I Think I Like You

Chapter 18: Cracks

After an agonizingly long trip back from the festival, I finally return home and let myself breathe out a long sigh of relief.

I don't think our bus driver understood what 'gently' or 'with caution' meant. The whole trip back the entire bus was jostling me around and swerving between lanes, which constantly threw me from side to side, almost making me nauseous.

Each time Weiss and I had dozed off, we got a pretty rude awakening, as we were either thrown into the window or almost bounced off of our seats entirely. It was kind of like a roller coaster ride, which I normally think would be fun, but when you're trying to catch up on a few hours of lost sleep, it turns into more of a living nightmare.

I give a loud yawn and twist my key into the lock, opening my front door with the grace of any teenager who's coming down from a sugar high and deprived of sleep. Weiss had been right about that Hot Chocolate I drank earlier and the Popsicle on top of that. Once the sugar wore off, I felt like I'd been hit by a train, but after sleeping it off on the bus ride, I'm starting to feel a bit better.

As I sluggishly take off my sneakers at the entrance, I realize I can smell an all-to-familiar scent emanating out of the kitchen. It smells of baking flour and melted chocolate.

And that can only mean one thing.

I instantly perk up and yank my other shoe off my foot, letting it drop haphazardly in the entryway as I jog over to the kitchen.

"Dad!"

My dad is sitting with Uncle Qrow at the kitchen counter, along with a fresh tray of cookies that lay on the table. It looks as though they've been chatting for a while.

"Ruby!" My dad calls, standing up before I inevitably tackle him into a bear hug. "How've you been, Sweetie? Qrow was telling me it's been busy for you lately." He says, ruffling my hair.

I take a moment to squeeze my dad tighter to me before I respond, enjoying his much missed presence this past week.

"I'm doing fine. When did you get back? And how was your business trip?" I question, looking up at him excitedly.

"Slow down there, Sport." He laughs and gives my head another loving pat before prying me off his torso. "I got back this morning, would've been sooner but the traffic was awful. And a business trip is a business trip, kiddo. Trust me, you wouldn't be interested."

Uncle Qrow scoffs and takes a slow sip out of his flask on the table.

"Yep, your old man's work sure is boring. He's been droning on about stocks and market prices for the past hour. You're lucky you missed it, kiddo. I'm the one with the good stories to tell after all."

The disgruntled face my dad gives him makes me giggle. They've always had a small rivalry between them, and most of the time they're around each other it always turns into some sort of competition. It's mostly harmless and Yang and I usually laugh at their attempts to one up each other.

"Just because you're in law enforcement doesn't make it cooler." My dad mumbles. "I've got plenty of interesting stories to tell."

"Oh, yeah? Like that time you spilled coffee on your bosses-"

"E-Enough about that." My dad hastily cuts him off. "I want to hear about your trip, Ruby. It was a science festival, right? Sounds fascinating!"

I nod and walk around the counter to pick a piping hot cookie off the tray. It burns my fingers when I grab it, making me flail my hand in an attempt to drop it and causing it to fall into two pieces. I frown at the mangled cookie mess and walk over to get a plate out of the cupboard.

"It was super fun." I say. "There was this huge mirror maze thing and I got this really cool pin for my lanyard. I also got these really cool magnets that spin and make noise when you throw them! I'll show you later." I bring my plate over to the table and quickly grab a cookie to throw onto it as I continue talking. "Hmm, what else did I get… Oh! I also got a hat and this shirt!"

I point proudly to my shirt with the festival logo on it.

"That's pretty cool, kid." My uncle states, causing me to beam at him.

"Yeah, what's that on it? A lizard?" My dad asks from beside Qrow.

"Uh-huh. Weiss and I even went to the reptile house where they had a lizard just like it. Here, I'll show you."

I pull out my phone and start scrolling through all the photos I took to find the one from the reptile house.

