Title: Running Back to You
Song Prompt: All This Time by One Republic
Genre: Friendship/Romance/Hurt/Comfort/Modern AU
Major Characters: Blake, Yang, Ruby, Weiss
Minor Characters: Jaune, Sun, Neptune, Velvet
Pairing: Bumblebee, White Rose
Synopsis: There was a reason for the twenties being the worst transitory period of a person's life: the maelstrom of freedom and responsibility; the attainment of new dreams versus the death of old ones; the presence of every kind of love there is - unconditional, everlasting, and at times, unrequited.
"Six on the second hand until new year's resolutions.
There's just no question what this man should do.
Take all the time lost, all the days that I cost.
Take what I took and give it back to you.
All this time we were waiting for each other.
All this time, I was waiting for you.
We got all these words, can't waste them on another.
So I'm straight in a straight line, running back to you."
Tap-tap-tap.
The tip of her fingers clacked gently away on the keyboard. Blake Belladonna kept her strained eyes flickering back and forth from the computer screen and the scribbled clipboard lying on top of her desk.
A light knocking coming from outside the door broke her concentration for a short moment. Before being able to input another word in, she heard her co-worker's soft-spoken voice enter the room.
"Blake?" A young woman, with chocolate brown hair and a warm smile, asked as she stayed by the foot of the door frame. "Are you nearly done?"
The girl sitting at the desk finally tore her gaze away from the computer. Taking the unexpected interruption as an opportunity to ease her sore muscles, Blake stretched her shoulders in her seat. "Not yet. I've got some more reports to write."
"Still?" Velvet Scarlatina gasped as she fully stepped inside.
"My last appointment took longer than expected. Screaming pet owners. A lot of tears." Blake moaned, rubbing the corner of her lids with her opened palm. "I won't bore you with the details."
"Sounds like you had a rough day," said Velvet in a soothing tone, empathizing with her friend on the overlooked ordeals of a veterinarian. "I can help you finish up, if you'd like?"
"No, it's fine. I'll be done earlier than usual." Blake grinned sincerely. "After all, it is New Year's Eve."
"Oh, good. I was afraid you wouldn't remember." Velvet paused for a short while, tilting her head slightly as she carefully observed her friend's visage. "You do remember, don't you?"
Blake blinked twice, unintentionally inviting a look of blankness onto her facial features. "What are you talking about?"
"New Year's Eve? I was talking to you about this the whole day yesterday?" Despite the subtle reminders, nothing special ran across Blake's mind. The interrogator sighed in a defeated manner, as if she had been predicting this would be happening from the beginning of time. "Your date?"
"Oh." Blake bit down her tongue, keeping a rather calm demeanor despite her friend's accusing stare. "No... I remembered."
"I should have known you would forget." Velvet frowned slightly. "You are going though, right? You already said yes to this the day before. Cancelling now would be terrible. And this guy that I'm setting you up with is really nice."
Blake would have much liked to point out that she hadn't actually said "yes." The word that etched out of her mouth had been a coerced, heavily reluctant "fine." But at the patiently waiting expression on her co-worker, she resisted the urge. So despite herself, she replied back with a fleeting smile. "I can't pull out now, can I?"
"Of course you can." An unconvinced Velvet laughed slightly out of past amusement. "You've done it twice before."
"…Right, well," Blake cleared her throat. "I'll try to make sure that doesn't happen tonight."
Seemingly satisfied with the response, Velvet nodded pleasantly. "Coco will be happy to know that."
Something close to a despondent scoff slipped out of Blake's mouth. Coco Adel, an enthusiastic fashionista and friend to her fellow co-worker, had designated herself as the "selfless cupid" of their social group. After having heard that Blake, who in her own words was "an extremely sexy and well put together woman," had been single ever since her senior year of high school, Coco swore that she would personally take charge of the girl's love life. An abashed Blake did not comply, but that never stopped the former from trying.
"By the way, did you pick out a new roommate yet?" Velvet questioned, conveying a rather apologetic look as she said her next words. "I'm sorry I had to move out on such short notice."
