8 PM Sunday. The room was as dark as it could be, with the lights off and the curtains drawn. Only the occasional, quiet sniffle coming from the bed would let anyone know that there was someone there. Completely hidden from the world beneath the covers, Weiss hugged her legs to her chest and shut her eyes tight. She'd been sure that she'd cried out every tear there could possibly be in her body last night, but even now she still felt a fresh wave of them starting to drip onto her soaked pillowcase.
She felt wretched. It was worse than anything she'd felt before. This was the first time in a long time where she was in such bad shape emotionally, she couldn't even leave her room and pretend everything was fine. Since coming home yesterday afternoon, she'd went straight to her room and hadn't come out since. She couldn't go downstairs and force feed herself when her stomach recoiled at the mere thought of food. Her parents had come to see what was wrong, and she just pretended she was sick. That was enough to make them leave her alone, allowing her to wallow in misery on her own. She didn't want to leave the safety of her four walls ever again.
A knock on her door made her groan. She knew her parents wouldn't come again so soon to see how she was doing, so it was likely either Klein or Whitley. While she was usually happy to speak with the family butler, her present mood wasn't in the right place to alter enough to deceive him. He'd know she wasn't doing well, and that it wasn't merely a bout of illness. She just couldn't talk about it right now. Otherwise it would be Whitley coming to try and reveal that she wasn't actually sick. She definitely didn't want to see that little weasel.
"Weiss? It's Pyrrha." Pyrrha? Well, that was unexpected. Weiss pushed the covers off herself and stood up, nearly crumpling to the ground. Spending over twenty-four hours in her room, mostly in bed, didn't do wonders for her sense of balance. Neither did forsaking her meals. Her stomach was now rumbling painfully as she shuffled zombie-like to the door, opening it to find a concerned-looking Pyrrha standing there. Looking over Weiss, she only became more concerned. "Oh Weiss... Come on, let's talk." She shut the door and locked it, gently leading Weiss back to bed.
"There isn't anything to talk about." The normal stubborn confidence in her voice was gone. She sounded like a shell of herself, and even she knew it. Sitting back down on the bed, she stared at the floor and refused to look up at Pyrrha. Whether it was because she didn't want to see the pitying look on her face or she just didn't have the strength to do so, she didn't know. "Why are you even here?"
"Well, you haven't answered any of my texts asking about how it went at the mall. Not even to lie about it having gone well, so I figured something really bad had happened. Looks like I was right." She smiled sadly, wrapping an arm around Weiss's shoulders. "So what happened? Did she get mad at you again?"
"That's putting it mildly. I don't understand it, Pyrrha. I really don't." She sighed deeply and leaned her head against Pyrrha, shutting her eyes again. It was difficult reflecting back on what had happened yesterday, because all she could think about was Ruby getting out of the car. Now she couldn't even lie to herself and say that's what she wanted. Everything in her life that involved Ruby was all messed up, and she didn't know where to start trying to fix it. If it even could be fixed. "I messed everything up."
"I had a feeling it was something like that. Why don't you start from the beginning? Tell me everything that happened." She still partly expected Weiss to clam up then and not give an inch, so it was surprising when she began to talk. Everything came out, or at least as far as she knew it did. Weiss talked about the clothing purchases, the fashion arguments, and the further arguing in the car. All the way to the point where Ruby got out of the car and walked away. "Oh wow..."
"I don't know what to do anymore, Pyrrha." She removed herself from Pyrrha's embrace and stood up, pacing around the room even as her legs threatened to give way multiple times. Though she'd admitted to most of what had happened, she'd decided it'd be best if she left out both the parts about her seeing Ruby in her underwear and where their arguments ended up being over what her father had done. This was something she hadn't even told Pyrrha, and she wasn't ready to yet. Especially after the way Ruby had reacted. "I feel like... I feel like I don't even know who I am anymore."
Pyrrha was surprised to hear that. Throughout this entire semester of lunacy involving Weiss and Ruby, she'd never heard Weiss admit that she was unsure about herself. They'd been friends for awhile, and still she couldn't remember something even close to sounding like that come out of Weiss's mouth. This was clearly serious if she was feeling that way. Maybe... Maybe it was time to sit Weiss back down and go through some hard truths.
