FROM THEN ON

Chapter Nine

 ''Ow no,'' I murmured. Right when I told Sabrina that there was nothing going on between Ashley and I, this happens. I need to stop this now. So I sent Ashley a text saying, ''Thanks for the offer, but I'll pass. I am not interested.''

The next day, at exactly 5:30pm, I left home to pick Sabrina up. Since I received the text from Ashley, I haven't talked to Sabrina. As I drove over to her house, all I could think about was that text. How was I going to tell Sabrina that her cousin whom I said I had nothing to do with, sent me a text saying otherwise. I wasn't going to tell Sabrina. I mean there's no need right? I handled it so there's no need to cause any alarm for Sabrina. I was so lost in thought that I didn't even realize when Sabrina hopped into the car and started talking to me. ''Robert?!'' she called. ''Huh?'' I replied absent minded. ''Oh hey honey,'' I said regaining focus. ''okay Robert what is up with you?'' she asked concerned. My conscience kept saying, Tell her. Tell her. Tell her. But instead, I held her hand, looked at her and said in a low tone, ''I'm fine. I'm just a little jitty. Don't worry about me. I'll be fine okay?'' ''Okay,'' she said smiling. ''Wow. You look beautiful,'' I said suddenly realizing how gorgeous Sabrina looked in her long blue dress which had a similar colour to my tux. ''Thank you,'' she smiled. When we arrived, there was a red carpet and paparazzi everywhere. Before we got out of the car, I said, ''Okay Sabrina, these people are brutal. They can ask you any question at any time but you don't need to answer if you don't want to or if you feel overwhelmed. Just smile and ignore.'' ''I'll be fine,'' she said reassuringly. ''Okay. You ready?'' I asked stretching my arm out for her to hook her arm into mine. This time, she actually hooked her arm into mine. As soon as we got out of the car, we were immediately surrounded by a crew of paparazzi. There were flashes everywhere and everyone was talking at the same time and so fast that it was just a bunch of noise. I tried to block Sabrina from the flashes of light as we kept walking on the red carpet. We managed to walk through the crowd of paparazzi. We walked into the auditorium and a guy dressed in a black tuxedo led us to the V.I.P. section. The ceremony wasn't that long because there was a cocktail party after. So I won the best journalist of the year award along with the most influential journalist of the year and a Pulitzer. Yes I was shocked too at first for winning the best and highest award any journalist could ever get. This made me one of the youngest men in the whole of Washington to have gotten this award. After the awards ceremony, I introduced Sabrina to Ryan and Serena. ''Mr. And Mrs. Delgato,'' I said as Sabrina and I drew closer to them. ''Journalist of the year. Congrats bro,'' Ryan said hugging me. ''Congratulations Robert,'' Serena said smiling and then hugged me. ''Thanks guys,'' I said. ''Ryan, I believe you've met Sabrina already,'' I reintroduced. ''Ah yes we met when she came over to your house. Nice to meet you again,'' Ryan said shaking her hand. ''You too,'' Sabrina said returning the handshake. ''Just so you know, Robert talks about you all the time,'' Ryan added. Sabrina and Serena giggled. ''No I don't,'' I laughed nervously as I eyed my best friend. ''Hi I'm Serena, Ryan's wife,'' Serena introduced reaching out her hand to Sabrina. ''Nice to finally meet you in person. Your wedding was beautiful,'' Sabrina said shaking Serena's hand. ''Thank you,'' Serena said happily and the two ladies immediately hit it off. At the cocktail party, even though I planned to spend time with Sabrina reporters and dignitaries just kept coming to me and asking me about my achievements so I got distracted and lost sight of her. The next time I saw her, she was talking to Arianna. ''Oh no,'' I murmured as I quickly rushed over to them before Arianna could tell Sabrina how much of a jerk I was. But by the time I reached there, Arianna had walked away smirking and Sabrina seemed upset and was leaving. I run after her and called her several times but she just kept walking and didn't even look back for a second. When I finally caught up with her, I held her hand and asked, ''Sabrina what's wrong?'' She then turned and that's when I saw the tears flowing down her cheeks. ''Just please leave me alone,'' she replied and run off.