Edited on December 13, 2010
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Sons (Tyler, Pogue, Reid, or Caleb) and I don't own Aaron either. Robby and Erich are mine though.
Note: Sorry guys. I was having major document trouble. I HATE fanfiction! More at bottom!
Robby woke with a start, shooting strait up with her eyes roaming the room. Her heart pounded in her chest as her unfamiliar surroundings started to set in. She took a few more seconds, letting the navy blue walls and comfy full bed register. She turned, her eyes stopping on the night stand that sat on the left side of the bed. She reached out and grasped the picture, bringing it closer to her face to examine it.
Aaron's.
She was at Aaron's.
Thank god, she thought with a sigh before she let herself collapse again. Her eyes burned as she closed them again and she was suddenly reminded of the reason. Thank God for Aaron because he really was a God-send. She didn't know what she would have done without him. For one thing she probably never would have made it to a bed in one piece.
She remembered now, if she squinted her eyes. Aaron had taken her from Nicky's, out into the woods. The next parts were a bit fuzzy but she figured they revolved around them talking or Aaron trying to comfort her; either that or Aaron kicking things and cursing at Pogue's cold heartedness. Robby wasn't sure because all of them were very good possibilities.
With a heavy sigh, she pulled herself from underneath the warm covers and let her feet drop to the floor. The wood was cold on her bare feet and she gave a little shiver before moving towards the door and pulling it open. Everything was silent on the other side of it and she cautiously moved down the hallway, following the oh-so-familiar trail to the kitchen. Aaron could most always be found in the kitchen either pestering the Abbot cook or getting something to eat for himself. He was a growing teenage boy after all.
Robby stuck her sore hand out and pushed through the swinging door just to find the huge kitchen empty. She frowned and moved over to the counter in the middle of the kitchen where a bowl of fruit and a plate of donuts set.
"Hmm," she murmured as she picked up the small folded piece of paper right next to the donuts.
Good morning sunshine, the earth says hello, it read.
I had football practice this morning and I won't be back till none. I doubt you'll even be awake by then but I'm writing this just in case. Obviously you've already found the donuts so enjoy and stuff your big fat mouth. :)
Tyler phoned early this morning before I left. He says he's going to take you out to some little new cafe in town. He also said to be ready by 3:00. I told him I would take care of it and we both agreed that you're going.
Robby paused in her reading, letting her eyes roam upwards until they landed on the ceiling with thought. What day was it anyway? She couldn't remember. It was like everything that had happened last night with...him, had wiped out everything else. It was the only thing she could think of anyway.
At least I'll have Aaron and Tyler to keep me busy today, she told herself with a small shrug. She turned back to the note, her eyes working hard to find the spot she had left off at.
It's Sunday by the way. And if you think you're going to pull that 'you didn't wake me up for church' thing, you're dead wrong. I know you don't go to church.
Be back soon.
Aaron
So it was Sunday. How in the hell had Aaron picked up on all the little things about Robby? He had probably always known. It wasn't like she paid that much attention before she left. She was too busy with...
She stopped herself. It wasn't right thinking about him all the time after what he had just pulled last night. It wasn't right and it made her heart hurt. She had to stop soon or she was going to end up going insane.
She looked back down at the note in her hands and reread the part about Tyler taking her out and then let her eyes shift to the clock. She had about an hour and a half to get ready, which also meant that Aaron was about an hour and half late.
Typical, Robby thought as she picked up a donut from the tray and started her trek back upstairs. She was going to have to sort through all the clothes she had at Aaron's and decide what she wanted to wear. It was only a café, after all, which meant it wouldn't be that hard. And then she would have to shower and do all that sort of stuff. That hardly left her enough time to hang with Aaron if he came back anytime soon.
She had spent her whole life hanging with Aaron though, she admitted that. But the fact of the matter was that Aaron was like her brother. Not her twin or the other piece of her soul or anything, just a brother. He looked after her and made her feel better when she was down. Growing up together had helped matters a lot, too. She had spent every waking moment with the boy and they had even taken turns spending the night at each others' houses. The guestroom next to Aaron's (the room Robby had stayed in last night) was actually dubbed 'Robby's Room'. His mom had even had it redone in all the colors Robby liked.
Pictures of them together hung all over the house and brought up great memories and some not so great. It was like her second home.
But two years had changed that.
As she walked up the stairs and started to pay attention to the family pictures hanging on the wall, she realized all of hers had been removed. It was just Aaron and even a few of Kyra.
