Bobbi Grace holds up a drunk Roberto to keep him steady in front of his door. She doesn't know what to expect after she raises her hand and presses the doorbell.
Roberto swings his head over in her direction, looks at her with an arched eyebrow. 'You said I was going home.' His voice is mixed with disappointment and confusion.
From the other side of the door they hear footsteps and Carlos giving out. 'Here he comes now. Wait until he falls through that door, I will give him a lecture he will never forget because I swear he is getting on my last nerve, Donna. I'm getting pretty sick and tired of him and his ways.' His voice is clearer as Bobbi hears him at the door. 'You might want to hold me back, babe, before I do something I regret.'
Bobbi is gobsmacked at what she hears. Her breathing hitches and her grip on Roberto's upper arm tightens, who doesn't look the least moved by his father's words. She has the right mind to take Roberto to her house. If Carlos even thinks about hitting Roberto, she will turn around and bring him home and convince her dad to let him stay. Too late to make the choice, the front door swings open and reveals a surprised Carlos. Probably didn't think he'd see Bobbi Grace with his drunk son.
'Roberto, where have you been?' he asks in a concerning voice. Smiles at Bobbi, but she wants to narrow her eyes on him, knowing what he's truly like behind closed doors. Instead, she forces a closed lip smile.
Roberto sways to his left but she helps him keep his balance. He smiles gratefully at her, leans into her ear. 'That's my dad,' he whispers, his breath tickling her ear. I'm sorry about that, she thinks to herself. 'Hello my male creator. Proud of me?' He grins widely, his white teeth at show and his eyes squeeze shut.
Carlos looks down at the floor, embarrassed. 'Thank you for bringing my son home,' he says to Bobbi, polite.
'You're welcome.'
Roberto scans the garden behind him, looking for something. 'Where's this son of yours you speak of?' His eyes gleam as he turns to face Bobbi. 'Ha, ha. "Speak of". That sounded smart like... Just like... uh, Star Trek! That's smart with their—' he does the Vulcan salute—'Live long and prospect.' Closes his eyes whilst he cracks up, his shoulders shaking up and down.
'I've never watched the show, but I'm pretty sure it's "Live long and prosper".' She snickers as she wonders if he always said it like that ever since he first heard it.
His head shoots back, eyebrows knit together in great confusion as the right side of his upper lip twitches up. 'Why would it be prosper?' he asks, perplexed, his eyes wide and he looks at her like she's weird. His face softens as he looks at her, pitiful. 'Silly, silly girl.' He puts on a British accent whilst he pats her head.
She pouts as his actions, hates feeling short. Although, she does think he's funny and quite the entertainer when he's drunk.
Carlos puts a hand on Roberto's shoulder and ushers him inside. 'Come on. Thanks again.'
Roberto quickly grabs her wrist and she follows them inside, unwillingly. 'You heard the man, come on.' Donna walks out of the kitchen, sad to see her son in his state. 'Come see the happy family,' he says, sarcasm dripping from his voice. He introduces Bobbi to his mother, and even though she's met them all before she understands why he's doing this again and it leaves an ache in her stomach. Bobbi dearest, meet the female creator,' his free hand shoots up and cheers, 'let's meet the creations! You obviously know me, of course, so where's Mattie and Cammie?' He turns to his mother with a questioning stare.
Creators, creations... what? There's a faint hint of a smile on her lips, but she refrains herself from giggling. This boy is crazy. She fixes her hair with one hand as Roberto still has a grip on the other.
'In bed. Don't wake them,' Donna chides him, and smooths down his hair. He looks different from the way he usually has it; it's nicer smoothed down, however, he messes it up again.
'Since when did you care if they slept or not?' he snorts, and receives disapproving looks from his parents. Bobbi opens her mouth to apologise for him, but he speaks first. 'Come on, Gold,' he takes her to the stairs, 'let me show you my room.' Stops halfway up the stairs and turns to her. 'And maybe more,' he adds suggestively, wagging his eyebrows at her.
The reaction he gets from her is not what he expects it to be: she's speechless rather than blushing. She cannot believe he said that with his parents in earshot! At the top of the stairs, he stops in front of a door which Bobbi assumes is his room. He puts a finger to his lips and quietly opens the door. Peeks his head in and sees his little brother asleep.
'Buonanotte, piccolo,' he whispers, closes the door. When he turns to her there's a pain in his eyes but he covers it with a smile. 'Come on,' he whispers, and takes her to another door, never letting go of her hand. She remembers this door. He checks in on Camilla like he did with Matteo, but he hears her voice call him back.
A hopeful look crosses his eyes, and he stays at the door. 'Si?'
Outside her room, Bobbi hears the sweet and tired girl say, 'Ti amo.'
