Notes:

Additional Cast:

Nick Zano as Alex Summers

Evangeline Lilly as Phoebe Combs(Adams)

Nathan's POV

It's already Tuesday and the frat house is still a mess from Friday's party. It seems like my fellow ΚΕΓ brothers decided that it would be better to extend the party for a couple days than cleaning this place up. I won't complain, we did have fun, ladies included and not. It is really strange being able to wake up on your own and not by the loud music or from people's screams. I kinda got used to it during these past days. Anyway, seems like I am going to class today, since obviously there is no way I help with the chores. I get ready and try to sneak out of the house, getting some deathly glares from some other frat boys, but they do not dare to talk to me. I have built a satisfying reputation for myself after all. I get in my car and call Robin putting her on speaker. Theoretically we go to the gym every Tuesday together. Apart from the Tuesdays she bails on me for her girlfriend. Being whipped and all. Geez, Robin is the master of all the whipped ones in the world.

"Hey, Nate." She picks ups after a few rings. Her voice is not cheery though like usual.

"Hey you whipped face. What's up?"

"Um... good... you? What's up, why are you calling?" she asks and sounds distracted.

"I didn't expect anything less from you. You obviously don't include our bromance activities on your calendar." I say eyerolling even if she can't see me. "Are you with Soph? How's that coming out party of yours going? Did my invitation get lost in the mail?"

"Um... listen Nate, can I call you back another time? Things did not go well..." she says.

"What do you mean?" I say as I stop at the traffic light on Malone's street. This damn thing always gets me.

"Well, mama Ford did not take it well.. Sophie is here, she is a mess.. things suck right now.." she puffs through the phone.

"Shit. It is bad, right? How's Sophie?" Man, I totally forgot about it. Robin has told me she had good vibes about this whole thing. It sucks she was wrong in the end.

"To be honest I don't know what to do, Nate... she is broken... I don't know how to help..."

"Shit, I'm coming over." I stop her from saying anything else and turn over, ignoring the corns from the assholes around me. It is sort of an emergency, you idiots.

"No Nate, that's ok, you don't have to come..." She tries to change my mind. Like that ain't happening. Doesn't she know who she is talking to?

"I said I'm coming. I'll be at your house in 10." I say and hang up, not letting her bullshit on me again.

As impossible as it would have sounded some months ago, I consider Sophie as a friend of mine. I have no idea how this friendship came up or blossomed or whatever they say about stuff like this, but she is having a hard time and the least I can do is show up. After I do that, I honestly have no idea what I should do but first things first.

I arrive at Robin's house in 8 minutes actually, I don't know if I have made it here faster before. I am proud of myself. Anyway, I ring on the bell with zero plans in my head.

Alex is the one to open the door.

"Oh... Um, hi Alex." I greet him frowning.

I know he lives at this house but I've only seen him here once on Thanksgiving. Seems like Robin wants to have the house to herself for naughty times most of the time. I should tease her about it. Well, not now. It doesn't sound like a good idea considering what is going on.

"Hello Nathan, come in. Nice to see you. The girls are upstairs." He gestures for me to go in. Last time I saw him he was chipper but now he looks kinda concerned too. Shit. Things are shitty indeed.

"Yeah, thanks." I give him a nod and step inside. "How is Sophie?"

"Well, as expected, she is heartbroken. Poor kid you should have seen her... she is gonna need her support group now." He smiles sadly at me and a part of me regrets asking this question. Another part of me is thankful for the warning. I should get prepared for really unpleasant situations.

"I see... um, I'm going up." I salute him and head over the stairs.

I have never realized from how few steps this thing consists of. I find myself wishing there were more. I also find myself standing outside Robin's room like a creep. How bad could it be? What the hell, I am about to find out. I knock on the door two times and after a faint 'come in' I get inside.

"Hey Nate." Ro is the first to greet me getting up from her bed and coming for a hug.

"Hey blondie." I hug her back and point with my head silently towards Sophie's direction to get a proper diagnosis of what I am about to face. All I get is just a shrug. Seriously Robin? I puff and turn around to look at a brooding Sophie sitting on the bed with her back against the wall. God, she is wearing that hideous t-shirt of Robin's with the pink spaceship. Things are shitty, there is no doubt about it.

