Nowhere But You

Chapter 3

Robin shut the door behind her and headed straight to her bathroom. She started a shower, took off her clothes and walked in. The cold water hit her skin and made her shiver. She wanted to wash everything off: the booze and the feeling. Her neck still stung a little from that bite courtesy of Nathan. Quitting him, cold turkey, would not be easy, but it had to be done.

The following morning, the sun glare coming in from her window and the noise of children playing outside woke Robin up. Ten-thirty-something-AM on the clock on her nightstand. Her mouth felt dry and she had a splitting headache. Hangover. She never liked this, and she wondered when she'd remember to have water in between drinks so she wouldn't feel like crap the morning after. While her vision adjusted, all she could see was the enormous Wicked Garden poster on her bedroom wall. Julian in the middle of the picture, Nathan and the drummer to his left, River and the other guitarist to his right.

The phone rang, making her head hurt more. It kept ringing. Three times. Four times. She didn't want to get up. She'd let the machine take it. She kept looking at River's face on the poster.

River.

Then she remembered. She had given him her phone number and with that, permission to call her. She jumped from her bed and sprinted to her living room where the phone was, and one ring away from the machine getting the call she picked up.

"Hello?" She said with a raspy voice, her heart beating fast. She felt a little out of breath.

"Honey?" Someone said from the other end of the line. It wasn't River.

"Oh." Robin sighed. "Hi, mom."

"You weren't picking up," Robin's mom said, "I thought you weren't home. Or were you sleeping?"

"I was..." Robin stammered. "I was busy. What's up, mom?"

"Sweetheart..." Her mom took a deep breath, "How long are you intending to stay there?"

This conversation again. Robin called her mom the very next day after moving to Newtown. Even though she wanted to be on her own, her mom was her confident in a way so she had to tell her, albeit Robin knew she'd try to convince her otherwise and give her a bit of a hard time. But hopefully, she'd help her come out to Rick as well.

"Mom, I said I won't be coming back to college." Robin replied, frustrated.

"At least come home." Her mom insisted. "I'm sure if you and Rick talk it out you could work things out..."

"Mom, I..." Robin rolled her eyes, "We talked about this. I wanna try it here. I need to start living my own life. Can you be a little more supportive? Please."

A short silence followed.

"Sweetie, is it Nathan?" Her mom inquired, a bit suspicious. "You're staying there because of him? Changing your life plan because of a boy is not worth it..."

"Mom! It's not Nathan!" Robin exclaimed, "It's me! I like it here! I have a job, I rented a place, I'm making friends... I'll be alright! I'll figure it out!"

"You still need to tell Rick." Her mom reminded her. "You should tell him before the semester payment period expires in two weeks."

"I just..." Robin took a deep breath. "I will. But not right now. Or maybe..."

She was still hopeful her mother would help her.

"I will not do it for you, Robin."

Damn.

"I..." Robin chuckled, trying to mask her intention. "I'm not saying that. I know I need to do it myself. I just need a little more time... and courage."