"Weiss?" My dad questions, making my finger that's scrolling on my phone pause. "That's the council president, right? I didn't know you two were friends."

I feel my stomach clench and my palms grow instantly sweaty at his words. I haven't really mentioned Weiss all that much around him, afraid that something might slip out if I do. Through my conscious efforts to neglect the subject, I guess I forgot to mention that we were even friends at all.

Slowly starting to scroll through my phone again, I try and answer as evenly as I can.

"Yeah, we're friends. We kind of have to be around each other all the time because of the council and all." I give an awkward laugh and hope my dad's obliviousness will come through for me.

It seems I'm in luck today, since my dad drops the subject as soon as I show him some pictures I took in the reptile house.

"Oh, wow. Look at the teeth on the thing." He says, inquisitively scratching some stubble on his chin.

"Being around a creature with fangs like that, you better be careful kid, who knows when it'll come to get ya'." As my Uncle speaks, he leans over and pinches my side, making me yelp out of surprise.

"C'mon, Uncle Qrow! That's not funny!"

"It's kinda funny." He says, snickering.

"Enough, Qrow." My dad tries to sound like stern parent, but ultimately fails as he tries his best not to laugh along with him. He's never really been very good in the 'strict' department of parenting. "Why don't you go show some of your pictures to Yang, sweetie."

"Where is she?" I ask, now noticing my sister's missing presence.

"She's out back with a friend. Something about painting a banner for a school event. You should go check on her, she might need some help with it."

I nod and grab another cookie before making my way to the backyard. As I put my hand on the back door, I turn around towards my dad and hold my cookie up as if I were saluting him.

"We're totally having a movie night tonight! No getting out of it!"

My dad laughs and shakes his head good-naturedly. He's always had a hard time saying no to me and Yang, probably a side effect of being a single parent and thinking he always needs us to be happy. I try not to abuse this trait of his too much, but there's no way we're not having a movie night after he's been gone for so long.

"I'll make the popcorn." Qrow calls as I step out the back door.

His comment makes a smile appear on my face, knowing that my whole family will be here tonight.

As I step out into our generously sized backyard, I feel a slight breeze brush my face. There's not much out here except for an old grill on the porch that my dad sometimes cooks on, and some random dirt patches that Zwei frequently digs up, scattered throughout the grass.

"What're you grinning about?"

The voice makes me jump, and I look beside the backdoor to see Blake sitting crisscross with her back against the wall of the house, looking bored.

"Blake? What're you doing here?"

She nods her head towards the grass and I look over to spot Yang, sitting alongside a long white banner. The banner has the word Music outlined on it in big black letters, making me think it must be something for the Music fest. There are a few open paint buckets next to her and the first two letters of the banner are already filled in with blue and yellow coloring.

From the looks of it, Yang has more paint on herself rather than the banner, well, all except her hair, which looks pristine as usual.

I walk to the edge of the porch and tilt my head questioningly at my sister.

"Whatcha doing, Yang?" I call out to her. "Dad said you might need some help."

Yang looks up, putting a hand over her eyes to shield them from the sun. She gives me a big wave with the same hand she's holding her paint brush in, causing it to splatter everywhere.

"Welcome back, Rubes! How was your geek festival?"

I frown at her and step down from the porch to make my way over to her.

"It wasn't a geek festival." I mutter, bending down on the opposite side of the banner from her. "And it was actually really fun, I'll tell you more about it later."

"Whatever you say, Sis. Hey, hand me that brush over there would you? This one's too stiff."

I look over to where she's pointing, which is by the open cans of paint. Picking myself up and walking over to it, I bend down and pick up the two I can find littered in the grass. I look at the clean brushes briefly before holding them out to Yang in questioning.

"The red handled one."

I frown at her, rolling the red one around in my hand.

"I wanted this one, though."

"To bad, Sis." My sister says, snatching it from my hands and immediately dipping it into one of the cans. "Come sit next to me, you can choose whatever letter you want to paint in."