"And hello to you too, miss Sophie Lillian Ford." I give her a smirk. She looks up at me with an empty kinda looking expression.

"Hello Nathan." She says simply and looks between me and Robin.

"So, what's up?" I ask as I slump on the bed.

"Nothing much... do you need help with history again? I am sorry I am not in the mood right now." Sophie replies and Robin sits on her desk chair in front of us.

"Nope, I had enough dose of history as a freshman. I am keeping my distance from that stuff." I make myself comfortable, taking a pillow and placing it under my head. "Ro, I am kinda starving. Can you make me something to eat?" Robin is giving me a look but nods in understanding.

"Sure, be back in 15. Sophie, do you need anything? Are you hungry?" She asks tentatively, but Sophie shakes her head. With that, she gets up and leaves her room.

"So... I heard things turned out to suck after the whole coming out thing." I decide to get in the point right away, since I have no idea how to bring it out from Sophie. If I don't speak directly about it, I might complicate things instead, and in that case I will still not know what to do, but it sounds worse.

She looks at me pouting a bit but the nod in her head comes quickly. "My mom... she... doesn't accept it.. she called me a clueless child." She says and I hear bitter in her voice. "I disappointed her..."

Shit. Things are more than shitty and I am sure not prepared for this. What do you say under these circumstances?

"She did, huh?" I murmur and then turn to face Sophie. She has her eyes stuck on me. Damn it, I have to say something appropriate. "She has no idea what the fuck she is talking about." Sophie's eyes widen at that.

"I have never felt so worthless in my life... the look she gave me... I am a disappointment to her... I can tell.." She looks down.

Fuck. We are diving into dangerous and undesirable waters over here.

"I know how it is to be a disappointment to your parents. Believe me, I am pretty familiar with the feeling. You are nothing like that, Sophie. I don't want to hear you say it ever again." She is nothing but a disappointment, who filled her head with this kind of crap?

"Has your mom ever told you that the things you feel are not valid? For once in my life... I got to be happy... really happy and I thought she would be happy for me... but she ordered me to my room and told me the conversation never happened, like I am some kind of teen... has your mom ever done that?" She asks with a frown in her forehead.

"You mean she treated you like a damn child. And she is supposed to be an adult, for quite a time now. That's bullshit." I state puffing. "And hell no, my mom has never told me something like that. She knows her boundaries and even if she did, I wouldn't give a damn." I say frustrated, recalling the not so happy state of my family. "And you shouldn't give a damn either."

"But... I look up to her... she is my mom... everything I have done in my life I did it thanks to her, for her... she is my world, how can I not be affected, how can I not care? She is supposed to be my rock... my shelter.." Sophie continues with a broken tone.

"You shouldn't care 'cause right now she is not worth of being your world or your fuckinhg rock. She is not the person you should look up to. If she wants to be that person again, she has to earn it. Because she is the one who messed it up. Big time." I state persistently, just realizing that Sophie's state is not that different from mine. There are some things I can relate to.

"I don't think I can live without her in my life Nathan, though-"

"Sophie, let me get this straight for you." I interrupt her. "You are your own person. You are the one who accomplished everything in your life. You are the one who studied her ass off to get in law school, you are the one who took a leap of faith and gave your heart to someone. And that leap of faith turned to be a successful decision, since you found somebody to love and that loves you back. You even got yourself a bunch of friends and Joseph has told me that this is not something you have been familiar with. As one of those friends, I am telling you that you are the one who accomplished all this. And during this whole process, you were able to find yourself as well. I don't see how your mom fits in all this. It was you who did everything. Now if your mom wants to pretend she is deaf or is in the mood of playing it dumb, that is her fucking problem. You are not a child anymore and you are not gonna sit around and do her favour. You are a grown up, she has to treat you like that. This is you and she has to accept it." I finish my speech, lifting my hands up in the air. Damn it, I might have spoken more than I intended to. I think I got carried away. But I can't stand any form of bullshit. Sophie sighs deeply at that.

