Thanks for all the support on this little idea of mine! I'm glad everyone enjoyed awkward Yang as much as I did!

"Weiss, seriously I like this girl so much. I don't even know what to do about it..."

"Why don't you do what you normally do? Spout some ridiculous line and wait patiently while she writes down her phone number."

The girl giggled at the clever response, but she wasn't in the mood to listen to Weiss' attempts to be funny right now - this was an actual emergency!

"Don't you think I've tried? I've been failing miserably - and I'm running out of people to buy books for."

Eventually Blake would catch on that she was only buying books as an excuse to be there talking - and that would be...well, not that much more embarrassing as some of the things she'd already said.

"Wait...you can't actually be telling me...you're having problems flirting with someone?"

She frowned as Weiss' laughter filtered through the phone.

"Yeah, yeah, I know, soooo funny," she responded flatly. "Come on, Weiss - I need your help! How do I let her know that I like her? I have one idea, but it totally sucks."

"You're asking me for advice?"

"Yeah! You're like the most awkward person I know when it comes to feelings - I have no idea how you and Ruby ended up together, but there must be something helpful in there somewhere!"

There was a moment of silence on the other end of the telephone, while Weiss was probably trying to decide whether to yell at her or actually help.

"Ruby!" the girl hollered into the phone instead. "Here, talk to your sister - she needs your help."

"No - no, Weiss! I don't want Ruby -"

"Yang?"

"Heyyy Ruby."

"What do you need help with?"

Sighing, she figured she might as well see what sort of wisdom her little sister might be able to offer. Even though she highly doubted it would be much help - the girl couldn't flirt to save her life. The brunette had won over Weiss with that adorable sweetness that oozed from every pore.

Unfortunately, she lacked in the adorable sweetness department. She used to make up for that with charm, but with that gone...

"I'm just...having a little problem with a...girl," she admitted quietly, lowering her voice so that no one walking on the sidewalk near her would overhear.

"Girl problem? Like, she won't leave you alone?"

"Uh...no...the opposite, actually. I can't figure out how to spend more time with her - cuz I sorta...really like her..."

"You...really...what? Weiss! Did you know about this?"

She heard another voice speaking hazily in the background for a few seconds, until she could suddenly hear Weiss speaking much more clearly.

"Hey Yang, I put you on speaker - tell us about this girl!" Ruby said excitedly, completely forgetting that she'd been asking for help.

"God, you guys are the worst...her name is Blake. She works at this little bookstore downtown and she's so cute and sweet and...perfect..."

Her words trailed off as an image of the girl appeared in her mind, flashing that amused smile at her while once again filling her chest with butterflies.

"Oh my god...is she swooning?" Weiss asked in disbelief.

"She's swooning!" Ruby quipped cheerfully.

"Guys, really not helping."

"Can you not flirt with any girls anymore?" Weiss pressed, far too much amusement in the girl's voice for her liking - she could practically see the girl's smirk floating in the air in front of her.

"No, I can! I just...don't want to. I want to flirt with her - but then my brain completely shuts down and I can't!"

It was still so unnerving...it was like she'd been stripped of all her armor and forced to go into battle with nothing but a stick.

"I think you just ask her out, and even if it's horrible and awkward, at least you did it," Weiss suggested.

"Yeah!" Ruby wholeheartedly agreed. "And maybe she's nervous too!"

"She's not nervous," she replied, suppressing the urge to turn around and go home - giving up this hopeless endeavor. "She's totally cool - she spends most of the time laughing at my inability to speak."

"Then...what are you going to do?" Ruby asked.

"Well, since you guys don't have any brilliant ideas, I'm going to do the only thing I thought of," she replied while brushing past another slowly moving pedestrian on the sidewalk. "I'm going to return the book she lent me, and I wrote my number on a little piece of paper and stuck it inside. So when she finds it, I'm hoping she calls me."

There was a long pause of silence on the other end of the line as the two girls mulled over her grand plan.

"Wow...that sounds so…"

"Un-Yang-like," Ruby finished.

