A/N: This Chapter will either be a huge success, or a huge flop. I'm too tired to tell, so it's up to you guys. Thank you to everyone who has been reading and reviewing! Just the fact that my writing is being praised means so much to me I want to cry! But that's something I'll probably ramble on about later… Two things btw! Someone asked if Ruby will meet the Guardians. Yes, she will. Soon actually, but that's later. The other thing, should Tooth be jealous? Yeah Jack and Tooth had that one, totally out of place moment when they hugged, I don't really see them as a potential couple though… what do you guys think? Should she be jealous? Thanks for reading, reviewing, favorite-ing, and following!
Jack didn't return to see Charlie and Ruby the next day, even though he had promised them. It would be Christmas Eve in three days and Ruby wanted to see him before then. Charlie was very disappointed when Jack didn't come like he had promised. Ruby just assumed something had happened; Jack had been consistent with his promises until now. Something had to be wrong, right?
Not to mention the fact that he had been completely rejecting his job as Jack Frost, he probably had to work. That was why he didn't come. Ruby would tell herself.
As the days trickled by like sand in an hourglass, Ruby became more and more upset. It had been two days since she had last seen him and she felt drained. Waiting for him to come was more upsetting than not having her camera, which she had wondered why her parents hadn't given it back yet.
Ruby hadn't crossed paths with her parents in a while, they had always spoken of trifles at meals together, but there was always an unspoken tension between them. She could sense the growing anticipation in her parents, Ruby wondered if they thought she was going to step out of line again.
The last time Ruby had stepped out of line, her parents sent her to a rehabilitation center, which at first Ruby thought was extremely radical. And upon getting there, she knew she was really in for the worst.
The kids there weren't simply fresh to their parents, they actually had problems. Many of the kids had drug addictions, were abused, or were under probation for crimes committed. Ruby was certainly out of place. And when her parents wrote her letters during the three months she was there, they always asked if she was 'getting better'. She wanted to rip up their letters; she wanted to yell at them for being so overdramatic. She shouldn't have had to put up with being treated so carefully, treated as if she were sick or dumb. All she had done was bothered her parents. They were overbearing and uptight, she was lenient and easygoing. But a flaw in her plan had come up when Derek- her then boyfriend- had hit her, and Charlie had seen. Not only was that a recipe for disaster, Ruby had gotten a black eye, her parents found out, even without Charlie telling them. And then she was sent away for 'her own health' as her parents had put it. Since then things hadn't been the same.
Ruby was of course, not acting as bold with her actions; she didn't go out with boys anymore, in fact, she shut people out completely. People at school would always whisper rumors about her; apparently Derek had made up things about her after she broke up with him. Ruby was known all around school as 'the easy freshman' and frankly, it wasn't easy to make new friends with that label. And so Ruby became more introverted, she dropped ballet completely, and became more active in something that could never disappoint her, never make her unhappy, photography.
Ruby's eyes watered at the memory of it all. If she ever had to go again, she didn't know what she would do. A day there felt like a century. How she had even made it through three months was beyond her.
There was a knock on the door and Charlie entered. He shut it quietly and looked at her sadly, "He's not coming back, is he?"
"I don't know." Ruby sighed and sat on her bed, "He hasn't been in a while."
Charlie walked over and sat next to her on the bed. "Will he come say merry Christmas?"
"I don't know, Charlie." Ruby admitted weakly. "Why? Do you miss him?"
"No…" Charlie pulled a string on his shirt and unwound the fabric. "Well I mean, yes I do, but I think you miss him more. So I want him to come back so you guys can hang out."
Ruby felt her face get hot. Even Charlie was noticing her feelings! Was she being that blunt? "I don't-"
"Dinner is ready!" their mother called from below.
Charlie hopped off the bed and ran out the door; he had obviously overlooked what he had said.
Ruby let out a breath of relief and bounded down the stairs after Charlie.
Jack couldn't do it anymore. He hadn't seen her in days and his heart had ached every second of it. It was still aching, actually. Which was why he couldn't hold it in anymore; he would see her again tonight, even if it would end him.
"I haven't heard you practicing that new piece we bought you, Ruby." Mr. Sullivan said during dinner. "I had to drive all the way to another town to get it, you know."
"Sorry." Ruby mumbled. "I haven't found much time."
"What are you talking about?" her mother scoffed. "You've been up in your room on your computer for three days. You've been doing nothing."
