It's strange being in here again, Nancy thinks to herself as she looks around your bedroom, your bed's mattress creaking slightly as she sits before it does the same for you. It's nearly been a year since the events involving the Demogorgon, alternate dimensions, and a telekinetic little girl who sought refuge from the U.S. government in her brother's basement... but it feels different, like your essence doesn't inhabit it anymore.

Like you don't inhabit it anymore.

It's the same, of course, but then it's not. The wallpaper hasn't changed, the posters and photographs scattered around the room are the same, and even your bedsheets are the same since she last visited. White with thin, blue railroad stripes.

But you aren't the same as you were a year ago, and Nancy certainly isn't either. Things grew tense when Barb went missing from Steve's, and it didn't help that you blamed Nancy for her disappearance in the first place.

"Barb wouldn't have been there if it wasn't for you," you'd said to her before storming away from her in the halls. Not even facing down the Demogorgon with her, Steve, and Jonathan had brought you two back together; you've been shunning her since Will was brought back from the Upside Down.

But she's here in your bedroom, just like old times. Now— rather than studying together or chatting about college or anything remotely normal— you're cold, she's tense, and you're both still grieving Barb, not to mention still reeling from the year prior. Nancy's eyes meet yours from her end of the mattress before she speaks.

"Steve... Steve and I broke up," she murmurs, and she can already feel the tears brimming in her eyes. "It was my fault— my fault, I was awful to him, and I can't stop thinking of Barb—"

Nancy pauses, her blue eyes full of tears as they slide down her reddening cheeks. The Wheeler girl makes no move to wipe them away, and it's easy to see just how lonely she's felt.

"... I miss you," she whispers as her hand finds yours atop the duvet. "I... I just want us to be okay again. I miss my best friend."