"'Cause I don't wanna fall in love

If you don't wanna try.

But all that I've been thinking of

Is maybe that you're mine.

Baby, it looks as though we're running

out of words to say,

And love's floatin' away."

❁❁❁

IT DIDN'T TAKE long for us to reach the Academy. When we exited the car, Emily had long stopped crying, but I still pulled her into a tight embrace. Surely nothing could hurt more than seeing someone you care so deeply for in pain, right?

Robin quietly took her presents out of his trunk, and waited patiently as I gave Emily a short pep talk to cheer her up. Then, we headed to Emily's dorm.

"Thank you for sending me home," Emily said sincerely when we came to a stop outside of her door. Rummaging through her purse, she grabbed her room key and opened the front door.

"Are you sure you'll be alright?" I asked, eyebrows creasing in concern. I knew Robin and I were supposed to have a 'talk', but it could wait if Emily wanted me to stay the night.

"Yeah," she replied, grabbing her birthday gifts from Robin. Her lips curved upwards into a half-hearted smile, and she hobbled into her room, gifts piled in her arms. Once she set all her presents down, she dusted her hands and turned to face us again.

"Again, thank you so much. For everything," she said, pulling me into a quick hug. "You guys should head back, too. It's really late already. Robin, take care of her, okay?"

"I will," Robin promised. We exchanged goodbyes and promised to meet each other for lunch tomorrow, and then I allowed Robin to drag me off back to my dorm.

The entire time we were headed back to my dorm, I couldn't help but vent my anger out.

"Don't you think that he's being so insensitive?" I ranted, throwing my hands in the air in frustration. "Emily clearly cares about him— she might even have feelings for him! And he didn't even bother coming for the party that he organised."

Robin sighed, placing his hand on my back and guiding me down the empty hallway. I turned to face him, realising that he had been silent the whole time.

"Do you know why he's acting like this?" I asked, eyes narrowing in suspicion. I placed my hands on my hips, waiting for his answer. When I thought about it, the boys definitely seemed to know something was up with Asher. Every single time anyone brought him up, they'd give some vague excuse for his weird behaviour and then proceed to sweep the topic under the rug.

"Alexandra, even if I did, it is not our problem," Robin replied, sounding more mature than his age. "This is between Asher and Emily. Don't make it any more complicated than it needs to be."

"Ugh!" I couldn't help but groan when I knew that he was right. It was none of my business, but it just felt so wrong that I wanted to do something about it.

"Come on. Let's get inside first," Robin said, his velvety voice soothing my anger. I didn't even realise we reached my front door, and sheepishly opened the door with my key.

"I just...it sucks to see Emily so upset," I finally said with a resigned sigh as we walked into my room. Turning to face him, I couldn't help but let the frantic concern I had for Emily flash through my eyes.

"She's been like this for the whole week and I'm starting to get really worried. You know her, she's not the type of person to look for a confrontation. She just keeps everything to herself and hopes that time will help to solve everything."

Robin took a deep breath and grabbed me by the shoulders. I looked up into his blue eyes and recognised the hesitation inside of them. Was he going to hug me?

As if he could read my mind, he let go of my arms quickly and shoved his hands into his pockets. I let out a frustrated groan, poking him in the chest with a finger.

"What's wrong with you, Robin?" I demanded, causing his eyebrows to crease together in confusion.

"What?"

"Why can't you touch me?" I blurted out, cheeks burning. I didn't sound needy or desperate, do I?

Oh, who was I kidding? Of course, I sounded needy and desperate!

"W-What did you say?" Robin repeated, choking on his words.

"You know! Holding my hand, or like, hugging me once in awhile! You never do that. Are you tired of me already? Did you change your mind?" I couldn't help but ramble on. I was starting to get worked up, and all the frustration I had kept to myself was rising up to the surface. Maybe it was because the entire Asher-Emily drama was making me have second thoughts about relationships, but I couldn't help but be paranoid at Robin's distant behaviour. I started pacing around the living room, not realising that Robin's eyes had darkened or that he was now stalking towards me.

"Trust me, Alexandra, I haven't changed my mind. But you do tire me out with all your confusing actions," he muttered once he was in front of me, grabbing my shoulders once again.

"So, why?" I demanded angrily.