"Nathan... you don't know the influence she has on me... she was the one that spent her days reading books with me, she made me love knowledge, I admired her for that... I even stopped my hobby because she didn't like it... I chose law because of her because I had to be the perfect kid... but also because in comparison to her job, law seemed better, more in order... I chose that being influenced by her. You have no idea how hang up I am to her in every aspect... maybe your relationship with your mom is not like mine, but I can't stop thinking about what she said... it feels like I don't know who I am right now." She swallows hard.

"I listened to you carefully." I tell her nodding. "You know what I got out of it? That she has been manipulating you your whole life. Maybe she didn't do it on purpose, maybe she wanted the best for you. It is obvious though, she was doing that, as obvious is the fact that you were clueless about it. You are still clueless about it. What about what you want? What about what you like? Don't you think it is time to put yourself first? It's time for her to understand she can't keep on treating you like a damn puppet. 'Cause damn you're not!" I give her a slight punch on the arm smirking at her playfully. "About the other thing now, it sucks when people's voices get stuck in your head and their words keep being repeated nonstop. Especially when we are talking about someone you hold dear. I know how it feels." It happens to me too. Out of the blue, I hear my dad's voice telling me how proud he is of me. It is unbearable really.

"I don't think I can be mad at her.. I don't know if I am disappointed, angry, sad... I am... numb... ever since Saturday I keep playing the scene in my head... I am afraid of what may come... Robin wanted us to break up for a while... it's feels like everything is slipping out of control." She sniffles at that.

"We won't let that happen." I stretch my arm and drag her closer to my embrace. "As I've said before, you are a tough cookie, Sophie Lillian Ford. You'll be fine. You can be angry and mad and disappointed and numb and however you want as long as you are you. Things are not good at the moment, yes, will it get better? Hopefully. No matter what happens though it will be definitely better than this right now. You know, our old folks come from a different century, they do process things differently. And there is this thing every parent does. They have their children's future planned out in their minds. Every single detail. Like what they should be wearing on graduation and which college they will go to and what is the ideal job for them and what colour should be the napkins at their wedding party. You know this kind of shit." I hit my forehead with hers slightly and then scream in pain. "Woah, what do you have in there, Ford? Bricks? Ouch!" I rub my forehead chuckling, hoping she will join me too.

"My frontal bone is indestructible." She comments but chuckles afterwards, rubbing her forehead too even though she felt no pain.

"You are one of a kind, Sophie Lillian Ford. Don't let anybody convince you otherwise. When in doubt, think of your indestructible frontal bone." I raise my eyebrows at her. She does seem to be in a better place than the one I found her when I got here.

"Thank you Nathan. It means a lot... how was your party? Can we talk about something else?" She shrugs. I can talk about something else. Things got too sentimental for me out of a sudden.

"My party was a hell of a party." I state in a proud tone. "People got drunk, people hooked up with other people. It was fun. Your girlfriend was the perfect role model for all the whipped going solo. She stayed for a while, we had a good chat."

"Ro is so whipped... I know." She shrugs. "But she is amazing. I am glad you had fun at your party, next year I will try to be there for sure." She smiles.

"You betcha!" I wink at her. "Ro is so whipped, yeah. I hope Joseph does not follow her lead. It will be frustrating. He and Alice were all over each other, already living the honeymoon."

"I think he will be a different kind of whipped, everyone is in their own way I suppose. I am glad he is happy, he deserves that... and you, Nathan... thank you for this." She says and tentatively puts her arms around my shoulders for a quick hug.

"Give me a proper hug, Ford! I don't bite." I say chortling and squeeze her into my arms. "You good?" I ask before letting go of her.

"Better, yes. I think Ro left us on purpose for so long... it's been 40 minutes." She chuckles.

"You think?" I frown trying to look sceptical. "Time flies when you are with a friend. Let's go check what she has cooked for us. Or what the delivery guy brought for us. Come on." I stand up first and wait by the door, holding it open. Sophie nods her head climbing off of the bed and we make our way downstairs laughing as I make fun of Robin's cooking skills.

Vanessa's POV

I take a big breath and decide to knock on Robin's door. This whole thing is quite inevitable so it might be better to get done with it. I knock twice but nobody answers. It would be more practical to ring on the bell I guess. I take another big breath and go with option B.

"Hey Vee." Robin opens the door and smiles at me.

"Hello Robin. I thought about passing by. I had some free time. I hope that's okay." I smile back at her while detecting discreetly the inside of the house.

