Home Sweet Home

When Robert finally walked in his old house he couldn’t help but having mixed feelings. He slowly walked upstairs to his room and leaned back on his bed. He closed his eyes and tried to get all the negative thoughts out of his mind. After all he was finally home, where he had the best memories of his life. Only that now he wished he hadn’t made any memories back in Spokane. His friend Simon was really excited as soon as he knew that his best buddy was back in town, so he runs to his house.

James opened the door when Simon rang the doorbell.

“Oh, hello Simon what a surprise!” James said giving him a slight smile.

“Hello Mr. Graham, I heard that you just got back and I just wanted to come and say hello to Robert is he here?” Simon asked James with a little bit of nervousness.

“Sure Simon, come on in” James replied opening the door for him.

When Simon stepped inside, Caroline and Claudine were also glad to see him again.

“Simon! Hello my darling how have you been?” Caroline slightly shouted hugging Simon.

“It’s really good to see you again too Mrs. Graham” Simon said while hugging her back.

Robert walked downstairs when he heard Simon’s voice.

“Hey Simon” He said as he was standing at the end of the stairs.

Simon looked at him and smiled.

“Hey buddy, it’s so good to have you back!” He said.

Robert smiled and walked towards him.

“Let’s go outside right?” Robert simply said to Simon and they walked outside.

“So how was the flight?” Simon asked him.

“Horrible as always” Robert said as he shakes his head and laughed sarcastically.

Simon chuckled a bit and looked down. One thing he was dying to ask Robert was about Nerissa, he just didn’t know how to do it, but surprisingly, Robert was the one who mentioned it.

“I can’t believe she didn’t say goodbye” He simply said as he looked away.

Simon looked at him and frowned

“Why?” He asked.

Robert shrugged and looked down.

“I don’t know and I don’t really care about it, to be honest” Robert said.

“Then why you mention it?” Simon asked confused.

Robert sighed and looked at him.

“Because I never thought that…she would react like that. You know how much I hate it when someone acts completely different than how they really are” Robert said.

Simon just seated on the ground and looked at him; he really didn’t know what to say. Then Robert seated down next to him.

“You love her?” Simon asked without even looking at him.

“I suppose I did” Robert replied.

“Loved?” Simon asked.

“How can I love someone who betrayed me like that, someone who didn’t trust me?” Robert said.

“So you will never talk to her again?” Simon asked.

“No, I just will forget about her you know? Get her out of my mind and out of my life”

“I just hope that you are completely sure about it, that’s all” Simon told him.

Robert looked down and sighed as he heard his friend saying that. He wasn’t even sure if that was what he wanted, and he just couldn’t understood why she had gotten so deep into his heart, so deep that he didn’t dare to tell anybody, he was just trying to hide his pain from everybody, he wanted to appear strong and as if it nothing had changed.

“I’m sure about it Simon, it just was something silly” He said walking back inside his home and Simon, who wasn’t really convinced by his words just followed him.

Caroline invited Simon to stay for dinner with them and he of course, accepted. They were all at the table, eating and enjoying some conversation about their time back in Spokane. The one who seemed to have more adventures to talk about was the little Claudine, while Robert was just sitting without saying a word about it. It was then when his innocent young sister mentioned what was enough to put him in a bad mood again.

“Then we returned the cat to this girl who lived next door to us and she was really nice, right Robert?” She innocently said as she looked at his brother with a big smile on her face.

Simon knew that it wasn’t a good idea to mention anything about her while Robert was there and he looked at him afraid of what his reaction was gonna be. Of course when Claudine didn’t hear any reply from her brother, she knew that shew had said something he didn’t want to talk about.

Robert’s silence indicated that he was about to stand up from the table and just walk upstairs to his room. But everyone was pretty surprised when, instead of doing that, he stayed and just kept eating his dinner. Caroline quickly changed the subject because she didn’t want to have a family discussion right in front of Simon.

“So Simon how are your parents?” Caroline asked.

“They’ve been really good Mrs. Graham, thanks for asking” He replied.

“Does your father still working at the shop?” James suddenly asked him.

“Yeah, he still does and it’s a very good business” Simon said.

“That business has been in your family since I met your father” James said.

“Yes it’s a family business” Simon nervously smiled.

“So you’re gonna work there as well?” Caroline asked.

“Well  at the moment I am, like a part time job but when I  graduate from college I’m gonna get a full time job as a computer engineer” Simon happily told them.

“Whoa, that’s a good goal Simon, I bet your parents are proud of you” James said.

At some point Simon felt a little uncomfortable being the center of attention while Robert was still quiet, and he tried to include him in the conversation.

“So Robert are you planning on going to the same college I’m attending?” Simon asked.

Robert looked at him and after a few seconds of silence he answered.

“Well I’m not quite sure about that, actually I going back to school it’s not on my plans at the moment” He said as he kept eating.

James gave him that look when he knew that Robert was just saying things to bother him.

“You mean you’re not going back to school at all Robert?” James asked.

Robert smiled and looked at him.

“I didn't say that, all I said was that not at the moment”

“Well then when?” James asked.

“Once I can clear my mind of so many rubbish” He said.

James understood that what Robert was looking for was to argue with him  about another time moving in and out and having that affecting his life, but this time he choose to drop the subject and avoid that argument that was beginning to feel old.

“So what’s for dessert?” He asked Caroline.

That night when everyone was sleeping, Robert climbed up to the roof and was just sitting there looking at the starry sky. He was trying so hard to clear his mind of so many confusing things, but most of all he wanted to shake off all thought about Nerissa. Staring at that beautiful sky brought back to his mind that time when he had looked at that Spokane sky and the first time he had seen her, a moment he wished it didn’t happen.