Robbie POV
9: 45 AM.
8 hours of sleep for a change. Believe it or not I've been spending a lot of time at the office slaving away for my dad. It's not even fun work…just grunt stuff he doesn't want to do.
Like chores. My chores are the stuff he doesn't want to do.
At least I get paid.
The only complaint I have about the 8 hours of "sleep" is that it wasn't restful at all. I woke up two or three times and stared at the ceiling.
I feel like I should be somewhere else in this process. I should be past the "staring at the ceiling" phase. I should be doing SOMETHING.
The thing is: That's my specialty. Tons of people, Jade, Beck, Tori, Andre, my parents, friends of my parents, they ALL say I make stuff happen.
But I have NO idea what to do.
I would buy something for Cat. Flowers, Fro-Yo, chocolate…but that seems to have a hint of desperation to it.
And while I am desperate to see her, I don't want to seem like it. Obviously.
Don't want to creep her out.
Jesus, I wish I knew SOMETHING in the last 5 months. I feel like I'm meeting a new person.
I'm glad I made myself get up at 8:30, make a quick breakfast and shower. I'm not glad that I'm now lounging on my just made bed.
I'm so lazy.
I have no energy.
Except for Cat's restless energy.
Then I don't know what to do. Too much restless energy and not enough usable energy.
"I like it when you take charge. I think it's sexy and I always love it."
Thanks Cat. That's what I need to do. Take charge. Easier said than done.
How?
Think Robbie…not romantic, not desperate…just happy to see her.
That knocks out chocolate. And Fro-Yo. Too many romantic strings.
I'm thinking flowers. They can be romantic, but only in the right light. Most of the time they symbolize happiness or condolences.
Flowers it is.
She liked the lilies I got her awhile back.
Lilies it is.
I quickly hopped to my feet, grabbing my keys, wallet and pearPod.
I just set it to shuffle and enjoy the random awesomeness of the songs. Made a 15 minute drive to the flower shop near the pier go by really really fast.
I've got this.
Halfway there.
This is kind of surreal. I'm actually going to see her. In person.
I was hoping for so long that I could even get a little note. Instead, I get her in person.
If you can't tell, I'm trying to collect my thoughts. It's a little late in the game for that since I just parked in her complex.
Deep breaths and relax.
I'll be fine.
If I only could make myself believe this.
Left leg up, down. Right leg…
"Before you is a door, which will change the path of everything forever…"
What? Why am I thinking of that right now? Why on EARTH am I thinking of Stephanie's sociology professor right before I knock on Cat's door?
These flowers better work.
More like THIS better work. Otherwise I'll have to call Laken back.
Which isn't something I want to do. I want this to work. I NEED this to work.
"Knock, Knock…"
Nothing…
Great.
I knock again…
Nothing…again.
Is she home?
I instinctively pull out my phone, thinking of texting her.
\Wow, I haven't texted Cat in…awhile.
"Hey Cat, it's Robbie. You busy? I have a surpr—"
MY PHONE!
I do not know how I just did that. I didn't even know there was a phone sized hole in Cat's porch. I just know that I managed to drop my phone thru that crack and TWO floors down onto straight concrete.
"Damn it!" I muttered, moving towards the stairs.
Cat caused me to break my phone again. That's two for our last two incidents. The last one, if you forget was when I found out Cat keyed Laken's car. I threw my phone against the wall, completely destroying the screen.
I balance the lilies on the handrail right outside the door and quickly race down the stairs to where my phone lays.
…
…
At least it's in one piece? I guess that's the good news? The bad you ask?
The screen resembles a spider web more than a phone screen. Cracks EVERYWHERE.
Well, I did manage to drop it 3 stories. I swear, only I can do this.
Looks like I need a new phone. Jesus, they are NOT going to be happy with me. They grudgingly gave me a new pearPhone last time. How will I explain dropping it 3 stories straight onto concrete?
Wait…why am I here anyway?
…
…
…
Cat. Right.
Looks like the phone will have to wait. At least until I talk to her.
I sigh and put my shattered phone back in my pocket, racing BACK up 3 flights of stairs…
Where the lilies are GONE.
