AN: so still rolling with this little fluff ball of fluffiness… I mean other than her magic gong bonkers there's no real angst. So sit back and enjoy this chapter where Rueben finally texts her and they end on a small sort of date, yet not a real date ;)
Let me know in a review what you think (honestly don't know why I keep asking… seems as if reviews are a bit far between… well might help once I have this baby finished and marked as complete. I hope.)
Chapter 4: RuebenRueben was sitting at their kitchen island, flipping his phone in his hand, contemplating what to do. It had been two days since the party, and he really wanted to reach out to Hope and see if she wanted to hang out. Yet he didn't want to be too forward, even if she did agree to see him again.
"Did you write the lass, or no?" Damien asked as he walked into the kitchen, he nodded to Rueben's phone.
"Nah," Rueben placed his phone on the counter, then rubbed his face in his hands, looking up at the ceiling he sighed, "not sure what I should write to her."
"You're over complicating things there mate." Damien nudged his shoulder. "Just write 'hey wanna hang out?'"
"Was that what you wrote to that girl who puked all over your shoes?" Rueben asked with a grin,
"Yup," Damien smirked and wiggled his eyebrows, "going out with her tomorrow."
"She's one of Hope's friends so don't screw it up," Rueben said with a frown, the short time he'd known Damien he learnt that the man was a bit of a player and womanizer.
"This one might be different," Damien shrugged and turned to find a soda in the fridge. "She was three sheets to the wind that night, but her friend Rose might have let it slip to me that Gloria wanted to talk to me. Rose gave me Gloria's phone number and we texted a bit these past few days." He opened the can and took a drink, sitting down next to Rueben.
"Wow," Rueben was indeed surprised, "who'd know that a pretty lass would want to talk to the prince of thieves' son."
"And she's a bloody princess," Damien said, shaking his head in wonder, "imagine that."
"Yeah."
"So if I can get a princess to go out with me, you bloody well can too." Damien pointed to Rueben's phone, "text her, mate!"
"I will," Rueben said, and picked up his phone, then flipped through his contacts and found Hope's number.
Rueben: Hi, Hope. Do you like ice cream?
He cringed a little, hoping it didn't come out too lame. Tapping his fingers impatiently on the counter top he kept his eyes on the phone. He didn't pay much attention to Damien, who mumbled something to himself and left the kitchen. When the phone finally pinged with a message notification he quickly opened up his phone.
Hope: I do :)
Rueben: Great, meet me at Frozen Magic, down by the lake.
Hope: When ;)
Rueben: *rolling eyes* eh today?
Hope: Sure, I'm free right now.
Rueben: Great, see you there.
Rueben stuck his head into their living room and said to Damien, "I'll be leaving now, gonna go get ice cream."
Damien turned around and looked at him, "now? Bloody hell it's not even noon!"
"Yeah, whatever," he waved his phone in the air, "Hope is meeting me there."
"Awe how sweet," Damien clasped his hands over his heart while batting his eyelashes at him.
"Fuck off." Rueben didn't even wait for his friend to reply, he skipped out of the house and headed for the lake.
Once there he was suddenly feeling nervous and edgy, he'd only spoken with the girl two times and one of them he'd still been groggy on pain meds. But he knew he wanted to speak with her again, get to know her more.
"Hey," Hope's voice came from behind him.
He whirled around and slid his hand through his long hair, now cursing the fact that he hadn't even tied it back as he usually did.
"Hi," he smiled and shifted nervously on his feet, rubbing his sweaty hands on his legs, why did this girl make him so flustered? Her blue eyes smiled as she took him in, clearly liking what she saw. He was just relieved that he'd worn a nice well fitted t-shirt and cargo shorts. Taking a look himself he noticed she had dressed in a casual tank top and denim shorts.
"So ice cream?" She asked and nodded to the boutique behind them.
"Yeah," he managed to say and followed her inside, trying not to ogle her backside.
Once inside he let Hope order first, and before she could pay he made his own order and said he would pay. Hope did try to object but he stood his ground and paid for their ice.
