Robbie opened his bloodshot eyes. He had not gotten a lot of sleep that night and the few scattered hours he did get were not helping his already bad mood...
He dragged himself out of bed and meandered over to his dresser, grabbed himself a fresh pair of clothes and headed for the bathroom. The mindless routine doing nothing to alleviate his wondering mind. As he headed for the bathroom he heard his mother yelling up the stairs.
"Breakfast is ready honey. Come get some when you are done getting around'
He responded with his usual "whatever"
To this day his parents still got on his nerves. It went beyond just being a obstinate teenager. He loved his parents but he hated how they acted. They always acted like the perfect honestly could not understand how they did it. His parents were fucking morticians. They spent their days dressing remains, incinerating corpses, and embalming bodies. There whole life revolved around death and it almost seemed like a joke to them. The goofy death oriented stuff they would buy, the way they would casually talk or joke about death, and the way they looked at people not as people but as customers.
He had seen more bodies by the time he was sixteen then most people see in their entire life. They use to give him nightmares when he was a kid. His parents never seemed phased at all. No matter what gruesome sight came through there doors they still had the same upbeat attitude, the same level of emotional detachment. He sometimes wondered if it was his body on the table, would they still be so calm and detached?
"Ah who cares" Robbie smacked his hands to his face. He opened the bathroom cabinet, grabbed his toothbrush and started brushing his teeth.
He then started getting undressed and stepped into the tub. As he turned the nozzles to start his shower, the old pipes in the house grinded to life.
"DAMMIT" he yelled. As the cold water covered his head. If he was not fully awake then he was now. He waited for the water to warm up as his mind started to wonder again.
God I hate this town. Everyone in it is so fucking fake. Crazy stuff happens all the time and people just ignore it and pretend like everything fine. Like just ignoring problems helps them go away.
They even refuse to talk about it. Less than two years ago monsters destroy the whole town, a crazy old man builds a giant robot out of a house and a living dinosaur and a group of people try to save the world with some sort of ancient magic ritual. The whole town almost dies by monsters out of a nightmare and no one asks why or how.
Not to mention like every weird thing that happens in this stupid town it all leads back to the Pine family. Instead of acknowledging the fact that they were probably the cause of it, or at the very least involved in it they are praised as heroes.
After everything that has happened it's really hard to tell what is real anymore. Shit like that changes your whole perspective of life. You start wondering if all the things you thought were fake or fairytales could be real and the line between reality and fiction starts to blur.
An event like that really puts your life into perspective though. I had found purpose, a goal to strive for. I was going to get out of this awful town. Away from all the weird shit, away from all these people that seem content to live their lives in complete ignorance of the dangers around them, away from this weird town that seems detached from the rest of reality.
I disbanded the band, started trying in school, got my grades up. All so I could get away from all this. I thought I had grown up, I thought I had it all figured out. All it took though was 1 day back in town and a few words from those twins to make me second guess everything.
"I can't even trust my own….."
The loud baging on the door startled him out of his thoughts.
"Everything ok in there rb? You have been in the shower for 45 mins." His dad said from the other side of the door.
" Yea yea I am fine I will be down in sec" he said without thinking.
"Alright well you're breakfast is cold, we can pop it in the microwave if you're hungry though"
"Sure that's fine I will be down in a sec"
He quickly finished his shower, put on his new clothes and headed down stairs. He had thought about this enough. He knew what he needed to do. This was his life and no one was going to control him. It will hurt like hell but the last thing he will ever be is a pawn to those two fucking twins.
He grabbed a little breakfast then headed for his bedroom. He grabbed his phone off the dresser and plopped onto his bed. He went through his contacts and came to the name he was looking for.
As he stared at Tabrys name he could not help but start second guessing himself. As much as he convinced himself he had to do this he really did not want to. His Thoughts drifted to all the good times they have had over the last two years. How just the thought of seeing her could change a horrible day into a great one. Just being with her made this whole fucking town almost seem bearable.
" None of it's real, It's all fucking fake"
He said in a shaky voice, as the words broke the deafening silence of the room.
He put his arm over his eye, no longer able to keep back the tears that now streamed down his face.
It's all fucking fake, another fucking lie created by the weirdness of this town. One last fucking trick played on him before he finally escaped this hellhole. Just like everything else that goes wrong in this town it lead right back to those fucking twins and that stupid fucking pines family.
It took him a hour to finally compose himself enough to make the call to Tambry, asking her to meet him at the dinner.
He got around, grabbed his wallet, phone, and keys and walked over to his door. He took a deep breath and steadied himself for what he knew was going to be one of the hardest things he has ever done.
" Lets gets this over with"
He opened the door and headed down stairs.
The drive to the dinner was uneventful. He got to the dinner around twenty before ten. He chose this time to meet her cause he knew the dinner was always dead around this time.
He locked his car and headed inside. The dinner was completely empty except the cook in the back and lazy susan behind the counter. He sighed a breath of relief. In this small town gossip went around like wildfire and the last thing he wanted was for his problems to be the next big conversation topic for people in town.
He walked over to one of the booths. He could not help but smirk at the thought. People would not dare to talk about the monsters that live all around this town like the minotaurs, gnomes, or weird golf people, that became common knowledge after the event.
Yet they were more than willing to talk about everyone else's business though like it meant the world to them.
" What can I get for you honey"
His thoughts were interrupted by the one eyed waitress.