ARE YOU KIDDING ME? I go to all this trouble for her, and then some lousy neighbor probably just looked out of their peephole and took them!
This is TOTALLY looking like my kind of day.
And I'm supposed to see—
…
…
…
Cat.
Looking at me from her now open front door.
Wait…why is her hair back to brown? Nobody mentioned that!
Beautiful as ever though. A little thin for my taste, but I've ALWAYS think she needs to put on 10 lbs. Of course, I would NEVER say that to her face but…
She does look thin.
"Hey there." I croaked out, trying to smile but failing.
It's downright surreal to have her right here in front of me, two feet away after not being allowed access to her for 5 months. I know I've repeated it, but I cannot stress how WEIRD it is.
"Hi. You hungry?" She asked, shyly smiling.
"Nah, already ate." I shrugged.
Suddenly she reached out, grabbed my hand and started pulling me inside her apartment.
"C'mon…this isn't a place for a conversation." She said quietly as I entered her apartment.
Whoa…
Everything is…dead. Not like plants or anything, the house plants she kept around Jade took care of. I never stopped by in the time Cat was at Methodist. What I mean by dead is the light that seemed to jump off everything like I remember it, isn't there. The light hits it and…dies.
"Sorry it's so dusty. I was planning on cleaning before inviting you over…but you came too fast." She said, letting go of my hand and making her way back to the kitchen, where the sound of bacon sizzling met my ears.
"No problem…" I muttered, glancing at the paintings on the walls. I've never ever seen another house with this kind of painting of the walls, let alone an apartment. People usually paint a general color and leave it be. I've mentioned before that Cat turned the white walls that were here in the beginning into gigantic murals. Some make sense, others…not so much.
God that bacon smells good.
"Cat?" I call out, still looking at the border directly below the ceiling.
"Yeah?"
"Are you making any extra bacon?"
"Hehe…yeah!"
"Can I have some please?" I asked over my shoulder.
"Sure! Do you want any eggs too?"
"How are you making them?" I asked.
Probably scrambled or over easy.
"Omelet!"
WHAT?
"Omelet?" I asked, turning around in shock.
Since when did Cat make omelets?
"When did you learn to do that?" I asked, poking my head in the kitchen to see Cat surrounded by omelet ingredients. Green pepper, ham, cheese, bacon bits, jalapeño peppers, tomatoes, potatoes, chives, green onions...
Basically everything you need to make the mother of all omelets.
"At the hospital. They had little seminars to keep us busy. I learned stuff like how to sew better, make a resume for a job and cook! Here—" She grabbed a small white bowl and handed it to me and shifted so I could access the ingredients.
"Grab what you want except the cheese. That comes last." She finished, fishing the bacon out of the stone cooker and putting it onto a plate.
"Yes ma'am." I said, awestruck. I did exactly as instructed and handed her my bowl.
She briefly glanced at it, peeked at the ingredients again and grabbed two or three more pieces of ham.
"Here, you need more ham. That makes everything better." She said, with a little flair at the end.
"Ok…I'll just get out of your way then." I said, sidling out of the kitchen and moving to set the table.
Mind you, if my head could spin 360 degrees right now, it would be at about 200 mph right now.
She LEARNED stuff in that wretched place?
Wow.
Just…wow.
The best part is? She appears, at least on the surface to be completely fine! I mean, that's what everyone repeatedly told me but…
Seeing it in person changes everything.
This is just incredible.
"Table set?" She called out, as the sizzling on the pans increased quickly.
"Yeah!"
"Come watch this then!" She called out, sounding giddy.
I poke my head in to see her pour some sort of oil into both pans.
"It really isn't that hard, watch." She said, grabbing a small bowl full of scrambled egg, complete with milk.
"You know I'm not good at learning thru observation Cat. Recipe's, hands on stuff…that's how I cook." I say as she pours the egg into one pan, grabbing another bowl of scrambled eggs and pouring them into another pan.
"Yeah yeah." She said dismissively. "Now THIS is why I love gas!" She yelled, grabbing both bowls of omelet ingredients and pouring them into the pans of scrambled eggs.
