stereotypes, making that Bruce Lee reference last week?” She mock-glared at him.
Robert’s lips quirked. “I didn’t say I wasn’t a fan now, did I?”
“Oh, you’re good … ”
“I know,” he replied, nodding emphatically.
Donna laughed, wondering that she could still do something so … frivolous. Laughter seemed a long time ago (in a galaxy far, far away—or at least as far away as Ironbridge, with Nav). Having fun seemed wrong, somehow, what with everything that was threatening on the horizon.
“You must miss them,” Robert said, breaking into her thoughts. Almost reading her mind, it seemed.
“Who?” she asked, just to make sure.
“Navin and Xan.” He rolled his eyes. “Who did you think I was talking about? Simon and your aunt?
“Yeah, right.” She shrugged. “I’ve been staying in contact with Nav pretty much all the time.”
“And Xan?”
She shrugged, uncomfortable as to how to address that particular situation. “Off and on, you know? What about you—do you have anyone special? You were pretty dressed up last night. For you.”
He smiled, but the expression didn’t reach his eyes. “I did at one time. Or at least, I thought I did. It was years ago, back when I was at school.”
“How old?”
“Sixteen,” he replied. His eyes had gone somewhere else.
“It wasn’t that long ago. You make it sound like you’re ancient.”
“Five years feels like a lifetime.”
“You wanna share?” Donna smiled encouragingly at him, trying to shake him out of the suddenly serious mood that had taken hold. She was genuinely interested—she really was—but she was also glad of the chance to take a breather.
Robert shrugged. “Things didn’t end well.”
“So tell me how they began.”
“With a kiss,” he replied, a faint smile appearing and disappearing, blink-and-you’ll-miss-it fast.
Donna grinned. “Was he hot?”
This time he really did smile. “Yes. He was … ” He shook his head. “Yeah. He was hot.”
“Was that supposed to be an imitation of me?” she asked, mock-offended.
“I thought it was rather good,” Robert replied.
“Oh, was it?” Donna laughed. “Rather good.”
And then they were both laughing together, and somehow the laughter didn’t feel so wrong to Donna anymore. There had to be light to balance the darkness in life—otherwise, what was the point? She’d read that somewhere. Or maybe she was just thinking about Star Wars again.
“Seriously,” she said, taking a breath. “What happened?”
Robert looked away. “He told the other guys that it was me who’d tried to kiss him. The worst part of it was that I would never have told them anything. Even if he wanted to stay closeted for the rest of his stupid life, that’s his business. Not mine. But he kissed me, I kissed him back, and he was happy about it. There was a moment where I saw it in his eyes.”
“What did they say? Your other friends.” Donna had a horrible feeling she already knew.
“They called me ‘queer’ and ‘fairy’ and made my life a living hell for the better part of a year. They weren’t my friends, not anymore. I kept thinking, something else will happen to take their attention off me. Somebody else will screw up and become the focus of all their crap.” He shook his head. “I actually hoped that would happen. What kind of person does that make me? I hoped that one of my classmates would do something wrong in their eyes and start taking the heat so I’d get a break.”
Donna shook her head. “Nobody who’s been bullied would blame you for that.”
He didn’t reply, and she didn’t push him on it.
“So,” she said, poking him playfully in the arm.
He leaned back and stretched his legs out in front of them on the mat.
“So … what?” he asked.
“Considering that your not-so-friendly friend lied to everyone about what happened, why didn’t you just tell them the truth?”
“You think they would have believed me? I doubt they’d even have listened.”
“But you didn’t even try,” Donna repeated. “It wasn’t fair, what they did.”
Robert shook his head, his wide shoulders filled with tension. “You don’t understand. I was different from them, right? Too different.”
“You think I don’t get being different?”
He didn’t look at her. “I know you understand that. That’s why I like you.”
“Then, what? Tell me. Please?”
“I don’t even know how to say it. I’m not as good at getting things off my chest as you are.” He smiled sadly. “Maybe it’s my British half.”
Donna touched his hand and was intensely glad when he didn’t move it away.
“I get it,” she said.
He raised his eyebrows, his gaze meeting hers and filling with scepticism.
Donna’s voice