Immediately when Jamelia she gets home from her date, she calls up Bobbi to tell her all about it. They drove a little out of town to play mini golf and went to her favourite place to eat. She says they really hit it off given that they had real time to each other instead of a two minute talks in the corridors before class or texting on their phones. There wasn't any awkward silences, which she loved and was relieved about, and she says it was the perfect date for her that she couldn't believe it went so well.
Bobbi teases through the phone, 'Aren't you glad I stopped you from cancelling the date?'
'You bet! I owe you big time!' she beams on the other line, still on a high from the date. 'Seriously, thanks for stopping me from almost doing something stupid. I really owe it to you.'
'I'm gonna hold you on that!' On Bobbi's end she hears Jamelia whine, almost as if she regrets saying it because she knows Bobbi would want something big, a typical thing for a friend to do.
**
'I feel like a Billy-no-mates,' Bobbi says jokingly to her dad, who is getting ready to go out with Carlos. 'Friday night I stay in and Jamelia is on a fantastic date, and now it's Saturday night and I'm in again but it's my dad going out this time.' She smiles at her dad, ecstatic he's socialising again.
'No you're not, doll.' He understands the term as she recently started watching a British TV show on Netflix, so she has picked up on some UK slang. She's obsessed with it that she started using these terms around her dad and Jamelia only. Lucas gives her a side look as he adds, 'You're a Bobbi-no-mates.' A cheeky grin spreads along his lips as he wipes down this navy blue sweater.
She guffaws and her father soon joins.
Lucas turns away from the mirror above the fireplace and to Bobbi, his eyebrows raised expectantly. 'How do I look?'
'Amazing. Carlos is a lucky man,' she teases, and Lucas' head tilts to the side, a vacant expression on his face. Joking aside, she says, 'You look great. It's okay to be nervous, but try not to be. You'll have a good time.'
As he wipes down his jeans from nerves, something Bobbi got from her father, Lucas frowns. 'I know. It's just, after all these years, I bet I'm going to be awkward.'
Bobbi gets up from the couch, places her book on the coffee table, and stands in front of him to smooth down his shirt. 'Try not think about that. You never know, women might be there and come talk to you.'
Lucas' eyebrows shoot up and he backs away from her. 'Whoa, now doll, one step at a time. Don't go on about dating. I'll feel like I'd be cheating on your mom.'
At his words, she tilts her head to the side with her eyebrows knit together, a pout on her lips, and she feels sudden anger towards herself. She wishes she remembers more about her mother. Wishes she remembers something her mother said to her, let her know how much she loved her father so she can tell him everything will be okay. That it's okay to start again. Bobbi envies her father and uncle for knowing her much longer than she had. The only things she has of her mother are the photos on the walls, the stories, and her Prom dress. She doesn't have real memories or real time with her. Bobbi takes a deep breath to let go of the anger she held in, and gives her dad the pep talk he needs.
'She'll be happy, you know.' Her voice comes out stronger than she thought it would. Her throat is already sore from wanting to burst into tears. 'I'm pretty sure mom is smiling down at you right now, seeing you go out and making friends, instead of being stuck in the house all day doing work. I... I m-may not remem...ber her...' her voice is brittle as tears line her eyes, her stomach pulling at her. She swallows down the lump in her throat. 'But I know that she wouldn't like to see you alone and would want you to be happy. I'm not saying to forget her– no, never...' Her throat strains and she can't go on.
'I know what you mean, doll.' He pats her head when he pulls her in for a long hug. After he checks his watch, he steps out of their tight embrace. He almost slips out that he feels like a large part of him died with Olivia, but he doesn't want his daughter hearing that. Instead he says, 'I better go now. Goodnight, sweetheart. I love you so much you don't even know. You will be okay alone, won't you? You can always invite Jamelia over to have a sleepover with you, if you like. I won't say no to that if you're more comfortable having a friend with you right now.' He's at the door, holding it open, and looks at her with concern.
'I'll be fine, thanks.' She smiles. 'Have a great night. I love you, too. Be safe.'
That night, while Lucas is with Carlos, Bobbi is sat up in her bed and cries before falling asleep.
