Robin

-"What do you think Cat?" I said while looking at the mirror and the dress I was wearing. she replied with nothing but a mew. "yeah too classy..."

I took it off and looked through my closet. after a couple of minutes of searching I finally decided on black pants, a white blouse and a grey sweater over. I smiled at myself at the mirror. "now that's better. not too formal, not too random!"

I stroked Cat's head before heading downstairs to my living room. to kill the time I decided to finally finish decorating my Christmas tree which I've been procrastinating it for a while. I picked up a decoration from the box and hung it on one of the tree branches. I did this for a short while before my doorbell rang and I went to open it. I opened the door and put on my black heels, waiting for Dust to show up.

He came up the stairs a few seconds later and smiled at me. he was wearing a suit that was obviously tailor made with a white shirt and no tie with a coat and his green scarf around his neck.

-"Hey." he said.

-"Hey!" I replied.

-"Ready to go?"

-"Yeah just let me grab my stuff..." I said while putting on my coat and grabbing my scarf and purse. "let's go."

I walked out and closed and locked the door. we walked downstairs and into the snow covered street and I felt a cold breeze.

-"So... anywhere special you like to go?" I asked.

-"Actually, I did have a plan. it's just that... I don't have a car so we should walk." he smiled.

-"I don't mind. I'm Canadian. cold is in my blood! Well then lead the way!" I said as he chuckled and we both started walking. not many people were walking in the freezing air. the sky was cloudy and ready to snow and houses on both sides of the street had their Christmas lights on.

-"Gosh I can't believe its December 19th. it's basically Christmas." I said.

-"How come?" he asked.

-"Well for one thing I still haven't decorated my tree and haven't got any presents. if my mother was here she would have called me insane and would drag me into town to get everything set and done in a day!" we both chuckled at this. "I suppose everything is set up in the mansion."

-"Yeah the tree is decorated and fires are made and turkeys are bought. everything's prepared for the Christmas dinner."

-"And presents?" I asked.

-"We don't really give that much of presents. just small stuff like cash or something that we request. Elsa usually gets jewelry, Alex asks for different stuff and I settle for cash."

-"So none of you surprise each other with gifts?"

-"Not really. it's been like this since we were kids and ever since we wanted something, Henry would get it and give it to us."

-"That's one way I guess, my family always surprised each other with gifts. usually me and my siblings woke up at 6 in the morning to find a pile of gifts under the Christmas tree."

-"That's nice. we weren't always like this either. before mom passed away we had this stuff too. gifts under Christmas tree, egg hunt on easter Sunday and... but after she died we just sort of gave everything up."

-"Aw I'm sorry!" I said and held his arms. he smiled a bit.

-"Anyways, here we are." he pointed at the park. I looked up to see the restaurant on the edge of the park.

-"Tavern on the Green? but its impossible to get a reservation here!"

-"Not if you're me." he chuckled and lead me towards the door. tavern on the green was a classic restaurant in town that was opened in 50's. it served greatest food in town for years and earned an excellent reputation.

We walked through the door to find ourselves in a luxury hallway with a waiter at the end of it waiting for us.

-"Reservation for Bradford." Dust said.

-"Yes sir. follow me." he said with a smile and opened the door behind him and lead us into a large hall. it was decorated in a classic style and all of sits and tables were old and classic and the walls were all wallpapered. the hall lead to a glass wall showing a garden that was covered in snow but inside the hall it was warm and cozy. and on the other side a band of violinists were playing soft songs.

-"Wow...." I whispered as the waited lead us to our table. Dust smiled a bit and kept silent. the waited sat us at a table next to the window and took our coats. I sat down in front of Dust and looked around.

-"I still can't believe you got us here! this place is really expensive!"

-"Don't worry about it. it was the least I can do." he said as another waiter brought two menus and filled our glasses with water. I picked up my menu and looked through it.

-"I'll have a steak please." Dust said and handed the menu to the waiter.

-"Um... grilled chicken please." I said and gave the menu to her.

-"Of course." she said and took the menu. "and what kind of drink."

-"non alcoholic." we said at the same time and looked at each other chuckling as the waiter left.

-"So...." he said.

-"Yeah?" I asked. he chuckled.

-"you know, I barely know anything about you. besides being Canadian and speaking French, what's your story?" I chuckled at him.

-"Why do you want to know?" I asked smirking. I felt he backed up a bit and slightly blushed.

-"Um..well we're....friends aren't we? I need to know about you..." he said and slowly smiled.

