Faith In Me

4.

Robert stared at Mary, who was happily beaming back at him. What was he supposed to do? Robert blinked, his brain suddenly turning on. “M-mary! How- how wonderful to see you” robert blurted out, struggling to understand what exactly he was feeling. He was supposed to be happy right? ‘Act happy Robert’ Robert told himself.

Mary perked up even more and pulled Robert close, wrapping her arms around Robert's neck. “Oh i'm so glad to see you robert! It's been too long '' Mary said happily, squeezing robert. Robert hesitantly hugged her back, wrapping his arms around Mary's waist. “Y-yeah..” Robert said, glancing over his shoulder to see Simon leaning against the wall with what seemed to be a smug look on his face; but something was off as well.

Robert felt overwhelmed, he was still shaking with nerves; adrenaline was still pumping through his veins and Robert did his best to not let it show. Robert turned his gaze away from Simon, feeling his chest squeeze with some unknown force. Robert told himself to feel happy, to hug Mary back. Fake it until you make it; as his mother often said to mock american accents.

Mary cupped Robert's face and smiled warmly at him, “You don't know how thankful i am that you showed up bob. I don't know what would have happened if those brutes had their way..'' Mary said softly, letting her hands fall onto Robert's shoulders. “Y-yeah… yeah; i am glad to… what- what are you doing out here anyways? It's not safe for a lady to be out by herself at night..” Robert said, finally putting distance between himself and mary.

“Oh well… i WAS with my boyfriend but… things happened and he ended up leaving. Then those arseholes came up to me and started giving me trouble..” Mary said with a frown on her face, as if she suddenly remembered that she had in fact been broken up with that night. Robert looked at Simon once more, silently asking for help; but Simon shrugged, looking just as lost as Robert was.

Robert cleared his throat before looking at mary. “Um… do you need us to walk you home mary?” Robert suddenly offered, not sure of what else to say. Mary was just as pretty as she was back when they went to school together; Robert had always pinned for Mary but for some reason Robert couldn't quite bring himself to be as excited to see Mary as she was to see him. 

Robert felt anxious now, he couldn't believe he just started a fight with 3 guys. He hoped he wouldn't regret that later on, he would rather not be jumped in a dark alleyway because of his drug induced rage. 

“Yes.. please, I'd greatly appreciate that,” Mary said, folding her hands in front of her. Robert nodded his head, opening his mouth to speak but he decided not to. What was the use in speaking when he had nothing to say? Robert shoved his bloody knuckles into his pockets, knowing that his hands would be hurting him for a few days now. 

Robert glanced over to Simon who looked about as rough as Robert did, if not rougher. Robert suddenly started to regret dragging Simon into that mess, Simon's poor hands were all bloody too. Without thinking, and completely forgetting about Mary, Robert walked over to Simon and grabbed his hands. “Do they hurt?” robert asked under his breath, inspecting the angry red wounds on simon’s hands

“Only a little. I can handle it.” Simon hummed, glancing up at Robert's face. “You still have blood on your face too. The fucker clipped you good huh.” Simon grinned, his chest feeling warm; he liked Robert fussing over him. It was nice.

“Do i?” Robert said, whipping his face once more. “If you want boys we can stop at my pad and get you cleaned up.” Mary said, unphased by the quiet moment Robert suddenly initiated with simon. Simon looked over to Mary and smiled gratefully; “thank you. Been a bit of a wild night yeah.” Simon said, taking his hand away from Robert's and shoving them into his pockets.