I ease myself onto my knees next to her, dipping my brush in the blue paint bucket and beginning to paint the I in Music.

For a few minutes we paint quietly. It's almost soothing in a way to fill in a defined space with paint, I feel myself start nodding off as I move my brush because I'm so calm.

"So?" Yang asks, breaking the silence.

I hold my head up and look over at my sister, then tilting my head to the side and giving her a confused look.

"So what?"

"Sooo, what base did you get to?"

I feel my face grow beet-red in an instant, causing me to quickly turn away from her and look down at the grass, as though it would somehow make me feel less embarrassed.

"Y-Yang! There were no bases o-or getting to anything!"

She cackles at my reaction, almost like it was the funniest thing she'd ever heard, which only serves to fluster me even more.

It wasn't particularly the question that made me react like this, but more remembering me and Weiss's make-out session in the hotel room. The thought of it is enough for me to feel weak in the knees, and I vigorously shake my head to try and get rid of the images that keep seeping into my mind.

"Oh, come on. Despite what I said to you beforehand, you really expect me to believe you were some sort of saint on an overnight trip with the pres? Your girlfriend? Don't think I don't remember-"

"Could you stop holding that over my head!? You need to keep it down! I told you it's a secret!" I whisper to her in a harsh tone.

My sister rolls her eyes and continues flicking her red brush across the letter she's working on.

"Okay, Rubes. Well, how about I tell you a secret then? It's only fair, yeah?"

"…I guess so."

Yang looks like she's thinking for a moment, flickering her gaze between me and the banner. She slowly leans over to dip her brush back in the paint can, and as she does, she leans in closer to me.

"Okay, well, what would you do... if I told you Blake kind of already knows."

"Knows what?"

"About you and Weiss."

My hand freezes over the letter I'm painting, my mind taking a moment to process her words.

"What!?" I shriek, bolting up to my feet.

"Just kidding! That was a lie! Let's get back to painting, shall we!"

"Yang!"

"Alright, alright, I'll let you use the red brush this time."

She holds the red brush out to me with a forced smile that looks more like a grimace. When it's within my reaching distance, I smack it out of her hand, so it falls into the grass.

"What do you mean she knows? Did you say something to her?"

"Wha- no, of course not. She just kind of asked, and I might have confirmed it."

I instantly feel a sinking in my stomach, and I roughly grab the sides of my head, gripping my hair in my fingers and dropping back onto the ground by the banner.

"H-How did she find out?"

"She is sitting only ten feet away, need I remind you." I turn my head to see Blake glaring at me from where she now sits at the edge of the porch. "And she also has eyes. It wasn't hard to put the pieces together. Sometimes you guys are as obvious as all get out."

I give her a vexed look and point an incriminating finger at my sister.

"But Yang said she had no idea about us when she found out."

Blake crosses her legs and raises an eyebrow at me.

"I wouldn't say your sister is… bad at reading people, but I surely wouldn't say she's the keenest on picking up something like that."

"Hey!" Yang shouts indignantly.

Blake ignores her and sets her chin in her hands in a bored manor, blowing some hair out of her eyes as she does so.

"It was mostly just little things. You wanting to switch positions with me during the chalk-walk was the first clue, then it was all the times you guys left together after meetings, the way you constantly argue like an old married couple, and how Weiss picks on every little thing you're doing wrong. That's always kind of been her way of showing fondness for someone."

"…This isn't some murder mystery, Blake. Everything's like some weird book plot with you." Yang mumbles, continuing to paint the banner.

"When I saw you guys holding hands during the council picture it pretty much confirmed it. I later asked your sister about it as well, just to see if she knew, which she did."

I run a hand through my hair and look down at the banner, uneasiness pouring through me at the thought of other people being able to piece it together like Blake had.

