moment to watch him walk away, looking down at his book again but somehow still managing to navigate through the crowd. Like he was his own little planet, existing within Hawkins High but somehow not really a part of it. She was pretty sure that there were days when she was the only person he even spoke to at school. Other than a few awful weeks after everything that happened last year, when he was hassled for being a “pervert”, everyone other than her seemed to not even know he existed.

But then she noticed something. A girl – Samantha something, maybe Perrottet? – standing at a locker. It was open, but instead of getting her books, Samantha’s eyes were fixed on Jonathan as he walked down the hall. She even turned to watch him as he passed her. Unsurprisingly, Jonathan didn’t notice at all, too engrossed by Ray Bradbury. But Nancy saw it, and knew exactly what was happening.

This Samantha girl had a crush on Jonathan.

Nancy was delighted. This was so great! In the months that they’d been friends, she’d gotten to know what a sweet, kind, funny person Jonathan was, and it bothered her that no one else seemed to appreciate that. They were in a few of the same classes, and would study together after school once or twice a week. But she knew that whenever she was with Steve or Allie or Stacy, Jonathan was either working or holed up in his room. She wished that he had other people to hang out with – and now maybe he would.

She hurried off to physics, but the only formulas in her mind were how to get Jonathan and Samantha together.

***

It had been nice to learn that Jonathan Byers was the perfect study companion. Steve usually spent most of their study sessions trying to distract her from her work, and Allie and Stacy either wanted to gossip or get her to do their work for them. But she and Jonathan always seemed to strike the perfect balance between getting lots of work done and still having fun. It was almost like how things had been with Barb.

But that afternoon in the library, Nancy couldn’t focus on her notes. Instead, she was just waiting for the right moment to bring up Samantha. Did Jonathan even know her? She’d moved to Hawkins in middle school, and seemed to mostly hang out with band and drama kids. She was pretty, but not in a showy way, and was almost as quiet as Jonathan. Nancy wasn’t even sure if she’d ever spoken to her.

Her mind was still trying to think of a subtle way to ask Jonathan about Samantha when her mouth blurted out, “Samantha Perrottet has a crush on you.”

Jonathan froze, his pencil poised above the page. “What?”

“Umm. I just realised today, but I think she really likes you. You should…” Nancy shrugged. “You should ask her out.”

He dropped his pencil and leaned back in his chair, looking more nervous than he had when they were preparing to face the Demogorgon. “I, um, uh—I don’t even know her,” he said, colour rising in his cheeks.

“Well, maybe you should get to know her,” said Nancy. “She seems nice. And she’s pretty, don’t you think?”

Jonathan’s face was really red now. “I guess, yeah. I don’t know.” He twisted uncomfortably in his seat. “Listen, uh… I just remembered that Mom wants me home early today. I should go. You’re okay to wait for Steve to pick you up after practice, right?” Without waiting for an answer, he gathered up his things and rushed out of the library.

Even though her conversation with Jonathan about it couldn’t have gone worse, Nancy couldn’t stop thinking about setting him up with Samantha. It wasn’t surprising that he’d been so flustered when she’d brought it up – he’d never had a girlfriend. She wanted that for him, wanted him to have somebody who loved him and saw what a great guy he was. And she was pretty sure he’d make a great boyfriend.

This wasn’t her first attempt at finding someone for him. Over the summer, Stacy had been lamenting the limited selection of single high school boys in Hawkins. “Seriously, Nancy, Steve was the last decent guy in town, and now that he’s off the market there’s nobody,” she’d said. When Nancy suggested that Jonathan was good boyfriend material, Stacy just rolled her eyes, and she’d let the idea go.

But she just couldn’t let Samantha go. So Nancy did what she did best – research. By the end of the week, she knew that Samantha got mostly Bs, that she was a percussionist in the school band, and that she worked at the Dairy Queen, saving money to go on exchange to Italy. But most importantly, she found out that Samantha liked music that Nancy’s sources described as “weird” and “gloomy” – the exact words she would have used to describe half the stuff Jonathan listened to. Surely this was destiny.

It was time to step things up. Luckily, Nancy’s years of being a star student had ingratiated her with the school secretary. She dropped by the office before school with some of her mother’s fresh muffins for Mrs Verney, and when the older lady went to make a coffee to go with them, Nancy quickly found Samantha’s schedule in the files and copied it. All she had to do was cross-reference it with Jonathan’s, and she’d find all the possible opportunities for them to meet.

The only problem now was convincing Jonathan.

***

Nancy knew that persuading Jonathan to ask Samantha out would be the hardest part of her plan, so she decided to adopt a two-pronged approach. The first was to slowly, gradually reintroduce the topic, as subtly as she could, so as not to freak him out like last time. The second was to start taking routes through Hawkins High where they were more likely to see Samantha, so that when Jonathan was ready to make a move it could all come together naturally.

She hadn’t made much progress on the first prong — it was harder than she’d thought — but the second worked surprisingly quickly. One Tuesday, as they were cutting across the west hallway en route from English to Pre-Calc, Samantha was heading the other way (from Algebra to Social Studies). The younger girl was in such a rush that she literally ran into Jonathan as she passed, nearly dropping her books.

