Solivagant

Chapter Sixteen - Robinne

August 31st 2018 (Friday)

     Before she knew it, a month had flown by since Robinne had received the gift basket and note from Ralph, promising her that he was going to stay away from her. And keep his promise he did. She'd seen no sight or sound of him, even in such a small town as Dripping Springs.

     In a way, she secretly hoped that in some way she would run into him, just to catch a glimpse of him. Even for just a second. Though, she really saw the fact that she didn't, as a sort of blessing in disguise. If she did see him, she knew in her heart of hearts she wouldn't be able to resist asking him how he was. No matter what he did to her.

     No one else had mentioned him to her for that matter, over the last month. She knew everyone in town pretty much knew one another, yet they stayed silent on that one particular subject she assumed for her own sake. There were a few times in which she'd bumped into Cassie, one of Ralph's brothers and a few of his friends she'd had the pleasure of meeting, still, none of them mentioned or even hinted at how Ralph was.

     Guess they're all in on the promise now too.

     They had to be, there wasn't any other explanation which could come close to explaining why the entire town of Dripping Springs had kept quiet. Nonetheless, the month had crawled by and she'd managed to resist even using her phone to text or call him and to her, that was something of a feat.

     Back home when she'd had a falling out with a then friend, it wasn't usually too long until one of them offered an olive branch of peace and they made up. Only on the odd occasion did things just naturally slide back into place with neither party apologising to the other. Usually, if neither party made the first move, often the friendship would just fizzle out.

     She had one friend years ago, who was often under the thumb of her mother. When she means 'often', she meant completely. If she was exaggerating, she would go so far as to say that the girl wasn't even allowed to blink without her mother saying so. She was that meek and mild, she didn't even bother to utter a word against her, even if it was something she deeply disagreed with. She'd go along with it because her mother was that psychotic, she'd make her pay for it if she didn't.

     Juliet had been her best friend for around three years while she struggled to make friends, the two of them finding a kinship facing the same issue. She'd invited her round to her house countless times, met her in town on weekends, hung out with her every break and lunch in school, even went to the cinema on occasion with her, as she was only allowed to see Juliet when her mother gave her permission. There was so much she could do with her that she was restricted against, all because of Juliet's mother.

     One day at lunch in school, Juliet mentioned to her that she'd been after this DVD for a while but was unable to get it, as the cost of it was too high from any store in town. So, as her friend, Robinne decided she'd save up and get her the DVD off eBay or Amazon for a reduced price, giving it to her friend as a gift 'just because'. No reason behind it, other than the fact that she wanted to see her friend happy. So, that's what she did.

     Only, Juliet's mother didn't see it that way. In her mind, there had to be some other reason as to why Robinne had given her daughter this DVD with wanting nothing in return.

     What happened next was completely and utterly bizarre. As Robinne at the time was wanting to do something different, which was in learning how to play the guitar, she was given an electric guitar from Juliet, on behalf of her mother and father. Mostly her mother. As a way of making things 'equal' after she'd given her daughter the DVD. This was bizarre, but by far it wasn't the most bizarre thing to have happened yet.