"Your are funny." She jokes. "Come on in, the more the merrier, Nate is here." She steps aside for me to get in and then we march to the kitchen.

My heart stops beating for a moment. At least, that is how it feels like. Like my heart has stopped beating. There he is. The boy who has turned my world upside down. Nathan is sitting along with Sophie on the stools at the kitchen isle. His head has fallen back and he is holding his stomach while laughing really hard. I don't remember seeing him laughing like this before. It makes him look carefree, totally lost in the moment, with his dimples making their appearance. I wish I could laugh along but just being at the same place with him right now has the opposite effect on me. I would rather turn around and leave. Or I would prefer turning invisible and staying here observing him and not missing a single laugh or smile of his.

"Vanessa? Hey!" comes from Sophie, who stops giggling the moment she sees me.

"Um, hi." I raise up my hand in an awfully awkward attempt to greet her. And him. Nathan stops chortling as well as he turns to face me. His eyes widen for a second. I guess he didn't expect to see me here, as I didn't expect to see him either.

"Hi, what are you doing here?" Sophie asks confused and looks at Robin.

"Don't look at me, I know nothing." Robin gives her a small smile and guides me to where Nathan and Sophie are.

"I... um..." I tuck a strand behind my ear and keep my gaze on the kitchen's floor. "I finished with my classes and my paper duties for the day and I thought it would be fun to come by, so Ashton drove me here. But I didn't know you guys had plans, I can go. I mean, I'll go now." I announce and take a step back abruptly.

"I'll go." Nathan states casually as he stands up.

"Or you both can stay, you dorks!" Ro comments next to me, and Sophie hurries to give us a nod.

"I think it's time for me to go." Nathan says smirking at Sophie and places his hand on her shoulder.

"No, no! You came here first, I came unannounced. I am the one who should leave." I remark and wave my hands in the air nervously.

"I said I'll leave." Nathan says sharply and gives me an intense glare.

"Seriously, this house can host more than one person at a time, you idiots, you can both stay! What's with you guys?" Ro asks giving us a 'what the heck' look.

"I am sure I will get bored by your girl talk within seconds." Nathan tries to keep his tone calm but his facial features say something else. He looks at Robin intensely with his jaw clenched to show her she should stop trying to play the peacemaker. I feel like a parasite with the gaze he gives me afterwards. "I am out. You be a good girl, Soph. Okay?" He turns to her and caress the top of her head. "Let me know if you need anything." Sophie leans for a hug. "See you, Ro." He gives her a nod and walks pass me, making his way out of the kitchen. Of course he would ignore me, what did I expect?

"Whenever, Nate." Ro waves her hands and then looks at me when Nathan is gone, with a meaningful look. "You guys ok?"

"Yeah, yeah." I say nodding my head a couple times as I hear the front door close. "I am so sorry, I had no idea you would have something planned, I didn't mean to interfere." I look at both Robin and Sophie apologetically.

"Don't worry, Vanessa, Nathan popped up as well, nothing was planned." Sophie comments, and then her face loses her soft smile. "Have a seat." she pats the seat next to her.

"Thank you, Sophie." I should concentrate on Sophie. I came here for her. To support her. I don't need my personal drama getting in the way right now.

"What can I get you, doll?" Robin offers walking to the fridge.

"Just some water if I don't put you in big trouble." I chuckle and caress Sophie's arm. "So what have you been up today?"

"Um.. same... been here all day, Nathan came, we talked, and now you are here... nothing much... ok I guess." She says sadly and lowers her head.

"That sounds cool." I comment and turn back at Robin frowning and she shrugs sighing deep. I thought things were better today, since just some moments ago Sophie was laughing with Nathan. Seems like when he left, she lost her cheery mood. If that was even cheery.

"Yeah, we could go do something, if you want Soph. You can join too, Vee." Ro sits in front of us, avoiding eye contact. I guess things are not better today indeed.

"Have you eaten anything? I just happen to know the easiest fastest more delicious pizza recipe in the world!" I propose sounding more excited to use my cooking skills than I really am.

"Um. I am sorry, Vanessa, we just ate." Sophie pouts. "Maybe we could watch something?" She proposes next.