It had already been a month since her co-worker moved out of her apartment complex. Their living arrangement had been mutually beneficial, as they worked at the same hospital, with similar hours and sleeping patterns. But Blake knew that it wouldn't last too long as her friend's long-term relationship with her boyfriend grew serious.
"It's fine." Blake was quick to wave the apology off as she answered. "I haven't found one yet, but I am meeting with someone tomorrow for an interview."
The rent on her apartment was neither too cheap nor expensive. Finding a roommate who was willing to pay the bill wasn't too difficult. The real challenge was differentiating the tolerable from the rowdy. After having a perfect roommate - quiet and relatively introverted - the process of finding her replacement became much more difficult than it had been years ago when she first moved to the city. The girl she would be meeting with tomorrow sounded nice on the phone. Blake hoped that this would be the last interview she would have to conduct. She couldn't afford to delay the task any longer, nor could she allocate more of her time to sit down and talk with passing strangers.
A short melody rang through the air, breaking Blake out of her thoughts. Her colleague rooted through her purse to pull out her phone. After checking her text message, she let out a sheepish grin. "Oh... I think Yatsuhashi's waiting for me outside."
Blake emitted a soft chuckle. "See you on New Year's then."
"You'll be working too?" Velvet asked as she straightened a few stray strands in her hair.
Blake nodded in confirmation. "I'm taking a night shift."
"All right." Velvet placed the phone back into her bag. Turning on her heel, she waved to her friend as she left. "Enjoy your date!"
She waved back while her work partner closed the door behind her. As soon as she heard the clicking sound of the locks closing, Blake relaxed into her seat, allowing the strained smile on her lips to fade away into a lethargic frown.
The girl sighed, knowing too well that with her hazy state of mind, she wouldn't be getting anything done today. She would have to come in earlier tomorrow and resume with the medical notes before her first appointment. After saving her work for the night, Blake pushed the power button on her desktop computer before rising from her uncomfortable five-wheeled chair. Stifling a yawn, she glanced up at the clock hanging on the wall across from her. It was several minutes past six already. Her scheduled date was in approximately thirty minutes. Taking off her white gown, she hung it up on the wall then assessed herself in a long-view mirror.
Checking her reflection wasn't something Blake liked to do often. Not as in a simple glance, but to directly stare and thoroughly observe the creases on her clothing, her black hair that curled slightly at the bottom, and her less-than noticeable make up, simply used to mask a day's worth of exhaustion and the lack of color in her skin. Blake sighed as she combed down her hair with her fingers. Her outfit seemed presentable enough. She was wearing a white blouse and a pair of slim jeans. Not ideal for a first impression, but then again, when was the last time she dressed up to impress a man?
Just as Velvet expected, she had completely forgotten about her blind date for today. Granted, the juncture was sprung onto her quite unexpectedly, only two days ago when she had been sipping on some tea at the employee lounge between breaks. She recalled that the man she was being set up with was twenty seven, two years older than her own age. Velvet hadn't enclosed much about her male acquaintance, except for the fact that he was an even-tempered and well-mannered young man. Those were the exact words quoted by her friend and Blake had attempted hard not to laugh at the description, which made her feel as if she were a single woman living in the nineteenth century being convinced into marriage by a very fretful and worrisome mother.
Blake knew that her friends had her best interests at heart. It didn't make much of a difference though that she wasn't entirely happy about the decisions made for her. In order to dodge any observations of suspicion, Blake obliged on several blind dates prior to this one. Nevertheless, not one of them had engendered successful results. Most of them, the girl managed to swerve out of with "work-related emergencies" or "a mysterious illness" that seemed to only catch her on promised nights. For the minor amount of meetings she actually attended full length, it concluded with no amiable call the following morning.
Though Velvet and Coco frequently expressed their incomprehension on Blake's fruitless situation, the latter knew that the real reason rested deep within her. And she knew very well what the origin of the problem was, the basis behind her irrational behavior during first dates: her frequent vacant stares and her weak smiles that were two centimeters short of becoming grimaces. They did not occur out of random. Blake admitted long ago what it was that caused her to subconsciously sabotage every romantic prospect with another man. But having knowledge wasn't the same as having the courage to do something about it.
