Chapter Seventeen
It’s date night!
Will
I think that Ruby is trying to be nice to me.
At first, I was concerned. Alarmed, even. She’s never tried to be kind to me before. Not that she’s unkind , exactly, but my little love is less like Venus and more like… a venus flytrap. Get too close, and she’ll bite.
And man, do I love her for it. She balances my hot sunshine quite wonderfully with her cute grump. Meant to be together? Why, yes. Yes, we were.
Which has made her clear endeavor into sunshine territory all the more concerning.
At first.
Having watched her attempts for the past hour, though, I’m finding I can get behind her experiment with niceness. I’m having more fun than I have in ages.
“Will,” she says, smile tight as she comes back downstairs after escaping to her room to change, likely needing a break from practicing friendliness with me. She’s traded her work attire for a pair of baby blue sweatpants and a t-shirt that reads “You’re in my blind spot”. Hilarious. And cute. “What are you doing?”
I drop the final pillow on the ground in front of the couch, glancing at her when she stops beside the dining table, not quite joining me in the living room.
“I’m setting up movie night.”
Her face doesn’t move – not one single, brittle, faux-pleasant inch of it.
Fake or not, she hasn’t flashed her cute little canines at me this much in years. I am a man in thirst, soaking up whatever she’s willing to splash my way – poisoned or not.
It’s just a bonus that her struggles to be kind to me are adorably difficult for her.
“ Why are you setting up movie night?” she grits, and I swear her eye twitches.
“I needed something to do while the pizza cooks, and I didn’t think you’d appreciate me gazing adoringly at you the whole thirty minutes.”
Her smile drops into a scowl for half a second before reemerging as what one might describe as a baring of teeth.
A whistled tune leaves my mouth as I fluff the blankets and pillows spread out on the floor so that we won’t have to eat our pizzas on the World’s Most Uncomfortable Couch.
“What I meant,” she chirps, “is why do you think we need a movie night set up?”
My head tilts, and my whistling ceases.
“Because there’s pizza?” I ask, confused. “What do you mean?”
“What does pizza have to do with movie night?” she asks back, equally confused.
I blink.
“Everything?”
She blinks.
“What are you on about?” she breaks, brows furrowing and smile falling.
Electricity fires through my veins. There’s my girl.
As entertaining as friendly Ruby is, seeing that frown on her face warms my heart like nothing else could.
“Pizza night is movie night. Always. Forever.”
“Pizza night is movie night when Roman is here,” she counters. “Since when is pizza night movie night when it’s just us?”
I hum. “Since now. You really thought Roman was the one setting up movie nights?” I love the man, but he’s about as likely to make a comfy movie night haven on the floor as he is to visit the moon. He’s deluded himself into thinking the couch is comfortable.
Nostalgia, man. It does crazy things to the brain.
Ruby visibly gathers herself, arranging her face into pleasant, if not smiley.
I wonder how long before I break her again. It’ll be fun finding out.
“As… sweet… as it is for you to set this up, you really don’t have to. We can eat at the table, then I’ll let you get home to enjoy your night.”
Ah. A new tactic. Cute.
“It’s no trouble at all,” I assure her as the oven beeps. I walk toward the kitchen, pausing next to her. “I enjoy my nights most when they’re spent with you.” I land a quick peck on her definitely not-smiling cheek, and I think I hear her whisper a not-very-nice word as I spin away to the kitchen.
I’m beaming as I pull the ooey-gooey, cheesy goodness out of the oven and set it on a cooling rack.
“Go ahead and pick out a movie, Rubble. Anything you want.”
She doesn’t respond verbally, but she does make her way to the living room, sinking down into the nest I built for us. I hear her turn on the TV and tell it to search for the audio-descriptive version of a particularly pink fairy princess movie. I snort.
If I were Roman, this type of ploy would work in about point-zero-zero-one seconds. As it is…
I cut the pizza quickly, grabbing us drinks and carrying it all into the living room on a giant serving tray that usually hangs on the kitchen wall.
“I love this movie!” I exclaim, setting the tray in the blankets by Ruby’s legs. I snatch the remote before she can think to change it, then carry it with me to flip off the lights. “You’ve always had such good taste.” It’s how I know she’ll eventually come around to being in love with me. I’m a catch. All she has to do is realize it.