They didn't think I was coming back, she thought with a sad smile as she passed by Aaron's kindergarten picture. A copy of her own kindergarten picture had used to hang right next to it. But obviously those ages were over. She almost felt like making Aaron put them back up.
Robby didn't have a home anymore. It certainly wasn't with her mother and her father had ruined everything that she had even held close. The only real chance she had left was Aaron's house and even it seemed to be too changed now. It was sad how one little moment or one choice could change a person's life forever.
Robby popped the last remains of her donut into her mouth before entering the bathroom.
She headed right towards the green color Jacuzzi tub and started to fill it with hot water.
When steam started to rise from it she finally popped the plug into place and headed back towards her room. The dresser and the closet were full of her clothes, most of them from two years ago.
She hoped she could fit into them.
About fifteen minutes later she had decided on a pair of knee less jeans and a simple white tee shirt. She threw them on top of the toilet as she passed before starting to strip down.
She shivered when she finally got into the hot water. It was just what she needed to calm her nerves and she wasn't going to let anything ruin it for her.
Robby sat on the porch, hair finally dried and make up looking nice. The soft sound of Beethoven was making its way from the house behind her and she savored the sweet sound of the piano. She had always liked it but had only lasted a few lessons when she tried to play. The teacher had told her she didn't have the fingers for it or the patience.
Robby, of course, had to do everything in her power to control her fist from smacking into the woman's face.
She had been young then, she mused. And God her temper had been horrible. She yelled at everyone for any little thing back then. It was a wonder she had any friends at all.
She almost let out a laugh at the memory of Aaron's face when she used to yell at him, something between a pout and a scowl. She had never known one person could look like they were going to cry and yell at the same time. Not until she had met Pogue and seen the look on herself. Then she had realized what it took to make a person look that way, to feel that way.
The loud crunch of gravel made her look up and her eyes narrowed for a few seconds before it dawned on her that the approaching car belonged to Tyler. She still couldn't get used to the fact that he drove a Hummer. Of course, he had stayed back in Ipswich where all the money was. Their father had left everything to their mother during the divorce and Robby had only gotten her first car six months after the move. It was an old beat up Volkswagen the color of rust red. Robby always thought it was more rust then red, though.
Robby scoffed playfully at Tyler when he finally got out of the car and pretended to throw a rock at his precious car, but her oh-so-close twin didn't even flinch.
"I hate you!" Robby whined. She let a fake smile take the place of her scoff and at the same time Tyler's smile fell from his face.
"Don't," he told her demandingly.
Robby gave him a look, a cross between confused and uncaring.
"Don't give me that fake smile," Tyler told her, pointing an accusing finger. "I know you like the back of my hand."
"Maybe that's because we practically have the same back hand," Robby told him with a light snarl. "So where are you taking me?" She asked as she moved towards the passenger side.
"It's a new cafe in town. Now just shut up and enjoy the ride," Tyler snapped with a roll of his eyes. Robby scoffed but pulled herself into the huge truck anyway.
Robby stumbled through the door, her face aflame with the red color of blood.
She turned, her dark eyes falling on Tyler to glare at her twin. He had purposefully shoved her. She knew he had and he wasn't going to get away with it that easily.
"Go get a seat. I'm going to go get us something to drink and look around. Socialize." Tyler told her, shoving her again. She stumbled, this time successfully catching herself before she ran into anything. She let a few murmured curses slip past her lips before she started towards an empty table for two by the window. The fact that the weather outside reflected her mood, was only more of a point to stay inside where she could sulk.
She didn't think words could describe how much she hated Tyler and Aaron at that moment and she could only thank God she hadn't seen Caleb or Reid. She didn't even want to know what those two would say about her whole stupid situation.
Ok, so maybe it wasn't so stupid. Every girl would break down if she got her heart broken, wouldn't she? It was only common sense. The thought didn't make her feel any better or any less stupid though. In a way she felt like she had walked right into, like one of those traps in the woods covered by grass that sent you plummeting onto a sharp piece of wood. And then you feel the stab and it hurts like hell. She had been stabbed in the heart when she had fallen.
Yeah, that was the perfect way to describe it.
With a sigh she slumped forward, gluing her dark eyes onto the table in front of her. There was some kind of crumbs there. Probably some type of cake the little cafe sold. Which lead her to realize she hadn't even given the place a once over.
She vowed to do it later, but for now she was content on staring at the table. Somehow she figured it took up less energy. Maybe if she spent all of her brain power on trying to figure out what kind of food the crumbs came from, she wouldn't have to think about the pain deep down in her chest.
