GOOD HEART, BAD TEMPER - keene, robby

thirty-two

Rory sighed as she trotted over to the door and opened it. She froze when Hawk stood there.

"You shouldn't be here." she tells him.

"Look, I just wanna—" he stopped when he noticed a shoe in the house. Robby's, to be exact. "He's staying with you?"

"Who?" Rory asks.

Hawk scoffs. "I didn't believe Miguel and Sam when they told me you guys started dating, but they were right. How long has this been going on? Were you cheating?"

"Are you really gonna talk to me about cheating?" Rory says sourly. "Because the only one who cheated in our relationship was you!"

"I apologized for that a million times." he says.

"Well, you don't need to anymore, seeing how we're not together." Rory tried to close the door but Hawk stopped her.

"Is he why you broke up with me?" Hawk asks, and Rory stayed quiet. "Oh, my God. He is."

"No. I broke up with you because you switched sides like a pussy, and I don't date pussies." Rory looks him up and down.

"What'd you just say to me?" he asked angrily, his eyes darker than before and his nostrils flared as he looked down at the girl.

"Leave!" Rory told him, trying to bite back the tears daring to spill from her eyes.

"Yeah, whatever." Hawk mutters as he walks away, kicking one of the plants set on the porch as he did.

Rory shut the door before pressing her back against it. She took deep breaths as she tried to stop the tears from coming from her eyes, but her plan failed.

Quiet sobs escaped her mouth as she slowly slid down the door. She pulled her legs close to her chest, crying into her knees as her heart race increased.

|

"Rory, what's wrong?" Robby asked as he stood by the girl and watched her wash dishes.

"Nothing's wrong. I'm fine." she tells him.

"Those are the first words you've said to me in the past hour." he grabs the girl's hand, stopping her from scrubbing the plate. "You put up a tough act, but I see right through you."

Rory sighs as she turns to look at him. She begins to speak and her voice immediately breaks, "All I know is hurt."

"What do you mean?" Robby asks.

"When something's going good for me, someone always has to turn it to shit. I can never just have a happy moment." she explains.

"I'm lost, Sommers." he tells the girl.

"I mean us. I mean everything. I'm finally happy with you. You're like my first breath of fresh air in a year, and it's like Hawk just sucked up all the oxygen, and I can't— I can't breathe. It's just—"

Robby pulls the girl into his arms. "What happened?"

Rory cries into his shoulder. "I'm so tired of always having to pretend I'm fine."

"Then don't pretend." he whispers in her ear. "You don't have to pretend around me."

Rory cries harder as the two hug. Robby didn't know what Hawk did or said to her, but he was absolutely fuming. Obviously, he couldn't act like it though. He had to be there for Rory.

"Look at me," he pulled away from the girl, holding her face in his hands. "Don't let anyone wreck us, okay? You and me, we're invincible. No matter what anyone says or does, they can't ruin our happiness, alright babe? They can't."