9. Robbie Comes Home
The following weekend, Robbie came home to visit. He had been away for a couple of months, and, seeing he was the kind of guy that kept to himself, had only found out by accident that his father hadn't been home almost all this time. In the same phone call, the day before he left, Sasha told him about Jordan.
He had been a bit nervous when he heard that Jordan was from their high school, for some reason. But Robbie was like that. Even though he seemed happy to be independent and move out to college, he was actually super-shy and diminutive. He hated loud partying, and would rather sit in his room gaming or watching a movie with one or two friends. This was somewhat reassuring for Janice, as it meant he was unlikely to get into trouble.
She was, however, extremely stressed out about how things were going to play out and how people would behave when Robbie came home. He was a sweet little boy, and she couldn't possibly explain what was going on here. It would all be over in an instant. John would find out and her shame would be public forever. She had to go back to being Mom, and that was it. No looking at Jordan, no touching him. He was Sasha's boyfriend, and that was it. She knew that John messaged him occasionally, and she couldn't risk anything getting out.
The more she thought about it, the more frantic she became. She felt a sudden pang of guilt at her debauchery, and put her hands to her head. What was right and wrong anymore? Everything she used to think she knew was now uncertain.
Jordan would need to move out of her room, of course. She would just ignore him, really, for the weekend. She would have to tell him first. They couldn't risk him looking at her in a dominant fashion, or accidentally calling her 'Babe', or directing her to come to him.
Oh, Dear! Life was getting so complicated, suddenly. She sat herself down with a coffee, and sighed. She was still fretting about it when she heard footsteps on the gravel from where she was seated under the alfresco. Robbie was here already! She quickly checked her hair and adjusted her clothing, and started up the passage to the front door. Oh, boy. She would need to talk to Jordan and Sasha later on. Hopefully things would be OK. Surely, the others would know how to behave in the situation.
And there he was! Her little boy! Robbie seemed happy to see her. She gave him a big hug and a warm kiss on the cheek.
"Oh, my darling boy! I've missed you so much! How are you Robbie?"
"I'm good, Mom."
"Let me take a look at you--now, have you been eating properly?"
"Yes, yes. I'm fine."
She laughed and hugged him again, and brought him inside the house.
"You know Sasha's boyfriend has been staying here, don't you?"
"Yeah..."
"He's been very helpful for us, especially while your Father's away."
"OK."
Robbie seemed happy with that summary, so she left it at that.
"Come and tell me how everything's going."
They sat down on the al fresco, and she proceeded to extract a detailed account of what Robbie had been up to, who his friends were, what he was cooking, and how his college work was progressing.
"I gave your room a light dust, I hope everything's as you left it," she said by way of segue, as Robbie stood up to head to his room.
Robbie took his bag and headed into the bedroom wing. He passed Sasha's room and didn't hear any noise. They had usually talked a bit, but he guessed that would be different now if she had a guy.
He entered his bedroom, offloaded his bag, and took his phone out to find some tunes. He didn't really feel like interacting a whole lot today, anyway. College had been pretty intense, trying to get his work done, and avoid all the people who wanted to drag him off to beer parties or weed sessions, something he wanted nothing to do with.
He lay down on his bed and relaxed, feeling glad to be home in silence.
A while later, he could hear some voices down the corridor, and assumed his sister was in the house. He decided he would let them come and say 'Hi' to him, rather than have a big reunion scene in the lounge.
The last thing he heard was some loud whispering from Mom urging someone to keep things quiet. A moment later, Sasha was knocking and without waiting for his reply, bounding into his room, jumping onto his bed and giving him a big hug.
"Robbie! Robbie!"
She kissed him warmly on the cheek, and rolled around on the bed with him.
He scowled to show how much he hated that she was so bouncy and exuberant, still treating him like a little kid. But, secretly, he liked it. And she knew.
"Hey."
"Did you miss me?" Sasha was asking him with a big smile.
"I guess."
In truth, not so much, but, whatever. It was always nice to have someone that was happy to see you. She gave him a fake angry pout, then smiled again.
"I need to introduce you to someone, Robbie."
"Yeah."
"This is Jordan."
As she said that, Jordan came around the corner and into the room. Their eyes met, and Robbie froze.
"Hey, Robbie," Jordan said in a pleasant but manly tone, "nice to see you. I think I remember you."
Robbie couldn't speak, and the color was draining from his face. He swallowed, and managed to forced out a whispered greeting
"Hey."
He looked at Sasha, who had noticed immediately something was wrong.
"What? What is it? Wait, do you guys know each other?"
"We do now," said Jordan with a smile.
They both knew the answer was different. Robbie knew now why he had had an uneasy feeling when Mom had told him about Sasha's boyfriend being from school. He remembered Jordan's face in an instant, and he remembered why--because he had been one of the bigger and rough and tough guys pushing him around years ago at school, and laughing as they flushed his head down the toilet.
There was no mistaking that Jordan recognized him as well. He was one of his bullies. Maybe for him, Robbie had just been another innocent victim that they could push around and torment, and he didn't think much of it. But not from Robbie's perspective. He was suddenly hardly able to breathe.
Jordan excused himself, and went to the living area. It was true. He had had a rough upbringing, and hadn't been able to help himself pushing smaller kids around in senior high school. He remembered Robbie, now that he had seen him, and would need to do something to put this right.
Meanwhile, Sasha was on Robbie's bed with her arm around him.
"What's going on, Robbie?"
"Nothing."
"Come on! What? Did you remember Jordan from school?"
Robbie looked away, nodding slightly.
"So, what is it?"
"Aah, I didn't really like him."
"Oh."
"Yeah."
"Well, you don't need to let that affect anything now, right? You can be his friend, now, can't you?"
