Rip - Becoming Whole

Of Questionable Means and Just Causes

His heart sank into his stomach when he came out of his bathroom and realised Robert was sitting at the little table in their shared living area, eating his breakfast.

Using his knife to point at Rip's plate of food that he also had brought upstairs, Robert indicated for Rip to sit down beside him. He only briefly looked up, but Rip could tell he wasn't mad at him anymore. Rip was feeling too low to risk another confrontation, so he slipped into his seat in front of his plate. There was no way he'd be able to eat what was in front of him however, even if it was only a small portion and he told Robert that.

"Yeah, you are. One bite at the time. The same way as we finished that foundation last night. I'll help you," he said as he began to cut some of Rip's food into smaller pieces, which made Rip smile. He had to think of his own little brother, how he used to cut his food for him when he didn't like what was put in front of him. He used to be a fuzzy eater. "As far as I remember you didn't do that much last night. Sebastian put in more work than you did, and he had the wheelbarrow topple over twice before you two even came back," Rip said with a snicker, and Robert laughed as well.

They ate in silence. It was an effort, every so often Robert cut some more of the food for him, when he saw that Rip was taking a rather long break and occasionally one or two of the small pieces of food ended up in his own mouth, since he had finished his food well before Rip. At one point, Rip was trying to convince Robert that he had eaten enough, but Robert was having none of it. "All of it," he simply said as he picked up the fork yet again and handed it to Rip, the same way as his father would have done. "You eat what you've put on your plate!"

"You know, you can't force feed me, Robert," Rip protested meekly, just for the sake of it. At this stage he did want to eat, he just didn't like it.

"Yeah, I know. Just as well I don't have to," Robert said coolly, as he watched the boy chew on the tiny pieces.

"Can't be easy to have that many dad's telling you what to do, eh?" Robert emphasised with a grin, while putting another small piece of bacon, or rasher as Bernard liked to call it onto Rip's fork. "Chrissy more or less said the same thing once," Rip said with a smile as he took the fork out of Robert's hand and yet again forced himself to put it into his mouth, where he was going to chew the food far too long until he was eventually able to force himself to swallow. It hadn't been that bad for a long time. He felt nauseous and was wondering if it wasn't his head after all, but his stomach that told him this wasn't good for him. Maybe, this time he was sick and he really shouldn't eat.

"I bet she did, that girl's a keeper for sure," Robert smiled, as he brought Rip's thoughts back to their conversation.

Rip' sigh did not go unnoticed. "What's wrong Rip? Trouble in paradise?" Robert asked and remembered what his father once said, how concerned he was if it didn't work out between the two of them. He had dismissed it at the time, but at this moment of time, as he was practically feeding his little brother, he wasn't so sure anymore. It had been a hell of week.

"Nah, it's still all good. I just don't think I can keep her you know," Rip said thoughtfully. Robert looked at him confused. "What makes you say that? She's mad about you," Robert replied.

Rip told him what happened at the party and her plans for the future. "She's just so much smarter than me, Robert, and she has it all planned out, you know. There is no crazy in her life, and she don't need it neither," he said, trying to sound casual about it, in an effort to hide his fears.

"I don't know Rip. I think there is a bit of crazy in everyone's life. People just letting on there isn't. Treat her right and show her how you feel. It might just work out for you guys," Robert told him in earnest.