They had sat around, questioning one another about their lives – though James seemed to get further than Robin did -, and eating as much as they could stuff in their mouths. When James actually laughed, it was something that sent butterflies through her belly, making her giggle about his laugh. It was filled with happiness, actually happiness that seemed like he did not get enough of. The candles that had been light had nearly come to their last beams of light but the two of them were still going just as strong with their noisy questions as if they had just sat down. Robin wanted to know everything about this man,where he was born, where he lived, what he did for a living, but all she kept getting was around-about answers and she was starting to figure out something about this man. Whoever he was, whatever he had done for a living, it had left him empty and he had either regressed or forgotten a lot about his life before. . . before whatever had taken his arm away. She didn't want to pry too much, she just wanted to know about his strange man who had come into her life all of a sudden that she still felt like she knew so well.
They had made their way through the whole bottle of wine which Robin surprisingly liked, it was something that was sweet enough that she could just keep drinking in. She couldn't really read off of James to tell if he was liking it or if he was just being polite, but either way he kept drinking it as well. She kept trying to pinpoint how she knew this man, if they went to the same schools at some point, where he used to live, something or anything really to tell her why he seemed so familiar as if they had met before. She just kept starring back to his eyes and each time that he would smile she would find herself smiling as well. It was like sunshine coming in from a winters day, it could warm a whole room.
" So, how come you have to take care of your siblings? Are your parents away on a business trip or something?" James asked when it came back to being his turn to ask a question.
" First that was two questions, but no. My parents. . . their uh, well their dead. An accident took them out a year back, they worked for some top secret agency- like of like the CIA – and they, well they died. I was told that I could have put my siblings into the best boarding school in the world and the agency would have taken care of all of the expenses. But I didn't have the heart to do it, ya know? I was the only family they had left, so I dropped the job that I had, picked up one working where I do now, and now we're one family." Robin said as she gave a sad smile to the man that was sitting across from her. " I'm like the Nani of our family now."
" Whose Nani?" James asked, his brow furrowing as he tried to think about the name.
" Lilo and Stitch?! One of the best little kid movies that was name in the 2000s? You have never seen that movie?" Robin said, actually a little offended about this.
" No. . . I can't say that I have." James said, trying to hide a smile as he did so.
" Do not tell my siblings that. I think that they may just about tweak if they heard you say that! Simon would act like it didn't bother him, but Cecilia, she would be mad. I think she would throw you on the couch and force you to watch all of the movies." Robin chuckled as she knew that her sister would do that.
" Is that so?" James chuckled to her.
" Oh yeah! I think that you would be here another whole day if she found that out, there are three- no, no four movies. She's obsessed with those movies." Robin smiled as she pulled the sleeve up from her dress and turned to show the man her tattoo. " When I got custody of them I also got this tattoo, it goes really well with everything that had happened with the three of us. Ohana means family, and family means no one gets left behind or forgotten."
" I. . . I like that." James said with a smile.
" Yeah, me too, I guess that is why I got it." She said as she tried to kept her face straight, talking about her family was something that she had never really liked doing, it was still an open wound. " Okay, my turn. Whats the star represent?" She asked looking to the star that was painted on his arm.
" Its just always been there. . ." James said looking to his arm as if it was the first time that he had ever noticed it.
" I'll take it." Robin sighed with a nod. " Your turn." She added as she got up from her chair and worked her way to the fridge.
" So what did you do before you got custody of your siblings?" James asked as Robin smiled from the freezer door.
" Believe it or not I was a model." She smiled as she moved some stuff around in the freezer until she found her hidden stash of ice cream all the way in the back. " I flew all around the world taking pictures and doing fashion shows. I'd been a model since I was sixteen, it was amazing, I mean you had to watch what you were eating, but it was almost like you said the word model and people would look at you as if you were a superhero. I traveled around the world, Paris, Milan, London, I even got to go to Russia a couple of times, it was amazing but always a little lonely."
She said as she pulled took some whipped cream out of the tub it was in and just flopped it down on the vanilla ice cream before taking two spoons out from the draw and placing them on the table in front of James. She pulled her chair around so that they were closed to one another and handed him a spoon with a warm smile. Robin could tell that James didn't have fun a lot, or really ever, the rugrats were away for the whole weekend and she felt like it was only fair for her to have a little fun too.
" Common, its good and I swear that I do not have cooties or anything." She smiled to James as she lightly took the spoon, dipping it into the whipped cream, and then placing a small glob onto James's noise.
" Really?" James said, trying to hide back a smile as Robin started to giggle.
" What can I say, I thought you would look better like that." She giggled as she took her finger and dipped it into some of the whipped cream again and shrieked as he smeared some of it on her cheek gently.
