Chapter 7
"Ruby, this martini is to die for!" Emily exclaimed after taking the first sip of her drink. Frisk smiled at her best friend, who was currently sitting at Grillby's bar. Emily had pounded on Frisk's door earlier in the day, the biggest grin Frisk had ever seen on her face. She proceeded to tell Frisk that she had the day off and wanted to do "something fun". It had near broken Frisk's heart to tell Emily that she had picked up a shift that night. Emily, not one to let a little bump get in the way of her plans, had simply told Frisk that she would come with her to work!
Frisk had been a little nervous about how Grillby would react to her friend hanging out around the bar, but he didn't mind so long as Frisk wasn't too distracted from her job. Frisk promised that she wouldn't be. Luckily, it was a slow night, so Frisk had plenty of time to talk to Emily while she worked.
"I'm glad you like it, but you should tell Grillby, he is the one that made it." Frisk replied with a smile.
"Oops!" Emily swiveled her head to find the fire monster, "You are aboslute bees-knees, Mr. Grillby!" Frisk could almost swear she saw faint tints of pink flame where Grillby's cheeks were. She couldn't blame him, though. Emily was beautiful, inside and out.
"Just Grillby is fine." The bartender replied, nodding his head in thanks.
"Oh, well then, Just Grillby, you are the absolute bees-knees!" Emily repeated, a mischievous twinkle in her eyes. Grillby's flames hissed and popped as he let out a small laugh. Frisk raised a brow at him; normally Grillby wasn't affected by patrons attempts at humor. Seeing the look, Grillby shrugged. Frisk tossed him an understanding smile and continued polishing the silverware in front of her.
"So, Ruby, I was thinking…."Emily began, Frisk looked over at the girl, confused. She sounded hesitant, and Emily was anything but. "I know that last time didn't work out well, and you had a really bad experience, so I totally understand if you don't want to, but I was thinking maybe, if you're okay with it, we could try to go out together again? Only if you're comfortable!" Emily rushed. She wasn't looking at Frisk when she asked. She was staring intently at the martini before her, shoulders hunched.
It had been almost two weeks since the incident at Alibi. The day after Frisk had woken up from the drugging, Emily had burst into her apartment, food and tea at the ready as well as a thousand tearful apologies. Frisk had almost cried herself, overwhelmed by someone caring so much for her. The two girls had practically been attached at the hip since that night, only seperating when they had to work.
"I would love to try again, Em." Frisk replied, putting a hand on Emily's shoulder. She could feel Emily relax and shot her a gentle smile.
"Oh, Ruby! I'm so happy! I promise this time will be so, so much different! We'll pregame at my apartment, no drinks at the bar! And we'll go to a different club! I was getting bored of Alibi anyways! I've heard of this great new bar, it's called Celestite! I heard it was named after the glowing crystals in the Underground that looked like stars or something! They always have great bands! And I heard that the gangs don't usually hang out there, so we don't have to worry about too much danger!" Emily explained, energy returning as she went on, "And we could go dress shopping and get you something more modern! Maybe in red! I feel like you would look amazing in red!"
"heh." Frisk stiffened when she heard the all-too familiar chuckle. Emily whipped her head around and gave a little yelp when she found sans sitting right next to her. The stool had been empty a few seconds ago. Frisk had seen sans around since the incident, but they had avoided each other. Both feeling awkward.
"Something funny?" Frisk asked, ice lacing her voice. Emily looked wide-eyed at her. Emily knew exactly who the skeleton was. Frisk had filled her in after the incident and now Emily was caught between fear and anger towards the skeleton. He was one of the most notorious gangsters in the city, with a rumoured body-count to rival the actual Grim Reaper, but on the other hand, he had continuously insulted and creeped out her best friend. But then again, he did save Ruby. But he had stalked her to her house before that. Emily decided to treat him with neutrality.
"jus' thinkin', ruby dressed all in red. sorta fittin' innit?" sans replied, looking at Frisk with a smirk. Frisk narrowed her eyes at sans, unsure if he was making fun of her or just trying to crack a joke to break the tension. Not sure what to say, she simply shrugged.
"still can't take a joke, kid?" sans scoffed. Frisk rolled her eyes.
"For the last time, I'm not a kid. I'm 22." She crossed her arms and gave the skeleton a glare.