"Weiss, when was the last time you ate?" She didn't respond initially, but the growling of her stomach said enough. "We need to sit down and talk about some things, but not here. Let's go get something to eat and talk, okay?" Weiss finally looked her way, hesitating before nodding. Smiling, Pyrrha stood up and stood at the other side of the room while Weiss went to the closet and changed. She would've stood outside to wait, but she wasn't fully convinced Weiss wouldn't run over and lock the door on her.
When Weiss finished changing, the two of them left the room. Pyrrha offered to help her to the car, but it seemed a bit of Weiss's pride had returned in the past couple minutes. She refused the help, not wanting to be seen unable to walk under her own power. Pyrrha just smiled and rolled her eyes, making sure to keep an eye on the stumbling heiress as the two of them left the manor unopposed. Then they got into Pyrrha's car and drove away.
"I can't believe it!" Ruby was quickly regretting calling Yang to come pick her up. Mostly because when she was mad, her driving would become compromised. "You were hanging out with Weiss?! Why?!" And right now she was piiissed. The turn she took to get back to their house was taken way too fast, and Ruby grabbed onto the handle above the door, fearing they'd roll over. At least she'd never have to answer Yang's question.
"Yang, I..." She balked, struggling to find a good answer. This was why she hadn't wanted Yang to find out. She was so angry and overprotective, a natural reaction of hers that just so happened to get her in trouble sometimes. It was hard to blame her after she'd had to come pick up her crying little sister on the side of the road, and then to find out that it involved one of her bullies was a recipe for disaster. "It's not what you think."
"Then what it is?!" When Yang got really mad, it was easy to imagine a fire burning in her eyes. She'd lose control, and it would be really, really tough to bring her back down. Her hands gripped the steering wheel so tight, Ruby was worried it crack under her grasp. "What did she do to you?! Did she hurt you? Did she force you into her car?" She wished that Blake was here. As much as she loved her sister, she felt powerless to contain her righteous rage. If the past was any indication, she was more likely to make it worse than better. Blake always seemed to work wonders with calming Yang down, and it made her wonder why she failed so hard at doing the same.
"She didn't force me into the car! I got in on my own!" She hadn't meant to start yelling, but she found it hard to not bristle at Yang's overprotective nature. It wasn't entirely a bad thing, but at times it could be suffocating. She felt like nobody saw her as someone capable of making her own decisions, especially Yang. Even if her decisions at present weren't her most shining moments. "We, uh, we went shopping."
"Shopping?" That disarmed Yang due to how out of the blue it was. She stopped the car in their driveway, and that was when she first noticed the shopping bags at Ruby's feet. Her previous anger and worry had seemingly turned them invisible in her mind. "You... went shopping with Weiss?" But why? Why would she do that? "Why?" Yang didn't understand. It was written all over her face.
"Because, uh... Because..." Well, she was trapped now. Trying to play it off wouldn't work. Not with Yang already wound up. She'd have to come clean. "I wanted to see if she was okay. She seemed really upset at school, and I was worried about her. The shopping wasn't expected. She just wanted to get me better clothes." When she'd said Weiss was upset at school, she had seen a hint of nervousness on Yang's face. It was gone as quick as it appeared, but she'd noticed it all the same. That confirmed to her that Weiss had likely been telling the truth, and that Yang had physically accosted her in the parking lot. It miffed her a bit that Yang would do that.
"Okay, so she was upset. So what? You shouldn't worry about her, Ruby. She's never worried about you before." It was true, but that didn't stop her from worrying all the same. Yang didn't understand that, though.
"I know she hasn't, but I still worry. It's... There's just, a lot of stuff, you know?" It was hard to make much sense when she knew that she couldn't tell Yang what Weiss had revealed. The information that had sent her mind into a worrying overdrive. "She did say bad things to me, yes. A... A lot. But she's asked me on a date before, and I think she likes me for some reason. She's, uh, she's trying to be nicer, I think." With Weiss, figuring out her intentions and her emotional state was difficult to say the least.
"Wait wait wait, she asked you on a date? A date?! What did you say?"
"I said no, of course. I have a bit more self-respect than that, Yang."