"I thought you wanted us to move slowly, so I'm respecting your decision," he said lowly. "I don't know about you, but this is all new to me. I take what you say literally because the last thing I want to do is screw this up."

At his explanation, my expression softened. Could it be that all this time, he was just afraid?

"You should've just told me," I mumbled under my breath, suddenly feeling embarrassed that I had let my anger out on him. We really needed to work on the whole 'communication' thing if we're being serious about dating.

Then, to my surprise, he pulled me into a rare embrace. Balancing his chin on my head, he reassured me softly.

"I won't change my mind about you, Alexandra."

"You never know," I sniffed, leaning into his chest and taking a deep breath. Robin smelled like clean sheets and musk, and his scent immediately put me at ease. "Just look at Emily and Asher. They were fine a couple of weeks ago, and now they can barely look at each other."

"They'll work it out. Don't be a busybody," he chided.

"I'm not! She's my best friend! And he's yours! I'm merely concerned," I protested, my words coming out muffled against his shirt. Pulling back slightly, I tilted my head upward and looked into his eyes.

"I can't believe I'm dating a giant nose," he muttered, rolling his eyes.

"What? Are you trying to say I'm nosy?" I gasped, pushing against him in an attempt to get him to release me from his bear-like grip but to no avail.

"Well, aren't you?" Robin countered, raising his eyebrow at me and challenging me to deny it.

"I am not!" I exclaimed, and Robin shot me a pointed look.

"And pigs can fly," he continued to tease, much to my displeasure.

"The minute you let go of me, I'm going to punch you in the throat," I muttered evilly, but Robin only laughed in response.

"That's if you can even reach my throat, Alexandra," he mocked, his lips curling into a smirk. Before I could curse him out, Robin continued.

"Anyways, if you can stop plotting my murder for a minute," he said, his voice adopting a more serious tone. "I came here to talk to you about something."

"What is it?" I asked curiously, forgetting for a moment that I wanted to punch his oesophagus.

"I want to take you out on a date next weekend," he said.

"Wow," I gasped dramatically. "Is Robin Oswald Clair, the busiest teenager in the whole wide world, asking me to spend the weekend with him?"

Despite my mocking tone, my cheeks were burning from his sudden request. I was still not used to Robin being anywhere near romantic around me. Sure, we spent a lot of time together this week, but most of it was spent in absolute silence. He worked while I painted, and we sat several metres apart because we didn't want any passersby getting the wrong idea. Just minutes ago, we were arguing about how he didn't dare to touch me!

"Don't get too cocky, Alexandra," Robin snorted, rolling his eyes. His lips relaxed into a lazy smile, and his arms loosened around my waist slightly. "So what do you say?"

"Why are you asking all of a sudden?" I couldn't help but blurt out. Robin shrugged nonchalantly.

"Usually the date comes before the kiss, but we'll just have to make do with what we have, don't we?" Robin drawled, his expression turning cheeky. Rolling my eyes, I hit him in the chest playfully.

"Don't talk about kissing if you're not going to kiss me," I sniffed, watching as Robin's expression turned into something more serious. He took a step forward, trapping me in his presence. I could feel the warmth radiate off his skin, and shivered when he ran his fingers up my arm and settled gently on my cheek.

"Who says I'm not?" he countered, raising an eyebrow. Even though he sounded confident, I didn't miss the way his lips quivered slightly.

He leaned in slowly, and my breath hitched in anticipation. Closer, closer, closer...until his lips were a hair's breadth away.

"Alexandra," he said.

"Hm?" I hummed in reply, staring into his blue eyes and getting lost in them.

"What are we?" he asked, breaking our eye contact and suddenly finding a deep interest in his hand on my cheek instead.

"What do you mean?" I asked in confusion, my eyebrows darting together in a frown.

"Are we dating?" he asked quietly.

"Aren't we?" I retorted, almost teasingly. But when he didn't meet my eyes, I realised that he was serious. And perhaps, a little unsure too.

"I like you, Robin. I don't know why I do, because you kind of suck," I muttered, wrinkling my nose. He let out a snort, rolling his eyes.

"Thanks a lot," he replied sarcastically. Maybe it was because I was spending a lot more time around him lately, but this time I saw past his sarcasm and composure. The doubt that flashed in his eyes just moments ago faded away.

