bringing a topic up to the table that no oneâs talked about :Â Â steveâs guilt.
steve and barb werenât close at all because of stupid high school status quo. he stuck to his friend and received endless shit for being into nancy, so barb was a no-go. barb was also hesitant about steve on the other side of the spectrum. heâs popular, known to sleep around, and a bit of a party animal - the exact opposite of nancy. so, why would those two reasonably work without crashing and burning? itâs an understandable concern.
the last place barb was seen before she disappeared was steveâs house. his pool, to be exact. sure, he was tipsy. and honestly, he didnât care if barb wanted to stay or go. heâs not going to lie about any of that. he had absolutely no opinion of barb until it was too late.
now, he canât look at that pool without a million questions running through his mind. he could have just invited her to stay inside. he could have called someone to come pick her up. he shouldnât have left her at the bottom of the stairs. he should have done more to protect her simply because she meant the world to nancy. he should have given her a chance. if nancy loved her, then he was sure that he could grow to love her as well.
steveâs grief isnât spoken about in the show, necessarily. not when it comes to barb, at least. he shouldnât grieve her because he didnât know her, but that only makes the pit in his stomach hurt worse. he knows that every single day heâs alive, heâs going to have to apologize to barb for not doing more. but heâs also going to vow to protect nancy fiercely. it may be something he has to answer for when itâs his time, but heâs going to spend the rest of his life making up for the most selfish mistake heâs ever made.