"Hi…" Her words were rather soft, softer than she meant them to be. Her eyes lightly danced around the small table in front of her, unable to look straight at the other person sitting across from her. Tapping fingers and shaking legs weren't going to make this issue she had any easier, but she couldn't stop it. This was a special kind of torture.
He scratched his blonde hair, making it even messier. "Yeah, uh, hey." He mumbled, shuffling his seat further under the table. He ran his fingers back and forth on the cold wood, level with his stomach. Eyes looking left or right, but never straight, he sighed as he waited. Waited for something to happen. Anything to happen.
She pushed her back against the chair, slowly sliding down in a childish manner. Someone… Do something… She pleaded to whoever was listening. Whether it was a higher power or Ozpin, she just wanted someone to stop this discomfort.
"May I take your order?" A waitress of the small, local café asked. It was almost too perfect, as if she'd been saying it for years; well, that was likely. Ruby bit the side of her bottom lip, looking down to think. Jaune wasn't any better, pursing his lips and staring around the table, never at the waitress nor his company. "Er, is everything alright?" She politely asked, holding her notepad in both hands at her waist.
"Y-Yeah." Jaune stuttered out, quickly glancing at the café employee before returning his view to the usual floorboards.
She took a step back and nodded. "Well, call out when you're ready." A smile and an incomplete bow later, she was back behind the counter.
The blonde finally laid eyes upon the girl across from him. "You… Want to order?" She never looked back at him, her face looking to her left, witnessing two birds resting together on a park bench across the road. Then without warning, a strong gust of wind blew them apart. One flew, the other tumbled to the concrete, slowly managing to recover and hide from the next blow.
She apathetically sighed. "It's too late now… The waitress left."
"We can just bring her back." He replied with a little more volume in his voice.
Ruby's eyes snapped to his. They had no ill intent, but were brought up by a sudden flash of annoyance. "We…! Can…" She lowered her head again. This was far too much. She wasn't willing to handle this. "But I'm still thinking of what to order anyway." She muttered, looking back through the window.
"Alright…" He folded his arms atop the table and buried his head in the hole it formed. He exhaled, feeling his eyelids droop. Where were they? Where is she? He groaned internally. This wasn't meant to be some sort of messed up date between past lovers, it was meant to be two teams meeting up to discuss upcoming missions. So why was it only the team leaders?
He drowned his teeth into his tongue on the right side of his mouth, a nervous habit he'd developed, before pulling out his scroll. No texts from Pyrrha, or anyone else for that matter. "Rubes, uh, Ruby… Has anyone messaged you yet?"
Ruby's heart tightened for a passing second until she pretended like she'd never heard him say that. The name he once sang out for. Eyes down, she glanced at the glaring light of her scroll. Nothing. "Nope."
As if things weren't already awkward enough, he just had to screw up and call her that. Typical. They both thought with their differing inner grunts.
Jaune tensed his arms, feeling a chill brush past. Would it be better to say sorry, or just drop it? His brow furrowed, pouting slightly. There was a time Ruby would've swooned for that accidental puppy dog face… And that time was still now.
Deep breaths, Ruby. She instructed, inhaling and puffing her chest out. "I'm… I'm sorry." He spoke weakly. "A-About the whole, er, nickname thing… I just, it just came out." Despite having thought over the line again and again, it still came out in a jumbled mess.
She rose a hand, a simple way to tell him to cut it. "It's… Fine, Jaune." He flinched at her casual tone of his name, not the chirped call or the overly enthusiastic whistle. Then the silence blanketed the café once more. It was almost choking, the strange strangling sensation filling their throats. Her silver eyes slowly travelled near the blonde, but she just couldn't commit to her broken courage.
"Nice day… Today, that is." Jaune coughed, fidgeting with his fingers beside the small cup containing sugars and sweeteners.
"Uh, yeah… I suppose it is." She forced a reply, staring back out the window, the most comfortable sight she could find. Perhaps she was just hoping to see Yang or someone else to come shatter the dense atmosphere surrounding them. This really was torture.
"Have you made up your mind yet?"
Ruby glanced at him, almost looking offended. "On what exactly?"
It sounded harsh, like she was snapping at him. He brushed it off and spoke calmly. "On what you're ordering."