**
Sunday at breakfast Lucas tells her how the night went with Carlos. He mentions he only had two drinks whereas Carlos had three because he knew she'd ask how many he had; she just wanted to know every detail of her father's first time out and making a friend. They talked about their hopes for their kids, their interests, what's going on around the world at the moment, anything. They got along pretty well. Better than what Lucas imagined.
They played some darts and watched a football match on the flat screen TV mounted on the wall. Lucas explained to Carlos how the game works as Carlos watched the screen in confusion, saying that to play football you use your feet and not your hands. They had a good night that they arranged to go out again. Bobbi is more than delighted to hear this. She's happy he's trying to make his life the way it was before Olivia passed away.
Bobbi's week off is going exceptionally well, as she planned it to be. She chooses this time to relax, read books, spend time with Jamelia, and to get on top of her school work. Her boss Kate calls her in on some days as Bobbi let her know she has a week break from Gracious Gardens. Bobbi is behind the counter once again when one of her co-workers approaches her.
'Hey, can you do this order for me, please?' Bobbi turns to see it's Ashley, who looks to be in a desperate state. 'I just finished my shift and a couple of guys over there made an order, but I have a date coming in any minute now. You're the first person I saw, so pretty please can you take this order? I don't want my date to see me like this.' Her hair is tied up in a messy bun, bits of her hair fallen down the sides of her face.
'Sure.' Bobbi smiles and takes Ashley's notepad with the order scribbled on it.
'Thank you so much! You're a sweetheart. The order goes for the three guys over at that table.' Ashley points to a table with three guys, who look like a group of college students.
Bobbi follows Ashley's pointed finger and spots the table and nods. 'Okay, have fun.'
As Ashley walks to the back room, Bobbi goes to the coffee machine and starts on the order. Places the black coffee on a tray, with the notepad on it too, and heads for the table. The three guys laugh until Bobbi gets to them. One of them whistles at her but she ignores it. If she wasn't at work she wouldn't mind speaking up and putting him in his place.
'Ever went out with a college guy?' One of them flirts as he wags his dark eyebrows. His right eyebrow has a scar on it. He has dirty blond hair with bright sky blue eyes. His lips are thin and he has a dimple on his chin.
Bobbi puts the coffee in the middle of the table, because she doesn't know who ordered it, and answers with a no, immediately in a sulk mood. Knows he won't stop there. And he doesn't.
'Wanna start?' There's no beating around the bush with this guy. He leans back in his seat, stretches his long legs out.
She repeats her answer but throws a smile on her face as it's part of the job. 'Your coffee,' she says in a monotone voice, taking the subject off her.
'That's not my order,' one of the guys states as he pushes the mug back. He flicks his black hair to the side, revealing hazel brown eyes.
Bobbi checks over the order sheet, making sure she saw right. 'Um... yes it is.'
'Um... no it's not,' he mimics her, tilts his head to the side, and his hair falls to one side as he brushes his hand through it.
She narrows her eyes on him. 'I'm pretty sure that's what you ordered.' Mirrors his movements as she tilts her head to one side and pretends to brush her hand through her hair because it's tied back. The other two guys don't hide their lopsided smiles. She doesn't know where her attitude came from, but she somewhat likes it.
The guy narrows his eyes on her, amusement evident in them. The edge of his lip stretches up into a lopsided smile as he rolls his eyes over her and licks his lips. 'I hate to break it to you babe, but that's not my order. You're not the sharpest tool in the box but it's a good thing you're pretty.'
Her glare intensifies and her jaw drops. Bobbi snarls, 'Okay first, don't call me "babe". Second, what are you getting from this? If all of this is you trying to impress your friends, that's pretty pathetic be-'
She's cut off as all three guys says in unison, 'Oooh...'
'Manners, woman,' the guy with black hair demands from her teasingly, as he hits his fist on the table. A few heads turn. 'What happened to the customers always being right?' he asks rather loudly.