When Weiss and I started dating we both mutually agreed we weren't going to tell anyone. At first, we were a little confused about how to go about it. Neither of us had ever been in something like this before, a relationship that is. But that was months ago. Now, we've had time to get used to each other. We've been able to experience an intimacy together and to learn from it.

It was once I got a taste of what being in a real relationship was like that the cracks in our barrier started to form. No matter how much I ignored them, the cracks never really went away, if anything, it's gotten worse, and I know I'm at fault for a lot of them.

I just never realized how difficult it would be to stay a secret after a while. The thought of accidently saying something to someone is always looming over me, but at the same time… I just… I just want to. I keep getting caught up in the moment and doing things I shouldn't, and I know it's making Weiss uncomfortable.

And that's where my main problem lies. Weiss is now the only one pushing for this barrier between us and everyone else. Not that I don't completely understand her reasoning. She has a neatly planned out future and a family that won't accept her for who she is. I know fully well that I don't fit within the path she's laid out for herself, and I wouldn't dream of getting in the way of it either.

But still…

It would be nice if I could tell people she's mine.

"You haven't told anyone, have you?" I carefully ask, looking up from where I've been staring at the banner in the grass.

"I haven't. Neither of you ever said anything about it, so I figured there was a reason."

"Blake's a cheesy book nerd, so of course she'd figure it out." My sister sticks her tongue out at the 'cheesy book nerd', who in turn just squints at her annoyedly.

"That's not the point, Yang!" I whine, clutching my brush tighter in my hand. "It's really important to Weiss that this doesn't get out!"

My sister just looks over at me, giving me an unreadable expression as she eyes me up and down.

"Well, what about you?" She asks.

"What about me?"

"Do you want to tell people about your relationship?"

I bite my lip and look away from her, taking to picking at the grass around my legs.

"I-I don't know." I meekly respond.

Yang scoffs and shakes her head at me.

"Well, I don't see what's so bad about telling one or two people that you trust. I know keeping it inside must be killing you, Sis."

I sigh, and keep plucking away at the grass, my painted letter being long forgotten. After a moment of sulking, I feel a buzz from my back pocket, and I reach around to see who it is.

Penny: Ruby, I need your help with something important. Are you available?

Ruby: Sure, what is it?

Penny: It's important!

Ruby: …That doesn't answer my question.

Penny: Meet me at the usual spot, okay?

Ruby: K, I'll be there in 20.

I shove my phone back into my pocket, silently thanking Penny for giving me a reason to get out of here.

"Who was that?" Yang asks, continuing to paint but motioning her head at my pocket.

"It's Penny. She said I have to meet her for something important, I'll catch you guys later."

I set my brush down and hop up from my spot, brushing some grass off my pants as I walk to the back door. When I grab the handle, I glance back at Blake, who's sitting on the porch, still looking disinterested .

"Blake?"

She glances over her shoulder at me and raises an eyebrow in questioning.

"T-Thanks for, you know, not telling anyone."

All she offers me is a reassuring shrug and a barely visible smile.

I'm pleasantly surprised when I realize the usual spot that Penny asked to meet at was only about fifteen minutes away from my neighborhood. I always get fatigued when I ride my bike long distances, and I'm still sore from the bus ride as well, so the short distance is appreciated.

There's a small bike rack that I park at towards the end of the block where our usual spot, a small local café, is located. As I walk into the familiar venue, I almost immediately spot Penny in a booth nestled in the corner, sipping something from a small cup and going through what looks to be a thick binder.

I give my friend a smile and a wave as I walk up to her, watching her face instantly light up with joy.

"Sal-u-tations, Ruby!" she gleefully calls, closing the binder that she'd been looking through.

"Hey, Penny." I slide myself into the seat across from her and eagerly pick up a menu from the front of the table. "How's it going?" I ask.

Penny frowns and takes another sip from her small cup.

"To be honest with you, not the best. I'm having such a difficult time choosing pictures for Yearbook. Our first draft needs to be completed soon and I just can't decide."

