Rings of Promise

Part Two

It had been a week, and though Ruthie had been in the same room as Martin about a million times, she had yet to speak a word to him. She was still fuming about the debacle that had humiliated her and managed to get a guy that she really liked to hate her. So far, Martin had attempted to "make it up to her" by offering to take her places, offering to be her slave for as long as she wished, and he had even offered her his last slice of pizza the other day at lunch, which she had refused with much difficulty. All of his attempts were futile and were shot down with an angry glare before she walked away.

Ruthie flopped down on her bed, exhausted, having just turned down yet another offer for a ride home from Martin and she had to walk in the heat. Martin had never done anything that she felt she wouldn't forgive him for in the past, no matter how angry she was with him, but she was so surprised and caught off-guard the whole thing seemed that much more evil.

So, why couldn't she stop thinking about it?

Every night, her dreams were clouded with Martin's soft kiss, his hands in her hair. She woke up every morning, trying to force herself to be disgusted, but couldn't force the smile off her face quickly enough. Never would she admit to feeling this way. No. It was Martin's fault. He had wronged her and he deserved to suffer.

Ruthie sighed as she kicked off her shoes and flicked on the fan that sat on her nightstand. Instantly, cool air hit her face and she felt a bit more relaxed as she closed her eyes and tried to clear her mind. A wave of happiness washed over her as Martin's handsome face appeared. Her heart seemed to skip a beat and she felt weak.

As a soft, pathetic knock on her door sounded, she jumped seemingly frightened that she would get in trouble for thinking thoughts about her ex-housemate. When her heartbeat slowed and her breathing steadied, she allowed the person to enter without asking who dared to interrupt her.

Martin's head peeked around her door and she rolled her eyes, sighing huffily, trying to sound annoyed. He stepped further into the room and closed the entrance behind him so she would have no other choice but to listen to him.

"Ruthie, I'm really sorry," he began, trying to lock eyes with her, but she refused to look at him. She crossed her arms over her chest and pretended to be extremely interested in her walls.

"I know you probably hate me, but I just wanted you to know that I love you and would never do anything to intentionally hurt you."

I know, she thought silently.

"But who knew that Josh would see that?" he continued, almost laughing.

At the mention of Josh, Ruthie became indignant. She ripped her gaze from her wall and looked at Martin with fire in her eyes.

"That's not the point," she said. "You kissed me for your own selfish reasons. You didn't even think about me!"

Martin hung his head. "You're right," he agreed. "I wasn't thinking. I only wanted to make Andrea jealous."

"But it didn't. You cost me my boyfriend, who I really liked, by the way." She was determined to make him feel as bad about this as she could.

Martin sighed. "I know, Ruthie, and I'm so sorry. If I could take it back, I would."

She just stared at him, and then looked away, not saying another word.

"I just miss you so much, you know? You're my best friend."

"Friend" – that was all she was to him. Her eyes involuntarily filled with tears, regardless of how hard she tried to fight them.

"Please, Ruthie, talk to me." After a few moments of silence, Martin decided that Ruthie had no illusions of forgiving him any time soon. He pushed himself up off the bed and began to leave. Just as he reached for the doorknob, Ruthie called him back.

"Wait!" she said, jumping off the bed, running to stand in front of him. Before she could think about what she was doing, she pushed Martin up against the door.

He looked confused and somewhat worried. "Uh, Ruthie, what are you doing?" he asked with a nervous chuckle, searching her eyes for an answer.

Ruthie put her hands around his neck and stood on her toes. "I'm going to kiss you for my own selfish reasons," she replied softly, and closed her eyes as their lips came together.

Martin's hands wrapped around Ruthie's frame and found their way to the small of her back. They were lost in each other, losing all sense of time, neither of them caring.

The halls were alive with students as the bell marking the end of break sounded. Ruthie made a quick stop at her locker for her algebra book before third period. As she popped open her lock and pulled open the red, metal door, a piece of paper that was folded in half flittered to the floor. She bent down to pick it up and noticed Martin's messy scrawl immediately.

