Author's Note: Sorry about the delay on this chapter. It was supposed to be released over 24 hours ago, BUT this week had been absolutely full of stuff to do. Three midterms, a huge ARTS 222 project (worth 1 and a half letter grades), and marching band. That's a lot. So I apologize for my tardiness, but you won't have to wait much longer! Here's chapter 8!
Days passed, and the day of the date arrived. As to be expected, I was nervous. Very nervous. I had never gone on a date before. Not in my time before, and definitely not since I got here.
Classes had just ended, and I was going to walk with Ruby back to the dorm, but Nora ended up snatching her before I could do anything.
Sighing in defeat, I walked back to the dorm alone. And there I waited until now. It's been about an hour and a half since I got back, and I've finished prepping for the date I've been waiting a lifetime and a half for. A simple outfit caught my eye in my closet. It's a simple blouse that hangs somewhat loosely on me with a not very noticeable pattern on it; more-so for texture than for actual appearance. I also decided that tonight I'd wear some of the pants that I had. Not jeans, but a sort of formal-ish set of pants. They have a sort of silver sheen to them when in the right light, and in the wrong light, they're a sort of matte black. Maybe dark gray. They're very form-fitting, and because of that, kind of uncomfortable. But this is for Ruby. I remind myself. Hair has been done in the normal fashion, and just a slight bit more makeup has been applied. So now I just wait. Waiting has to be one of the toughest thing anyone has to do. The anticipation and excitement in the beginning quickly turns to anxiety as time passes with nothing to do. I'm so incredibly nervous. How is she able to do this to me? To drive me crazy the way she does? Why have I given her that much power?
About twenty minutes pass before someone comes through the door: Yang. She's laughing and holding her scroll in her hand.
"You have GOT to see these pictures, Weiss! They're hilarious!" Yang approaches me and shows her scroll to me.
The first picture is Ruby on a bed, working on Crescent Rose and ignoring Nora, who seems to be showing Ruby a few outfit options. "I took this one at the beginning of the… experience. She was so nervous about it that she started working on her weapon to ease her nerves… but Nora wasn't having any of it." I chuckle to myself. Yeah, that sounds like Ruby.
Yang slides her finger across her scroll to show the next picture in her repertoire: Ruby is now reaching out towards Nora, who now has Crescent Rose and is running towards the other side of the room. This one also has Pyrrha in it. She's in the corner, appearing to be done with the whole ordeal. I can't help but start giggling.
"This," Yang starts, "is Ruby trying to put on makeup herself." She once again slides her finger across the screen. Ruby is smiling sheepishly. Her lipstick is applied sloppily, and her attempt at eyeshadow and eyeliner nearly have Yang rolling on the floor. I can teach her how to do that better a little later on.
"But luckily," she says in between short laughs. "Pyrrha and Nora were able to fix it before it got too out of hand." And with that, she closes her scroll and looks at me, wiping a tear out of her eye beforehand. I look back up at her expectantly. "What? You think I'm going to show you what they did? You're going to have to wait to see for yourself, princess." I huff in response.
"Fine, Yang. I'll wait another HOUR before Ruby is ready. Only then will I be able to see her. You happy?" I ask facetiously.
"I am. But you're not," she teases, sticking out her tongue. I return the gesture in kind. Yang walks out of the room, laughing to herself, but not before turning back around to look at me. "You look nice, Weiss. She's going to love it." I blush furiously and look away.
"Don't mind her, Weiss. She's as nervous as you are. From what she's told me, this is Ruby's first date," Blake says from her bed. In all honesty, she's been so quiet that I've forgotten she's in here with me. But the words strangely do give me some solace.
"Thank you, Blake. And yes, that's what Ruby told me. It's my first one too…" a hand drops onto my shoulder. I look up to see Blake standing behind me.
"It's going to be great. You haven't heard how she talks about you when you're not around. Everything will be great, Weiss." The words calm me down more than I anticipated. I bend over forward and breathe deeply, easing myself out of the anxiety that's been forming deep in the pit of my stomach since I finished getting ready. I look back up to Blake again.
"Thank you, Blake," I say in between deep breaths.
"You're more than welcome, Weiss." She pulls me into a hug and sets me back down on the chair that I'm in.
"Now, about her talking about me when nobody is around… What does she say about me?" I look at Blake expectantly. She smirks and turns around, now facing away from me.
"I guess you'll have to ask her yourself," She chuckles and climbs into her bed and starts reading, a sly smile on her face.
The rest of the hour passes slowly, with me checking my scroll almost every two minutes it seems. Finally, the time to go and get Ruby approaches. About five minutes 'til, I get up from the desk and head towards team JNPR's room. Yang meets me once again. Another wave of nervousness hits me as I approach.
What is she going to say? She doesn't LOOK mad. She doesn't look anything right now, actually. It's a neutral expression. And I don't know what that means… I'm scared.
