Eden

"I'll have some water, please. With no ice." I tell the waiter, who is taking our drink orders.

"No ice?" Arlo repeats back to me with a smile. His elbows are on the table. His cute face leans into his hand. I nod, "It's super cold outside. More ice is the last thing I need."

The waiter's attention goes to Fox and she orders, "And I'll have a pink lemonade."

Robin's head turns away from the window he is staring at. "I completely forgot those existed. I'll have a pink lemonade too. With ice. Oh, and a little umbrella would be nice too." Arlo slaps his shoulder. "Don't push it," He says and Robin mumbles something under his breath.

The waiter showed no reaction to our banter and finished writing out orders. He tells us he'll be right back and leaves. I hold my jacket tighter against me. I'm still freezing. The others might be able to hear my teeth chattering soon. Something touches my leg under the table. For a second, I almost jumped. But then I realize it's a jacket being passed to me. I gratefully take it in and put it in my lap. I glance up at Arlo to see he's mid-conversation with the others. He glances back at me and winks. He's so adorable.

"So why were you guys running down the street like maniacs?" Fox finally asks the question. Robin squirms in his seat which means it has something to do with him.

Now that we're finally all sitting down, I get a close-up sight of him. Arlo was right, he isn't doing well. Robin's hair is known for being wild sometimes but it's all over the place. The dark circles under his eyes tell me he hasn't slept either. I also question why he doesn't have any winter clothes.

Arlo lets out a huge dramatic sigh. "Well," He drags out, "Robin threw a snowball at the biggest hothead in school. Long story short, Brice didn't take it well. I swear he chased all around the town."

Robin is covering his smirk with his hand. "You're proud about it, aren't you?" Fox laughs and shakes her head. "Like Arlo said, Brice is a hothead, I just wanted to cool him down with some snow. That's all." Robin responds innocently.

The waiter comes back with our drinks and he sets them down in front of us. The conversation freezes for a moment. He then asks for our meal orders. Fox and I get a plate to split. Arlo orders and then the waiter looks over at Robin.

"I'm good. The lemonade is all I need," Robin says.

"You need to eat something," Arlo cuts in. "He'll have the kid's sandwich." Robin glares but doesn't say anything.

Once the waiter leaves Arlo lectures Robin about eating. He goes on about how he's going to get sick. Robin cuts him off, "You're not my father," He says. Our table goes into a shocked silence. Immediately Robin apologizes, "I mean-, look, I'm okay. Thanks, though."

I swirl the straw in my drink. Awkward energy has entered our booth. It doesn't help that we're all near hangry. Robin clears his throat. "Speaking of my father," He says.

I figured we'd come back to this topic. "Yes, right. We need to discuss this," I say. I've been so confused. Nobody wants to come back to this topic, but we need to figure things out.

Robins's mouth opens and closes like he's going to say something. Finally, he does. "I've been thinking. This is going to sound crazy but this is just an idea. What if you guys come to where I live? That way we can get closer to the problem: My father." Robin explains. He looks around nervously. His hands shake; quickly he hides them under the table.

"That's a lot to ask," Fox says. Her face is dead serious. You can tell she's weighing all the options. "But," She continues, "It's possible."

I don't know what I think. I know that Robin won't do anything and that he'll watch over us. But, going to his house will be very dangerous. Nervously, I watch Fox for what she's going to say. I trust her take on the situation the most.

Slowly, she speaks, "We should do that. Like Robin said, we need to be closer to his father to be able to stop him. If you agree then we can plan something and visit there over winter break." Arlo finally says something. "Won't our parents be concerned? Also, won't Robin's father bib suspicious if he brings people over?"

"We can tell our parents we're staying at the castle for a break," I say. I'm not sure that I want to go. The idea of seeing my parents would be nice.

"And about the second part," Robin starts, "I'll tell him you some friends I invited over, which is true, but I'll also tell him that I'm capturing you." This is going to be a gross situation. Robin has to pretend like he has kidnapped us. We're putting all of our trust in him.

"But you're not going to mistreat us? Like we're kidnapped?" Fox asks, concerned. Robin frantically waves his hands in front of us. "No. That's not what's going to happen at all. Nothing will hurt you guys."

We go back into silent thinking for a few moments. I should be scheming but I'm too worried. I concentrate on the leaking roof outside. Or the happy chatter of the family nearby. Something else, anything else, would be nice to concentrate on.

"Are you all okay with this? If so, we can get train tickets on winter break. I promise everything will be okay." Robin says at last. His brows scrunch together. It's visible that he needs help from us.