“Oh?” she asks, steam escaping from her ears. “How… great.”
I chuckle.
“Put your legs down, I’ll give you the tray.”
Her baby blue legs straighten out as I return to the nest. I toss a blanket over them before transferring the tray to her lap. I grab the drinks before she can wobble them into a mess and set them on the closest side table, which is at the edge of the couch, behind and slightly to the right of me.
“What kind of pizza is it?” she asks as the movie’s intro song starts.
“There’s cheese, basil, tomato, and peppers.” My nose wrinkles. “And olives. Don’t eat anything yet. I’ll trade our olives and tomatoes.”
She nods, poking at the edge of the tray while I make the switches.
“I wish he’d just make it how we like,” she mumbles.
I have to agree, but, “You know Roman,” I say, shaking my head.
She huffs. Know Roman, she does.
“I thought it was nice, by the way, the way you stood up for Elodie the other night. I think he’s really considering what you said. He called me last night to ask how to apologize to a woman, and I don’t think he meant you.”
Her eyebrows shoot up. “Did he really?”
I snort. “He totally did. I told him to buy her flowers, and to tell Sol I said hi. He hung up on me.”
We both laugh at that, and it feels like magic in my blood, laughing together with Ruby on her living room floor.
She notices our combined joy as well, and her laughter cuts off.
“Are the pizzas sorted?” she asks, scratching her nose.
“Yeah, Rubble. All sorted,” I chuckle, then grab my olive-free plate and set it in my lap, turning my attention to the TV.
We eat our pizzas to the sound of fairy friendship and mayhem, and I revel in the way that Ruby relaxes the longer we sit together. By the time her pizza is gone, she’s lounging back against the pillows, lips tipped up in the same tiny smile that graces my office wall.
Butterflies erupt in my belly.
Quietly, I gather our plates onto the tray and slide it across our laps to the floor, just off the blankets, then lay back next to her. Our shoulders are inches apart, and it takes all my willpower not to close the gap to feel her warmth against me. My eyes linger on her face, mesmerized as the light from the TV flickers on her skin. Pinks, blues, and yellows flash, making her look like one of the fairy princesses in the movie.
She’s absolutely beautiful.
“I love this part,” she whispers, soft lips parting.
I blink, tearing my eyes off of her and turning to the screen. A fairy prince is serenading his princess while they flutter around in a wildflower field.
“He’s so dreamy,” Ruby sighs, eyes closing. She relaxes further into the pillows, sliding down as she pulls her blanket up.
My finger reaches out, unbidden, and ghosts along her marigold waves.
“He looks like me, you know,” I murmur. “Same caramel waves. Same handsome face. Same broad shoulders.”
Her eyes move in a roll beneath her eyelids, and I smile.
“She looks like you. Freckles. Wavy red hair. Prettier than all the other fairies.”
Her mouth tips down, lower lip poking out, and my thumb moves over it, not quite touching, while the rest of my hand rests on her jaw. Her breath hitches.
“Even the fairytales know we’re meant to be,” I mutter, indulging myself with the lightest swipe of my thumb on her pouting lips.
“Will,” she warns on an exhale, turning her face away from my hand.
I sigh, retreating. “Sorry, Rubble. Lost myself for a moment.”
I lie down, forcing my full focus onto the TV. No more lost moments for me this evening.
That’s okay. I’ve had more than I deserve already. Much more, and I’ll not know how to handle it. I’d probably do something stupid.
Like kiss her.
She doesn’t say anything, but when she settles back in, her shoulder against mine feels like forgiveness.
I soak in that touch, heart pounding faster in my chest every second that she doesn’t move away. By the time the movie ends, I’m sure I’ll have to seek medical attention. A man’s heart is just not supposed to beat that quickly.
When the credits roll, I reach for the remote, quickly starting the second one. Ruby doesn’t protest, and I take it as confirmation that she is thoroughly enjoying our movie night.
As the opening notes of tinkly fairy music fill the room, I sigh, fully content.
“Be quiet,” Ruby snarks beside me. “I can’t hear the movie over your huffing and puffing.”
I grin, snorting. Guess I’ll keep my contentment to myself, then.