"Yeah, why not? I haven't watched any new episodes this week. I usually do it with Alice but I barely see her anymore. You know, she is somewhere with Joseph most of the time." I raise my eyebrows playfully at Sophie. "Maybe we can watch the last episode of The 100? Robin?" I ask while placing my hands on the kitchen isle to get her attention since she seems to be a little off as well.

"Girl, I ain't watching that shit. They killed my boo Heda, no Heda no show. Bellamy is cool and all, but my heart is broken." Robin chimes in. "Watch something else, that show will not be on my TV." She demands seriously.

"Robin." I tell her giving her a meaningful look. It seems to me like they both need a little break to put their thoughts in order.

"Um, you know what, I am gonna take a shower. Would that be, ok?" She asks mostly Sophie and waits for her reaction, which is a simple nod and a shrug.

"Take your time, don't worry about us. We will be at the living room?" I ask Sophie narrowing my eyebrows as I stand up.

"Um... yeah, I guess." Sophie comments and gets up as well. Robin claps her hands and then after giving her a kiss on her cheek, she leaves us.

We make our way to the living room in silence and I sit down first smiling at Sophie as she sits next to me.

"Are you feeling like watching the show now? Or you know, we could just chat a bit." I ask her shrugging.

"Can we just put something on and I don't know... I don't feel like watching something now... you could tell me about your day." She shrugs too and turns on the TV.

"Sure! Hmm, so let me see..." I sigh and bring my index on my chin. "Well, I had class in the morning. History of documentary. It is an interesting lesson in general but today's lecture wasn't that case. Then, I went by the paper's office. I have this article I have to deliver for the next issue. And I have plenty of time but obviously I prefer not to leave it for the last minute. Ashton says hi! He was the one who drove me here. But I think I've already said that." I chuckle briefly. "What else, hmm... He has his birthday next week and he is going to celebrate at his place. I am sure he will let you know when everything is set." My phone begins to ring with this song from The Lion King. "Oh my God!" I cover my face laughing and then search for the phone in my bag. "It's my mom. She always changes her ringtone everytime I go back home. She is original though. It is a different song everytime. I totally forgot to change it back to normal. Maybe because it hadn't rung while I was with other people. She is supposed to be the serious one compared to my dad but. Hello mom." I greet her still laughing after picking it up.

"Hello, sweetheart. How are you?" I hear her warm voice.

"I am good. Class was good too. I am with Sophie now, so I am gonna call you later, okay?" I eyeroll and look at Sophie smiling.

"Oh, okay baby. I don't wanna keep you. Tell Sophie I said hi, give her a hug and a kiss on each cheek from me, okay? Steven, watch out!" She scolds my dad. "Love you lots, honey."

"I will. Love you lots too. Bye!" I hang up. "Mom ordered me to say hi and give you a hug." I open my arms and hold Sophie. "And a kiss on each cheek." A sniffle reaches my ears. Oh no... I instantly let her go and stare at her face. "I am so sorry, Sophie! This was so inappropriate for me to say. Or do! I shouldn't have answered. I am sorry! I came here to cheer you up in a way and then I do something like this? I am such an idiot. I am so sorry. I just want to be here for you. To help you in any way I can. I so desperately want to help you go through this but I have no idea what to do really. What to say. How to act. I am such a disappointment as a friend. I am terribly sorry!" Sophie wipes her tears with her sleeves and then hugs me back unexpectedly. "It is okay. Cry it out. Get it out of your system. You need to cry it out." I whisper into her ear, while squeezing her slightly. "I am sorry. I hope I could find something more fitting to say but I can't come up with anything. I am sorry." I repeat and try to keep it together. I exhale slowly as I hear my friend sobbing. I feel so worthless right now. After a while, she leaves my shoulder and wipes her eyes again.

"I'm getting sick of crying." She says and hides her face in her hands. "It comes and goes, I am sorry." She says tiredly.

"Don't be." I take her hands in mine uncovering her face. "Crying helps. It can be therapeutic they say." I give her a half smile.

"You sound like Robin." She remarks. "You are lucky, you know. Your mom is perfect." And with that, she turns her face away from me.

