Cold Hands, Warm Heart

Chapter 2

Oscar hated being at the cash register more then he hated being on the bookselling floor. While being on the floor required more communication with reluctant customers to convince them to buy a book they didn't really want, being at the register required conversation all the time to some less than pleasant customers. Not to mention he still had to try and sell them a membership when they only ever came into the store once a year.

The brown-haired boy shuffled his feet slightly and began to fiddle with some candy displays with his back to the registers. His store manager, Ozpin, wasn't in today but the other three managers were. Glynda Goodwitch, Peter Port, and Bartholomew (Bart) Oobleck were a strange lot. While Peter and Bart were fairly laid back and had their employee's back when a customer was out for blood; Glynda was not.

And, unfortunately, she was the lead manager on his shift.

Which meant that he had to pretend there was something to do so she didn't yell at him.

Oscar didn't like focusing on something other than the register when he was assigned to it. He often found himself hyper-focusing on his little project instead of monitoring the register for customers like he should. Often resulting in him getting yelled at to pay attention when a customer suddenly spawns like an enemy on a puzzle floor in a video game.

"Oscar you have a customer. Pay attention," the headset he was wearing crackled in his ear—sounding like Glynda's voice.

Like that. Oscar rolled his eyes before he turned back to the register with a fake smile plastered on his freckled face. However, when his vision focused on the customer in question, his breath hitched in his throat.

Ruby was just as hauntingly beautiful as he remembered. She wore a red hoodie again but this time, thick sunglasses covered her eyes. Not saying a word, she placed a few audiobooks on the counter and waited patiently for him to pick his jaw up off the floor and begin to ring her up.

"Did you find everything alright today?" Oscar asked, internally scolding himself for how his throat croaked and broke.

"Oscar?" Ruby asked curiously as she cocked her head to the side to hear him better.

"Uh, yeah, sorry I didn't expect you to remember me," Oscar admitted as he rubbed the back of his neck in mild embarrassment. Just like their first meaning, Oscar was glad she couldn't see the way his cheeks flushed when she talked to him.

"I've got a pretty good memory," Ruby said with a shrug. "I'm more surprised you remembered me."

"Like I could ever forget you."

Ruby giggled all of a sudden and Oscar slapped his hand over his mouth.

"I said that out loud didn't I?" Oscar asked as he carefully began to pick up and examine the audiobooks she had chosen for herself.

"I don't mind," Ruby said softly it almost sounded like it was a whisper. They stood in silence for the next few minutes while Oscar continued to ring up her purchases. There were three audiobooks. The first was called Bad Luck Charm and appeared to be Qrow Branwen like the book she had picked out the last time he saw her. The second book was by someone named Winter Schnee and looked like a much like a romance while the previous had looked like a thriller. The last one was a young adult fantasy novel he remembered seeing around the store in hardback and even read for himself.

"This one by Penny Polendina is pretty good, I like the main character—she's super fun to read about."

"I'm glad you think so," Ruby said with a soft smile and Oscar could only cock his head to the side in response before shrugging it off. When he finished ringing up the audiobooks he took a green card from her signifying she was a member and scanning it saving her about six dollars. If it was a better deal, he might have called over Jaune to see if he would be willing to let him used his employee discount, but it wouldn't have saved her anything since they were already twenty percent off before her membership.

"Can I ask you a question?" Oscar asked and he felt a little stupid asking since he had just asked her a question. However, if she noticed she didn't both point it out. Instead, just nodding her head as she continued to have her ear cocked in his direction. "Why do you listen to audio books instead of braille translations?"

She was silent for a moment and Oscar felt all the blood leave his body. He had just managed to offend the one girl he had any kind of connection to. She was going to hate him. She was going to report him to Glynda for rude behavior, or worse. She was never going to speak to him again.

"I'm sorry I shouldn't have asked."

"No, no, you're fine. I do normally buy the books in braille online, but my sister and I will listen to these in the car together. I just was a little taken back by someone bothering to care to ask. There always so scared about my reaction."

"Still I shouldn't be so personal."

"If it's you I don't mind," Ruby said the words with a soft smile and Oscar swore his heart was going to leap out of his chest. "You're sweet and genuine. Something I'm not used to."

"I'm glad," Oscar replied.

"Hey, are you ever going to get this line moving?"

They both jumped at the sudden sound and Oscar realized the line had grown while the two of them had been talking. Unfortunately, behind them, Oscar could see Glynda glaring and he quickly placed her items in a bag while she fumbled with the keypad to pay with a card.

"Here you go," Oscar handed her the bag and once again his hand brushed hers. Her hand was just as cold as he remembered but he felt himself gravitating to the touch no matter how much he knew he shouldn't.

"Here," Ruby said quickly as she pulled out a piece of paper from her purse that looked like a fast-food receipt. She scrambled from a pen and when she finally found one she scribbled something on the paper. He could read the numbers she scribbled on the receipt that was, magically, not on the inked side. "When you're done with your shift, join me and Zwei for a walk sometimes. So, you can pet him this time. Since he'll be off duty."

"Sure," Oscar said. What else could he say? His brain was short-circuiting. He somehow scored a phone number to the most interesting and down to earth girl he ever met.

"Later."

"Bye," Oscar waved and he blinked dreamily before snapping back to reality.

Man, did he have it bad.

BRK: So remember when this was supposed to be a one-shot. Well, I decided this was going to be a three-shot because I'm crazy like that. So I hope you enjoy.