"Does that mean - do you think it's a horrible idea?" she asked, suddenly even more nervous, if that was possible.

But it was literally the only thing she'd been able to think of after hours of thought.

"Well, what happens if she doesn't get the note for a while? Wouldn't the wait drive you crazy?" Weiss asked.

The girl made a very good point - she would literally be jumping in excitement every time her phone rang, only to be disappointed when it wasn't Blake...for how long? Days? Weeks? Months?

"I could make sure it's a little visible at the top -"

"Then what if she finds it right away? She'll read it right in front of you," Ruby commented.

The thought drained all the blood from her face.

That would be horrible. She could just imagine Blake standing there, reading her tiny note, looking really confused as to why she'd left her number on a piece of paper in a book instead of giving it directly to her like a normal person.

"Then what do I do?" she wailed. "The store's gonna close soon so I can't exactly sit down and plan something else!"

"Just...do what Yang would do. Throw out some flattery and cute compliments and ask her out!" Ruby said.

"Yeah, if it's really as bad as you say, you probably can't make it any worse," Weiss added, the girl clearly still smirking at the situation.

"Believe me...I would somehow find a way to make it worse. That's how bad this is," she replied, vividly remembering the botched 'your eyes are stars' compliment.

"Just go for it, Yang! I know you can do it!" Ruby encouraged her, as always her number one fan.

"I bet she chickens out," Weiss added flippantly.

She immediately knew what the girl was doing...but fell for it anyway.

"I will not chicken out," she replied with a scoff.

"You so totally will."

"I won't! I swear I'll ask her out right now - if I don't…"

She could hear the other two waiting on bated breath for what this wager would be. She needed to go big -

"If I don't, I will...I'll…"

Oh god...could she say this? It was pretty drastic...but she needed drastic. Anything less, and she would actually chicken out. And then Weiss would never let her hear the end of it.

"I'll cut my hair!"

Ruby gasped.

"You're kidding," Weiss replied in disbelief.

"I'm...so totally serious," she answered, biting her lip as her nerves amplified. "If I don't ask her out, then I'll cut my hair."

Running one hand through her long hair, she was already regretting the words.

Not her hair...she didn't want to cut her hair!

"Wow…well, you'll look really weird with shorter hair," Weiss commented.

"Yeah! Totally weird," Ruby agreed.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence!" she said, rolling her eyes just as Pages came into view. "I'll let you guys know how it goes - love you!"

"Love you too!" she heard her little sister quip before disconnecting the call and shoving her phone into one of her pockets.

The stakes for this evening had just been raised to epic levels.

It was with a deep breath that she opened the door and stepped inside, greeted once again by the smell of stacks and stacks of paper. Wasting no time by the door, she walked immediately to the counter, which she reached just in time to watch Blake hand a shopping bag towards a customer - the man turning away and striding past her towards the exit a second later.

It was then that Blake's eyes found hers and that tiny smile grew even bigger.

And butterflies once again went crazy in her chest.

This time, the girl walked around the counter to greet her before she could even try to say hello.

"Yang," Blake said, eyes twinkling in anticipation. "What are we looking for today? More gifts for...girlfriends?"

Laughing nervously at the joke, she ran her hand through her hair one more time while searching for the words to respond with.

It could just be her imagination...but it felt like the girl was happy to see her. Like...really happy to see her.

But maybe that was just her wishful thinking...

God, this was going to end so badly.

"I, uh...actually, I wanted to get this back to you," she replied, pulling the loved book carefully from her bag and handing it over to the girl, who took it in moderate confusion.

"You read it already?"

"Y-yeah! Of course!" she said, leaving out the part where she'd skipped work today in order to finish the entire thing in one sitting. "I didn't want you to be without it for too long."

"And…?" Blake asked, leaning back against the counter and looking at her expectantly.

And her mind froze.

"And?" she asked, unable to figure out what the girl was trying to ask her.

Blake giggled at her obliviousness.

"And...what did you think of it?"

"Oh!"

Duh, Yang.

"It was really, really awesome - just...great."

