September 1st
"how are we today Cat" asks Robbie as he walks in on his first day on in two weeks
"I'm good, how's it going between you and Alex, I heard it's not so great" says Cat
"we aren't together yet but she's signaling she wants to be, what's concerning is she spends all her time in her room, she'll leave notes asking for food for breakfast then doesn't eat it, I'll come home after work and it'll still be there on the table where I left it for her, completely untouched, then I go to talk to her and all she does is cry, I don't know how to talk to her, it scares me" says Robbie
"she's like me, in more ways than one Robbie, she's a Russo-Valentin, she's five generations removed from the Valentine family which goes back many many years here in Sicilia, like two hundred years or something, something you should know about Alex, nobody has ever shown that much interest in her, romantic or otherwise, not a teacher, not an adult of any kind, no boys, no girls even, the closest she has to a friend is Cass, and they don't get along all that well, there could maybe be some kind of mental breakdown happening but she's probably terrified that you would just bed her and leave, she has no proper frame of reference for how things should go" says Cat
"how do you know she might be afraid like that" asks Robbie
"because I had that same fear about you, as a shortie girl growing up in LA I was taught to fear guys like you, guys that maybe show too much interest, or a normal amount of interest but misunderstand the lines, had I grown up differently Robbie we could have totally been together, Alex is super fearful like the way I was with you, I'm gonna get her to come over, you hide I'll talk to her" says Cat as Robbie hides
10 minutes later as Alex walks in in response to Cat's text
"hey what's up" asks Alex
"do you have feelings for Robbie" asks Cat
"oh definitely, he's smart, cute and funny and his cooking is amazing" says Alex
"so why are you avoiding him" asks Cat
"because my stupid brain forgets he has a job, so when I ask for a certain breakfast I'm expecting it to be him and I eating together, only for my stupid brain to imagine cooking said breakfast in my dreams when I start smelling it and waking me up after he's already gone expecting him to still be there" says Alex
"what can he do to fix that" asks Cat
"my brain has been like this as long as I can remember, as far as I can tell there is no fixing it" says Alex
"why don't you eat the food he makes, it's scaring him" asks Cat
"I make it myself, not as good as he does but like I said my whole plan was to eat together, you know as if it were a date, I can't bring myself to eat the food he made after he's already left" says Alex
"what about the crying" asks Cat
"I cry because I feel all alone, because my brain is sabotaging everything, I hear him walk up to my door, I know he stands there for a minute then he walks away" says Alex
"why do you feel like you're alone" asks Cat
"because unlike you where your eyes still flicker between normal and color blind, I lost all my color, every last drop of color is gone, I've tried to date guys before but they always laugh at me like I'm some sort of bottom feeding fish that doesn't deserve anything more than what I already have, I have no friends, Cass only helps me because of her strong moral compass" says Alex
"how can he fix that" asks Cat
"I can't ask him to quit his job Cat, not for me, not for anyone, he came to Sicily with zero money and aside from securing the parlor he spends it on me, he bought me a dress yesterday, I have no idea how he knows my size or what kind of dress I like but he got both right, Tori invited him over today and I didn't feel like I had the right to ask him to stay with me today, you guys are his friends, I'm just a nobody" says Alex as Robbie quietly walks over having heard everything
"you have every right to Alex, Tori would totally understand believe me" says Cat as Robbie slowly wraps his hands around Alex
"who's that" asks Alex nervously
"who else, Robbie" says Robbie as he picks Alex up like a baby and rocks her
"do you love me" asks Alex
"more and more every day Alex" says Robbie
"I'm glad it was you I got scared" says Alex
"why" asks Robbie
"because the one guy who did date me was evil, left me scared every day that he'd kill me if I told the cops what he did to me, my mom found out and got him arrested, to my surprise the people in prison were on my side and Uhh kinda cut him uhhh up in places, anyway he left me with this ever creeping fear that that's all guys want" says Alex
"I swear on my mama's hopefully soon to be grave that I will cherish you for the rest of my life Alex" says Robbie nuzzling Alex
"why soon to be" asks Alex
"she's not exactly the most respectful grandmother in existence, I was chasing Cat for years and my grandma would invite me over to try and get me together with admittedly girls who are three years younger than me because she believes they're better than who cat is, and she was dead wrong every time" says Robbie
"am I better than Cat" asks Alex
"yes, in most ways yes" says Robbie
"in what ways am I not better than her…" asks Alex