“Oh shit, sorry, I—” Samantha stopped speaking when she saw exactly who she’d run into. Her face went white. “I…. Sorry, I wasn’t looking where I was going.”

“Don’t worry about it, it’s fine,” said Jonathan.

“Okay, thanks.” Samantha smiled and rushed off again.

It was possibly one of the most awkward social interactions Nancy had ever seen, even though Jonathan was actually more relaxed than he usually was when talking to his peers.

“I told you she liked you,” said Nancy, unable to stop herself from smirking a little.

Jonathan looked exasperated. “She would have bumped into anybody who was standing there just now. It doesn’t mean anything.”

“She wouldn’t have been that flustered if she’d bumped into anyone else, believe me. Are you actually this oblivious, or is it just an act?”

“I’m not…” He sighed.

“All I’m saying is, she likes you and she seems nice. So you should try to get to know her.”

Jonathan looked down at his shoes, his brow furrowing as he fiddled with the strap of his bag. “Why are you so invested in this?” he said quietly.

“You’re my friend and I want you to be happy, that’s all,” Nancy said as they reached their classroom.

Jonathan looked slightly pained. “What would make me happy right now, is not talking about this any more,” he said.

So Nancy let the subject drop. But whether it was her needling or Samantha’s battering-ram approach, Jonathan and the sophomore would now say “hey” to each other when they passed in the hall. And over the next few weeks, Nancy even saw them having a couple of actual conversations (very short ones, but it still counted). When banners for Homecoming went up, Nancy had to bite her tongue to stop herself suggesting that Jonathan ask Samantha to the dance. But even if her matchmaking hadn’t worked, she was still glad that Jonathan had someone else he could talk to.

“Hey, do you want to study after school today? I’m already freaking out about the test next week,” asked Nancy as they took their seats in history one morning.

“Oh, I’d really like to but I can’t,” said Jonathan. “I, uh, have something on.”

Nancy looked confused. “You don’t usually work Tuesdays. Did you swap shifts with Eric?”

“No, I, uh … I’m hanging out with Samantha.”

Nancy’s eyes lit up. “What? Why didn’t you tell me? When did you ask her out?”

He blushed. “I didn’t! And it’s not like that. Yesterday I said something about the Depeche Mode picture on her folder, and she asked if I’d heard their new album. I said I hadn’t, so she invited me over to listen to it today. It’s not a date or anything, we’re just hanging out.”

Just then, Miss Walsh walked in and started the class. Nancy spent the whole period stealing glances across at her friend, and thinking about his “not a date” which she was 100% certain was a date.

***

Since she was studying on her own that afternoon, Nancy went home instead of to the library. But somehow she just couldn’t focus on her notes. Her mind kept wandering to Jonathan and Samantha, wondering how their “not a date” was going.

She knew she should have felt smug. Victorious, even. This was exactly what she’d wanted: Jonathan having a cute music-nerd date with a nice, pretty girl who was into the same things he was.

But instead, whenever she thought of Jonathan and Samantha her stomach would lurch a little, and her skin would feel weirdly hot. She found herself getting irritated by the whole idea of the two of them together, even though she'd spent weeks trying to make it happen.

Oh shit. She was jealous.

It hit her like a wave of nausea. How could she have been so stupid? All this time she’d spent wishing Jonathan had a girlfriend, what she’d really wanted deep down was to be that girlfriend. And now she’d pushed him straight into the arms of Samantha, a girl who was actually bold enough to invite a guy she barely knew over to her house to listen to an album. Her stereo was probably in her bedroom, too, which was awfully convenient. Honestly, it was a Steve Harrington-level move, and she almost admired Samantha’s brashness. She would have admired it, if Samantha was using these moves on any other boy. But now Nancy realised that if any girl was going to be kissing Jonathan Byers, she wanted it to be her.

She needed a new plan. A counter-plan, one to undo all the careful scheming that had gotten her into this mess in the first place. Turning to a fresh page in her notebook, she quickly scribbled down some ideas.

Ring Samantha’s house and tell Jonathan there’s an emergency with Will, and he needs to go home right away. Pro: He would definitely leave. Con: It’s a low blow, and he’d be upset when he realised I lied.

Go over to Samantha’s house, pretending I think Jonathan has my history textbook. When I get there, feign enthusiasm for Depeche Mode and insist on staying to listen to the album. Pro: Third wheels always kill romance. Con: I would have to listen to Depeche Mode.

Do nothing, and just hope nothing happens between them. Call Jonathan later tonight, and tell him how I feel. Pro: Doesn’t involve lying or embarrassing myself in front of Jonathan and Samantha. Con: The thought of telling him I love him is terrifying.

She stared at the list for a few minutes. She couldn’t do option 1 – it was just too cruel to use Will as a pawn. And option 2 would make her look like a crazy person. Which left option 3. The scariest one, but also the most honest. If she ever wanted to have a real relationship with Jonathan, it had to be built on the fact that they were friends who could trust each other, who said what they were really thinking. She just had to wait until tonight.

It was going to be a very long afternoon…