| Part 13 (bryan) Robyn picked up Jess and walked away, I heard her calling to Ben that she would call him tonight, maybe they had arranged something for later. Well, I guess she deserved a night off, the band had no plans for tonight, I had planned to go out for a drink, but I guess I was babysitting now. After we had finished the interviews, Robyn came over to talk to me. "Umm, Bryan, what do you guys have planned for tonight?" She asked, a little nervous. I nearly said we had band stuff, so that she couldn't go with Ben, don't ask me why, I just did. "Umm, nothing." "Well, it's just that Ben kinda asked me if I wanted to go out tonight, would you mind?" "No," I lied, "go on, I'll take the kids, you have fun!" "Umm, ok then, want to swap rooms then for tonight?" "Sure, we'll sort that when we get back." I said. We walked out to the van in silence and drove back to the hotel. "So..." Mark began, "got a hot date with Ben?" He watched for my reaction. "Not a hot date, just a .....well....date I guess!" Robyn grinned. "Does that mean that Ben's gonna be your boyfriend?" Dylan asked. "And not Daddy?" "Dylan..." I started. "Leave Robyn alone." "Dyl, you know I'm not Daddy's girlfriend!" Robyn laughed and ruffled his hair. "Yeah, I know." He said, a little bit sad. "Here we are!" I said, as we reached the hotel, we all got out and started to walk up to the rooms. "Bryan, you don't mind me taking tonight off?" Robyn asked as we walked along. "No, have fun." "Ok, well, wanna get the rooms sorted then, you take mines?" "Yeah, ok." We sorted out the rooms and then Robyn left to get ready. Ben knocked on the door a while later, not realising we had swapped. "Oh, hi Bryan." He said, " I was looking for Robyn." "She's next door, we swapped." I explained. "Oh ok." He turned to go and get her. "Ben," I called him back, "you better not hurt her." I warned. "Bryan, calm it will you? I'm not going to." "Ok, have a good time." "We will!" And he left. I couldn't watch them leave to gether, I guess my feelings were stronger than I had first thought. The other lads left too to go out, and I sat in the room watching a video with the kids. They went to bed at about 9, and I sat reading a book for a while, when I heard someone muttering at the door. "Stupid key won't work." It was Robyn. I walked over and slowly opened the door. "Hi!" She giggled, she was a little tipsy. "Come in." I sighed, then laughed. "What happened to the hot date?" "What hot date?! It blew!" She fell down on the couch laughing. "Oh?" I laughed too. "What happened?" "It was ok, but Ben, he's well, not my type." She said, al ittle disappointed. "Oh? Who is then?" We were both laughing a little. "Who's my type? Hmmmm....." She teased. "Are you drunk?" I asked her. "No, just, happy." She laughed again. "Well?" "Well what?" She looked at me, "oh! My type! I think you know." She smiled at me, I smiled back. "Well?" "Ok, how bout, umm," she closed her eyes, "well, a nice guy who happens to be free technically, with two great kids, and well....." She stopped and opened her eyes again. She saw the shock in my face. She looked at the floor and attempted to stand up, "I better go." "Robyn, don't." I pulled her back. We sat in silence for a few minutes, still reeling from the revelation. "Bryan? Look, forget I mentioned it, ok? I don't want to ruin the nice friend thing we've got." "You-you've not ruined anything. I think - I" I couldn't go on. "You feel the same?" "Yeah."i smiled and nodded. I put my arm around her and she laid her head on my shoulder. Suddenly, a feeling of guilt came over me. "I can't do this." I whispered and stood up. "Do what?" She asked, confused. "I - I - still feel as though...as if it's cheating."i admitted, easier than I thought. "Bry, she's gone, not coming back, you aren't cheating." " I still can't." "What am I now? Your friend? Employee?" She raised her voice a little, nearly shouting. "Don't shout."i said quietly, "the kids...." "I'll shout if I want! Why can't you do this? Leave the past in the past. Move on." "I'm trying, but i-" "I don't know. Do we just act like there's nothing there? What? Do we go on still living in the same house as if nothing's going on?" "Nothing is going on." I said, quietly. "Ok, look, you keep on lying to yourself, if you face up to things, let me know, I'm going into the other room!" And with that she walked out. I sat on the couch, thinking things over. I stared at the ceiling, not that it helped. "Daddy?" Jess came walking out, "what's going on? Did Robyn come back? Is she here?" She asked sleepily. "Robyn's not here, she's next door." "Can I go and say goodnight?" "Jess, it's awful late." I said, "go back to bed, you can see her in the morning." "But Daddy." "Ok, come on." We wandered next door and Jess knocked quietly on the door. "Who's there?" She had been crying, maybe she was still crying. "It's me." I answered. "Go away." "Why doesn't Robyn want to see us?" Jess asked, a little upset. I didn't have time to answer before the door opened. "Hi." She said quietly. "Hi." I said. Jess ran in the room. "Umm, Jess wanted to say goodnight." "Oh right.Night Jess, be good for your dad, ok?" "Yeah, night Robyn." "Anything else?" Robyn asked, looking at me. "We should talk tomorrow. About, you know." "Yeah." "Robyn?" Jess again, "can you come and stay in our room tonight?" "No Jess." She answered, "I'm just going to stay here." "But-" "Come on, we can talk now if you want." I offered, "I'll sleep on the couch." "Ok," and the three of us walked back to the room. |