Ruby opened her mouth to defend herself, but her father went on, "And you haven't practiced your other piece either, Ruby, we spent hard earned money on finding you a teacher. Use your talent, not many people can say they play an instrument you know. It's very ungrateful of you, you know." He leaned forward in his chair. "Another thing, you're always complaining about kids at school and how you hate school. Do you know how much we spent to send you there?" he narrowed his eyes at her. "Have you ever thought that things at school might not be so rough if you hadn't brought it upon yourself?"
Her mother nodded, "He's right Ruby, ever since you started dating that boy and doing those things, you've never been the same. Now you say things like you hate school and you hate ballet. What happened?"
Charlie looked at Ruby nervously and she felt her mouth go dry. Just as she was beginning to somewhat get along with her parents…
"We should've never bought that camera for you." Her father said. And that was Ruby's turning point.
"You know what?" Ruby stood, trembling. "Frankly I think what you're accusing me of is unfair on my part. You say things about me, that I'm ungrateful and spoiled and that I should've never done this and whatever, but have you ever thought about what you're actually doing when you say those things?" tears pricked in Ruby's eyes and her throat was tight. "You hurt me, badly. Maybe I don't want to do ballet, have you ever thought about that? Maybe I hate it and everything about it. Maybe I don't want to learn an instrument, why do you assume that I do and force it on me? I never asked you to." She took a choked breath, "I actually hate everything that you two put me through. But I do it anyway because I know you'll get upset. And I'm afraid you'll send me away again." Her shoulders shook with every word; her parents looked at her, expressionless. Charlie's eyes were wide and his mouth was open. She went on, "You don't know what happened to me there, do you? I learned that people have things a lot worse than me. I think that you two should go for a while too, maybe you'll learn something too. Like maybe the fact that your daughter doesn't have to be the perfect student, ballerina, and pianist to actually be a good person." Tears started flowing down her cheeks and she tried to wipe them away. "And maybe you'll finally know a damn thing about me too."
Ruby walked away, sluggishly. Neither her parents, nor Charlie stopped her. The room was silent, and the only thing that broke it was Ruby's door opening and closing, the lock clicked and she couldn't hear her family speaking anymore.
"Does this mean Ruby is bad again?" Charlie asked.
Ruby's parents looked at each other, her mother's mouth ajar and her father finally had a defeated look on his face. They said nothing.
Jack could see a light on in Ruby's room and he wondered if she was still having dinner with her family. He peered into her room and saw her lying on her bed. She looked stiff and was staring straight up at the wall.
Jack opened the window, and jumped inside the room, but she didn't move. "It's nice seeing you too." He joked.
"I've gone and done it now." She whispered, almost inaudibly.
Jack turned around and laughed. "What?"
She sat up, and only then did Jack realize she was crying. His heart felt like it was about to burst when her icy blue eyes met his. "I finally did it. I finally told off my parents."
She reached out for him and buried her face in his shoulder. Jack was worried she would feel how fast his heart was beating, "What's so bad about that? At least they know how you feel now."
"You don't understand," she sniffled. "I can't tell you about it, but I was in a lot of trouble a couple of years ago and-"
"Ponytail Derek?" Jack asked, massaging circles into her back. "Charlie told me about that."
Ruby looked up at him, her eyes were puffy from crying, and she looked mortified. "Is that why you left? You couldn't be around me?"
"No!" he cried. "I left because, well," Jack couldn't say it was because he felt like he was becoming attached to her.
She bent her head and let her tears fall onto her sheep blanket before rubbing them away, as if they were going to stain it.
"Ruby…" he searched his brain for something to say.
She lifted her head and his mind went blank as soon as her crystal eyes met his. His gaze traveled a bit down, to her pair of rosy cheeks smeared with tears. Despite the damps, the skin of her face still looked soft and doll-like, as it always did. He couldn't help the urges to get to know what it felt like against his skin, so, instinctively, he lifted up his hand and put it on a side of her face, surprising her, although strangely, and thankfully at that, she stayed still, only looking at him confusedly. Feeling encouraged, he began to run his thumb against her cheek, which was indeed as soft as it seemed, despite the drying tears. Her eyelids fluttered closed as he moved his thumb over them, gently wiping the remains of wet on her thick eyelashes.
