20 - Fall's Offerings

'How are you not cold?'

Ruby's message made Cinder shrug and smile. "Pretty sure my wraps help with a lot of it," she replied. A gentle breeze picked up and leaves fell from the trees overhead, raining down on the two of them. The wooden bench was already covered in leaves when they got to the park and they knew the risks of getting leaves in their hair. "I can take my sweatshirt back if you want me to layer up some more."

Ruby shook her head and pulled the hooded sweatshirt tighter to herself which made Cinder laugh. The summer heat had left and the crisp mornings and evenings of autumn crept in without either of the girls noticing until it was well upon them. For Cinder, the cooler weather was a blessing. She no longer had to worry about getting heat sick from simply existing outside and she could wear clothes that better covered up her compression wraps. For Ruby, though, the heat of summer was dearly missed.

'This is my sweatshirt now.' Ruby pulled the hood up and tightened the strings.

"Hey, I didn't say you could keep it."

'Nope, it's mine now. I just decided.'

Cinder sighed and shook her head. "Oh whatever, you can use it for now. But I'll get it back eventually."

Ruby tucked her phone in the front pocket of the sweatshirt and scooted closer to Cinder to lean against her.

"Yeah, yeah, you're adorable. What should we get to eat, though? And coffee doesn't count as food. Or cookies. We can get those after." Cinder turned her head to kiss Ruby's cheek despite it being covered in fabric from the hood.

Ruby's shoulders slumped.

"What about that bakery cafe place we went to a while back? And did we want to see if your sister wanted anything?"

Ruby shrugged her shoulders and pulled her phone back out to message Yang and find out.

The weather changed fast. The otherwise clear sky grew overcast and gentle breezes picked up to a heavier wind as Cinder and Ruby entered the restaurant. Cinder took a moment to smooth down her hair and Ruby looked up at her, still with the sweatshirt hood up. "Hope this dies down," Cinder mumbled as she turned to look out the large windows to the road outside. Beside her, Ruby typed out a message.

'I can always get Yang or Dad to pick us up.'

"Let's order first and see how it goes," Cinder smiled, wrapping her left arm around Ruby to help usher her out of the way of the door. "At least it didn't say it was supposed to rain today. Or, my weather app didn't at least."

Warmth and no winds left Ruby feeling more comfortable and she lowered her hood. She moved to the line to order and Cinder followed, keeping close. It didn't take long for the two to be at the front counter. Ruby had been there countless times and the older gentleman had already started punching in her order for hot chocolate and espresso when she typed out the order for her and Yang. 'Chicken bacon ranch bagel sandwich, three chocolate chip cookies, two ham and cheese muffins, and a large black coffee'

"And can I get a turkey club and a vanilla cinnamon latte, please?" Cinder gave her order and pulled her wallet from her bag, handing over her bank card to cover the order. Beside her, Ruby rolled her eyes and nudged Cinder with her shoulder to express her annoyance at not being the one to pay for lunch which only made Cinder grin and nudge her back.

"Will this be for here to go?"

"To go, please," Cinder smiled.

The man behind the counter grabbed the receipt, circled their order number, 268, and handed it to Cinder. "Should just be a few minutes."

"Thank you," she replied with a nod and both her and Ruby stepped away to sit at a nearby table as they waited. Behind them, the wind outside the window was starting to die down, but the sky remained overcast.

'You're a butt, you know that?' Ruby held her phone in front of Cinder's face.

"You were just too slow," Cinder laughed. "And you beat me to getting coffee yesterday."

'Oh whatever'

"Oh! I wanted to tell you, I got a call this morning from the contractor. I guess construction will begin next week on the house."

Ruby bounced on the seat and typed rapidly. 'Which design is it? The two-story or the one story?'

Cinder pulled out her phone to type her replies, her throat feeling dry. 'It's the single story one I showed you. I don't need two floors. Besides, doing just the one let me get the floors I wanted and the garage insulated like I wanted.'

'You just hated carrying things upstairs.'

Cinder frowned and stared at Ruby a moment before replying. 'That may have been part of it, yes.'

Ruby grinned and nudged Cinder with her elbow before apologizing. 'I'm sorry. I know it's easier being there if it's different than it was before.'