The message was short but it made her unbelievably happy, nonetheless. She was to meet him behind the boys' gym after third. In a way, she cursed Martin for making her so excited and then making her wait an hour before she could see what he wanted. Making it through algebra was going to be an excruciating task.

It had been almost three days since they had kissed. Neither of them said a word about it after that day, but they both hadn't forgotten. Ruthie had been a bit worried, she had to admit, because Martin didn't show any other signs that he wanted anything more. She was kind of paranoid that he was still interested in Andrea, even if he wouldn't say it out loud.

Throughout the period, Martin had taken up her complete attention. Luckily, she was good at pretending like she was involved in the lesson, when in actuality all she had written down was a bunch of hearts with Martin's name in the middle. She didn't even know what the homework was, but she found herself not caring, which was unusual.

Ruthie glared at the clock, agitated that more time had not passed by. There was still about four and a half minutes before the bell rang. They were given seven minutes for passing in between periods, so that would give her a little time to see Martin. She had no idea what he wanted, even though she had spent the entire class wondering just that.

She shoved past students in the crowded hallway, trying to make her way to the boys' gym as fast as she could. When she got there, Martin was waiting for her. She smiled and slowed her pace as she came within feet of him.

"Hey," he greeted her, a grin appearing on his face.

He's smiling, she thought, That's a good sign.

"Hi," she returned. She didn't know whether or not to kiss him or hug him or what, so she just stood there, looking somewhat awkward.

Martin picked up on her nervousness and found it endearing. "I can't stop thinking about you," he confessed, pushing a stray strand of Ruthie's hair behind her ear.

She felt the warmth of Martin's hand against her face and her heart sped up. "Me either," she said softly.

"Ruthie," Martin said, taking her hands in his, "you are so great, and I can't stand not being able to kiss you whenever I want. Will you be my girlfriend?"

Ruthie took a breath and nodded. "Yes." Martin's eyes lit up and his whole face seemed to glow. She smiled, loving knowing that she had done that.

He leaned in and kissed her gently on the lips. "We'd better get going. I can't be late for class."

Ruthie laughed and interlaced her fingers with his as they walked down the quickly-emptying hall. "Not after last week when you were begging for my forgiveness in the middle of the hallway in front of everyone."

Martin chuckled. "I wasn't…begging."

"Sure you weren't," she replied sarcastically. "I'll see you after school." She gave him a hug outside her fourth period class and watched him continue to his class at a jog, andthen watched him get in trouble for running in the halls.

"Miss Camden, please get to your assigned seat or you will be marked tardy," her teacher said, looking over her wide and extremely round glasses.

"Sorry," she whispered and took her seat in the first row.

The kitchen was filled with the mouth-watering aroma of peanut-butter cookies. Ruthie slipped an oven mitt over her hand and opened the door, hot air hitting her face. As she pulled the baking sheet off the rack and turned off the oven, the back door opened and her sister Lucy walked in with her two-year-old daughter Savannah on one hip and a grocery bag in her empty hand.

"Mmmm, something smells good in here," Lucy commented, setting the brown bag on the counter.

"Cookie," Savannah said, reaching her small hand out toward an already-cooled batch.

"Why are you baking cookies?" Lucy asked playfully. "You hardly ever show your face in the kitchen."

"I like to cook," Ruthie said defensively, sliding off the cookies one by one onto a sheet of wax paper. "And don't eat too many of those. I made them for Martin."

"Ah," Lucy said, realization dawning on her. "It's your anniversary. How long has it been?" Savannah, now content with her cookie, wiggled to get out of her mother's arms. Lucy set her on the floor.

"Three months," Ruthie replied instantly as she tried to scrape the remains of a burnt cookie off the pan.

"Wow. I'm a little surprised that Mom and Dad weren't a little more apprehensive about you guys going out."

Ruthie looked up. "Why? Well, I mean, with Dad I can see your point, but I think Mom caught on early."

Lucy shrugged. "I don't know. Isn't it a little weird? After all, you guys did live together for, like, two years in a kind of big-brother-little-sister arrangement."

"Actually, it's not weird at all. You'd think it would be, but it just feels right, you know?"

