So this is technically a sequel to Of Lug Nuts and Loving Dolts, but you don't have to have read the original to keep up. The original story isn't really meant to be a very serious story, more an outlet for me to get back into writing and tell some of the funny stories from my life on the road. This one is gonna be a bit more serious and focuses more on Ruby and Weiss' relationship and that good ole angst that I'm so fond of writing.

The Cresent Rose Truckstop. It'd been 8 years since Weiss had stepped foot in the old building. And somehow the place hadn't changed a bit. The paint was still cracking on the building's exterior, the lighted sign still had a few letters that didn't glow, and the low rumbling of the few trucks in the dirt parking lot still permeated the air. If it had been like a time capsule back when she was a teenager forced to get a job at the only joint that would hire a prissy heiress with zero work experience and just as much experience with the real world, it most certainly seemed like one now.

In contrast to the dilapidated structure, the young woman in front of it looked like anything but a time capsule. Beautiful looks put together with the best clothing money could buy made her look out of place, which was not helped by the brand new, stark white Mercedes she had driven up in. Weiss sighed as she reflected on her choice of attire and her vehicle. She really had tried to be less ostentatious, truly she had. Unfortunately, she had missed that mark by quite a ways, though she guessed it was to be expected from someone who had basically never owned anything that wasn't name brand.

Taking a deep breath to ready herself, she stilled her nerves and cleared the nagging thoughts from her head as she decided it was high time to finally make her way into the building and confront the meet up that was a long time coming. 'Come on Weiss, they're the same people they were when you left. Hell they INVITED you here for God's sake' Weiss thought to herself, trying her level best to give a good pep talk. She was literally the CEO of a multi-billion dollar corporation and yet here she was about to have a nervous breakdown just trying make her feet carry her through a door that, had it not been for the multiple inches of dust, would be see through. 'Maybe this was a mistake, I should just leave. Yeah, I can just get in my car and leave and no one would even know I was he-….Was that the door bell?' Weiss thought to herself.

"Ice Queen! You're here!" came booming voice that could only belong to the single largest pain in the white-haired girl's neck, Yang Xiao Long. It was at this moment that Weiss registered that somehow amid her thoughts of fleeing, her feet had finally decided to carry her through the doorway she had been standing in front of. 'How wonderful' Weiss thought, mentally slapping her own forehead. Yang was standing behind the counter top that served as both a bar for patrons to eat at and a check out area for those who had chosen instead to simply grab a drink from the coolers along the wall. The blonde quickly dropped the towel and glass she had been cleaning in favor of rushing to grab Weiss in a bear hug.

"Yeah Weiss, we were starting to wonder if you'd actually show. Granted that was before you showed up and stood in the doorway for 5 solid minutes," teased the smirking Blake Belladonna, who was leaning against the bar where her girlfriend had previously been cleaning. Weiss rolled her eyes and made her way over to receive a hug from Blake once Yang finally decided to stop trying to squeeze her in half. Despite her show of annoyance with the two…she really had missed them. She had been reconnecting with the pair for awhile now over text, but words on a screen couldn't really compare to actually being in the same room with someone and being able to see them face to face.

"So you mean to tell me you seriously scared this dude so bad he pissed himself?" chortled Yang, finding great amusement in the story that Weiss had been telling the yellow and black pair. They had spent the better part of two hours catching up on stories that hadn't been told of her time as the new CEO of her family's company. "Yes and from what I hear he, he still refuses to even come near my office. Closest he'll get is my receptionist's desk and even then he looks like he's ready to sprint at the slightest noise," chuckled the white haired woman.

"Oh man that's good, that's good stuff Ice Queen," Yang continued to chuckle, wiping away a tear from her eyes. Once she had finally recomposed herself as much as was possible for the blonde, Blake reached over and placed her hand on Yang's before whispering to her, "I think it's time we tell her." Weiss looked between the two apprehensively. It's time to tell her? Tell her what exactly? 'Oh God….they're gonna ask for my kidney aren't they? I'm too young to give up a kidney!' the white haired girl thought, panicking internally. "Yo! Weiss! You still with us?" called out Yang, snapping her fingers in front of said girl's face. Startling a little bit, Weiss quickly nodded and composed herself while readying herself for the coming news.

"We're getting married."