'It's fine, Red. They said it should be done before the holidays, though. When it's done you should move in with me.'

Ruby scrunched her nose at the name but let it slide. She deserved it. Instead, she scooted her chair closer and leaned her head on Cinder's shoulder. 'I haven't talked to Yang about it yet. I'm not sure how she'll react. Or dad.'

'There's no rush. The house isn't even there yet. And it's not like it's going anywhere after it's built, anyway.' Cinder turned her head to rest it on top of Ruby's.

'You're right.' Ruby smiled.

The two sat quietly as they waited for their order to be done. Behind them, the sun shone through the window and the weather seemed to have mellowed to a gentle breeze again.

At the shop, Yang worked on rotating the tires of a large SUV while she thought about the dinner she had with Winter a few days prior. There was more she wanted to say to her. She really wanted to tear into her about everything but knew that it wasn't fair. She wanted to tear into a lot of people. Really let them have it. Like the guy whose SUV she was working on for coming in seemingly every month to replace a tire because he shredded it doing something stupid. The creep who delivered packages to the businesses in the area for hitting on her at least once a week. Almost everyone she could think of. But also herself. Mostly herself, actually.

Yang finished the tire work and lowered the SUV from the hydraulic lift to be driven back to the lot again. "At least it's work," she grumbled and brought the vehicle around back. When she got back into the garage she could see Ruby with Cinder in tow heading into the office. Finally, two people she actually didn't want to yell at.

"Hey, you're back."

Ruby turned to greet her sister and nodded, holding out the coffee for her.

"Ah, thanks. I'll need to get more for the machine later."

'We can always get one of the coffee pod machines.' Ruby held her phone up and Yang rolled her eyes.

"We're not that fancy. Besides, the one we have is practically an heirloom. You'll be passing it down to your kids someday."

Behind them both and sitting on the couch, Cinder snorted out a laugh.

"Hey, that machine is going to be part of your legacy too if things work out right," Yang shot at her and waggled her eyebrows only to be smacked in the leg with one of Ruby's crutches.

Yang frowned and booped Ruby's nose before walking to the desk where the bag of food was set. She dug through it and pulled out one of the muffins and plopped into the desk chair. Ruby scrunched her nose at her and moved to sit on the couch next to Cinder.

"How much do I owe you?" Yang looked over to the girls on the couch and took a bite of the baked good in her hand.

Cinder frowned and shook her head. "Don't worry about it."

Silence filled the room while Yang finished her bite and stared at Cinder. "Mm, well, you're coming over for dinner anyway, so we'll call it even for now. But I'll get you back…" Yang's voice was playfully threatening and she shook her finger at the girl which made Cinder smile and shake her head.

Ruby nudged Cinder and the two exchanged a few wordless expressions and gestures to which Yang still had zero clue how the two communicated like that but wasn't about to ask for the intricacies of it. When it seemed the conversation between them ended, Ruby typed something up on her phone and showed it to Cinder. In response, the other girl offered a nod and Ruby sighed.

"Do I want to know?" Yang raised a brow and took another bite.

"Well, I have some big news. My house should be done before the end of the year. I think last I told you about it, it was stuck with the contractor and the city?"

Yang raised her brows. "That sounds about right. And, congrats. But, is there more here? I can't speak whatever it is you two do with the face stuff, but it seemed like there was something else."

Cinder looked at Ruby who reluctantly nodded. She typed a message and held up. 'Cinder offered to let me move in when it's done.'

Yang smirked. "I figured as much. Know when it'll be done?"

"Not right off. I was only told that it should be done before the end of the year." Cinder shrugged. "And I told her there's no rush. It's not like the house is going anywhere." Her words came out a bit too quickly.

Yang could tell she was nervous and laughed. "Hey, you don't have to impress me here. Yeah, I think it's a bit fast, but most people also don't spend almost every waking moment together like the two of you do, so who am I to judge anything?" She shrugged and stood back up. With muffin in one hand, she grabbed her coffee with the other. "Anyway, I'll be in the garage if you need anything, or dad's up front. Unless you wanted me to hang back and ask you two awkward questions or something."

Ruby looked at Yang with a glare that seemed to convey the message she needed to stop.

"Hey, I understood that one. I'll crack your guys' code anytime now," Yang teased before leaving.