Chapter 18
Despite the rain during the evening, the next morning dawned bright and sunny. At least as far as Ruby could tell before she covered her head with her sheet to block out the blinding light coming from her window.
"Come on, birthday girl!" Izzy called out in a sing-song voice from said window, where she had thrown open the curtains.
"I'm going to start locking the connecting door between our rooms," Ruby grumped, keeping her head covered.
The bed bounced as her friend plopped down on it and grabbed the sheet in an attempt to pull it away.
"Ruby! Get up! We've got things to do, people to see."
She made a feeble attempt at keeping the sheet in place, but Izzy prevailed, dragging it off her and flinging it away.
"Come on! Let me sleep in on my day," she moaned.
"It's past ten already, lazy butt!"
"Huh?" she blinked at the clock. "Gracious! How'd I sleep so late?" She sat up and stretched.
Izzy took the opportunity to grab her hand as start to drag her out of the bed, "get up! You need to shower before we go."
"Wait," she still wasn't completely alert. "Go where? There's nowhere to go here."
"It's a surprise," her friend wagged her eyebrows and looked smug. "Now get going."
Ruby allowed herself to be pulled up and shoved towards the bathroom, "okay, okay. Quit with the shoving."
"You have thirty minutes then I'm coming in after you."
Ruby shut the door in Izzy's face instead of replying. She loved the woman to death. They had been friends for over five years, but sometimes she was just a little annoying. Especially when she was excited.
Stripping off the tee-shirt she slept in and out of her panties, she turned on the shower and got in, hoping this wasn't going to be one of those occasions.
While Ruby was in the shower, Izzy frantically dug through her friend's bag. Last night after dinner, when Ruby didn't show interest in the movie she and a few others were watching and went to bed instead, Izzy had paid a visit to the hanger.
Outside the lab door, she had reached into her purse and keyed in the start command for the app on her secret phone. Pretending to knock on the door and call out for Dr. Banner, who she had already observed leaving the building, she stalled for the few moments it took for the app to scan for the device she had planted on Ruby's trophy and download the data on it.
Back in her room, she pulled out the phone and scanned the data, only to curse and throw the phone down on her bed in disgust. The only sound that came through on the device was the muffled thumping of music and the screen showed nothing but darkness. She fumed about her failure, then calmed down.
Ruby was scattered-brained sometimes. Maybe she had never taken the trophy out of her bag and had left it in a drawer all day. That was an entire day of intel lost, but it could be easily remedied.
"Fuck!" the damn trophy wasn't in the bag. What had Ruby done with it?
Izzy did a quick one-over of Ruby's room, but the trophy wasn't to be found. Now she was going to have to find a way to subtly ask Ruby about it.
No worries, she had all day to figure it out.
When Ruby emerged from her bathroom twenty minutes later, she found Izzy had laid out an outfit for her on the bed with a note to come out to the common area when she was dressed. Instead of jeans and a tee-shirt, a simple wrap dress in a lovely print was laid out along with a pair of strappy sandals. While it wasn't something she would have ever chose if left to her own devices, she had to admit it was comfortable and looked good on her. The sandals were perfect; they looked good, were comfortable, and didn't pose a threat to life and limb because they were flats. There was even a cute purse with a long strap to go with it.
She loved it when Izzy dressed her and forgave the other woman for waking her up and rushing her.
Going out to the common area, she found Izzy with three other women. Ruby vaguely remember meeting one of them, but the other two were strangers to her.
"Ruby," Izzy bounced up and came over to her. "This is Mae and Laura, and you've already met Callie."
"Hi," Ruby greeted the trio.
All four women were dressed similarly to her, comfortable but stylish.
"Um, Izzy, are you going to tell me what's going on?"
"We're having a girls' day!" she bounced up and down in place with excitement.
Ruby frowned, "how…?"
"I talked Fury into letting us go into town," Izzy grinned. "He agreed as long as we took an agent along with us. That's Laura. Mae and Callie are trainees, but I invited them too. The more the merrier!"
The closest city was large enough to boast a respectable shopping area in the downtown area and a cluster of big-box stores further out. Izzy directed the group to the more eclectic downtown shopping district to start their girls' day out. As the women rifled through racks of clothes, they shared the latest gossip. Feeling oddly isolated, Ruby listened to them chatter about people she didn't know as she drifted around the store.
Pulling a peach blouse from a rack, she held it up in front of a mirror. It was soft and feminine with the pale color and flowing lines.
"That color bleached you out," one of the women, Mae, said coming up beside her. "You should go for something more vibrant, like a coral."
"It's just so cute, though."
"If looking like a doll is the look you're going for."
"What do you mean?" she frowned, unwilling to give up the blouse.
"If you're going after the dashing Dr. Banner, you might want to consider something a little more sophisticated," Mae smiled knowingly while shuffling through another rack of clothes.
"Who says I'm going after B…Dr. Banner?" her cheeks started burning.
Mae shrugged, "well, you've been at the campus for two days and you haven't made an attempt to get to know anyone else. You've spent all your time locked up in a lab with him. People are talking."
Ruby snorted, "that's ridiculous. I'm here for a project not to socialize. No offense."
"None taken," the other woman smiled. "But you're blushing."
"I'm blonde," she said a little defensively. "It's kind of a thing."