However, understanding the trouble Velvet must have went through to get her this date on New Year's Eve, Blake knew better than to pay back the kindness by standing up a poor man at a restaurant somewhere. With that weak resolution in mind, she picked up her coat from the hanger and her bag from the floor, then quickly left the office room. Turning off the lights in the firm, being the last one to leave as usual, she locked the doors behind her before embracing the cold evening air of late December. The restaurant wasn't too far from the clinic. Deciding that she could walk the three blocks, Blake raised the scarf around her neck up to the brink of her nose.
Her heels clanked softly on the pavement floor. Her ears caught onto the lively sounds of an urban city at night. People were rushing in the streets. Some were already drunk and sprawled over the ceiling of parked cars. Blake avoided catching their attention as they shouted incoherent slurs, raising a bottle of rum in one hand and a crinkled party hat in the other. New Year's Eve. One of the biggest party nights of the year. What was it about this day that drove people to such excitement and joy? Blake did not understand. It was just another ordinary day. And next year would be just as ordinary as this one. The only thing that would be changing was the last digit of the year. They would have to get used to writing 2016 instead of 2015 for a few couple of weeks. That was all.
That was all, Blake convinced herself. No big deal.
Nevertheless, persuasion occurred by an insignificant amount.
Because no matter how hard she tried to think otherwise, the ending mark of an old year, the initiation of a fresh batch of three hundred sixty five days - both were very important events. The world was growing a year older. And as it did so, people on earth were forced to reflect upon what they have accomplished so far in life. Blake looked back and saw nothing of significance. She had a stable job. A license to practice veterinary medicine. But all of her achievements seemed to pale, as always, in comparison to the list of objectives she hadn't fulfilled yet. One wish came to mind. The biggest out of the whole lot.
And perhaps, after months of immobility, of emotionally strenuous denial and waning hopes, it wasn't Time that was meant to take another step forward. Perhaps it was her turn.
She was sick and tired of 2015. She needed a fresh start, a pointer to move on from. New Year's was about breaking old habits and changing yourself for the better. After one too many weeks of sleepless nights and pointless dawdling, conceivably, it seemed the best solution would be to move on rather than to prolong the pitiful wait.
Lost in meditation, it wasn't long before her agile footsteps brought her to the front porch of the designated restaurant. The windows were transparent and she could see a couple of customers dining inside. Her gaze drifted among their happy faces. She worried that she had come too early and would have to wait for her male companion to arrive. But then she observed that a young man was sitting alone at one of the tables labelled reserved, twiddling with his thumbs as he nervously looked around the room. It was evidently clear that he was waiting for a date. Drawing in a cautious breath, she pulled open the handle and walked inside.
Blake wondered if Velvet had given her physical description to him beforehand, perhaps even a picture, because as soon as the wind chimes rang in the air, the blond man stood up from his seat and flagged her down rather anxiously. She took several cautious steps towards the table.
"H- Hi!" He said quickly out of visible nervousness then offered her an awkward handshake. "The name's Jaune. Jaune Arc."
"Blake Belladonna," she said in return. His palm was quite sweaty, but she did not withdraw her hand, not wanting to be rude.
"Please, take a seat." He pulled out the chair for her. Blake felt more than uncomfortable, not used to having such menial tasks being done for her. Nonetheless, she sat down noiselessly as the man scurried over back onto his side and plopped down on the wooden chair.
"So..." He clapped his hand together and rubbed them. Sheer awkward silence filled the air. If not for the consistent chatter from neighboring tables, Blake could have sworn she could hear his pounding heart. "Sorry, I'm not really sure how to begin. This is my first time on a date- a blind date."
He was staring at her expectantly and helplessly. At least he was honest, thought Blake as she shot him a weak but empathetic look. "How about we introduce ourselves?"
"Oh! Right. I'm, uh, so I'm Jaune. I'm a photographer. You know, I worked with Coco for a bit, and she told her friend about me, who told you about me. And here we are." He let out a nervous high-pitched laughter then quickly covered it off with an out-of-context cough. "So? Um... What about you?"
"I'm a veterinarian." Blake paused, not knowing what else she could say as the word itself was so self-explanatory. Never before did her job sound so boring as she disclosed it. At his unblinking blue eyes, she added slowly, "I work at a clinic not too far from here."