With a hand on his chest, he swallows and says it back. He looks like he's about to shed a tear until he clears his throat. 'Via a dormire,' he whispers, closes the door behind him. Guilt is written all over his face as he runs a hand through his hair.
Bobbi hides her emotions, impassive, when truthfully she wants to embrace him in a comforting hug. It kills her to see him like this. She feels like it's her time to go, to let him go to his room and sleep, so she points her thumb over her shoulder and says, 'I better get going. It's eleven ó clock and my-'
'Wait, you didn't see my room yet. I'm giving you the tour, and I saved the best for last.' His mood lifts, he brings her down the hall and to his room. He switches his light on, walks inside, and sits on the edge of his bed to take his shoes off.
She stays put at the door and checks out his room. She expects to see a messy teenage boy's room with posters, clothes, and games everywhere. Except his room is respectably clean with empty white walls, a black thick line of paint going around the top of his walls and another thin one under it, but with a space of white between them. It's a nice design effect for something minimalistic and basic. One wall has a hung up collection of snapback hats beside his window. By the side of his television in the corner of his room is a stack of games, and on his desk, which is organised, has a stack of books and one open book, and a lamp on it. The wall near his desk has a couple of sticky notes on it.
However, the thing that absolutely stands out with his room is the way everything is placed and arranged. Instead of his bed pushed up against the wall in the corner, it's crooked outwards from the bottom, away from the wall. Across from the end of his bed is his TV set, which stands diagonal, pointing to the right where his desk is. The desk isn't pressed up against the wall of sticky notes, but it faces his bed yet slightly crooked by just a couple of inches to the right. Everything is out of place and in odd angles, except for his wardrobe tucked in the back corner of the room. His bedroom looks like he just moved in this morning and he dropped everything where they fit. The question mark is back hovering over his head.
Bobbi can't not comment on it. 'Why is your room... complicated?'
He picks up a tennis ball from his bedside table, sits up against the headboard. 'So I can do this.' He throws the tennis ball at the edge of his TV table, it flies over and hits on the corner of his desk and bounces back over to him and he catches it easily.
Her eyes light up and she perks up. 'Cool!' she exclaims. 'It must've taken you a good amount of time to set it up.'
'Not really. It was simple enough,' he replies nonchalantly, puts the ball back on the bedside table, where a small lamp and his wallet lays.
She's amazed, her eyes wide, as she looks at the layout of his bedroom a second time. He must be smart if he says it didn't take that long to do. It would for me. She really wants a shot of it. Turning to Roberto to ask, her breathing hitches when she sees him topless and in the middle of taking his pants off.
It strikes her with surprise, a tight pain is in her chest, and her body tenses. 'What are you doing?' Inside she panics, the events of Homecoming night taunting her mind. It isn't like she automatically presumes he wants her in his bed, it's the memories of Nicholas pressing his body down on hers and his jeering laugh in her mind. At his door, she takes a step back, her stomach flips.
'Getting ready for bed,' he answers mindlessly. Inspects his pants for dirt and wipes them before he folds them up, taking them to his wardrobe. He's practically walking around his room in his black boxers and nothing else, like he forgot she was there.
She averts her eyes from him, hears her heart pounding in her ears, and holds her hands together as her cheeks warm. She picks at her nails to distract herself and not look at his body, but it's tempting. Very tempting. It grows more tempting by every passing second. She's never seen a half-naked guy, ever, and here's Roberto -the guy she has strong feelings for- in his underwear standing at his wardrobe. She can see him from her peripheral vision. Swallows hard and gives in, her eyes slowly drifting over to his body. She bites onto her bottom lip, resisting the urge to walk over to him and kiss him, run her hands through his hair and around his chest and arms.
Knows why the girls in school talk highly of him. His body is tanned and lean. His upper body is muscular with built shoulders and his stomach is tight, his legs toned. His boxers hug his waist.
Wow, she thinks, her body heating up and her heart racing. Her cheeks turn pink but she doesn't care as she can't take her eyes off him and licks her lips. Dang, stop it! But how can a guy be so beautiful? She thinks and shakes her head, reminding herself he's her friend.
He sits on the edge of his bed and pulls the covers down. Looks at her suggestively as he pats the empty spot beside him. 'Aren't you coming in? I can show you why all the girls fuss over me.' He winks and raises both eyebrows after, a smirk on his lips before he licks them.
Her breath gets caught in her throat and her eyes widen. Despite the fact that she knows it's a joke, she still guards herself whilst she thinks, I'm not gonna let that happen again. She takes her phone out -it reads eleven-ó-six- to let her father know she's on her way home.
'I have to call my dad,' she informs him, getting his number on speed dial.
