Ruby opened her eyes, finding herself engulfed in warmth, blinking in the soft sunlight that shone through the dusty window. She smiled, enjoying the feeling of warm arms wrapped around her middle, the chin that rested on the top of her head, and the hair that tickled her blinked, a part of her wanting to get up and go to do something,not used to being in bed for this long, but also far too content in the arms she lay in to seriously consider getting up. She turned over, so that she was burying her face in Louise's chest, her nose in the crook of her neck.
"Baby girl." Louise mumbled sleepily, her lips pressing against Ruby's forehead. "You okay? Not dreaming bad?" Her voice was a slur, as she began to wake up, her eyes opening as she placed a hand under Ruby's chin. She gently brought her lips to her own, placing a soft loving kiss to her lips. "Morning my love." Her voice was soft, gentle, and sent shivers down Ruby's spine.
"Good morning." Ruby whispered, leaning into the kiss. Her eyes blinked as she felt Louise's hands softly stroking her hair. "You are beautiful."
"Youre the beautiful one." Louise smiled lovingly placing another kiss on Ruby's lips before pulling back. " stay in bed Baby, Im going to make eggs."
Ruby smiled lovingly, squeezing her hand before standing slowly and walking to the bathroom. She winced as she sat down, still sore from her fall the night before. She sucked in a deep breath when she saw the deep purple bruises on her shoulder and side, and the puke green one on her outer thigh. She used the counter as support to stand up, wincing as she felt a pull in her sore muscles. Her knee ached, but she wasn't about to bring that up, or any of this up to Louise. She didnt want to worry her.
"RUBY!" Her eyebrows shot up as she heard the shout, followed by the crash in the kitchen, and she bolted from the room, down the hall and into the main part of the cabin, her eyes widening at the sight before her.
"Oh My God. Lulu!" Louise lay on the floor, a bag of flour poured out on top of her, and eggs broken on the floor beside her, "Lou, what happened? Are you alright? Anything broken? Dont move, Im going to pull the car around, drive you to the hospital-" She was stopped by Louise grabbing her hand.
"Only thing broken is the damned eggs, and the chair. Stood on it to get the flour down, bad idea. It...umm...ow…." She laughed, "Threw my back out though, think you could help me to bed?"
"You need a shower first Lou, Covered in flour, and eggs, and ..Here love. Let me help. Lean on me." Ruby helped Louise to her feet, the yelp of pain breaking her heart. "Shhh..it's ok. I've got you. I'm here. I've got you."
"Ruby, I'm fine. Im fine. Dont worry about it." Louise tried to dismiss the pain she was in, but she could tell that Ruby saw through her. She winced, guilt in her heart, because she knew that Ruby must be in pain as well.
"Shhh. Let me help you. Let me help you." Ruby held Louise in her arms for a moment, then slowly, painstakingly walked her into the bathroom. "Bath or shower? A bath might be harder to get out of, with how deep the tub is." Louise nodded, her teeth gritting in pain, the muscles on her jaw tight to Ruby's eyes. She turned on the shower,a soft smile on her face as she checked the water temperature. "Do you need help with your clothes?"
"No." Louise hissed, her eyes hard. She pulled away from Ruby's soft hands. "I can do it. I'm not broken."
"I never said you were." Ruby countered back, looking at Louise with a question in her eyes. What was happening, and why on earth was Louise so closed off? She just wanted to help, and she didn't think Louise would be shy, especially considering the fact that she'd helped Ruby just the night before in a similar situation.
"And I said Dont touch me. Did I not?" Louise's tone was like ice, and Ruby stepped backwards, hoping that the other woman wasn't going to hit or attack her. "You want to help, why dont you clean the damned mess in the kitchen? Just get the fuck out of here while I undress."
"Yes..of course. I..I'm sorry." Ruby stammered, her eyes filling with tears at the sharp tone. "I..I'll...umm...yeah….kitchen mess." She turned, shakily opening the cabinet and pulling out a soft brown bath towel, the tears already rolling as she placed it on the toilet lid, before turning to leave the room. "I'm sorry. Didnt mean to overstep. Didnt mean anything by it. Im sorry."
She took the broom, cleaning up the egg shells and the flour, as best she could, then made a mop bucket, mopping up the liquid mess on the floor, until nothing remained, and the floor was as shiny and clean as it could possibly be. She figured that Louise could use something to eat, so she grabbed the other carton of eggs and the milk, making a batter to use for some french toast. Her tears still fell freely as she sliced the toast, sprinkling it with some powdered sugar and adding some sliced strawberries to the top, finding a can of whipped cream in the refrigerator, adding that as well, and putting a bit of cinnamon to top it off.
She shook as she moved to sit on the couch, still in pain from her fall, wrapping her arms around herself as she closed her eyes. What had she done wrong? She'd only offered to help. Only wanted to ease Lou's pain as best as she possibly could, under the circumstances. She was frightened, didn't know what to expect now, since she didn't know why she had been cursed at in the first place. Didn't know why she'd been spoken to so cruelly, when not even an hour prior they'd been in each other's arms.
"Ruby?" She stiffened, tensing as she heard Louise's voice from the doorway. She took a gulp of air, stifling a yelp as she pushed herself to her feet, avoiding eye contact as she made her way to the kitchen, taking both plates of french toast to the table, setting them down and going to get two glasses of orange juice, pulling out Louise's chair before she sat down in her own.
