Chapter 31
Lip returns to campus for his last college semester. It is hard for him to grasp that he's made it this far. Three years ago, at the height of his struggles with alcohol and motivation, he never thought he'd find himself in this position. Four more months. Four months, and he'll have accomplished what all those around him have expected of him. He'll graduate from a highly respected university with the grades and resume to make him a sought after candidate at any number of companies.
First day back at classes, and Lip's afternoon is spent in the Robotics lab. This final semester, the seniors will fine-tune their designs, do rebuilds, and present their creations to the department heads. Those that impress the faculty generally get recommended to some of the top design firms in the country.
Robert shows up looking rested, but has a slight limp.
"What happened to you man?" Lip asks.
"Ah, just twisted my ankle showing off for some chick my last day on the slopes. No biggie."
"Skiing good?" Lip follows up.
"Sure was. I'm going to take you some time. None of this 'I have to work' bullshit. After this semester you can stop living week to week." Robert reminds Lip that there is a world out there of people that don't live paycheck to paycheck, and he's going to be part of it.
"Wow. That'll be something else. Not sure I'll know how to act." Lip chuckles, happy at the thought.
"I'm sure you'll figure it out." Robert winks. "Hey, did you do anything fun over Christmas break, or just work?"
"Took a trip actually. To Vegas." Lip waits for Robert to process this piece of info .
"You did?" Robert looks stumped. "Did you go to find Charlie?"
"Sure did." Lip replies vaguely.
"Well, did you?!" Robert is curious to know. All this time he's been convinced that Lip and Charlie were better apart, but he's impressed with Lip's dedication to finding her.
"Nope. Turns out she was in Monaco." Lip studies Robert hard to see if he knew she had gone over to Europe for the holidays.
"No shit. What was she doing over there?" Robert seems genuinely surprised.
"Dealing cards at a new casino." Lip informs him.
"Damn. I bet she made a ton of money. That's one of the richest gambling meccas in the world."
"Yeah. That's what I hear." He looks toward Robert again and just has to ask. "Did you know she was going over? Did she tell you?"
Robert puts down what he's working on and looks directly at Lip. "No, I didn't know. And no, she doesn't tell me anything. I think she's figured out I see you regularly, so she never talks specifics."
"Well, going to Vegas was the last idea I had to try to find her. After this semester, she'll graduate, and I'll have no idea where she'll end up."
"I guess that is true." Robert is taken aback at how defeated Lip looks. He knew Lip had continued to pine for Charlie, but to push work aside to travel somewhere on a hunch to find her was a step Robert wasn't expecting Lip to take. Clearly, Charlie is still very much under Lip's skin. "Does that mean you have given up?" Robert asks Lip.
"I'll never say that I've given up, but I guess I'm going to have to accept the fact that my life may not include her. Since I met Charlie, whenever I looked toward the future, I couldn't imagine it without her. As much as I still want that, and her, it's time to face facts."
Again, Robert is surprised at the depth of Lip's disappointment. He had heard Lip talk about how important their relationship had been to him, but Robert didn't know Lip was convinced he wanted Charlie, and only Charlie, in his future. "Will you start going out with me again and maybe find you a special someone, or at least someone special for the night?" Robert tries to make light of the situation, but he can tell Lip is only now accepting his life won't include Charlie.
"I'll go out with you, but I'm still not interested in actively pursuing anyone. I've made it this far, and want to stay on the straight and narrow for the next four months until graduation. It seems so close, but I have a history of fucking things up at the worst moments. I need to graduate. I need that under my belt. It's a major step in how the rest of my life unfolds, and I don't want to jeopardize it."
"Wow, good on you Lip. I guess I haven't looked at graduation as monumental as that." Robert counters.
"Well, it doesn't make as big of an impact on your future whether you graduate or not. Your life may not be much different. Mine however, well….let's just say I have no desire go back to that lifestyle."
"Then here's to graduation." Robert raises his canned coke in the air, and nods toward Lip.
Lip smiles, and goes back to writing his lab report.