"Okay, but... but if you went shopping with her, why didn't she drop you off at home? Why did you call me to come pick you up?" That still didn't make sense to Yang. If everything was all hunky-dory, and if Weiss was 'trying' to be 'nicer', then why did she find Ruby crying on the side of the road? There was no doubt in her mind that she'd done something to hurt her baby sister, and she was certainly going to exact some much-needed vengeance on that prissy little bitch. Blake wouldn't be able to hold her back this time. "What did she do to you?"
"She didn't do anything to me! I mean, nothing that's super awful or anything." She bit her lip in worry. The look on Yang's face was scary. She'd returned to looking very mad, and she knew what that expression meant. Weiss was in danger. "She didn't do anything to me, Yang. Don't you dare go and punch her in the face."
"I'm gonna punch her in the face."
"No! You don't understand!" Weiss really was in danger. If only Blake was here. She'd rub Yang's shoulders and whisper something in her ear that was likely embarrassing and she didn't want to know the details. That'd calm her down for sure. Her own emotional state wasn't helping either. She was upset that Yang couldn't leave it alone and make this easier. This was something that she could handle on her own.
"What don't I understand? You have to tell me what's going on if you want me to understand!" Yang tried her damnedest to come down from her anger-induced high, realizing that it was putting Ruby off. She wanted her sister to be able to be truthful with her, and it killed her that she wouldn't accept her help. Ruby was acting like it was a burden more than anything. All she wanted to do was help: to protect someone who was so incredibly important to her. "Ruby, what-"
"Her dad hits her!" Well, she'd gone a full ten minutes without exposing Weiss's secret. That was... ugh, that was awful. She couldn't believe that she'd just blurted that out! As she watched Yang's eyes widen, she could tell that she hadn't expected that either. She'd messed up big time. "Wait, I... I wasn't supposed to tell you that. Yang, I didn't-"
"Her dad hits her?" That new information seemed to completely drain the anger out of Yang. She just stared at Ruby, the car still idling. "What?"
"I... I wasn't supposed to tell you that." Ruby cringed, already running through how terribly this was going to go in her mind. Yang would certainly tell Blake. While Blake was the resident secret keeper, Yang was the complete opposite. She seemed to tell Blake everything, and this was the kind of gossip that was too good to keep silent. Weiss might actually try to beat her up for this one. "Please, Yang, I see that look in your eyes. You can't tell anybody what I told you. Not even Blake."
"I wasn't-"
"Not even Blake, Yang!" Ruby could feel her heart pounding against her chest. It didn't matter what Weiss had done to her. This was too serious a matter for her to care about that. She had said that she'd keep it a secret, and she'd failed immediately. It couldn't spread any further than this. Even if she wanted to tell someone who could help so flipping badly. "I told her I wouldn't tell anyone. I wasn't supposed to tell you either!"
"Okay, but..." Yang's face was furrowed in concentration. The gears were clearly turning in her head as she tried to process what Ruby had told her. This was not what she had expected to hear, and it had thrown her for enough loops that she felt like Sonic the god damn Hedgehog. "But she has to tell someone, right? Otherwise he's gonna keep doing it."
"I know that, and I want to! But she was insistent that I don't tell anyone. She was about to cry, Yang, and... and I left because I didn't know how to handle it. She's said really hurtful things to me, but she's trying to be nicer, and what happened between her and her dad... It explains why she acts like that, you know?" She couldn't get a read on Yang's mindset. Was she going to spill the beans despite it all? She seemed contemplative, which didn't let her lean one way or the other.
"You know that it doesn't change how she's treated you, right?" She crossed her arms, having thought through everything she wanted to say. There wasn't any anger in her tone, which was a relief. It seemed that she'd calmed down enough to say this. "Before you say anything, I understand that, if what you said is true, it's absolutely deplorable what her dad did to her. No question, but she still chose to say the things she said to you, and to others in the school. She let her home life influence her in a negative way, and just because she's gone through some shit doesn't mean she gets to treat anyone like she has."
"I know that. I know, but... she's been hurt, and I feel bad for her. It feels like I have to do something!" She frowned when she saw a slight smile on Yang's face. "What? What'd I do?"
