"This is completely your fault, Robin!" Abbee growled trudging on the side of the road at 12:30 AM. She hugged herself while occasionally glaring behind her at Robbie.
"What do you mean, my fault?! YOU'RE the one who wouldn't stop when I needed to pee! If we stopped then we could have filled up on gas and then this wouldn't been happening at all!"
"I didn't stop because we had already stopped four times before!" Abbee snapped back, "You were supposed to fill the tank the last time and you didn't! And why didn't you? Because you were too distracted buying five large bags of gummy bears!"
"Well...think of it this way. If I didn't buy all those bags of gummy bears then we'd be starving right now. So...you know, it could be worse." Robs shrugged popping a red gummy bear in his mouth as he walked.
"Oh wow—yeah, well think of it THIS way—if you had actually filled the car with gas like I had asked you to then we wouldn't have broken down in the middle of nowhere at night, and there would be no need for gummy bears to keep us alive!"
Abbee held her phone up in the air before groaning aggravated. There was still no wifi connection meaning they had no way to contact help—or receive any messages on if anyone's noticed their late arrival and were looking for them.
"If this wasn't actually scary—I'd make a joke about how the last time we were alone together we got stuck in a high school band room's closet...and now we're stuck trudging next to a rarely traveled road at night with spooky woods on either side of us." Robbie blabbed eating a yellow gummy bear then making a face at his least favorite flavor. "Man, I wish they'd just make gummy bears without the yellow ones...they really are the weakest flavor."
"Robin." Abbee snapped turning on her heel—her eyes blazing with annoyance and anger. "Do you not understand how dangerous of a situation we're in right now?! Because all you've been doing is talking my ear off about your candy! This situation is not like before when we were stuck in a closet—we're lost in a place we've never been before, far away from home—AT NIGHT BY THE WOODS! Anything could be out there! So I suggest you start taking this more seriously!"
Robbie watched her in silence not speaking until she turned and started walking again. He sighed and tucked his gummy bears away in his backpack.
"You know, I do understand how scary this is...I'm not stupid..." He mumbled knowing how everyone just assumes he acts the way he does because of his autism and not "understanding" why someone is feeling the way they're feeling. But contrary to what the people around him may think sometimes, he does get it and chooses to act a certain way to stay positive to help himself.
"I'm sorry...I didn't mean it like that." Abbee sighed but kept marching. "I'm just freaked out is all."
"I am too." Robbie told her, "But if I can stop myself from going into a meltdown right now..I'm going to. And smiling and talking about my gummy bears helps me, and maybe it'll help you too. I know this is super bad and dangerous but..we can still smile and laugh..."
"Y-You're right. Again, I'm so sorry...after the day we've had...and the huge fight with our other friends...I just want to get back home..."
Robbie nodded remembering earlier in the day and the events that transpired. Long story short, Rayn got into a huge argument with Abbee over college related stuff, so the friend group's trip ended up getting cut short as a result. Caden got notified by Cady that his little brother Archie broke his arm as well.
Basically, Erik gave Caden and Rayn a ride home a few hours earlier. Rayn didn't want to ride with Abbee due to the fight. And feeling bad that Abbee would be riding alone home, Robbie offered to ride with her.
"Me too..." Robbie replied, "I can't imagine what my mom's doing right now. I was supposed to be home hours ago...and I can't even call or talk to her because there's no service."
"Yeah...even my moms are probably worried. Last time I talked to my Mom, she told me she'd be staying up waiting for me to get back home." Abbee recalled Gretchen's text.
The two continued to walk in the dark while using the flashlight on Abbee's phone to see. They had to abandon their car a few miles back in an attempt to walk to where there'd be WiFi. Suddenly, Abbee felt the ground seemingly slip out from underneath her.
"AH!" Abbee suddenly shouted making Robbie jump. He looked over and saw her on the ground clutching her ankle. "Shit!" She mumbled.
"What happened, Abs?" Robbie asked coming to her aid. "You have fallen!"
"You think?" She looked at him unamused. "Damn it, I think I just sprained my ankle."