My god.
I think she really knows how to do this!
Now she's just got to cook it!
Like that's not hard.
"You just wait until it starts to solidify…stir a bit…" She said, performing each step as she said it.
"And…"
The flip.
Let's see her pull this off.
She quickly yanked the pan to her right towards her, positioned it down and…
"Plop."
Right on target.
"Aha!" She exclaimed, then repeating the process for the pan of the left.
"Nice job." I said, slightly awestruck.
"Thank you. Cheese?" She asked, gesturing to the last bowls.
"Sure." I shrugged. I'm not a huge cheese guy on omelets, but what can go wrong?
If it's bad, I'll just come over tomorrow, have her repeat the process and not have cheese.
Skipping a lot of steps there…
"Cheddar, White or Munster? Sorry about the limited choices." She said quickly.
"Not a problem at all sunshine…cheddar and white please."
"Light or heavy?"
All these choices…jeez. Like it's a restaurant.
Wasn't she in solitary at this time yesterday?
"Light please."
She deftly added the cheese, even putting a small amount on the side.
I instinctively move to grab the plate, but she swatted my hand away.
"OW!" I yelled. That actually hurt a bit.
"No no. You are my guest. Go sit at the table." She ordered, pointing towards the dining area.
"Yes ma'am…" I sighed, shuffling off to the table. Not two seconds after I sat down Cat came in with two plates, loaded with bacon and the gigantic omelets.
"Talk about five star service…who do I tip?" I joked, causing her to giggle and smile at me. She had just grabbed her fork when—
"Wait!" I yelled, getting to my feet.
"What?" She asked, sounding annoyed.
I quickly moved around the chair separating us and pulled her into a hug.
Strawberries…
Some things never change.
"Thanks Cat. This looks great." I whispered into her ear. She simply hugged me tightly for a moment, then relinquished me and began eating before I had sat back down.
The sound of us eating filled the room for a few minutes. The bacon is delish as expected. The omelet?
Heavenly.
I could get used to this…
"Wow, nice job Cat. This tastes great."
"Thank You."
"When did you get all the ingredients?" I asked, as she took another HUGE bite out of her omelet, making a small dent.
"Last night. Jade and Tori came home with me and helped me unpack. Then we got hungry and didn't want fast food. We wanted night breakfast. So we went to the store and got a whole bunch of groceries."
"What did you make?" I asked, curious.
"Pancakes."
Good lord.
She's a legitimate chef.
I mean, she could cook before…
But now?
She's practically at mom level.
This stuff is delicious!
"Nice…" I say, digging back into my omelet.
"Cat?"
"Robbie?"
Haha. We spoke at the exact same time after a brief moment of silence.
"You first Cat. You're the cook. Chef's prerogative I think it's called."
"Hehe, ok." She blushed and smiled at me.
Where'd her omelet go?
"What have you been up to? I heard that Tori and Jade and Andre have been doing album stuff, and I saw where Beck works last night. But I never heard what you did while I was gone." She asked, looking me dead in the face.
"Uhh…" I sputter out. "Well, mainly I've been representing Tori, Andre and Jade at IMG, settling schedules for all that stuff and working full time for my dad."
"Your dad?" She asked, looking surprised.
"Yeah."
"I thought you hated finance." She said flatly, stealing a bite of my omelet.
"I do. Too many sleazy people. But he offered me a good paying job that I could set my own hours, which I need because of the whole IMG thing. Can't turn that down."
"So you've been busy?" She asked, stealing another bite and causing me to smirk at her.
"Very." I said, quickly beating her to a bite of my omelet, which is quickly disappearing.
"You're right, this is good." She said, mouth clearing because of her bite.
"You would know, you have eaten like half of mine already." I playfully prodded her.
"Hey! I'm hungry. That hospital food was terrible. You have no idea how nice it is to have good tasting food again." She said defensively.
"Can't imagine. Hey, —OW!" I yelled, quickly pulling my hand out of my pocket and seeing that my index and middle fingers on my left hand are bleeding.
My phone.
