Thank you so much for reading this far, that tells me that you are enjoying the story! Please do comment below if you have any questions or inputs! Anything is appreciated. No, I am serious, comment away…..enjoy the story, will you?

Ruby was having a hard time to decide whether to tell Killian about Belle, or respect Belle's privacy as Ruby did not know the whole details of what was happening in Belle's life as she just knew her as a roommate.

"What am I supposed to do with Dorothy?"

"I don't know except to wait until she's ready to talk to you." Killian was looking at Ruby, "I need to go and crash on my bed. I am tired. Hope you'll be okay." As he got up, he realized something then he looked down to Ruby, "Oh, thank you for listening to my drunk ranting. Hope this stays between us, luv?"

"Worry not, this is between us." Ruby blew a kiss, as she was watching Killian walking back to his room at the end of the hallway.

Ruby was looking down to her phone, turned on the screen to see a picture of Granny and a teenage Ruby laughing while picking berries into the woods by their home. Dorothy took that picture on that day. She closed her eyes and wiped her tears as she was now missing Granny more than ever. She rested her head against the wall to have her eyes closed for a while, because she had a long night. Obviously.

"Ruby! I've found the most delicious batch of berries! Just in time for the dandy season of Winter!" Granny laughed heartily.

"Coming!" Ruby tapped Dorothy a little hard on the shoulder to show how excited Ruby was in order to find more berries. It was her favorite thing to do with Granny and Dorothy. Both ran so fast to Granny.

"Whoa, ladies, hold your horses. You wouldn't want to be exhausted during supper! We ought to cherish them savory flavors of the wild berries, don't you think?" Granny chuckled and smiled really big as she saw the two girls getting ready for their scavenger for berries.

Granny was packing the berries into the wooden basket that used to belong to her grandmother, Accalia. Gran made sure the berries wouldn't leak their juice onto the basket. She cared for that basket so much because Accalia lived with the wolves when she was a youngster. She had this special tree that was the strongest tree in the world, and the only tree that has ever lived while she was growing up with the pack, Ironwood tree. When Accalia was found by Captain John Smith when he was looking for a land to claim for his English people to live in America. He fell in love with the little wolf girl and took her back to England to raise her with his family. He took down the Ironwood tree to bring to England for Accalia, so she wouldn't be feeling much away from her home in America. Accalia learned how to speak, write, and read English. Captain Smith's wife, Pocahontas, used to live in America too. Accalia and Pochontas were the best of friends rather than just a mother and daughter. Pochontas taught Accalia how to build things out of wood, metal, cotton, and any kind of materials. So, Accalia wanted to use something that she could have her wolf family close to her heart so she decided to make a basket out of that only Ironwood tree so she could bring it every day to school for lunch. She brought it every day throughout upper school, and sixth form college. She met a darling man at the University of Oxford in the Engineer department. His name was Hunter Lucas, from Dublin, Ireland. They fell in love and had kids, they agreed to name their kids after the wolves that raised Accalia: Avalon, Beta-Mae, Gammie, Epsilon, Zeta and Kappa. Accalia was ready to give the basket to one of her children so the basket could protect the family forever. She asked all the kids to make a promise to pass on the basket to whoever birth a little girl first. They all promised their mother. Beta-Mae, Gammie, Eppie, Zeta, and Kappa had two boys of their own. Avalon was the only one that hadn't met anyone until her late thirties. She met this person that did not consider themselves a gender because they did not believe in labels or following the society. Their name was Alex, and they had fallen in love with Avalon. They got Avalon pregnant, got married in Las Vegas and then they had a little girl! They decided to name her Blanchett Pocahontas Lucas. Granny was that little girl. So, Granny was lucky to have the wooden basket and was planning on giving it to her late daughter, Anita Meeko Lucas. Anita grew up a strong woman because Granny and her ex-boyfriend did not work out due to the ex not wanting to have kids, so she raised Anita alone. So, Granny was so proud of Anita because she was an advocate for the wolves and she made sure all the animals were safe in the wild. She traveled around the world and lived in Africa, Yellowstone, Alaska, Canada, Ireland, England, and so many more after she graduated from Notre Dame, majoring in Animal Social Movement minoring in Wolfology. She valued her ancestors so much and that included the wolves that was in Accalia's life. So, Anita wanted to name her baby girl Ruby Accalia Lucas. Her husband, Neal, died due to the truck explosion in Afghanistan. Anita wanted to honor Neal's wishes by naming his little girl, Ruby. Six months later, Anita died by giving birth to Ruby. It was a horrible year for Granny for losing her child, son-in law and she knew Anita would want her mother to take care of their little girl. So, she adopted her in a heartbeat. Granny became Ruby's legal guardian and her protector forever until someone comes in Ruby's life to take care of her. So, the Ironwood basket meant a lot for the Lucas family.

