Affinity (RDJ)

Chapter 39 - Past Mistakes

It's early afternoon when you slump into Robert's car after a pretty uneventful flight home. You feel slightly disappointed being back after such an incredible time in New York, especially since it's raining. Of course - this is Seattle. Robert swings the bags into the trunk and then joins you in the front. You fell asleep on his shoulder on the flight home, enjoying every second of acting normally with him before you have to return to the teacher-student platonic relationship that, if you're honest, you haven't missed one bit.

'Ready?' he asks, flashing you those perfect teeth across the car. His hand reaches across to squeeze your thigh (not your knee - your thigh. This feels significant and you feel your ears redden) and you nod in agreement.

After around 10 minutes of driving and bopping along to the Hamilton soundtrack pretending to not know every word, you turn to him. 'I forgot to ask; was that Callie you were on the phone with this morning?'

He eyes me suspiciously, a slight smirk tugging at his lips. 'Yeah...' he drags out. 'While you were sleeping... or so I thought,' he says jokingly.

'I may have heard a teeny tiny bit of your conversation,' you admit, embarrassed to have been caught out. 'Is everything okay though?' Somehow, you'd completely forgotten to mention the phone call after the several distractions this morning. It didn't seem to bother him or affect how he is with you though so you're not worried, but the last thing you'd want would be to come between their twenty plus years of friendship.

He purses his lips, considering his response. 'Yeah, I mean she knows about us but it's no biggie,' he says, shrugging nonchalantly.

You squeeze your eyes closed, your fear coming true.

'Seriously, Rem, it's fine. She's one of my closest friends. I don't even know how I thought she wouldn't notice. She knows me inside out - she's seen me in love bef-' He cuts himself off mid-sentence, realising that his reassurance maybe isn't going the way he planned. 'Sorry,' he says, clearing his throat. 'Shitty thing to say.'

You smile, pretending that it doesn't bother you because you already know about his marriage, his ex-wife. You know he's been in love before. Obviously. It just feels weird hearing him talk about it in the same sentence as your relationship. Like a comparison? You don't know. It's fine.

'Don't worry about it,' you reassure. 'I know what you mean. As long as she... I dunno, she's not angry? Or thinks badly of me? I get what it looks like - a student seducing her professor to get ahead in her career, yada yada yada...'

He glances over to you, his look telling you you've got it all wrong. 'She was scolding me, actually,' he states matter-of-factly. 'Telling me that you're young, beautiful, innocent... and that I'm approximately none of those things. She was worried that you were some kind of... rebound I guess? Not that that's...' He shakes his head as if that's a ridiculous thing of her to say. 'But yeah, she was looking out for you. Completely on your side. Looks like you made a good impression,' he beams proudly.

You take in his words, happy that Callie doesn't think badly of you but also slightly nervous that she would ever think those things of Robert, being that she knows him so well. You anxiously bite your lip and pull your sleeves over your thumbs. Just as you realise you haven't responded, you see him glancing over at you, concerned. 'Hey, that's a good thing, right? She really likes you, Rem,' he encourages, oblivious to the implications of what he just said.