"Oooh let me get you a bandage…" She jumped up and scurried off into another room.
Where did 5 months go? Isn't this supposed to be emotional or awkward or…something? This wasn't supposed to be breakfast a la 1year ago.
Wow.
We dated 1 year ago.
"You're going to hate me for this…but you need antiseptic." She stated bluntly, coming back in the room with cotton balls, bandages and the dreaded brown bottle.
"Cat, I do not need—"
"Shut up. You just cut the hell out of your fingers. What was it?" She asked, grabbing my hand and examining it.
"My phone. I dropped it. That's why I saw you coming up the stairs."
"Dropped it? All the way down?" She asked, sounding surprised.
"Yep. Cracked." I sighed.
"Well no duh you cut your hand…hold on…" She suddenly put her hand gingerly inside my pocket and fished around for my phone. She spent a second or two grasping my thigh, then feeling my phone and gingerly extracting it.
The moment she saw it fully she frowned.
"You need a new phone."
"Yep." I said flatly.
"Thanks for the flowers." She said suddenly.
"Huh?" I said stupidly, still thinking about my phone and how it cut my fingers.
"The flowers. I opened the door and saw them on the railing. I barely saw you all the way at the bottom. I was wondering what you were doing. But I forgot because…I was so happy to see you." She smiled at me.
"Oh. Thanks." I blushed and looked away. "Glad you like them."
"Now this is only going to hurt a—"
"OWWWWW!" I yelled and yanked my fingers away from the pain. I glanced at Cat, who had jumped back. She had a cotton ball in her hand.
Probably with antiseptic on it.
"A little warning next time?" I asked, gingerly handing her back my hand.
"Sorry." She said, sounding morbid. "I did warn you."
The next few moments Cat used a feather light touch to deftly apply bandages to my fingers in such a way that didn't affect my dexterity.
"Wow. Did they teach you first aid too?" I joked as she let go of my hand.
"Actually, yeah." She smiled, gathering up all of her medical supplies and retreating back out of the room.
I stood up and immediately saw the flowers, now in a familiar looking vase.
Wait…that's the vase from the last time I got her lilies.
Score. Board.
Oh yeah!
I am on top of the world right now. Cat appears to be completely fine and learned a ton of stuff while in the Looney bin.
Robbie. Do NOT call Methodist the Looney bin.
It's almost like slapping Cat in the face.
Suddenly my concentration was broken by a pair of arms wrapped around my waist.
"Mmmmmm." Cat hummed into my back. Which actually feels nice. It's been sore the last couple of days and especially today after that long drive.
"I missed this." She said, releasing me. Only for me to whip around and scoop her into my hug, sending her into derisive giggles.
"Not fair. Don't you think for a second that you can sneak up on me and hug me without getting your comeuppance." I joked, squeezing her extra tight then letting her go.
"Easy…I'm pretty full."
"Sowwy." I smiled, causing her to giggle.
Then both of us were quiet for a bit.
"So what now?" I asked her.
"Well…it's not fun, but I was thinking we need to get you a new phone." She said, looking up at me.
"To the pear store?" I asked.
"To the pear store!" She yelled medieval style. I laughed and opened the front door and held it for her.
"Aww, such a gentleman." She smiled as she exited the premises and waited for me to emerge so she could lock the door.
We plodded our way down the stairs and—
"Can we take your car?" Cat sweetly asked once we reached the bottom.
"Sure…any particular reason why?" I asked, curious.
"I haven't seen your sports car in a long time. Remember when all this stuff started it was in the shop after Kimberly totaled it."
Yeah, no need to remind me of that.
I made a noncommittal grunt and kept walking to my car.
"Still mad at her?" She asked sweetly.
"Seeing how she hasn't paid me a dime yet, yeah." I reply, trying to keep my voice even.
"Really? That's terrible Robbie…" She sighed, eyes briefly flashing at me before returning to the parking lot.
A moment or two later my intact and repaired sports car came into view.
"Beep Beep." I pressed the unlock button and next thing I knew, Cat was racing to the passenger's side door.
