Tutor • Robin Arellano

Part VI

It was the morning after the incident with Finney, I left my room and announced, "I'm making omelettes!" loudly enough for the everyone to hear. Well, not everyone. Dad has been gone for a few days without coming back. It's not unusual for him to disappear but he's usually come back by now or left some money so we can buy food. We're running low on food and none of us have money to buy more. It's not like we have any family friends either, all of dad's friends are drunk, druggies or on their death beds so, no one that could help us. I'll have to see if I can get some money from somewhere, I'll make sacrifices for my family, even when I don't want to.

I make the omelettes and shout to no one in particular, "Can someone set the table?" to which I hear Robin shout "I will!"
I cut the omelette up into 4 pieces and place them on the plates, taking 2 and laying them onto the table, continuing to do the same with the other 2.

-

Everyone loved the food and Robin even threatened to move in because my cooking was so good, I think I found a talent for myself.

I was washing up when Robin walked in with the remainder of the plates from the table. I got an idea and asked, "Hey Robin, we have tutoring tonight, after-school so... we could hang out after?"
"Yeah! That'd be cool. What do we say if Finn or Gwen ask where we're going?"
"Library, the book I have doesn't have everything we need in it!" I say, brainstorming. "Good idea, smart girl." He praised before smiling at me and walking out. This crush thing has to calm down, even the small compliment gave me butterflies and heated cheeks. Part of me thinks he's doing it on purpose.

-

It was after-school and tutoring had finished so, we left to go to the 'library'. Having the excuse came handy when Gwen asked where we were going. After we'd left, we realised that we hadn't planned where we were going so, we just wandered about for a bit and talked before we realised that it probably wasn't good to just wander while it's getting dark. Robin was coming up with ideas on where to go when he thought of a local ice-cream parlour. I loved the idea at first, before I remembered that we have 13 dollars left to buy next week's groceries. I felt bad but I had to say, "I'd love too, Robin but, I don't... have enough money for that. I need to buy more food and dad hasn't come back yet... How about the park?" he just looked at me and then smiled and said, "Who said you were paying?" which confused me because it's not like he's got much money himself. He seemed to notice my confused expression and mentioned that he'd gotten a 'job'. The job was just raking leaves for his elderly neighbour since it was approaching fall, he really is sweet.

"I can also pay for your guys' groceries if you want. I mean I have been eating your food since you got here so, I owe you something," he offered. "No! You don't have to do that! I swear, it's okay..." I said. He didn't look very convinced but we decided to just go to the ice-cream parlour. I still didn't want him paying for me but when I said that, he told me to shut up and then asked me which ice-cream I wanted (mint choc-chip obviously). We sat down next to each other on a booth and talked while eating our ice-cream. At one point, I got ice-cream on my nose which he wiped off, I was super embarrassed but he said it was cute.

-

We'd finished the ice-cream and decided to go for a walk in a field. We sat down on a hill eventually and watched the sunset when, Robin mentioned, "Hey, you totally don't have to say yes to this but..." he stopped before pulling out a four-pack of beer from his back-pack. "Hell yeah!" I say before holding my hand out, signalling him to pass me one. He smirked at my enthusiasm and passed me a beer. We both opened our cans and took a swig from the cans. Beer is strange, I didn't like it but didn't dislike it. It'd have the same effect whether I liked it or disliked it, anyway. It's not like I've not drunk alcohol before, people used to sneak it onto campus and deal it to other students. I have no idea how they did that, there are security cameras everywhere but, so do prisons and look at what goes on in there. Anyway, my only friend in that hell-hole school was rich so she managed to get quite a lot for us. I always liked it, it makes my thoughts stop thinking for once and I'm sure anyone would pay for that. I usually think way too much, way too fast and honestly, it was exhausting. I wasn't worried about a hangover since it was Saturday tomorrow so, I thought I'd just enjoy the night.

-

All the cans were now empty and both of us were quite drunk. Robin probably hadn't drunk much before and no matter how much I drink, I'm still a light-weight. I felt myself relax, worries melting away. It was dark now, only the stars to be seen in the once warm-toned sky. We lay down completely, backs on the damp grass. I get a sudden small wave of confidence and grab his hand, intertwining our fingers. He probably wouldn't remember this in the morning but I would. I was blushing profusely at the small contact. I'm not going to lie, I am touch-starved after all the years in an all-girls academic boarding school. I know we hugged the other night but for some reason, this was different. We felt closer, more romantic. So, in a drunken haze, I leaned in, connecting our lips, satisfying the craving that I didn't know I'd had for the week.

1021 words

I hope this was good! I wanna do a time skip in the next chapter because I want to finally develop their relationship but they've known each other for a week. I'm thinking of a month time skip.

-Eden