"Well, then next time I pay." Hope said firmly and followed him outside to find a table on the deck overlooking the lake.
He agreed and secretly liked the idea of a 'next time' with her. Sitting down opposite of her eating his ice he tried to come up with something to talk to her about. It's been far too long since he last went out with a girl.
Looking out on the large lake he said, "you like sailing?" When she looked at him with a knowing smile he added, "well I guess you do, your father is a…" He scratched behind his ear sheepishly.
"A pirate?" Hope asked with a smirk.
"Yeah," he shrugged, "sorry."
"It's okay," she smiled, "and yes I do like sailing, my dad taught me everything I know." He noticed how her eyes became brighter as she spoke of sailing and her father.
"My father was an explorer before he met my mother," Rueben waved his hand to the water, "so he's an avid sailor himself."
"Oh yeah?" Hope grinned, "Guess our fathers would have loads to talk about." She looked down at the table, "I mean if they would meet some day."
"I bet they would." Rueben could easily picture his father talking sailing and navigation with Hope's father. "It's been a while since we've been out to the sea, since my father took this new post at the Queen's castle time for sailing hasn't been limited." He shrugged and took a bite of his ice cream.
She grinned, "You could come with us one day… I mean if you want." She looked down at the table, fidgeting with the paper napkins laying there.
"That could be fun," He said a little hesitantly, not really sure a boat trip with her family was the best idea right now, he hardly knew her, yet.
Hope looked up at him and her smile faltered a little, "yeah that might be a bit awkward I guess. My family can be a bit bonkers." She shrugged and licked her ice, he tried not to stare too much as he noticed how she scooped up the ice with the tip of her tongue.
"I don't mind that," he smiled, "but I would like to get to know you first." When she looked at him in surprise he added, "I mean, I think you're nice, and…" he was about to say 'pretty', but he wasn't sure if she would be okay with that.
"You're nice too," she smiled and kept eating her ice cream, "and I want to get to know you too."
Rueben felt his pulse quicken as he kept looking at her, he had never felt like this with any girl before. It was a strange new feeling, yet he hoped they would become friends, and perhaps even more.
"So aside from sailing, what do you like?" He asked as he finished his ice cream.
"Oh I like reading, and being out in nature," she looked down at her hand not holding her ice, "and I spent an awful lot of time trying to control my magic." She sighed, shaking her head.
"Yeah, that could use some work," he joked and winked at her, making her blush a little, he decided he liked this.
"Shut up, I apologized already," She ran a frustrated hand through her long blond hair, "I really don't know what happened that day. I never just randomly knock people out like that, like ever. Only when I'm close to people."
"Ah, so it's happened more than that first time with your brother then," he clasped his hands under his chin, and with a grin he said, "do share."
"Bloody hell, you're being quite noisy," shaking her head she relented when he just kept looking at her, "okay there's been a few incidents but it's has been because someone freaked me out or well…" she rubbed her nose as if she tried to pluck up the courage to continue, "tried to kiss me."
Gasping in semi surprise he said, "wow, what happened?"
"I was 16 and it was my first date, sort of," she rolled her eyes, "When we got back home the bloke tried to kiss me, and I kinda wanted him to but before he even came close I might have burned his shoe laces."
Rueben tried to suppress a laugh but when she laughed herself he chuckled, "I bet that was fun."
"The poor bloke didn't speak to me for months after," shaking her head she slumped down in her seat, "and the tale was told throughout the school and for months after that no bloke wanted to speak with me." She flicked her fingernail over the chipped wood of the table, shrugging as if it didn't really matter. But Rueben could see she felt horrible by this story.
"I want to speak with you," he said with an honest smile and hoped she would know the truth to his words.
She looked up at him with a huge smile, "surprised you wanted to go out for ice cream since I knocked you out and caused you so much pain."
"I guess I like when a girl sweeps me off my feet," he shrugged.
She blushed a little at his words, "Thanks."
They fell into a companionable silence for a few moments, both enjoying the view and the fact they seemed to get along so well. In Rueben's mind things were progressing pretty well.
Sitting up in her seat she leaned her arms on the table and looked at him, "so what do you like to do?"