Then, slowly, his eyes fell on her lips, which were deep red instead of pink – must be because she kept unconsciously biting it down. He examined the area around her lips; her nice chin and jaws… but the partly opened, glistening and looking-so-soft lips quickly drew his attention back to them. Almost unconsciously, he began to move his thumb downward and, finally, brushed it gently across those lips, which were indeed soft. The touch made her eyes immediately flutter open, prompting him to look up and found those beautiful blue eyes staring up at him questioningly, and rather apprehensively. He also noticed now that she had been holding her breath.
It had happened in seconds, he had closed the distance between them and kissed her, feeling blissful as his lips met hers for the first time.
They were softer than he expected and she tasted very sweet, like peppermint. The kiss felt a whole lot better, more heavenly than he had ever dreamt of, and he had dreamt of kissing Ruby a lot lately.
He could feel her shock; her body went rigid and her lips were still. But, she didn't push him away. He dubbed this as consent, and brought up his other hand to cup her face with his two hands now, tilting it so that their lips melded perfectly against each other as he continued to savor her.
She didn't give any response, so he brushed his thumb across her cheek again, and slowly dropped his other hand to her back drawing circles there to coax her to relax, and alternately running his fingers through her long soft hair.
To his delight, he began to feel her tentatively, shyly kissing him back. He immediately responded by taking her hands and bringing them to the back of his neck, and was just about to pull her onto his lap when there was a soft rap on her door.
Ruby scooted away from him and looked at Jack with eyes full of longing and uncertainly. He felt as if his heart were about to burst out of his ribcage, Jack's mind scrambled to think of something to say, but the knock came again. Charlie's voice called softly from the other side.
She got up and crossed the room, tripping over a book on the way.
Jack managed to slip out of the window before she turned around and before Charlie entered the room. He could hear Charlie mumbling as he flew into the night, the kiss still replaying in his mind and the feeling still on his lips.
Ruby's heart was still beating at a rapid and unhealthy rate when Charlie entered her room. She turned around and Jack wasn't there anymore, her heart sunk.
"Ruby," he mumbled quietly. "I don't want you to get bad again."
Ruby kneeled down in front of Charlie, "I promise you I'm not getting bad. I was just angry with papa and mommy and needed to say a couple of things to them. Okay?"
Charlie looked uncertain, but nodded. "Okay. I love you Ruby, I don't want you to go away again."
Ruby hugged Charlie tightly; he had always been on her side. Since the beginning. "I love you too Charlie. You should get to bed, it's really late."
He sniffled and rubbed his nose, he had been crying too. "I'll see you tomorrow Ruby." He was still hanging on to her arm, "Do you think Jack will come tomorrow?"
Ruby's heart fluttered at the mention of his name. She smiled sadly, "Who knows? Maybe."
Charlie and let go of her arm and smiled. "Goodnight."
The door shut and Ruby locked it again.
She walked swiftly to the window, tripping over that same damned book again. She peeked her head out and looked for the familiar head of snow white hair, but it was nowhere to be seen. She frowned, annoyed.
Ruby touched her lips and thought about how his had felt on them.
It was like a breeze on a hot day, or chill that inhabited your body for a split second. Everything about it made Ruby feel sparked. The way his lips fit with hers perfectly and the way he had touched her face and the way he had held her, they all drove her crazy. She felt that if she opened her mouth, it would only talk about Jack and his kisses for the rest of eternity. The mere idea that he may kiss it again was stuck in her brain, which wouldn't stop thinking about his kiss since before any kiss. And now the prospect of those kisses was beginning to wind her up like slipping on ice and hitting the middle of her back. The notion of them continuing for what was traditionally terrifying forever excited her to an unfamiliar degree.
Ruby crawled into bed and stared at the ceiling. She was afraid she would forget it all, or that it had all been a dream.
Faraway, Jack sat on a rooftop thinking over what he had done. He had taken a step too far, perhaps. But it didn't bother him or worry him as much as if ought to. Because he was too busy thinking of ways to kiss Ruby again. It was something he didn't want to forget, although he felt that it would be something he would remember for lifetimes to come.
Sorry if that closing sentence is bad, I couldn't think of anything else and I'm about to drop dead from exhaustion. Thank you to everyone who has been supporting my story! Please, PLEASE review what you think! I could really use the input; did I rush into things too quickly? Is their relationship shallow? Please help! Anything is appreciated! Thank you so much for reading, reviewing, favorite-ing, and following!
Xoxo- your protector