Light flashed across my TV screen, as I killed a couple more aliens. I'm in the process of beating all of the Halo games in sequence.
I haven't seen anyone since that day. After I left school I came home, and went right to my room. I didn't come down for dinner or anything. I just cried. How can a human being with any semblance of a heart do something like that knowing the consequences?
The next day, about 4 in the afternoon my dad came to talk to me. He asked me what was wrong, I never skipped meals or acted like this. He looked scared, unlike I have never seen him before. I told him simply "Cat broke my heart."
He blinked, and then looked shocked. However, he quickly recovered and said. "I'm sorry son. Take all the time you need." He walked away, presumably to go tell my mother, who came up a few minutes later and said "I'm so sorry she did that sweetie. Is there anything we can do?"
"I don't think so mom. I appreciate it though."
"Do you want to stay up here? We can bring your meals and stuff up here if you want?"
"Yeah, that sounds nice, is that ok?"
"Sure sweetheart." She said, standing and kissing me on the cheek. She opened her mouth to say something, but thought better of it and left. I know what she was about to say too.
I love you.
Every single second has been brutal. It might come off wrong, but I had a picture of Cat with red hair as my lock screen on my pearphone. I've changed it now, to the picture of Jade and I at the beach, I scanned it and saved it digitally.
Then I decided I needed to do something, ANYTHING. I scanned my options, settling on something I haven't gotten to do in a while. Play my 360.
And that's how I came up with my first of what could possibly be many coping techniques. I'm kind of bummed out that nobody has contacted me. I don't know whether it's been the shock of it all, or if Andre, Beck and Tori even know. It's still disconcerting though.
I hear footsteps coming closer and closer to my door. It's about 2 in the afternoon and I've already had lunch, even did my dishes, emerging from my room for the first time in 2 days.
"Knock, Knock."
"Come in!"
Jade walked in, holding 2 bottles of red Raderade in her hands.
"Hi." She said nervously.
"Hey." I smiled, pausing the game to concentrate on her.
"You know, you can still play, I don't mind." She said, gesturing to the screen.
"Ok." I said, turning back to the game.
"How are you?" She asked, after a few moments her watching me.
"Umm…." I started, then really thinking about how I am.
"I feel…like part of me isn't here anymore." I finished.
She came over, sat on my bed and hugged me. "I'm sorry Robbie."
"Did she tell you about Colton and…you know?" I asked, curious to see if I got a special version of the sordid affair.
"Yeah…she told me what she told you. After you walked by I found her crying into the steering wheel uncontrollably. I talked to her for a little bit." She paused for a moment. "Well, talking isn't the right term. I don't know what is though. I heard how the conversation went after many questions and a lot of crying."
I didn't argue any of her points, not knowing what to say.
"You really tore her up."
I looked at her, and surprisingly she had a neutral face. Not mad, just…Jade.
"You're not mad?" I asked, surprised.
"I don't like that she's so upset, but what she did is almost unforgivable. She two timed you and used you as a rebound even when she had already bounced back. I can't defend her for that." Jade said, her neutral face turning into one of annoyance.
"Do the others know?" I asked, curious.
"Yeah, going completely off topic for a sec, did you know that Tori's dad was the one that arrested Michael?" Jade asked.
"No, he was?"
"Yeah, when I told everyone he was in the room. I was hesitant to talk with him in the room but he said and I quote "Does this have to do with Cat and that Michael jackass?"
"Yes sir."
"I want to hear this. I give you policeman's honor I won't tell anyone."
"Really?" I said.
"Yeah, he's a really nice guy."
"How did he react?" I asked.
"Horrified, and justifiably upset. He was speechless when I had finished. Everyone was." Jade said, sounding amazed even as she said it.
"Ok."
"Beck and Andre paced around for a while, venting their fury at Cat's actions. David calmed them down after a little bit."
"David?"
"Tori's dad's name. He didn't want to be known as 'Mr. Vega' or 'Officer'.
"Have they talked to Cat since they found out?"
"Nope, Beck and Andre are giving her the silent treatment and both Tori and her dad want to talk to you soon." Jade said, then sipping her Raderade.
I heard a "Knock, Knock." Not my door though. I heard my mom's footsteps as Jade and I exchanged glances of "Who's that?"
"Hello?" Mom asked, sounding confused.
"Hi, are you Mrs. Shapiro?" A deep voice asked. Jade nudged me.
"That's Tori's dad!" She harshly whispered.
"Yeah, who are you?" Mom replied.
"I'm Officer David Vega, but I'm not here on police business. Is Robbie home?"
"Yes, I'll show you to his room." Mom said, as the footsteps return and came to my door.
"Thank you ma'am." Mr. Vega said, as my mom walked away, wanting to give us privacy.