"I shouldn't have answered it. That was so stupid. I am so sorry." I apologize leaving her hands to wave mine in the air for a bit and then take them back. "Your mom will smile at your smile too. And she will be truly happy to see you happy. She just needs a little time. I think you should just have faith in her. And be patient. Better days will come."

"Don't apologize, it's ok." She replies now nonchalantly. "We can watch Big Bang Theory." She then adds with a weird smile.

"Sure!" I accept with a smile even if I have barely ever watched a full episode of Big Bang Theory. It's obvious that Sophie wants to drive the conversation away from her mom and I will do anything to make her feel more at ease. If she likes to watch Sheldon, then we will watch Sheldon. He's supposed to be funny after all, isn't he? We choose an episode in random. Basically, I choose it on my own. Sophie isn't so keen on helping. We have been watching for almost 15 minutes now and well, I think I've messed up bigtime with the phonecall. It's just I always pick up when my mom or dad calls, even if I can't actually talk to them just to say I am going to call them back later. It was really unconsidered of me. Sophie has been watching, or pretending to be watching. Her eyes are on the tv screen but I bet her mind is elsewhere. Her jittery hands and her struggling to find the perfect seat on the sofa do betray her.

"Penny is hot." Comes from Robin somewhere behind us. She approaches us and sits next to Sophie with a smile. "But nothing compares to you." She compliments her and knocks their foreheads. Sophie though doesn't even move.

"Yes, she's really sweet. And she seems tall too." I share my observation. I think I have to warn Robin somehow about what happened, which is without a doubt the reason why Sophie's mood has turned to blue.

"I'll google it laters." Robin waves her hand and the she wraps it around Sophie, totally missing my warning stares. "You ok?" I hear her whisper to her. Without wanting to intrude their moment, I stare at the tv, but I do not hear Sophie give any reply.

"Babe?" Ro whispers again pressing.

I hear Sophie clear her throat and with the corner of my eye, I see her escape Ro's hug. "My head hurts." She says robotically getting up.

"Vee, I am sorry but I can't continue the ep.. thanks for stopping by."

I've messed up, I've definitely messed up.

"Oh, that's alright, Sophie. Maybe another time. Tomorrow?" Yes, tomorrow I will make sure to put my phone on silent mode. Robin looks stunned at the both of us but I will get the chance to explain to her what happened in a bit. "I hope you feel better." I get up too and give Sophie an apology hug, squeezing her in my arms. I hope she got the message of it.

Robin gets up as well. "Um... I'll be up with you in a few." She tells Sophie, wrapping her arm around her waist, but Sophie moves away.

"I'll nap. Keep watching the ep with Vee." I don't think Sophie meant to say that as coldly as she did.

I facepalm hard since this is all on me. Sophie disappears from the living room right away, leaving me and Robin behind.

"I..." I begin to talk but God, I feel so bad seeing Robin's heavy hearted expression. At least with her, a hug has a bigger chance to work. I hook my arms around her and we stay like this for some time. "You're doing great, Robin. Don't doubt yourself, not even for a second." As I let her go, I guiltily add. "I am responsible for this. I haven't thought it through as much I should have."

Robin looks up and swallows hard. "Today is not a good day." She mumbles to herself mostly and then takes a deep breath before she looks at me. "Not your fault, Vee. Definitely not your fault." She hugs me back. "Guess now I have to not go smother her."

"Yes, this time it is my fault." I insist sighing as we sit on the couch. "My mom called and I picked it up. It was an extremely brief chat but it did its damage."

"It's the topic, huh? I think i'm pressuring her with my constant asking, but I can't help it." She puffs. "You did nothing wrong, Vee. You've done enough for us. Don't feel bad."

"Thank you but I still do. The truth is I have no idea what's the ideal thing to say or how to act to help Sophie. I can't imagine being in her place and as a result I can't imagine how she must be feeling right now." I reveal with concern.

"Me neither." Robin adds. "Never had to go through the coming out to the parents thing. Alex is my uncle and... well, he is Alex... I had no major fear... he is cool, always have been. He is practically never around, so that he can let me have my space and freedom with Sophie. He is Alex. And I guess dad would have been like Alex, but I can never know, so... I can't relate to Sophie right now either." She says sad.