Our waiter comes by to take our order, I get a four-stack of pancakes and an apple juice, Penny also orders some pancakes, via the waiter's recommendation.

When he steps away, Penny flips the binder she'd been looking through around and pushes it towards me. I eye it questioningly before setting my menu to the side and opening the cover, only to be met with a stack of photos that rest haphazardly within it.

I was expecting some sort of organized portfolio, but what I'm met with is just this mess of photographs.

Penny reaches over the table and grabs the pictures out of the binder, dropping them onto the wooden tabletop with a loud slap.

"Did you take all these?" I ask, spreading some of them out as I go through them. "They're really good."

Most of the pictures are from school events and clubs, some even from the ones the council helped with earlier on this year.

"Yes, I took most of them. A few of the other Yearbook members helped me take some of the others."

I find Yang in one of the pictures, it must have been taken during the chalk-walk because she's grinning alongside some other students I don't recognize and pointing to one of the drawings on the sidewalk that's in front of the school. The photo immediately after it shows the same group of students, but this time they're all doing silly poses and have their arms around each other's shoulders.

I flip through a few more pictures of random students, a lot from specific clubs or groups around the school doing their various activities, like track, football, astronomy club, key club, and loads more.

Looking up from the photos, I switch my gaze to Penny, who's looking intensely at two different ones set aside one another on the table. After a moment, she lets out a sigh and frustratedly shoves them into my hands.

"This is why I need your help! It's so difficult for me to choose which ones I want to be in my final draft."

I grab the photos, which I remember being taken before the basketball game, when my sister, Blake, and I were rolling up the tickets. The only noticeable difference between them is that in one we're all looking away and doing our tasks, and in the other we must had just noticed the camera and are looking over at it.

"I don't think it matters that much, Penny." I say as I look over them. "I mean, the pictures are both really good, but practically the same."

"Practically the same?" Penny mimics, almost as if in shock.

"Uh… yeah?"

"Ruby, these are important decisions! They can't just be the same! You have to tell me which one is better."

I take another look and randomly pick the one of us not looking at the camera and give it to her. I've never been good at making decisions, and Penny knows that, so I don't know why she's asking me to help her decide.

"This one." I say as I hand it to her.

Penny takes it and eyes it suspiciously.

"Hmm..." She makes a dissatisfied look at the photo, making me gape at her.

"Wha- You asked me to choose!"

"...I suppose I did."

"Then what's with that face!?"

"What face?"

"You know what face! If you were gonna choose the other one, then why even ask me?"

Penny tilts her head at me, as if to try and figure out if I'm legitimately angry or not, which I'm not. I just don't understand why she thinks it's a good idea to ask me about these things.

"That's not it, Ruby. I value your opinion, I really do, but... agh! It's just so hard to choose, and for such a quintessential task as yearbook too. Let's just move onto a different one, shall we?"

She scoops up the pictures and stuffs them back in the binder. I pick up another stack of the photos and start sifting through it.

As we go through a few more, our waiter comes back, bringing us our pancakes, along with my apple juice that I greedily gulp down. We take a break from looking through the pictures to eat our food and catch up with each other.

We mostly talk about the science trip and Penny's math competition that she competed in a while back. She claims to really like math, but that her true passion is in photography.

"I wish I could have gone with you on your trip, Ruby! There would have been so many extraordinary photo opportunities with all the booths and such."

I smile knowingly and shove my, now empty, plate away from me.

"You woulda liked it. There was this cool meteorology exhibit where this guy showed us how to make our own rain. Oh! And he gave me this!"

I lean my arm across the table and roll up my sleeve to reveal the snowflake bracelet the lie hidden underneath. Penny ogles it, taking my wrist in her hand and holding it up to her face to get a better look.

"This is marvelous craftsmanship. Did Weiss get one as well?"

My gaze falters at her words, nervous blinks invading my vision as I pull my arm back and hide the bracelet with my sleeve.