"22? such an adult." sans muttered, raising the bottle of ketchup to his mouth. Frisk quickly reached out and squeezed the bottle, causing the ketchup to burst out and splatter all over sans' face.
The bar went silent.
Frisk stepped back, hands over her mouth, eyes wide. sans' eyes were blank, his hand still holding the ketchup bottle. Ketchup slowly dripped off of his face. The skeleton's permanent grin seemed even more intimidating and Emily slowly inched away.
"I-I am so sorry, sans, I don't know what came over me." Frisk snapped into action, grabbing the nearest clean rag she could find, she reached out towards his face to clean off the ketchup. I am so fired. I am so dead. I am so fired. I am so dead, her mind kept screaming. Her hand froze mere inches from sans' face when she noticed the skull shaking.
"heh...heh heh. heh-hahahahaha!" sans burst out laughing, the suddenness causing Frisk to jump back again and clutch the rag to her chest. She looked over to Emily, What the fuck? Emily shrugged, I have no idea.
"Are you….are you okay, sans?" Frisk asked, unsure of how to proceeed. She nearly screamed when a warm hand landed on her shoulder.
"He's fine, Ruby," Grillby said, looking down at the human.
"oh, man, you- haha!- you should have seen your face!" sans pointed at Frisk, other hand on his ribcage. He didn't even seem to notice the ketchup sliding down his face. His eyelights had returned and he caught Frisk's eye.
"it's been a while since i've had a really good laugh, thanks, kid. yer face cured me of all my ales," sans said with pointed look at the beer taps. Frisk felt her temper flare again, forgetting entirely the fear that had overcome her just moments ago.
"You're one to talk, bonehead, you look like you're doing a poor impersonation of a tomato. All round and red." She snapped. sans' laughter cut off and he shot her a glare.
"and who's fault would that be?" He demanded.
"You started it."
"did not."
"Did so! You kept calling me a 'kid'!"
"ain't a good enough reason ta dump my drink all over me. i'm a payin' customer." sans retorted, reaching over and yanking the rag out of Frisks hands to mop off his face. Grillby cleared his throat.
"I wouldn't call you a paying customer. You haven't paid your tab in months." He interrupted, leveling sans with a glare.
"er... i'm a customer that's gonna be payin'." sans amended.
"He does have a point, Ruby. This is not how we treat our customers, regardless of whether or not they've paid their obscenely large tabs." Grillby scolded. Frisk blushed a furious red.
"I'm sorry Grillby." She murmured. Emily reached over the bar and put a comforting hand on her arm. Frisk shot Emily a grateful smile.
"I'll look over this one incident, Ruby. Only because there's not many people here to have seen it and sans did start it." Grillby shot the skeleton a glare when he tried to interrupt, "Just try to exercise more self control in the future." With that last warning, Grillby walked to the other side of the bar to finish polishing the martini glasses. Frisk and sans glared at each other for a moment, then sans smirked at her.
"don't worry, kid, i'll get ya back fer this." he said, casually taking a sip of the remainder of the ketchup. A chill went down Frisks back, but she didn't let any fear show.
"Bring it on, bonehead." She hissed back at him.
"yer gonna regr-"
"SANS!" Frisk, Emily, and sans all jumped at the loud voice. Marching towards the bar was a tall, blue fish monster with hair even more red than Emily's. A black eyepatch covered her left eye and she wore a black pinstripe suit. The glare she had could melt steel.
"aw, shit." sans muttered before chugging the rest of the ketchup. Frisk looked between the two monsters. Was this woman his girlfriend?
"Sans! Why the HELL weren't you answering your phone? I've called you at least ten times!" She yelled, not bothering to lower her voice as she got closer to the skeleton. sans gave his pockets a pat down before pulling out a cellphone. He grimaced when he saw the screen.
"jeeze, undyne, 'at least ten times' is a bit of an understatement. i haven't even been here long enough for you to call 42 times. didja just let it ring once, hang up an' try again?" sans asked, tired already from dealing with her.
"Shut up, punk! You need to answer on the first ring! What if it was an emergency?" The fish lady demanded.
"is it an emergency?" sans asked, sliding a hand down his skull.
"No! But it could have been! Your brother always answers on the first ring, you have no excuse!"