Yeah, Robin had Alex. I instantly smile hopefully, thinking of her in her teens simply stating who she really is and been accepted with nothing but love. Robin, who has maybe no much memories of her parents, had been able to always stay true to herself because she had a wonderful uncle to go home to. Sophie on the other hand, has been lucky enough to grow up with both her parents, have felt love too but now is faced with the chance of losing this love forever. At least her mother's love. Robin and Sophie's stories are so different and I silently wonder if Sophie could find herself be envy of Robin's these days.

"And your mom? What was she like?" I ask with hesitation. "I know we've barely talked about your parents and I don't know if you ever do to be honest, so I am sorry for bringing it up and upsetting you."

She smiles. "It's no problem for me." She shrugs. "Alex always talked so highly of mom, and there was this friend of hers that I met one day and talked a bit about her... they say I am like her. Alex says so all the time. He said my grandparents loved her as their daughter, sometime more than dad and him." She chuckles. "She had her way with people. Kind and thoughtful. Full of positive energy. People loved her."

"Really? That's amazing. Her friend must have helped you feel closer to your mom. And all the stories Alex have shared with you... You are keeping her alive. Her and your dad too. They are living through you. " Robin's story is sad but she has nothing but joy inside of her. I am certain that her parents are constantly watching over her smiling, like they must be doing at this very moment.

"Yeah, she did say stuff I didn't know about her, stories from college, from when she meet dad... words have it she didn't make it that easy for him... and surprise, she had him wrapped around her finger. Whippedness runs only in the Summers family apparently." She points at herself, making me chuckle.

"I don't think I believe that they can see us, but it's comforting to think so. Alice was lucky to have had years with her mom, but I guess not having memories of them makes the loss easier."

"Yes, I guess." The truth is Alice never talks about her mom. I bring in my mind the one and only time she mentioned her, that was on our early college days. We were getting to know each other, speaking about school, embarrassing stories and family. She simply said her mom has passed away and started sharing funny stories with her dad. Everybody has a different way to copy with loss. I don't know if there is only one way to do it. "They would be proud of the woman that you have become. I have no doubt about it."

She tears up after I said that."Moms make things better, right? Maybe my mom could have make it better for Sophie and might have advised on how to be there for her the right way. Dad would be able to make Sophie smile... he'd play her Agnes Obel in his piano... I can't do any of those things. What if this thing breaks us apart at the end?" She wonders.

"Robin, don't be hard on yourself." I taker her hand in mine in an attempt to comfort her. "You are doing great. Sophie would have fallen apart if she didn't have you. Seriously, you are doing all the job here. It's tough, we all know that. You are giving every single piece of yourself to make this as less painful as it can get for Sophie. She is more than thankful, you have to know this."

"I know... in my mind I do, but it's easy to get discouraged. You saw her minutes ago... how cold she got... I ask to make sure she is ok, when I do, it might piss her of, if I don't ask, then maybe she wanted me to... it's not easy." She shrugs. "Too much can drive her way and I can lose her at the end. It might sound childish, Vee... but Sophie is it for me. I know it... I want a future with her."

"There is no way you're going to lose her. She might have done what she did for herself first, but she did to be happy with you too. To be able to love you in the way you deserve to be loved. It's not easy, I won't argue on that, but it's a step to get closer to that very future you're dreaming of." I tell her smiling. Robin is so romantic and feels so deep. "You know what? My parents were even younger than the both of us when they got together. They never broken up and they're happily married and in love till this very second. They're a breathing proof that young love can last forever, so I don't think that your wish and dreams are childish at all."

She looks at me surprised. "Sam... and Nathan I guess, would have barfed and make fun of me." She giggles. "It takes a romantic soul to know one." She winks at me. "I want to meet your folks A.S.A.P! I love those love stories... you can get so much courage and hope for the future from these people. You are lucky!" She pauses for a sec, "damn, Jake is taken, he is the only sappy guy I know... but fear not... we'll find a special guy for you... might not be so talkative and keen on big gestures though..." She says cryptically.