Other customers from their tables look over at them. Bobbi thins her lips in a line as she keeps her head down, embarrassed at the scene she caused. She doesn't like all eyes on her, especially if she's made out to be a bad person. 'I may have to go to your boss about you. You don't quite have that friendly aura most waitresses have.'
Worry and shame washes over her for doing and saying the wrong things to a customer. She's afraid of what Kate might think of her and let her go. She couldn't lose her job. It might not be much but she loves it. She couldn't bring herself to think of not having a job. She likes her independence.
'Is there a problem here?'
Someone joins in, and Bobbi feels inadequate she can't control the situation on her own that a co-worker has to step in and help. Although, taken out of her thoughts, Bobbi catches the Italian accent and looks over to see Roberto beside her.
She hasn't seen him all week, apart from in the corridors in school. Her body didn't react to him like it had one other time when she saw him: perking up and her heart beating fast, her eyebrows bouncing up and back down. Maybe she didn't go through that again -she felt nothing at all- because she spent this week away from him. The attraction she used to feel is gone and maybe it's because she was just confused by being with him a lot before they took the break from Gracious Gardens. Away from him she was herself again. Maybe he has that affect on girls.
He doesn't look angry or threatening to the guy, he's merely helping out a friend to resolve an issue.
'If there is, how are you involved?'
Bobbi gets a hunch that this guy likes messing with people and winding them up for fun, so her job for now is to end it where it is and take Roberto away. She puts her hand on his upper arm in hopes to calm him before he's aggravated.
In a friendly tone, to be the peacemaker in the group, she says, 'Roberto, you don't have to do this. Just walk away,' she turns her attention on the guy, who is entertained as he smirks. 'Sir, it's written down on my notepad that you've ordered your coffee black. If it's not to your standards then I'll make a fresh one-'
'But it's not what I asked for, at all.' There's a jeering look in his eyes, an eyebrow arched.
She doesn't want to rise to it or let him know he's getting the reaction he wants, so she masks her emotions, the pen in hand, and straightens up to ask for their order. However, Roberto isn't on the same page as her.
'Why are you acting like an idiot? Or am I mistaking your idiocy as an act?' he asks seriously, his eyebrows furrowed.
Bobbi gasps and her eyes widen, shocked at Roberto. He could cost her job! She holds his arm and leans into his ear. 'Roberto, enough! You might get me in trouble so just go get your coffee and leave, okay? I'm fine, don't do this.'
The guy, enjoying himself, must have heard her as he says in a mocking tone, 'Yeah Roberto, don't. You don't want your girlfriend here worrying about you when you end up in hospital.'
At the mention of the word "girlfriend" Roberto and Bobbi each pull a look of disgust in unison: Bobbi's head shoots back as she scrunches up her nose and looks at the guy like he's insane, whereas Roberto makes a sound of disgust.
Her finger up in a wait-a-minute motion, she sets him straight. 'Whoa, whoa, whoa. He is not my boyfriend.'
'Whatever, princess,' he spits at her, which leaves her mouth dropping to the floor.
Roberto, on the other hand, sends death glares his way. 'If you're not going to respect her or the other co-workers, you might as well leave because you shouldn't talk that way to someone who's serving you your food and drinks. There mustn't be anything between those ears other than wasted air.'
'Roberto!' she hisses in a hushed tone, but is dying to laugh.
The guy, glaring at Roberto as equally as intimidating Roberto's is, pushes his chair out. The chair screeches against the wooden floor and the guy stands a couple of inches closer to Roberto. Bobbi, unsure of what's going to happen, is worried that if they break out in a fight she'll lose her job and trust from Kate. She tells Roberto to stop a couple of times, even though he's doing nothing but having a stare down with the guy. Neither of them wanted to back down, to show a weakness or let the other win. Finally, the other guy turns around to his friends and nudges his head over to the door.
'Come on, guys. The coffee here is horrible anyways.' That said, his two friends get up and all three of them leave the café without looking back. Well, the dirty blond haired guy takes a glance back at Bobbi and winks at her. This elicits a weird look from her and she rolls her eyes.
'You didn't have to do that,' she tells Roberto. She's grateful he stuck up for her, but she could handle it on her own. She had behaviour from customers like that before. 'I can get you a coffee on the house.'
