Ugh, me and my procrastination… I am so very extremely sorry guys. But I have made a promise to myself to write a little bit every week and hopefully get into the habit of updating once a week/fortnight. Ugh. I am so sorry. I'm terrible okay.

Ugh…..I feel terrible. Lemme make up for it by making the chapter the best I can (not that I don't already do that), but yeah, he's chapter three of Stains.

||Cat||

Robbie opens the passenger's door for me, and invites me in with a courteous hand movement. That boy.

'So what bowling alley?' I question as he clicks his seatbelt.

'I dunno, the bowling alley,' he replies off his shrug before turning the key. I giggle in response. Robbie always made me laugh. He made me feel safe. If it wasn't for him, I would be…cutting, crying, insane. But I'm not. Thanks to him. He kept me safe every night, reassured me that I'd be okay.

But still, that doesn't stop the thoughts. He's there. He's always there in the back of my mind. When I close my eyes, all I see are his. When it's silent, all I hear is his maniacal laughter. He's always with me. He worked his way into every day of my life. Yet, I still don't know him.

'Nice. The is my favourite one,' I reply, smiling. He chuckles and puts his foot on the gas.

I used to cut though. For three years with my mom's razor blade. I couldn't help it. It just took away another part of me that was hurting. Another drop of blood filled with fear out of me. Another part of my conflicted heart gone.

I was horrible the first three years after the incident. I would push everybody away and scream and fight with anyone and everyone. People tried to help me. People tried to make the pain go away. But I was convinced that only another life would take the pain away. That man robbed me of my youth. Of my innocence. I was giggly and bubbly up until the age of eight. Until twelve from then on, I was depressed, suicidal and rebellious.

I would pray every night that something would just take the pain away from me. I guess God listened. He sent me an angel. An angel with fuzzy hair. And I loved that angel with all my heart. With every ounce of my being. With every drop of blood outside and within me. He took away my nightmares. He filled them with hope as they were before. And without him, I'm nothing.

I wouldn't be here. I would have nightmares every time I closed my eyes. I wouldn't be able to be anywhere alone. People called me a bitch, slut, whore, emo, freak, pretty much anything they knew would hurt me. But they didn't know anything. They don't know anything. Well, at least he taught me that.

'Hey, Kitty, you okay?' he reaches over and rubs his thumb over my hand.

'Hmm? Yeah, I'm fine,' he retreats it and returns it to the steering wheel.

That's the thing; I am fine. I actually am. With him around. No one can touch me when I'm with him. He makes sure of it.

*Flashback*

This candy store never really had any of the good things. But apparently, one man thinks differently. He gazed in my direction and looked me up and down before approaching me. I looked around for Robbie, but he was all the way at the counter. Oh crap. What do I do now? Oh stop worrying, Cat, he's probably buying Hershey's or something.

'Hey,' he purrs, leaning on an arm placed above a shelf.

'Hi,' I reply politely.

'How you doin?' he looks me up and down once again, causing me to shiver in disgust.

'I'm doing just dandy,'

'How old are you?' he asks, playing with the tips of my hair.

'Actually, I'm—'

'Leaving now,' Robbie interrupts, pulling me away by my arm. Thank the Lord. He leads me outside the store and looks straight into my eyes. He crosses his arms. And obviously, he's mad at me. Great.

'What was that?' he questions disapprovingly.

'Chillax, Shapiro. I was just gonna say 'Actually I'm going now, I have to get back to my Dad, the cop,' I answer him. He searches my face for any signs of mistruth or trickery. Obviously he found none.

'Ugh fine, Valentine. But don't ever do that again okay? It scares the shit out of me,' he replies, looking a little hurt.

'I'm sorry, Robbie. I'll be more careful,' I rub his shoulder.

'It's alright, let's just forget it,'

*End of flashback*

{{0-0}}

'Hey, we're here,' I shake my head and disappear from a candy store back into a parked in front of a bowling alley.

'Okay, yay then,' I exclaim, unbuckling myself.

The bowling alley is just as I remember it; loud and dark. And smelling of sweat and rented shoes. Bleccch. Robbie leads me to the counter where we pay a ridiculous amount of money to just be told by the forces of nature that they hate us and we suck.

'And what size for the girl?' the lady at the desk asks. I'm too busy figuring out the reasons why I hate this place to notice.

