Panic struck Weiss's heart and shone in her bright icy eyes. As she inched backward, her feet neared the edge of the platform. She shot a fearful glance at the water below. There was nowhere left to go.
Ruby stepped ever closer, a maniacal grin on her face. Her eyes were squinting, her fingers wiggling teasingly at Weiss. The old wooden dock creaked with each step. An evil giggle escaped her grinning teeth.
Weiss's eyes widened. "R-Ruby Rose, so help me! If you push me in this water I'll—AAAH!" A big splash followed her unheard plea.
"Hahaha! You'll what?!" Ruby called. She pushed her bangs away from her eyes to watch Weiss resurface.
All of a sudden a new voice appeared. "Hey Ruby think fast." Before the poor girl could even turn around, she was face-first in the lake. She already knew it was Yang who'd betrayed her. Ruby's head popped up and she spit out some water.
"Ha ha!" Weiss taunted. She received a swift splash to the face.
Yang watched from the dock, fiddling with her yellow bikini strings. She began to walk back to Blake who was sunbathing in a chair on the wider part of the platform. "Hey Blake," Yang said, "Can you help me tie this tighter?"
Blake peered over her shades and sat up. "Sure," she replied. Yang held the strings out for her and Blake took them, momentarily letting her hands rest on Yang's. "How's that?" she asked.
"That's great, thanks." Yang gave her a warm smile which Blake timidly returned. Yang looked across the yard towards the back doors of the cottage. She eyed her prosthetic. "I think I'll just leave my arm inside," she decided.
"Going swimming?" Blake asked.
"Yep. You should too!" Yang encouraged, starting to walk away. "If you want to," she added.
Blake watched as she left and sighed. She pushed her sunglasses up and rested against the chair again. With her eyes closed she thought of Yang radiating positive energy in her bright yellow two-piece. Lost in thought, Blake hardly noticed the shaking and clunking of incoming footsteps.
"Are you coming in?"
"Huh?" Blake turned to face Yang, who was now holding a pool noodle. "Oh. Nah I'm good right here."
"Aw, you sure?"
"Yep."
Yang rolled her eyes and smiled. "Suit yourself." At the mention of the word 'suit', she pulled at her own swimsuit top and winked. "Don't burn to a crisp though."
"I will try my best not to," Blake answered nonchalantly. A few seconds passed before she heard Yang throw herself at the water with a loud sploosh, followed by cries of anguish from Ruby and Weiss. Blake laughed to herself.
Floating in the lake, Ruby spotted a raft with a small ladder. She glanced at Weiss. "Hey Weiss," she pointed at the raft, "bet I can swim to that raft faster than you can."
Weiss's eyes narrowed in determination. "Oh, it is on," she declared, getting a head start.
"Hey wait!" Ruby called, hastily splashing along. "No fair! I didn't say go."
"Boo hoo!" Weiss called, giggling. "Cry me another lake to race you in!"
Yang laughed as she watched from afar. She leaned on her pool noodle and looked up at the dock to find Blake standing up. Blake took her time removing her long white cover up, revealing her black one-piece swimsuit. Dazzled momentarily, Yang faltered in returning Blake's greeting. She waved meekly at her.
"The water's great!" Yang announced. Blake began a careful descent down the ladder, shocked when her feet hit the icy water. "Dude."
"I'm working on it," Blake told her.
Yang shook her head. "You just gotta… Blake, look at me, you just gotta go for it."
She slammed her fist into the water. "If you jump in, it's easier. Just do it real quick,"
Yang advised despite Blake's complaints. "I'll count to three for you. When I get to three, you jump in. One…"
"Yang…"
"Two…"
"Yang, no."
"Two and a half…"
Blake grinned, lowering her head in shame. "Two and a half? That was nice of you."
"Three! Three Blake! Oh my god, it's three! Aaah! Here you go! Here it comes!"
Finally Blake let go of the ladder, plunging into the lake with a small reluctant screech. When her head popped up, she cursed Yang for saying that the water was fine. She began to swim around Yang to warm up.
Yang peered over at her sister. "Aw Weiss won."
On the rocking raft, Weiss stood victorious. "Ha ha ha!" she laughed, her arms in the air. She turned to Ruby who was slowly climbing the ladder. "You owe me a dollar."
"Weiss it wasn't for money." Ruby crawled onto the rough, short carpet and balanced herself. "Besides, I have a different prize for you."
Curious, Weiss turned around. She was alarmed to realize that Ruby was only inches from her face. "What exactly… did you have in mind?" Weiss asked.
With a small, calm smile, Ruby extended her hand and shoved Weiss into the water. Again. "Now we're even," Ruby said.
Weiss splashed below her, spitting out lake water. Her white bangs covered her eyes. "Ruby!" she yelled. Ruby giggled. "That does not make us even!" She began to swim towards the ladder. "So help me," she muttered, "just you wait till I get up there. I'll show you. Then you'll be sorry. Smh, pushes me in the water, I'll show her…"
"What!" Ruby called. She held out her hand to help Weiss up, but Weiss pushed it aside.
Still holding the ladder, Weiss retorted, "I wasn't talking to you."
"Well stop talking to yourself and come fight me. Whoever falls off the raft loses," Ruby announced. Although her hair was barely shoulder length, she used a red rubber band around her wrist to tie her hair up.
