little bird // r.keene

xxxii. i owe you.

"I'm sorry about Miguel... and Hawk." Wren found herself saying suddenly, gently setting her mug down on the floorboards and folding her hands on her lap in a knot. "They had no right... I'm sorry they treated you like that... It wasn't fair." Wren repeated, looking at Robby but he had been looking at something fixed on the floor, his eyes trailed up when Wren fell silent.

"It's not your fault." He offered, "Miguel was really hard on Sam and I couldn't just stand back and watch... She wanted to make up with him, it's true about her mom having her phone though. She wanted to call him all day but I'm sorry she snapped at you..." He paused, "What's his deal anyway, I know he was drunk but why be such a dick?" Robby asked, a sudden shift in his tone... He sounded angry, but not in a way that alarmed Wren, it was more a frustration, Sam was obviously his friend.

Wren shrugged but thought for a moment before tilting her head ever so slightly and answering, "Sam is his first love, when she didn't answer her phone he thought something was wrong, that he'd done something... He was worried about her. But when she turned up with you, with a smile on her face... He just assumed the worst." She explained and Robby nodded, he understood, though he had never been in love himself.

"Wren, can I ask you a question?" Robby asked, a sudden hot flush creeping up his neck that he rubbed, urging it to go away.

"Sure, Keene, what is it?"

"Can I crash here tonight?" He asked and it took Wren by surprise, to her, Robby seemed like someone who had his whole life together. She understood that he didn't get on with his father, that Johnny had made clear but she just didn't think that if he needed anything that she would be the one to come to, "My mom... she's out of town and we didn't make the electric bill this month and I err, I don't think I'm welcome at the LaRusso's anymore. I sort of..." Robby trailed off and Wren shook her head suddenly.

"Robby, you don't have to explain yourself to me, of course you can crash here. It's not a problem." Wren smiled at him and Robby returned the expression, running a hand through his hair with a sigh of relief and a slight chuckle.

"Thanks Wren, seriously." He told her and Wren just shrugged.

"Don't mention it."

It took the pair of friends a little while to settle down that night. Wren had pulled out a blow up mattress from the cupboard under the stairs and she found some clean sheets for Robby to use that night, handing them to him neat and folded. It was around midnight and the room was illuminated with, what seemed to Robby, a million fairy lights which gave the room a warm glow. Wren handed him a quilt and pillow from her own bed and he thanked her again.

"I've got to get up early tomorrow so I might be gone by the time you wake up." Wren told him, sitting cross legged on her bed, as he stood over the freshly made bed on the floor, "Stay as long as you want Keene, the door will be unlocked and if you bump into Mr James just tell him you're a friend of mine, he won't mind. I'll leave him a note on the front desk." Robby made his way over to sit next to her and the bed dipped slightly when he sat down, Wren looked over at him.

"This means a lot to me, thank you again." He said softly and Wren just elbowed him in the ribs, laughing.

"What did I say about not mentioning it?" She said and Robby chuckled, shaking his head so strands of hair fell in his face. "But just so you know Keene, you can come here anytime, okay?" Wren told him, settling down, "Even if one day we're no longer friends. Just know you can. If I'm not here, there's a spare key under the left hand plant pot, second to the end." She paused, "Anytime at all, Keene."

"Why are you doing this for me, Evans?" He asked her, keeping his hands folded in his lap, looking at her over his shoulder.

"I don't like to owe people, I told you that."

"But you don't owe me... Tonight you nearly beat up your boyfriend trying to defend me." Robby argued slightly, keeping his voice low, remembering how she had covered her ears earlier that night at Miguel's raised voice. Robby didn't think he could ever forget that look on her face. Not ever.

"It's not the same thing, Rob. Those guys my dad tangled with, they weren't some drunk teenagers looking to throw fists... I think the night we met could have gone so differently if I hadn't run into you, literally... I would have ended up in a hospital bed. We're not even. Not even close." Wren told the boy and Robby swallowed hard, he let his eyes skim down to where her bandaged hand rested on a cushion and he felt his throat grow dry. It made him glad she was learning karate even if it was from his father.

He was glad she had run right into him. Robby would let Wren run into him at full force a thousand times over before she got hurt again.

"Plus..." She began and Robby looked up at her eyes, "I broke your skateboard."

He laughed at that.