I calmly walked all the way around, purposely taking my time, opened my door, climbed in, closed it and meticulously buckled my seatbelt.
I turned around and moved to put the key in the ignition, only for Cat to be staring at me, looking on amused but trying to look angry.
"You need to work on that poker face…" I joked as the engine roared to life and I backed out of the space.
"I can't help it…you are funny."
"Funny huh?" I asked, pushing her buttons.
"Yeah, happy?" She defensively asked.
"Happier than in a while sunshine, that's for sure." I said, making my voice trail off and pulling out onto the main road to the pear store.
I briefly saw her go pink and start to say something but stop herself and look out her window.
"So…you learned to cook, sew and perform awesome first aid while in the hospital…is that all you did?" I asked as we pulled up to a red light.
"No…" She said, sounding positively depressed.
She might not want to talk about it…
I didn't think of that.
"I can change the subject if you want; it's ok if you don't want to talk about it." I retracted quickly.
God I'm an idiot. What part of me thought it would be ok to ask her that?
"No, it's ok. I kind of owe you an explanation anyway." She said, voice perking up.
"You don't owe me anything Cat. What's past is past. I shouldn't have asked you that. Sorry."
"Ok…" She said quietly, turning on the radio.
The rest of the drive went by as Adele, Gaga and Lady Antebellum took us the rest of the way to the pear store.
"Robbie?" Cat spoke up as I parked.
"Yeah?"
"I broke your phone ok? We were taking a picture and I dropped it off my balcony."
"Ok then. So we're lying about it?" I said, not actually opposed to it.
They're much more likely to give me a new phone if a pretty girl says she accidentally broke it.
"No, not lying. Acting." She said with a devious smile.
"Oh really? Have you used that before?"
"Not here, but with a policeman yes."
Pretty girl and short skirt syndrome.
"Wow Cat…you using your acting skills to get out of a ticket. Devious girl…" I smirked as I hopped out of the car and locked the doors.
But I also accidentally locked her in.
She moved to open the door since the door was locked, it didn't open.
"Hey! Robbie!" She yelled, hitting her hand lightly on the glass. "Not fair!"
I couldn't help but laugh as she gave me her best puppy dog face thru the window.
"Click."
"That wasn't funny." She said the second she stepped out of the car.
"True." I shrugged as she closed the door behind her with a sharp snap.
"It was hilarious."
Her eyes immediately shot to me and I made a break for it.
I'm not getting away with that one.
"Hehe, get back here!" She yelled as I dashed towards the door but had to quickly stop because I car was coming right where I needed to cross the road.
Slam.
Suddenly Cat came flying into me; somehow sending herself so high her legs whacked into my shoulders and wrapped themselves around my ribs.
"NO FAIR!" She yelled, hugging me at the same time.
"Very fair. You set that one up." I smiled as she hopped off me and followed me inside.
"How can I help you guys?" A friendly looking associate asked the moment we stepped inside the door.
"Um…yes." Cat quickly spoke up, grabbing my hand and looking slightly afraid. "I was taking a picture with my boyfriend here and I accidentally dropped his phone off my balcony and the screen broke. I know there's some kind of penalty but I was wondering if you could possibly wave that…?" Cat finished, looking hopeful.
"Sure…wow." She said as Cat handed him my phone. "How high is the balcony?"
"Three stories." Cat supplied immediately.
"Just a moment, I need to talk to my supervisor, but I believe we'll be able to give you a new phone for no penalty. What's you name sir?" She asked politely.
"Robbie Shapiro."
"Ok…Shapiro. I'll be right back."
I looked away from the retreating associate and to Cat, who was looking at a pearPad and looked smug.
"You made it look too easy." I sighed, shuffling over to her.
"Such are the benefits when you are a pretty actress…" She smiled.
"Wrong." I quickly said. Cat quickly whipped around.
"Wrong about what?" She demanded.
"Pretty."
"Oh really now?"
"Yep. I say beautiful." I quipped, chancing a glance at Cat.
She quickly went red and muttered "Charmer." before—
"Mr. Shapiro? We can get you a new phone for $20. Looking at your history can I recommend the insurance policy we offer…?"