𝐀 𝐂𝐀𝐒𝐄 𝐎𝐅 𝐘𝐎𝐔 • Robin Buckley

Chapter 6

The second Monica stepped foot in the foyer of her house, her ears were met with mature female laughter, laughter she immediately recognised as her mother's. It was the hair-twirling kind she heard whenever there was an electrician fixing the metre or Mr Mundy threw a painfully unfunny joke at a parent-teacher conference.

Robin closed the door behind them both.

"I told him it's the Californian in me."

"You can take the guy out of California, but you can't take California out of him."

"Right on, Mr Haring."

"Andrew. Andy, if you will."

"Andy, I like that. That's clean cut, Sir."

"Ah..."

"That's clean cut, Andy."

There was unanimous laughter and Robin couldn't restrain the cringe that overtook her as she followed Monica into the living room.

"Anyhow, we left it at that. The next day, I go straight over there with a new plant, some seeds if he's the gardening type."

"Oh," Monica hears her mother coo dreamily.

"And the guy's already got three new trees and a gnome sitting on his doorstep."

Her parents erupt into laughter again.

"I was done. I'm never doing a nice thing again."

"You spent your precious time with us today and that's about the nicest thing there is." Monica recognised that tone from her mother. It was the kind that followed with a thigh touch or a hand on her heart followed by an ever so graciously diplomatic smile.

"Oh, I'd never leave if I could."

"Erm," Monica spoke, making her voice known from the doorway.

Her parents were sat on the couch directly across Billy Hargrove dressed in his classically low-buttoned shirt, a wine red this time, and a brown leather jacket with his arm draped across the back of the sofa. There were a plate of cookies on the table, and her father was sporting a cup of coffee.

Monica wriggled her fingers between them, "What's going on here?"

Her mother was sat tall with her right leg crossed over her left and her woven hands holding her knee. "I cannot believe you've been hiding this gem from us all this time," Mrs Haring says.

"We're just getting to know your Billy here," Mr Haring says, just as said Billy smirked across the room at Monica as he slowly and tantalisingly bit down on a cookie.

"He's not my anything."

"Don't be silly, sweetheart. Billy told us everything," Mrs Haring says.

Robin didn't have to see Monica's face to know that her jaw was clenched and her eyes had darkened. She was hidden behind her friend, blocking her view of the scene before her and equally it seemed she was blocked from Monica's family likewise.

"I've got a casserole in the oven and he's staying for dinner. It'll be a lovely evening for all of us."

"I came to look for you but I just missed you by five minutes," Billy says. "Your folks are very accommodating."

"Only to gentlemen of the likes of you, handsome," Mrs Haring says with a soft, good-natured laugh. "And he's so handsome."

"I kind of see myself in you from some angles," Mr Haring muses.

"Ew," Robin mutters low enough that only Monica caught it. If she wasn't so disturbed, she would have laughed.

"Oh, you wish," Mrs Haring whacks his leg. "You were pretty, but you were never that pretty."

"Don't give him a hard time to please me, Linda," Billy waves off. "It's not worth it."

"I told him about the dress shopping," Mrs Haring says as an afterthought.

"In November no less," Mr Haring leaned forward, laughing a little with his eyes zeroed on Billy whose focus was cemented on Monica. She stared back with murder on her mind.

"If I knew you were that excited about prom, I would have asked you the second I met you," Billy smirks.

Mrs Haring pouts adoringly. "Oh, your photos are going to look just perfect in the album."

"Yeah, this can't happen right now," Monica gestures between them. "Robin," she looks to her right, expecting to see her friend, and pulls her forward and out of the threshold, "is sleeping over."

Mrs Haring's head jerks back with minor distaste. Between Robin's studded bracelets and her charcoal denim bomber with random patches across it, she knew she was no Carol, Vicki, Nicole or Tina.

"I am?" Robin asks, and upon Monica's stern expression and pleading eyes, she only smiled at Monica's magazine-ready parents. "I am."

Her dad looked like any other guy: brunet with a swept-to-the-side cut and a green sweater over a plaid shirt with some khakis to match, and her mother was some variant of a woman she was sure she'd seen half a dozen times at the grocery store: a cool toned romper, understated make up and a shiny brown blow out with blonde highlights.

"I'll take it you're Robin," Mrs Haring feigns a smile.

"At your service," Robin two-finger salutes, regretting it immediately. "I don't know why I just did that."

"I thought the two of you had a date tonight," Mr Haring looked between Monica and Billy.

"A date?" says Monica at the very same time Billy cooly explains and takes something out of the inside pockets of his jacket. "It was a surprise but too big of one apparently." Two tickets.

"Is that for the drive-in cinema?" Monica asks, already knowing the answer. Her mother's smile was gleaming and wide.

"To see any movie of our choice." Billy looked over at her parents, "Last time I picked for us I got into trouble."

"Sounds like my girl," Mr Haring says.

"Well, why let the tickets go to waste?" Monica smiles pleasantly, all eyes falling on her. She walked across the room, "They expire tonight, right?"

Billy half-smiles as she stops in front of him. "They do."

"Then we better put them to good use." She held out her hand, beckoning him to put the tickets in her palm.

Billy's eyes shifted between hers, and when he didn't move an inch, Monica rose her eyebrows, her smile unfaltering.

He laid the tickets in her hand, their fingers barely brushing as she clutched hard enough that he couldn't take them back. Then she headed over to the doorway again, "Enjoy the casserole. Rob and I will grab a bite on our way back."

"Monica," Mrs Haring scolds, standing up mechanically. But her daughter didn't stop, not looking back once as she headed through the door whilst pulling Robin along with her.

"Have a great evening, Mr and Mrs Haring," Robin says over her shoulder, waving politely with the hand that wasn't being dragged away. "It was real neat meeting you. You have a lovely home!"

Neither Monica's mother nor her father looked rather impressed, but once they were outside in the coolness of the night, it didn't matter. Monica didn't let go of Robin's grasp, just let loose on the physical force she used to escape.

"I don't think your parents like me very much," Robin says, smiling.

"Well, I love you and these two tickets courtesy of my future trophy husband and that's all that matters."