YAY I'm writing again! Finally. The idea was that I would finish the story before then posting the story, but I was met with an amazing lack of energy to write, and I figured, my writer's block shouldn't cheat you out of the next chapter.

Introducing, the second chapter of The Holiday! Enjoy!

Chapter 2
Decision

"I can't believe this is happening." Ruby muttered, picking up the tennis racket of the jackass sleeping on the couch downstairs and throwing it down on the bed. "This is going to end right now. I'm done, I'm so done."

"Ruby!" She heard Peter coming up the stairs, and she grabbed one of his trainers. The door opened and with a frustrated yell, she hurled it at his head. Sadly, he ducked away just in time with a scared yell. Ruby put her hands on her hips and looked at him with stormy eyes. He held up his hands in defeat and said, "Okay, can I just say again that I did not sleep with her!"

Ruby rolled her eyes and literally growled at him, her eyes blazing. "Oh right, because your receptionist needs to work till three in the morning!" She began gathering up his stuff again, throwing it all on the bed with angry huffs. This was long overdue. She had taken too long to realize that this relationship would never work out.

"A bunch of us were working late, she wanted to hang out." Peter explained in his patronizing voice, as if she was the fault in this case.

"Oh really?" She whirled around at lightning speed, her expression making him stagger back a bit. She knew she was scary when she got angry, she couldn't really help it. 'Wolf girl', people used to call her. Still do actually. "Then swear on my life that you did not sleep with her." He shot her a 'really?' look, but didn't say anything. "Come on, if you did not sleep with her, you've got nothing to lose here." Well, except for this relationship but that was beside the point.

"I'm not going to..."

"Oh, that's it!" Ruby threw the other shoe at his head and continued throwing his things on the bed. "Your receptionist, Peter? You know, this is why I knew we were smart never to get married, this is why I told you never to get rid of your house!" She grabbed his shirt and threw it at his face. He caught it, throwing it behind him in an annoyed move. "Somewhere inside, I knew this about you!"

Peter rubbed his hands over his face exasperatedly, before following her into the room as she began gathering more of his stupid stuff. "Okay, first of all; can you please calm down? Because I did not sleep with her!" Then he went with the low road. "Secondly, we've had problems for over a year. I know you don't want to deal with that, but we have..."

She growled. "Oh, I'm well aware we've had problems for the last year, because if I work a little bit too much, I never stop hearing about it." She had the worst urge to tear his throat out as she grabbed his sheet music. "But if you work too much, maestro, it's for the sake of your music."

He started laughing, but stopped when he saw her glance over with a murderous look. "If you work too much? Ruby, you've cut 75 trailers this year, there's a freaking cutting room in the basement and you practically sleep with your iPhone! I'm not even going to talk with you about the sex, because I can't remember the last time we did it!"

Ruby rolled her eyes, huffing impatiently. "Oh come on, no one has time for sex!" Seriously, in this busy world, who did?

Peter bit his lip. "That's not exactly true."

It took about .2 seconds for that to sink in and then Ruby's anger burst. She threw his music sheets in his arms and yelled, "Oh, you absolutely slept with her! Seriously, you have to get out!" She pushed him out of the bedroom before leading him to the hall. He was sighing and pleading the entire time, but Ruby just talked right through him. "You know what, I don't think you ever really loved me! Hmm? How's that?"

"Ruby, come on!"

"No, I think you loved the idea of you and me, but not so much me. Not really!" She threw his stuff in his arms and opened the door for him.

Peter groaned, scratching his neck uncomfortably, and Ruby saw it as a sign that he was in fact lying. "Ruby, give me a break, I did the best I could! Is anyone good enough for that job?!"

She grabbed his keys from the cabinet and threw them in his hand. "I will send you your things!" she hissed, pointing at the hole of the door. She gave up, she was done with him, she didn't want this toxic relationship anymore. This was the best decision she could have made, she was already feeling the weight of it slipping off her shoulders.

Groaning, Peter walked out of the door. "You know you do this, right? You screw up every relationship you're in. It's what you do." He smiled, seemingly satisfied with his jest, but his smile disappeared when she narrowed her eyes at him and then slammed the door right in his face. She bolted up the stairs, hoping to get away from him, because dear God, he was going to be the death of her and not in a good way. "You never wanted to be a couple! That stupid charade of yours, 'Wolf Girl', it's what's keeping you from letting anyone in! You push them away! And it's so fucking hard to detect how you even do it, because nobody is quite as smart as you!" Ruby was astounded. She'd never known he could sink so low. She rushed to the bedroom where she heard him yell, "But you always do it, and this is what happens!"

