Adore You | ✔

Chapter 80

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Chapter 80

When I woke up the next day, Robbie had to leave early to meet with his soccer team. I stayed behind to hang out with Maria; her test was the next day, and it was crunch time for her.

"So, how are you feeling?" She asked during one of her breaks.

"How do you think I'm feeling?" I snapped, shaking my head. I felt terrible for answering her like that, but I had barely slept the night before. I kept having nightmares of Robbie in the car and the hummer slamming into it.

She winced and looked down. "I'm going to figure this out, Lia," she said.

"Maybe focus on figuring out differential equations first," I said, not convinced.

She pouted, "have you said anything?"

"No. But he isn't stupid. He keeps asking me if something is wrong."

"I'm so sorry, but thank you," She said, looking down.

"I mean, I think you should tell him. You figured all of this out, and it's your family," I said. I think my tone was permanently testy at this point.

She shook her head, "I will, just not yet. I've thought about it a lot. Robbie is like my dad. He's confrontational, likes getting everything out in the open, and knowing where he stands with people." She said, frowning. "And he's honest, so he believes everyone is honest as well. That's not how you win with my grandmother. You have to play her game. Otherwise, you'll lose," She said, doodling on her paper.

 She sounded a little manic, and I deduced that she was not sleeping much between this and her test.

"Okay," I said slowly, and I briefly wondered if there was something she wasn't telling me.

"Thank you, Lia; I know it's hard. I know I'm asking a lot from you."

"I love you, Maria, but I'm not keeping it a secret for you. I'm keeping it from Robbie because your psycho grandmother pretty much told me she would make me regret it otherwise. While I didn't take her seriously at the time, given your theory and corroborating evidence, I'm officially spooked," I said, meeting her gaze. She bit her lip and broke eye contact.

"Lia, when you end things with Robbie, will we still be friends?" She asked with the nervous energy she had adopted in the past week.

I felt a stab in my heart when she said it so bluntly. "Yeah. I mean I don't want to lose everyone."

"I thought you wouldn't want to be around us, and I wasn't going to blame you for it," she said, giving me a tight smile.

After that, she didn't mention it anymore. We worked on math problems and took breaks watching tv until Robbie came home.

"Do you want to take a hike and eat lunch in the forest?" He asked me when he got home.

"It's a really nice day, low sixties we can take a blanket."

"Sure," I agreed it sounded like a good idea. We had only been in the forest behind his house a few times. There was a trail that led up to an overhang where you could see the Hudson and the distant city.

The last time we hiked, it was cold, and everything was brown and orange. Today while many of the trees were still bare, there was life everywhere. There was moss on the rocks, and the brooks along the way had had a stronger stream. I could hear beards chirping as we walked. We climbed up until we reached an opening with a nice view.