"Nothing, nothing. It's just that you're still our family's little hero." She reached over and ruffled Ruby's hair, which made her duck and squeak in indignation. "Come on, Rubes. Let's go inside." Ruby nodded, unbuckling her seatbelt as Yang drove the car into the garage. She shut off the car, then the two of them went into the house. "Hey, how about we go to your favorite restaurant tomorrow night? I think we can afford a pick-me-up for my favorite sister."
"Your only sister." Ruby rolled her eyes, but smiled a little too. "It's not even my favorite restaurant anymore. They took my favorite dessert off the menu, and I can never forgive them for that."
"They actually brought it back last week." That got Ruby's attention real quick.
"For real? You're serious?" Yang nodded, grinning. "Well, I guess going to dinner wouldn't be too bad..." She couldn't resist that damn sundae.
The restaurant Pyrrha chose wasn't exactly the kind of high class food that Weiss was used to, but she wasn't in much of a state to complain. At least this time she'd let Pyrrha off the hook for taking her someplace commoners frequented. They sat in a booth near the back of the restaurant, where Weiss picked up the menu to try and find something that wouldn't make her retch. She immediately dropped it, however, repulsed by how sticky it felt. How could something that was laminated feel that disgusting? "Ugh, I need to wash my hands already." She did her best to work open her purse with her arms so she could get her hand sanitizer without touching anything. It was a little difficult. "Would you help me out here?"
Pyrrha sighed, standing up so she could come around and reach into Weiss's purse. She took out the sanitizer and offered it to Weiss, who just looked at her. Sighing again, she popped open the cap and squeezed a bit of it onto Weiss's outstretched hands. She loved Weiss, really, but sometimes she had to dig deep into her well of patience. Sitting back down, she held onto the sanitizer until Weiss had finished cleaning her hands, then handed it back to her. She put it back in her purse, then tried to look at the menu without touching it again.
"This is a good topic to start with." That drew Weiss's gaze to her, but of course it was at that point that their waiter came over to ask if they were ready to order drinks. They both asked for water, then waited for the waiter to leave before continuing. "Weiss, I know we've touched on this topic in the past, but I want to ask you something. Do you understand how the way you act looks to other people?"
"I... I do." She said that, but she didn't sound all that sure anymore. Her hands were folded on her lap, just to hide the fact that they were shaking slightly. She'd just always believed that people wanted to be around her. All the friends on social media and her high status in the school had to count for something. That's what she'd always thought, but as she'd started to fall more and more into her crush on Ruby, she no longer felt so sure.
"You have to understand that the way people interpret your words and your actions isn't always going to be the same as how you interpret them." The waiter came back with their waters, and Pyrrha told him they needed a few more minutes. This was a conversation that she was honestly relieved that they were finally having. She'd wanted to approach Weiss about this for quite awhile, but there was just no getting through to her when she was so god damn stubborn. "Like with the clothing you had Ruby try on. Now, I wasn't there, but it sounds like in your mind, you knew what was best for Ruby. But in her mind, it probably sounded like you weren't listening to her and were just forcing your own decisions on her."
"That wasn't what I meant, though!" She tried to argue, but she realized that Pyrrha was right. It wasn't what she meant. She hadn't been trying to force her opinions onto Ruby, but it clearly had seemed that way to Ruby. "What am I supposed to do, then? Am I supposed to add a disclaimer to everything I say? That's ridiculous!" And it was, but what else was she supposed to do? Apparently she was completely incapable of conveying what she was trying to say.
"It's just the way you speak to people. You do talk to most people like they're beneath you. When you make it clear that you don't respect the person you're talking to, they aren't likely to reciprocate any in return. Or accept your date requests," she added for a bit of both brevity and truth. This all seemed like very obvious, elementary school things, but Weiss had always been a bit late to the social conventions party.
"But I don't think Ruby's beneath me anymore! She's different!"
"Why is Ruby different than everyone else? Why do you feel she now deserves different treatment than other people at the school?" Weiss stared wide-eyed at her, trying to come up with the most sensible answer before too much time passed and Pyrrha moved on to the next thing that showed she was a complete idiot.