Someone kicked Ruby's leg lightly and it startled her. Ruby looked up quickly and it was Belle who kicked her.

"What were you thinking? I thought you were with Dorothy?" Belle was confused.

"I was with her until…" Ruby was still trying to figure out what exactly made Dorothy mad.

What triggered her? The fact that Killian and I were close? Was it the "stalking" that made her mad? Come on. I can't wait any longer.

"Until what?"

"Until she found out that I was "following" her." Ruby shed a tear and sniffed.

"Do you want to talk about it over coffee as I am on my way to get coffee. I also have been meaning to talk to you about something…" Belle scratched her neck, and gave Ruby a hopeful look.

"Yeah, I mean, I'd like that." Ruby got up and hugged Belle, sniffed again and laughed, "whew, you reek sex, girlfriend, whoever you did got you good."

Belle hit her roommate hard onto Ruby's arm, "shut up, it wasn't even planned at all! I mean it kind of was but, I assumed you weren't going to be in the room until you decided to come in 3 or 4 in the morning!? Ugh, I need to take a shower before people smell me. I rather it to be you that smelled me, I mean, girl, you walked into me getting orgasm!" Belle blushed.

"No, no, you gotta do the walk of shame, and do the whore bath style! Use your warm vanille sucre eau de cologne, baby." Ruby stated in a French accent.

Belle rolled her eyes, and walked back to the room. She came out smelling like warm vanilla sugar perfume from Water Form Works and walked past Ruby to go to the elevator. She waved to Ruby to join her. Ruby smiled and laughed. She went on to follow Belle. They walked to the Student Gathering Atrium and luckily, they were just in time for the Groove Beans opening up at this hour of the morning.

"Yahoo, we are the first people in line." Belle cheerily said. "Hi, I'd like to have a Grande Carmella de Frost with extra caramel on the top, please. Ruby, do you want anything?"

"Yeah, I'd like to have a Grande Iced Groovin' Green Tea with extra tapioca pearls, please."

"No problem, ma'ams, Carmella de Frost, and Iced Groovin' Green Tea coming right up." The worker said, "it's $4.23." Belle took her wallet out of her purse to take her Retreat credit card. "It's on the house, love." The worker winked.

"Aw, thank you so much, what's your name?"

The worker sneezed, "excuse me, my nickname is Sneezy, as you can see." Sneezy blushed.

"Welcome back, Sneezy, I am Belle, this is Ruby next to me and thank you for the drinks, I owe you one." Belle smiled really big.

"No need to owe me one, Ms. Carmella and Ms. Pearls" Sneezy cleared his throat.

"Thanks again!" Ruby and Belle turned to grab a table. They walked across the Groove Beans café and sat in a blue loveseat with a blanket that said "KANSAS UNIVERSITY" patches sewn across. Belle was making herself comfortable, and Ruby just lifted her legs to rest on the coffee table in front of them.

"Alright, so, do you want to talk about what you're feeling right now or is it me telling you what's going on with me?" Belle blurted out quickly, "so that way we can get things over with, and we have all day, eh?"

"Touche, Ms. Carmella, why don't you go first because I walked in on you earlier?" Ruby smirked.

"Hush it, Ms. Pearls," Belle rolled her eyes and was drinking her frozen drink. Placed her drink on the coffee table and then put her elbow on the armrest, rubbing her eyes. "Where do I begin?" She sighed.

"Why don't you start from the beginning?" Ruby asked.

Belle gave a huge inhale and let out a calming exhale out of her mouth. "Okay, when I was a little girl, about the age of 10, I knew I was something different than the girls in the group at my school…."

"Whoa, whoa, girl, you took my words literally, I just assumed the beginning of how you met whoever that lady was, but we have the time in the world, and why the hell am I saying this!? Continue, girl, when you were 10..." Ruby bit her lips to shut herself up in order to let Belle to tell the story of her life.

