Glad you guys liked the first two chapters! Again, I'll say it that Blake has some different traits in this fic, including her intense emotional reactions. To those who thought it was too far-fetched or overdone, I don't need to hear your complaints ~
Thank you moonwatcher13! This chapter is for you~!
Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY.
Chapter 3. To The Cafe
Blake scolded herself all afternoon, all evening, and all night after the incident.
She was a mess all the while, moody and upset with herself, as she'd accomplished none of the goals she'd set out to accomplish today, other than seeing Ruby.
She'd seen her alright, and Ruby had been worried about Blake, and that had only served to fluster the Faunus girl even more.
She'd had crushes before, all of them one-sided, and this one probably was, too. Blake had even managed to talk to a few of her previous love interests in the past, but all of those conversations had been child's play compared to what had happened to her at the library.
She'd never reacted so strongly before – to anything.
Perhaps it was because she'd built herself up so much about the encounter that she'd just overwhelmed herself and broken down. That seemed like the most likely possibility.
So all night, she coached herself that she wouldn't do that again. That tomorrow she'd act normally when she went into the library.
She never wanted to be that skittish about anything ever again. Not only did it make her angry with herself, but it had probably hurt Ruby's feelings, too.
Blake curled up in her bed that night and offered silent apologies to the girl, hoping Ruby might give her another chance tomorrow.
When morning came, Blake was up long before her alarm clock firmly coaxed her.
Empowered by the desire to make today a success, she rolled herself out of bed and chose clothes for the day, then freshened up and got changed in the bathroom. Her shorts today were grey and her shirt was black with the sleeves rolled halfway up to her elbows.
She brushed her hair quickly and left it down, grabbed her handbag with several books packed inside, and then hurried downstairs to eat. After reading over her parents' daily note with a smile, Blake set out for her second home.
The day was warm again, the sun bright in a cloudless blue sky. The breeze seemed to urge her forward, all the plants and grasses guiding her in that direction.
Blake was ready. Now that she knew getting so worked up over it would only result in disaster, she'd trained herself to be calmer, not think about it too much.
I'm just gonna read today. And once I see her, I'll apologize for yesterday. Very simple, nothing fancy.
The library was soon within her sights, and she put a spring in her step to reach the doors.
After slipping inside, her eyes immediately scanned the quiet room for a splash of red. It was one of the few colors she knew Ruby to wear often, but she realized the girl could be wearing anything at all.
Yet from here, Blake couldn't see her.
But rather than start searching for her like an officer seeking a suspect, Blake reminded herself to be calm.
She took a breath and stepped into the cafe, the padding of her boots on the carpet switched for a click on tile. There was a small line leading up to the counter, so Blake waited patiently, enjoying the very faint tunes of the music that played in here. It wasn't loud enough to travel into the library, but was just enough to create a tranquil environment in the cafe.
Once it was Blake's turn, the brunette rabbit Faunus barista by the name of Velvet greeted Blake with a kind smile.
"Good morning, Blake!" she said with a small bounce. They'd been familiar with one another for three years now, since the library had opened, thus her willingness to drop the "miss" in front of Blake's name, as the staff were trained to do.
Blake flicked her ears happily at the other girl whose ears were perked tall.
"Good morning. Where's Coco?"
"She's in back with Canela doing dishes," Velvet replied with her slight accent. "What can I get you?"
"I'll have the usual. And this," she added, picking up a small wrapped blueberry muffin from the shelf.
"You've got it!"
Velvet turned away to prepare Blake her usual drink: Darjeeling tea with milk and a pinch of sugar.
Once it was all ready, Blake paid and put her change in the tip jar as she thanked the girl. She took her muffin in one hand and grabbed a few napkins in the other before placing them around her tea cup. She made sure only to touch the napkin and not the cup directly as she picked it up.
She wasn't exactly good with the heat...
Rather than sit at the small tables provided by the cafe, Blake elected to sit in her secret spot beneath the staircase. She'd never spilled a drop of anything on these carpets in her life, and a small coaster on the wooden table beside her chair ensured the furniture never got damaged.
It was routine for her to give back the white tea cup to the cafe once she'd finished with it, so the library's staff didn't have to clean up after her.
Blake considered herself lucky for having forgotten to order her tea yesterday, otherwise there was no doubt in her mind that she would've left it behind in her panic to rush out.