Lucy smiled and nodded, thinking of her own husband who was waiting for her at their home next door. "Yeah, I know."

Ruthie grinned. "Oh, and don't ever say that again - the whole 'brother/sister thing'. Yuck."

Lucy laughed. "I'm gonna go find my daughter and go home, so I'll talk to you later." She grabbed her grocery bag off the counter and disappeared down the short hallway to the living room calling Savannah's name.

"The dinner was lovely, Martin," Ruthie said, dropping her coat over the back of his couch. They had stopped back at Martin's house for some alone time since his father was out.

Martin flicked on the lights and put on low, romantic music. He came to sit beside her on the couch and stroked her soft curls. He smiled.

"It was my pleasure," he replied in a low voice, his hand finding its way to her cheek. He leaned in and engaged her in a passionate kiss that seemed to stop all time. The music, the lights, the room went away, and they were the only things left.

Ruthie looked into Martin's light eyes and felt her heart speed up. Her hands slid from his strong shoulders to his chest, picking up on his own racing heartbeat. Slowly, never taking her eyes off his, her fingers felt the buttons of his striped shirt and slid them out of their holes.

"What are you doing?" he whispered, his voice calm and unalarmed. He knew that he couldn't make this move because he knew what kind of household she was raised in.

"I don't know," she muttered honestly, but she continued to unbutton until there were no buttons left.

Martin reached around the back of her dress and unzipped it, allowing the straps to slip off her shoulders, exposing her lacy, black bra and a small portion of her stomach. Quickening the pace, he jerked his arms out of his shirt, leaving him bare-chested.

Ruthie straddled Martin's lap, not allowing herself to think of what she was doing, and kissed him, taking his lower lip gently with her teeth. His hands had slid up from her lower back to her hair, when there was a rapid knock on the door.

She jumped up, clutching onto her dress so it wouldn't fall down round her ankles and glanced at the clock as Martin fumbled with his shirt.

"It's my dad," she said hurriedly, "it must be. It's almost twelve and I'm not home!" She pushed the straps of her dress back over her bare shoulders and struggled with zipping it up.

The knocking continued.

Martin ran to the door with his shirt in mismatched button holes with Ruthie right behind him with her curls in knots. When he flung open the door, it wasn't Ruthie's father standing there in the dark. It was, in Ruthie's opinion, someone much worse: Andrea.

The woman was standing there, her hands clasped in front of her, trying to look composed, but there were dry tear streaks running down her face.

"Andrea?" Martin said with concern in his voice. "What are you doing here? Are you okay?"

Ruthie felt anger rise within herself. She had to dig her fingernails into her palm to keep from slamming the door on her face. After all, she was the one who reduced Martin to a pathetic excuse for a man and wanted nothing to do with him. Now he was finally happy with a woman who truly cared for him back, so what in the world did she want?

"I'm sorry if I'm interrupting anything," she apologized, glancing from Ruthie's hair to Martin's shirt, "but I just had to get out of the house."

"Well, come in," Martin said, stepping aside and Ruthie moved grudgingly. He shut the door and Andrea took a seat on the couch.

Martin gave Ruthie a look that said "I'm sorry" but she brushed it off, the anger still rising. He knelt in front of Andrea's knees and looked into her eyes, waiting for her to explain. Ruthie stood off to the side in the shadows with her arms folded over her chest.

"My parents found out about Jack," she said quietly, dabbing at her eyes with the tissue she had produced from her coat pocket. Ruthie rolled her eyes.

"Who's Jack?" Martin asked.

"He's just this guy I am – was – dating. Daddy says I can't go out with him anymore because he's…'too old for me'."

"Was this the old geezer we saw who was eating your face?" Ruthie asked none too politely.

"He's not old," Andrea shot back at her.

Ruthie scoffed.

Martin's cell phone rang and Ruthie quickly obliged, glad for any excuse to get out of sight of Andrea. She read the caller ID.

"It's my dad," she said as Martin looked over at her. She walked down the hall and into Martin's room for some privacy. She didn't exactly want to have a shouting match with her father and make herself look like a fool in front of Andrea.

"Hello?" she answered, "Hi, Dad."