""Knock, Knock."
"Come in!" I said.
Tori's father opened the door, and Tori peeked out behind him.
"Robbie!" She exclaimed, running towards me and tackling me into a hug and knocked us both off my bed.
"OW!"
"Oh! Sorry! You're back still hurts doesn't it?" Tori said apologetically, helping me up.
"Easy Tori. How are you son, I'm David Vega, Tori's father." He said, smiling adoringly at his daughter. He extended his hand and I shook it.
"Nice to meet you sir, you must be very proud of your daughter." I said, sitting back on my bed. Tori blushed a deep crimson and smiled shyly.
"Thank you son, I'm sorry to hear about the events between you and Ms. Valentine." Mr. Vega said.
"Hmm." Was all I could think of saying. "Have a seat, sorry about that." I said quickly.
Both of the Vega's pulled up chairs and sat down.
"You ok Robbie?" Tori asked, sounding very morose.
"Ok I guess.
"Any news on Michael?" Jade asked, diverting the attention from me.
"Yes, he hasn't posted bail yet and a preliminary hearing is set for July." Mr. Vega said matter of factly.
"Why July?" I asked, surprised. I was expecting in the next 2-3 weeks.
"There's a backlog of criminal cases." He told me.
I decided to turn the topic back to the events of a few days ago. "Have you talked to Cat?" I turned to Tori.
"No, I haven't." She said, looking rather bothered.
"What's wrong?' I asked, sensing that something was up.
"I…I know you were the one that this affects most, but I feel like she just stabbed all of us in the back." She said, sounding defeated.
"It's ok Tori, this was a very traumatic event that will take some time to heal." Mr. Vega said, hugging his daughter.
"You say that like we saw someone get shot or something." Jade said.
"Yeah, actually the pain felt by the victim's is kind of similar. Pain is pain, no matter whether it's emotional, psychological or physical."
"I feel so bad for you Robbie, you love Cat and then this happens…this has to be absolute hell." She said, glancing at her father and crying at the same time.
If Mr. Vega was upset about his daughter swearing in his presence, he didn't show it. "As a police officer I've had to read many reports about domestic violence and love. I've seen horrible incidents occur over much less. I have to commend you for keeping your cool in that situation."
"But I don't keep my cool sir, I yelled at her. A lot." I said, feeling guilty for some reason.
"It's a terrible thing to say, but it's true. She deserved it. She knew what she did and the consequences that followed. I don't care that she has some new boyfriend, she didn't anticipate the person who cares about her most yelling at her."
"Have either of you talked to Cat?" I asked both of the Vega's.
"No." Tori said.
"No I haven't." Mr. Vega said.
"Then who's going to break the ice with her?" Jade questioned.
"I don't know." Mr. Vega said. His ringer went off. "Oh, I'm so sorry. There's been an accident and they need crowd control. Nice meeting you all." He said, walking out the door without giving us a chance to say goodbye.
Tori sighed. "That happens occasionally. In the middle of something, but duty calls."
I leaned back onto my bed. I have no idea what to say to anyone. What is there left to say?
"Cat said something about your back Robbie, what's going on?" Jade suddenly asked.
"Oh! When Michael tackled me into the door knob of that SUV he bruised some vertebrae and tweaked them." I said.
"That conversation must have been horrible." Tori said, putting her hand on top of mine.
"Knock, Knock."
"Who could it be now?" Jade asked, exasperated by all the visitors.
"Come in!" I called out.
"Mind if we come in? Or are you in the middle of something?" Beck asked, poking his head in the door.
"Nope, you're good. You don't count as 'we' though." I said flippantly, but smiling slightly.
"Hey, I'm here too ya know." Andre said, stepping inside after Beck.
"Beck!" Tori said, getting to her feet.
"Hey gorge—Tori." Beck said quickly, glancing guiltily at Jade.
"Hey guys. How are you holding up?" I asked, gesturing them to the chairs Tori and her father had vacated.
"Shouldn't we be asking you that?" Beck responded.
"Yeah man, talk to us." Andre said.
"I've talked to everyone, but nobody has talked to me! I would like some information!" I said, voicing my frustration at the well intentioned pity act.
"Ok…what do you want to know?" Andre asked me.
"How you guys are! I keep on getting asked how I am but nobody says how they are."
"HEY!" Tori and Jade yelled simultaneously.
"Sorry, just tell me what you're thinking." I quickly said.
"I'm mad because of how she led us on. She definitely shouldn't have done that." Beck said.
"I'm more mad for you man. You are in love with her and she pulls this stunt? She seriously needs to look at things and realize his prince, has bushy hair and is right in front of her." He said, smiling and ruffled my hair. I begrudgingly smiled.
"Well, I'm glad you can at least smile after all of that." Tori said.