"Because I... like her," she muttered, blushing slightly. Saying things out loud had a different feeling than they did in her mind. Just thinking them made her feel correct and superior. Hearing them out loud made her feel... well, stupid. And embarrassed. The way Pyrrha was looking at her, she could tell that she wasn't the only one thinking that. "I'm trying, okay?! I knew it was a terrible idea to meet her at the mall, but I did it anyway. I tried to not insult her, but I did it anyway. I... I knew it was a bad idea." She squeezed her hands together tightly. "Blake told me I should stay away from her, and I felt that... that she probably hated me because of how I treated her. But she asked to meet me, and I thought maybe it'd be okay. But it wasn't. It was an awful idea, and now I know she hates me."
"Well, let's not jump to conclusions yet." That was a lot of information to take in, including things that she hadn't heard about before. Weiss must've been really deep in her own worries if she was admitting all that. "You don't know for sure that she hates you. It's probably just confusing for her. You did make fun of her a lot, you know? And now you've asked her out on a date and bought her expensive clothes. That's a lot of mixed signals."
"I thought you said love was illogical! Now you're trying to put logic into it. Stop it this instant." Weiss hugged herself and pouted. "I've tried to make sense of it, since the first day I knew I had a crush on her. It still doesn't make any sense to me, though. She's just... cute. She's too damn cute for my own damn good. And when she smiles, it... it seems special. Like she's smiling just for you. She makes me want to throw things at her, but also do whatever dumb hobby she has with her. It's all gotten worse and worse the more time we've spent together. This isn't even close to what I'd meant to happen when I asked you to help me get rid of these feelings."
"To be honest, this was about what I expected." She laughed at the glare she got from Weiss. "I was hoping for the best, I promise. But look, you've finally found some logic within the illogical. That's gotta count for something." Weiss just sighed, leaning her head back and looking up at the ceiling. "If you talk to her again, you can just better explain how you're trying to improve-"
"No. It's not going to work, Pyrrha." She sent Pyrrha a hard stare, but there was a hint of sad resignation in her eyes. "I've done nothing but think about it since yesterday, and there's no point in trying to keep pulling Ruby into my life. I don't know how to act like how she does around her. Maybe I just don't have the ability to socialize like a normal person. I'm just... not normal, okay?" She put her hands down onto her seat and dug her fingers into the cushion, willing herself not to cry again. There'd already been way too many tears coming from her. "Continuing to try is only going to hurt me more."
"Weiss..." Pyrrha tried to find something encouraging to say, but the waiter came back before she could. At least Weiss ordered something to eat. She'd been worried that this fresh dip in mood would kill her appetite all over again. How much she'd actually eat, of course, remained a mystery. Only a few seconds after the waiter left, she saw Weiss's eyes nearly pop out of her head. "Weiss? What's wrong?" She started to turn around, to try and see what Weiss was looking at, but an angry hiss stopped her in her tracks.
"Don't look!" Her anger was quickly gone, replaced with a clear expression of fear as she picked up the menu - the one she'd clearly felt so disgusted towards not too long ago - and held it up in front of her face. "Oh God, why are they here?" It didn't take a genius to connect the dots. Pyrrha knew that Weiss had told her not to look, but she was oh-so curious, and the menu was now obscuring her vision...
She looked over her shoulder to confirm that her suspicions were correct. There was Ruby, walking behind a waitress who was taking them to their table. This had to be the biggest coincidence she'd experienced... well, at least this month. She wasn't about to compare every coincidence in her life. Ruby wasn't alone, though. Walking next to her was Yang, who seemed to be making some kind of joke and then proceeding to laugh at it. As she watched them begin to turn towards another part of the restaurant, Yang suddenly turned her head and they made eye contact. Yang was surprised at first, but she quickly beamed when noticing the familiar face of a fellow athlete. She waved, then tapped Ruby on the shoulder and pointed towards her. Uh oh. Weiss probably wasn't going to forgive her for this one.
"Pyrrha!" Weiss nearly threw her menu to the ceiling. They were coming over. That meant Pyrrha had looked over when she'd specifically told her not to, and now Yang and Ruby - especially Ruby - were now right by their booth. God damn stupid, dumb... athletes! "What a coincidence!" Yes, quite. There was then a few seconds of silence, which made her strangely uncomfortable. "Who's the menu with hands?" This was actually the worst.