"You should totally visit us during the summer!" I propose clapping my hands to try to show some enthusiasm. The Nathan reference almost brings me to the edge for one more time. He is not romantic. He is not sappy. The sad truth though is he's special. So special to me.I shake my head hoping I can shake him off my mind too. "I love those stories too. When it comes to myself though, I don't think that my own story is going to be like this. I guess it will be more common and realistic in a way. I don't know." I confess with a simple shrug. A love like this is tough and I believe I will be stuck on the one-sided unrequited kind for a while, before being able to move on.

"A girl like you?" She shakes her head. "Common and realistic? I think you can attract the people you want in your life and live the life you imagine for yourself. Don't worry Vee, you'll get your dose of hollywood romance. Sophie never thought she would have a whipped like me and here we are... you want a fairytale... a fairytale you'll have." She raises her hand. "But like most fairytales, it has to start with monsters and villains and bad boys."

"I don't... um..." I bring my hands together and try to stay focused on the conversation. "That's so nice of you to say, Robin. I am going to keep your words close to my heart." I thank her while keeping my gaze down and rest my hand upon the left side of my chest. I can listen to my own heartbeat, getting intense second by second, ready to scream on its own, to ask for all of the magical things my friend has just mentioned. It's so naive of me to get lost in those kind of moments, to dream of happy endings to a fairytale that hasn't even begun. My story is no fairytale, it's barely a story to be honest. "Maybe one day my Prince will come," again I try to sound optimistic but my heart gets in charge and complains, "but I don't think I will ever meet one." The moment I feel my eyes water, I do my best to catch the first tear and discreetly rub my eyes.

"I'll steal your words and say in my turn, better days are coming, don't give up just yet. There's a prince in the making. Researches say we have met our special someone by 21.. or something close to that age. I don't trust twitter feeds that much, but I think in our case it might me legit." She hugs me, rubbing her hands on my arms.

"Three more years to go for me then." I chortle briefly at her attempt to give me hope. "I am so lucky to have you as a friend, Robin. Look at us. I am here trying to make this lighter for you and we ended up talking about me and my needless insecurities. You and Sophie are going to get over this."

"Let's hope so." She looks up again to where her room is supposed to be. And that's my queue to go. I've seriously stayed long enough and I think that Sophie has had her alone time.

"So, I think I'd better get going. Sophie needs you. I'll see you guys tomorrow and hopefully I won't mess things up."

Robin smiles politely eager to go to Sophie I suppose. She gets up from the couch and I do too. "Let me grab my keys." She says.

"There's no need to. I am fine to take the bus." I get up too and throw my bag over my shoulder. "Maybe tomorrow Sam and Nicky can join us and we could play board games, it could be distracting, what do you think?"

"Yeah definitely!" She nods. "But I am driving you an-" she is about to say but she gets interrupted by Alex who just entered the house. We hear him at the hall and soon we see him as he enters the living room.

"Hey Vanessa!" He says happily! "Hey kiddo, just got back home to leave the groceries and pick up pjs. I'm staying at Kira's."

"Hello Mr. Summers. It's good to see you!" I greet him with a wave of my hand. "See you tomorrow, Robin!" I give her another short hug and head towards the door.

"Hey Vee!" Robin stops me. "Uncle will drive you." She says getting next to him. "Uncle, Vanessa wants to take the bus. Tell her why that is a silly idea?" She crosses her arms. Alex smiles.

"Because we have cars and..." he pauses, "Kira's is close to the dorms." Robin nods in triumph."Let me pick up some clothes and I'll be right down." He says quickly.

"I think..." My intention was to politely decline but by the looks on the Summers' faces, that's probably a bad idea. It seems like I've already lost this battle. So I gratefully accept the ride Mr Summers offers me. He repeatedly corrected me everytime I called him like that, he still insists on calling him by his name. He is such a charming man, just like his niece, and Robin has definitely taken after him. He tries to make silly jokes during the ride and shares with me some quite embarrassing stories from Robin's childhood. When we reach the dorms though, his face gets all serious as he thanks me from the bottom of his heart for being such a good friend to Robin and Sophie and simply being there for them. I thank him, even if I think I am not doing much really, and promise I will make everything in my power to help them get through this. At least this is a promise I can keep.

A/N: To everyone who has stayed with us till now, thank you so much! Don't hesitate to comment and share your thoughts with us! Since the school year in Silver City University soon comes to an end, what are the things you'd like to see happen before summer break for our characters?