I laughed, "Yeah, it's coming back kind of slowly."
"Hey, who's hungry?" Beck asked. Everyone nodded or said "Yes."
"Then let's get out of here and go get some expensive, tasty food!" Jade said happily, getting up. The rest of us followed and after I quickly said goodbye to my parents, we all were out the door.
We all got in our respective vehicles and drove to a familiar Mexican restaurant near Hollywood Arts.
"You know, we need to consider carpooling or something, this has got to be the least effective way of getting around." Tori said, waving her hand.
"Where are we? Seattle? No, we're in LA, we're supposed to use everything in excess. Even cars!" Andre said, flailing his arms around.
"Ok Captain Environment, get inside." Beck smiled and pushed him inside. He pulled me aside before we went inside.
"I was thinking about going and talking to Cat with Tori if she's ok with it. You ok with it?"
I pondered the idea. I can't just let this one slide, how am I going to handle it?
"Yeah, sure. I have no idea on how to handle it." I confessed.
"Here's how I'd do it. Just give it some time. Time heals all wounds, and you guys need to get away from each other, or at least she needs to get away from you." He said, looping his arm around my shoulders and directing me inside.
I don't know whether it was the drama of the last few days, or just the fact we were out of school, but we were loud and obnoxious, just kids having fun for a change. We didn't think about the other people glaring at us, screw them. We have bigger issues than some people in their 60's wanting us just to be quiet.
We were still calming down after Jade told the story of my falling off the stage at the 3rd grade awards when someone about our age came up.
"Yes?" Beck said, turning to face him and not bothering to hide his annoyance.
"I'm sorry to disturb you, but I'm on a date right now, so can you please shut up?"
Beck blinked, obviously surprised at his bluntness. Everyone else seemed surprised at his boldness.
"Yeah, I don't think so. The last few days have been really bad so we're going to just have fun, sorry about your date." Tori said, waving him off. He glared at Beck and Tori, who gave him an equally cold stare back and then marched off huffily.
We all then burst into laughter. "Did you see the way he walked off! Like a macho man? What a douche." Jade said, cracking up. It was funny, but I kept an eye on Mr. Macho to see if he would turn around.
Wow, that's a pretty girl he's with, too bad…no way…
"Guys. We have a slight problem." I said, still looking at the guy.
"What is it?" Andre asked, as everyone peered over in the direction I was looking.
"Middle table in that secluded area." I clarified. Everyone zoomed in on it.
I took a deep breath. "That's our good friend Colton that just came and spoke to us."
"Wait…you mean that Colton?" Tori asked, eyes widening as she whipped back around.
"Damn it, we can't shake her!" Beck said, slapping his palm on the table as Colton and Cat stood to leave. We were just hanging around since we had already paid the check.
"Hey, let's go make a statement. Robbie, you're in the mood for some loud music right?" Beck asked, avoiding Colton's glare as he and Cat walked by, she being oblivious to our presence.
"Yeah." I said.
"How about we walk right by them silently, then he blasts a song right in their ears?" Andre proposed.
"How about the second half of No Sleep?" I asked Beck and Andre.
"What's No Sleep?" Tori asked.
"Wiz Khalifa." The three of us said at the same time. I stood up, and was followed by the others.
As we walked out the door we spotted the lovely young couple holding hands and walking slowly towards a SUV parked right by the exit. We all picked up the pace a bit. The order is Beck, Tori, Andre, Jade and lastly me.
They had about 10 feet to their SUV when Beck calmly walked RIGHT IN FRONT OF THEM.
He doesn't mess around.
"Hey! Watch it!" He yelled, as Tori passed them up quickly while completely ignoring them. He was silent while the rest of us passed them. I don't think Cat recognized anyone though. Once I rounded the corner I quickly hopped in my car and rolled down my passenger side window while pulling up next to their SUV right as they walked up to it. I looked in my rearview mirror to find the others gathered by Tori's car, motioning for me to blast them out of the water.
I hit the stereo, right where I wanted the song and maxed the volume.
"No drivin, no ,sleeping, live it up like, it's the weekend, when the DJ, play the song we all gonna drink, gonna party all night long…" Boomed out of my sound system, thru my open passenger side window and right into their faces. They jumped out of their skin and Colton grabbed onto the door handle to stay upright. I pretended to check my mirrors to find everyone behind me falling over themselves they were laughing at them so hard.
"Turn that down!" Colton yelled, barely audible.
I turned down the volume for a moment. "What buddy? I can't here you! You said louder right?" I said, cockily.
I locked eyes with him as I hit the volume again.
"No drivin, no ,sleeping, live it up like, it's the weekend, when the DJ, play the song we all gonna drink, gonna party all night long…"
Oddly enough, I feel better.