A/N: Hey guys! I know it's been a really long time since I've uploaded a story on Fanfic. I had a story for Valiant before but I never managed to finish it. So I looked it over and had to rewrite it three times before I was finally happy with it! :D This is for Valandriel, I really hope you like it!
Disclaimer: All of the characters in this story belong to Holly Black, not me. I just came up with the idea.
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Ruth's P.O.V
Ruth looked at Val's retreating face as the cab moved down the street towards the nearest hospital. She turned back around and looked at Dave's darkened face. The bruises around his eyes, the darkness around his mouth. Her pants were soaked with the water that came from the drenched clothes he wore.
She glanced over at Lolli, who was muttering insults at Dave under her breath while her expression made it look like she was just a step away from going over the edge in total panic.
Ruth shuffled through her pockets looking for a pack of cigarettes and a lighter.
God, she needed a cigarette.
She felt a pack in her pants and tried to get it, while trying to move Dave as little as possible in case the movements made him worse.
Ruth saw Lolli eye the pack as she pulled it out and grabbed a second cigarette, handing it to her.
"Thanks."
"Yeah," She replied softly.
They sat there in the dark silence that grew around them, waiting on another street with the traffic that slowly pushed the cab forward.
"I can't believe he was dumb enough to do all of this. I can't believe he tricked me." Lolli said quietly. Ruth could hear the anger that seeped into her words and looked at her.
"Do you hate him?"
Lolli turned her face away to look at the window. "I already told everyone that I don't know how I feel." She said, seeming more annoyed with the entire situation than actually at her.
Ruth started flicking the lighter uncomfortably until she got it lit. She lit her cigarette, put it between her lips, and then offered it to Lolli who lit the one still between her fingertips.
"He sounded like he was trying to get back at you for something." Ruth said - looking down at Dave's sweating face - making her snort. "So then, he liked you." Ruth said bluntly.
She blew out smoke and turned away.
"And you didn't like him back." She continued.
Lolli turned her face back around and glared at her. "Fuck you. You don't know a thing about me!"
Ruth nodded and put her lips around the cigarette, holding the smoke in her lungs for a few seconds before she blew it back out.
"No smoking!" The taxi driver said abruptly, glaring at both of them in the mirror. They both rolled down their windows and threw the cigarettes out of the car.
As the cold New York air swept in, Dave's shallow breathing hitched and he moaned slightly, sounding pained. Lolli looked down at him and Ruth looked over at her.
She looked at her faded blue hair. The swollen nose stud, the way her shirt dipped, the way her skirt rose, her knee-high boots.
Her blue eyes . . .
Damn those eyes . . .
Ruth shook her head a little and turned away, trying to find something to distract herself.
"It isn't my fault," Lolli said suddenly, still looking down at him. Ruth looked at her. Her eyes were furrowed. "I never asked him to do this for me!"
Her eyes were panicked when Ruth stared into them. She shrugged. "You don't owe me an explanation."
Lolli nodded slowly, like she hadn't heard what she'd said. Then she started nodding faster.
"You're right I don't owe you an explanation,"She said finally. "I don't owe anyone anything."
Ruth just kept looking at her for a while before she turned her face away.
When they got to the hospital, Ruth paid the driver and watched him speed off - still holding Dave - while Lolli went to find someone to help.
When they got inside, it was a flurry of movement and shouting and asking questions. Eventually things settled down enough to where Lolli and Ruth could sit down in the waiting room until they could find out how he was.
Ruth got up and went to make two cups of coffee, mostly just to have something to do with herself besides sit in a plastic chair hoping she wasn't about to hear the news that Dave had died.
She turned back around and almost spilled the coffee all over her and Lolli. Ruth fumbled with the cups. Lolli just stood there.
"Boys are stupid," She said flatly, like all of her emotion had left her.
She grabbed the coffee Ruth had offered her when she had finally managed to balance the drinks.
They both leaned against the wall in the hall they were in. Both with a shoulder against the wall. Both looking at each other.
"So all of the imaginary monsters and shit, that's you, too?" Ruth asked sipping her coffee. Lolli rolled her eyes.
"Whatever."
Ruth narrowed her eyes at her. "Look I'm just trying to figure all of this crap out, alright? I'm confused Lolli!" She told her desperately, because she was. None of this made much sense.
Lolli looked at her and shook her head. "I only tell people what I think they can handle. And I don't think you can handle what this is." She told her, making Ruth sigh and rub her eyes.
"I hate hospitals," She said suddenly. Ruth looked at her. "The smell of them makes me want to throw-up, and all of the white makes me feel like I'm in a mental prison," She finished.
Ruth looked around and nodded slowly. She could understand that.
They stood there in the hall, drinking their coffee, and all Ruth could think about was Lolli's beautiful eyes and her pale lips. She looked into them as she finished her drink, and Lolli looked back.
"Boys are stupid," She said again. Repeating what she said before, but softer, quieter. Letting it linger in the air between them.
Ruth brought her cup down away from her face and kissed her softly. Feeling Lolli's rigid body against her relax after a few seconds and kiss her back.
They kissed for a few more seconds, inhaling each other, pulling at each other, leaving each other breathless. Ruth didn't even care that Lolli had been sleeping underground for longer than she knew - until Ruth remembered where they were. Until she remembered why they were where they were.
Flashes of the moments that had happened that day shot through her head. Who she had thought to be Luis going at Lolli while "Dave" was missing. Calling them both "callous fuckers" for it. She was doing the same thing. Dave was in the emergency room. Val might not come back!
Ruth pulled away from her, still breathing heavy.
Lolli looked confused until Ruth saw she remembered the walls around them. Saw she remembered why she was here. Saw she remembered who was here.
Then Ruth saw her grab her stuff and leave.
She stood there for a few more seconds, then walked slowly to the front desk to ask if she could see Dave. Then she sat down when they said no.
When they asked her questions she said she said she didn't know anything.
When Luis called she said that Lolli walked out.
When all of this was over, when Lolli didn't come back, when they went back to school. . . Val still didn't know Ruth was heartbroken.
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End A/N: Okay that's it! I know that Holly might not have imagined Lolli this way, but I kind of think that Lolli just likes who she likes, to be honest :) Thanks for checking this out! Leave a review or favorite if you liked it or to tell me what you think, ciao!