"You look glum," a deep voice stated. It was one of those voices that sent shivers down your spine and made you look up almost immediately because you just had to put a face to the voice. But she didn't look up. The voice reminded her too much of Pogue.
The wooden chair across from her made scraping noises on the floor as it was pulled back from the table, but she still didn't look over. She was still trying to concentrate on the crumbs.
She was guessing now it was from some sort of coffee cake...
Hands obscured her vision, covering up the crumbs. Robby scoffed down at them, taking in their length and the calluses that were littered there. Whoever it was was obviously male and he had long fingers, long kept fingers. They actually looked pretty good. No mud under the fingernails and the calluses were barely noticeable. The hands were intertwined at the fingers and held together, only like a male would do when he was talking business.
What in the hell am I doing, she thought suddenly with an inner kick to her butt. She was sitting there studying some stranger's fingers and hands!
She slowly let her eyes trail upwards, taking in the leather jacket with a flinch and then taking in the white shirt that sat underneath it. She looked over his right shoulder, noticing the strong muscles that sat there, pulled tight as if he was tense and then she trailed to the left, taking in that shoulder the same way she had the first. Whoever it was, was strong, well built, and sturdy, she concluded as she let her eyes travel even further upwards. His skin was tan. She imagined it probably fit his personality. She discovered hair on his chin, a slight beard, and she let her eyebrows nit together in confusion. No one around Ipswich, that she knew, had a beard. He had a slight mustache, too, which seemed like it fit him pretty well. His hair on his beard was blonde and when she looked to the right she could see that his hair was too. It was short and cropped and it looked like he didn't do much to it. Plump lips were right below his mustache and they seemed to glow a light red color, like he had just licked them (which he probably had). His nose seemed to be proportioned with his face, not too big and not too small and had a nice rounded tip.
His eyes were blank and so was his expression. They were a nice deep brown color and the only word Robby could think up to describe them was mysterious. Something flickered in them every now and then but it was always gone before Robby could pick up on what it was. He was a mysterious character, this one.
"You're not from around here," Robby pointed out to him before clearing her throat. She hadn't realized how hoarse her voice had gotten.
"No, I'm not," he replied simply with a shrug of his shoulders. His dark eyes flickered again and Robby tried hard to register the emotion, but it was gone when she blinked. "I'm on vacation."
"Vacation from what?" Robby asked before she could stop herself.
"Curiosity killed the cat," she heard him mutter under his breath before his eyes locked with hers again. "From college. I'm studying to become a lawyer in Boston."
Robby slowly nodded, all of her thoughts coming together now. She realized why he looked so old and why she had never seen him around before and she found it all painfully obvious now.
"What brings you to Ipswich?" She asked, leaning towards the stranger in front of her as she lowered her voice. She could feel the eyes and stares of people and it was literally giving her the creeps. Ipswich wasn't exactly the most open place in the world. Everyone liked to keep to themselves and it made Robby feel like a traitor for talking to an outsider.
"Curiosity."
His answer was grunted and Robby barely caught the ghost of a smile on his lips. She almost smiled herself. His smile was contagious. She could tell he was the type of person that didn't do it often but when he did it sort of lit up the whole room.
"You just said it killed the cat," Robby corrected him with a mocking finger pointed in his direction.
He let out a harsh chuckle then and Robby flinched away from him. It wasn't exactly cold, but it wasn't the best sound in the world. It actually sounded forced, she realized. It was almost alluring. She hadn't heard anything like it and she had met a lot of people in her time.
"What's your name kid?" He asked suddenly, his eyes yet again flickering.
"Robby." She blurted out without thinking, a small smile still on her face. "Simms," she added hurriedly. The stranger smiled at her, his white teeth showing again. But this smile wasn't like the other one. This one was more forced, like he was trying to hide the fact he was thinking about something.
"What's yours?" She cut him off before he could say anything else and cocked her head to the side. "And I'm not a kid. I'm probably only about two years younger than you." She added in a matter-of-fact tone.
"Erich Osburne." He answered slowly with a raised eyebrow. To Robby it almost seemed like he was hesitant in giving her his name at all. But she couldn't figure out why. It wasn't like she was the new person in town that was poking questions at everyone.
"Hmm. Interesting name," she mocked with a small smile. He grunted, obviously not amused.
"So what's it like in college?" Robby asked, not aware of what she had gotten herself into.
He started off before she could even blink an eye and she realized that maybe she had started talking about a subject he liked because he went on and on. And Robby, surprisingly, listened to him with great interest. He was a hockey and a soccer player and both sports took up most of his time when he wasn't studying or in class. He seemed like a pretty devoted person, ambitious to say the least. He was pretty serious, too. He never really cracked a smile the whole time he was talking and the only expression she did get out of him was a few raised eyebrows or squinted eyes, or even a frown or two.