"Uh, well..." Pyrrha sounded uncomfortable trying not to admit something that was very unlikely to be kept a secret for long. If she wasn't so furious with her right now, Weiss might've felt sorry for her. She didn't, though, and when the menu was suddenly ripped from her hands, she felt a negative amount of sorriness. Now her identity was exposed, and all three of them were looking at her with differing expressions. "Sorry," Pyrrha whispered, smiling sheepishly.
"Weiss." Yang, holding Weiss's menu in her hands, let it fall from her hands onto the table. Anger immediately flared up in her eyes, and Weiss had a feeling she was prepared to throw down right there in the restaurant. She really didn't want to eat her meal through a tube...
"Yang, don't." It was Ruby who likely saved Weiss's life. She'd had a stunned expression on her face, but she was able to shake herself out of it to stop Yang from doing anything Weiss might regret. The two sisters looked at each other, their expressions changing, but with no words exchanged between them. It was like they were telepathically communicating with each other. Were siblings able to do that? She'd certainly never had any mental conversations with her own siblings: just headaches. After twenty seconds, Yang relented.
"Alright, alright. I wasn't gonna hit her anyway." Yang grinned, but it faded somewhat when she looked back at Weiss. "We're gonna need to talk." Ruby looked like she was going to argue, but Yang preempted her. "Only talking, I promise. I'm not gonna let this keep going on any longer. I'd talk to her privately, but I know you wouldn't let me do that." Thank God. Weiss had a feeling she wouldn't make it out of a private talk with Yang in good shape.
"Yang... We can just sit somewhere else." Ruby tugged on Yang's sleeve, looking very uncomfortable. Weiss couldn't blame her, as she was feeling rather uncomfortable herself. Still, she felt her mood drop from its already 'can it get any lower?' point to feel like Ruby didn't want to be around her. Logically, it made sense that Ruby wouldn't want to be near her after what had happened, but logic had left already. It had packed its bags and hitched a ride to a farm up north. She was neck deep in an illogical, emotional spiral, and she was able to admit that she wasn't equipped to deal with it.
"This is happening, Ruby. All this weird stuff that's been going on is gonna stop." She put a hand on Pyrrha's shoulder. "Do you mind if Ruby and I sit on this side?" Pyrrha nodded, standing up and moving over to Weiss's side. Weiss moved over to allow her in as Pyrrha reached over to grab her drink. She wouldn't even look at Weiss, feeling guilty about sort of being the cause for all of this happening. It was almost as if she should've listened to Weiss about not looking over at them, but then she'd have to admit that out loud to Weiss. Even her patience could only withstand so much.
The two sisters sat down in the opposite booth, with Yang across from Weiss and Ruby across from Pyrrha. Weiss wasn't sure which one sitting across from her would be worse. Her eyes couldn't help but to stare in front of her, but seeing Yang's scrutinizing stare was unnerving. But if Ruby had been there, she could only imagine how much more awkward things would be. What even was her life right now?
"Alright, let's see. Where to start..." Yang tapped the table, cycling through the topics of discussion she'd been thinking on. "So Ruby told me about what you two discussed on the drive home from your little shopping trip." Weiss's eyes widened, feeling a sudden chill of horror going down her spine. Ruby had told Yang about what she'd said about her father? That was not good. Not in the slightest. "If she hadn't told me that, and I'd seen you here tonight, I would've chucked you out of the nearest window."
"That's good to know." She was surprised that she was able to have any cynicism in her words considering how she felt. It was like an automatic reaction, parrying Yang's words with barely a thought. "Whatever Ruby told you is private information, and I clearly should've taken more care before saying it to her. This is not a conversation that we're going to have here, and no amount of meat-headed threats from you is going to change that."
"For once, I agree with you." Yang chuckled, having to put a temporary halt to the conversation when the waitress came back and took hers' and Ruby's drink orders. "It's very personal, and a restaurant isn't the best place to talk about it. That doesn't mean I feel you should be absolved of everything you've done. Not even close. I understand from what Ruby told me that you must not have a great home life, but that doesn't excuse your behavior towards my sister, or anyone else at the school. Just because you've got some shit going on doesn't mean others have to take your shit."