"i don't recall it being in the job description to have ta answer it so quickly." sans quipped. Undyne grit her teeth. She must be his superior in the gang, Frisk thought to herself. She felt pity for the fish woman. He must be a real pain in the ass to deal with.
"Could I get you a drink while you're here, ma'am?" Frisk asked, worried that if sans worked the fish woman up any more, she would break something. Not that Frisk would have blamed her.
"Not now," Undyne said with a quick glance. She went back to talk to sans and her good eye widened almost comically when she looked back at Frisk.
"A human!? Grillby!" Undyne called the bartender over and pointed at Frisk, "Did you know there was a human behind your bar?!" She yelled. Frisk heard the flame monster let out a quiet sigh.
"She's my employee. Ruby, meet Undyne. Undyne, meet Ruby." Grillby explained before going back to his polishing, clearly annoyed at the days events.
"Nice to meet you, Undyne." Frisk said, holding her hand out. Undyne glared at the hand as if it had just insulted her mother. With much reluctance, she held out her own and shook Frisks.
"Hmph. I've got my eye on you, human." She said when the handshake was over. She pointed a finger at her good eye, then back at Frisk.
"don't worry, undyne, i already got two eye sockets on her." sans supplied, earning a glare from the fish woman. She reached behind sans and grabbed the back of his shirt collar.
"Get your ass in gear, sans, we gotta go. We're already late because of you." She grumbled as she literally dragged one of the most dangerous gangsters in the city out of the bar.
"catch ya later, kid." sans called with a mocking salute as he was hauled out of the door.
"Well…."Emily began, "you certainly work at an interesting bar."
"Okay, how about this one?" Emily asked, a smile about ready to split her face in two. Frisk could tell that Emily was really in her element. The girl was a natural at shopping. The dress she was holding out was stunning. Bright red with black embroidery and sequins. Long, sheer sleeves covered with sequins in an art-deco pattern. The dress was longer than any of the other's Emily had pointed out, and the fringe elongated it even more. And best of all? Emily had picked it up from the clearance rack.
"I knew you would like it! Nice and modest, just like you wanted, but still gorgeous. Personally, I don't like the sleeves, but I know you prefer them. Honestly, the sleeves are probably the reason it's on clearance, nobody wears dresses with sleeves anymore. But that's perfect for us! You have to try it on! Oh! And try it on with these shoes!" Emily shoved a shoebox into Frisk's arms with the dress, "C'mon! Hurry, I wanna see what you look like! I bet ya you're gonna be the belle of the ball!" Emily exclaimed, pushing Frisk into a changing room. Frisk smiled as she began to strip out of her everyday clothes. She quickly put on the red dress before opening the shoe box. Inside were a pair of t-strap heels. Unlike Frisk's t-strap flats, these were made out a shiny material and goodness the heels were high! Frisk took a deep breath and, full of determination, put the monstrosities on. She stood up and wobbled a bit on the carpet flooring, but was able to balance herself out. She opened the curtains and struck an awkward pose, much to the delight of Emily.
"Oh my gosh! Ruby! That dress looks amazing on you! Red really is your color! And those shoes! They have to add at least five inches! Your legs look like they could reach up to heaven! I'm going to have to beat men off of you with a stick! And probably women, too! Oh! Goodness! You have to get them! I'll buy the shoes for you! No buts! Unless it's yours shakin' it in that dress! I owe you after last time, so at least let me get the shoes. Plus, they weren't on sale, and I know you're trying to save your money. Okay, go put your other clothes on! We still need to get you a purse! I think a cute little black clutch? With sequins? Yeah? Yeah. That sounds good. Tonight is going to be such a blast! I know exactly what I'll do with your makeup." Emily continued to ramble on as the two paid and left the store. They walked down the street, stopping only to buy a clutch that had stood out in a window. Frisk felt positively giddy. The sun was warming her skin and for the first time in years, the feeling didn't spark fear. Something about Emily's attitude was just contagious. Frisk had spent more time in the daylight in the past few weeks than she had since- since before. For a moment, Frisk felt the familiar cold fear race through her veins at the thought of her past. He could still be searching for her.
"Hey," Frisk's thoughts were interrupted by Emily's voice and a gentle hand on her arm. Emily looked up at Frisk with worry, "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, sorry, just tired." Frisk gave a warm smile to her short friend. Emily held her gaze for a moment before grinning back.