She had interrupted a few times, questioning him on a few things and asking him why exactly he wanted to become a slimy lawyer (as she put it). And that had set him off again. He had told her about the way he liked to defend the innocent people and just from talking about it Robby realized he was a real deep thinker. He thought everything through before he said it out loud and it seemed like he had his whole life plan written down somewhere in that head of his.
When he had finally stopped his small rants, raves, and speeches, he turned the questions to her. He had even gone as far as to ask what her favorite color was.
And then he took out a major bomb.
"Why do you look so sad?" He asked her, leaning in even closer then he already was. Robby frowned, all the muscles in her body pulling tight and tense. How was she supposed to answer a question like that? It was almost impossible. You couldn't make someone else feel the extent of your heartbreak, no matter how hard you tried. And she really didn't want anyone else to have to feel her pain.
Robby leaned back, away from Erich until her back was pressed firmly against the back of the chair.
"I had my heart broken," she finally decided on. She let her eyes drift back to the table, tracing the lines of the wood. She tried to focus on the question of whether or not it was real wood but she couldn't seem to stay focused with Erich's eyes drilling holes in her head.
"Look at me," he told her softly, so softly she just had to look up. His eyes were still blank but something in the way his face looked made her believe he was trying to be sincere.
"What happened?" He prodded.
"There was this guy…." Robby found herself saying before she trailed off. Her eyes filled with unwelcome tears and she brushed them away hurriedly. "We had been dating for a while. It was about two years back. I was totally in love with him but I guess you could say I had a lot of problems with actually showing it. I guess most of the problems were caused by me but the winter of our sophomore year, we really started to go downhill. We fought about every little thing. And then I got the news. My parents were divorcing and I was going to move to California with my dad. I was going to have to leave my friends and my twin brother behind, not to mention Pogue, the guy I loved. So as soon as I had stopped crying I left to go to Pogue's apartment.
It was a slow walk up the stairs and I stopped at least two times to collapse and sob. Everything was falling down around me and I really felt like it was the end of the world. It was so hard for me to keep walking up those stairs, knowing what I had to tell the only boy I really loved that I was leaving him. When I reached his floor, I had to take a few breathes before I actually knocked. When he opened up he had the coldest expression on his face.
Long story short, he ended up breaking up with me before I left for California. I spent two years there and I never called or wrote, not even to my twin Tyler. I was too heartbroken. And when I came back Pogue had a girlfriend. He had obviously moved on. But he was still really important to me. You just can't let your first love go. He ended up kissing me last night. But it wasn't really a kiss. He just did it to break me. We had been fighting and I had slapped him…" she let more tears fall and brushed them away again, letting Erich fill in the rest of the story on his own. It wasn't like she had all the time in the world to sit there with him and spill her guts, even if it was what she wanted to do.
And that was strange
How many people in the world had she ever chosen to show her real emotions to? Around two, she guessed; Aaron and Tyler, Tyler because he was her twin and Aaron because he was her best friend.
This stranger didn't even have to work to get her to show her emotions. She just sort of spilled it on him. What made him so different?
Maybe it was his looks.
But she had the feeling it was more of the way he acted. The whole mysterious thing he had going on made her want to tell him everything and hope to hear everything in return. He was one of those people that she knew she could trust but didn't know if she was going to get trust in return.
"Are you done yet?" A voice whined from her left. Robby turned, her eyes landed on her twin brother. Two coffee cups were held in his hands and he was looking down at her with a frown.
"I was heading out anyway." Erich said slowly from in front of her. She turned back to him, her face falling at the mention of him leaving. He had told her this was his last day in Ipswich. He was going back tomorrow.
"It was really nice meeting you," Erich said, his dark eyes burning into her. Robby nodded sadly.
"You too," was all she could say as she watched him get up and head towards the door. He walked out after taking a look back at her and she watched as he headed towards a Harley in the parking lot.
Author's Note: Right, then. Here we are. Another chapter uploaded. So I've added a character named Erich. You guys should probably remember him. He's really important and he'll be showing up again sometime soon. He's a HUGE part of the plot. :)
In other news, Rosie and I have pretty much finished our Covanant fanfiction award site called Marblehead Awards. There is a link in my profile if you shall kindly go check it out. You guys will like it, I promise. It opens officially on September 1st. THANK YOU GUYS FOR EVERYTHING!