"You got it," Weiss accepted.
The girls circled the raft, arms out and ready to push the other. Suddenly Ruby launched herself at Weiss, but Weiss ducked out of the way last minute, sending Ruby flying off the raft. She shrieked just before hitting the water.
Weiss peered down at her. "Now that makes us even."
"I let you win!" Ruby claimed.
"You can tell yourself that all you want," Weiss replied with a smug smile.
"Ack!" Ruby looked to the dock by where Blake and Yang were swimming. "The first one to swim to the dock gets ice cream!" Before Weiss could answer, she was off.
"Ruby… there's…" Weiss sighed. "There's enough ice cream for everybody." She jumped in and followed Ruby nonetheless.
As Ruby ran down the dock, with Weiss following close behind, Blake climbed the ladder and offered Yang a hand. At first, Yang was caught off guard. "I can do it myself," she snapped. Did Blake not think she could climb a simple ladder unassisted? Blake's open hand shriveled shut. Looking up at her, Yang felt a burst of guilt. "Uh, I mean… sorry. Thanks." She took Blake's hand then followed her off the dock and through the grass.
The girls silently headed up the hill past the quaint white cottage. Yang paused to yank her black cover up from its place on the railing. While putting it on, she realized that they were automatically walking away from the house. How did they both decide to do that? She turned to Blake, who was watching her with an unreadable expression. Her arms were crossed, her raven hair blowing in the breeze.
"Yang," Blake began, "were you mad at me or something?" Embarrassed, Yang averted her eyes. "I mean, what was that? You just yelled at me."
With a sigh, Yang leaned against the railing and gave Blake an apologetic look. "I'm sorry Blake. There wasn't a reason for that."
Blake's eyes narrowed skeptically. Then her face softened as she moved closer to Yang. "Is something on your mind?"
"What? No." Although Yang said this, she knew it wasn't true, and that Blake was well aware. Laughing awkwardly, Yang shook her head. "Okay, yeah. It's just… I don't know." Blake waited patiently, all of her focus on her friend. "I was thinking about how people keep assuming that I can't handle things myself. It bothers me."
Nodding, Blake listened. "Yang, you're very strong. And smart." Her hand twitched as she got the idea to put her arm around Yang, but decided against it. "And you're a great friend."
"Thanks Blake."
"Mm. You know, people might offer to help you because they like to help, not because they think you can't do things." She added, "But I see what you were saying too."
The two stood there in thoughtful silence for a moment before being interrupted by Ruby's announcement. "Guys!" Ruby called. "There's ice cream!"
"Cool!" Yang replied. Blake chuckled. "Well," Yang pushed off of the railing, "want some ice cream?"
"Sure."
Some time later, Ruby emerged from the cottage and put on some ladybug sunglasses. She wore a red towel around her waist that was still wet from earlier. Trailing behind her was a curious Weiss, whose hair was tied in a bun now. The girls neared a garage separate from the house. When they got there, Ruby turned the doorknob and used her weight to open the door. Weiss slowly followed her inside.
"Ruby, you still haven't told me what's in here," Weiss pointed out. She heard Ruby's scratchy footsteps come to a halt and turned to see her standing by a large tarp. The smell of gasoline was thick in the air.
"Press the garage door button," Ruby requested.
Weiss glanced at the glowing button and pressed it. As the door screeched open, Ruby removed the tarp to reveal the surprise.
"A golf cart?"
"Yeah!"
Weiss watched as Ruby plopped down in the driver's seat. "Are we gonna go golfing?"
Ruby laughed, shaking her head. "No Weiss, just get in."
After peaking back at the cottage for a moment, Weiss complied. She took a seat next to Ruby and held the small armrest. Then Ruby began to slowly drive down the driveway, picking up speed once they hit the road. With her foot smashed down on the gas pedal, Ruby cruised passed several bright cottages. She had expected Weiss to tell her that she was going too fast, but when Ruby looked over at her, Weiss was calmly taking in the neighborhood. Stray pieces of hair whipped around her face, but she was unfazed. Their eyes met and Weiss smiled. Interesting. Ruby turned her focus back to the road as she turned into another section of the neighborhood.
As she drove, Ruby began to recall a memory. "When I was little, I really wanted to drive this thing, but I was too small to reach the pedals." Weiss took interest in this story. "So what my dad would do was he'd drive, but he put me on his lap so I could steer. I was so excited," Ruby said with a grin. "He did the same with Yang."
"That's nice," Weiss commented quietly. She watched trees and houses go by. "You have a caring father."
Side glancing Weiss, Ruby pulled into a grassy patch where the neighborhood ended and met the street. "Yeah," Ruby agreed. "He's always been there for me."
Weiss nodded thoughtfully. "I'm glad that he was."
Sensing Weiss's wistful tone, Ruby thought about Weiss's family. "I'm sorry yours... wasn't." She watched Weiss's face.
Weiss looked away. "Yeah," she said. "Well I don't need him anyway." She leaned against the seat cushion and looked back at Ruby. "I like being here with you… all."
"Aww, Weiss." Ruby wrapped her arms around Weiss, who sat up straighter in surprise. "I like having you here."
Weiss rolled her eyes, but she smiled and reciprocated Ruby's hug.