After spending most of the week working on his presentation for the Tully scholarship, Robin was exhausted. But he had, with the assistance of Professor Royce, successfully adapted his essay into a proposal for a research project. Currently, he chose to push away all thoughts of the coming presentation as the mere prospect made it hard for him to breathe. He would focus on that later.
But he would get no time to rest his frazzled mind during the weekend, as he currently was getting a walk-through of his new workplace.
"And here's the break room," Samuel, Robin's new manager--who bore little resemblance to his sister, Miss Horn, who was the one who had told Robin that the mall cinema was looking to hire and also volunteered to be his reference--ended Robin's tour. They had walked through theaters, ticket booths, and snack kiosks for the better part of an hour. "I'll leave you with one of the guys for the rest of the day. He'll show you the ropes so you can get started."
The door swung open to reveal a bunch of teenage employees by a table, all dressed in the cinema's moss green uniform. They kind of looked like Santa's elves in their matching clothing. Robin had himself been handed a polo shirt and visor upon arrival and now sported the same directly-from-Santa's-workshop look.
"Tristan!" the manager called out and one of the green-clad workers rose at the command.
Robin recognized him immediately. Tall, gangly, and with brown eyes like a deer. Tristan Conway. The captain of the quiz bowl team. Robin's high school crush. The one his mother snatched away from him.
They'd never been more than friends. But his mother must have seen something in that friendship that made warning lights flash. Perhaps they sat too close during a break in a game. Perhaps Robin had thrown one too many looks Tristan's way. Perhaps a high-five lasted a moment longer than necessary. Whatever it was, it had made her immediately pull Robin from the quiz bowl team and refuse to enroll him in additional after-school activities for the rest of his high school tenure. And Liza had also started to show up randomly in the school corridors to survey who Robin hung out with during lunch and recess.
But his mother wasn't here now. Although, Robin couldn't help but fear her sudden appearance from around a corner at an inopportune time.
"Robin Erie," Tristan greeted him enthusiastically with a smile that was just as wide as Robin remembered. But yet it didn't make his insides flutter like before. Only green eyes and sugar-encrusted lips could do that now. "I haven't seen you since high school. Although I never really saw you after you dropped out of the quiz bowl team. We really could have used you for regionals."
"Great, you two already know each other." Samuel looked pleased with this development. "Then you can take it from here, Tristan. I need to head home. Gillian will be mad if I'm not home in time for dinner."
Quickly, the manager turned around and left the break room, leaving Robin under Tristan's tutelage.
"Are you at uni here in Port Vale as well?" Tristan asked Robin, who was stumped on how to act during this unforeseen reunion. Which to be fair wasn't an unusual state for him. "I'm doing computer engineering at ValTech."
"I'm-I'm at Vale U," Robin stuttered in reply. "Business degree. Although I may be switching to Psychology." He wasn't sure why he felt it necessary to add that. Perhaps because the field resonated with him so much more than dry business studies.
"That's cool!" Tristan exclaimed. "Are you on the quiz bowl team there? We're going up against them soon."
Robin shook his head. "I'm not doing quiz bowl stuff anymore," he said. "But perhaps I should again." The idea was kind of a revelation to Robin. If he could figure out a solution to his tuition issues, his mom couldn't control his after-school activities anymore. He could do whatever he wanted. Although he already knew his preferred after-school activity: cuddling with Tyler.
"You definitely should." Tristan put his hand on Robin's shoulder. No tingles reverberated. "You were really good at it." In long strides, Robin's former crush started to walk toward the door. "Now let's get moving toward the ticket booths. I'll show you everything at first and then I'll let you loose on your own. It's not that difficult and I remember you being good with numbers."
Robin was forced to run lightly to keep pace with Tristan, who both walked and talked a mile a minute. During the trek toward the entrance of the cinema, Robin got to know everything anyone could ever want to know about ticket prices, movie schedules, and snack options.
Come Sunday night, Robin was exhausted from all the impressions of his new workplace. He'd worked from noon until nine p.m both Saturday and Sunday, with only a few minor breaks. And his ears were burning from Tristan's constant talking.
The number of couples that visited the theater during the weekend served as a constant reminder of Tyler. Couples that held hands, kissed, and made out in the back of the theater once the lights were turned off. Robin wanted to do that too. He wanted to treat Tyler to a date night with a cheesy movie and snacks. So many snacks. All the popcorn Ty could eat. Which was probably an impressive amount. The cinema might be out of popcorn after that.
Once everything was resolved--all the uncertainty around his future and the state of his and Tyler's relationship--he would arrange such a date. Because them not being together in that future wasn't an option. Robin would resolve everything, so he could go on that date.
