Written By Shaun Blankenship

________

________

Robert sat by himself on a bench in front of the Waffles and Halibut fast food restaurant freezing from the cold weather. His jacket and hat offered little comfort to him as the February winds gusted at him. At seven thirty, Robert called Rhonda to change the location of where they were meeting. Originally, Robert was going to meet Rhonda at her house. Of course he wasn't taking Rhonda to the waffle and fish restaurant; he just didn't want to make a big impression on her. Rhonda was an alright person from time to time, but sometimes you just want them to keep their distance. He wasn't trying to ignore her nor ward her off, but he sure wasn't trying to lure her closer.

He glanced at his watch. 7:59 PM. No need to be panicked. Rhonda had never been one to follow routine or a schedule. Rhonda came and went when she wanted to. Plus, it was still only a minute from eight. You can't expect her to be punctual to the last second. The cars passed back and forth on the road, creating blurs of light and reflection as the zoomed by him. It was nights like these he would've been out here anyway. Well, maybe not in front of a waffle house, but definitely out here watching the street. Nothing in life comes for free, so why not watch somebody else burn gas money in front of you?

A pair of lights started to flash from Robert's left. He turned and squinted to try and make out who was coming. The car didn't seem familiar, but the lights kept flashing on and off. It was still down at the end of the street, but it was visible. The car finally pulled up next to the sidewalk, revealing it to be a stretch limousine. Let me guess who's gonna pop out of the door…

Instead of meeting to Robert's expectations, the sunroof in the back opened up and a bundled up Rhonda Lloyd appeared. "Robert, get in!"

He lifted his head up from staring at the limousine's wheels and at Rhonda. His face conjured up a false smile of happiness. "Okay."

The chauffeur quickly ran from the driver side door and around to where Robert was standing. The man was definitely old, maybe around fifty-one, but still very able and willing. He opened the door in front of Robert and laid his hand out towards the inside of the car. "Step in, sir."

Robert looked at the old man. "You know, you didn't have to do that. I could've done it myself."

The man did not move from his stance. "It is what I'm paid to do, sir."

"Well, thanks, I guess." Robert put one foot inside the car. "Next time, I'm opening the door."

"Anything you say, sir."

Robert sat in the back seat next to Rhonda and the chauffeur closed the door after him. Robert turned to Rhonda who was smiling lovingly at him. She turned away and towards a small fridge in the back of the limo. "Would you like something to drink?"

The chauffeur had finally rounded the front of the car and stepped into the driver's seat yet again. It was very hot inside the car, and it was making Robert uncomfortable. He took off his jacket and hat and placed them on the floor in front of him. "No, I'll be fine. What's with this?"

Rhonda looked at the jacket on the floor. "Good call." She unzipped her jacket, undid her scarf, took off her gloves and removed her hat to place them on the floor next to his. "It is nice and warm in here. I had Romero let the car heat up for a half-hour before we left the house. I can't stand the cold. I only put my jacket and what else on because I was going to be opening the sunroof and greeting you."

It was then that Robert actually looked at Rhonda since he stepped in. Her color code with her outfit matched the same way it had in elementary school: red shirt and black pants. The shirt was long sleeved almost skin tight and had a small tie around the top of her chest. The pants were almost khakis in a way… but slimmer and black. There wasn't really a way to describe it, but suddenly Robert was starting to think about Rhonda in another light. It could just be looks, it might be personality, but something was there that he couldn't point a finger at.

Robert reinstated his question that was never answered, "What's with the limousine and everything?"

Rhonda moved in closer to that her face was almost two inches away from his. "Well, I wanted to make tonight special. Something you'll remember."

Robert was leaned up from his seat to the door he entered from. He put his hand on Rhonda's shoulder and slowly pushed her away as he spoke. "I thought I was taking you out tonight."

Rhonda turned away and sighed. She looked back at him. "Robert, honestly, how much money do you have on you right now?"

"About sixty-five dollars."

Rhonda once again closed in closer to Robert. "That's why I'm taking you out tonight."

"Is it always about money, Rhonda?"

The girl pulled away again, backing off to her side of the seat. "What's with you, Robert? I mean, here I am willing to pay for this whole evening and all you have to whine about is why you aren't paying for it!" She crossed her legs and stuck her nose in the air. "You are so rude. You're probably just doing this as some sort of plea bargain to getting me to stop calling you."

"Hey, wait a minute!" Robert grabbed Rhonda by the shoulders and spun her to face him. "I agreed to come here with you tonight after all the junk you've put me through! You need to realize that I didn't have to go out here tonight!" Robert let go of her and calmed himself down. "I just thought… you know… usually the guy pays for everything. I didn't want to become a freeloader on you because you'd probably look at me as a problem again."

Rhonda uncrossed her legs and stared at the floor below her feet. "Look, I'm just kind of… nervous, alright? I know that every time we get together, I break us apart. I'm just scared, I guess, of driving you away again."

Robert put an arm on her shoulder. "It's alright, Rhonda."

She continued on, "I know I've never been fair to you and I'm just trying to make up for that now. Let me pay for tonight, I can afford it."

She looked up at Robert, causing him to reflectively grin. "Okay. Tonight, it's on you. Next time, I get to."