-"Huh..." I said chuckling. "fine I'll talk about myself. I was born on March 30th of 1991, Vancouver. we lived in the suburbs so I guess that categorizes me as one of those rich cheerleader type girls." he chuckled."my dad is an architect and my mom is a teacher at the local school. I moved out to New York when I was 18 cause I was accepted at NYU's art program. that's where I met Lucy and became best friends."

"It was a 4 year study of art of drawing and I loved every second of it. my family wanted me to become a doctor or lawyer or something like this but all I ever wanted was to draw so I followed my passion and my family supported me."

"After the school, me and Lucy decided to start a small business before settling down. something like a cafe or a shop. so we bought this cafe and moved to Willow Creak. it wasn't a cafe then, it was an old pub. Lucy knew a bit of designing and with a little help from her friend we designed the cafe. to make it more attractive, Lucy styled it in old French style. ad so we have lived here for the past four years and settled down."

By this time they brought our food and I looked at my plate of grilled chicken with the side of fries and vegetables.

-"And any relationships?" I looked up at him right after he asked this question.

-"In the past four years, no. but I did have a boyfriend back in college but...it didn't end well."

-"Oh I'm sorry." he said.

-"That's ok it just wasn't meant to be." I smiled a bit. "but that was me. what about you?"

-"What about me?" he said while looking down at his steak and cutting it.

-"Well all I know about you is that you live in the Hilltop and you're adopted into Bradford family... and you like classic movies." I smiled and took a sip of water.

-"wWhat else do you need to know?" he asked and put a piece of steak in his mouth.

-"Well what about your real parents? do you know anything about them?" I asked and he looked down a bit.

-"That's the topic I don't talk about... but no. all I know is that my father left my mom."

-"But how did you end up in this town? and with the Bradfords?"

-"I really don't talk about this." he sliced a piece of his steak.

-"But how did you-"

-"I said I don't talk about it!" he cut me off and raised his voice a bit and and dropped his knife and fork in his plate, making some heads turn toward us. I looked around embarrassed and turned my gaze at him.

-"Sorry sorry..." I said and turned my attention back to my food. there a few moments of awkward silence after.

-"Robin, I-I'm really sorry." he said.

-"No it's ok I shouldn't have pried."

-"No it's not ok... it's just that I don't talk about this with anyone at all. and I've been told I have a bit of anger issue but that's no excuse for yelling at you like this."

-"No I get it, you don't need to apologize. it's ok" I smiled. "I was pushing you. I'm sorry."

-"It's alright." he smiled. we kept eating in silence for a little while in silence.

-"Say um, why did you ask me if we had wolves in the mansion the other day?" he broke the silence. I looked up at him.

-"Oh no reason really. one of the cafe's clients told a story of a guy who climbed in your garden and three wolves attacked him. and then the other day that wolf attacked me near the mansion so I thought maybe you kept wolves in there but it's stupid right? the forest is probably full of wolves and the guy could have been on something that he thought he saw wolves. do you have any dogs?"

-"Um...not now but we used to have...three of them." I lied.

-"There! there's an explanation for everything and all is fine."

-"Do people talk a lot about us?" he asked and looked at me.

-"Not really. I mean I thought maybe they are trying to avoid it but when it comes up, people have their own point of views and not all of them are good." I said and ate a piece of my chicken.

-"I know. they think we're monsters. like vampires taking control of town. Like Dark Shadows."

-"I don't think it's true. maybe it used to be but they don't think your monsters!"

-"Really? tell me no one tried to stop you from coming to Hilltop on Christmas night or when you came to draw?"

-"I...well some tried to talk me out of it."

-"See? we have a bad reputation in town and I'm not even sure why. it's just part of the small town charm I guess. like we're in a Disney movie and this is the village full of brave people and Hilltop mansion is big castle with a Beast in it."

-"In that scenario I'll be the one strange girl in town who falls in love with the beast." I said laughing. he chuckled a bit nervous

-"Fall in love?" he asked.

-"It's just a joke." I said. "but I'm glad I didn't care what they said. cause then I wouldn't have found an awesome friend like you." I said smiling.

He looked at me in my eyed when I said that. there was a strange look in his green eyes but I couldn't put my finger on what it was. slowly smiled and small smile.

-"Are we...friends then?" he asked.

-"sure dummy what do you think?" I laughed as he kept smiling and looked down at his plate again and started eating.

-"Thanks Robin...for being friends."

-"No problem Dusty." I smiled and started eating again. but I knew even though we were friends, it was gonna be a long time before I could figure out his mysteries. mysteries that he was hiding from me and for some reason, didn't want me to find them.