"Excuse me? First of all, I have a perfectly acceptable home life. I have no issues whatsoever." Yang stared at her in disbelief, while Pyrrha was hiding an obvious smile with her hand. Ruby wasn't even looking at her, which made her lose a good portion of her steam. She didn't look like she wanted to be there at all. "Second of all, I have apologized to Ruby about how I've treated her. Twice, even!"
"Twice, huh? You're the next Mother Theresa. Do you have any idea- Ruby?" The conversation was halted when Ruby stood up, drawing all attention onto her. "Where are you going?"
"I want to go home, Yang. I'm not hungry." Ruby's eyes were focused on Yang, not even sparing a glance at the other side of the table. Weiss felt her stomach churn, and she didn't like the sensation one bit. Why wouldn't Ruby look at her? Ugh, she never should've said anything about her family life to Ruby! Now she was being super weird about it. Without waiting for a response from Yang, Ruby started to walk out of the restaurant.
"But Ruby- Wait, come back, Rubes!" Yang pushed herself out of the booth and hurried after Ruby, grabbing her by the shoulder and saying something to her that Weiss couldn't hear. Whatever it was, she could see Ruby wasn't happy with it, and then the two of them were arguing with each other in the middle of the restaurant. A couple people were looking over at them, curious to see what the commotion was. Weiss could feel a sense of embarrassment for them. Yang seemed to notice they were causing a scene first, but in that quick moment, Ruby had extricated herself from the situation and was walking towards the doors.
Weiss watched as Yang went after her, and the two of them left the building. As if her life was now a terrible teenage drama with perfect comedic timing, the waitress came back with their two drinks. "Where did the two of them go?" Weiss just sighed and told her to put the drinks down. It wasn't like those were the only drinks being wasted, as she wasn't feeling all that thirsty now. Or hungry. Her appetite had left with Ruby. Groaning, she almost slammed her head down on the table, but stopped herself. It was probably filthy.
"Your social life is a lot more hectic than I give you credit for," Pyrrha mused, and now Weiss wanted to follow Ruby and Yang out of the restaurant.
"Waking up was a mistake."
The drive home was extremely tense. Neither of them spoke the entire way home. Yang kept glancing over at Ruby, who had her arms crossed and was pointedly staring out the window. She was so damn frustrated! Why was Ruby so stubborn in not accepting her help?! They were talking to Weiss, and she hadn't even punched her one time. She felt that she'd been on her best behavior, and still Ruby forced them to leave. Whatever was going on between her and Weiss, it was way too frustrating to deal with.
Not saying anything was driving her bananas, though. She was the kind of person that demanded action, and leaving things as-is wasn't going to work for her. Something needed to be said. "Ruby, talk to me, please." She put the car in the garage and shut it off, looking at Ruby pleadingly. "Tell me what's wrong."
"I wasn't ready for that, Yang. I'm still trying to understand how I feel about all this. Yet you made us sit there across from her." Ruby sighed and ran her hands through her hair. Yang was being overbearing again. She always had to have things solved now, now, now. That wasn't how she was, though. She needed time to think about how she wanted to proceed when it came to Weiss. Now Yang had straight-up told Weiss - and Pyrrha - that Ruby had opened her big mouth and betrayed her trust. "You told her what I told you not to tell anyone!"
"But she's the one who told you! Of course she'd know it!" Ruby wasn't making any sense. Why was she making such a big deal out of this? She'd been trying to help. She'd been as nice as she could be to someone who she honestly didn't believe deserved it. Keeping the anger at bay was becoming a real struggle. "Didn't you want to fix things with her? You said you wanted to do something!"
"Yes, but on my own time! This is serious, Yang! I can't just go and blurt out the first thing that comes to mind, as much as I want to!" Yang was doing it again. She was actually a bit like Weiss, as much as Yang would shudder to hear that. They both were so sure that what they thought was right for everyone, though Weiss's thoughts weren't always... very nice, let's say. Yang's heart was always in the right place, but she felt that any problem needed to be tackled head on, immediately. This wasn't one of those problems, though, even if Yang felt like it was. She wasn't exactly a paragon of patience herself, but she knew this wasn't something she could just run into without proper thought.