"She got one similar." I say, giving a hesitant chuckle.

"Well, that was awful nice of the man." Penny says, taking another sip from her cup.

I want to change the subject, but I keep thinking about what Yang said earlier.

I don't see what's so bad about telling one or two people that you trust... I know keeping it inside must be killing you, Sis...

I hate to acknowledge it, but she's right. It is killing me inside.

Not letting anyone know about our relationship might be something Weiss is fine with, and something I can settle on being fine with to an extent, but why can't I tell people I trust?

I understand the paranoia she must have about it, if her father finds out he'll do everything in his power to burry this relationship so far under the dirt it'll be practically nonexistent.

If that happens, I won't be able to talk to Weiss anymore, to text her good morning and good night, to shower her with affection every moment I'm with her, or feel that familiar grip on my shoulders as we ride my bike around town. If that happens, I won't be able to see her anymore.

If that happens.

I'm not implying I don't trust Weiss, I completely do. But I also trust myself. And I trust myself to have faith in my friends.

"Penny... c-can I tell you something?" I ask, tugging nervously at the bracelet hidden by my sleeve.

"Absolutely!"

I know this is against Weiss's wishes, but I feel like I've respected them long enough. I deserve to tell my best friend that I'm in a relationship with someone and that I'm happy.

"O-okay, but you have to promise not to tell anyone! like, absolutely no one! This is a superduper top-secret, not to be disclosed with another sole, type of thing."

"Alright?"

"Like, I might actually be crucified if you say anything-"

"Ruby, I understand."

"You'd essentially be signing my death sentence if this gets out."

"Ruby." Penny puts her pointer finger and her thumb together and drags them across her lips, as though she's sealing them. "I promise I won't say a word."

I find myself switching from fidgeting anxiously to looking up and giving my friend a smile.

Penny has always had my back. Ever since we met in the first year of high school she's been my closest and most reliable friend. Not that I have many friends, but she's without a doubt the closest out of the few that I do have and I know I can rely on her for anything.

So, taking a deep breath, I lean onto the table and fold my hands together.

"W-well, you know how, uhm, Weiss and I have been getting along lately?"

Penny nods, encouraging me to go on.

"Uhh, okay. Well, what if I... told you that we're kind of - no - not kind of, but like if we are actually, like... dating."

Penny stays silent, staring at me with an unreadable expression. I flit my gaze away from her, afraid that I thought wrong, that she might not be very accepting of me. The thought makes me clench my hands tighter and I struggle to find words, as it feels like a huge lump has formed in my throat.

"It's like – well, it kind of started a while ago. I-I've been meaning to tell you. Really, I have! It's just that Weiss wants us to keep it a s-secret and I'm not even supposed to tell anyone, but then Blake found out… and I was feeling depressed all day since I haven't really said anything to you. So, I thought, you know… ugh, where am I even going with this."

Penny now looks at me with an agitated expression, almost angry, which is a very rare sight to see from her

"I didn't know you were gay?"

Her words make my posture falter and I look shamefully down to my lap.

"Well, I guess-"

"How could you not tell me something that important!?" Penny's voice rises and she holds an offended hand to her chest. "I thought I was your best friend? Best friends tell each other things like that!"

"Penny, I-I never meant to keep it from you. I didn't even really know-"

Penny slams a fist down on top of her binder, cutting off my babbling. She takes a deep breath and stares directly into my eyes.

"This calls for an alliance."

I watch in uncomfortable silence as she looks to me, expecting me to say something.

"…A what?"

"A truth alliance! Put your hand on the binder, Ruby."

I comply with what she says, even though I don't really know what I'm doing, but I don't feel like I have the justification to disobey her in our current situation. Moving my hand next to hers on the binder, I curl it up into a fist.

"From now onwards, there will be no more lies, half-truths, or secret keeping in our friendship. We will tell the truth, and nothing but the truth. We will also be super besties until we die. Understood?"