" You look even more beautiful now then you did before." James started to laugh as Robin sat there in complete shock.
" No! I am the one that is supposed to do the cute things like that, you are not supposed to turn around and do the same cute thing and then make it cuter by calling me pretty!" Robin exclaimed as she tried to hide back a laugh.
" I said beautiful, not pretty." James said as he took his spoon and dove into the ice cream. " Your turn." He added through bites of ice cream.
" Where do you live? I figure I should know where you live, since you know the exact location of where I live." Robin questioned, trying not to sound creepy.
" I. . . I. . . live here and there." James stated, and that's when she knew, he really didn't have a place to live.
She refused to allow him to leave that night. She made the couch out for him, telling him that he was too drunk to go home and that she was not going to allow him to leave. They had basically camped out like children in her living room. James sleeping on the couch and Robin in her lovely blue chair that she found so comfy, until she had to sleep on it the whole night. She didn't want James to slip away in the dark of the night, she couldn't stand thinking about him sleeping outside in an alley somewhere, alone and cold, when he could be sleeping on her couch. When she woke up for the finally time it was because she could hear the knock on her door and, although she did not want to really move, she opened her eyes to find that during the night James had wrapped the blanket around her body, before going back to his place on the couch. Smiling sleepily she placed the blanket back around the mans broad body and went to the door.
Not having a clue on what the times was, just that the sun was up, she found that it was Jordan knocking on her door like a woodpecker. When he was excited or really happy he would do this to her, that or when he had meet a really cute guy on the subway, then he would knock like that, but it would be even faster and harder. She opened the door, make-up smeared from one end of her face to the other, her hair a complete mess, and most likely whipped cream dried on her face, as she opened the door with a yawn. Her head hurt, her eyes did not want to stay open, and the last thing that she really wanted to hear was her chipper friend.
" Lord you look like someone ripped you in two. Girl you must have had a fun night last night, I'm guessing that he showed up." Jordan said with a smug smile coming to his face as she placed her fingers to her lips and exited her apartment. " He's in there! You better move so that I can get a good look at that boy! Did you do it with him? Was it fun and kinky? And is that whipped cream on your face and hair, please tell me that is whipped cream on your hair and face."
" It's whipped cream in my hair and face. Now will you stop yelling before the whole building knows that I have a man in my apartment?" Robin yawned as she leaned up against the door frame of to her apartment.
" Little bird, little bird, I came over to tell you that I got us a date tonight, but it seems like you can finally do that all on your own! And I thought that this man was just someone that was made up! You are going to have to tell me all about him at lunch sometime. Better yet after he does the walk of shame!" Jordan said, getting giddier and giddier by the moment.
" For the last time we didn't have sex! We drank the whole bottle of wine, sat up and talked until like midnight, ate ice cream out of the container and smeared whipped cream on one anothers face, talked some more, and I forced him to sleep on my couch. All in all I would call that a good night." Robin yawned. " What time is it anyway?"
" Eight." Jordan spoke lightly to this, he knew never to bug Robin on a date that she had off before noon.
" You came to my door, on a day where I do not have my siblings, at eight in the morning?! Knowing that I was most likely hung over from the night before? I should take your head for that! Mio signore Jordan, il mio pazzo!" Robin shouted to her friend.
" I love it when you yell at me in another language. So sexy." Jordan said with a smile, trying to take the anger away from the situation. " Which one was that?"
" Italian." Robin hissed, unimpressed still.
" Lemme just get a peek at the boy before I go, since I know there is no way to make you happy." Jordan said, peering around the girl, who had left the door open just a crack.
" Fine, but don't say a word and act like you have come over for something." Robin sighed as she entered her house and moved straight for her bedroom, knowing that she had something of Jordan's stashed in there and found it in a pair of jeans that were a little too tight on even her. " I don't know how you forget these things over here- Jordan!" Robin whispered as she found her friend just starring at James who was still asleep.
" Girl he has a metal arm!" Jordan whispered as he ran over to his friend, wrapping his arms around hers. " But other than that, little bird he is a ten outta ten! The boy could use a good cut, but he's a keeper. I'd love to see what he looks like under that shirt and jeans though. Meow." Jordan said as he looked back to James.
" He's cute okay? Now here, take your jeans and get!" Robin yawned, knowing that she would not be getting back to sleep anytime soon.
" If you don't keep him, I swear to you little bird I am going to make him switch teams in a heartbeat." Jordan smiled as James turned over a bit almost as if so that Jordan could see his whole face. "Damn! He got any friends?"
" I doubt it, now get the hell outta here." Robin said, nearly pushing him out of her apartment.
