FROM THEN ON

Chapter Nineteen

She started towards me and I began to panic. ''Excuse me,'' I said to Theodore as I walked through the crowd trying to get as far away from her as possible. I didn't reach very far when Sabrina came to stand in front of me and said, ''You have to talk to her.'' ''You invited her?'' I asked angrily. ''Yes....but only because I want you to celebrate birthdays again,'' she said desperately. ''I can't do this,'' I said with my voice trembling. ''Yes you can,'' Sabrina said holding my hand. ''I'll be right here when you're done,'' she encouraged before letting go of my hand and stepping a few inches back. ''Robbie?'' that very familiar voice called out. I turned to see Kendra standing right in front of me. ''Kendra,'' I said in a voice so low that it was almost a whisper. ''How are you?'' she asked. I didn't know exactly what to say to reply to her question. ''Oh well let's see.....since my twelfth birthday party when your hair got caught in the blender and I accidentally turned it on and you got so angry that you told me I was the ugliest guy on earth and that there was no way any girl would ever like me for as long as I lived even though you knew I had a huge crush on you,......I've

been good,'' I wanted to say. But instead, I replied, ''I'm okay. You?'' ''I feel terrible,'' she replied. ''I never knew that I had hurt you so much. I was just so angry and we were twelve,'' she added. And that's when it began to flow, ''Well you did. Ever since that day, I never celebrated my birthday again till today and I became a player just to prove that it was possible for girls to like me and that I wasn't half as ugly as you thought I was.'' ''I am so sorry,'' she apologized and all of a sudden, all the uncomfortable feelings just disappeared. I was no longer hurt, tensed or angry. All these years of holding on to what she said a all I had to hear were the words, ''I'm so sorry,'' from the horse's own mouth for me to let it all go. I felt so relieved and I felt like I could finally move on with my life. ''I forgive you,'' I smiled and hugged her. ''We good?'' I asked her. ''Yeah,'' she replied trying to push back her tears and then she smiled back. Just then, Ryan announced through the microphone on stage, ''Alright ladies and gentlemen. It's time for the birthday boy to hit the dance floor.'' ''I have to go. Enjoy the party,'' I said as I walked away from her and towards the dance floor. It was amazing what Sabrina had done with the place. She had set up an actual dance floor in the middle of the restaurant. I stepped onto the coloured tiles with a disco ball above my head. ''There he is!'' Ryan shouted into the microphone and pointed at me. Everyone gathered around the dance floor and cheered as I took off my suit and threw it to Ryan who caught it. Then, the DJ began to play the music which blasted through the speakers. I began to dance like never before as everyone cheered and clapped. I spotted Sabrina and ran to pull her unto the dance floor and we danced and laughed together before more people joined us on the dance floor. After the third song, I was exhausted and went to sit down and that's when I remembered I hadn't eaten anything since morning. Before I could even think of standing up to look for food, my mum stood in front of me handing me a plate of food. ''Here,'' she said stretching out her hand. ''Thanks mum,'' I said taking the plate and placing it in front of me. The rest of the night was awesome. I talked and laughed with Sabrina the whole time, then there was more dancing, more talking and by the time I realized, the party was over. ''Thanks for coming,'' I said as the last batch of guests were leaving. Now it was just me, Sabrina and the waiters and waitresses who had began cleaning up the place. I sat in one of the chairs and begun to think about how amazing my day had been. This was officially the best birthday ever and it was all because of Sabrina. ''Put the gifts in the car,'' she said as she gave the car keys to one of the waiters and came to join me at the table I was sitting at and tears started rolling down my cheeks. ''Can you guys give us a minute?'' she called out to the people cleaning up the restaurant and immediately, everyone cleared the room. ''Hey. Why are you crying?'' she asked softly. I raised my head, and held her hands in mine before saying, ''Thank you. For everything. Because of you, I've learned to love, to forgive and I can celebrate birthdays again. I am so lucky to have you in my life and every minute I spend with you makes me realize how much I love you. I love you Sabrina Welton. Even if you don't feel the same way, I am telling you right here, right now, that I love you with all my heart,'' I said holding her hands tightly and looking into her eyes. And then, she broke down into tears and said, ''I love you too, Robert and I'm sorry for not telling you earlier. The truth is, from the moment I saw you here in San Francisco, I knew I was still in love with you. I was just scared. I thought that if I gave you a chance, I'd get hurt again.'' ''Hey, hey, hey,'' I said lifting her head up and wiping the tears on her cheeks with my thumb. ''I get it. But I promise you, I will never ever hurt you again. You need to just trust me. That day was a mistake and every day till this day, I regret ever thinking of doing something like that to you. But from now on, you have my word. Okay?'' I asked softly. She just nodded her head before cleaning the rest of her tears. So after our breakdown and confession of our love, Sabrina drove me home. ''So she called you Robbie?'' she asked trying to hide the tinge of jealousy in her voice. ''Who Kendra? Oh yeah that was her nickname for me,'' I replied. ''Really? Your name is Robert Bernard Julio Stenson and the first nickname she could come up with was Robbie?'' she asked surprised. ''Hey people call you Brina and I don't judge,'' I replied. ''So what do you expect them to call me?'' she asked curiously. ''Depends...what is your full name?'' I asked realizing how she dodged the question the first time I asked her. ''Sabrina Nicolette Rosetta Welton,'' she said with pride. ''Yeah....I think I'll just call you Bree,'' I joked. ''Then I'll call you Rob,'' she joked back. ''Yeah. It could be our thing. Instead of baby or honey or sugarplum. We could just be Rob and Bree,'' she added. ''Absolutely, besides, we both know Bree means, ''my love,'' in our secret love language,'' I said and she smiled. ''Yeah and Rob secretly means, ''with all my heart,'' she added and I thought, ''Man I'm lucky to have this girl.''