In a fit of rage, she threw open the doors to the balcony. "What happens, Peter? Do enlighten me as to what happens."

He let his things drop to the floor and took a step back to look up to her. His eyes were shining bright with adrenaline and some kind of fear. Pearls of sweat were on his forehead. "Things end, and you damn well knew they would! You know how I feel about you, there's no one like you. You just don't wanna be what I need!" He caught himself too late, and a flash of fear was visible on his face. She damn near growled at him. "Well, not what I 'need', but...I mean, you know what I mean..."

She shook her head. "You know, I would never cheat on you, under any condition."

"Well, neither would I! Look at me, I'm down here sweating like a pig and look at you!" He was gesturing wildly with his arms, something Ruby recognized as a sign of desperation.

She narrowed his eyes at him. "What is it with me?"

"Well, you're standing up there, breaking up with your boyfriend and you don't even shed a tear? No, you just get angry. That's gotta mean something, right?" He looked up at her, and Ruby could see the irony of the situation. She remembered Peter standing down there with a boom box, asking her out while Simple Minds belted out 'Don't You (Forget About Me)'. It was one of the best days of her life. And now they were here, at the end of the line. Same position, opposite situation.

"I can't believe it's still bugging you that when I get upset, I get angry instead of cry. Do you like me weak, Peter?" she snarled.

"Don't be ridiculous, Ruby!" Peter wiped his brow with trembling fingers.

Ruby opened her mouth, but just then the shivers and the headache began. She grabbed hold of the railing on the balcony and closed her eyes to wait to the episode to pass. She always got those when her anger got too out of control. "Hang on. It's okay, I'll be alright." she said, when she opened her eyes and saw him looking at her worried.

"Yeah, I know, I was thinking about me."

Ruby rolled her eyes. Of course he was. It didn't even surprise her anymore. As her headache subsided, she shot a murderous look at him. "Look, Peter, it's over. Let's just be honest with each other, for once. Just...put me out of my misery." He glanced down as he sighed. "Did you sleep with her? I mean, what are we even doing – "

"Okay!" Peter exclaimed, exasperated. Ruby felt a sting in her gut. "Okay, yes. Okay? I slept with her. Are you happy? I've been sleeping with her, she's in love with me. I mean, she's young!" He rubbed his face. "This is not a proud moment for me, you should just know that."

Ruby shook her head. "Why? Because you cheated on me, or because you got caught?" Without another word, she went inside, slamming the doors. She stopped dead in her tracks, letting his words sink in and gasping as she realized what he'd said to her. She stormed outside, flinging the front door open just as he was picking up his sport shirt. "Did you just say, am I happy?"

"Oh Ruby, that's not what I meant, you drive me nuts sometimes, I say things I don't mean!"

She shook her head again. "You know what, in the world of love, not that I'm such an expert, but in the world of love, cheating is just unacceptable!"

"Okay, no matter what you think, this is not just my fault, you know!" he shouted at her in a mean voice.

"Are you saying this is my fault?!"

"Yes! And when you're not in such a rage, you will see that, too."

Ruby pushed him away and sneered. "Of course! Maybe when I stop having visions of you two together, I will see your side!" She turned around, but had an urge to satisfy. She whirled around and punched him square in the nose.

"Oh, come on!" he began, but she punched him again, and this time he went down. She'd never felt so vengeful as she marched back into the house and shut the door on him. For good this time. She was slowly freaking out while she rubbed her knuckles. They were burning with the ache of punching Peter in the face. She paced up and down the hall.

"I can't believe this is happening." she murmured. "What am I gonna do?"

A cough interrupted her thoughts, and she turned around. She saw Nova standing in the doorway, with a notepad in her hands. "Is this a bad time?" she asked.

Ruby stared at her co-worker for a moment, before realizing that yes, her life was moving on. She straightened out her hair, took a deep breath and forced a smile up on her face. "Yes. I'm just freaking out a bit. But you know what, I'm okay. Hi." she said to Nova. "What's up?"

Turned out it was another trailer, done. In the basement, in her cutting rooms she watched as a beautifully cut trailer for a new movie 'Red Riding Hood', starring her friend Killian Jones – incidentally also the person who scored this movie – and some bimbo she didn't know before this trailer. Some Milah...they were together now.

