Love Without Boundaries - Chapter 8: Chapter 8

When Robert woke up the next morning, he noticed he had some missed calls from his girlfriend. She left him a message to call her as soon as he could. He got out of bed and got ready; he knew that he was going to have to pick her up. He dialed her number and waited for her to answer.
“Robbie I really need to talk to you, can you come for me at my friend’s house?” she asked.
He really hated it when she called him that, it made him feel like he was still a kid. Not even his own mom called him that.
“Sure I’m on my way, see you in a bit.” Robert said as he reached for his keys and went out the door.
When he pulled up to her friend’s house, he honked his horn and waited for her to come out. He waited about ten minutes before she finally came out and got into the car.
“Hey Robbie, sorry I made you wait.” She said.
“That’s alright, so what happen that you had to stay at a friend’s house?” Robert asked.
“Oh my god last night was just horrible. We were having dinner at my house then my brother Xavier proposed to his girlfriend.” She said.
“What’s so bad about that?” Robert asked.
“Oh no that’s not what was bad; it was the fact that my cousin Preston decided to make a huge announcement at the same moment. He let us know that he is gay. Now that was what made the night bad.” She said.
When he heard Preston’s name, he just knew it was the same Preston  he had met at the mall and who he had been talking too. How did he not make the connection soon; that this was the same Preston she would talk about and say how much she missed him? He felt like an idiot for not putting it together.
“So he made a mistake, it couldn’t have been easy for him to just come out and say it.” Robert said.
“I know it wasn’t, but come on he could have just waited to tell us and not ruin my brother’s special moment.” She said.
“Ann Marie you can’t be serious about that can you? He just made a mistake, he is human after all.” Robert said.
“What do you know you weren’t there!” Ann Marie raised her voice.
“Oh my god you have a problem with him being gay don’t you?” Robert asked.
“What if I do; it’s just wrong Robert?” She said.
“Ann Marie he is your family, this has got to be tough on him and you just turned your back on him.” Robert said.
“So what if I did, why should I feel bad for his poor choice in life? Now you’re going to tell me he can’t help it, that he was born that way?” Ann Marie said.
“Well yes, he can’t help how he feels. I do believe you can’t help with whom you fall in love with. Why are you being so ugly about this?” Robert asked.
“How would you feel if one of your sisters was gay?” Ann Marie asked.
“I would be fine with it, because she is my family. If your family can’t be there for you then who can be?” Robert said.
“That’s what you say now, I think you would change you answer if it really happened to you.” Ann Marie said.
“I still think you should talk to him, at least make him feel it’s ok to be gay, because he is happier now.” Robert said.
“I’ll think about, can we just go back to your house?” Ann Marie said.
“Sure and by the way you have to have dinner at my house and meet some new people. My father said he wanted to introduce you to a dear old family friend.” Robert said.
“Of course I would love to meet this family friend of yours.” Ann Marie said.
Sure, she was ok with it now, but when she meets Vera, it might be a different story, Robert thought to himself
When they got to his house, it was still a good hour before  dinner would be ready. He decided to take Ann Marie on a tour around his house. This will be the first time she has been here. As he was taking her to every room in the house, he couldn’t help but let his mind wonder off to what Preston was doing right now. How was he holding up? He couldn’t believe Ann Marie would treat him like that; she just didn’t seem like the type that would turn her back on family.
“Well look who is here? It’s nice to see you again Ann Marie.” Rose said as she was making her way down the stairs.
“Nice to see you too Rose,” Ann Marie said.
“I take it you will be joining us for dinner then; oh and you can meet my new boyfriend.” Rose said.
“New boyfriend, you just got back and you already have a boyfriend? Boy you really do work fast don’t you?” Ann Marie asked.
“Well he wasn’t hard to find, he just so happens to be the nephew of one of my dad’s clients. In addition, he happens to be attending the same school as I am. So I had to show him around the city and we just hit it off.” Rose said.
“Yup that’s Rose for you, she just loves a new boy toy every now and then.” Robert said.
“Oh Robert really I don’t think of them as boy toys, just something to keep me busy. Now if you will just excuse me I have to be somewhere else.” Rose said as she headed into the living room.
“Come on I need to see Nora, she wasn’t having a good day yesterday, I just want to make sure she is ok.” Robert said, as he led Ann Marie toward the library, the only other place Rose wouldn’t bother Nora.
“Hey Nora are you in here?” Robert shouted.
“Yeah I’m in the very back.” Nora replied.
“Guess who I brought with me?” Robert asked.
“Someone I can rub in Rose’s face?” Nora asked.
“Nope sorry, but I brought Ann Marie with me.” Robert said.
He knew that Nora and Ann Marie got along very way. It just might help her to know that Ann Marie will be there with them at dinner and not have to face Rose alone.
“Oh my god Ann Marie I have missed you so much.” Nora said as she ran to her and hugged her.
“You act like you haven’t seen me in forever, when it has only been like two days.” Ann Marie said.
“You just don’t understand how it is in this house with Rose.” Nora said.
“I think I can take a wild guess and say it has been terrible. But don’t worry I’m here now.” Ann Marie said.
“So did you tell her who was coming to dinner?” Nora asked Robert.
“No, but I guess I should tell her right now.” Robert said.
