Grab N' Go [Robin Arellano]

22: The Beginnings of an Attachment Issue

Valentina half expected to finally get a good nights rest, but was not at all surprised by Robin waking up numerous times in terror. The poor boy suffered nightmares too gruesome to describe and it made it difficult to console him, and even harder to proceed with sleep after each.

Finally though, by 3am, he was able to sleep soundly without waking up again. While not ideal, the two were able to get 5 hours of on and off slumber to prepare them for the next school day.

As planned, Valentina awoke at 7am to get ready. Even as sluggish as she was, she did her usual make up, hair, and put on a decent outfit for the day. After, she began to make a simple breakfast- eggos and some bacon.

Meanwhile, Robin began stirring awake.

When he does wake up, he's panicked, searching around him for the girl he fell asleep by. When he finds her no where in his sights, he frantically climbs out of the bed and checks the bathroom. Then, the closet. Then, he races down the hall into the kitchen.

She turns, noticing his presence and offers a smile without noticing the panic in his body language.

"Hey! Good morning. Are you feeling ok?"

He lets out a sigh of relief, relaxing his shoulder and quickly walking towards her to pull her into a tight hug. Although she's confused, she doesn't hesitate to return it.

"I freaked out," he admits through a groggy voice. "I thought something happened to you."

Understandingly, she pulls back with a reassuring smile. "Well, I'm ok. It'll probably take a while to feel normal again, but I'll be here every step of the way. Swear. Now, go get ready so you have time to eat."

Turning back around, she grabs a spatula to flip the bacon.

He nods in response, going to walk down the hallway, but then he quickly turns back around and comes back to her.

"What?" She turns to him and raises a brow.

He doesn't respond, just leans down and kisses her softly. Then, he turns back around and carries on with his own routine.

Stunned, she stands there still holding her spatula like an idiot. She only snaps out of her trance because the bacon smells like it might be starting to burn and she has to rush to get it out of the pan without burning herself with grease.

The two sit to eat after Robin finishes getting dressed, once again sporting his usual black bandanna and sleeveless shirt combo. While there's a large bruise in his cheek and his lip is busted, he looks much better than the day prior.

Hand in hand, the two exit the house dressed in regular black hoodies with the hood pulled over. They walk down the street to wait with a few other kids. As the bus can be heard approaching, she nervously grips tightly onto his hand.

"There's something I should probably warn you about," she mutters nervously.

He glances to her confused, "what?"

"There's this guy...he's a year older than us. He rides the bus and he's like...super weird. He use to bother me a lot, and basically he's the reason I stopped riding it," she explains softly. "I'm sure it'll be fine though. He never really did anything wrong, just couldn't take a hint."

"It will be fine. Because I'll definitely kick his ass if I need to," he immediately replies, squeezing her hand and getting into a defensive posture.

She nods, feeling better to have his protection.

Finally, the brightly colored school bus rolls to a stop in front of them, and everyone climbs in. As they get on, the two try to find a seat together towards the back while Robin examines the riders to try and figure out who the asshole is.