Special Thanks

Xlyra from AO3 helped with storyline development and was one of the people

who helped inspire this story! Thank you so much for the help!

Mikotizini from FF.N helped with the editing of the final draft for chapter 1 and was the other

person whose work inspired me! Thank you as well!

Sky has helped with editing and proofreading the final draft of this chapter!

(Sky is not a fanfiction author, but is an amazing editor!

Make sure to give this great person some extra love!)

Give their works a look! They are truly amazing!

A Painting in the Park

Chapter 8

Weiss' phone buzzed in her pocket, causing her to smile. Only two people ever texted her on her personal phone, and one of them texted much more often than the other. That would always lead her to believe that it was that person who caused the buzzing in her usually silent and still pockets. She quickly pulled it out and checked her messages and was once more delighted by who it was.

'So we're still good for dinner tonight, right?' Ruby asked through text. After her run-in with her old… friend… she had only been able to wait a few hours before her concern ended up emerging and building up. She hadn't lasted very long after the nervous pacing had started and before quickly she was asking Blake for Ruby's number.

After squeezing the number out of her somewhat reluctant-to-comply, friend, she quickly asked the artist if the emergency was as dire as it had sounded. She didn't get a reply for a few more hours, but eventually, a reply had come through. Ruby had told her that everything had turned out fine, but she might end up being arrested for strangling her uncle one of these days.

Weiss was initially worried about that comment but that worry quickly became one of amusement when she realized that the other girl was joking around. After that, they started talking about other, more mundane things. The days had passed by rather quickly since then, which caught her off guard with how unexpectedly it happened.

But now it was the weekend, and apparently, the emergency with Ruby's uncle hadn't changed the girls' decision to treat her to dinner. Weiss quickly typed out an affirmative response in her message before sending it and returning the phone to her pocket. If she was going to dinner with Ruby then she should pick out an outfit.

Weiss hummed a light and happy tune as she looked through her closet. She wasn't going to lie, she was very excited about tonight. After all, it had been a long time since she had gone out and gotten dinner with anyone other than Blake. At least not as a friend that is. She'd gone on a few dates, had a few business dinners, and had done a few other things of the such. But the only friend she ever ate with had been Blake.

Her humming died down a bit at the thought of Blake. They hadn't really seen much of each other as of late and it was actually kind of sad. They used to spend quite a bit of time together but ever since Yang came along Blake has been stopping by a lot less frequently. But thankfully she had Ruby now! So while those two are out doing things that she, hopefully, never heard about, the two of them could get to know each other.

Weiss' smile was back in full force as she pulled out an outfit that she believed would work well for dinner. It was a simple yet nice white skirt with blue accents. There was a matching top to go with it and a pair of light blue leggings and shoes to complete the outfit. She inspected the outfit for a bit before deciding that it would look nice enough to impress Ruby, but not so formal as to make the girl uncomfortable should she decide not to dress up. And it wouldn't make her uncomfortable if the same thing were to occur.

She wasn't quite sure why she wanted to impress Ruby, but she just filed that thought away for now. She would think about it later and would return to what she had been working on since she still had a quite a few hours until she had to get ready. Now, what was it that she was working on beforehand? Editing right? Well, if not, then she certainly did need to work on it anyways. Although, the fact that she couldn't remember what she had been doing before Ruby had texted her worried her a bit and her face started to reflect that.

Her phone buzzed again, making whatever it was she had been worrying about dissipate as a smile formed on her lips once more. She pulled it out to see that it was indeed Ruby, who was happily going on about their dinner plans. She quickly glanced at what she had been editing. It had taken absolutely no time at all for her to decide that editing wasn't what she'd spend the next few hours doing.

Weiss walked to her living room and sat on the couch she had before responding to a certain… friend. A friend that she couldn't wait to see. Weiss hesitated a bit. They hadn't really known each other for very long, and Weiss specifically didn't have a ton of friends. So she wondered… was it too early to call Ruby a friend? She was nervous about tonight. But she was also sure that they were friends. Or at least she was sure, as long as she didn't start second-guessing herself.

Ruby was leaning over her little workbench. She had a chair she could use or even a stool, but she always ended up standing while she worked. She worked with the delicate piece of art with deft hands, making small changes at a time. The piece she worked on was a rose, one that was meant to go in a hanging garden. She didn't have one, but maybe she could sell it… although it would be a shame to sell something like this.

Ruby set the flower down and leaned back, blowing her hair out from in front of her eyes as she sat down. She pulled up the rose petal that hung from around her neck and gave off a small smile at the sight of it before her mind started to wander. Eventually, she began to think about what had happened on Monday.

There was that whole thing with Qrow and all the worry and stress that had gone with that. Although, she had also spent some time with Weiss a bit before everything had taken a turn for the worse. If she remembered correctly, they had planned to go to a dinner together this weekend… which was only how long away now? Ruby quickly grabbed her phone to look at the date. Today. The weekend was today.

Ruby quickly pulled up Weiss' contact information and hesitantly asked if they were still planning on going through with dinner. She hadn't really told Weiss what had happened after she left the park and she kinda wanted to talk to her in person about it. She had a smile on her face that put the sun to shame when she read Weiss' response.

'I would greatly enjoy being able to attend a lunch with you, Ruby.'

Weiss had even put a little smiley face at the end of her text. It was the first emoji she had seen the other girl use and it did wonders for her already high level of happiness. She walked as quickly as she could to her room. She couldn't go too fast or Yang would yell at her about running in the house. Which sucked, because walking was so slow sometimes.

After pulling out her black and red skirt and corset, Ruby worked on her reply to Weiss. It took a few minutes but eventually, she had a response that didn't seem too… weird. Or at least she hoped it didn't. Sometimes she couldn't tell. But Yang said it was all part of her charm. She started to smile at that before sitting down at her workbench again. Her smile only grew when she got another response from Weiss.

She pulled out her phone and looked at it for a bit. Then she looked at her projects. She sighed and stood up again with her phone, not actually bothered in the least. She wouldn't get any work done for now, but there were still a few hours left until dinner. And thankfully, she had the perfect plan on how to spend it.

Ruby grinned happily as she laid on the couch staring up at her phone. It might not seem like the best plan to spend her day, but it certainly felt like it was the best plan. She was very excited and very nervous to see Weiss again, especially for dinner. She wasn't going to lie. She knew precisely what kind of feelings were blossoming for the other girl. She just hoped it was the same kind of attraction that had Yang experienced…

Okay so maybe not that kind, but still. She knew that she was attracted to the platinum-haired girl. She would give it a bit of time though. Maybe it would go away. Or maybe it would continue to blossom, and Weiss would feel it too…

Ruby's thoughts were interrupted as her phone fell out of her hands and smacked her right in the face. After flinching from the shock she let her hands fall to her sides, not even bothering to move the phone as she sighed. Feelings were difficult.

A/N

So first off, I'd like to talk a bit more

about VVAS (The OC's)

So last week was their 3 year birthday

and I wanted to do something to celebrate

in a way. So I added them to my story!

We'll see where their presence leads!

Second off, I'd like to apologize for the

short chapter. I haven't been feeling well

these past few days and before that

I was having an off week. But I did my best and was

able to come up with a half chapter!

Also, I kinda suck with this whole

'emotion' thing so hopefully things turn out okay!

If not I'm sure Sky will either help me fix it

or smack me over the head until I figure

out how to fix it on my own lol.

Anyways, enjoy!