"Yes, I would like to go," Fox states. She then turns to me. "What do you think?" I hesitate for a second. My eyes jump to all of them staring back at me. My stomach twists and I squeeze my legs together. "Yeah. I'll go," is my answer.

I'm not confident in my answer, but it makes me feel better that both Fox and Arlo are going. It's not like I'm going through this alone. Fox pats my hand under the table. I'll always have Fox. She sticks up for me. Forever I'll have her by my side.

"Right," Robin breathes, "Good thing we have that sorted out. Of course, we'll talk about the details later. For now, let's eat." The waiter finally brings over our food.

"Says the person who didn't want to eat a few minutes ago," Arlo jokes. He always manages to bring up the mood.

I pick at my food while chatting quietly with the others. Our conversation topics have gone back to normal. No more tension is in the air. My soup warms me up but my hair falls into my eyes when I lean down to drink it. Fox passes me a hair tie from her wrist and I thank her. This would have been useful when unexpectedly running through the streets earlier.

The doorbell rings wildly again. I don't look over there. My mind is on my own business. Across from me, Arlo stands up swiftly. My head snaps up to him and I see his eyes are locked on something. He knocks Robin and mumbles something. The fork from Robins's hand drops when he sees whatever they're looking at. They are both facing the door I assume it's something that just came in.

"What are you looking at?" Fox asks. She's in the one spot where she can't see the door. I look around my seat and peer over at the door. I gasp quietly.

A large guy breathes heavily, doubled over. He has two other guys with him. But it's the one guy that catches my attention. That's Brice. The guy Robin threw a snowball at. From the state of him, he looks like he hasn't enjoyed his town visit. But instead, running around the whole town.

I turn back to Fox. Her face completely twisted in confusion. "It's Brice," I tell her. Fox's eyes widen at the news. Robin swears under his breath.

"We should go," Arlo frantically says. He rummages in his pockets for cash. Money lands on the table. I reach for my coin purse. "Don't bother," Arlo says, "It's taken care of. We just need to get out of here without making a scene. Brice still looks mad. We just can't let him see Robin."

"I can take him," Robin smirks confidently. It's like he wants to get a piece of hotheaded Brice. The only thing stopping him from fighting is Arlo. Robin is trapped between the wall and Arlo, making it so he can't move.

"Let's go out the backway," I suggest. Quickly, we grab our stuff and move towards the back of the room. Arlo leads. Robin is not far behind him. Fox and I stand behind Robin, acting like a shield. We do our best to sneak out of the room and for a second I think we did it successfully.

"Robin?"

Brice's voice booms from across the room. Oh no. He has seen us. Now he and his other two friends are walking towards us. I stay where I am. He won't hit me. At least I'm 60 percent positive. Arlo tries to beckon us to the back of the room again. The other people in the restaurant have stopped to look at the scene we're causing.

Instead of listening, Robin pushes himself to the front. I back out of the way while Brice and him size each other up. Everything happens too fast. I blinked; then Brice's hands were on Robin's neck. A scream escapes me as Robin grabs Brice's arms and swings him onto the bar table. Brice goes landing backward with a loud crash.

Arlo swoops in to grab Robin but the other two guys stop him. I shout as they push Arlo around. Arlo fights back. Not violently, he only pushes and plays self-defense. Robin, on the other hand, is acting like a lion. Punches are being thrown by both guys. The workers have been alerted. They circle us.

Fox and I stay far away from the fighting. I'm really surprised she's not in the action. Maybe she is in shock like me. The workers have grabbed the guys off of Arlo. Arlo then quickly grabbed hold of Robin. He tugs and grunts while trying to pry Robin and Brice off of each other. Robin finally let go. Arlo and Robin are now running straight at us.

Fox and I ran out the back door. The guys escape right behind us. Luckily, nobody follows our group. My eyes are wide. I scan all directions for people who may want to jump us. Robin wipes blood from his mouth. He doesn't look like he regrets fighting at all.

A bad feeling shocks inside of me. Fear. I realize the sight of Robin scares me. The way he was effortlessly attacking Brice. If he were to do that to me I wouldn't be able to fight back. What if that is the real him? Violent like that. But no. That can't be it. He's just been having a hard time lately. Maybe that's why he lashed out. I could be wrong, though. If he's dangerous then I shouldn't help him. I shouldn't be around Robin.

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Hey all! I felt myself slipping into some writer's block earlier but thankfully pulled myself out of it. I hope you enjoyed this chapter :)