"...Cool." He scratched the back of his head. "I, uh, I don't really own a pet or anything so...I probably never went there before."
Then the momentary rapport was murdered once again. Blake realized that she was bobbing her head absentmindedly as he glimpsed, once in a while, at her face.
"And... Do you like being a vet?" He made another poor attempt at engaging her. "I'm guessing you enjoy taking care of animals...?"
"I suppose so...? I mean, I connect well with...most animals...though I am a feline specialist." Even she noticed that her words were fading at the end of each her sentences. She mentally chastised herself for being so inexpressive.
"Great" was all he said in response.
He tapped to an invisible beat on the menu left in between them. "... Should we order then?"
"Yes... That seems like a good idea..." She was beginning to mutter when a series of short vibrations ran across her legs. Relieved by the distraction, she pulled out her phone from the front pocket of her pants.
"I'm sorry, let me just..." She politely excused herself as she turned away slightly to check the message being displayed on the lock screen.
-I hope you enjoy your date tonight, Blakey!-
She knew who the message had come from. And for good reason did it hurt Blake that she could recognize the sender right away from the non-consented nickname being used at the end of the text. She didn't like that she read the message in the same exuberant manner the owner of it would have spoken in.
And it became an unpleasant reminder to her. A mental note that as everyone else around her moved forward, as the world relentlessly spun on, she was frozen still.
She thought she could do it, but she couldn't.
It was unbelievable how such a simple statement, a passing remark out of friendly innocence, could cut so deeply, like prickling salts at an opened wound. It was ironic that an affable phrase of encouragement could be so disheartening, draining her of all lingering energy and any speck of resolve she had managed to build up for the past consecutive months.
Blake hated this. She hated herself for not being able to let go. She loathed herself for being neither here nor there, not being able to take the giant leap forward, off the ledge onto uncharted waters, but not being strong enough to resign, to muster up the strength and cut the burdensome ropes of emotions that bound her heart into an unsolvable knot.
"Is something wrong?" Her expression must have betrayed her as the man was peaking nervously at her. At her continued silence, he leaned forward slightly to survey her pallor. His head shone brightly under the dim light. Bright yellow. His hair was the color of the sun.
"I'm sorry," Blake blurted out without further rumination. "I can't do this."
"Huh?"
"Listen... Jaune, was it?" She stared earnestly into his eyes. "I'm sorry that I misled you but... I'm in the process of getting over someone right now..."
"Oh." Then his shoulders slouched significantly, as if he was suddenly relieved of elongated tension. "Thank god. Because I didn't want to go through with this either."
"You- You what?"
"No! It's not that I don't like you or anything! You're really attractive!" He shook his hands in a wild motion, mistaking her confusion for personal offense. "It's just that... I didn't feel much of a...connection with you? It's kind of like- Do you believe in destiny?"
"No," she answered curtly, not being able to hide the traces of painful realism.
"Well, don't laugh, but I've always been a big romanticist," he explained in a dream-like sequence. "And I don't know... I feel like when I meet the one, I'll know right away. It shouldn't have to feel this forced, right?"
She decided against going over his words with her own twisted grasp on romance. Instead she watched in utter quietude as he rubbed the side of his neck, seeming easily resigned as he nodded understandingly towards the ground. As if he was slightly embarrassed of what he divulged, he attempted to change the subject. "So... Break up, huh? That's got to be tough..."
"Not exactly." He threw her another quizzical glance. Blake took a short intake of breath before trying to explain her situation without revealing too much information, in case any of her words reached Coco or Velvet's ears. "You see, this person doesn't exactly know...how I feel."
"Ah..." His throat made a deep resonating sound of sympathy. He swallowed as he digested the news, as if he was perfectly familiar with the sentiment she was feeling at the moment.
"I just..." She expanded in order to achieve full closure. "It's something that I started by myself and I need to end it by myself."
"No, no, I understand." He let out a light chuckle, as his eyes seemed to be gazing far off into the distance. "I know how it feels, not being able to get over someone. It took me a pretty long time getting over this girl I had a crush on in high school."
She winced at the man's honesty, which possibly made her feel even more horrible inside. "I'm really sorry about this."