"Next time?" Rhonda gave a confused look at Robert and quickly straightened her back out in the seat. "I thought tonight was it?"

Robert straightened himself out as well and thought about it. "We'll see how tonight goes. You never know."

Just hearing those words exited Rhonda and made her shake about in her seat, and just watching her made Robert start to worry about what he really had gotten himself into. Rhonda rolled down the partition from the back to the driver. "Romero!"

"Yes, Miss Lloyd?"

"I want you to take us to the Black Diamond restaurant, okay?"

The driver saluted. "Yes, Miss Lloyd."

The partition rolled back up and Rhonda looked over to her date. "Have you ever been there?"

"Um… no. Not that I can think of."

"Oh, Robbie, you're gonna love this!" She clenched her wrists together, trying the hold back the joy inside of her. She 'stood' up (You can't really stand in one of these things) and carefully walked across to the other side. "You're gonna need something though."

Robert reached out as if he could grab her and tug her back to her seat. "What?"

Rhonda reached behind the seat across from Robert and pulled out a black dress jacket. "You're only wearing a tee-shirt. You'll at least need this on. They have to let you in if you're with me, but they'll respect you more if you put this on."

She threw the jacket and Robert caught it in his hands. "Whose is this? What about a tie?"

"That's my father's, and this place doesn't care if you have a tie or not." Rhonda went back and sat back down. "So, how have you been Robert?"

Robert slipped on the jacket, finding it fit him rather nicely. "Just call me Rob. I've been okay."

Rhonda just gazed at her friend. "Rob…"

This was all creepy to Robert. It wasn't the limo or Rhonda's attitude; it was how she kept looking at him lovingly. She'd freeze with her eyes half-shut and a smile on her face for almost a minute before she'd snap out of it. It was like dealing with a zombie whenever he talked to her. In some cases, this would be an improvement. This was not one of those cases. This was just plain eerie.

Robert leaned towards his door again. "Rhonda, this may or may not be an odd question, but do you have a cell phone on you that I can use?"

Rhonda reached under the seat and quickly went back in his face. "Here you go."

"Thanks." Robert started dialing his own phone number but turn to Rhonda before he hit send. "Um, can you just back off a little bit? You're kind of cramping me."

"Oh, sure thing, Rob." Rhonda hopped in her seat and moved out of Robert's way.

He hit send on the phone, placed it to his ear and turned his head to the door in an attempt to shield his conversation.

***

Helga had been watching a movie in Robert's room when the phone rang. There was no TV in her room and Robert's parents were watching some documentary on the Discovery channel. She picked up the phone and impersonated an answering machine. "You have reached the home of…"

Robert interrupted her before she was finished in a quiet and raspy whisper. "Helga, I'm gonna get you for this!"

Helga grinned from ear to ear. "What? Are you having a bad time with the ice princess?"

"I am so going to get you when I come back!"

"What are you going to get me?" she questioned sarcastically. "Is it that pony? I've always wanted a pony…"

"How could you have talked me into this?"

Helga yawned and hit 'Display' on the TV remote. "Rob, it's only eight-ten. Has she seriously ticked you off already? Let the date ride through and maybe it'll all end up good in the end. Okay?"

The voice on the other end seemed still upset and as angry as ever. "Good-bye, Helga."

She waved at the receiver as if Robert could see it. "Bye-bye, Bobbo."

***

Robert turned back to Rhonda and handed her phone back. He tried covering up his real emotions as best as he could. "So… how long until we get there?"

"You know, Robert, I may be shallow and self-centered but I'm not stupid." She placed one hand at her waist. "Like I couldn't hear anything you just said. What, did Helga talk you into this?"

The false happiness from his face depleted as he tried to explain. "It's not like that."

"You know, I thought we were on to such a good start. We had our little fight but we overcame it, yet you still whine like I was talking you to see the dentist. Now, come on!" Rhonda stomped her foot to give her words more meaning. "Do you wanna go home? We can turn this think around and I can drop you back off…"

"No," responded Robert. "No, I really do want to spend this evening with you. It's the whole thing about what you've done to me in the past…"

"Hey." Now Rhonda was putting an arm on his shoulder. "I've got three words for you…"

"…Screw the past."

"Whatever's been done has been done I can't change it. I can only hope that you'll trust me this time around."

Robert nudged her hand off of his shoulder. "I'm sorry, but you need to stop touching me like that. I don't like it when people just… touch me. I need to be ready for it."

Rhonda held her hands out in front of her. "Okay, I won't touch you. Do you promise you'll at least stick this night out with me and then jump to conclusions?"

Robert nodded. "I promise."

"See, no. You said that too quickly, which is saying that you're just trying to end the argument. Do you promise that you'll stick the night out with me before you make any assumptions?"

Robert paused for a few seconds, looking at the sorrow in Rhonda's eyes. "Yes, Rhonda. I promise I will."

"Can I hug you?"

Robert shrugged. "Okay, it's not really that I mind, it's when you…"

Before Robert could finish, Rhonda had muffled his mouth with her shoulder pressing against his bottom jaw. She loosened her grip and sat normally in her seat when she was done. "Okay, I'm done. Thanks."

Robert puffed out his shirt with his hands. "Your welcome."