While waiting for guests to pour out of the theaters--so they could start to clean and wrap up for the day--Robin and Tristan entertained themselves by quizzing each other with a Jeopardy game app. It was fun and educational, but it wasn't romantic. Because intelligent brown eyes no longer caused Robin's insides to turn to goo, only sweet green eyes could do that.
"The capital of Burundi," Tristan read off his phone screen.
"What is Gitega?" Robin quickly stated the answer in the form of a question.
Tristan's smile and nod told him that the answer was correct. Although Robin already knew that.
"And a bonus question," Tristan continued without looking at the app. "What was--"
"Bujumbura," Robin interjected before his friend could finish the question. He figured Tristan surely was about to ask about the previous capital of the same country.
"Right again." Tristan chuckled loudly at the fast reply. "You really should take up Quiz Bowl again, Robin. Although perhaps I shouldn't encourage you, considering we would be on opposing teams."
A buzz in Robin's pocket interrupted the friendly game. He lifted his phone, afraid it would be his mother. He wondered if that fear would ever go away.
The fear blew away as he read the name Ty on the screen. They hadn't been in touch since Robin left Tyler's room almost a week ago. Robin had wanted to call but wasn't sure if he should since they had both agreed to focus on themselves while Tyler was away.
"I need to take this," Robin informed Tristan because not picking up the phone wasn't an option. Tristan gave him an affirming nod in reply.
Hiding away in a cleaning closet to get some privacy, Robin pressed the answer-button. "Hi," he squeezed out, feeling a wave of nervousness wash over him. It was like the jitters during their first date all over again.
"Hi, Robby," Tyler said on the other end.
Robby. How he'd missed hearing Tyler call him that. Those syllables leaving Tyler's lips sang like birds on the first day of spring.
The line went quiet for a moment. Neither of them seemed to know what to say.
"How are you?" Robin eventually figured out what to say.
"I'm good," Tyler replied. "I just... I needed to hear your voice I guess. I wanted to know you're good, you know."
"I'm good," Robin said as well. Words that said nothing but also everything. "How is everything going with the prosthetic and all that?"
"I haven't actually got to walk on it yet. But they've made a mold from my leg so I will get to try it on in a few days, once they've manufactured the whole thing. So that will be... interesting." There was a tremble in Tyler's voice that made Robin wonder if everything was actually as fine as his boyfriend claimed.
"I'm sure it will work out," he assured Tyler. "I can't wait to see you walking. I can't wait to see you in general, Ty. I... miss you a lot."
"I miss you too, Robby." The words made Robin's heart thump like it was about to escape his ribcage.
In that moment, Robin wanted to tell Tyler everything. He wanted to tell him about his mother's threats, the scholarship, and the coming presentation. He wanted to share his heartache and triumphs, and he wanted Tyler to do the same.
But before another word could escape his lips, there was a knock on the door to the cleaning closet. "Robin, we need to head into the theater to clean," Tristan called from the other side.
"What was that?" Tyler asked, his voice no longer tender but sharp.
"Tristan, my friend from high school," Robin explained in a rushed tone. "I started working at the cinema in the mall and he works here too. I need to head out soon and get to work again."
"You're working? You didn't tell me you got a job."
"I was about to," Robin assured Tyler. "I just started yesterday."
"That's fine," Tyler replied, although it didn't sound like everything was fine. "I mean, you can work, of course. I just didn't know. And I didn't know your... friend was there. Didn't you tell me about him before? The Quiz Bowl guy."
"I... guess I did." Robin kicked himself, remembering that he'd mentioned his crush on Tristan once to Tyler. "I didn't know he worked here."
Another knock on the door. Another call from Tristan. Robin wished his no-longer-crush had a mute-button.
"I'll let you get back to work," Tyler conceded with a sigh. "I didn't really want anything important anyway. We can talk once I'm back."
"Wait!" Robin called out but Tyler was already gone from the line. He looked down at his phone, wondering if he should call back. Perhaps there had been something Tyler had wanted to share, even if it wasn't anything important. Although Robin considered everything Tyler had to say important.
Another insistent knock. "Robin, we really need to start cleaning unless we want to get written up for being done late," Tristan urged him.
Robin sighed. He couldn't lose this job already. So he grabbed a mop and unlocked the door. "Sorry," he said to Tristan, who waited impatiently outside. "Let's get started."
It was late once Robin got home. Too late to call Tyler, who may need to get up early for a hospital appointment the next morning. So instead, Robin tried to cobble together a text to express all his feelings. Too many feelings to be contained in a string of words. He erased and started over several times-laying on his bed, which lacked sheets or even pillows since his mom's looting--even as his eyelids grew heavy, longing for rest.
In the end, he only managed to write two sentences. Two simple but true sentences.
"I miss you. I love you," the message read.
Robin fell asleep right before pressing the send-button.