Anyway, she smiled when a wolf's jaws seemed to close around the camera and the screen went black. "That's amazing!" she said appreciatively. "Well done, Leroy."

Leroy turned around, with a grin on his face. "Yes, it is. But you thought it out perfectly. I just put it in order."

"I just want the words 'Red Riding Hood' a little bit more red. Make it dripping with blood. It's not the fairy tale, it's a horror movie. A good one. I want it to give it that vibe."

Leroy nodded, writing it down. "It's done. This is why they pay you the big bucks, Ruby, amazing."

Ruby grinned wolfishly, before the reality sank in again. Peter was gone. It was Christmas and she would be alone. She needed to get out of this house, it felt like it was smothering her. "Hey, it's Christmas Holiday. Let's just...take off for a few weeks."

Leroy burst out in laughter and Nova giggled. "Yeah, sure." Leroy grumbled with laughter.

"No, I'm serious."

Nova frowned deeply, looking at Ruby in wonder. "You're always saying that this is our busiest time, we can't just...take a holiday."

"Yes, we can. I want a holiday, I need a holiday. I need some peace and quiet...or whatever it is people go away for." She pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed. "No, you know what I want? I want to eat carbs without wanting to kill myself. I want to read a book – not a magazine, an actual book." She saw her co-workers look at her in absolute shock, and she knew why. This wasn't like her, she never took a holiday. But a dread was coming over her, a dread she couldn't push away. She had to get out of town for a bit. "Did you read that article in the New York Times yesterday? Severe stress makes woman age prematurely, because stress causes the DNA in our cells to shrink until they can no longer replicate. So when we're stressed, we look haggard." She saw Leroy looking at her sceptically. "This is just women, not men." She was ranting on and on, and she couldn't stop herself, not yet.

"Sorry." Leroy grumbled.

"So with all the stress in our lives, we continue to look haggared! Meanwhile Peter will look handsome forever fucking his 21 year old receptionist! GOD!" She covered her mouth with her fist, stopping herself mid-rant. She was at the end of her energy reserves, and she knew, she was sure, she had to get out. Now. "See what I mean? I need a vacation." She turned off all the equipment. "I'm taking two weeks off. Congratulation, you have two weeks of unexpected holiday."

She left the basement with a sigh, already feeling the weight of her stress lessen. A holiday would make her feel better, after this nonsense with Peter. She took her place behind her computer and stared at the screen for a moment. "Okay, where do I want to go? By myself with Christmas?" The reality sunk deeper, a sadness overcoming her that she hadn't known in a very long time. "Alone...totally alone." She buried her face in her hands and tried to cry. Tried, but failed, just as she always did. She'd tried everything. Sad movies (they disgusted her) , horror movies (they always made her laugh, so that was no good), she bought books with reviews that made Peter tear up (never read them), tried remembering what happened in her past (bad idea, Peter had woken up to a destroyed living room)...everything she tried failed. She just couldn't cry, just like now.

After ten minutes of trying to force a tear, she took a deep breath and moved on. She started surfing the net for all her worth. She found adrenaline vacations, as if she needed more of that, 'worry-free' vacations, all kinds but none to her liking. Until she arrived at a site that she clicked by accident. The name peaked her interest. "Vacation rentals." She bit her lip as she read the general idea of this kind of a vacation. "I could do that. Hole up in a house somewhere, disappear for a few weeks." She brought her thumb to her mouth and sucked on the tip, something she tended to do when nervous or excited. She clicked through to 'find a rental'. "Okay, where do I want to go? Well, where do they speak English?" She grinned. "Why not, the UK might do. It's far away enough."

The link brought her to a few cities where there were rentals available and she started clicking randomly. The first few had good descriptions, but horrible houses, most of them resembling the houses in the Valley.

Until she found a house in Surrey, a lovely little white cottage that looked like it came right from a fairy tale. She read the description, which brought a relaxed smile on her face. Christmas in the country. A fairy-tale English cottage set up in a peaceful country garden. Snuggle up near a stone fireplace and enjoy some hot cocoa. A magical oasis of peace just forty minutes from exciting London. "Yeah." Ruby said. This sounded perfect. "Though you don't sound English to me." she said randomly to the owner on the other side of the pacific. The words were wrong, American, not British. "Okay, what's next? Ah, contact the owner." She quickly made an account for herself and then a chat with the owner called Emma opened.

Ruby's fingers hovered over the keyboard for just a moment, before she pushed her doubts aside and started typing her message.

RedRuby: I am interested in renting your house.

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