Chapter 13
Two weeks ago
Sitting in his car driving as fast as he can during the storm, Rouvin makes his way to Cinder. Away from all those 'friends' who tried to make fun of him. Away from all the family drama. Away from those ice blue eyes he can't get out of his mind.
He knows Weiss is innocent, but he still can't help but feel betrayed. After he spent so much time together with the girl, he had started to actually like her.
She wasn't like he had imagined her all those years. He thought she would be just another pretentious bitch who only acted nice so everyone loves her.
Instead she is genuinely nice, caring, curious and open for new things. She talks to him like a normal person, and not like some criminal or some pity project.
He knows that she is sorry for the incident, but that didn't mean he wasn't mad.
Oh and how angry he truly is. He feels more humiliated that he thought. Even if it was only for a moment, he thought that he could trust those people. That they wanted to really be friends with him.
Rouvin should have known better. At the end the only person he could rely on was Cinder.
They may not be dating anymore, but Cinder was always his anchor. If he is upset or depressed, Cinder is always there to pull him back up again.
Rouvin drove so fast he nearly crashed more than once.
About two hours later he finally arrives at the house of the Fall family.
Cinder stood on the porch, a towel in hand and a warm glass of milk. Rouvin gets out of the car and made his way to her. Cinder didn't say a thing, she hands Rouvin the glass of milk which he accepts with a small smile, and she proceeds to dry his hair with the towel. There is a comfortable silence between them, the only sound to be heard is of the rain hitting the roof over their heads.
"How was it?" Cinder asked.
"Fine…" Rouvin answers. Cinder raises an eyebrow.
"If it was fun, you wouldn't be standing here wet from the rain. Something happened."
"Just a bad end."
"How bad was it?"
Looking away from her he said "They gave Weiss and me a punishment at the beginning for losing some game and they were secretly filming everything we did. Even while sleeping."
Looking confused and concerned, Cinder opted to stay quiet for now and ushers him in.
They made their way to her room, where Cinder hands him some of his clothes she had prepared after his call "Go take a shower. We don't want you to get sick now do we?"
Nodding without a word, he takes them and went to the bathroom.
This wasn't the first time he stayed over for the night, so he left some of his clothes there in case he didn't want to go home.
By the time he was out of the shower, Cinder is already seated on her bed with a small fold-able table laden with two hot cups of cocoa and a plate of cookies. Rouvin hangs the towel around his neck and sits on the opposite side of Cinder.
"So how was it?" Cinder asked.
"I think I already told you." He answered.
"No… you told me how it ended. Not how it was." Cinder then takes a cookie and eats it.
Rouvin sighs. "It was…normal." he said. Cinder just nods, meaning he has to continue. "It started with a treasure hunt. We were paired."
"And you were paired with Weiss, right?" Cinder interrupts.
"Yeah. She's so different from what you'd expect. She's not like those spoiled rich girls, she's genuinely kind, thoughtful and aghhh…her smile, her laugh…and she smells wonderful."
Cinder snickers. "Look at that, the oh so scary Rouvin Rose, love struck like a nerd."
Rouvin blushes. "Shut up!" Rouvin throws a pillow at her. "I'm not lovestruck. She's…just…different."
Laughing about his expression Cinder said "Just tell that to yourself" Rouvin groans. "Rouvin, you look at her the same way you used to look at me."
Taking deep breaths to suppress his blush and any thoughts about the mere idea of him liking the Schnee heiress, one thought still remains.
Even if I like her, there is no way she'd feel the same for me.
Coming down from her laughing fit, she sees his sad face "Hey, she would be lucky with a great guy like you likes her." To cheer him up a bit she pushes the mug with hot cocoa and some cookies over the table like a peace offering .
"So how were her friends?"
Taking a sip, he has a small smile at the taste. Cinder knows exactly how he likes his hot chocolate.
"They were okay, it was surprising funny at some days. Especially with Nora's and Yang's antics. Weiss and I lost the treasure hunt and as punishment we weren't allowed to be more than three meters away from each other."
Smirking at the implication the amber eyed girl leaned forward and asked in an, to anyone else's persective, provocative voice "and what would have happened if you broke the rule?"
"Yang would have been allowed to punish us" shuddering at the mere image of his evil sister and all the cruel and very very stupid ideas her brain could come up with, Rouvin takes a few more sips to warm himself up.
Again, Cinder snickers, if there is one thing she and Yang have in common, it is to come up with new and better ideas to tease and embarrass the poor boy.
"Did you hate it?" Cinder asks.
Rouvin looks at her, and shakes his head. "In all honesty, it was the most fun I had ever since Mercury fell face first to the ground with his pants down to his ankles." They both smile then laugh at the memory.
2 days before the end of the break, Rouvin and Cinder sit in his car as he drives them to the mall. Cinder is on the phone.
"Yes, Aunt Summer, he's fine. No, he hasn't been into any trouble. Yes, I'm making sure of it. It's nothing. Okay. Enjoy the rest of your day." she says as the call ends.
"What did mom want?" he asks.
"Just making sure you're okay." Cinder answers. Rouvin already knew that. "You didn't go home ever since you got back from that vacation. You could have at least called them to let them know where you are."