"It's fine!" He shook his head fervently. "It's totally fine."
"...Right." She sighed. He was grinning at her now, a faint glimmer of cheering on his visage. Blake understood that he was genuinely a kind person. It was a shame that she was already in love with someone else.
"Happy New Year, Jaune," said Blake quietly as she rose from the chair, the surface of which was still cold.
"Happy New Year."
Yang Xiao Long was always either one of two things. She was either the center of attention at a party or she was the one responsible for the party. On New Year's Eve - the greatest night of celebration, dancing, and binge drinking - the boisterous blonde was proud to be hosting a small but successful gathering at her own apartment suite.
Music rang loudly into her ears as people went in and out of the unlocked front door. Chips and dip at one end, with a huge bowl of spiked punch at the other, everyone seemed to be having a remarkable time. Many familiar faces, of neighbors, friends, and acquaintances, were standing in huddled crowds.
"Yang. We're running out of tequila already." A young man, with strikingly blue hair approached her as he slurred. His breath already smelled of strong alcohol.
She cocked an unkind eyebrow at him. "Did you drink all of it?"
"No!" He denied quite adamantly as he wobbled on his two feet. "Of course not!"
"Sun. You're in charge of cleaning up the mess if he pukes." Yang pointed at the man standing to her left - tall, blond, and built- as she grabbed a set of keys from the top kitchen drawer.
"Aw, come on." Sun Wukong complained as he took a quick swig from his red plastic cup. "I came here to have fun, not babysit!"
"Then you shouldn't have brought Neptune." She grinned broadly as the man set down his drink on the center counter to glare at his inebriated choice of companion.
Walking out of her own complex, she stepped towards the room number marked four, which was merely ten feet away from the opening of her own home. Taking the chain of keys into her hands, she fumbled around them, inspecting each one of them until she could identify the right one.
"I need to throw some of these away," grumbled Yang to herself as she tried out her initial guess and found that the key didn't fit inside the hole.
However, before she could try another one, this time a thin silver one with two holes driven at the top, an exhausted voice called out to her from beyond the chipped paint.
"It's opened," said a female from inside the room. Yang stepped back for a moment, startled by the unexpected presence inside what she believed to have been an empty apartment. But she soon recognized the familiar bleakness in the voice; and so Yang, almost instantaneously, turned the knob and barged in. The lights were turned off, but as she suspected a recognizable silhouette of a young woman was lying on the living room couch, a round pillow placed underneath her head, jet black hair flowing down the leather sides of the sofa. Blake looked up from where she rested and Yang flinched slightly as wide amber eyes eerily stared at her through the shadows. Reaching for the light switch, she caused her best friend to hiss, much like a disturbed cat, as she forcibly illuminated the room.
"Blake! What are you doing alone in the dark?" Yang inquired as she approached the girl, walking inside the room so comfortably that bystanders could believe the two shared conjoined suites.
"I was sleeping" was the answer she received, which the blonde highly doubted was the truth, considering that her friend appeared to be fully dressed and alert.
"How come you're back so early?" Yang pondered out loud. "What happened to your date?"
Casting the cushion aside onto the carpeted floor, Blake grunted as she sat up into an horizontal position. "I went."
Yang allowed a moment of silence to pass before prodding the girl further on. "And...?"
"And I left."
"Again? Geez, Blake. This is like the third one you've skipped out on." The blonde noticed how still her friend became at her remark, but she continued on with the playful teasing. "How mad do you think Coco will be on the scale of one to ten?"
"A ten." The tiniest smirk appeared on the other's lips.
"You know, if you don't like Coco's tastes in men, you could always ask me." Yang pointed at herself with a confident backwards thumb. "I've got bunch of friends who would be dying to spend the night with you."
"…It's fine." The answer was close to a whisper. "Really. I just... I don't need anybody else in my life right now."
"Well, since you blew off your date again, why don't you come across the hall?" She offered in hopes of an opportunity to diffuse the unexpectedly sullen mood. "Sun and Neptune's over there right now, mixing some margaritas. The party's already started. There's music...and food...and dancing?"
