Sweet Little Birds (BxB Romance, Completed)

Chapter 1: Sugar Rush

Why had his mother insisted he should sign up for this damn thing?

Robin's pulse rose the moment he stepped out of Statistics class. He dreaded the challenge that awaited.

New people. With new puzzled glares and new expectations on him. And new opportunities for him to embarrass himself.

Unable to contain nervous jitters in his body, he twirled a pencil between his fingers as he walked through the hallways of Vale University. 

On account of his shaking hands, the pencil flew out of his grasp, soon disappearing among the colorful sneakers, smacking flip-flops, and comfortable flats of fellow students. Robin looked longingly after the monogrammed writing device but didn't bother trying to locate it. He had more in his bag anyway.

"Will you be all right by yourself, Robin?" His best friend Des swept a carrot-colored braid away from her shoulder. She skipped along beside him, without a care in the world. She always was so unfazed by everything, while the smallest obstacle stumped Robin."I need to head to my dorm and feed Pax before our next class."

"Of course. You can't let the poor bunny starve." After being friends for most of their lives, Robin was used to playing second fiddle to whatever fluffy animal was Des' current obsession. "And I'm supposed to be tutoring this guy for the whole semester. I think I can meet up with him by myself."

A wordless look and a raised eyebrow told Robin that Des wasn't convinced of his ability to meet up with a previously unfamiliar person, hold a conversation with them, and behave like a socially competent human being throughout. Truth be told, Robin wasn't convinced either. Just the thought of introducing himself made him draw a blank on his name.

Des usually served as his buffer in social situations. She could strike up a conversation with anyone, at any time, and make them feel at ease without even trying–a quality Robin envied. Maybe if he'd gotten more practice as a child—if he'd had more opportunities to interact with his peers during his formative years—then he'd be less inept. Totally non-inept probably wasn't within the bounds of his personality.

"I'll manage," he unconvincingly assured Des.

"Just try to be yourself and don't panic." Des gave Robin a bolstering pat on the shoulder, pulled up her hoodie—which made the cat ears on it flip up—and hurried down the stairs.

With a sigh, Robin pulled up his hoodie as well. It didn't have adorably floppy cat ears, but it did shield him from the scary outside world. Being a sophomore, he should be used to the hustle and bustle of college life by now. But the social intricacies of conversing with his peers still escaped Robin. So he spent most of his time outside class in his dorm room, with books as his only friends. A few times, Des had forced him to social outings, but he soon escaped home to his safe abode again.

A glance at his watch told him he had ten minutes before he had to be at the counseling office. And it also told him he would, without a doubt, get an intrusive phone call within the next two minutes. Because there was no way he would be able to escape the daily noon call from his mother. Not today.

Liza Erie was nothing if not punctual, and one minute later, as Robin walked past blathering and giggling students, his phone inevitably buzzed.

"Hi, Mom." He put the device to his ear and prepared for the barrage.

"Are you about to meet the student you're going to tutor?" Robin's mother wasn't one for cordial greetings or small talk. But she had memorized his daily schedule and also calculated exactly how long it would take for him to walk across campus to be able to keep tabs on her son during the day, despite him being in college two hours away. At least it was better than her coming to school with him, which she had sometimes done during his high school years—to Robin's mortal embarrassment.