Silence. It was always so hard for him to talk to his parents now ever since that happened. "Yang was there." Rouvin said. "I'm sure she told them where I was."
"Still, you shouldn't worry your mother so much." Cinder sighs. She knows she is treading in dangerous territory. It's not that Rouvin hates his parents, rather he feels abandoned by them since that incident three years ago. For him it is as if they have turned their backs on him when he needed them the most and Rouvin never forgave them. It doesn't help that ever since, his parents always think he is causing nothing but trouble and judging him for every little thing he does.
"You know as much as I do that they only care about what I do if it throws a bad light on the company." Rouvin answers between clenched teeth.
Sensing his bad mood, she decides to change the subject, and with perfect timing they arrive at the Mall.
"Come on, let's see if we find something interesting to brighten your mood. Otherwise you could summon the storm back with your grim face." And with that she climbed out of the car.
Sighing to let his pent-up frustration out, he follows the girl.
The mall is one of their usual hangout spots. There is always something new in the shops and serves for a great distraction if one of them (usually Rouvin) is moody or frustrated about something.
The shop owners are already familiar with the boy, and well aware that behind his distant and cold behavior he possesses a heart of gold.
He always helps out if one of them needs the help. Especially in their favorite pizzeria Luige's, baking or serving the pizza, it doesn't matter. Rouvin does every job. And he is handsome enough that one of the waitresses has a huge crush on him, always flirting and touching him without success.
It was one of the few places the people didn't judge him, where he could relax.
But today they will be shopping. It is the end of summer sales and everything is reduced to half the price. And as usual, he will be holding most of the bags Cinder will be buying.
An hour later, he is holding six bags in his arms, most of which are clothes Cinder brought that he knows she'll barely wear the next few months. As Cinder enters a shoe store, he waits outside with the bags as he holds a can of soda, when something caught his eye. Right by the jewelry store he is standing at, he sees a simple snowflake necklace that reminds him so much of a white haired girl. Without thinking he enters the store and buys it before Cinder can come back.
He himself isn't sure why he bought it, but he has a feeling it is important. Putting the necklace in the back pocket of his jeans, he waits only a few more moments for his friend.
They spent a few more hours shopping before they ended at Luige's pizzeria, ordering their usual pizzas, for Cinder a Hawaiian topped pizza and for Rouvin one with chicken and vegetables.
After taking their order, the waitress Cassy gave Rouvin a bright smile before leaving.
"So is there anyone you like?" asks Cinder out of the blue. Arching his brow in a confused manner, the face of a certain heiress comes to mind.
Shaking his head to disperse the image, he looks at Cinder. "No? Why do you ask?"
Laughing lightly Cinder just answers "It's amazing that so many girls are crushing on you, and you don't even notice."
"Cin…No one's crushing on me…"
"Really?" Cinder snickers. "Rouvin, I know you're not that dense."
When he follows Cinders gaze, he sees a blushing Cassy waving shyly at him.
Sighing he looks back to his friend "Fine, so there are some people who may have a crush on me. I don't want to be mean or anything, but Cassy is more like a friend than anything."
Raising her eyebrow "And what about Weiss? Surely even you have noticed she likes you."
Of course he has noticed. The girl can hardly look him in the eyes without blushing. Thinking about it Rouvin always thought it was just some kind of hero worship, because he did save her two times.
Than he thought about the genuine smile she would give him or how her eyes sparkle when she is curious about something. The way she would always come up with a witty retort to Yang, Blake or Nora, but still be gentle and gracious. He may have only really spent a week with the girl, but it was more than enough to catch his eye and start to get a place in his heart.
The most important is that she is always honest with him and only judged him for who he is and none of those rumors.
"I know she likes me. And….and I could like her as well." Stammered the usual confident boy with pink cheeks.
Smiling Cinder said "I'm glad you are finally honest with yourself." And then came their pizzas.
After that the time practically flew by with the new semester starting two days later, Weiss becoming his partner, the trouble with all his skipped classes and all the work on their project.
All the while he notices how he and Weiss start to get closer. It scares him a bit how fast he has let the girl in his heart. Rouvin thought he had managed to build thick wall around his heart, to never get hurt again from the people he held close, like his parents.
Even though he is aware about both their feelings, he would never have guessed that Weiss would confess so soon and so suddenly. Thus his laughing fit when she did and he realized that Weiss expected to be rejected.
"It's not funny!" Weiss said as she wipes her tears.
"But it sorta is you know." Rouvin said as he stops laughing.
"I was terrified, I didn't prepare myself to tell you now…"
"But you did." he interrupt. Weiss looked up at him, he is smiling at her. "And I'm happy you said that Weiss. I'm happy to know how you feel about me. Since I feel the same about you too."
"Really?" the hopeful tone in her voice and the sparkle in her eyes were so cute Rouvin nearly fainted from an overload of cuteness.
"Of course I do. I'd never lie about something like that." Determined to prove how serious he is about that he kisses her again, and this time Weiss kisses him immediately back. "And I'd like to go on a date with you" Rouvin finishes after separating.
They both smile at that, and Weiss notices that this the first time she sees him smile so openly and happily.