"…Huh?" was the most eloquent response Weiss could muster. She hadn't even known that the pair had gotten engaged, much less that they were already getting married. "Yeah, sorry we hadn't told you," Yang said sheepishly, "I promise we were, it just sorta got….missed." "Missed? That's kind of a big thing to 'miss' don't you think?" questioned Weiss, crossing her arms and leaning back in her chair. "In fairness, we got engaged a long time ago. We just now have been actually able to plan the wedding," Blake interjected. "How long ago?" questioned Weiss, looking down at her lap. "….about 5 years ago," came the quiet response from Blake.

5 years. Weiss supposed that made sense that she wouldn't know then. By that point, she had all but become a stranger to the girls. She was 'busy' with her studies, trying so hard to earn the approval of her father. God, she really had been a shitty friend. "Ah….that makes sense then," the white haired girl finally said, verbalizing a portion of her internal thoughts. "Hey, don't do that," Yang said sternly, "I know what's going on in that head of yours Ice Queen. It's in the past now, you're here and that's what matters." Blake nodded her head in agreement and reached out to squeeze Weiss' hand, choosing to remain quiet but Weiss got the message all the same. The two weren't going to put up with her self-depreciating bullshit, though there was one question on her mind.

"Does Ruby share those sentiments?" she quietly asked. And with that, she had managed to suck every bit of oxygen out of the general area they had been sitting in. Even amongst the chatter of the few patrons the building had amassed in the past couple hours, it seemed to get deathly quiet for the 3 sitting at the end of the bar…almost as if they had suddenly cut themselves from the rest of the room. Weiss had finally addressed the elephant in the room that had so tactfully been avoided for the entirety of the earlier conversation and now it felt like that elephant had chosen to sit on her chest. Blake cast her eyes to the wall across the room, refusing to look at her while Yang scratched the back of her head and stared at the bar top instead of at Weiss.

"Honestly, I don't know. She's my little sister and I should know what goes on in her head but I don't anymore," Yang sighed, running the hand that had been scratching her down her face and rubbing her eyes in a tired fashion, "Ruby…she isn't how you probably remember Weiss, she's changed a lot. Some of it for the better….some of it not." Changed? That wasn't something that sounded good from how Yang had said it, even despite her words claiming that some of it was. Her tone suggested that the blond wasn't entirely thrilled with these "changes". "Care to elaborate on what changes you mean?" Weiss questioned. Yang opened her mouth before something seemed to catch her eye in the window causing her to close it again. "Looks like you'll get to see for yourself," responded Blake, having obviously seen the same thing as Yang and nodded her head towards the parking lot, causing Weiss to turn look out the windows in the same direction that the other two girls were looking.

Immediately she knew what the girls were looking at, her eyes being drawn to a lone truck that had just entered the parking lot and was making its way around the fuel island. It was a long nose Peterbilt 379, much like a certain truck she had become accustomed to seeing during her time working at the diner, but at the same time much different. It was a deep crimson in color that almost resembled a pool of blood and shined in the afternoon sunlight with much of the light reflecting off the abundance of chrome. There was no mistaking who the driver was, even without looking at the name on the door.

The long red truck slowed to a gentle stop once it exited the fuel islands with a hiss of air and a slight shudder as the engine was turned off. Weiss watched as the door was swung open and the cab shook as the driver climbed down and slammed the door behind them. This was it, she was finally gonna come face to face with someone that she had been avoiding for 8 whole years, and she couldn't help but feel her breath catch in her throat from the nerves that she just couldn't seem to control. It felt like an eternity waiting for Ruby to round the long hood of the Peterbilt as every second seemed to stretch out over a lifetime. And then suddenly….there she was.

Wowza

"Weiss, close your mouth, you're gonna catch flies."

Well, there it is. I said in the last update to Of Lug Nuts and Loving Dolts that I'd be publishing this story and now I'm finally making good on that. The original idea for this came from reading The Foxtrot by SimplyKorra (an amazing story that those who haven't read it should go check out). This won't follow the same story line obviously, but it does draw inspiration from that story.

For anyone interested, the name of this story is inspired by a line from Last of the Cowboys by Tony Justice. The original is "black smoke and white lines" and of course I had to adapt that into a Whiterose pun cause I can't resist a good pun.