"Why'd you do that?!" He asked worried, his eyes wide. Abbee glared at him still very unamused. "Sorry." He responded shrugging. "Okay, um...here, this may be weird but you can't be walking on that ankle." Robbie moved his backpack to his chest—wearing it backwards. Then he hoisted Abbee onto his back. "There, how's that feel?"
"Good...thanks Robs." Abbee mumbled surprised at his actions. "Let me know if I get too heavy. I don't expect you to carry me up all these hills."
"Well it's not like you're going to be walking up them. It'll be fine. Just hang on and I'll get us to Wi-Fi! Onward! Whoosh!" Robbie began walking with her on his back, Abbee watched him silently as he carried her up the road a little ways. "So...do you wanna talk about that fight with Rayn? You two seemed pretty upset with one another."
Abbee sighed trying to not let her emotions get the better of her. "Um...I finally told Rayn that I got accepted to my dream college.."
"That's great though. Why would she be--"
"It's in London." Abbee cut him off. Robbie's eyebrows raised. "Yeah. She was mad that I didn't tell her until now. I mean, I get it...but I thought she'd be happy for me! She knows how much I've been dreaming about this college. It's literally everything I want in a university! She just expects me to turn it down and forget about it!"
"I mean, I'm not amazing at explaining emotions...especially someone else's emotions...but I feel like Rayn was just shocked by the news. She's probably not..unhappy..for you...but unhappy for you both as a couple. Because...I hear long distance relationships are hard."
Abbee thought about that, kind of shocked to hear words of wisdom from Robbie of all people. "Okay so..I'm just going to lay all of my thoughts on the table for you--maybe you can explain them better than I can in my own head..."
Blinking, Robbie shrugged, "Okay shoot."
"I-I've been keeping this to myself for a while...you're the first person I'm saying this to.." Abbee geared herself up and just spat out, "I don't think I actually like girls...romantically I mean."
"Oh? For real? Then why are you--?"
"Because I can't find a good enough way to tell Rayn! I DO love her...but I just don't think it's the way I originally thought it was..." Abbee covered her face with her hands, "God--Robbie, am I a bad person? I feel like shit for leading her on--UGH! What do I do?!"
"You can't help how you feel, Abbee. It's not your fault you don't feel the same way...but you NEED to tell Rayn. Because by pretending you do feel the same will only hurt her more down the road."
"Y-You're right. It's just so hard...but..yes, next time I see her...I'll be honest with her. Thank you, Robs. I guess I needed to talk about this more than I thought I did."
"Hey, no problem! Glad I could help clear things up. And look at this!" Robbie exclaimed holding up his phone to show they finally had enough bars to make a call. Just as they predicted both Robbie and Abbee's phones jumped to life with messages from their worried parents. After some quick calls home both Gretchen and Karen, and Regina were on their way to pick up the stranded teens.
"Abbeegale! You're safe!" Gretchen ran up and hugged her tight. Karen came to their side and joined the hug. She had tears rolling down her cheeks making Abbee chuckle sympathetically.
"Momma, it's okay...please don't cry. See--I'm safe!"
"Yeah! Look at us! Alive and safe AND we have gummy bears!" Robbie cut in holding one of the five bags he bought up. "Want some?"
Karen let go from the hug and nodded. Robbie grinned and held the bag out to her--Karen then grabbed a handful. Popping a few in her mouth she immediately made a face, "I ate a yellow one.."
"Ohhh! I know how that feels!" Robbie chuckled. Soon he felt two arms wrap around him startling him. It took only a moment for him to smell her perfume. "Mom! You almost scared the gummy bears out of me!"
"I scared YOU?! How about you scaring ME!" Regina chuckled tearfully.
"Oh sure, make it about you!" Robbie playfully rolled his eyes fully turning to hug her back.
"Abbee, what happened to your ankle!" Karen asked seeing Abbee babying it by holding it off the ground.
"Oh, I fell...but don't worry, Robbie helped me so I didn't have to walk on it."
"Yeah, I'm pretty cool like that!" Robs set both hands on his hips making everyone chuckle. "Anyway--can we go home now?"