Hi thank you for all your support so far, we all appreciate it more than you could know, so this chapter is written by the wonderful Lucy (aka PurplePixies) show her some love folks! :) xoxoxox
Robin is not in love with Marian. Not any more. Maybe there was a time when he was truly, madly, deeply head over heels in love with her, would gladly take a million bullets for her but now? Not so much. In fact, not at all.
He and Marian just weren't meant to be, it seems they aren't star crossed lovers destined to be together forever after all. They just grew apart, separated by different opinions and goals and who could blame him for choosing his career and education over a whirlwind romance? It was fun while it lasted, his first real relationship and first, well everything really in that respect.
He studied his ass off at college, hung posters on his walls and read books back to front and back again to make sure he knew it all by heart. Oxford university was his first choice, not an easy one to get into by any means and he knew he'd have to give up weekend parties and romantic dates with Marian for it. Still, ripped and worn out book pages and an overly exhausted looking Robin later, he passed his exams with flying colours.
And today is the day, the day he finally gets to move out of his parents home and spread his wings further a field. He can smell the bacon on the stove downstairs, knows his mother is busy making him what will probably be his last proper meal in weeks because honestly, he can cook but he'd rather have a microwave meal than stand and sweat his balls off for an hour to make something.
He goes for jeans, and a white T-shirt- comfortable but not overly casual. Besides, he's only going to be sitting in a car for a few hours with Will and he is shockingly bad at driving (how he passed his test, Robin doesn't know) and It's not like they're going to a fancy fashion parade or attending a royal event.
Speaking of Will, he's already text him this morning to ask if he's good to go, and yes of course he is. He's been waiting months for this day to arrive and now it's finally here he can't wait to get there. But first things first, breakfast is calling. Well, technically his mother is calling his name about breakfast but same difference.
Breakfast is served.
It smells like heaven on Earth, freshly cooked bacon and fried eggs with toast, lightly brown with plenty of butter. His mother is as chirpy as ever, greets him with a light "good morning" while his father sits in his chair in the corner of the room with the TV remote right by his side and newspaper in hand complaining about how the news channels always start off with a good morning or good evening, then continue to tell you everything that isn't good about it. Ironic.
But Robin doesn't quite care today, has heard his dad's rambling complaints more than enough times.
"Morning, Will should be here any minute," he sits down at the table and starts eating the egg whites first, munching through bites of toast as he goes, listening to his mother telling him yet again about the importance of not skipping meals and not to spend too much money on absolutely nothing.
He'd packed the night before, at his mother's insistence. Otherwise he'd have just dragged everything from his drawers and thrown it all into bags and have done with it. He doesn't care for perfectly organised piles, one for shirts, one for jeans, one for boxers etc. It's just unnecessary he thinks.
"That'll be him now," he chomps on the rest of the toast and pushes the chair back, squeaking it on the kitchen floor, and opens the front door to see Will parking up on the edge of the sidewalk.
"Mate, you'll never guess who I just saw" he says, stumbles his way out of the car and closes the door behind him. Robin doesn't even blink an eye anymore, he's used to his friend's lack of special awareness. "Who?"
The possibilities are endless really. He could've saw the postman, or a delivery driver, that girl a few doors down who doesn't close her curtains when she gets changed. Or maybe it was a ghost, an alien...
"Marian"
An alien would've been better.
"Oh," is all he chokes out. It's not that they don't get along anymore but it's just...awkward between them now. Conversation is somewhat stunted and goes nowhere, always ends with a friendly 'bye' and that's it.
Still, for some odd reason Will seems to think they'll get back together one day. "Oh come on mate, don't tell me you don't still like her," he jabs Robin in the rib and raises his eyebrows as he takes hold of the bags and carries them to the car, "I've seen ya making eyes, don't deny it"
Eyes... "i don't make eyes," he's tried to defend himself countless times, but Will never does seem to get the message. "Maybe, but she does"
He hauls Robin's bag onto the back seat, "whoah, careful! It has some precious things in there"
It doesn't really, but he'd rather Will didn't treat his belongings like something he's taking to the trash.
Will just laughs, "what, precious like Marian ya mean?"
Not at all.
He just shakes his head and walks back towards his mother who is standing in the doorway with his father just behind, no doubt listening to their silly squabbling. "Well mum, it's time"
His mother just hugs him, tight. Tighter than ever and even Robin struggles for breath, "okay mum, can't breathe. Air is precious."
"I love you Robin. Stay safe won't you."
Robin nods his head, "of course, I promise. I love you too" then turns to his father.
"Dad..."