" I love the fact that I know that you were the one to mess up his pretty little face before he messed up yours. Bet you were just hoping to get in the shower with that boy and clean him all up!
She had figured that she would have the time to take a shower, wash the remains of last night out of her hair as she did so. The water was warm and felt good against her acting body as she worked some shampoo through her hair, and took in the fresh smell of rosemary and mint. She caught herself a few times from just belting out different songs that came to her mind for the fact that she had company over and that she also knew that her neighbors were most likely sick of her from the screeching and laughing that could have been heard through most of the night. She quickly hummed the songs that came to her mind, allowing the little bathroom to fill with different scents and steam from the hot shower as, after what felt like hours, she forced herself to shut the water off, pulling back the curtain to find that she was face to face with James once again.
Her eyes widened as her mouth dropped opened and James was having the exact same reaction. They starred at one another for some time, both of them both keeping their eyes firmly looking back at the other persons eyes. Robin knew that she was not breathing, but found that while starring into this mans eyes, that she could not take in a breath either. Then Robin remembered that she was buck naked and quickly pulled the shower curtain back around the shower and felt herself blushing and finally found that she could breath once again. She took in a few deep breaths, so embarrassed with herself as she peered around the corner of the shower curtain to find that James had the same look on his face of shock and embarrassment.
But that is when something happened that she was not expecting, she thought that he would have just walked out of the bathroom or that she would have to work her way around him to get to her towel, but neither of those things happened. James slowly pulled the towel out of the rack that was on the other side of the small, blue bathroom, and held it out and waiting for Robin to come back around the shower curtain. She could still feel the blood rushing to her face as she pulled the curtain a little more to find that James's face was also a bright red color, making her smile a little knowing that he did not mean to walk in on her taking a shower. As she took a step out from the tub she found that he was wrapping the towel around her body, before running his fingers through his fingers, she could tell that he was really embarrassed just like she was.
" So do I don't know about you, but this is a first for me." Robin giggled as she looked to the man to find him smiling lightly as well.
" I'm so sorry, I thought that you must have gone back to your room or something, I didn't even hear the shower going." James urged his point until Robin smiled widely to him.
" It's a quite shower head, don't worry about it too much. You want something to eat?" She asked as she moved past him lightly, walking towards her bedroom. " I think that I can make some french toast and if worst comes to worst, we could always have some chocolate chip Eggo's." Robin said with a soft smile.
" Eggo's?" James questioned.
" Dude, where the hell have you been living, under a rock?" Robin said with a smile as she closed her door, knowing that he would just say something like here and there or he doesn't know. His life was still a mystery to her, but she was determined to figure him out.
Worst did come to worst. The bread was starting to get moldy and Robin had used the rest of the eggs the day before to make breakfast for the kids. So, as James was showering, she pushed nearly a whole box of Eggo's through the toaster and pulled out the syrup once again. Orange juice was something that had become a morning tradition in her family since the day that Simon had come around and demanded something orange with every meal, luckily her mother had been able to tame it back to just breakfast, but that usually meant that the family was going to be having orange juice for their drink at breakfast. As the final pair of Eggo's popped from the toaster James came out of the bathroom, with his hair still dripping wet, shirtless. Robin tried not to stare at the water dripping down from his body and that is when it hit her, he was still wearing the clothes from the day before.
" I'm going to stitch up that shirt later." Robin nodded to the shirt that was tightly in James's hand. " And you are going to have to tell me how on earth you shower with that big metal arm."
" Carefully." James said as he looked down at the table that was set with a stack of Eggo's and maple syrup. " Besides, I should really be leaving, you have already been kind enough to me and I would not want to be too much more of a bother."
" No!" Robin said, trying not to sound like she was pleading. " I am going to be home the whole weekend and the kids are not going to be here. I. . . I would really like it if you stayed here. I kind of get lonely when I'm alone and well, I feel like you do too." She said as she lightly moved her body between him and the door, lightly touching his hand.
" Why are you so kind to me?" James asked as he really seemed like he needed to know the answer to this.
" Because, you helped me when a normal person would have just walked away. Now I do not know what you are going through, to be honest I would love to but that is not my business to pry into, but I know one thing, whatever it is that you are going through, the hurt that can be seen in your eyes, I want to help you through this. You don't need to go through this alone and I want you to know that even it is small and even though its already a home to three people, you are welcome to my home anytime. Especially when it is raining." Robin smiled up to James, seeing a soft smile coming to his face as well.
" Thank you." James whispered lightly as she felt his hand wrap lightly around hers.
" Yeah, yeah, anytime. Now common, we've got some great Eggo's to eat and then I think that I have a shirt that will fit you until I can patch yours." Robin said, trying to hide the fact that she was blushing, as she pulled her new roommate back to the table.