But that wouldn't happen again. Not today.
Blake's stride was steady and almost even confident as she made her way to the staircase, placed her cup and napkins down on the table, and finally took her seat.
She sank into the soft, familiar material of the love seat, and when she breathed in, she caught the faint scent of lavender. That told her the staff must have recently sprayed freshener and cleaned the cushions. They did that for all of the movable plush furniture, and the day after they did it always gave the place an even more pleasant atmosphere.
Blake reclined into the seat and let out another sigh. After one more glance around, she still didn't see Ruby, so she let her eyes close as she took in deep, satisfying breath.
It's okay. This will be fine. Nothing like yesterday.
Her plan now was to go about her day as per usual.
And so she did. She opened up one of her books from home and leaned back to indulge herself in it.
Depending on her interest level on the material, Blake could be a quick reader when she wanted to be, but for the most part she opted to take her time and absorb every word.
She loved getting lost in the worlds of her books, be they fiction or non-fiction. She loved getting into the minds of the characters, trying to decipher who had good intentions and who was hiding something.
She took a few sips of her cooling tea before she began, but once she was really into her reading, she neglected to remember about all else.
As so often happened, Blake forgot about her tea and let the remaining liquid get cold as she buried her nose in her book. She even forgot about yesterday's panic with Ruby.
Reading really was like therapy to her in the sense that it could let her forget things for a time. Books were what she turned to when she needed a rest from reality.
She was of able mindset today, so Blake read for several hours. She finished one book and spared a few choked tears for the ending, then gulped down the rest of her cold tea to help herself recover.
Blake took the time to stretch out her stiff limbs, then started on her next book.
Another hour or so passed before she forced herself to mark her page and close the cover. Her stomach let out an embarrassing growl, and Blake quickly tore open the wrapping of her muffin and dug in, being mindful to catch every crumb in the plastic.
Once she'd satiated herself, she picked up her garbage and scurried to the nearest trash can beside the help desk. While she was up, she remembered that she'd actually had an agenda for today, and she'd yet to meet it.
While reading, she'd forgotten about Ruby, too.
Blake groaned slightly as she inwardly scolded herself. Damn it, Blake! You got too carried away with the books again...
She looked around once more, but didn't see the brunette.
And then it hit her. Ruby worked on the second floor of the library, and in recent days, she'd had reason to come downstairs.
First it had been to quiet her loud sister, and second it had been to return Blake's book.
But now that all was peaceful downstairs, and Blake had the fairytales collection back in her possession, Ruby had no reason to come down here.
Blake would've kicked herself if possible.
All this time I've just been happily reading! Idiot!
She hurried back to her spot and packed her books into her handbag. She left her empty tea cup, making a silent vow to come back for it before she left today.
Blake then hurried up the carpeted steps to the level she'd only ever been to a handful of times before.
Upstairs, the library was very different. Long tables were set up all around the wide space with rolling chairs behind them. Computer screens gave off hazily bright lights as people of all ages – though most were teenagers – typed away.
It was notably louder up here, with more people talking at higher volumes and music playing from more than one set of headphones.
There were shelves of books up here too, but the majority of the space was dedicated to printing and online work stations.
Blake felt so out of place here.
She walked awkwardly forward into the unfamiliar territory, peering cautiously around the tables and monitors for the person she sought.
Thankfully, she didn't have to search for long.
She spotted Ruby standing with her back straight and her hands folded neatly before her as she addressed a blonde boy who looked like he was having trouble with his computer. Ruby offered him a kind smile that sent a pang of something unnamed through Blake's chest.
She'd later discern it to be jealousy.
From what her Faunus ears could pick up on, Ruby was simply helping the boy out with checking out a book electronically.
"Since we don't have it in our library," she was saying to him. "We can order it from another one and they'll ship it here for us! It should arrive in 3 to 5 days and then you can check it out from here!"
The boy let out a relieved sigh.
"That's awesome. Thanks so much for your help."
"Don't mention it, sir!"
It still seemed a little odd to Blake that the workers here had to address people, even ones their own age, so formally. She'd moved beyond that with Velvet and the other baristas due to Blake's own frequent visits to the cafe.
She hoped she could get to that point with Ruby someday, too...
