REBECCA
CHAPTER 5
"I call shotgun."
"…and on the way, we're gonna have to stop for lunch, so we can try Summit if we get there on time…"
"Please, has anyone seen my-"
"It's packed, Starfire. And please don't contribute any more to the noise they're making."
"I…call…shotgun!"
"For the fifteenth time, IT'S NOT GONNA HAPPEN! There's NO way I'll be sittin' by you on a six hour trip!"
"Since when are you driving?"
"Since it's my car!"
"…since when?"
"Shut up! If I don't meditate, I'll blow up the car while we're in it!"
It was Sunday; AKA the last day of vacation. The long weekend was coming to a close, and the Titans were preparing for the endless ride back to Jump City. Pulling himself away from the rucass, Robin walked over to Rebecca, who had been sitting on the window seat at the back of the kitchen.
"Hey, you okay?"
She didn't move her gaze from the window. "Have you ever seen something that no matter where you were, made you feel like you were home?"
A strange question, Robin was taken aback. "Uh, I don't know. I haven't really had a real home," he answered unsurely, sitting down next to her. Studying her vacant expression from behind his mask.
"What about with them?" she nodded her head backward toward the other Titans, still not looking away from the ocean outside.
Robin smirked. "Titans Tower isn't much of a home. It's…" He didn't know exactly what.
"Just a place you live," Rebecca finished for him; Robin was unsure if this was a question or not.
"…yeah." He continued to stare at her, puzzled. A smaller version of her notorious smile spread across her face.
"Whenever I see the ocean, I feel like I'm home. I guess that's why I'm away from my house so often. But the strange thing is, my house is the only place where I don't feel 'at home'. Despite the ocean. There's something about it. Something that makes me want to leave every time I'm there. Even when I'm sailing, if I turn and look towards the shore, I can see parts of my house through the woods. And I feel trapped. Trapped between my house and my ocean, and no matter which way I go, I'm stuck."
For a moment, they didn't speak.
"But there's no boundary in the ocean, though," Robin said. Again, Rebecca smiled.
"Not for most people, there isn't. But for me…" She turned to Robin, her eyes glimmering. "You know those old-fashioned boats, the small ones, that only had so much room to walk around on top and a small cabin just underneath?" Robin nodded, though he wasn't sure. "Well, my mother had one of those. She inherited it from her great-aunt, who first taught her to sail. I inherited this from my mother," Rebecca held up the strange 'R' on her necklace, "as well as her name." Rebecca looked Robin in the eye, her intensity coursing through her entire being. "When my mother's boat sank, finally, the mast caught between a few rocks on either side of the cove on my property, blocking the way out for my ship. I can only go so far out with my boat." She smiled her full, seducing smile, laughing under her breath. "I guess what goes around comes around."
What…?