cover by @pacifyherafi / nicole
"Sure, maybe the urban Boston wouldn't be completely socially aware, but they'd at least have some idea of how to treat us like we were all the same. So, we were packing up our bags, and I was going to a new school, a...
It was Christmas Eve, and Robin's day was already starting with a bang. She and River had arranged a plan for River to finally meet her parents formally, as boyfriend and girlfriend. She wondered how they would react but tried not to overthink it, as she tended to overthink these things, which led to overkill. She didn't want to imagine their reactions too much because she already knew they would have negative reactions, and imagining it too much would make her impulsively decide to just drop the whole thing. If she did, she and River would be right back where they started- square one.
She wanted to keep it moving, but keep it at the right pace. She woke up to her parents singing Christmas songs outside of her room and serving her breakfast in bed a la badly frosted Christmas cookies and hot chocolate. They sat on Robin's bed altogether and ate her cookies- her mom ate most of them- and just talked, like a family should. Then, Robin helped them decorate the guest room for Ariella's mom- Ariella would be staying with Robin in Robin's room.
Not long after they had taped glittery plastic snowflakes to the wall and placed nutcrackers on the dressers in the guest rooms, her parents set out to drive to the airport. Robin had thought of calling Ariella to inform her that she and River had gotten back together but decided against it because she knew no one would be home. They had set out to the airport at 7 AM and it would be just past noon when they arrived to Robin's house after getting picked up by Robin's parents. When they were leaving, Robin waved goodbye to them from the doorway. Once their car was out of eyesight, it was on. She hustled to the phone and hastily dialed the number. He answered after the first ring- he must have been waiting by the phone for Robin's call that the coast was clear.
"Hello?" they both said in unison after a brief moment of listening to each other's erratic breathing on the other end of the line. They chuckled and then tried again, again in unison,
"Hi."
River scoffed and Robin giggled.
"Okay, you go first," he said.
"Well, coast is clear," Robin said, walking around the table to settle down on the couch.
"Oh, perfect."
"So... you should come," Robin said, smiling so wide she could barely contain herself.
"Uh, okay. I'm in a t-shirt and jeans right now, is that okay?"
"Wait, where are you?" Robin asked.
"In my house..."
"I know that, I mean where in the house?" she sighed.
"Oh. Downstairs in the living room. Why?"
"Stand in front of the window for a sec?" she requested, peering her head to the right to look through the window next to her front door, which gave her a perfect view into River's living room- a fact she had failed to mention to River for the duration of their relationship.
"Oh- okay?" she heard shuffling, and then saw River standing in front of the window.
He was wearing that cute/ugly black and gray sweater with what appeared to be white mountains on top.
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