LIFE GOES ON - rob rausch

conflicts

"SO NO MORE TERMINATOR?"
Victoria looked at Kendall and tried to contain her smile at his joke. The man was sprawled out on the couch, his head slightly propped up on his hand and looking completely engrossed in what she was saying.
"Well yeah, we weren't even officially together but I told him that it just wasn't working out."

She and Kendall had been sitting on the couch exchanging trivial conversation after dinner when the topic of Victoria's earlier conversation with Connor had been brought up.

Kendall looked shocked as he pushed himself upright, straightening out his posture. He looked around with an almost devilish smile on his face, and Victoria groaned as she watched the gears in his head begin to spin.
"And why didn't you work out?"

Victoria paused, unsure of if she should be honest with Kendall or avoid the conversation entirely. The two had grown closer as more days passed within the villa but Victoria was also well aware that Kendall tended to be rather loose lipped.

"We just didn't mesh well," she answered finally.

Kendall rolled his eyes. "I don't buy it, you probably still want-" he began only to cause Victoria to lightly kick Kendall in an attempt to silence the man.

"Shut up."

Kendall smiled at her reaction, poking the girl's arm. "So I'm right."

Victoria averted her eyes and huffed in annoyance at how easily Kendall seemed to read her, but just as she was going to open her mouth to reply with some halfhearted lie, a voice interrupted the two. "Right about what?"

Victoria swallowed thickly as she recognized the voice, looking over at Kendall with a murderous glance, unsure of how much the man before them had heard.
"Nothing, Kendall is just delusional," Victoria answered Rob with a tight lipped smile, earning a slightly confused glance in response.

"Right... well can we talk Vic?" the man asked, prompting Kendall to push himself to his feet and fist bump Rob as he walked away.

"She's all yours man."

Soon after, Rob settled in to where Kendall previously sat, and an almost awkward silence had ensued. The duo had been trapped in this cycle ever since Liv had entered the villa, and it frustrated Victoria. She couldn't bring herself to blame Liv, but the girl was well aware that after Liv arrived, every time she and Rob talked it felt like both parties were in limbo. Unspoken words and broken promises floated around them, and while Victoria wanted to react in anger to the unfairness of it all, she knew she couldn't.
It was nobody's fault, and she couldn't take her anger out about the circumstances of the world on those around her.

"So... what was that earlier?"

Victoria glanced at Rob out of the side of her eye, biting down on her lip. She knew what he was referring to, but Rob had made it increasingly clear that he wasn't the biggest fan of her and Connor, and every conversation where the latter was brought up seemed to be tense, so Victoria was unsure of whether or not to play dumb.

"I just realized that Connor and I were better off as friends," she answered after a beat of silence, deciding that even if she avoided the conversation now it'd be something that would need to be discussed later.

Rob couldn't help that the corners of his mouth lifted ever so slightly. "Yeah? Did something happen?" he asked as he cleared his throat and attempted to wipe his face of any smile, hoping that Victoria didn't notice.

"No, I just realized that when I talked to him it felt like I was talking to a friend, not someone I liked in a romantic way I guess."

Rob nodded his head, humming in acknowledgment. "So what're you gonna do now?"

Victoria shrugged, a small frown on her face. "I honestly don't know."

Truth be told, Victoria was unsure of what to do. Being single in the villa was sure to not bring her anything good, and if she didn't couple up with Connor then she wasn't sure who else would be interested in her. She and Hakeem didn't connect at all, and all of the other guys seemed comfortable in their current couples - which left Victoria as an outlier.

Rob hesitated before placing a gentle hand on Victoria's thigh, causing the girl's face to bloom red as warmth spread through her cheeks much to her dismay.

"Well, you know any guy would be lucky to have you. You'll find someone, don't worry," he reassured, but the words seemed to come out thickly and almost like they weren't what he really wanted to say. 
"I'm sure almost every guy in here is interested in you."

Victoria placed a hand over Rob's, and squeezed it gently. She didn't answer, but she was grateful for Rob's reassurance despite the fact that she didn't believe it.
As the two settled into a comfortable silence, their hands never strayed from each other, and this caught the attention of a certain blonde.

"See what we're not going to do is treat me like I'm a fucking idiot who can be played with," she said to the camera, her face scrunched up in a scowl.

"Hey Vic," Liv called out as she walked over to where the two sat urgently, her steps heated. "Can I pull Rob for a chat?"

Victoria glanced up at Liv, before retracting her hand from Rob's quickly as she realized that they were still overlapped, her face now red with embarrassment at how she didn't pull away sooner out of respect for the girl.
"Of course," she said quickly, looking away from Rob as he silently pulled himself up to meet Liv.

"Great, thanks," Liv said shortly as she led Rob away.

"Woah woah woah, what's going on?" Rob asked, looking back at Victoria with a small frown on his face.

"We need to talk," Liv said, her grip tightening on Rob's hand.

Rob pulled away, slowing his steps to a halt and garnering the attention of the girl in front of him. He stared at her quizzically, confused as to why she pulled him with such urgency.

"About what?"

Liv rolled her eyes, the anger within her building at Rob's nonchalance. "About you treating me like a fucking idiot Rob, that's what."

Rob scoffed. "How am I doing that?"

Liv frowned, looking at Victoria.

Rob followed her gaze, and his face seemed to harden as he realized what Liv was talking about. "You leave her out of this."

"See? That's what I'm fucking talking about. You keep shoving me to the side and ogling at Victoria when you think nobody is looking-" she began, only to have Rob throw his hands up in the air and shake his head.

Something about how Liv seemed to be targeting her frustration towards Victoria angered Rob. He believed that if she wanted to blame him for their connection going slightly stale then that was fine, but knowing Victoria was being thrown in the middle was something Rob wanted to put a stop to.
The duo had been in a weird spot after Liv entered the villa; and while Victoria had claimed to accept Rob's apology and that there was no hard feelings, sometimes it felt like she was placing a wall between them and Rob wanted nothing more than to send that wall crashing down. He missed how easy things were before, and hated seeing Victoria suffer because of him.

"Liv I don't know what you're talking about but leave Vic out of this," his voice had a sharp edge to it.

"You know what Rob? If you wanted her then be a fucking man and own up to that," Liv said, getting closer to Rob as her voice got higher and earned the attention of nearby islanders.
"Don't act like you can be a sneaky bitch and go behind my back and I won't notice."

"Calm down," he said, taking a step back before his attention was drawn away as nearby islanders began to murmur and point at something - the brewing argument between Liv and Rob seemingly becoming much less interesting.

"Hello islanders! Can you please join me at the fire pit?" Ariana's clear voice rang throughout the villa.