𝐉𝐮𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐃𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐧𝐭 | 𝐑𝐨𝐛𝐛𝐲 𝐊𝐞𝐞𝐧𝐞 (DISCONTINUED)

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 35

Alora blew out a long, shaky breath as she stepped out of Shannon's car. She had taken the first one to the apartment where Robby had lived with his mom only to have Shannon tell her that he lived with his dad now. Although, to Alora's surprise, Shannon was overjoyed to see her. She guessed that she had been filled in by someone on where she had gone. She made sure Alora was alright before ushering her into her car, insisting that she could take her so she wouldn't have to take another Uber. As Alora walked up to the apartment door, she glanced back at Shannon with clear uncertainty and hesitation. Shannon gave her a comforting smile and waved her along before driving off.

Alora turned back to the door, wiggling her fingers to get the nerves out, and slowly knocked on the front door. Millions of thoughts flooded her mind in a chaotic panic. Maybe this was a bad idea. Maybe she should've called. What if nobody's home? What if he doesn't want to see her? They were all cut short when a tanned woman with curly hair who seemed to be lightly pregnant opened the door. Alora opened her mouth to speak but suddenly every single syllable, every letter, every verb, and noun escaped her.

"Hi, can I help you?" The woman asked, her eyes full of kindness and confusion.

"Um, I..." Alora blinked too many times. She finally took a slow breath and spoke less shakily. "Is Robby home?" She waited with bated breath. His name felt familiar, but also foreign from not speaking it for so long. It felt warm and iridescent, comfortable. Her heart thumped heavily against her chest and she was afraid that the woman could hear it.

The lady nodded and called his name into the house. Then she saw him. He hadn't seen her yet, his head down, focused on something on his phone. The woman said something to him that Alora didn't hear because of the blood rushing to her ears but it made him look up and their eyes met. Alora felt like the ground was shaking and she realized that she couldn't remember what it was like to breathe easily.

"Hi." One word and she was in his arms the following millisecond. His arms were around her waist and she was pulled to him tightly, as if he felt that if he let her go she might disappear; it wasn't a crazy notion. She closed her eyes, her arms wrapped around his neck, trying to pull him ever closer to her even though they couldn't get any closer as it was. Fireworks exploded in her brain and goosebumps ran in random lines down her arms. She felt something wet sliding down her cheeks; tears.

She faintly heard the woman mutter something along the words of privacy and quietly shut the door behind her.

"I'm sorry, I'm so so sorry," she mumbled into his shoulder, choking back sobs. She repeated it over and over again as he rubbed circles into her back and tried to hush her cries and pleas for forgiveness.

He pulled back a little, taking her face into his hands. He looked down at her, making her meet his eyes. So green, so pure, so beautiful.

"Baby, look at me." She was pretty sure her heart was splattered all over their doorstep. "Stop apologizing. There's nothing to apologize for." And his voice was so soft and understanding that it shut her up immediately. She just stared at him in awe and disbelief. How could he say that? How could he honestly believe that? And she knew he honestly did.

"I've missed you so much," he said, his voice thick with emotion. Alora leaned into him, sinking farther and farther into his presence. His forehead pressed down to meet hers and their eyes squeezed shut. She grasped his shirt in her scarred, balled fists.

"I love you, I'm sorry. I won't do it again. Ever. I swear. Never again," she whispered against his lips. She breathed in his earthy, crisp scent. "I promise."

"I love you," he whispered back and suddenly his lips were on hers and air flooded her lungs for the first time in a long time. The kiss was desperate and full of passion, familiar, but also extremely new. She wasn't the same person that she was when they met, he wasn't either, yet they were both okay with that. They accepted it and they knew that they were going to be okay.