His father simply shakes his hand, pats his shoulder and tells him, "All the best son. Don't do anything I wouldn't do"
Well that leaves...not a lot then.
"Right then," he says, takes a deep breath and rolls his eyes when his mother tells him to make sure he calls when he arrives and opens the passenger side to get in.
"Bye Mr and Mrs Locksley!" Will shouts from the car.
But, "Will the window is up. They won't hear you"
Oh. To be honest they probably wouldn't hear him if the window were wide open with a fog horn blaring out either. Okay maybe that's a bit dramatic, but still. He winds it down and shouts it again, both of them waving back with wide smiles.
"Let's go mate" Will says, presses his foot to the gas and pulls off down the street.
Goodbye hometown.
For the first ten minutes or so Robin just simply enjoys the fresh air on his cheeks and the sounds of the other cars passing by and the wind blowing through the car. His eyes are open but all he sees really are moving trees that are blurry and patches of sky poking through them. It's fairly warm today, by English standards anyway. Nothing like the Californian sun, but a pleasant seventeen degrees according to the car.
But then Will has to go and interrupt the peaceful moment and shatter his thoughts of meeting new people and learning new things in a completely new environment.
He turns down the radio that's currently playing something by Imagine Dragons, "what?"
Will just looks at him and smirks, "dreamin' about her again were ya?"
If Robin didn't know any better he'd ask who exactly he's talking about. But he does know, all too well and just shakes his head, "no I'm not. Despite what you believe I don't think of Marian every second of the day."
"Well ya used too."
Maybe. Once upon a time.
But, "not anymore"
He rests his cheek on the edge of the window and just counts as he breathes.
One, two, three...
"Sorry mate. Gotta use the loo," Will says, brings Robin out of his light snooze. They've stopped at a service station it looks like. Robin stretches as best he can with the seat belt on which locks in place when he lurches forwards a little too fast and groans.
It clicks open when he presses the little button and climbs out of the car to stretch his legs for a moment. Okay so maybe he does need to use the bathroom too after his little snooze. He closes the car door and follows Will into the building then follows the signs for the toilets.
Both return to the car with coffees in hand, Robin still slightly sleepy. It doesn't take Will long to start winding him up again though and he picks up his phone, places it to his ear and pretends to answer it like there's actually someone else on the other line.
There isn't, but where's the harm in a little fun, right?
"Hello..."
Robin doesn't realise to begin with, just assumes it's a phone call just like any other but then Will steps it up a notch, "yes Marian, Robin is here...yep, yep I'll tell him"
Robin rolls his eyes and leans his head back against the window because he just can't be arsed with Will's constant assumptions that he and Marian will get back together because he's told him on more than one occasion that it's just not happening. He and Marian are ancient history as far as he's concerned.
He shouldn't be on the phone while driving, but he's not really so there's no harm in it really...
"Of course he does Marian. Yep, I'm sure he feels the same. I'll tell him" Will does his best not to burst out laughing at Robin's attempt at remaining calm. He can see his leg jiggling up and down from the passenger side and his jaw clenching tightly. But silence is boring and this is much more entertaining. At least on his part anyway.
"Get off the phone," he mutters rolling his eyes. It doesn't take Robin long after hearing the word 'Marian' the first time to realise that he's not actually talking to her. Besides, if he was it wouldn't be any of his business anyway.
He just crosses his arms across his chest and closes his eyes.
"He's the biggest you've ever had, wow!"
And that's where Robin's temper flares through the rooftop- or car roof- and he blows his lid. The blood in his veins runs red hot and he just lurches to the side and reaches for the phone to grab it from Will, "NO! Whoah, wait"
"GIVE ME IT!" Robin shouts as Will tries to keep control of the steering wheel, "NO!"
Robin's hand reaches for it again but he doesn't anticipate that Will loses grip on the phone and it goes bye bye out of the driver's side window. Oops.
"Shit!" Will shouts but Robin just scoffs and sits back in his seat with a proud grin and dimples on full display.
"Well, problem solved"
"Oh mate, just you wait till we get out of this car"
Not that Will has anything on Robin, he'd never be able to win a fight against him. Besides, they've been best friends for years, they wouldn't actually fight.
But now Will is a phone down. "Mam won't be happy about that you know," Will warns.
Robin might not be afraid of him, but his mother is a different box of frogs altogether. "Well I didn't throw it out there, it's not my fault you let it go, you shouldn't have been on the phone in the first place, you do know it's illegal right, even if you were faking a call."