"I can't possibly quantify because I have no reference for those things, I probably should have said in every way but I tend to be a people pleaser and I know Cat isn't exactly self confident about her body so I didn't want to make her cry" says Robbie
"that makes you even better, you care about your best friends feelings, even after a relationship never happened, can we cuddle for a bit, is the couch free" says Alex
"it is free, go cuddle guys, I have to check up on Tori, Sadie managed to get a job and Tori's been having bad ptsd days these past few days" says Cat as Robbie carries Alex over to the couch
With Tori
"no get away from me" screams Tori as Cat walks in
"what's happened here" asks Cat as Tori calms down a bit
"I made a mistake, I bit her finger and set her off, we were cuddly before that and she was doing fine" explains Andre
"she's not wearing underwear, why" asks Cat
"she spilt water on them last night and refused to put another pair on, told Sadie and I it was fine and to just pretend she was wearing some" says Andre
"Tori put on a pair right now" says Cat
"not while he's watching" says Tori still in a state of panic
"if he was going to do anything he would have already Tori, don't make me call Sadie back from her FIRST day at work" scolds Cat
"ok fine" sighs Tori coming down from the fear and walks over to put underwear on
"what is it with you and biting her finger" asks Cat
"she's the one who puts it in my mouth, she talks about having a little fun so I bite down a little, I don't even bite that hard, I don't leave marks, it was purely playful and I only did it because she seemed to want to do something in bed, I was only planning on kissing her, I love Tori and all but I can't keep doing this" says Andre as he leaves
"h-he doesn't want me…" cries Tori
"Tori it's not his fault, he was doing the best he could to help, sometimes people can only handle so much, he told me yesterday he felt like he was dealing with his grandmother all over again, your doctor needs to up the dose on your meds or you won't get anywhere, he will be back but maybe not anytime in the immediate future" says Cat
"how do you deal with your color thing" asks Tori tears flowing down her face
"high dose meds and maybe a bit of Jade's smokey stuff, it helps tone down my response time to the changes in color or lack of color" says Cat
"can I try some of her stuff" asks Tori
"she won't be back till later today Tori and I only do it with her, the tiniest bit even then" says Cat
"can we cuddle till Either Sadie or Jade return, I don't trust myself alone right now" asks Tori
"for a little bit then I have to clean the pool, Ellen and Hannah would like to cuddle with you for a bit too" says Cat as she cuddles Tori
Several hours later as Sadie returns
"Tori have a really bad day I assume" asks Sadie
"yeah, Ellen and Hannah are currently cuddling her, Andre walked out" says Cat
"I knew about that, he stopped by my work, he's not walking away from her in that sense, he just needs some time to understand how to deal with her when she's like that, he said she was clearly playful, as in wanting to play while naked in bed when it happened and it scared him" says Sadie
"she remembers feeling warm in the right places but doesn't remember what she did then her memory jumps back into focus after he bit her finger" says Cat
"she likes it when i bite her fingers, which is usually what she does when she wants a tumble with me, if she freaked out that bad then something is wrong, Dean didn't bite her, he was all about choking and really hard hair pulling, I think her doctor should try her on the stuff Jade has for ptsd, I told Andre to stay close in case we figure out what's causing it and she's safe again, he's quite jumpy about it, he truly wants what's best for her" says Sadie
"when was her plan to start doing stuff in bed with him" asks Cat
"if she had it her way it would have been right away, before he got here she said and I quote 'trauma be damned, if he arrives I'm not going to let it get between me and my dream man, I want us to BE an active thruple' those were her words, she has quite the craving for him, I'd almost call it unhealthy if I didn't know her better, she hid who she was from you guys because she didn't want to be 'that' friend who's only looking for sex, because that's not who she is, I've shown her pictures of other guys in moments where she's revving up sexually and it takes her right back to square one, the only guy who takes it to eleven is Andre and the same goes for girls, I'm the only one that triggers that absolutely primal emotion, the only other girl who gets any rise out of her sexy side is you and it's not as much as it used to be, as I rev her up it tones you down in her brain, she's quite clearly finely tuned for me and Andre" says Sadie
"did you call her doctor" asks Cat
"yes I told her to call Jade if she agreed with me, as I was leaving work I got a text from Jade saying she was on her way to pick it up" says Sadie
"what's the dose for the green" asks Cat
"low dose to start but to take whenever needed, if it goes well she should be stable in a few days which is why I told Andre to stick around" says Sadie