𝐎𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 𝐆𝐑𝐀𝐃𝐔𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍| Robby Keene

XX. 𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐤𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠

Alexa had finally managed to send the text to Tory after getting connected to the hotels wifi. It was getting dark and Johnny made her pay for one of the rooms, but it was better then sleeping in the van. She kept refreshing her phone to see if Tory had answered, but it was likely different times zones or she'd been asleep. Robby looked from the bathroom, putting his tooth brush away. "Lex?"

She hadn't heard him. He jogged over and hoped up on the bed, tackling her back. "Are you texting your boyfriend?"

"Oh, yeah." she laughed as he leaned above her. "Handsome guy back home. You don't know him, he's much older."

"Sounds like a looker." he confirmed, rolling off to lay next to her. "You sure you're okay with being here?"

"I don't really wanna be home right now." Alexa said honestly as she pushed up on one of her elbows. "Definitely don't want to deal with whatever my Mom is planning. We should be like Miguel and just run away."

"I'm not the best at running away, so I hope you know what you're doing." Robby joked with her, even though Alexa didn't think too much about Robby running away back when he did. She knew him, but she didn't know him like she did now. Back then, she was still loosing her shit over Demetri and acting like a complete dick to him all at the same time.

"I'm glad you didn't go too far." her pinkie touched his chin. "If I knew you then, i'd have hunted you down in one night. I'm good like that."

"I bet you are." he gave a small laugh. "I think it's weird how we always were seeing each other, but we never actually talked unless it was all that rivalry."

"Except the school fight." she pointed out, since they were on the topic of him running away. "I was with you for some of it."

"I never understood why." Robby said honestly. "Why you went after Miguel like that. I mean, I know you guys were close."

"Because he hurt Tory, and he kissed Sam when she was drunk off her ass." Alexa pointed out, it was clear she still hadn't gotten over that. "He made me mad...I didn't think it would go the way it did."

"Like when you were throwing Demetri around that hallway." Robby started to laugh, not being able to help himself. "I know that was a pretty serious moment for you, but I wish you would have seen it."

Alexa was laughing too, not even being able to imagine what she looked like tossing Demetri and all his height around. "I don't even wanna think about it."

Robby gave a minor grin. "I think that was the only time we tolerated each other."

"You pulled me out of the way at the mall fight." Alexa pointed out. "Even though I tried to kick your ass after."

"To be fair, I had no clue you were the one to start that night. I thought it was Hawk and you were just in the middle." he pointed out with a knowing nod. "That was a pretty blurry day though."

"I hated that day." Alexa said honestly. She didn't like to think about how her and Demetri were last summer. She didn't like thinking about their break up because it made her feel guilty but also hurt over the things he did to fuel that anger. "There was also the Miyagi-Do thing."

"What Miyagi-Do thing?" he hummed in response.

"When me and Hawk trashed it, and I had to go into the dojo and get the metal of honor, you were asleep in there." Alexa explained, Robby had no knowledge of this at all. "I wanted to tell Hawk so we could mess with you, but I didn't because you looked so peacefully while you were sleeping. I didn't wanna hurt you then."

Robby cracked a minor smile as he put his hand on her leg. "I guess we-"

He stilled when she moved her legs so he hand would drop. He tried not to think to far into that, because maybe she just didn't want him to touch her. "-weren't too horrible to each other."

Alexa nodded her head. Robby saw the shift in her mood and immediately felt guilty. "I'm sorry if that made you uncomfortable. I was just-"

"No, it's not that." she stoped him. "I mean...it's not you."

He rose an eyebrow. "Then what's up?"

Alexa gave a tiny smile. "Doesn't matter now. I took care of it."

"Are you sure?" he sat up a little more. "You can tell me."

Maybe she could, but she was so use to being cut off about it that it felt weird that he'd said it. "I-"

A knock came from the door. "Hey! You guys hungry in there?"

"Not now, Dad!" Robby called back, looking at Alexa. "Go on."

Holy shit. Holy shit was all Alexa thought. Every person she tried to talk to had cut her off with something else more important. Holy shit because Robby dismissed it and put her first. Even if it was just Johnny at the door, it still meant a lot to her. "I know you weren't at West Valley long...but did you ever know anyone named Mr.Bryant? He was a math teacher."

Robby shook his head. "I don't think so. Who was he?"

"My sophomore year teacher." she nodded her head, inhaling. "On the first day of school...he made a pass at me."

Robby's eyes widened slightly. "What?"

"Yeah." she exhaled with a faint laugh of disbelief. "Pretty sick, right?"

"What happened? Did you kick his ass?" Robby sat up fully and pulled her to do the same.

"Yeah, a year later when we started junior year." she shrugged her shoulders. "He put his hand on my leg like that...so when people do that, I just don't like it anymore."

"I'm sorry, Lex." Robby frowned as he pulled her in to kiss her forehead. "Is he still there?"

"Yeah." she shrugged. "I guess, I avoided him mostly."

"Do you wanna do anything about it? I mean, we could probably talk to the principal." he pointed out with a questionable look, Alexa smiled at him and felt her eyes gloss just slightly. "Or...whatever you wanna do. I didn't mean to make you upset."

"You didn't." she promised in a whisper, a smile on her face. "Thanks for listening."

Robby would never know the amount of people she tried to tell after how badly it had affected her for an entire year. He's never know he was the first one to genuinely stop and listen. "You wanna tell me anything else?"

Alexa laughed and shook her head. "No, I think i'm good for now."

He held his arms out for her to move over and lay her head on his shoulder, pressing a kiss to her forehead. "You can always tell me anything."

And she would, because she trusted he'd genuinely listen to her no matter what else was happening around them.

•

kylie speaks

if y'all read see you on
the flip side, you know
how important this was
and now i'm sobbing