Ruthie stared deep into Martin's eyes, all the while holding her breath. Martin brazenly returned her stare, his own breathing shallow.
And before either knew just what was happening, Martin had pulled Ruthie in closely and was kissing her lips ever so gently. The kiss was so subtle it could have been a whisper on their lips.
"What was that?" Martin asked suddenly, pulling away and almost tripping over his own feet as he stepped away from Ruthie.
Ruthie felt a little shaky on her feet and so she remained firmly planted to the spot where her life had taken a serious change in direction. Had Martin just kissed her?
"Ruthie?" Martin asked.
"Huh?" Ruthie asked. "What?"
"You kissed me," Martin accused, stepping even further away from Ruthie. "You shouldn't have done that."
The fog enveloping Ruthie began to clear. "I didn't kiss you. You kissed me."
Martin shook his head and again, took another step backward. "I wouldn't kiss you, Ruthie. I don't think of you like that."
Ruthie felt her cheeks get hot under his stare. A moment ago things had been working in her favor; Martin had kissed her. Now things were all against her. She felt more confused than ever.
"You kissed me, Martin," Ruthie shouted. Lowering her emotional voice she said, "You kissed me."
Martin shook his head forcefully. "I did not. And if I did…well I just take it back."
Ruthie gave Martin an exasperated look. "You can't just kiss someone and then take it back. You kissed me and now it's out there. It won't just go away."
"I don't…I don't…I just don't like you like that," Martin explained. "You're like my little sister. I have a girlfriend. I have Meredith."
"You trying to convince me or yourself?" Ruthie asked sarcastically.
"I don't need to convince anyone. There's nothing going on here anyway. I'm just happy about how things turned out with Sandy. You were upset about me lying to you. We're both just feeling really emotional right now. The kiss was nothing. It meant nothing. Pretend like it never happened," Martin advised.
Ruthie walked straight up to Martin and stood in front of him, hands on hips, in her usual forceful way. She looked up into his eyes. It was times like these when she hated being so short. She wished that she could be looking Martin right in the eyes.
Even though Ruthie was so much shorter than Martin, he still stepped back, feeling somewhat threatened by her proximity.
"You listen here, Martin Brewer! You kissed me. I think you kissed me because you wanted to. In fact, I think you've wanted to kiss me for quite some time now. You just don't have the guts to admit it! So stop using Sandy or Meredith or Cecilia as an excuse and just face what's going on here!" she yelled.
"What's going on here?" Martin asked, playing dumb.
"What's going on here is that you like me, Martin. And now that it's all out in the open, let's just do something about it."