“Why are y’all talking like I am not here and who is coming to dinner?” Ann Marie demanded.
“Do you remember when I  told you about a girl named Vera, the one who used to make our life a living hell?” Robert asked.
“Yes why,” Ann Marie said
“Well she is the one coming for dinner and she is going to the same college as us.” Robert said.
“Are you for real?” Ann Marie asked.
“Dead serious,” Robert said.
“Wow,” Ann Marie said.
“Yeah why don’t you tell her what dad wants you to do?” Nora said.
“Don’t tell me he wants you to go out with her?” Ann Marie said.
“Oh god no, he wants me to show here around the campus. However, I told him no because I’m too busy with other things. Now he wants me to ask you to show her around, I told him I doubt that you would do it, but I would still ask you any way.” Robert said.
Ann Marie was thinking this over, and she thought she could somehow benefit from this.
“I’ll do it; I will show her around and become one of her friends. Who knows maybe she has changed?” Ann Marie said.
“Are you sure? You don’t have to do this for me.” Robert said.
“No I want to do it; maybe I can give her a little taste of her own medicine.” Ann Marie said.
“Ok I’ll tell my father at dinner.” Robert said.
When dinnertime finally came, Robert was nervous about seeing Vera again. The last time they saw each other it didn’t end well. It was five years ago, and they had gone to a party at a friend’s house. It was the type of party that the parents didn’t bother them. He remembered the moment everything went downhill. Everyone decided to play spin the bottle/ seven minutes in heaven. He thought it was a terrible idea, he knew that he was going to end up having to kiss Vera. Nothing else is worst then having to kiss your archenemy. He could only hope that luck was on his side today and he would be able to avoid having to kiss her. As everyone was sitting down in a circle, Robert tried to find a spot away from Vera. As the game went on, he still hadn’t had the bottle land on him. When his turn had finally come up, he was shaking as he spun the bottle. As it was going around, he kept his eyes closed and said “please not Vera” to himself. When he heard the bottle stop, he opened his eyes to see where it had stopped. When he saw the bottle had stopped on Vera, he just felt his heart drop into his stomach.
“Well Robbie it looks like you get to spend seven minutes in heaven with me.” Vera said as she got up and walked to the closet, where he was going to spend the longest seven minutes of his life. He had to think of a way he could get out of it, without looking like a chicken. As he walked in the closet after Vera, an idea came to him.
“So what are you going to kiss me or am I going to have to tell everyone you chickened out?” Vera asked.
“Come on Vera you know you have been dying to kiss me, I have seen the way you look at me. Don’t worry I feel the same way too.” Robert said. He knew that she did like him and had only been mean to him because of his sister Rose.
“Oh Robbie I really do like you, I know I have done terrible things to you.” Vera said.
“It’s ok and it’s all in the past, how about that kiss we have already wasted two minutes. Just close your eyes and I’ll do the rest.” Robert said.
“Ok,” Vera said. As she closed her eyes and leaned in with her lips puckered up Robert did something he wasn’t proud of, but it was the only way he could think of getting back at Vera. When he leaned over to kiss her, he had reached around her neck, undid the knot that was holding her dress up and watched as it fell to the ground. Before she could pick it up, Robert threw open the door and yelled “Vera what are you doing? We are just supposed to kiss not get naked with each other.”
When she heard everyone laughing, she just pulled her dress up and ran out of the room. When Robert saw her face, he knew he had really messed up and felt bad. After that day he hadn’t see her around his house anymore. Nobody ever found out that it was Robert who had pulled her dress down, she never told anyone the truth. She was so embarrassed that she had asked her father if she could go to a boarding school in Italy. Therefore, he never got the chance to say he was sorry and he didn’t mean to embarrass her like that. To this day, he still didn’t know if she still remembered that. But the time has come to see if she still remembered and if she had her own plan for revenge. He had a feeling that somehow Ann Marie was going to pay for his mistake.
“Well hello Robbie. long time no see.” A female voice said. He knew who she was before he even turned around; it was Vera.
“Vera what a nice surprise to see you again, how long has it been?” Robert said
“I believe it has been five years and might I say you’re looking handsome.” Vera said.
“Well you’re looking very beautiful yourself; oh by the way I want you to meet my girlfriend Ann Marie.” Robert said as he pulled her away from his sister Nora.
“Nice to finally meet you, I have heard a lot about you.” Ann Marie said as she shook Vera hand.
“Likewise and I hope it all was good.” Vera said as she smiled. “Oh my god is that you Nora I haven’t seen you since you were like nine.”
Robert could see that Nora was not happy to have her here; he didn’t blame her he felt the same way.
“Oh my god Vera is that you and you didn’t come see me first?” Rose said as she was coming down the stairs.
Now Nora was upset, two of her least favorite people under the same roof could only mean trouble for her. Vera and Rose went off to the dining room to sit and talked. He walked up to Nora and said “Hey don’t let them get to you, remember I’m here for you and so is Ann Marie.”
She looked up at her brother and knew he wouldn’t let them get away with anything. No matter if, it meant getting him into trouble.
“Thanks Robert, well we might as well get this over with.” Nora said. He followed Nora and Ann Marie; he only hoped that this dinner would pass by with no problem.