There's a few minutes of absolute silence, save for the wind blowing through the car. But then, "knew you still felt something for her"
Robin gives him an incredulous look, "are you for real? You seriously think Marian and I are ever going to get back together?"
He shifts his legs in the footwell and sighs as Will tells him, "maybe not, but I don't see you with anyone else mate. How long has it been now?" Too long. Especially when Robin's been living by the 'just you and your hand' way of release.
"I don't want to be with anyone else. Unlike you, I don't just sleep with any random girl" maybe it's a bit harsh but he's pissed off, annoyed that Will just won't drop the M-word already.
Will scoffs, "better than nothing Romeo"
Actually, no it's not, Robin thinks. He'd rather only be intimate like that with someone he actually cares for and fucking the nearest bleach blonde haired girl with boobs doesn't appeal to him.
"Well, I think I'm okay with taking my chances" and if that means he doesn't have sex with another woman for the next ten years then so be it.
It doesn't take much longer to reach the streets of Oxford, and Robin just takes in the view and watches the buildings pass by, the blue sky stretching between them. It's just like he imagined, people on bicycles everywhere with little baskets int he front and the streets crowded with people. He was tired but now the thrill has kicked in- they're finally here and here, they've really made it, it's finally a reality and not just a pipe dream anymore. They're officially students at Oxford University.
Will pulls up and parks the car in the huge car park right by the entrance when a silver car pulls out at just the right time and reverses into that spot.
It's warmer than he thought and he just stands against the edge of the car for a moment but apparently Will has other plans because he walks round to Robin's side and bends him into a headlock, both of them falling forwards as they go but Robin twists around and under and out of his grip, swings his arm around Will's shoulder and gives him a friendly nuge as they both laugh and groan, Robin telling him off for talking about Marian again.
"Will, say it!"
"Nope, I know it were the truth"
But then he realises they're in the way when a deep feminine voice reaches his ears, "Excuse me!" She looks rather annoyed, "you just nearly knocked me out"
And they are taking up quite a lot of the pathway and reminds himself that they should probably behave an act like adults rather than primary school kids in the playground. The breath leaves Robin's lungs when Will scarpers off down the street telling him he's on his own when an older woman steps from behind her and asks what's going on, leaving him stood by himself in front of her and the most stunning woman he quite possibly has ever laid eyes on.
He would have offered to help her out, had he not been staring at her. Here eyes were deep brown eyes and silky looking raven hair that catches the sunlight and he mentally reminds himself not to just stand and admire her beauty when her mother (she must be her mother, she has the same angered look in her eyes) tells him he can help with their bags.
And he is nothing if not a gentleman. He was raised with manners after all, not to behave like a pig in a barn...
"I'd love to help you. I'm sorry for that little incident. Are you okay?" He asks, watching her.
She looks puzzled for a moment but then tells him, "it's fine" and reaches behind her to grab her bag out of the vehicle she arrived in but she trips, must be a clumsy one, and he catches her without even thinking twice about reaching out for her. After all, he wouldn't just stand by and let her fall. That would be embarrassing, and there are spectators here at this little show he's found himself the main star of.
But she snaps, "did I give you permission to touch me?"
Oh. Well, that was...unexpected. He was only trying to help. He offers to take her bag again but she tells him she doesn't need him, or anyone else to help her.
She's like a pint sized fire cracker with an attitude, but he gets the feeling her bark is worth than her bite. Does she like to bite? She looks like a biter...
"Apologies milady"
He asks her which room she's in, where she's staying because he finds himself wanting to make it up to her, at least change her first impression of him. And then she tells him she's in number 23, just near him because he's in 21.
Perfect.
He tells her it's nice to meet her, and it really, really is, but apparently that first impression isn't a good one because she tells him her name, "Regina Mills" and then adds that she wishes she could say the same.
Well then...
She disappears behind the door and leaves him standing on the sidewalk with her mother who wears the same displeased expression before following her daughter inside.
Okay, what the hell just happened?! Regina... a pretty name, he thinks. It suits her.
And he already knows two things about this woman; one, her name is Regina Mills. And two, she's a little spitfire, a bloody drop dead gorgeous one with a spicy attitude.
"And who was that!?" Will asks, apparently he's found his way out of hiding the little chicken shit, and is clearly stunned that a girl, woman, like her even looked in his direction, not that she had much choice in the matter when he nearly knocked her off her feet on the sidewalk.
Robin smirks, watches her disappear behind the door with her bag in hand, "that, my friend is Regina," once she is out of sight, he averts his eyes to Will, "Regina Mills"
Robin bites his bottom lip and sees the grin on his friend's face, maybe he'll finally believe that he is over Marian after all.