"Oh… Uh, no not yet." She deflated. Even she didn't know why she got so suddenly riled up, but she felt like she needed to. This was taking its toll already. They used to be joint at the hip, doing everything together, checking in every waking hour when they were apart. They never ran out of dumb things to discuss nor did they ever feel uncomfortable when it was silent. Everything was just so different now. It didn't help that Jaune seemed to have moved on with his partner, Pyrrha Nikos.
Where. Are. They? Ruby gritted her teeth together, shrinking further into her seat. What made everything far worse was this was meant to be their next date location before they broke it off, not to mention they'd come here multiple times before. This very café was meant to harbour joy and free-spirited romance for them, not this awkward weight to bear.
Jaune coughed into his hand, breaking Ruby free of her current thought train. She clenched her hands into small fists, unsure of what to do. More small talk? Order and eat? Leave? Anything other than this?
"Do you… Just want to order a big cookie?" He asked softly, slowly bringing his eyes to hers. "I mean, I know we, er… Uh, never mind."
Oh, just say it… She moped. She knew exactly what he was going to say. 'I know we used to share them, but…' I know we won't share them… Idiot... She felt as though she was becoming Weiss, although replacing the ice queen's typical 'dolt'.
The truth was, she didn't really have any ill feelings towards Jaune as a person. The break up was rough, on the both of them, but to Ruby, Jaune just seemed to stand right back up and carry on while she hid beneath her bedsheets for days until someone finally forced her outside. It didn't feel fair.
Ruby couldn't be mad at him. Pyrrha made him happy and that's all that really mattered. That doesn't mean she wasn't allowed to have short bursts of disappointment and feel awkward in this type of situation. Forcing small talk really was the worst.
"How about we just… Go back to Beacon?" She sighed. The meeting was meant to start over half an hour ago and even someone like Weiss and Pyrrha weren't here. "Obviously something's happened." Jaune nodded, standing up and stretching. Her eyes fell upon his muscles, ones that were a lot smaller when they dated.
Making herself look the other way. Stupid! Why do I feel awkward about something as dumb as that? Suddenly, she pondered why both teams hadn't shown. "You… Did send the message out to them all, right?" Ruby asked, looking back towards him.
Jaune stared back at her, his eyes slightly wider than before. "I thought… Wait, I was meant to do that?!"
"O-Of course you were!" Ruby groaned, her palm hitting her forehead. This whole awkward encounter could've been avoided if he'd done his job.
He hung his head, feeling bad for putting Ruby through this, similar to how it was previously. He'd screwed up once again. In a meek voice, he spoke, "How about I buy you a big cookie just for you, to make up for it?" He frowned considerably.
Ruby continued to stare up at him, his shimmering, but downturned eyes lazily staring back. She let herself smile, the feeling comparable to when they dated here. "That miiiiight make up for it." She teased. She exhaled with a soft laugh, seemingly all tension flooding out. "I'll tell you how I feel after I eat it."
Jaune grinned back, the wall between them suddenly fading, all because of a dumb mishap. "Alright then. Miss! I'd like one big cookie to go!"
That was how it was meant to be. Friendly jokes, not the stale silence and restricting awkwardness. There wasn't a need for it. They had dated, but that was over. That was it. The sudden shift in their dynamic shouldn't have disrupted their friendship like it did. He was still the same Jaune and she was still the same Ruby. They never needed to erect a wall between them, it was all just ridiculous feelings.
Collecting and paying for the food item, Jaune shook his head at his own stupidity. "Man, I really am dumb."
"Oh, you're not dumb… You just need a little help from time to time." Ruby giggled, feeling lighter. Jaune looked at her, his lips twitching. "Okay, a lot of help." She laughed harder. Thankfully Jaune was all in for this joke.
"Let's go back to Beacon, Ruby." He laughed, shaking his head once more while passing her the brown bag containing the newly bought cookie. "Nora'll get a kick out of this story, I'm sure."
Ruby held onto the bag tightly with her two small hands, lifting the cookie to her mouth. With a small smile, she spoke softly. "Okay, Vomit Boy. I'll race you."
Author's Note: Fireworks explode, are extremely pretty and even heartwarming at times, but quickly disappear into nothing. Wrote this to get back into the flow of writing.