"Ruthie, where are you? It's fifteen past your curfew," he demanded.

She sighed. "I'm still at Martin's we just got back from dinner." Ruthie glanced around his room. It had been a while since she had been in there. They usually always hung around at her house. Her eyes scanned over the many baseball trophies, some dating back to the early nineties, but stopped on a picture on his nightstand. It wasn't of her, but of Andrea.

"I'm giving you five minutes. We need to talk."

"Sure," she replied quietly as she picked her way to the photograph. She picked up the frame and slid out the picture. On the back in Martin's boyish scrawl, it read, "Andrea, my love." Tears formed in her eyes.

"Ruthie? Are you still there?" her father asked, some of the sternness lost from his voice.

She swallowed. "Yeah, I'm here," she said, trying to sound as normal as possible.

"Honey, are you okay?" Ruthie could almost see his eyebrows scrunched together.

"Yeah, Dad, I'm fine," she said. "I'm leaving right now." She set the frame back the way it was on the night table.

"Okay, I'll see you in a few minutes then. I love you."

"Love you, too," she replied and hung up the phone.

Martin watched Ruthie go back into his room. He pulled himself up on the couch next to Andrea who was becoming continually upset.

"I just couldn't stay there because of all the yelling, so I came here, even though we haven't spoken for…three months," she said, refusing to look him in the eye.

Martin put a hand on her shoulder in attempt to comfort her. "You know I'm here for you Andrea, as long as you need me."

She nodded, and then looked up at him. "Oh, Martin, I've missed you so much. I can't believe I ever broke up with you."

He stared at her. "What?" he asked in disbelief.

"I've tried to forget about you, but I can't. I love you."

"What?" He was suddenly unable to close his mouth. Was she really saying these words?

"When I saw you kiss Ruthie in the hall, I almost lost it," she explained, fresh tears springing to her eyes.

Martin shook his head. "No you didn't. You walked right by us looking like nothing even happened," he rebutted, "Besides, what about Jack?"

She waved her hand, brushing off his words. "Jack was a mistake. He's too old for me anyway, you know that."

"Yeah, well, regardless, I'm with Ruthie now. I really like her."

Andrea suppressed a laugh. "Oh, please, Martin, she's just a little girl."

Ruthie crept to the end of the hallway were she stood hidden in the shadows and listened to their conversation.

Andrea's voice became low and seductive as her eyes softened. "You don't want someone like her. Remember how happy we were together? I want that again." She leaned in and kissed him.

"Ahem," Ruthie cleared her throat and walked farther into the room where she could be seen. Andrea jerked away as if Martin's lips were on fire.

"Ruthie, I-" Martin started, but Ruthie held up a hand to hush him.

"You need to take me home now," she said shortly, grabbing her coat and starting toward the door.

Martin shot Andrea an angry look as they got up and followed Ruthie out into the chilly night. After refusing a ride home from Martin, Andrea started her walk home and Martin climbed into the car with Ruthie, who looked as if she could kill him.

"Ruthie, I'm really sorry," Martin apologized as they drove down the darkened street.

"You kissed her," Ruthie replied quietly, averting her eyes from Martin, keeping a steady, fixed gaze through the windshield at nothing.

"No, I didn't. She kissed me," he said defensively, taking short glances between Ruthie's tense form and the empty road ahead.

She was silent for a moment and Martin wondered if she was going to speak at all. He was instantly reminded of the incident, which also involved Andrea, where Ruthie hadn't spoken to him for about a week. That had almost killed him, but then they were just friends. Now that they were together, her not speaking to him probably would kill him.

"She wants you back," Ruthie whispered. "You'll get what you wanted."

Martin couldn't believe that Ruthie was saying these words. "Are you crazy?" he asked, trying to keep the laughter out of his voice. "I don't want her back. I'm happier with you than I ever was with her."

Ruthie swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat as they turned onto her street and pushed back more oncoming tears. She had to stay composed, not only because of her situation with Martin, but because of what she was about to face with her parents. They pulled up in front of her house where the living room light was the only one on. Her parents would be waiting for her.