Belle laughed, "well, fine, these girls would talk about how the boys were teasing them and asking each other who would kiss who, and the cooties grossy stuff, you know what I mean? I found that pointless to hang out with them talking about that kind of stuff. That was how the library and I became best friends. My first book was "Welcome to the Dead House" by R.L. Stine. His writing style got me into the Goosebumps world and I began to be obsessed with his books. I read all the 62 of his original books in 2 weeks, I would read every day before school started, during recess, lunch, and I even checked some of the books out and read it at home. Anyways, the point about this, the library changed my life for the better especially getting to know myself as a book worm and the librarian, Emma was so admiring and amazingly adorable. The way she would come up to me and talk to me about the books as if I literally existed in her eyes. She allowed me to be able to speak in a language I'd never knew I could speak and the best part about that was she actually understood me. She told me that I had an old soul, that was when I knew the girls in my class and I did not belong together. We weren't meant to be friends. Cooties versus the old soul, well, actually deep meaning conversations – it was just the waters were so calm whenever I was with her and whenever I was at the library. The waters were always so rough, and unsteady with the girls…" Belle was glowing when she was telling this story.

"Wow, so let me guess, you fell in love with the librarian, oh, man, this is so cliché move of you, Belle darling. Anyways, I shall shut up…" Ruby put her hands on her mouth.

Belle chuckled, "was it a cliché move of me that I fell in love with the librarian's daughter?"

Ruby's eyes widened, "whoa, what? This is already getting better! Not that your story was boring or anything…..ugh, PLEASE SHUT ME UP!" Ruby whimpered.

"Shut up, Ruby dear," Belle laughed, "anyways, one day, she brought her daughter in the library because her ex-husband was out of country for work. It was her turn to have the daughter for the month. That day, October 13th, the actual Friday the 13th , during recess time, I was so tired of one of the popular girls saying some googah stuff over this boy, Gaston, ugh. The thought of him still disgusts me, so I ran to the library. As expected, I saw Emma but this long dark auburn hair that looked a lot like Emma was standing next to her. It was actually her daughter. Her name was Marian. She was more animated, goofier and her skin was a lot darker than Emma's. It turned out she was the same age as I was, and of course, we hit off really well because she was a lot like her mother as in personality wise, and her witty-ness as well. Good enough, Marian was a book worm as me and she dreamt of traveling around the world based on the books that she has read. We were so into each other's dreams and it became a reality only for a short time, I'd say we were in our, well, we called it dreality, dream and reality combined, for five years, just until we both understood what was happening outside of the society – how people were not aware of the same sex relationships and how the world wasn't ready for that. She loved me before she understood the true meaning of the word love and so did I. She told me that she loved me out loud." Belle sighed.

"What happened?! Did you tell her that you loved her too!? Come on. Please say that you did too." Ruby was too curious to know what happened next.

"No, I didn't tell her. I did the worst thing that anyone could have done. I shut her out and pretended she wasn't my friend anymore. Good thing, she was living with her father. I felt terrible as I went on with life. She tried to keep in touch with me every time she was in town visiting Emma-darling. Oh dear Ruby, she was a very persistent person, I'd tell you. Still is persistent nowadays." Belle rolled her eyes.

"What? Damn, I'd never thought of you as a heartbreaker, you asshole!" Ruby gasped.

"I know, I was a jerk back then, then I hit rock bottom in high school due to people belittling me, the lacrosse coach and the team were terrible to me because I was the easiest person to target, I was trying to please my parents, and I felt so alone. Somehow, I knew I was putting something aside. I didn't know what it was, until Marian came in town to visit Emma one day during my junior year. I saw her at a local coffee shop, and I did something different that day. What I did was that I came up to her and apologize for shutting her out. I told her it was a jerk move of me and I was just scared when she told me that she loved me."

"Gee, I wouldn't be friends with you if you were a jerk like that, but hey, what we've learned about ourselves has helped us to become who we are today. So, I like you now so that's probably why we are friends, Belle! So, did she actually forgive you?" Ruby asked.

"I was expecting her not to forgive me right away because of how I treated her, but no, she gave me a hug right there and told me that she understood where I was coming from. She made sure that I was okay, and we ended up catching up, well, it was more like me talking the whole time and she was just there listening all the rantings…" Belle smiled and sighed, "she was just perfect, beautiful, understanding, sincere as if we were ten years old all over again, and that was when I knew she was going to be in my life for a while."