"I...I know you wanted pancakes. I'm sorry. I couldn't save any of the flour, and I'm not sure if you had another sack. I...I hope you like this. It's strawberry. French toast. I..I um...I..I mopped. Made sure to get everything so that you don't fall again. I can probably fix that chair, later, if you like. Or, I can...do it now, If you want." She felt her shoulders shaking as she looked down, unable to look at Louise, the tears streaming from her eyes again. She was scared. She didn't know where she stood anymore because she didn't know what she had done wrong.
"Ruby." She flinched away from the hand that tried to take her own, still not lifting her head, not wanting to chance the anger she had seen earlier. "Love, c'mon. I'm sorry. I.." She heard the heavy sigh, the sound of chair legs scraping the wood floor of the dining room, and felt the hand resting on her knee. She flinched away again, moving her chair backwards, frightened of something she couldn't explain. "Rubes, hey, I..I'm sorry. That wasn't me, exactly. I know it's...you didnt deserve that, and I'm sorry. Shouldn't have talked to you that way. You were only tryin to help."
Slowly, Ruby lifted her head, seeing only kindness in Louise's soft eyes. "I didnt want to hurt you. I..I'm sorry." She whispered, her voice broken, her eyes tired and pained. "I just wanted to help you. I didn't...I wasn't coming onto you, wasn't looking for sex, or whatever. I just sincerely wanted to help. You helped me, last night. I..I knew you were in pain, and I...I wanted, I needed to help you. I'm sorry it came off a different way."
"Oh love. I know you were tryin to help. I just...something happened, a bit ago, couple years ago really, and I get nervous, anybody touchin….well…"
"You were raped." Shock flowed through Ruby as she suddenly began to understand. Louise had been raped. That's why she reacted as she did. It wasn't aggression. It was self defense. It was fear. "Sweetheart...I'm so sorry."
"Don't want your pity." Lou's voice came out harsher than she intended, and guilt filled her heart as she saw Ruby flinch back. What had happened to this woman, to make her flinch simply from words alone?
"Not offering it. Just tryin to help. Offer support. Comfort. If you'll stop acting like a damned Mustang maybe I can." Ruby hissed, looking at her with an expression of fear mixed with determination. "We both know I'd never hurt you. Least, like that."
"Youre right." Louise whispered, taking a bite of her meal, trying to distract herself from the memory. "It was about two years ago. I was much more involved with the boys then. I would go around to the tents, hold counselling sessions,have a different group every Sunday night for dinner and a movie. Thought I was making a difference. I forgot one thing though. These boys are criminals." She reached out, and took Ruby's hand, which the other woman held close to her heart, trying to offer what comfort she could.
"I'm here Lulu, go on. Get it off your chest." Ruby whispered, kissing each of her knuckles in turn, gently and lovingly bringing her heartbeat to a calm level.
"It happened one night, as I was walkin back from a counselling session, over at D dent. This boy, don't know what he was in for, can't remember. His nickname was Rattler, he was at the showers. Came at me from behind, pinned me down, he...he broke my arm…" She was shaking, looking at Ruby desperately. "He...I was wearin a dress, a yellow one with blue flowers. I...It...He..He tore it. Ripped it and my underwear off. Marion took me to the hospital in town after, and I got a kit and a test done, and took a pill, made sure I didn't get pregnant, but thats...thats...it didnt fix everything. There aint a pill that can take it away."
"Shhhhhh….I've got you my love.I've got you." Ruby held Louise in her arms, standing and leading her to the couch where they both could sit, wrapped in each others arms. "It..I cant promise you that it ever goes away. That'd be a damned lie, but I CAN say that I will be here, I will love you, unconditionally, unendingly, until you send me away, and no longer want me. I will always be yours. You are my Lulu, my Angel, and,my Annabell Lee, though I hope our tale has a better ending than that one."
"You're sent from heaven you know that?" Louise rubbed her eyes, wiping the tears away. "I really am sorry. About earlier. I didn't mean to be so cruel. I just...it's, Im sorry to say, a trigger for me, and it scared me, someone touching me..intimately, though I know you'd never hurt me." She looked into Ruby's eyes. "You're in pain. I can see that. Think you'd let me do your shoulders again? Is it your shoulders? Your back? What hurts?"
"My head and neck, mostly. And my hips. Lower back. Also my right knee. Oh...Lou, I should call the company-"
"No. Marion did that already. Told them your trucks acting up. They dont mind you staying for a bit." She smiled when Ruby placed a kiss on her cheek. "You could move in, if you wanted? Bring your stuff next week, in the supply truck? Only go out to Amarillo to get supplies? I feel safer with you here."
"I...Id like that." Ruby whispered, wincing as she buried her face in Louise's sweatshirt. "I could stay with you? You really mean that? This can be my home too?" She suddenly had a brilliant idea. "If you want, you can come with me, Friday night, to go get my stuff, and the supplies? A little romantic...ish...trip? I mean, It isn't Paris France, but...it's still pretty cool."
"Ok." Louise whispered, as she placed a loving kiss on Ruby's forehead. "I'll come with you."