Finn snorted. “I probably should have clarified too. You know, instead of assuming.”
“Oh my God. Are you two no-cap serious right now? Imogen and I have been worrying for two days about you, like, breaking each other and how it was all our fault and it turns out you just fail at talking?”
Robbie cocked his head. “Pretty much.”
“I’m too young to be driven to drink!” he wailed.
Robbie pulled a cream soda from the fridge and handed it over.
Sawyer stared at it for a moment, then snatched it from Robbie’s hand and popped the tab. “You’re the worst.”
“Says the kid who signed me up for a reality TV show and forged my signature in order to set me up on a date. You deserve any drama that comes your way for this.”
Sawyer muttered darkly into his drink. Robbie decided not to ask him to repeat himself so he could hear, and focused on getting food on the table.
He waited until they were eating before he told Sawyer about the show.
“You’re quitting?” He actually looked distressed.
“I’m bowing out gracefully.”
“But why? You’re good at it.”
“Because it’s been fun, but Finn and I want to put our focus elsewhere. Me, I got you. You are more important than a TV show.”
“So… it’s my fault?”
Jesus, was there anything that Sawyer wouldn’t accept guilt for? “Sawyer, am I or am I not a grown adult who can make his own decisions?”
Sawyer pulled a face. “You are.”
“Exactly. You are not responsible for what other people do.”
“Besides,” Finn cut in, “we can’t officially date while Robbie’s still on the show.”
“Wait, really?”
Robbie breathed a sigh of relief as Sawyer turned to look at Finn and then began to pepper him with questions, diverting from the relationship clause to ask about other elements and going down a series of rabbit holes.
As he watched Finn take each question seriously and answer without complaint, Robbie had a vision of doing this over and over, every night they could, as long as Sawyer wasn’t too grown to join them. This right here was family, Robbie’s growing family—the one he hadn’t known he’d wanted so badly until it appeared before him. But now Robbie couldn’t imagine ever going back, never not having Finn at his side or Sawyer turning to him for support.
Chapter Fifteen
Out of the Woods
On Monday,Finn and Robbie dressed in the costumes of the week and waited for their call.
“You ready for this?” Robbie asked.
Finn picked up his phone and thumbed over to Holly’s contact. He took a deep breath and sent the text he’d drafted that morning, then typed out,Sorry about this.
Then he turned it off.
“Let’s do it.”
This week’s challenge was supposed to be a quickstep. Like every weekly challenge, it involved a certain number of prescribed steps or moves.
Stef had designed a routine for them, and they’d practiced it just enough for the film crew to be none the wiser.