"So, you're not interested in the good doctor?"
"Of course not. Our relationship is strictly professional," Ruby asserted. Oh, what a lie, she thought.
"Good."
"What?"
"Well, I'd hate to introduce you to a couple of guys if you are already taken." Mae turned and held out a blouse, "here, try this one on instead."
Ruby stared after her, stunned, before turning her attention to the garment in her hands. It was a deep coral with a daring neckline and a fitted waist, something she would never have picked out for herself. Looking around for Izzy to get her opinion, she spied her friend on the other side of the store having a conversation with a woman Ruby didn't recognize. That was just like Izzy, she thought, she'd talk to anyone, stranger or not.
"Oh, you found a lovely top," another voice cooed from behind her. "Would you like to try it on?"
Turning she nodded at the salesperson, "yes, please."
What the heck, she might as well give it a try.
Changing into the shirt, she surveyed herself in the mirror. It did look good on her, adding a bit more color to her face and making the most of her curves without being too revealing. While she was in the dressing room, the woman brought two more shirts that she thought Ruby would like, both in vibrant colors and fitted like the coral blouse. She dutifully tried them on also and liked the deep blue one enough to keep it along with the coral one.
Coming out of the dressing room, she almost ran into Izzy carrying in an armload of clothes.
"Taking this shopping seriously, huh?" she asked her friend.
"Can you blame me?" Izzy huffed. "I'm not going to wear black every day while we're here."
"I see that."
"Oh, you found something?"
"Yeah, a couple of blouses," Ruby held up the two articles.
"Wow," Izzy whistled. "Tell me you picked those out on your own."
"You know better than that," Ruby blushed again. "Mae picked out this one and the salesperson picked out this other one."
"Cool. Are you through with your room?"
"Yeah, go ahead."
Ruby sat outside the room while Izzy tried on the stack of clothing, laughing at her friend's comments and admiring her choices. Once she had tried on everything, the two joined the other women checking out and headed for the next store.
Three hours later, an exhausted Ruby was done with shopping. Izzy and the others had coaxed her into trying on more clothes than she would have if she had been on her own. When they were done, she had bought several more items including a cocktail dress and a bikini. Laden down with their bags, the five women returned to their vehicle to relieve themselves of their burdens.
If Ruby thought the girls' day out was over, she was disappointed when Izzy led them away from the parking structure and back to the street.
"Now for the fun part of the day!" Izzy announced with a smug look.
She had stopped in front of a day spa. The other women squealed with excitement and even Ruby perked up. A massage would be divine.
When they finally returned to the compound, the five had been thoroughly massaged and pampered. Ruby wanted to go back to her room, curl up with a book and just relax, but Izzy quickly squashed those plans.
"Party?" Ruby frowned, "what party?"
"Really, Ruby?" Izzy rolled her eyes and heaved a dramatic sigh. "Your birthday part, of course."
"No!" she groaned. "Tell me you're kidding."
Izzy put her hands on her hips, "no, I'm not. And don't give me that look. You just went through a very traumatic ordeal and now you're thousands of miles away from home surrounded by people close to your own age. A party is just what you need."
"No, it isn't," she insisted. "How can you understand me in so many ways and still completely miss the mark on this? I don't like parties. I don't know how to mingle and make small talk. I especially don't like parties where I am the guest of honor," her voice rose until it was shrill.
Izzy crossed the room and sank down onto the couch, pulling Ruby with her.
"I do know you," she wrapped an arm around Ruby's shoulders and pulled her close. "I also know that you are lonely a lot of the time. You need to make more friends. Maybe find a boyfriend."
"I'm not lonely," Ruby protested. "I've got you."
Izzy turned her so they were face to face, "I'm not there all the time for you, sweetie, and you know it. You need more than just me in your life. Besides," she smiled, "this isn't like college. This place is teaming with hot, fit guys that totally dig smart chicks. You might actually find someone that you can have intellectual conversations with."
Ruby wanted to tell her that she already found someone just like that, but now she wasn't so sure. Maybe everything that happened out in Colorado was just the heat of the moment kind of thing and Bruce was regretting doing it.
"Come on," Izzy broke into her thoughts. "Look, I will stick by your side like glue. I promise I won't leave you alone to fend for yourself."
Ruby knew how promises like these usually went. Izzy would stay by her side for about thirty minutes before flittering off to get a drink or say a quick hello, then she wouldn't come back. But she also knew her friend didn't do it with any malice. Izzy was just such an outgoing, energetic person that she couldn't stay in one place for very long. More than once Ruby had wondered how the two of them had become such good friends.
They had met almost four years ago while attended a class that she couldn't do online, Izzy had literally run into her on her bicycle while dashing from one class to another. Terrified that she had injured Ruby, the other woman had insisted on calling an ambulance and had rode with her to the hospital. While they waited in the emergency room, the two had hit it off, despite having such dissimilar personalities. Maybe, Ruby thought, it was because she was do desperately lonely that she was willing to make some major concessions. No matter, though, having Izzy as a friend was a breath of much needed fresh air and pulled her out of the slump that followed her mother's death.
"Okay, okay," she gave in. "I know better than to argue with you." And maybe Bruce would make an appearance.
"Of course, you do," Izzy gave her a quick hug before hopping up. "Let's get you ready, then!"
