Growing Up Chase

By Rebel Yell

Part Twelve (Age 16)

"Why are we here?" Kate asked, and Liz shot her sister a dirty look.

" You didn't have to come."
" Mum made us." Sarah, Kate's twin, retorted immediately. They were twenty, and still acted like they were Liz's age sometimes.

" Girls, please. Don't argue here." Mrs. Hughes sighed, as she signed the guest book.

" We haven't even talked to Mrs. Chase - uhm, Ms. Morgan, for what, five years?"
" Robbie's all alone." Liz replied, pulling away from her mother and taking a deep breath before stepping through the door to the visitation room. She hated this sort of thing, but Robbie needed her. Her parents may have stuck pretty close to their edict from last year about not seeing each other outside school, she'd talked them into saying officially it was okay that they were friends in school and she was still Robbie's other best friend. Danny would be here later. It didn't take long to find Robbie, he was the entirety of the receiving line. Biting her tongue on her opinion of Robbie's father, she wove through the people who probably were only there because Robbie's mum was sort of famous.

"Robbie, I'm so sorry." She pulled him into a tight hug, ignoring the looks from the people Robbie had been talking to. They looked like the sort of people Robbie's mum had hung around these last few years - rich and snobby and too busy having fun to care about their own families. He didn't pull away, at least not for a few minutes.

" I already miss her. She was so sick but…she was Mum."
" I know, Robbie. I wish…I wish you didn't have to do this."
" I'm glad you're here. Are your parents too upset about us seeing each other outside school?"
" Mum and my sisters are here too. They just uhm waited for the line."
" I'm glad you didn't." Rob chuckled a little, still sounding so sad though. He leaned in, and whispered in her ear, "I'm not sure I can do this by myself."
" Well, good thing you aren't alone then. I'm here. Danny'll be by later, his parents are coming too. I don't know about his sisters." They'd told Robbie this, a couple times at least, but he couldn't seem to remember much since his mother died. Liz figured she'd have lost her mind by now, if she were in Robbie's place, so she wasn't going to fault him for a bit of forgetfulness.

" You must be Robert - I knew Victoria back when she was working for…" Liz stood next to her best friend, and held his hand silently while people talked at him about how they knew his mother and how wonderful she was. Which was a blatant lie, or it really had been years since they'd known her because even if Robbie would shout at her for saying it, his mum had been horrid for the last few years. Maybe half an hour later, Liz looked up from her study of the departing woman's ugly shoes, to realize it was her mother's turn to talk to Robbie. Her mum hadn't even seen Robbie since that morning in Liz's room - something Liz had let her mum know made her angry when she insisted the family go to the wake. They hated him - don't pretend to care about his feelings now. The only reason her dad wasn't here too was that he'd been called into work at the last minute.

" Robbie, how are you?"
" I'm…as well as I can expect, I suppose."
" You're taller."
" I'm older."
" I'm sorry about your mother. She was a wonderful woman, when she was sober." Liz stared at her mother in shock - it was the first time she'd ever heard anyone but Robbie actually say out loud exactly what had killed Victoria Morgan. She glanced at Robbie, wondering how he'd react. He was smiling, a real smile, and Liz remembered for the first time in ages just how wonderful it was to see him smile.

" She was the best, when she was sober." He agreed easily, "But that wasn't often enough, was it?"
" No, Robbie, I'm sorry to say, it wasn't. You're a good boy, Robbie."
" No, I'm not." He ducked his head, and Liz elbowed him in the side harshly. He was always saying stuff about how horrible he was, and she hated it. He was so sweet and kind and gentle, and funny when he wanted to be, and so forgiving - he was good. He'd just been listening to the wrong people for too long. He looked up again, in response no doubt to Liz's sharp elbow. "But thanks for saying it."

" I'm sorry you've been so alone, Robbie. We should have…handled things differently."
" No. You did right. I've grown up a bit. I was…even worse then. You did right."
" You're too young for all this."
" There's no one else, Mrs. Hughes. At the end, it was just me and mum. Now, it's just me."

" Mum, we're holding up the queue."

"It was good to see you again, Robbie."
" Thank you for coming, Mrs. Hughes. You as well, Kate, Sarah. I appreciate it."

Lizzie stood there for what felt like hours, wondering again how long a wake was supposed to be, because this one went on for ages. She was tired, and it wasn't even her mother in the coffin. She couldn't imagine how exhausted Robbie must be. Lizzie felt someone poke her in the side, and she stepped back to let Danny wrap his friend in a warm hug. Danny was only fifteen days younger than Robbie, and their fathers had been colleagues years ago, so the two had been friends "since sperm" as Robbie said it (rather crudely, to Lizzie's mind). She wasn't surprised to see Dr. and Mrs. Kelleher at the end of the line. Danny had said that they'd be coming -- since her own parents had ditched Robbie, Danny's parents had sort of taken over being the grown-ups in Robbie's life. But Danny had an older sister and two younger sisters, and they didn't have much time for Robbie either.

"Oh, God, you're here." Robbie sounded relieved, returning the hug and content to ignore whomever was offering the same old platitudes.

" Hey, mate, of course I'm here. I promised, didn't I? How're you doing?"
" I'm exhausted, and we've got two more hours of this. Did Mum really know all these people? I've never even met most of them."
" Two more hours?" Lizzie sighed, wishing she'd worn more comfortable shoes. She looked nicer in these, but she didn't want to stand in them for that long.

" Why don't you take a break, Liz?" Danny suggested, gesturing to a chair only a few feet away. "I'll be moral support for a bit. You've been here ages already, I'm sure. Sorry we're late, but Charlotte had to go to some ballet recital practice thing."

" Thanks. Robbie, is that okay with you?"
" Sure, love. I'm sorry, I should've noticed you were tired."
" You just worry about you Robbie Chase. Let Danny and I worry about us. Everything's planned, all the arrangements made. Nothing more for you to worry about." Well, except where he was going to live now his mum was dead, and school and money and the house and…she wasn't going to bring all that up here though.