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

Cutting her eyes towards the chuckling blond in a glare, Weiss found that her jaw had indeed dropped. Turning her eyes back towards the parking lot, Weiss couldn't help but be slightly awestruck at the girl walking towards the diner. She no longer looked like the cute girl Weiss had become infatuated with during her time at the Cresent Rose. Dressed in dark blue jeans with a red and black plaid shirt and black cowboy boots, she instead appeared more like she belonged on the front of a rock magazine. Lucky for Weiss, the brunette appeared to have her attention focused mostly on the cell phone in her hand rather than in front of her so she was able to avert her gaze before Ruby walked in the door.

With every clack of the other girl's boot heels, Weiss became slightly more panicked and realized she had absolutely no idea what to even say to the other girl. At no point during any of her planning of this trip back had she given even the slightest bit of consideration to dealing with seeing Ruby again. What was she supposed to say? 'Hey sorry for leaving for 8 years without any meaningful contact but I'm back now!'

Her nerves nearly exploded when the seat beside hers groaned announcing Ruby's arrival. "Sup Rubes, you hungry?" Yang asked, standing to head into the kitchen. From the corner of her eye, Weiss saw Ruby shake her head and run a hand through her hair as she leaned backwards in her chair. "No, just a coffee. My usual way please," muttered the brunette

Yang nodded her head and wordlessly made her way over to the coffee pots beside the window to the kitchen. "Long run?" Blake asked, taking a sip of her own drink that had sat untouched through most of the previous conversation. "Not really…just a long week," Ruby mumbled, digging a white and gold box out of the pocket of her shirt. It was only after she opened it and retrieved a small white cylinder followed by a black lighter that Weiss realized what the object was.

"MUST you do that here?" Yang asked as she dropped the mug full of coffee in front of the brunette, her jaw tense from barely contained annoyance. Ruby just shrugged in response as she lit the end of the cigarette and took a drag from it, "No sign saying I can't and other patrons are allowed to." Yang looked like she wanted to argue but instead just shook her head slightly and decided against it. Blake decided to intervene instead and asked, "What's been going on this week?"

Ruby took another draw and exhaled before reaching for her mug, taking a long swig and leaning back in her chair before responding. "Long load times, short delivery windows, high diesel prices…the usual really. Oh, and pretty sure I'm gonna need to replace my injectors," the girl replied, "she's lost a lot of power, smokes up a storm when I push it too hard, and there's fuel in the oil." "So I guess you'll be home this weekend?" the black haired girl questioned. "Yeah, can't risk running it too much the way it is. Still have to deliver this load though, don't wanna disappoint my customer after all." Ruby answered, spitting the last part with as much sarcasm as could possibly be fit into it.

Yand and Blake hadn't been kidding….Ruby really had changed. She looked like she had aged well beyond her years in the time Weiss had been gone, not to mention the shift in her demeanor. She seemed snarkier and almost jaded, completely opposite of the cheerful, happy girl that Weiss had known. The whitehaired girl continued listening as the other girls conversed before chiming of the door bell signaled the arrival of another customer. Once the black and yellow duo walked off with a promise to try and hurry back, the red and white pair sat in awkward silence. Weiss wasn't sure exactly what to say and for her part, Ruby seemed content to simply smoke and drink her coffee in silence.

"H-Hey Ruby," the whitehaired girl stuttered out, mentally facepalming from the embarrassment of her nervousness. Ruby paused for a moment in the middle of bringing her mug to her lips before continuing her motion and setting the cup back down onto the counter top. "Hello Wiess," came the simple, if not curt, response.

"Uh, how have you been?"

"…Fine I guess."

"Oh...Well that's good."

"Uh huh."

"So how about this weather huh?"

"The weath-….look, is there some point to all this?" asked Ruby, turning to the other woman with a look of annoyed confusion. "I was just trying to make small talk," replied Weiss in a small voice, feeling a bit taken aback at the annoyance in Ruby's voice. "Well if you don't mind, I'd prefer to finish my drink in peace before I leave," the brunette replied, turning back to face forward and taking another sip. "I'm sorry, I just thought maybe-" Weiss started to say before she was interrupted by Ruby standing up and slapping a 5 dollar bill on the counter that she had dug out of her pant's pocket. "Do me a favor and tell my sister I said to keep the change and thanks for the coffee but I'm afraid I need to get back on the road," the brunette said sternly as she reached over and snuffed out what was left of her cigarette in the ash tray that was sitting further back on the counter top.

"Ruby, wait!" the whitehaired girl said as she tried to grab Ruby's sleeve only to have the brunette snatch her arm away and turn towards the door. "It's been nice seeing you Weiss, see you in another 8 years yeah?" the girl shot over her shoulder as she made her way outside. "Yikes….that could've gone better," muttered Yang, wiping her hands on a towel as she approached. Weiss felt herself deflate a bit as she watched the maroon Peterbilt rolled out of the parking lot on its way back out to the interstate.

Things really have changed haven't they?