'Yeah, tell your dad you won't be coming home tonight.' He winks and nudges his head for her to join him, a lopsided smile on him. Surprised at him, she walks over to get him into bed for the night while he repeats, 'Is joke' probably thinking she's going to hit him. But when she puts her hand out to hold his arm and get him under his covers, he takes her hand and pulls her on top of him as he lies back. 'Mmm... I knew you wanted me,' he jokes.
Dumbstruck, her entire face turns red – from the tip of her ears down to her neck. I'm on his half-naked body, oh my God. She holds her body up with one hand as Roberto holds her other hand and slides his fingers between hers. With his right hand, he tucks some of her hair behind her ear as it's fallen onto his chest, and he closes his eyes as he strokes her hair. It's alright, Bobbi. It's alright, she comforts herself as he isn't doing anything wrong with her.
He breathes through his nose as he rests his head against his mattress, keeping his eyes closed as he continues to stroke her hair. He takes in a deep breath before he says, 'I like you.'
It makes her smile, warming her heart. She's happy she has a new friend for life, someone who cares and looks out for her, and knows how to make her laugh. These feelings or crush -she isn't sure which- is just a passing phase so she wouldn't want to lose his friendship because of it.
She's about to get off him and repeat it back to him, until he says, 'I know I shouldn't... but I do.'
Her mouth agape, she stares at the lips that spoke those words. What? He likes her? Well she knows that – as friends. Clearly he meant it as friends. Why would it mean anything more? It doesn't, she tells herself. Oh yeah? Then why would he pull you on top of him? Her inner voices asks. That'll be wishful thinking as she has a crush on him. Of course she would want to believe it to be more than friends. But it doesn't. They're friends and that's all she knows it is to be; she's happy with that. Why did he say he shouldn't? She ponders about it and to ask him if he meant it as friends, until she hears footsteps nearing his door.
Oh crap! Bobbi darts off Roberto's body and puts a long distance between them, her hands over her mouth. Donna walks in with a glass of water in hand, a dissolvent sizzling inside it as it melts away.
'Thank you for bringing him home,' she says with a smile, and sits beside her son.
'It's no problem at all. He called me so it's the least I can do.' All that's running through her mind is: I was on top of your son's almost naked body. Heart still hammering, face burning hot. Forcing the repetitive thought away, she stands idly around, looking from Donna to Roberto.
She hands Roberto the glass of water, and he takes it after he climbs under the covers, in his own world. He shakes the glass around a bit before drinking from it. Puts it on his bedside table as he clutches onto his stomach, his face scrunching up, and he breathes through his nose. His mother frowns at him, seeing him in agony as he curls up in his bed. She strokes his hair, brushing her hand down his cheek and she caresses his jawline with her thumb. He groans in pain.
'My poor baby. We don't want to lose you,' she coos, her jaw trembling. 'Why do you keep doing this to yourself?'
After a moment of silence, he croaks out, 'I don't like him.' He puts all his strength into sitting up and he lets himself fall back against the headboard. Takes the glass from the table and drinks more.
Bobbi's heart melts at the sight of him, worrying her to see the state he's in, a hollow feeling in her chest appears and she wishes to help him, but she doesn't know what to do. She's out of place, in the middle of a mother and son moment. Remembering her promise to her dad, she's shy speaking up. Doesn't want to disturb Donna with her son, so she clears her throat first.
Donna looks over at her by the door and nods her head. 'Sure, sweetie. Be careful out there. Have a good night, honey.'
She thanks her, glancing over her shoulder at Roberto one last time before leaving. She quietly takes gentle steps downstairs, trying not to make any noise. On her way down, she looks into the living room, the door open, and sees Carlos hunching over on the couch, the golden trophy in his hands. He seems agitated as he rubs his face.
They weren't the happy family they played off to be when Lucas and Bobbi were invited around for dinner. Roberto let her in on his life. He told her what he had bottled up all this time. Heck, he even dragged her inside his house and showed her. She wanted to know everything, he gave her everything. Now she knows and it breaks her heart. His father got selfish and greedy by accepting a new job offer in Michigan and dragged his family across the world.
Roberto was the only one who stood up to him. That was until he admitted Carlos pushed him against the wall one time and his mother saw and finally spoke up. His father tells him he's disappointed in him and calls him names and that's what turned Roberto to alcohol. He probably drank by himself most days than with Damien. Whilst his dad shouts at him, his mother sobers him up and comforts him; Bobbi wants to do the same. She's extremely worried about him. She's going to try help him in the best way possible, whatever she can do, she'll do it. He was always there for her and she wants to show she's definitely here for him. That, she's sure of.
And on her walk home something else sticks with her. Something said. Something she hopes meant nothing. It's inappropriate for her to dwell on these words when there's something bigger happening, but man, those words he said: 'I like you. I know I shouldn't... but I do.'