No one would ever believe her, but she'd actually written down a quick review of the novel after she'd finished and memorized it. Of course, she couldn't remember any of what she'd written now that she was here.

"I'm happy to hear that! What were some of your favorite parts?"

"Oh um…"

She'd just read it - how was she having such a difficult time remembering what happened?

She knew she should have written down some talking points on her hand...

"The uh...the part in the hospital -" she began, a hazy memory of that chapter beginning to form. "Where they finally admitted their feelings for each other - that was my favorite part."

Now that she could recall the scene, she remembered how she'd practically squealed with joy when the two main characters had finally gotten on the same page. It had only taken like...29 chapters for that to happen…

"That's a great choice," Blake responded with a happy grin. "And probably my favorite part too - who doesn't love seeing a long overdue romance finally sparking to life?"

There always seemed to be more behind the girl's words than face value...which she might have been able to figure out if her brain wasn't refusing to function normally.

"So...did you maybe want another recommendation or...?"

Blake let the question trail off, allowing her the opportunity to suggest something different.

Like what she'd come here determined to do….which the life of her hair now depended upon.

"Oh, uh...no, I just wanted to get that back to you," she replied, internally kicking herself for her cowardice.

Blake looked a little disappointed, absentmindedly tapping the spine of the book against one palm while thinking deeply on something. But the girl merely nodded at her words.

"Oh...ok, well if you ever need anything else…"

"Y-yeah, definitely!" she replied as she backed slowly away, overwhelmed by how extraordinarily nervous the thought of asking the girl out made her.

But as she turned around and several strands of hair fell across her shoulder, she paused.

Ruby would sympathize with her, but Weiss...Weiss would make some comment about standing by her words and following through, yada yada, and she would be forced to follow through in order to maintain her pride.

Plus, what was the worse that could happen - Blake could say no?

Oh god...Blake could say no.

Nope, she was going to do it. Because...she was Yang Xiao Long. And she was...not...afraid of asking a beautiful, intelligent, fun, playful girl out.

Turning slowly back towards the counter, she found the girl still watching her intently, Blake straightening from her relaxed posture as they made eye contact once more.

"I uh...actually wanted to ask you something..."

It felt like she'd just eaten a jar of sand - her mouth incredibly dry as she tried to speak. Making matters worse was how loudly her heart was beating in her ears, making it difficult to hear anything she could possibly say.

But Blake was patiently waiting for the question, giving her a small smile of encouragement and a nod to continue.

Here goes nothing - her hair would be safe.

Ego? Well...maybe not so much.

"I was...I was hoping maybe sometime...we could see each other outside of this store? I mean, like, intentionally see each other, not just bump into each other on the street or something. N-not that that would be a bad thing, either! I'd just like to try to see you - n-not in a creepy way or anything - but...uh…g-god this is terrible. Can I - can I try that again?"

Blake gave her an amused grin and nodded again, eyes sparkling with unconcealed delight.

"Ok...ok…" she said, taking a deep breath and briefly closing her eyes in an attempt to clear her mind and still her nerves.

Of course, when she reopened her eyes, Blake was still gazing at her intently, golden eyes filled with patience and amusement.

"M-maybe sometime...you and I...we could meet somewhere else, somewhere not here. Or I mean, I guess we could meet here, but then leave - or just spend time together? Doing things that are - fun or something?"

Cringing, she raised one hand and pinched the bridge of her nose, wondering exactly how she managed to sound so stupid in so few sentences.

"That wasn't any better, was it?" she asked, risking another glance at the girl.

But Blake just laughed happily at the question.

"It was a little better," the girl replied, before suddenly reaching forward and taking ahold of both her hands.

And she literally stopped breathing - staring down at their joined hands, feeling every bit of silky smooth skin touching her own. The girl had such soft hands...and they were so warm...she could probably stay like this forever -

"Yang?"

Jerking her head up, she found Blake looking at her with the beginnings of a smirk tugging at the corners of her lips.

"Yeah?" she asked, the word coming out breathless even though she hadn't moved a muscle in the past few seconds.