"Ruthie, I don't want anything to do with Andrea," Martin said as Ruthie stepped out of the car. "You believe me, don't you?"

She looked back over her shoulder, her eyes full of confusion. Without reply, she shut the door and made her way up the porch steps, pulling her coat closer to her body. Martin watched her go into the house before turning around.

"Ruthie?" Annie called out as the front door opened and closed. She appeared around the corner with Eric in her wake. "Thank God."

"I'm sorry I'm late," Ruthie said, her voice flat and emotionless. She slipped off her coat and draped it over her arm.

"You're almost thirty minutes over your curfew," Eric informed her, his eyes stern.

Ruthie nodded. "I know, and I'm sorry. It won't happen again," she assured them.

"You're right, it won't," Annie agreed, her voice becoming continually firmer as she was sure her daughter wasn't in any way hurt. "No more dates for a week."

Ruthie sighed. "Okay," she said, unable to get the picture of Andrea and Martin kissing on the couch earlier that evening. "I don't think you'll have to worry about that," she added quietly.

"What was that?" Eric asked.

Ruthie shook her head. "It was nothing. Can I go to be now? I'm really tired."

Her parents nodded and watched her disappear up the stairs. When they were sure Ruthie was out of earshot, Eric turned to Annie.

"Something happened tonight," he said.

Annie gazed over the spot where Ruthie had stood only moments before. "I know."

Ruthie trudged into her room and shut the door behind her. Without removing her shoes, she let herself fall onto her bed and lay there, staring at the ceiling as if it held all the answers. All night, she felt like she could cry a river, but now, she couldn't even cry a little puddle.

It wasn't long before there was a knock on her door. She was beginning to get tired of people knocking on the door, because every time she opened it, something bad happened.

"Come in," she called softly. Her mother entered the room and gave her a sympathetic smile.

"Date didn't go well?" she asked, sitting down on the bed next to her daughter.

Ruthie sighed. "It went fine," she said, "until we got to Martin's."

"What happened at Martin's?" Annie's voice held a bit of worry.

Ruthie wondered if she should be telling her mother this. "Well, it was what almost happened."

"You mean you almost…."

"Yeah," Ruthie replied shortly.

Annie tried to keep herself calm. She had already gone through this problem with her son Simon almost a year ago.

"But you didn't?" Annie asked.

"No, we didn't." Ruthie answered. "Well, we got close, but then someone came to the door." Her voice was full of revulsion. "It was Andrea."

Annie was surprised. "Andrea? Martin's ex-girlfriend?"

"That's the one." Ruthie closed her eyes and added quietly, "She wants him back."

Annie's heart dropped. "But he's with you now. He can't go back with her."

"Sure he can."

Annie couldn't believe what she was hearing. It wasn't like Martin to just use someone like that, especially her daughter. "Does he want to?"

Ruthie was silent for a moment. "He says he doesn't, but…I don't know. It's all Andrea's fault. Why did she have to show up anyway?"

Annie lifted Ruthie's feet up onto her lap and began undoing the buckles. "Well, if she hadn't shown up, think of what you and Martin might have done."

Ruthie thought back to earlier that night and what she was prepared to do. "I didn't think of it that way."

Annie dropped the black pumps onto the floor. "At least she was good for something."

Ruthie laughed. "Yeah," she agreed.

Her mother smiled. "Honey, I wouldn't worry about Martin going back with Andrea. He likes you, not her." Annie patted Ruthie's leg and pushed herself up off the bed.

She kissed Ruthie's forehead and told her goodnight. "I love you, Ruthie."

"'Love you, too."

When her mother had gone and flicked out the light, Ruthie turned over on her side, pulling her knees up to her chest. The world outside was dark and mottled with bright stars.

Ruthie knew her mother was only trying to make her feel better, but she didn't know all the details. She had conveniently left out the "Martin and Andrea kissed" portion. Tears suddenly sprang to her eyes, but she wiped at them before they could fall.

She sighed and closed her eyes, hoping that her dreams would make her happier than reality.

A/N: I have decided to make this into a three-part story, so this isn't the end, obviously (that would be lame). Anyway, part three should be up ASAP.