"Now, I don't think I HAVE to say this, but I'm going to anyway. Take care of my sister tonight. Make her happy. She comes back sad? I punch your face in. She comes back hurt? I punch your face in. She comes back and asks me to punch your face in?"
"I get it, I get it. You'll punch my face in." I sigh. She's still incredibly overbearing with her protectiveness. While I understand why, it still slightly irritating. But only slightly. And that's only because I'm afraid to say very irritating in fear that she'll end me.
"Nope. I'll ask her why. And THEN I'll punch your face in. Okay?" She says with a smile. A very normal smile. Which is why I'm so freaked out by it.
"O-okay…" I agree. I have no intention of hurting Ruby, but the threat along with how jubilant she was when saying it sent a chill down my spine.
"Good! Now, get in there and see your date!" Yang opens the door and pushes me in. I turn around to give her a stern talking to, but before I can say anything, the door is shut behind me. Shaking my head, I turn around and stop in my tracks. Before me stands Ruby. And she looks… well, to say she looks beautiful would be the understatement of the year.
She's mesmerizing.
"Hey, Weiss," Ruby says a little hesitantly. I can't speak in response to the avatar of beauty standing in front of me. She looked absolutely amazing. It's refreshing to see Ruby do something with her hair besides just let it be there; and something she had done in these three hours. She had BANGS. And my Dust, she looks great with them. Her hair isn't the only thing that catches my attention. She's got on a very cute red t-shirt that fits more than just her personality. And man, does it look good on her. Accompanying that, she's got a short-ish skirt that ends about halfway down her thigh. Realizing exactly how short the skirt is, I avert my eyes before anything else happens. I blush, and many thoughts about wishing the skirt ended sooner begin to fill my head. I shake my head slightly to try and get those thoughts out of my head.
I guess what the Yang from my time said about the increase in… hormones… was true, because I'm definitely feeling something for Ruby right now. Her face doesn't look nearly as… comical as it did earlier in Yang's picture. It looks good. Very good. The amount of makeup applied is very minimalistic. Looking at it, it just seems like some foundation, lipstick, and a bit of eyeliner. But she looks great. Her eyes seem to have more life in them. She looks more mature. Beautiful. Her lips even look a bit plumper because of the lipstick. She looks absolutely breathtaking.
"I think that means she likes it. Score! Good job us!" Nora says after my almost minute of silence, giving Pyrrha a high-five.
"Weiss, are you okay?" Ruby asks, pretending to ignore Nora's statement even though it's obvious she heard it due to the flush that appears on her cheeks afterwards.
"Y-yeah, I'm f-fine," I finally bring myself to say something instead of just staring at her and blushing like mad. "You look… You look great, Ruby." Ruby smiles. "Thank you! You look really good too!"
"Alright you crazy kids! Get out there and have a good night! But not too good of a night!" Nora says while beaming.
"Thanks, Nora!" Ruby smiles warmly and walks past me to the door. A fragrance permeates my nostrils as she does this, the smell a now apparent feature of her process of getting ready that wasn't noticeable until she had moved closer.
The spring-like floral aroma that emanates from my date is strong, but not overpowering in the sense of a prepubescent teenage boy who had just discovered cologne for the first time. But in an easily noticeable way. And that, in combination with who she is and how I feel about her, made it difficult to not push her up against the wall and kiss her senseless. I can feel my face heat up at the need that flushes through me.
Weiss, you need to calm down. This whole increase to these desires thing really needs to stop. It's hard to concentrate when all I want to do is to make her mine.
I clear my throat and shake my head to get me back into the reality that is now, here in team JNPR's dorm with Ruby. We bid them all farewell and head out the door. Yang is no longer standing out in the hallway.
"Let's go tell Yang and Blake goodbye." Ruby says walking over to our dorm room. She opens it before shouting , "Hey, we're leaving!" She turns back to look at me.
"Bye, Ruby! Have fun on your date," Yang shouts from the other side of the door. "And Weiss, remember what we talked about. Okay?"
I gulp. "O-okay." I say.
"Bye, guys. Have fun," Blake says, sounding distracted. Probably by a book.
Ruby looks and me and smiles. "So, Weiss. Where are you taking me on this date?"
I remembered seeing something recently about a movie coming out: the movie adaptation of the book about the man with two souls that Blake was reading for a while. Blake got Ruby into the book, and now that's what she's been reading. She just recently finished it before our trip to the ice rink and the cafe. I had decided after I asked her out that this would be a good date for us since she had admitted that she'd be willing to watch it, granted not the most excited because of her fear of ruining the book. That, and because she was obsessed with this movie when it came out before. We had gone and seen it as a team back in my own reality, and she had raved about it for a few days at least. That's where we're going tonight.
I look back at Ruby with a smirk.
"It's a surprise."