Her voice decreased in volume with each addition of category, having noticed the disinterested expression on her friend's face. A party. With a sea of people, loud music, and an exorbitant amount of alcohol; All three of which were ideas so far apart from Blake's normal picture of an ideal Thursday evening. Perhaps this was why Yang was closer to shocked than happy when Blake accepted her offer with a cursory nod.
"Seriously?" The blonde gawked at her friend who was grabbing a black hoodie from the closet to wear.
"Dead serious."
Yang gaped at her friend, waiting for any hints that would let her know that Blake was kidding. But her friend's countenance remained as stony as it had been when she first walked in. The shadow cast on her face made it appear as if she were marching into her grave rather than a party. There was something different about her friend, especially in the manner in which she stood. There was an air of defeat to it. Subtle yet worrisome.
"You don't have to come if you don't want to." Yang frowned in concern. "I'm not forcing you."
"I want to go," replied Blake with the same impassive expression.
"...Is something bothering you?" The blonde knew that her friend had a habit of clamming up until, inevitably, the spotlight was taken away from her. "Come on, Blake. You can tell me anything."
"I just had a rough day at work," she stated, but the rumbling storm in her amber eyes told Yang that this was not the truth.
No, the blonde thought, job-related problems were different. Her friend complained about work. She muttered dark things under her breath whenever she was forced to take extra shifts as a favor to another co-worker or when she had more medical reports to write out by the end of the day. There was the signature expression of irritation Blake wore whenever she returned home after having to handle a dog instead of a cat because all the canine specialists were too busy. There were even moments of earth-shuddering anger when she met with patients who were particularly ignorant and abusive to their pets.
Having spent too many years together with Blake, from college and beyond, Yang knew there was only one other category that could be troubling the girl at the present time.
"Why not just tell Coco you're not interested next time?" Her friend went rigid, alerting Yang that she had made the correct conjecture.
"It's not that I'm not interested in dating," Blake began to say stiffly. "I just... He wasn't the right person."
"Are you sure there isn't a different reason?" She presented a coy smile. "A secret boyfriend I should know about?"
"…No. Nothing like that."
"Maybe a crush then?" This time, a lascivious wink.
"Stop."
"All right, all right." The blonde was prepared to drop it after the biting snap, but not before she got the final say in the matter. "But I've got my eyes on you, Belladonna. I'll know when something's up."
She opened up the front door of the apartment, as she made the "I'm watching you" gesture with her two fingers.
"Oh please, Yang." Blake murmured under her breath as she followed the blonde out. "You don't know me at all."
The last words came out in a wistful fashion. Yet, as carefully stealthy as the girl was, it went unnoticed in the air.
Ruby Rose got off from the metro, running across the crowded terminal in impressive speed. Super powers were granted to humans during moments of great peril. And this was certainly one of them, as she was already two hours late to the party she was supposed to be attending.
Her pace quickened even more as she flew up the flight of stairs. Exiting from the underground platform, she turned sharply around a lamp post. Luckily, her apartment was only a few blocks down from the train station.
Her cell phone buzzed loudly in her coat pocket, the jolly rock and roll ringtone discouraging the girl from picking up immediately. Not bothering to check who the call had been coming from, Ruby answered.
"Hey, Ruby! Are you almost home yet?"
"I just left the station!" She replied enthusiastically. "How's the party going? Having fun without me?"
"Of course not! Not without my baby sis." Hearty laughter was heard from the other line. "Actually, I'm at the store right now because we ran out of alcohol. There's one hell of a line, though."
"The liquor store?" Ruby recalled that the shop was situated a block away from their suite. "Oh! Then I'll meet you there! Wait for me at the-"
And that was when she lost her balance.
Being her clumsy, unobservant self as usual, Ruby had slammed into something hard and solid left unattended on the curb. Ruby tripped over onto the ground, much like how she would have fell after being tackled by a dashing football player.
Landing quite painfully on her rear, Ruby rubbed her right knee, the spot where she had first made contact with the obstacle. Hissing in pain, the petite girl glanced sideways and realized that she hadn't rammed into a person, but an enormous metal suitcase, which now lay tilted on the ground.
"What are you doing?" A piqued voice lashed at her from above.
"I'm so sorry!" Ruby apologized hurriedly, grabbing the rectangular object and setting it correctly onto its wheels. "I was in a hurry and I wasn't looking where I was going!"