'Oh, sorry, I'm-'

'An eight,' Robbie finishes my sentence. I stare at him weirdly. 'What? We've known each for eight years; I think I know your shoe size,' he whisks the bowling shoes off the counter and I smile at the ground. I guess that's a pretty good excuse. He leads me to the lane we've been set. Robbie's due to go first, so I just watch him get a strike.

'And….that's Robbie Shapiro's seven billionth good bowl!' I exclaim half-heartedly.

'Come on, Kitty. I'm sure you've gotten better,' he reassures, patting my back as I pick up a bowling ball. Why are these things even this heavy? It's like throwing a round rock. Whatever, Valentine, suck it up.

I take a deep breath, bend my knee slightly and release the ball. It rolls off to the left and into the gutter. Nice. I hear Robbie stifle a laugh in the background.

'Shut up, doofus,' I scold, pointing a finger at him. He raises his hands and mocks horror, making me giggle.

'Here, I'll help you,' he bounds up from his seat and grabs a ball for me. He puts it in my hands, and places my fingers in the holes correctly. He stands, behind me and places his hand on my hip, making me blush. Ugh, he's your best friend. Grow up, Cat. He then guides the way I should be bowling.

I get a strike. I jump up in joy and attack him in a hug. He happily chuckles as I pull away from him.

'You're happy,' he states.

'Yes, but because of you,' I poke his stomach playfully and he swats my hand away.

'Whatever, idiot,' he answers, rolling his eyes.

'Rude,' I state, crossing my arms.

'Anyway, it's my turn,' he pushes me to the side, causing me to stick my tongue out.

He bowls with a proud look on his face. I laugh very hard. Straight to the gutter. I point and laugh at him, and he looks at the ground shyly.

'There's wind in here,' he lies.

'Sure there is. It's called the wind of karma,' I explain, still laughing at him.

'Okay, Kitty, I guess we're even,' he submits. But I am still not satisfied.

'No we're not. Not yet. I'm gonna get you back. You better watch out, boy,' I tease, mocking suspicion. He looks a little worried, because he knows that I always keep my promises.

'Should I be scared?' he takes a step backwards and I see fear growing in his brown eyes.

'No, silly, I'm not going to do anything bad!' I slap his shoulder.

'I'll believe that only when my life ends,' he answers.

'Seriously? It's been eight years and you still don't trust me? What kind of a friend are you?'

'I've known you long enough to know you keep your promises,' he replies. Aw he's such a sweetheart. I'm glad he's my best friend. He clears his throat and continues, 'Anyway, let's get on with the bowling,' he suggests.

{{O-O}}

Just as I thought I would, I failed. Badly. I only ended up with 30 or something points, and Robbie got to 110. I guess bowling will just never really be my thing. Just like any sport really.

And of course, Robbie felt the need to rub his bowling skills in my face. Even though he's my best friend, I still hate him sometimes. I guess that's how strong friendships work. You don't know how tough it is until it's tested. And over the years, boy oh boy has it been tested. From stupid video game arguments to trust issues. And we've survived all of them

I guess I'm a lucky girl to have a friend like him.

And, just like most boy/girl friendships, there have been some I've never really noticed how cute he was moments, and to be honest, there have been points in time when I was convinced he had a crush on me. But I probably would never date him. I don't know what I could do without him.

He's my lucky charm. A real one. Nothing hurts me with him around. And if I lost him, I don't know what I could do with myself. I'd be a mess. I'd come crawling back to him in tears, trying to convince him that I could not live my life without him. Which could not be any more true.

Ugh, Cat, stop thinking about the bad things that might happen. Think about the good things that will happen. You're happy and ditzy anyway. Smile.

'Oh yeah, baking cupcakes cuz Cat's too lazy to get up oh yeah,' Robbie starts singing. I turn my head around on the couch and turn to look at him attempting to bake. He has flour all over his face.

'That's not how you bake, you idiot,' I march towards the counter covered in flour and egg. I pick up a wooden spoon and clump some lumpy batter in it. 'You bake like…' I bring the bottom of my spoon to my index finger and bend it backwards. 'this,' I smile devilishly as I watch the lumpy cake mixture fly right onto Robbie's face. I can't see his expression, but I can tell it's not happy. Oh boy.

He brings two fingers from both hands to his eyelids and wipes the batter off.

'You asked for it now, Cat,'

Hehe, did you like it? I thought it was really cute and fluffy ^_^.

Again, I apologise for being the worst person in the world and not updating because I'm terrible.

Take care, guys