'But I did. I knew he was going to start giving you a hard time and that wasn't right of him. It didn't look right at all, so I wasn't going to walk on by and let him do that to you.' She gives him a grateful smile, touched by his comforting words. He looks left and right before he adds, 'And that's my job.' He sounds convincing, but she sees the tease in his eyes and he smiles. It's one of those smiles that makes his skin wrinkles at his eyes, making it adorable to Bobbi.
She hits him playfully on his shoulder, kind of flirting again and the fuzzy feeling is back in her stomach, she curses herself for it. She thought it was over. With him again, it's bringing out that attraction she has for him. Tries to make sense of it, thinking that maybe at some point all the girls in school will go through this attraction to him for a short time.
'And about the coffee, I'll get it next time I'm here,' he waves it off, his eyes roaming over her shoulder.
'Roberto, hey,' a female voice calls. The voice sounds familiar to Bobbi. She and Roberto turn to see Ashley make her way over to them. She has taken her hair out of the bun and wears it over her left shoulder in a fishtail braid. Her lipstick changed from coral pink to red and she wears winged eyeliner. Bobbi even notices the stud earrings sparkling on each side of Ashley's face. She's one of those girls who only needed five minutes to look stunning with a minimal change.
Bobbi slowly moves her eyes over to Roberto, wondering how she knows him, and he's smiling from ear to ear as Ashley is getting closer to them.
'Hey you,' he says in a husky voice.
He places his hands on her cheeks and leans down to press his lips onto hers. Bobbi represses a gasp, shocked that Ashley's date is Roberto. Can't quite wrap her head around it. Ashley is twenty and Roberto is eighteen, he does look a little older for his age and maybe two years apart isn't a problem.
When Bobbi snaps out of her shocked state, Roberto and Ashley gaze into each other's eyes. As he caresses Ashley's cheek, he whispers if she's ready to go, to which she nods her head and bites onto her lower lip as she smiles. Bobbi wonders if this is their first date or not, and if it is dating, but she tries not to think too much into it. It comes as a surprise to her, she doesn't feel any other way. But for some unknown reason she starts to think about how they started to get along and became friends, what they laughed at and all she has shared with him. She thinks about the times she caught him with alcohol on his breath, and then the movie It's A Gift comes to mind. The work shift done, at home and on her laptop, she searches up the movie on Netflix and watches it, remembering drunk Roberto told her to. If it's his favourite movie then she'd enjoy talking about it to him and her favourite moments. She'll feel closer to him doing so.
**
It's the last day of her break from Gracious Gardens, the day also being Thanksgiving. Owen has visited and all three of them have such a wonderful and fun time together. They all take part in cooking the dinner and the turkey turns out great. Bobbi is pleased with herself as it was her first time cooking turkey. Lucas promised her last year that he would trust her this year to cook it as she was very eager to try it herself. Owen teases her about it being beginners luck, although he feigns disgust on his first bite.
He's staying for the weekend, but he will be sadly missed when Monday morning comes and he'll be on his way, so they make it the best weekend they can. On Sunday, Bobbi thought to end the perfect weekend with some chocolate cake, therefore she walks to the store in the evening to pick out the most delicious looking one. Walking home, across the street something catches her eye – or rather someone. Across the street is a fast food restaurant and a liquor store. The door to the liquor store is pushed open from the inside, and coming out is Roberto with a plastic bag in hand. Through the bag must be a small box of alcohol, maybe a six pack, as the plastic bag is shaped as a square.
Bobbi has a terrible feeling in her stomach, and usually her instincts are right, something might be up. She doesn't decide to follow him. She doesn't decide to confront him on the spot. She does know she will one day, maybe one day this week, to see what he gets up to. He knows about her personal life, she wants to know what he's doing with his. And if he's doing it alone or actually with his friend Damien, as he says.
Her mind starts to wonder, like maybe he's getting himself into the wrong crowd or if he's already part of it for some time now. She may be wrong on what she thinks as she is known for overthinking, but the only way to answer all of her thoughts is to talk to him and she sets it in her mind to do that.