When she finally stood up, she noticed a hardened glare being bestowed upon her. The owner of the luggage was about her same height, ensuring that the pair of incensed electric blue eyes was leveled right at her.
"Maybe you should watch where you're going next time instead of looking at your phone?" The girl continued on in a critical tone, lifting her chin slightly in indignation.
But Ruby wasn't listening at all. She was distracted, to say the least, by the alarming color of white on the girl's head. For a moment, Ruby thought that it had started to snow without her noticing.
White. Pure white as snow. It was an unforgettable sight, and it took only one second of bearing witness to it for Ruby to be reminded of an equally vivid first impression she had experienced in the past. Equal in degree, because this wasn't a stranger standing before her at all.
"Weiss?" The girl blinked twice before frowning at the sudden addressing of her name. "Weiss Schnee?"
No verbal response was produced, but Ruby did receive another odd look.
"It's me! Ruby Rose? From Beacon High?" She smiled wildly as memories came pouring inside her like fresh oxygen. "I was in your class during senior year, remember?"
"Oh." The hostility decreased to a certain amount, replaced by reluctant recognition. Uncrossing her arms, the girl let her left hand shift onto her hip and her other hand to grab onto the strap of her shoulder bag. "Yes, I remember. Hello, Ruby. It's good to see you again."
The greeting was emotionless and generic. Ruby's smile faltered. Had she left such a little impact on the girl that after years of attending the same school as each other, she was merely acknowledged as a distant acquaintance than a friend?
"Uh... How have you been? I haven't seen you in ages!" She started again awkwardly, taking every second to observe the young woman and be delighted with the fact that much of the girl remained the same: her tight ponytail, her pressed lips that made it seem like she was in constant disapproval of something, and the formal, prim dialect in which she spoke. Nothing less to expect from the heiress to the third largest and richest company in the country.
"I've been rather busy," she stated shortly.
"Yeah... That's cool." Ruby laughed nervously. "You've always been uh...busier than others, I guess. But you should call me sometime! It'd be nice to catch up!"
Eager to reconnect with an old friend, she dug into her pocket and tried to find her cell. "Huh... Actually... I can't really find my phone right now..."
Weiss, raising her thin eyebrows in mild disbelief, lifted a single finger to point at the mobile lying flat on the dirty pavement.
"Oh!" Ruby bent over and quickly picked it up. The screen hadn't cracked but the call she was having with her sister had disconnected minutes ago. Looking up at the heiress once again, she flashed a warm smile. "Thanks!"
Lopsided silence filled their vicinity. Ruby, unsure of what action to take next, stood fidgeting with the phone in her hands. Crowds of people moved busily on the streets as the two stood silently by the edge of the road. The petite girl considered shoving the phone towards the heiress's nose, asking her to input her digits into the device.
On the other hand, she didn't want to appear too eager or forceful. So, in conclusion, Ruby did nothing else but stare on in relentless patience. The heiress returned the silver orbs with an expression of increased annoyance, then finally, resignation.
"Here." The heiress, as sophisticated and business-like as she had been several years ago, pulled out a laminated business card from her purse. "Perhaps lunch wouldn't be so bad."
"Yeah! Great! I'll uh- I'll give you a call!" Ruby took the piece of paper with unrestrained glee. "Or if you're not busy right now, there's a big party my sister is holding up at our apartment? But, um, who am I kidding, you've got a big suitcase and you're all dressed up. You're obviously going somewhere so... Nevermind. I'll just call you!"
For a moment, Ruby waited for an agonizing three seconds, hoping that every bit of word she sprouted in a rush had been received. Fortunately, the girl before her gave a curt nod, before gripping hard onto the handle of her suitcase, implying that she would much like to be on her way now.
"Okay then! I'll see you...when I see you! Bye!" She stayed waving as the heiress simply pulled her suitcase behind her as she walked off in the opposite direction.
After a short consideration, the petite girl also yelled out in the middle of the streets: "Happy New Year's Eve!"
Weiss did not look back, but there had been a minuscule pause in her graceful steps.
"Real smooth, Ruby," she muttered to herself. "Real smooth."