Nowhere But You

Chapter 7

The rest of that Sunday morning and afternoon went by in a haze for Robin. She was counting the minutes until she'd get to see River again, later that night, for the show. She twirled her hair between her fingers while she lied in her bed, looking at the ceiling and smiling stupidly. A Wicked Garden demo tape blasted from her cassette player. She laughed at herself when she noticed how teenage this seemed... and then frowned upon realization that she never allowed herself to feel like this when she was a teen, not even when Nathan began looking at her differently, not even when she began dating that boy Brian in school, and not even when that whirlwind, almost forbidden romance she had in college started developing. She always thought she was much better than that. But maybe she was growing up now, and it was time to roll with it. Perhaps this time it would work.

Nighttime finally came upon Newtown, and on their way to the show, River mentioned he had already talked to their manager Sandra, and that she would have Robin Monday afternoon. Now she had a job interview of sorts. She tried not to give it too much thought and just be in the moment (something she was exercising a lot lately). Also, River stated that those record executives would finally come see the band that night. Apparently, hanging out with the Quicksand Swimmers had paid off. He wished it had been because of their music itself and not that, but it would have to do.

***

"Hey, stranger."

As every weekend, the band got ready for the show while friends and members of other bands just roamed around the backstage area of the chosen venue for the night. It was always a shared bill. Robin walked up to Nathan, who was sitting in a corner, lost in his thoughts or rather, purposely trying to ignore some things going on around him.

"Hey, what's up?" Nathan looked up. "How did the storm and the blackout treat you?"

"It was quite an experience." She nodded.

"I bet it was..." He raised an eyebrow, "For you at least."

"For you too!" She snapped back. "You learned some Ukrainian, I imagine."

Nathan bit his lip and shook his head, remembering the Ukrainian model he had the chance to charm the night before. But he didn't even recall her name.

"Uh, huh!" Robin laughed playfully.

"No. We were trapped at the arena." He said. "Once I managed to get out I just went home. By myself. It's the truth."

"'I'm not questioning you!" She raised a hand but was suddenly distracted by a burst of laughter coming from a group of people surrounding the life of the party, Julian. "Oh, I saw Jules on the news. That was fucking hilarious."

"I know." Nathan said. "He won't shut up about it."

"And the big guys are coming tonight!" Robin shook Nathan's arm, excitedly.

"Yeah," He cleared his throat at the touch of Robin's hand on his naked shoulder, "I'm trying not to think too much about that. Don't wanna mess up."

"You won't!" She reproached. "It's gonna be great. I'm excited!"

"Thanks."

The two of them shared a smile, and Robin went on to do something that caught Nathan off guard: she embraced him in a hug. He responded by standing up and wrapping his arms around her. From Robin's part, that hug served two purposes, one: letting her friend know how genuinely happy she was for him and two: trying to find her center again. It was no secret that they were each other's prime source of comfort. Her world was revolting, his world too. She didn't want them to strand away from each other, not now.

But this stopped Nathan in his tracks. He was still coming to terms with everything that was going on, his feelings for her were stronger than ever now (when they weren't supposed to be) and that hug just shook him. He missed her, her warmth, her scent, her care... His heart started beating fast.