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Vickie was so done.
It had been three days since Robin got back from wherever the hell she had disappeared to for half a week without so much as a ‘Heads up, don’t go to Enzo's tonight! I won’t be there and you will look like a fool sitting there all by yourself for an hour!’ and she hadn’t even called to apologize—Vickie had to be the one to call her and demand that they needed to actually communicate for once, all but forcing the other girl to come to her apartment tonight so that they could… break up? Makeup? Make out? Vickie didn’t know, but it wasn’t going to be pretty. All she knew is that she was. So. Done.
Actually, you know what, scratch that, she was more than done. She was pissed and she was so over it—over the secrets, the hiding, the lying, maybe even their entire relationship. She would give Robin one last chance to tell her the truth, to be honest for once, to realize that Vickie was stronger than she thought, to realize that protecting someone and hurting someone were sometimes not very different ideas, and then it was over between them because Vickie knew what it was like to keep falling back into cycles of toxicity and lies and once a liar, always a liar.
Even if Robin did apologize, even if she did tell Vickie the truth, she didn’t know if it would be enough, not after a year of lies and pain and hiding and secrets and a million other little things that she didn’t even have a name for. It was all just too much and suddenly she regretted inviting Robin over and wondered if it was time for Vickie to cancel a date for once.
Not that this was a date. It felt more like an execution than anything.
There was a knock on the door and Vickie groaned. Maybe it would be easier to say we’re over and shut the door on Robin’s face. Maybe it would save her from more pain in the long run.
She braced herself and opened the door anyway.
“Look, Robin–”
Robin cut her off, grabbing the other girl's face in her hands and pulling her into a deep kiss. Vickie kissed her back. Robin grabbed her waist, pushing her back into the apartment and slamming the door behind her without even breaking the kiss. God, she had missed her so much.
“Robin–” Vickie gasped, but the other girl trapped the name between their lips and Vickie let her. Robin pushed her against the counter and, when met with the challenge of not being able to move her further, lifted her up on the counter itself, caging her in her arms. It was almost enough to make Vickie forget about it all. The lies, the secrets, the canceled dates, the being stood up.
Almost.
Vickie pulled back and stopped Robin from chasing her lips.
“Robin…”
“I know,” Robin sighed, dropping her head to Vickie's shoulder. Vickie ran her fingers through her girlfriend's hair. “I know. I’m sorry.”
Vickie pressed a soft kiss to the top of Robin's head. She knew this was a bad idea, she knew that if she let Robin back in the way she was she would let them fall back into old habits. Did she want that? Could they live like that? She had been so sure that it was over only minutes ago, but now, with Robin in her arms and real and here and alive, she was less certain.
“I shouldn’t have stood you up,” Robin said, lifting her head to meet her girlfriend's eyes. “I should’ve told you I wasn’t going to be able to make it. I’m sorry.”
Robin looked so sad and so guilty that it, paired with her earlier words, made the gears in Vickie's brain click into place.
“You knew you weren’t going to make it beforehand?” she asked. Robin's face paled a little and it was all Vickie needed pulled away from her, to remind her why Robin was here, to remember all that had led them to this moment. “When? When did you know?”
“I…”
“Robin, when?”
“Two days before.”
Vickie's mind reeled. She knew days before she stood Vickie up and didn’t tell her? A part of her knew this, a part of her had suspected, even, but every other time they had canceled Robin had actually told her, even if it was only hours beforehand. Surely she only stood her up because she physically couldn't make it, right?
Two days. She couldn’t find a way to reach out in two days?
“I’m sorry, babe. I know it sounds bad but I genuinely was so busy and overwhelmed with–” she stopped, like she was catching herself.
“With what?”
“I… I can’t tell you.”
Vickie got off the counter, putting a couple feet between them.
She shouldn’t have let her in.
She should’ve said Were done and slammed the door in her face.
She shouldn’t have let her kiss her and run her hands over her body and she shouldn’t have put her hands in her hair and kissed her back and held her.
It was a pattern. She dated shitty people, she dated people who lied to her, she dated people who kept secrets and cut and ran when it got too hard. It happened before with Dan, and it was happening now with Robin.
“Fine. I get it. Keep your secrets. Take them with you and leave.” She tried really hard to make sure her voice didn’t shake.
“Vickie, please, I can’t–”
“I know! I know you can’t! I know that whatever secrets you’re keeping are so important that you can’t tell me, I get it. I said it was fine, didn’t I? I said keep your secrets and leave with them. We both know that they are the third person in this relationship, so why not just cut our losses and make it two? You and your secrets will be very happy together, I’m sure.”
Robin stared at her and Vickie's heart shattered. God, she really liked this girl. Hell, she was fairly certain she loved her.
But she had loved Dan too.
“Get out,” Vickie said, though she was fairly certain that what she really meant was Stay and tell me everything, stay and trust me, stay and take down your walls.
Robin did.
She left, and she took part of Vickie's heart with her when she did.