I find myself giggling at the announcement; it almost sounds like she's giving some freedom of America speech. Moving my hand across the binder, I set my fist on top of hers and give her a grin.

"Understood."

Penny and I talked for a while after that. She asked loads of questions about the specifics of my relationship with Weiss, like when we started dating, if we'd kissed yet, and how I came to the realization I liked her in the first place.

I've never talked about it to anyone before and just being able to tell someone feels so liberating and makes me have a whole new view on my relationship. Penny has always been good at listening and cheering me up and I owe her a lot for it.

Before we parted, she handed me a picture that I hadn't seen when we'd been going through her portfolio. It was the picture taken at the student council party.

Currently, I'm sitting at my desk and thumbing over the familiar photo. In my other hand I'm holding my phone up to my ear and waiting eagerly for the line to pick up.

"Hello?"

"Weiss! Did you get the picture I sent you?!"

I had texted Weiss the student council picture to her as soon as I got home and I've been waiting for her to message me back. When she eventually did, she just said to call her. Weiss has always preferred talking over texting and I've never really had a problem with that.

"Yes, I received it. And please don't yell into your phone."

"Ah, sorry. Has everything been alright with you since you got home? I know you didn't get to sleep much on the bus."

"Yes, it's been fine. I took a nap earlier. How about you?"

I stand up from my desk and stretch my limbs. Talking about sleep always makes me tired, so I start walking over to lay down on my bed.

"I was kinda groggy when I got home, but when I got back I realized my dad was back in town and talking with him made me feel a lot more awake."

"Well, that's good."

"Yeah, and I helped Yang paint the banner for music for the music festival." I plop myself onto my bed and roll over to face my window, switching my phone between hands as I do. "I also met up with Penny at a café down the street. I helped her pick out yearbook pictures, which is when she gave me the one that I sent you."

"It's indeed an excellent photograph. Perhaps I could have come as well, to view the other photos of the council."

"Really? Is that it? Or are you just jealous that I have other people to hang out with?"

I smile smugly into my pillow, knowing the question would fluster Weiss.

"That's absurd! I-I just thought that maybe I could have helped!"

"You're so jealous! Admit it!"

"I'm not."

"Are too~"

I hear Weiss give a loud and irritated breath on the other end of the line.

"I'm not playing along with your childish games, Ruby. But… I don't think it would be horribly awful if we went out to get a meal sometime too."

I idly smooth the creases in my blanket as I close my eyes and imagine going out and sharing a meal with Weiss.

"Mmm. That does sound nice. How's your health been?"

"It's been getting better. Although, I haven't talked to my father in a while, which might play a factor in my wellness. I also didn't bring my medication to school this previous week and I haven't felt the need for it in a while."

"Weiss, that's awesome!"

"It is, but dry spells like these are a common occurrence. It may come back later."

"Well, let's hope they don't."

Hearing Weiss let out a huff on the other end of the line, I can only imagine her leaning back wherever she's sitting and putting a hand to her temple.

"Let's hope."

For a moment, I just hold the phone to my ear and listen to her breathing and some ruffling going on in the background, probably her going through papers or something. Just chatting with Weiss is enough to make me wish she was lying next to me and that I could wrap my arms around her neck and press a kiss to her forehead.

"I miss you, Weiss."

"You saw me this morning, Dunce."

I pout at an unknowing Weiss across the line and shift around into a more comfortable position in my bed.

"I know, but I still miss you."

"We'll see each other Monday. We have to start preparations for the festival, after all."

"I guess you're right…"

Trailing off, I feel my eyelids being dragged down by my tiredness and my body sinking lower into my bed. A yawn escapes my mouth and I think we both know it's time we should be heading to sleep. Regardless, neither of us say anything fthat could end the conversation until I hear Weiss's quiet voice from the other end of the line.

"Goodnight, Ruby."

My eyes dip shut and I breathe a sigh of contentment.

"Night, Weiss."