Tweetie

52

"I work all day every day," she nodded. "Still, I'm sorry... Y'know, for everything."

"I know. I forgive you. You were only doing your job."

She smiled, her eyes still glazed in tearful relief.

Soon enough, they got to the cafe. Leo held the door for her as they entered, finding four boys immediately turn to them in worry.

She worried that Leo would feel overwhelmed with the truth, but, he had already known for so long it was really no different. He could handle it. Sure, he might find it odd when she did something she had to hide, but he would know and see exactly what was her and what was Hazel.

And she trusted him. For a moment, she worried. What if he was putting the notes in her locker and threatening her, what if that was how he knew who she was? But of course, revealing to her that he knew who she was put a huge dent in that theory, not to mention that he figured her out after the note in her locker. That's not even touching on the fact that now she knew where he came from, she could confirm that he had no relation to Jason and wasn't in the city at the time.

"Where the hell have you two been?"

"Talking," Leo said, responding to Ryan's sharp voice smoothly without any hesitation.

"About the meaning of life or something? You were gone forever."

"Twenty minutes isn't forever, Ryan," Fox shook his head, glancing between the pair only to find his eyes falling onto Robin and stopping there, acknowledging her red nose and tear-stained eyes. "Tweetie," he pushed himself to the edge of his seat, "are you alright?"

She swallowed, taking in the genuine concern he had for her and held back another flood of tears.

"...Yeah..." She choked out, too emotional to not have a hard time holding herself in.

"She's a bit emotional," Leo explained, taking his seat as she shuffled behind, dropping beside Ryan and Oscar.

"How come?" Ryan turned to her, curving around her to look closely at her face, both of their noses only inches apart. "Why're your knees all bloody?"

"Because I fell... into some hard emotions," she tried to joke it away. Of course, it wasn't as smoothly presented as she would have hoped, especially when she sniffed her small sob away halfway through.

"Seriously," Ryan smiled at her, acknowledging that the tears weren't from sudden distress. "You're a mess, c'mere."

She turned to him, letting him use his hoodie sleeve to wipe at her cheeks and eyes while she pouted with a quivering lip.

"You turned him into a mother, Tweetie," Joel laughed from the other side of Ryan who, rather than concerned, was seeming much more relieved now that he could see that she wasn't upset over anything in particular.

"But," Oscar grasped their attention, "what happened to your knees?"

"I can't say," she shook her head, "Ryan's in a good mood and I won't be the one to ruin it."

"Then I will," Leo announced, turning everyone to him. Ryan now furrowed his eyebrows, taking on Fox's concern this time. "We were on our way back," Leo began to explain, "but then Ricky ran past us, shoved her to the ground and called her a bitch."

"He what-!?"

"See?" Robin sighed, "I knew he'd get mad."

"Is he literally going to try and ruin your life?" Ryan turned to Robin. "Is he seriously going through with that threat? After you broke his nose?"

"Ryan-"

"That prick!"

"If you keep yelling, I'll cry again."