"So what do we do now?" he murmured, finally looking into my eyes.

"I don't know," I mumbled. This time, I was the one to look away. "Are we going to be serious about this? About dating?"

Robin's expression softened, and he used his thumb to caress my cheek gently.

"I don't think you know how much I want us to be serious, Alexandra," he said.

"Ugh, stop saying things that make me want to kiss you," I groaned, thumping my head against his chest. I felt his chest rumble as he let out a hearty laugh, and couldn't help but let out a giggle of my own.

"That's actually my plan. Is it working?"

"Maybe."

"Maybe?" he repeated teasingly, and I tilted my head up to glare at him.

"Shut up and kiss me already," I all-but-demanded, jabbing his chest with my finger.

"Gladly."

With that, he leaned down and finally closed the distance between us. I shivered as his lips pressed against my own, and my hands circled around his neck, pulling him closer than I'd ever thought possible. I felt the walls that built against him crumble in an instant. All the hesitation, fear and doubt vanished, and all I could think about Robin and how beautiful he is. I realised that I never stood a chance against Robin Clair. Never.

My toes curled as his hands roamed down my cheeks, to my shoulders, down my arms and finally, resting on the small of my back where they stayed firm against the thin fabric of my shirt. I trembled, still not used to how cold his hands were.

As his lips moved against mine, I wondered how it would feel if I gave everything to him. After all, this was just a closed-mouth kiss, but the feelings that he instilled into my heart was enough to make me forget my name for a second or two.

We broke our kiss once we realised that we needed to breathe to stay alive.

Once we pulled away, the awkwardness that ensued was almost unbearable. We ended up on the couch, an arm's length away from each other, silent and bashful. Robin drummed his fingers against his thigh and cleared his throat as I fussed around with my hair and refused to look at him in the eye.

I suppose it was because we weren't used to be being so vulnerable around each other. The kiss we shared was filled with so much emotion that it scared me, and I didn't know how to react to it.

"Have you ever kissed anyone?" I asked out of curiosity. There were rumours about how Robin never dated, but I found it difficult to believe when he kissed me. Surely, he couldn't be naturally good at everything right?

"No," he replied, his eyebrows suddenly creasing. "Why do you ask?"

"You're a great kisser," I admitted, feeling feverish. "I was surprised, that's all."

"You're not too bad yourself," he murmured, his rosy lips tugging into a small, content smile. He finally turned to look at me, and I unconsciously bit down on my bottom lip. If we just leaned in a couple of inches...

"Glad I didn't disappoint," I breathed, realising that the both of us had already leaned closer towards each other.

"Can I kiss you again?" he asked, his eyes darting to my lips for a millisecond.

"Do you even have to ask, Robin?"

Knock! Knock!

The two of us sprang apart immediately at the sound of the sharp knocks on the door.

"Who's that?" Robin coughed, running his hand through his sandy hair. We shot each other a puzzled look, and I got up to open the door. Who could be knocking at my door at such an ungodly hour?

"I dunno," I answered, pursing my lips. I felt a surge of annoyance run through my veins as I got up from the couch and shuffled to the door. Whoever it was outside must've a damned good reason for interrupting us...

I yanked the door open, ready to ask whoever was standing outside to leave, but stopped short when I caught sight of the lonely figure in front of me.

"Em?" I gasped, eyes widening in surprise. What was my best friend doing, standing outside my door in the dead of the night, still in her party dress? She looked up, and I caught sight of the unshed tears in her eyes.

Her makeup was smudged and her blonde hair was unusually unkempt. She looked nothing like the neat and cheerful girl I befriended.

"What are you doing here? Have you been drinking?" I asked, eyebrows furrowing in concern. She looked away, sniffling, so I grabbed her shoulders and forced her to look into my eyes.

With trembling lips, she shut her eyes and let the tears roll down her cheeks.

"Asher, he—," she began. She wiped her tears off her cheeks messily with the back of her hand.

"He called off our engagement."

❁❁❁

That's it for this chapter! Hope you guys thoroughly enjoyed it. I will be taking a short hiatus til the end of August to focus on my upcoming assignments and exams. To keep updated on when I get off hiatus, be sure to follow @/shevonleck on Instagram!

Song of the Chapter: Say You Love Me // Jessie Ware