the day i lost you | ronance

SIX

in a stand-still on the five...
thought it was unusual. the early traffic...

-

AIDAN PICKED ROBIN up from the ground, sighing to himself. he didn't know how he was supposed to get them home, as he had been drinking himself. but he brushed that thought away as he hoisted robin into his arms, taking her back downstairs.

he stopped to talk to his friends before leaving. he put robin in the passenger seat and buckled her in. he got into his own seat, started the car, and began the drive back to his place.

it was a long drive back home. the lights on the side of the road blurred his vision, appearing to stretch out towards him like arms. he tried to focus on the road, but it was also fuzzy. he blinked a couple times in attempt to clear his vision, but it wasn't working.

about fifteen minutes into the drive, robin woke up, groggily looking at her surroundings. she sat up straight, looking around confused.

"hey, you're up," aidan commented, looking over at her.

"what happened?"

"i'm taking you back to my place. you blacked out"

"oh.....wait wait wait, aren't you drunk?"

"i'm fine, i can drive"

robin stayed silent, knowing he was drunk. she didn't want to be in the car anymore, but she knew the only other option was walking. she didn't think steve would be awake anymore.

robin looked out the windshield, noticing how aidan would sway every couple seconds to stay in his lane.

and then it happened. aidan almost hit another car. he glided across a lane on accident, causing the car in the lane to almost hit him. robin watched it all happen.

"holy shit!" aidan said, laughing to himself. "that was a close one, right?"

robin couldn't reply. she could barely even breathe. she felt like all the oxygen in the world was gone. her eyes were welling up with tears, terrified from the memories it brought up.

"you okay?" aidan asked, noticing her state.

she remained silent.

"rob?"

"take me home," was all she said, her eyes fixated on the window. he nodded to himself, and hopped off the highway to drive towards her house.

-

about twenty minutes later, they arrived at robin's place. she opened her door, letting the cool air hit her.

"do you need help inside?"

robin ignored him, closing her door and stumbling up to the front door. she fumbled into her bag before finding the key, and pushing it into the lock.

she entered the dark house, silently closing the door behind her. she stumbled up the stairs, creating a lot more noise than intended. as she was about to reach her bedroom door, she heard a voice from behind her.

"robin?" asked the feminine voice that belonged to nancy. robin looked back at her, not saying anything. "steve and i were worried about you. he's been texting you all night"

"sorry," robin mumbled, her voice breaking in the process. aidan's almost-crash was finally hitting her more, and she didn't want to show her emotion to nancy.

"are you okay?" nancy asked, walking down the hall to her. she looked at robin, before placing a hand on her shoulder for comfot.

"don't touch me!" robin half-screamed, getting flashbacks from the guy she had met earlier. nancy immediately removed her hand.

"i'm sorry, i'm sorry. you just look......upset? or distraught?"

"i'm fine," robin slurred back.

"are you drunk?"

"um.....yeah. i-i don't really feel too great right now"

nancy sighed. "go get in bed, i'm going to grab you some water to sober you up"

robin complied, going to her room and laying in her bed. nancy filled a glass with water, not wasting any time to get back upstairs and give it to her. she sat on the edge of robin's bed, watching her as the glass touched robin's lips.

"what happened? where did you go?" nancy asked after a few minutes of silence settled in.

"i went to aidan's....and then he took me to some party thing," robin slurred, small tears forming in the corners of her eyes, "and this guy.....he kissed me and.....and..."

robin went silent, many tears streaming down her cheeks. nancy's heart broke at the sight of robin crying. she wanted to wrap her arms around robin and kiss the top of her head.

"can i touch your hand?" nancy asked softly, not wanting to startle robin with her sudden touch. robin nodded and nancy put her hand on top of robin's.

"you can tell me when you're ready, even though i doubt you'll remember this. you need to get to sleep, okay?"

"okay," robin nodded, and nancy gently helped robin into bed. she turned on the lamp beside her bed to give her a bit of light, and turned the lights off.

"goodnight," nancy half-whispered as her fingers met the cold doorknob.

"night," robin said back. nancy opened the door to leave. "and nancy?"

"yeah?"

"thank you," robin said gratefully, a small smile on her face.

"anytime"

nancy shut the door and went back into her own room. she sat on the bed, thinking about everything that had just happened.

robin actually smiled at her. she was drunk, sure, but she still smiled. nancy smiled to herself at the thought. she had missed seeing robin smile more than anything, and to see it again after so long made her cheer up.

but the wave of sadness knocked her down again once she realized robin would more than likely remember nothing in the morning. she told herself it would he a good thing because of what happened to robin- even if nancy didn't know anything. the bad thing that kept tugging at her, though, was when she realized that robin wouldn't remember opening up to her help either.

but the robin she experienced tonight- the sweeter side of her- almost made nancy forget the new side of her. for a split second, she forgot robin wasn't hers anymore, and she would never be the same again.