"Would you like to get dinner with me?" Blake asked slowly, clearly repeating a question she'd already posed. "I could close up now and we could walk somewhere - there's plenty of good places nearby."

"You're...are you serious?"

This was...unexpected. She'd...Blake was agreeing - or, actually, Blake was asking her out?

Right now?

Blake just chuckled at her shock, walking back behind the register and pulling out a set of keys to begin whatever lockup procedure the store had.

"This'll just take a minute."

Nodding her head, she moved over to wait by the counter while the girl rushed off towards the very back of the store.

Somehow...her bumbling had actually been enough for the girl to agree to her botched request?

The sound of a few light switches being flipped accompanied the sudden darkness in the back half of the store. A few seconds later, the girl was returning to the counter, where she began typing things into the computer.

"You know, when you first walked in...I thought you were just another one of those pretty girls who flirted for the fun of it," Blake said, glancing away from the computer to smile at her. "But then you opened your mouth..."

"W-well," she began to respond, not wanting Blake to get the wrong impression of who she...had been. "I actually - I mean, I used to flirt a lot...but now I can't really seem to..."

Blake just laughed at that admission, seemingly unsurprised.

"Yeah, I figured that out when you looked just as shocked as I was by the words coming out of your mouth...or the complete lack of them."

She managed to chuckle in embarrassment, remembering how horribly tongue tied she'd been their first...and every subsequent...meeting.

"I'm normally...a little more charming," she added.

Blake made a soft 'hmm' of understanding, clicking one last thing on the computer screen before reaching underneath the counter to grab a small backpack.

"I have to ask," the girl suddenly asked, setting the bag temporarily down on the counter. "Why did you even come back? This must make you really uncomfortable."

"I - well because you're...very pretty and really -"

Feeling another blush appear from admitting that she thought Blake was pretty, she stopped talking and shrugged her shoulders, unsure as to where she'd wanted to go from there.

It was really difficult for her to explain why she'd gone back - just that she'd known she had to...because she'd never felt this way before.

"Well, I'm glad you did," Blake replied with a smile.

"Really? Even though I'm just...like, a bumbling idiot?"

Now it was Blake's turn to shrug her shoulders.

"I think it's adorable. Plus, wouldn't you want to be around someone who brings out a side of you that you've never seen before?"

There had probably been much more to touch on in the girl's words, but her brain had temporarily frozen - replaying the word 'adorable' over and over again.

Maybe Ruby hadn't gotten all those genes, after all!

"You...think I'm adorable?"

Surprisingly, Blake looked a little embarrassed at her question, blushing ever so slightly but not breaking eye contact.

"Yes...of course. I wouldn't have asked you to dinner otherwise."

She stared for a second, feeling her cheeks grow even hotter at Blake's admission.

If anyone had asked her last week if she would want to spend her days feeling completely flustered around a girl, she would have said hell no. But, sitting here, she realized how addicting it was. Standing here, making a fool out of herself, was somehow addicting.

Maybe it was because it was something she'd never experienced before - something that was not easy...where she was starting from scratch.

But it was actually...amazing.

She was learning how to talk to Blake, how to be around the girl, from nothing. None of her prior flirting 'experience' did her any good. Nor did any of the pick up lines she'd used before...it was all garbage.

This was truly the biggest challenge she'd ever been presented, all wrapped up in the single, grinning girl standing in front of her. Maybe she wouldn't be able to flirt with Blake for months, but when she finally could...she will have learned something actually worthwhile.

She'll have learned how to be the other half of a whole - how to be someone's soulmate.

Because that's what they must be - she was sure of it now. That was the only way to explain the girl's effect on her - how her life had been turned completely upside down the moment she'd walked into some random tiny bookstore.

Picking up her bag and slinging it over one shoulder, the girl gave her another smile.

"Ready?"

With a nod, the two of them walked to the front door, where Blake flipped off the remaining lights before they stepped outside - for the first time, the two of them leaving the pages of books behind as they traversed into the real world.