Deeply Rooted

His phone started to buzz as if on cue as Rob headed off of the cage. Grumbling to himself as he pulled the phone from his pocket, Rob bit back a groan as he read the message from Sophia. Part of him just wanted to ignore it because Rob knew all too well that it was going to be painfullly awkward to be in the same room as Sophia. Particularly since they were going to be alone. Deciding against it at the last moment, Rob turned away from the cafe and headed up to his room, deciding to take the stairs since he was only on the third floor. It was waste some time.

Kicking shut the door, Rob offered a forced smile as he made his way toward the table that had been set up. He sat slowly, setting his arm on his knee as he leaned forward. "Reading my mind," Rob said, hoping to just sidestep the elephant in the room. He reached forward, beginning to unwrap the sandwich she had gotten him.

Sophia thought that Rob was stupid as hell if he thought she was going to let him get away with how he was acting. All she wanted was for him to tell her that it was okay and that they would just get over it. Sophia would rather deal with the heart break now, rather than later.

Sophia picked at her food, suddenly not hungry. “Yeah, I figured you could use it.” She sighed her phone out of her pocket and decided to scroll through Facebook as she ate her fries, anything to keep her from looking over at the man across from her.

But, enough was enough. Sophia sat her phone down on the table and finally looked at him. “Rob,” she said, grabbing his attention. “I can tell your uncomfortable with me being here, so if you want me to leave, just say it. I’m just trying to apologize to you.” It was this very scenario that had kept Sophia from acting off her feelings from the very start.

Rob happily munched away at his sandwich, hoping that he could get through the meal and leave the room before anything was mentioned. Sometimes it was better that way. His hope was lost the moment that Sophia set her phone down. He knew the girl well enough that he knew what was coming his way, he knew that he had to brace himself because nothing good was going to come of this.

"Soph, what happened, happened. It's in the past and there's nothing that we can do to change that," Rob muttered, keeping his gaze on the sandwich in his hands. Looking up at her would be far too painful for him to handle. He couldn't do that. Not right now.

"Let's just do our best to move on, okay?" rob asked, finally lifting his gaze long enough to make eye contact with her. His eyes dropped a moment later though. He reached forward, snagging a fry from her plate. He shoved it into his mouth, offering a goofy smile. "Good fries."

Sophia’s heart sank when Rob finally said they would just forget about it. Part of her was hoping that Rob would say he had feelings for her too, since she had all but confessed them to him at this point. Sophia felt like a stupid girl. Stupid for thinking that she could get away with what she had, stupid for allowing herself to have feelings for her boss, and stupid for thinking those feelings would be reciprocated.

Sophia finally forced herself to look up at Rob. She plastered a fake smile onto her face and nodded, “Yeah, they’re okay I guess.”

Sophia pushed herself out of the chair and ran a hand through her hair. She knew that if she sat there any longer she would end up saying something stupid. While she was standing there, she shot a short text to Rich. He’s not interested, idiot. Just like I told you. I’m done. She shoved her phone into her pocket, “I’ll let you finish your lunch. You have a meet and greet in twenty minutes down in room 305-B. I’ll wait over there for you.”

Rob's face fell as Sophia answered him. It was all that Rob needed to realize that she was still very much upset about the situation. He wanted to take that hurt and the pain away but he didn't know how. Rob had never been very good with women, even when they were so clearly into him. And even less when he thought that the feelings were one-sided.

Sighing, Rob's shoulders sagged as he gave a nod of his head. He watched as Sophia left the room, a frown forming on his lips. He opened his mouth, the words slipping to the tip of his tongue. God, he wanted to stop her so badly but the words just wouldn't come. Reluctantly, he turned back to his food only to discover that his appetite was gone. He boxed the food back up and shoved it into the mini fridge.

Rob almost entertained the idea of cancelling the meet and greet but he knew it would upset his fans and he couldn't bring himself to. He headed downstairs, straight to the room. Rob gave a wave to the waiting fans before he stepped into the room, moving to where he needed to be with a blank face. It wasn't until the fans started coming through that his mood started to become uplifted.

Sophia did something unusual for once, and didn’t accompany Rob into the meet and greet. Instead, she hung out outside with a couple of the other actors. She was sitting with Matt Cohen, just chit chatting. She tried to be as involved in the conversation as possible, but her mind kept floating back to Rob. Part of Sophia wanted to ask Rob if she could take a couple weeks off; she had been continually by Rob’s side for the better part of three months now. But she was too afraid.

Sophia and Matt were talking about the bar last night and her and Rich’s little challenge. The heat rose to her face as she began to recall the stupid decision she made. But what she didn’t realize is that Rob’s meet and greet was finished, and he was now standing in front of her and Matt. She looked up sheepishly and offered him a small smile, “Hey.”

Rob was more distracted than he would have preferred during the meet and greet but he did his best to be as involved as he could be. His fans were a large part of his life, they were often what kept him going through the nights where he was alone with nothing but his thoughts. Thoughts that were filled with the demons he was often up against in his work.

The meet and greet finished up and it took him far longer than he would care to admit to leave the room. His back straightened as he made his way over to where Matt and Sophia were sitting. He steeled himself against what he was sure was coming his way, not wanting to make the situation any worse than it already was. Rob forced an uneasy smile to his lips as he gave Sophia a small nod of acknowledgement. "How's it going?" Rob asked, his gaze moving to Matt's - it was far easier to meet his eyes than the girl who sat beside him at the moment.

Sophia’s eyes shifted downward when Rob didn’t look at her. She knew she had fucked up and she had done so bad. She bit her lip as she stared down at her hands that were placed in her lap. I never should have gone there, I never should have done that. Sophia kept playing the stupid memory back in her mind that had happened the night prior. The rejection that she was starting to feel was overwhelming, but she had to push it down. She had to put all of it behind her; she definitely couldn’t afford to lose her job and she didn’t want to lose her best friend either.

Sophia stood up and straightened her shirt. She bent over and retrieved her tablet from the bag in order to look through Rob’s schedule. She chewed on the inside of her cheek as she looked through everything. “Okay, so you have a panel in about an hour. Do you want me there? Need me to go get you anything or….?”

Rob had hoped that they wouldn't bother with the scheduling because while most of the time, scheduling helped his anxiety stay at a minimum, at the moment he wanted nothing to do with it. He was sure part of that was because if he knew about his schedule, he was learning it from Sophia. Being around Sophia was still highly uncomfortable, not something that Rob could really fix. As much as he wanted to, he didn't know how to.

His eyes locked onto Sophia's when she began to speak. Rob swore his heart skipped a beat when their eyes met, he thought he saw something deeper in hers, but just as quickly as it was there, it was gone. "You don't have to be there if you don't want to be. You know that, Soph. And I think I'm good for now," he answered, his tone a bit rigid. Rob sighed before lowering himself into a seat beside Matt so that he could at least attempt to relax for the next little while.