Mesmerized | ✓

11

Robin couldn't focus on the cheerleading practice. Her movements weren't as precise and calculated as usual and there were a few instances when she almost fell down risking a potentially serious injury. Yet, she couldn't sort herself out and it had been like that for a few days, ever since her brother had last visited. But it wasn't Carl that the girl caught herself constantly thinking or rather fantasying about.

It was her brother's mysterious friend and definitely not a boyfriend! There was something about him that the girl couldn't quite put her finger on but that something was also what was drawing her to him for some reason. Each night she dreamed about Yuli but in a way that didn't make much sense. She didn't have sex dreams about him or anything like that but what she would see at night were his eyes and his eyes only. They were looking into her, piercing right through her soul and making Robin unable to catch her breath.

"Pull your shit together, Murphy." The girl heard the captain's high-pitched voice after another almost fall. The captain, Lana, walked over to her with annoyance written all over her face. "Do you want to go to nationals or not?" She asked.

"Of course I do." Robin replied, panting. "I'm sorry. I'm just not feeling well today."

Lana rolled her eyes. "Fine. Whatever." She said waving her hand. "Go home and sleep it off. We can't afford to have someone end up in hospital because of you."

Despite her dislike for Lana, Robin had to agree with her. Reluctantly, she left the practice early, changed, took a long hot shower and drove home in the car she had got from her parents as a gift after getting her driver's license. All the way home she felt restless, uneasy not knowing what to do with herself or her racing thoughts.

Robin didn't mention anything to her parents about being basically kicked out of the practice and instead lied that it had just ended early. Her mother watched worriedly as Robin played with the food on her plate barely eating any of it. "Are you okay? Why aren't you eating?" Karen asked softly, herself already having eaten a second helping of the warm broccoli soup, one of her specials and one of Robin's favorites.

"I'm just not that hungry." Robin replied giving her mother a half-smile but forcing a spoonful into her mouth anyway. Truth be told she hadn't been hungry for anything other than Yuli ever since she saw him. What at first seemed like just another innocent crush had morphed into something different, something obsessive.

"You're not trying to lose weight, are you?" Karen asked with concern, looking her daughter up and down.

Robin rolled her eyes. "No, I'm not. I'm just stressing out about going to nationals. That's it." She said and forced down the rest of the soup so that her mother wouldn't have a reason to worry. "Actually," She said once her mother grabbed their empty bowls to wash them. "I was thinking that I could go visit Carl? I think he forgot one of the jackets."

"Oh, I didn't notice." Karen said. "But sure. You go ahead. I will pack some homemade food for him. Hopefully he will appreciate that." She added in a soft voice that Robin had learned to recognize as full of unspoken sorrows and regrets.

The girl grabbed some random piece of clothing that Carl had still left in his bedroom and took the food packed lovingly by her mother. She dropped it all in the front seat in the car and pulled out of the driveway. She felt the need to see Yuli and since Carl and him seemed to be quite close going over to his apartment was Robin's best bet.

As she was in quite a hurry she took a sharper turn a bit too fast and the food almost fell to the floor. Robin stopped it with her hand wondering if her brother would even appreciate it. Carl was only four years older than her so she remembered how difficult his childhood had been. At the time she hadn't been able to understand much of it but she could remember the crying, the yelling and her mother taking a lot of pills and being very sleepy and calm afterwards while their father just let it all happen because he loved her so goddamn much.