"Wow, Belle, every cloud has its silver linings and we all deserve to have a second chance!" Ruby claimed, "wait, is Marian still in your life?"

"Yes, she is still in my life. We keep in touch every now and then, we are the best friends ever." Belle smiled.

"So, the whole point of the story is that you're gay too?" Ruby was confused. Belle got a little defensive about the word "gay," and she began to clear her throat, "I am still new at this gay thing in public since I am a private person. As you can see, obviously. I am more queer than gay. Well, I am a person who does not experience sexual attraction unless they form a strong emotional connection with someone. So, more demisexual than gay. So, Marian was my connection, well, she still is. Again, I am new at this whole thing publicly." Belle explained, "so, there, that's me, Belle the demisexual lady."

"Nice to meet you, Ms. Demi Carmella. My name is Ms. Bi Pearls." Ruby winked and laughed, "I can't wait to meet this lovely Marian whenever you feel ready." That sentence made Belle blush. "You're really easy to please, do you know that, Bee?" Ruby cheerfully asked.

"Marian and my family say the same." Belle chuckled quietly.

"Don't ever lose that, alright?" Ruby asked, "I won't lose that even if I tried, it has always been in me." Belle replied to Ruby's question.

"Anyways, that's pretty much about me, girlfriend, now it is your turn to spill the beans." Belle claimed excitedly.

"Oh vey! But first thing first..." Ruby chuckled.

"Now what?" Belle rolled her eyes.

"I just want to thank you for opening that up to me, and I actually loved listening to you, so thank you for letting me in." Ruby placed her hand on Belle's lap.

"That means a lot to me that you listened and accept me." Belle had tears coming up, "stop it, continue your story!"

"Okay, remember, I was telling you that I found out that she was on campus?"

"The silly putty incident? Yes, of course, I remember." That made Ruby to roll her eyes and nodding her head.

"Yeah yeah, whatever helps you to sleep at night, lady. Anyways, I actually ran into her, technically there was this sound that was calling me, like a siren. I followed that sound, and I was walking onto Nostalgia Boulevard. I saw a sexy motorcycle and a sexy form of a woman. It turned out to be Dorothy."

"Holy shit, that is hot." Belle gasped at the description.

"Not to mention that it was crazy at the point we couldn't see each other in the dark due to our hands to communicate. So, we went inside the lobby at the dorms, we ended up catching up. I kept thinking about Granny's last words about Dorothy to give her a chance if we ever meet again. I wasn't sure what she meant until I saw her again. My heart just fluttered and my whole world stopped spinning. She was the person of my dreams."

"Jesus Christ, you are so smooth with your words, for a sarcastic person, I am actually liking it for once!" Belle giggled.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever, buttercup, enjoy while it last….anyways, we talked then she said something that actually got me to leave her room."

Belle choked on her drink as she was listening to the story, "WHOA! WHOA, TIGER, HER ROOM!? WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK? DO NOT SPARE ANY DETAILS!"

"Dude, you can actually curse." Ruby's eyes widened.

"You'll be surprised what I can actually do." Belle hissed, "continue the effing story, will youse, m'lady?"

"Chill, Carmella. I am getting there," Ruby chuckled, "we were just feeling that there were too many eyes in the lobby as it is a mainstreamed university so we thought it would be the best to catch up in her room since it was closer than our room. She is living on the 3rd floor by the way. We caught up just fine until she was flirting with me. Dude, I normally can take any flirting comment from anybody, but the way she was flirting with me was mega actually overwhelming me. I blurted out saying that I had to do homework. She just sat there, like she understood or she didn't know what she was doing. I left the room, and ended up texting Killian and he text-slapped me to give me a reality check."

"Text-slapped! Oh, good grief, I love that kid." Belle laughed hard, like really hard.

"Yeah, he was just doing his job,I guess." Ruby sneered, "So, I went back to her room and was planning to explain her about Granny's incident but she kissed me right there." Ruby began to think about that scenario. It was actually the best kiss she has ever had.

"….and?" Belle helped Ruby to complete the story.

"…and I kissed her back. The rest is history." Ruby blushed.

"Oh, dear, did you actually go all the way home?" Belle raised her eyebrows.