"Yea sure, I guess I will just have a cup of coffee" he said disinterested in the conversation.
"Alright one cup of joe, would you like anything else"
"No I am good"
"You sure I just made some fresh pies"
"No I am fine"
"You sure? We have fresh apple, cherry or…." She leaned in close " My new mystery pie, you will never guess what's in it"
He stared at her for a second. " Ok first off why would you even make a mystery pie? Who would buy something like the? You know what fine. I will take piece of apple pie as well." he said in a annoyed tone.
"Are you sure you just want one piece?"
"FINE! Here is twenty dollars, please just leave me alone"
She stared at him for a good 3 seconds. She smiled and said "Alright one cup of Joe and a whole apple pie"
He let out another sigh as she left and came back shortly with a cup of coffee and a whole pie.
His thoughts drifted back to the matter at hand and he started to second guess his decision as he started to become very nervous and guilty.
What do I have to feel guilty about, he thought. This is for both our goods, this was not our decision it is all fake. I am doing this so we don't become victims of the same veil of complacency that chokes everyone else in this town.
He spent the next 10 minutes fighting with himself that what he was doing was the right thing.
His mental and emotional turmoil all stopped the second Tambry walk in the door. To this day He could not get over how beautiful she had become. She still wore the purple hair but she had done away with the pink stripe. She had also let her hair grow out. It now fell mid way down her back. The last two years had also been very kind to her proportions.
She saw him at the booth and a huge smile crossed her face. She walked over and sat down at the other side of the booth.
"Hey Robbie, couldn't wait till are date tonight to see me" She said with a smile.
"Hey what's with the pie?"
Robbie took a deep breath. He knew if he was going to keep the nerve to do this. He had to do it fast like ripping off a bandaid.
" Tambry I am breaking up with you"
The smile on her face faded as quickly as it had started "What do you mean you are breaking up with me?"
"I am sorry but we are through" With that he got up and started heading for the door.
"Hey come back here we are not done talking'
"There is nothing left to talk about" With that he left the dinner'
Tambry got up and ran after him. She caught up to him in the parking lot and grabbed his arm.
"Hey tell me what is going on? Why are you trying to break up out of the blue? Tell me what is going on."
He easily shook out of her grip and continued walking to the car.
"Robbie tell me what the hell is going on here" She yelled, at this point tears were welling up in her eyes. As the severity of the situation started to sink in.
"There is nothing to tell. I just don't think we will work out. So it's better if we end it here" Just saying the words cut him deep but he had to keep face.
At this point the tears started pouring down her face.
"What the hell are you talking about? How can you even say that with a straight face. After all we have been through these last two years, all are plans for the future, everything we have together. HOW THE FUCK CAN YOU SIT THERE AND LIE STRAIGHT TO MY FACE WITH SOME ITS NOT WORKING OUT BULLSHIT"
"BECAUSE IT'S ALL FUCKING FAKE" He yelled as his composure broke and tears started welling up in his eye.
This caught her off guard "What do you mean?"
He cut her off before she could finish the question.
"All of this is fake. Everything you think we have together is a lie. I heard the twins talking at the dinner yesterday. They were going on and on about old times. When I heard them start talking about one of their adventures with someone called the love god. Apparently this guy could make potions that make people fall in love. Mabel apparently had pity for me after the whole break up with Wendy and decided to use one of those potions to get us together. YOU DON'T LOVE ME, YOU NEVER DID. EVERY FEELING WE HAVE FOR EACH OTHER CAME OUT OF A FUCKING BOTTLE!"
She wiped her tears away, Slowly walked up to him and punched him in the shoulder.
"What the hell?"
"That is for being a dumbass. You are trying to break up with me because of something you heard in a dinner?"
"Did you hear none of what I just said? The only reason we even got together is cause some fucking twelve year old kid drugged us, so she could feel better about herself."
"So what?"
"SO WHAT? SO WHAT? You don't care about anything I just told, none of that affects you in the least?"
"No of course I am not cool finding out someone drugged me and trust me when I say I am going to have a few words with Mabel before she leaves town but honestly I am more mad at you right now then anyone? Do you honestly believe everything we have together is fake? That it is all just the misguided action of some kid?"
"I don't know….how can you be so sure it's not?"
" I don't and you could be right that might be why we started out'
"Then how can yo…"
"BUT I do know that after that festival I got to learn how much of a great guy you are. You try to come off as the badass and you can unbelievably stupid sometimes but underneath all your bolster your kind, caring and compassionate. Those are all things I found out about myself and those are the reasons I fell in love with you not because of some stupid potion."
Robbie whipped his eye and stood there stunned. There was nothing he could say. He felt like the worlds biggest asshole. He almost ruined the best thing in his life.
"So let me ask you. Do you love me or am I just the side effect of some stupid drug?"
Robbie walked up and put his arms around her "I am so sorry" He said in a hushed tone.
"Hey you maybe a stupid boyfriend but your my stupid boyfriend and It will take a lot more than that to get rid of me"
He gently grabbed her face and gave her a deep kiss. She happily returned the kiss with matching enthusiasm. After they were done kissing she started walking to his car.
"Well are you ready to go?" she said nonchalantly
"Ready to go where?"
"Well the way I see it is we have a whole day for you to make it up to me" she said with a playful smile."
He grabbed his keys and headed for the car. "Well I guess I better get to work"