"I know, but... she was right there! I wasn't trying to drag you to her! She just happened to be there. Why not take that opportunity?" Ruby just sighed and got out of the car without answering. "Rubes! Aww, c'mon Ruby, come back!" She got out of the car, trailing after Ruby and trying to get her to stop. "Ruby! Stop ignoring me this instant!" She tried to be nice, she tried to be firm, but nothing worked. Ruby just went into her room and shut the door. Whenever that happened, the intent was clear: she didn't want to talk. "Ughhh! She kicked the carpet in frustration and stormed into her room, slamming the door hard enough in the hopes that Ruby would hear it.
Ruby did hear it, but she ignored it. Jumping onto her bed face-down, she almost felt like screaming into the sheets. She was super frustrated with Yang for trying to make her do something she wasn't ready for, but she was also mad at herself for reacting like she had. They'd argued again, and she hated when they argued. There weren't enough people in her life that were close to her that she could risk losing one of them. What if they got so mad at each other that they stopped talking to one another? The thought brought tears to her eyes. She needed to go apologize.
Slowly pushing herself up, she got off the bed and went for the door. Her open closet caught her eye, though, and she took a detour towards it. Maybe she needed a quick distraction to clear her head. The bags of clothes Weiss had bought for her were in sight, partially hidden under several sweaters she'd thrown in there. It wasn't the best hiding job, honestly. She pulled the sweaters off and sat down, pulling out the first thing she could grab: the black jeans.
Running a hand over the material, she remembered how mad she'd been at Weiss when she'd said the clothes were meant to make them even. It was obvious now that it was Weiss's home life that made her feel that was acceptable. Based on how confused she'd looked when Ruby yelled at her, she really did think it was okay. It wasn't a decision made maliciously. Tone-deaf, yes, but not mean-spirited. It was supposed to be... nice. Weiss was actually trying to be nice to her.
She should've tried to be more understanding. It had happened, but not fast enough. Not until after she'd yelled at her. Maybe Yang was right. She was taking too long and dancing around the issue. It was serious, and it needed proper thought, but because it was so serious, it also needed quick decision making. What she needed to do was talk to Weiss and nail down these issues, and also figure out where they were supposed to go from here, if anywhere. She was so not ready...
There was a knock at her door. "Ruby?" It was Yang. Ruby stuffed the jeans back in the bag and got up, heading to the door and opening it. It was indeed Yang standing on the other side, looking very contrite. "I'm sorry for yelling at you, Ruby. And for making you talk to Weiss when you weren't ready." Wait, Yang was apologizing to her? She was going to do that first!
"Aww Yang, I was gonna do that!" Yang's eyes widened. "I was gonna apologize for yelling and being too stubborn to listen to you." Yang just stared at her for a moment, then she started to laugh. "What? What's so funny?" Ruby started to laugh too, even though she wasn't sure what they were laughing at. Yang's laugh could be contagious.
"It's funny that we both were going to apologize to each other." Yang snickered, then went in to give Ruby a hug. "I really am sorry. I shouldn't have pushed you. It's just that I worry about you. I know you can make your own decisions, but it's hard to not want to protect someone who's so important to me."
"I know you do, and I don't hate it. I just need the freedom to make my own decisions sometimes, you know?" She smiled and hugged Yang back, immediately feeling more at ease in her arms. This was always a nice thing about their relationship. Sure, they fought sometimes, but at the end of the day, they were still family, and they made up every time. She didn't need to worry about something splitting them apart when they never stayed upset at each other for too long.
"I know, and I know I gotta try harder to give you that freedom. I'm taking small steps, though." She stepped back and smirked. "I didn't punch Weiss at the restaurant. That's a plus, right?"
"You're getting better every day." Ruby rolled her eyes, then giggled and hugged Yang one more time. "I'm gonna figure it out, okay? Promise." Yang seemed satisfied with that, so the two of them went back to their own rooms for the night. Once Yang was gone, Ruby closed her door again and went back to the closet. She pulled out the jeans once more, looking them over again. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to try and wear what Weiss had picked out for her at school at least once. They were a gift, after all.
