"Did you email him?" Luke asked the next day when they sat down for coffee again in the same café the three had been to barely a week ago.
"Yeah," Robin replied, feeling a bit awkward, and decided that would be her answer.
How was she supposed to tell him what they had discussed, after all? She still had not checked her email for any new messages, nor had she actually mustered up enough courage to reply his last email to begin with.
There was just too much between them to touch on and she didn't know where to begin. The email exchanges may have been shades of grey, but she was certain her feelings were for Luke, and Luke only.
Cursing herself for always drifting away from conversations, she hit herself on the forehead.
"Ugh! I forgot to tell you Barney told you hello. I just absent-mindedly told him you said hi back without much thought," she mumbled, feeling sheepish somehow.
"That's fine," he laughed. "That would've been what I would've said anyway."
"I thought so," she replied, smiling and sipping her coffee.
"So, um." Luke began to speak, but stopped short, which was quite unlike him to do so.
"Yeah?"
"Well, there's an office party tonight – oddly, and they've invited me over for a drink or two. I was just wondering if you would want to hang around? Around 6-7pm, that would be the time it begins."
"Oh…" She began, but paused, pondering solemnly before coming to a decision. "Nah, I guess not." She responded. "It's not exactly my thing. Plus Doctor Who is on replay on BBC tonight and I've been meaning to check that out for a while now; my co-workers are all pretty much obsessed with it."
"Aw…" He cooed. "That's fine then. I'll be home late but I'll text you afterwards anyway to let you know, if you happened to still be up, which I would doubt so. But still."
"You sound like a husband already and we haven't even moved in together, hot damn." She gave him another smile, at the same time grasping his hand and giving it a little squeeze.
"Shut up, you cheeky thing," he quipped, giving her a peck on the cheek, which sent butterflies spiralling through her stomach. The good kind, that is.
"Okay, I have to head back to the office," Robin spoke quickly as she noticed the time from a clock which hung behind the cashier. She dabbed her lips clean before filling them again, this time with pink lip-gloss. "Sucks."
"Alright. I'll take care of this," Luke replied, reaching for the bill. "You go do your thing, and remember that I'm proud of you. And that I love you."
Feeling confident and loved, she breathed a sigh, the kind that indicated she was in a daze, flattered by his words. "Love you too. Actually, scratch that. Love you more."
"Yeah, like that's possible," he smiled smugly.
"Shut your face. Haven't you heard? Your girlfriend happens to be impossible. See ya," she gave him a quick kiss and a little wave as she stepped out into the cool London air.
Taking out her phone as she walked back to her office building, she typed Barney a quick reply.
To: Barney Stinson
From: Robin Scherbatsky
Subject: Please don't wait for me.
It's not worth your time. I'm not worth your time. And I'm happy the way things were then. I hope we stop complicating 'us' and just stick to whatever we used to have.
Go out there, meet some new people, fall in love with a few and have an amazing adventure like an awesome person would.
You are awesome. And I'm sure you already know that. So go be awesome!
Your good friend
Robin