"Birdie!" A familiar voice yelled. Who? I lifted my head. I was on the floor, on top of and next to garbage. "Are you alright?!"
"Raph." I blinked. He grabbed me by my shoulders and lifted me to his eye level.
"You've been crying."
"No." I closed my eyes and tried to pull away, but suddenly, my hands suddenly rang with pain.
"Your palms are burned." He gently held my hand and inspected me.
"I fell taking the pie to the garbage." I looked down at my hand drowning in his.
"You don't have to lie to me." He lifted me from the floor and sat me on the table.
"What brings you here?" I asked, quietly.
"Leo asked for me to visit you." He paused. Anger flared up in his eyes. "What happened? Did he do this?"
"No, no. It's me." I quickly answered. Ain't that familiar. He eyed me.
"What happened?"
"Do I have to say?"
"It's either you spill, or I ask him." He gave me the ultimatum.
"Leo doesn't like me." I groaned.
"What are you talking about? You see him almost as much as you see me."
"Not like that. He doesn't like me."
"Oh, no. You liked him?" He asked, surprised.
"Now that I think about it, I feel so dumb."
"Robin." He said sympathetically.
"Don't call me that. Especially if you're gonna cheer me up." I insisted.
"You're right. My bad." He smiled, but it faded and replaced with a curious look. "I thought you liked girls. I mean, Leo? Really?"
"I just liked the attention. The fact that I thought he liked me really sent my mind going a million miles an hour. I have this dumb thing where I only become interested in someone if they start showing interest first." I gripped my hair, and met with pain on my hand.
"I don't blame you. You can't risk liking someone who'll leave again." He took my hand in his again, treating it like glass. To my surprise, he began to wrap light and breathable gauze around it. "But when you do start liking people, it'll feel like everything is gonna be okay again."
"How do you know that?"
"Experience, Birdie." He switched my bandaged hand for the other one that wasn't. "At first it feels like you're gonna be stuck in your old stupid ways for the rest of your life. But then you meet them, and they change you for the better. Others will notice the change in you before you do. But then when you do see it for yourself, you'll wonder what all the self hatred and sleepless nights were for."
"That's exactly what it feels like." I shook my head. "Gah! You're so smart." I let my forehead press against his plastron.
"Stop that, before you hurt yourself more. I'm not done yet."
"Okay." I looked over at the mess on the floor.
"April won't be home for another two days. Her and Donnie are going out on an engagement retreat." He rolled his eyes. "A fancy way of saying they're leaving to go schmooze in a big foreign hotel for a while."
"Thank god. I have time to clean." I scowled at myself. "I can't say I'm proud of myself."
"You know, it's okay to have moments like this."
