Starlight

V: Bad Idea

Let's face it,
Making mistakes like this will make worse what was already pretty bad
Mind, stop running
It's time we just let this thing go
It was a pretty good bad idea, wasn't it though?

- "Bad Idea", Waitress

_____

"Excuse me - could I get your autograph please?"

"Oh stop." Finn threw his arms around Robbie, picking her up and twirling her around as she cackled in delight. "Did you like it?" He stood in front of her, panting and sweaty, stage makeup and residue from his mic tape still plastered onto his beaming face.

God, I'm so proud of him.

"I loved it!"

"Awesome - one show down, six to go!" He turned from her for a second, and his brow furrowed. "Hey, where's Scott? Too cool to come to stage door, huh?"

Robbie resisted the sudden, violent urge to check her phone for more texts. "He left at the interval."

"I see." Finn's tone was flat and curt. Robbie instantly recognised it as disapproval. He had never liked Scott. Sure, he'd been polite about it, but when he suggested to Robbie that maybe he wasn't a great guy she had ignored his warnings.

"It's a long story... Scott said some horrible shit that I don't want to repeat, we had a fight and then he left. But I think that might be it." She choked the last part out; it felt like she had swallowed a chip sideways, scraping all the way down her throat.

"As in...?"

"Yeah." She croaked.

We've stopped seeing each other: She completed the sentence in her head. She didn't need to say it; Finn understood her body language crystal clear, in the way that only the closest of friends can.

"Oh, Robbie, I'm sorry." He stepped toward her for a comforting hug but she lunged out of the way, laughing slightly too hard for it to be real.

"I'm fine! I'm honestly fine. It wasn't like he was my boyfriend or anything." Scott had insisted on telling her almost every other day that he didn't want anything serious, after all. He wanted to keep it casual; that didn't stop him from constantly asking her where she was, or getting angry when she hung out with male friends.

God, he must be so pissed off about Hidgens, she thought.

It worried and thrilled her in equal measure.

Finn knew her far too well, and she would definitely not admit how hurt she was anytime soon. Robbie always needed everyone to think that she was okay - even when it was obvious that it wasn't the truth.

"Alright... I'll not mention it again on one condition: You're still coming out for dinner with me and the cast tonight. Then, when you're ready to talk, we'll have a big movie night and get take out and have a big gossip session. Deal?"

"Deal." Finn held out his pinky finger, which Robbie naturally linked with her own. "Oh!" she suddenly exclaimed, pulling away from him.

"What is it? You're not going back on our pinky promise, are you? Because that's a legally binding contract; I'll sue."

"No -" Robbie stepped closer, hoping not to be heard by anyone else lingering around the theater's stage door. "Did Zoey mention anything about a creepy stalker professor?"

Finn's eyes narrowed. "...Yeah, why?"

"She mentioned him at the showcase. Professor Hidgens, right?"