Once Ruby had finished helping the boy, Blake took a step forward. She didn't want to disrupt the girl in her work, but she needed to speak to her, for both their sakes.
She noticed a familiar blonde girl who could've been none other than Yang sitting nearby. A girl with long white hair tied into a neat ponytail sat beside her, looking irked as she hissed at the blonde.
But Blake's attention soon zeroed in on Ruby alone.
She swallowed, ignored the beating in her chest, and walked up to behind her.
"E-Excuse me..."
Ruby turned around quickly.
"Yes! How may I- Oh!" As soon as she realized who she was speaking with, a spark of familiarity appeared in Ruby's kind silver eyes.
Blake was happy about that. Really happy.
Ruby put on a wide smile for her, and Blake's heart went off.
"Hello, miss!" Ruby said. "Is there something I can help you with?" She then looked around and lowered her voice to ensure her next comment would be kept private between Blake and herself. "I hope it's not weird of me to say, but I hope you're feeling better. You seemed a little flustered yesterday."
A little flustered... Blake thought bitterly, though the bitterness was at no one but herself. She took another breath and shook her head.
"I'm fine. Thank you... for asking..." She realized Ruby's concern touched her a bit, and it made something warm spread throughout her chest. "I'd actually just... I came looking for you, because I wanted to um..." Her words suddenly began to fail her.
No! Come on, Blake, you've made it this far!
As she hesitated, Ruby put in a guess of her own.
"Oh! Were you worried about Yang being too loud again? Don't worry, Weiss has got her under control today! That's the girl next to her. She's Yang's girlfriend! Since she heard about the day Yang was playing the Pickle Game in here, Weiss got suuuper mad at her and has been yelling at her about it ever since, telling her she's gotta keep quiet in the library and stuff."
As she rambled on, Blake's ears started to lift. The sound of Ruby's carefree voice gave her the encouragement she needed to finish her thought.
"Actually," Blake said. "I wanted to find you... so I could apologize... for yesterday..."
"Apologize?"
"Yeah. I was... really rude to run out on you like that. I-I didn't mean anything by it. Honest." Her ears drooped again and her smile faded as she was forced to remember her own foolishness.
But Ruby was quick to make her feel better again.
"Oh, no, not at all! You don't have to apologize!" she cried. "Please don't feel bad about it, miss! If you ever don't feel well, it's important that you take care of yourself first!"
Her declaration made Blake's heart flutter all over again.
This girl understood. Her eyes said as much.
Blake needed to wipe her sleeve over her own face and sniffle a bit, but her little smile came back before long.
Seeing the change in her reaction, Ruby grinned as well.
"But I am glad you came to find me today! I couldn't get downstairs yet today, but I... kinda wanted to see you, too!"
Blake knew that part must have been in her head, a figment of her self-indulgent imagination.
Or so she thought.
But Ruby's beaming smile was nothing but genuine, and she was kicking her foot in a bashful little circle again.
Blake almost felt dizzy, but she refused to run away again.
And yet, she had no idea what to say at this point.
So naturally, she stumbled and stammered like a broken record.
"I-I... I um..."
"Oh, y'know?" Ruby said quickly. "It's actually time for my break right now! I think I'm gonna head to the cafe."
Ruby's eyes sent up a silent message to Blake, a hint.
Blake thanked the universe that she took it.
"Oh. I was actually gonna head there myself."
"Great!" Ruby clapped. "Then we can go together! Is that okay?"
She was giving Blake one more chance to affirm this, so they both knew it wasn't just going to be for coincidence's sake.
Blake breathed again and nodded.
"Yes. Of course it-it's fine."
She might've stammered a bit, but the giddy smile she got in return for it was priceless.
"Yay! Let's go, let's go!" Ruby darted for the staircase and all but flew down it.
Blake followed more slowly, almost in a trance.
She couldn't believe what had just happened – what was still happening.
She'd just met an adorable girl only a few days ago and had only spoken to her a few times, and now they were going to a cafe together.
Isn't this... a-a date...?
The word almost had her fainting where she stood.
But by some miracle, she managed to limp shakily down the stairs after Ruby, gripping tightly to the railing all the while.
She'd set out today to apologize to Ruby for her behavior yesterday.
And now she had a date.
If this were a dream, Blake didn't want anyone to pinch her.
A/N: Good job, Blake! Let's see how this goes next chapter~
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