I froze. If it wasn't for the deafening thud in my head, I'd have believe that my heart stopped right there and then. 

Robert just said he was in love with me. 

Did I hear him correctly?

Why do I feel so lifeless. So...uncertain? Surely it should be easy to say I love George, right? So why the hell am I considering...

"Robert...I...uh..."

"Freya, honey, listen to me." He shifts onto his knees so he's looking at me straight on. The serioiusness in his eyes is almost frightening, "I know, you're going to talk about you and George and blah blah blah. But I will wait for you to discover how you feel, and I'll fight for you, Freya. I will physically put up a fight if it means I win your heart." I nod my head, and he takes some of the hair off my face. I look down into my lap, to find my hands there, shaking insanely. Robert follows my eyes and takes both of my hands in his. "Now then, now that's out there, fancy a swim?" He jumps to his feet and takes off his shirt, revealing the oh so gorgeous torso that I can't help but drool over. I shake myself to my senses. Swim?! In the middle of November?! Is he crazy?!

"Robert, I'm not swimming in the middle of winter! And besides, I didn't bring a swimsuit."

"Then it's a good job I did!" He pulls out a blue bikini, with white polka dots all over, and a plain blue frill around the seam of the bottoms. I place a hand to my mouth in amazement, but can't help smiling. He tosses the bikini to me, and I catch it, furrowing my brows. Where exactly do I get changed? "Don't worry, I won't look," he says in a cheeky tone. He turns around and I stare at him for a while, double checking he won't turn back. He keeps to his word and stays put. I check around me for anyone who's watching, and quickly change, trying not to reveal anything. Just for modesty's sake. 

Once I'm changed - and Robert's in his boxer shorts - I reconsider actually going in. 

"Robert, I'm cold just standing here. I don't think I'll swim."

"Oh come onnnnnn! You'll be fine. I brought towells too, you can dry when we get out, and I'll warm the car up too." He uses his adorable puppy eyes on me, and I can't help giving in just a little bit. When his lip starts quivering, I have to let him get his own way. It's too irresistable. 

"Downey, you're so annoying when you're cute."

"You love it, no denying." He winks and bites his lip in a very seductive way.

I tut and roll my eyes, before dipping my foot into the cold water. It is so cold, I think hypothermia took over my foot almost instantly; okay, I may have exaggerated. I try to dip in the rest of my foot, and have to hold my breath because of the sheer coldness. 

"FREYA!"  He screams my name so loud, making me jump and throwing me off balance. Just as I regain it, I turn to curse at Robert, but he only shouts "INCOMING!" and runs straight at me. I scream at him to stop, and try to escape his path, but it's hopeless. He wraps his arm around my waist and throws us both into the freezing pond. 

I come out of the water screaming because of the arctic-temperature water that nips at my mostly bare skin. I tred water and clear the hair from my face, and Robert still hasn't surfaced. I start panicking, screaming his name and simming around. I rotate myself a whole three hundred and sixty degrees, still nothing. Then I feel a strong tug at my foot, pulling me under the water. I have just enough time to hold my breath before my head is taken down too. Then I feel hands at my waist. I dare to open my eyes, not knowing if the water will make them sting. Surprisingly not, and I can see his face almost clearly. His eyes are also open, and he's staring at me. I swear I see a little wink, but it's not that visible, so I let it go. He pinches at my waist, and I scream and squirm and shriek with laughter. We both surface the water, his face overtaken with a cheeky smirk, the hair on his head stuck flat. I can't help but reaching up to tousle it, so he looks more like the Robert I know and love. The Robert whose hair is al over the place. He wiggles his eyebrows and smiles, showing his absolutely perfect tee_

Wait.

Rewind...

Did I just say I loved him?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The drive home was pretty much all silent. We were both drenched, and the heating in the car was on full blast. The silence was broken when my phone started ringing. Revealing to Robert my much embarrassing ringtone. Lil' Clownz blares out and fills the car with sound. His mouth instantly forms an 'o', and he looks over at me, eyes growing wider with every lyric. It would help if I could find my damn phone. I route through my bag, trying to locate the phone, when finally I found it. "Eyes on the road!" I say to Robert before answer the phone. "Hello?"

"Hey baby, you okay?"

"George, hi!"

"Heyyy!" he says enthusiastically, "just put it down, I'll help you in a minute-"

"What? George what are you talking about?"

"Yeah sorry babe, I have company, she's helping me move some of my stuff into my new place."

"Is she now? Why are you moving? You're supposed to be coming home in a couple of months, right?"

"Ahh, uh about that. Babe, I got offered a bigger job, it's gonna be a little more...permanent-"

"WHAT?! You went and made another decision without me?!" I practically scream down the phone, and Robert turns to me with questioning eyes. I shoo him off and listen to what George has to say.

"Look Freya, I have been doing a lot of thinking and I think it would be great to move here and get married and start a family and we could go_"

"George! I don't want to marry you!" I scream. I instantly regret saying it, and gasp a little after releasing the words. Robert pulls over and stops the engine, turning in his seat to face me. I can hear George rambling on down the phone, but I'm not listening to what he's saying. A few moments pass and Robert quickly snatches the phone out of my hand and holds it to his own ear.

"Hi, George? It's Robert. She can't talk right now, she's just had to go fetch something. She'll call you when she can...uh-huh...okay...bye." He clicks the end call button and passes the phone back to me. "He said he's gonna talk later and that he's sorry. He's not coming home and he'll see you whenever he does."

"Really?! He said that?! Bastard!" I thrash around in my seat and hit everything I can, but Robert reaches across and slams his arms down on me so I can't move.

"FREYA. STOP."

I sit still in my seat and let everything pour out. My relationship, everything that was ever good, it's all falling apart. My Dad might as well be dead to me, my Mom ditched us, Ryan's with a lovely girl called Emma, and they're happily living in Birmingham. I'm basically on my own. I guess I have Robert. But what happens when he goes back to the USA? I go to Germany? I like my job, I'm not ditching it for something I'm not even interested in.

I'm a strong, independent, young woman. I'll be fine.

Yeah.

Whatever.