LIFE GOES ON - rob rausch

a long morning

AS THE BLINDS OPENED AND WELCOMED A NEW DAY, Victoria peeled her eyes open, glancing over to the vacant place in the bed next to her with a frown.

She pushed herself out of bed, and moved to the bathroom to brush her teeth, doing her best to remind herself that it was a new day and that things would be better. While brushing her teeth, she ran into Aaron who gave her a side hug.

"How are you doing?" he asked as he began to shave.

Victoria shrugged. "I'm alright."

Aaron glanced at her out of the side of his eyes, seemingly not believing her. "You know, Rob really didn't expect things to go down the way they did last night."

Victoria stared at the camera, an unamused look on her face. "I'm really trying to give these people grace but it's like they just want to piss me off. Rob is with another girl, whatever. Crying won't change that."

"I'm sure he didn't," Victoria hummed as she finished brushing her teeth and walked away without another word.

As Victoria entered the dressing room, she caught wind of the other girls chattering excitedly about the new bombshells. At the sight of her, JaNa looked at the girl with a small smirk.
"So my lovely newly single woman, how do you feel about that hottie down there Connor?" she asked, waving her makeup brush to motion downstairs.

Victoria began applying a minimal amount of makeup, not really interested in what JaNa was saying. "He's cute I guess, I don't know," she answered making the girls roll their eyes.

"I think my girl needs to just get out her shell you know... not think too much about the whole Rob situation. Her and Connor would be cute," JaNa said to the camera, putting her chin in her hand as she tried to picture the duo together.

"You don't think he's even a little bit attractive?" Kaylor asked, prompting Victoria to pause and think.
Sure, Connor was attractive but Victoria always tended to gravitate towards men that seemed more elusive in way, like they were a puzzle that needed to be solved. Connor seemed to be a stark contrast of that and was a pretty straightforward guy. But then again, thinking back her track record pursuing the elusive kind of men didn't seem to be too successful.

"I mean I don't think he's bad looking, I just would have to get to know him more before making any decisions or anything," Victoria answered earning a bunch of murmurs of agreement from the girls.

However, before anyone could say anything else Rob surprisingly entered the dressing room with two plates of breakfast in his hands. He handed the first off to Liv, and then walked over to Victoria and handed her a plate.

"Oh, thank you," Victoria said, surprised that Rob had even thought of her.

Rob didn't say anything, simply nodding his head and walking out without another word. Once he was gone Victoria looked at Serena confusedly.
"What's he playing at?"

Serena shrugged. "I'm telling you bitch he's whipped."

Victoria picked at the toast, shaking her head. She didn't think that was the case.

"He's the first guy to do that, JaNa added earning a couple of nods. "You know, in the villa."

This comment only seemed to add to the awkward air between Victoria and Liv. After a moment, Liv cleared her throat.

"I wanna, uhm, clear the air with Victoria. I'm really sorry I didn't mean to blind side you or anything. I'm like super sorry, I had no ill will towards you when I made my decision."

"That's so sweet," JaNa added with a nod of her head, always the peacemaker and hoping there was no bad blood between the two girls.

Victoria smiled softly. "It's alright, I knew you didn't mean anything by it. If anything I'm just a little more upset with..." she began before biting down on her lip. Liv had obviously chosen to be with Rob for a reason, meaning that Rob wasn't telling her the truth when he said that there was nothing there and that he didn't have anything in common with her. But, Victoria doubted that was something that Liv wanted to hear after just coupling up with him. There was also the chance that with more time something could grow between the two, so Victoria decided to leave it alone.
"Never mind, it's not important. I hope you and Rob get along fine," she said before pushing herself out of her seat and heading downstairs.

Along the way, she passed by Rob and Aaron and felt their eyes boring into her back as she sat down on a beanbag, glancing around the villa. It felt like no matter where she went there was a set of eyes on her, and she just wanted nothing more than to disappear. It felt like everyone knew something she didn't, and she just wanted the whole Rob thing to blow-over.
The day had just begun and she was already tired.

Kendall sat down next to her a few
moments later, looking up at her through his sunglasses curiously. "You doing okay?"

Victoria groaned. "Why is everyone acting like I just found out my boyfriend was caught cheating with my best friend or something, you're all so dramatic," she sighed.

Kendall laughed. "We're just trying to make sure you're good. You seem quiet is all."

Victoria sprawled out on the beanbag even more, closing her eyes as she let the warm sun beam down on her face. "I'm not really a chatterbox in the first place."

"Rob made it seem otherwise."

"Rob isn't always honest."

This seemed to catch Kendall's attention and he sat up a bit straighter. "What do you mean?"

Victoria peeled an eye open and glanced at Kendall, who was waiting intently for her to answer.

"I don't know. It just feels weird because I'm getting two completely different stories from Liv and Rob. Rob swears up and down that he had nothing in common with Liv, and that he didn't connect with her at all. Liv says there was definitely something there and she didn't want to hurt me, but there was enough of a spark between them that she felt it was worth the risk," she answered after a pause as she closed her eyes once again.

Kendall seemed to mull over the girls words before responding. "Maybe you should talk to Rob."

Victoria scoffed, her eyes still closed. "Rob is avoiding me like I've got the plague."

"Didn't he bring you breakfast?"

"Yeah but he damn near ran away before I could say anything at all," Victoria answered as she thought back to earlier and how Rob walked away quickly without another word to Victoria after dropping off the breakfast.

Kendall shook his head. "Look man, I think all you really can do is talk to him," he advised, looking up once a shadow covered both him and Victoria.

He was met with a muscular figure looking down on them, a smile on his face.
"Do you mind if I pull Victoria for a chat?"