"Yes, we ended up SPENDING the night together until I had a bad dream that woke me up. Dorothy helped me to forget the dream, we ended up having sex. It was amazing." Ruby smiled.

"So, I don't see any point why she got mad at you if you had an amazing sex?" Belle asked.

"Oh right, then Dorth freaked out that her anti-gay roommate was coming in, we both got ready, and went outside of the door to pretend we were just catching up all night long. Turned out that the roomie was against hearing people."

"Hearing people? What? I don't get it?" Belle cried.

"In the Deaf culture, if they're a grassrooted Deaf family, most of the time, they become very close knitted and care for the Deaf people around them more than the hearing people. If the hearing people come in their lives, they are scared that their identity as a Deaf person will be dead. Alexander G. Bell, language deprivation, medicine world forcing parents to have their Deaf child to have surgeries, going to an oral program school and it goes on, honestly."

"Damn, you do know your shit…." Belle's jaw dropped. Ruby placed her hand on Belle's chin to close Belle's mouth.

"I was privileged to see Dorothy's family and what they've gone through. I am actually grateful to know different cultures and being able to understand what they've gone through. I may not fully understand what they've gone through but what I can do for them and the Deaf community is to educate and advocate the next generation. It was the least I could do." Ruby finished the Deaf part of the story. "Anyways, the roommate was pissed off that I was hearing, and I stood up, knowing she was anti-gay as well. I signed something like 'At least I know my identity, I am a hearing BISEXUAL cis woman that LOVES the Deaf culture.' She just didn't say anything but to go in her room."

"Buzz, your girlfriend, woof!" Belle laughed. Ruby joined the laughter, "you're such a disease!" Ruby continued to laugh.

"Gee, I need a sip of my," Ruby drank her Groovin' Green Tea, "oh yes, it tastes perfect, thank you, Belle!" Belle nodded her head in response.

"So, we just thought it was meant to be that we'd be apart for a while since we needed to sleep before the week begins so that was when I walked in on you. I fucking freaked out thinking I was getting robbed or something, of course it was a dramatic move of me. I texted Dorothy to save my ass. So, that was when she came in to be the hero…whoops. We decided to go back to her room with the wicked witch. We ran into Killian but he was drunk. He gave a hint by asking if it was THE Dorothy we've been looking and just right there she stormed out. I chased her to give her an explanation but she told me to leave her alone. So, I respected that. I am still wondering what exactly triggered her." Ruby finished the story.

"Damn, that was harsh." Belle scoffed, then placed her arm around Ruby to give her a hug then whispered, "from the story you were telling me, I have a feeling she is going to come around sooner than you think." Belle gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"Thanks, babe, I don't think it is going to be anytime soon." Ruby pouted.

Belle got up, and picked her drink up. Gave Ruby a sweet smile.

"Are you sure about that?" Belle winked.

Ruby was confused why Belle was so confident that Dorothy was going to come around sooner than we expected. Belle looked behind Ruby and said, "this is my cue to leave you two alone." Ruby turned around to see what Belle meant by that comment.

Dorothy was standing behind them with a Grande hot chocolate. She signed "thank you" to Belle as Belle was walking towards to her, gave Dorothy a hug. Belle mouthed the words, "no problem," with a wink. Dorothy smiled and turned to Ruby.

"Hi."

"Hi there, do you want to replace Belle's seat?" Ruby asked, patting the seat.

Dorothy walked closer and sat on the couch. Placed her hot chocolate on the coffee table. Ruby put her feet on the ground to make sure she met Dorothy eye for an eye.

"No, no, don't do that. Make yourself comfortable." Dorothy insisted.

"You sure?"

"Well, we do need to talk, right?"

"True, you're so smart." Ruby stated to hope it would break the awkwardness between them. It was a success because Dorothy grinned sheepishly. Dorothy leaned on Ruby's chest. It caught Ruby off guard but she didn't want to ruin the moment so Ruby placed her arm around Dorothy. She knew everything was going to be okay between her and the love of her life, Dorothy.

Thank you for reading this! What do you think of this chapter? I surely loved it so much! It's actually the longest I've ever written as it is overdue for you, readers. I apologize for the wait. Any ideas for the next chapter or two, let me know! The next chapter will be Dorothy owing you all an explanation of why she behaved that way, and will Ruby be able to understand why Dorothy did that kind of behavior? Hmm…. Ta-da for now! Xxx