"Well, we'll have to get you some coffee, we've got a long night ahead of us!" Emily gasped and her eyes lit up, she practically hugged Frisk's arm, "We should go to Muffetts! She sells coffee, too! Not just pastries! I've been meaning to take you! This is perfect! And maybe, if she's free tonight, we could invite her! I've been getting pretty chummy with her lately! You're going to love her,Ruby, and I'm sure she'll love you, too!" Emily began tugging on Frisk's arm, hurrying the pace up.
It was a surprisingly short walk to Muffett's Bakery. Emily's stream of chatter making it seem even shorter. Frisk couldn't help but stare at the little bakery. The little shop was covered in shades of pink and purple with white and black accents. There was white lace made to look like spiderwebs decorating the displays. The pastries on display in the windows made Frisk want to drool. Emily saw the look on Frisk's face.
"I told ya it was cute! C'mon! I wanna introduce ya to the main lady herself! Hopefully she's in! The store is rarely open without her bein' there, but ya never know!" Emily led the way in, cheerful bells rang as the door opened and closed. Frisk gasped, if the outside was cute, it paled in comparison to the interior. Lace and frills were everywhere, but somehow, didn't overwhelm the aesthetic. Frisk felt almost as if she had stepped into a rich little girls dream dollhouse. And, stars, the smells! Frisk was sure that this was what heaven smelled like. Simple, clean, and sweet.
"Hoo, hoo, hoo! Hello, deary!" A voice called from behind the counter. Frisk tried not to stare, Emily's description had been spot on. A purple spider monster with five eyes and six arms was manning the register, a fanged smile on her face. The monster wore a frilly dress that matched the scheme of the bakery and managed to look fantastic on her. Frisk noticed that little spiders were crawling around on the dress, making the patterns appear to move.
"Hello, Muffett! This is Ruby! My friend I told you about? I finally brought her!" Emily exclaimed, presenting Frisk with such an exaggerated pose that neither Frisk nor Muffett could help but laugh.
"Well, it's certainly nice to meet you, Miss Ruby, Emily has told me all about you." Muffett said, extending one dainty hand over the counter. Frisk extended her own hand and was surprised at how firm Muffett's grip was.
"Likewise. I love your pastries, Emily has been feeding me them nonstop." Frisk replied with a smile.
"I'm always glad to hear that, deary! I'll be sure to tell the chef," Muffett said with a wink of multiple eyes, "Now, what can I get you lovely ladies today? I just finished up some lovely spider doughnuts, they're still a bit warm!"
"Always business first, right Muffett?" Emily asked playfully, "Well, in that case, we'll take two doughnuts and two… black eyes!"
"Staying up late tonight?" Muffett asked as she directed her little spiders around the shop to prepare the meal, using a couple of her own hands to ring up the total.
"Yes! We're going to Celestite! Gonna dance till we fall down! Kick and twist and shimmy!" Emily exclaimed, handing over the money owed to one of Muffett's outreaching hands. Frisk had learned not to try to argue when Emily wanted to pay for something, the girl could be as stubborn as a mule. Frisk had managed to pay once, only to find money from Emily stuffed under her door later.
"Why that sounds like a wonderful time! I've heard great things from some friends who love going~ I'm sure you'll have fun ~ hoo hoo hoo!" Muffett said, leaning over the counter and handing the girls their orders.
"Well, Muffett, Ruby and I were wondering if you wanted to join us tonight! You work so much, you deserve a night of fun!" Emily offered. Muffett blinked slowly, surprised. Her smile grew.
"You know, I think I might just do that. I'm sure some of my friends will be there, and I could introduce you. It would be like a big party ~ hoo hoo hoo!" Muffett giggled. Frisk smiled at her. Two weeks ago, the thought of meeting strangers outside of work would have terrified Frisk, but Emily, unknowingly, was helping her get past her fears. It's been seven years, she reminded herself, he must have given up by now.
"Wonderful! Ruby and I are going to drink at my apartment before we go out, so we can save money, do you want to join us or would you rather meet at the club?" Emily asked, bouncing with excitement.
"I would love to meet at your place! Hoo-hoo hoo! And I could bring some monster liquor, as a treat, free of charge~" Muffett replied, eyes gleaming. Emily exchanged addresses with the spider monster before the two girls bid her farewell. Muffett still had a few hours before she would close.
Frisk had a feeling she was in for a good time.