"Aside from playing football?" She nodded and he continued, "I love anything to do with nature. As you know my mother is Native American and her tribe lives with and alongside nature. So being outside, hiking is one of the things I do to unwind."
Hope nodded and said, "Yeah, I love being outside too." She tapped the table with her finger and added, "it's also a great place to practice my magic, Auntie Gina has this place out in the woods where we go to practise."
"Auntie Gina?"
"Yup," she smirked, "my half brother's adoptive mother."
"Uh, what?" Rueben said in confusion.
Hope laughed, "I have a pretty wacked up family tree, but in a sort of roundabout way I'm kinda connected to Queen Regina."
"You mean the Queen Regina who rules the United Realms?" Rueben was trying to wrap his mind around this fact.
"Hmm, and well me and my brother began calling her Auntie Gina when we were kids, and it kinda stuck." Hope shrugged as if it really wasn't that big of a deal.
"Damn," Rueben let out a low whistle, "I mean I knew of your parents and the kinda close connection to our Queen, but didn't know you were that close to her." Biting his lips he tried to let this idea settle inside him.
"Ya scared Rueben?" Hope said with a smirk.
"Nah," Rueben tried to shake off the strange notion of her close relationship with the Queen, "I'm not eating ice cream with the Queen."
"True," Hope nodded in agreement, "I'm not even capable of controlling my magic, so I'm not that scary."
"No you're not," Rueben said with a smile and leaned over the table and nudged her hand with his fingers, "I really enjoyed hanging out with you." When her blue eyes looked at him, he nearly lost his breath, and the air between them sort of crackled with something strange. Looking down at her hands he noticed how she squeezed her fingers, then loosened them again. This she repeated a few times.
"Are you okay?" He asked in concern.
"Yeah, it's just… you know my magic," she bit down her lips looking at him with worry, "it sort of went a bit crazy for a second."
"Oh," he tried to not look worried but he knew he failed when she dropped back in her seat and pulled her hands away from him.
"I'm sorry," she mumbled, wrapping her arms around her looking around nervously.
"Don't be," he said firmly, "I'm not scared of your magic," she looked down, he tilted his head trying to catch her eyes, "look at me Hope."
When she finally did look up he said, "I'm not scared, I'm sorry if I let you believe that, but honestly it doesn't scare me. I kinda felt something too."
"What?" Her eyes widened in surprise.
"Yeah, when our fingers touched for a second," he shrugged, "I'm not sure what it means, but it doesn't scare me. I really want to get to know you, Hope."
"Wow, really?"
He nodded and he could see how she relaxed a bit more, and he sighed in relief, he didn't want her to shy away from him.
"Yeah, I really do," he shifted nervously in his seat, "I wanted to ask you out some time."
"Like on a date?"
He nodded and held his breath, this could go either way, he only hoped she would say yes.
"I would love that." Her smile widened.
"Great, how about next weekend, like Friday?" Rueben suggested with hope written all over his face.
"I'm pretty sure that could work," she nodded, then her face fell, "I'm going home next weekend, it's my dad's birthday."
Rueben sighed but nodded in understanding, "we could go the weekend after?"
"That's like two weeks from now." Hope pouted and made Rueben smile, she looked cute when feeling down.
"Yeah, well I'll make it up to you and plan out the best date." Rueben promised with a wink. When her face teinted in a red hue he grinned.
"Where are we going?"
"I'll let you know on the day," He smirked, "just wear something fancy."
"Oh," her eyebrows rose up in surprise, then a smile formed on her red lips. "I will definitely need a new dress then."
Then she continued to try to prod for clues about where they would go, but Rueben held his lips closed. He honestly was still sort of plotting and planning where to go, so he wouldn't even be able to give anything away right now. But it was fun teasing her a little.
Hours later they parted and promised to keep in touch via text or maybe even meet up for lunch a few times, if their class schedule allowed it during the week. Rueben had a pretty good feeling inside as he walked back home, he enjoyed his time with Hope and he would spend the next couple of weeks making sure the date would be spectacular.