Robin was sitting on the couch again, this time flicking through a magazine and enjoying the cool air from the fan. She was not paying particular attention to the scenery outside as they flashed by, just entirely absorbed in, for the time being, reading her horoscope for the year.
After much effort and a chain of small arguments they were glad to have eventually resolved, they had made a decision on the driving roster. She would drive in the mornings from nine to noon, they would take a break and stop for lunch or gas if necessary. Barney would then take over from then on until four in the afternoon, before she continued from four to six. Dinner, showers and some free time, then he would get behind the wheels again from eight to ten, and they would call it a day. They knew more arguments were bound to break out during that time span, so they have decided that whoever was driving at that time also got to choose the music, simply because they were driving.
Right now, it was two in the afternoon and Barney was driving.
Peering into the rear-view mirror, he let out a snort that caused her to look up from her read, her finger still in the middle of flipping the page, situated awkwardly in mid-air.
"What?" Robin suddenly felt defensive as she clutched her magazine tightly.
"You brought magazines?" He called out in a tone she did not quite manage to make out.
"Yes. And so what?"
Their eyes locked for a brief moment and Barney wondered if that snort he let out earlier on was necessary at all, before deciding that, no, it was not necessary at all.
"Nothing," he replied in a small voice as he diverted his eyes back to the road.
Robin stared at the back of his head and let her eyes linger for a moment before she returned to her magazine, finally loosening her grip when she realised her tight grip had unintentionally caused slight creases on the side of the pages.
Half an hour later, Robin felt a jolt as the caravan came to an abrupt stop. She held onto the side of the couch with one hand for balance and peeped out from behind her novel, raising a questioning eyebrow at Barney, wondering why they have stopped moving. Before she had a chance to blurt out what she was thinking, she was interrupted by the sound of his thoughts.
"I just thought... It's kind of cool out there," he explained as he looked out into the daylight, his eyes squinting from the Sun. Her gaze followed his closely, and the second she looked outside, she had to stop herself from producing what would possibly be the loudest gasp. It was beautiful. Sunlight was streaking into the caravan, and she immediately got up to gather the rest of the curtains, shoving them aside so she could enjoy the full view of the beach with people scattered all over the sand, screaming, laughing, happy.
For a moment, Robin felt her throat tighten and she was unable to say anything, just letting out a barely audible squeak as she was mesmerised by the landscape. When she had finally found her words, all she managed was a simple 'wow'. And though she spoke so little, he understood. He himself was staring intently outside the window as he soaked up the warmth soaking in, content and wishing that moment would somehow last forever.
Robin sighed, tearing her gaze from the window to face Barney, who was still staring straight ahead at the joyous scene. "It's too bad we don't have time for this. It looks awesome."
"Yeah. That would be nice. So... Moving on." He faced the front again and stepped on acceleration, and she could not help but feel a tinge of sadness as they drove off without so much as a second wave of goodbye. Feeling sentimental for some unexplainable reason, she cursed herself as she tried to blink back a small tear that had formed in the corner of her eye. She did so quickly, not wanting to let Barney witness it.
In all honesty, she still was not entirely comfortable with him, and it was within reason. Why? First off, they had met via three mutual friends - Ted, Lily and Marshall - a mere half a year ago. Needless to say, they had not been enjoying each other's company very much in that time. Whenever they were placed within a five meter radius, Robin's inner douchebag radar would beep urgently, causing her to think of some lame excuse to get away immediately. And whenever they were forced to communicate, something bad always happened, be it an argument or just the unpleasant atmosphere in general.
Because of that, the three of them had been extremely frustrated about the unresolved conflict that had seemed to arise from nothing between the two. Tactics to get them to be friends came and go, and plans made were often proven to be of no use. Every time they were on the brink of an argument, the only thing effective would be the look Lily shot Robin - a look that mothers gave their misbehaving child, causing her to give in and quieten down. And every time Barney was about to begin one of his stupid speeches meant to poke fun at Robin, Ted would give him the same look, with an extra bonus being a kick from Marshall from under the table, shutting Barney up completely. They had kept things under control then, and were getting along just a tiny bit better than they had ever been, until they had been sent packing into the caravan with no one but each other.
And secondly, it was because they were only a few hours into this trip. As much as she had hoped Lily would jump out from the couch out of the blue, holding a cake and yelling 'surprise!' so the tension could be broken and she would have someone to chat with again, she knew it was not happening. She was all on her own, with Barney Stinson, and nothing could be done about that.
"Do you have any songs? It's really quiet in here." Robin called out, her nose buried in her book once again. Uncomfortably quiet. She knew it was not that she really wanted to listen to music, but just more of having something to fill the awkward silence. It took a while, but it seemed like Barney registered her intention and slipped a CD into the music player, swiftly pressing play. As music filled the room, she felt her shoulders relax.
Maybe it isn't that bad, she thought as she stole a glance at his direction, before quickly looking away as their eyes met for a second when he looked into the rear view mirror. And maybe I've been wrong about him being a bad person, like I am about many things.