Author's Note: Thank you so much to those of you who reviewed to the first chapter! It really motivates me to keep on writing. I was actually surprised to get reviews on the first day after putting this story out there. Anyhow, I am very happy that you guys seem to like my story, so I will continue to write. On to Chapter 2!

The Second Encounter

Disclaimer: I don't and never will own Zelda

"Bye Zelda! Bye Ruto! See you two later!" Malon said as she left the dorm. She was going shopping for a new outfit for her date with Sheik that night. It was still morning right now, but she wanted to have enough time to go shopping, get a manicure, get a haircut, and a whole list of other things in order to impress her date.

As soon as the door closed, Ruto turned to Zelda. "Let's get another pizza for lunch today! Only instead of ordering it, we'll go down to the pizzeria. That way we'll have more time to chat with Mr. Hottie."

Zelda nodded, "I was thinking of that last night. Good idea."

After a couple hours of doing homework for college, the two girls decided it was time for lunch. "Eeee! I'm so excited!" Ruto squealed as she hurried into her room to change.

Zelda smiled to herself as she changed as well. She was also excited about meeting the boy again, but didn't show it quite as openly as Ruto did. She wanted to know what his name was, and had brainstormed all night about possible names he might have. Now she would get to find out for real what it was.

Zelda came out of her room in tight blue jeans and a white shirt, and a mini denim-jacket. She put on her white flip-flops and waited for Ruto by the door.

Ruto came out of her room and twirled around. "So how do I look Zellie?" She asked in a cheerful voice. Ruto was dressed in a tight blue mini-skirt and a black halter top that exposed her belly-button.

"Um... good." Zelda said flatly, not exactly surprised that Ruto was wearing provocative clothing. She always does that sort of thing when she is out looking for a boyfriend because she knows that it attracts the attention. "But why would she be out for a boyfriend right now?" Zelda wondered, but her thoughts were interrupted by Ruto's voice.

"Let's go then!" Ruto exclaimed as she snatched her plaid blue and black purse from a chair and headed out the door.

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The two hopped into the car and drove over to Triforce Pizzeria, where they had ordered from the night before. Ruto and Zelda entered the building, and Zelda started blushing already.

"What's the matter with you? We haven't even seen him yet." Ruto scolded. "What if he remembers me? He'll remember that I was the dummy who didn't know proper English..." Zelda thought to herself, and imagined the boy cracking up with laughter and making fun of her because of how stupid she had acted before.

A small gasp could be heard from Ruto. "There he is! At the cash register!" She whispered to Zelda. Zelda's heart jumped and she turned in the right direction.

And there he was, just as glorious as ever. He had the uniform from yesterday on and he looked bored because it was really too early for most people to want to eat pizza. Ruto dragged Zelda over to the counter and the boy looked up from what he was doing. "Welcome to Triforce Pizzer-" He stopped and smiled, "Hey, you two look familiar. Have I delivered to you recently?"

Zelda bit her lip, "I knew he'd remember! Now it looks like I'm nothing but a fat pizza hog."

"Why yes, you did actually." Ruto said with a flirtatious smile which made Zelda annoyed. "Why does she always have to be like that? No matter where we go or what we do, she's always so freaking flirty." She thought with irritation.

"I thought so." The boy said smiling back at her. "And he's flirting back!" Zelda wanted to cry out of disappointment.

"So what's your name? I'm Ruto." She said, extending a hand towards the boy.

"Link." He said, shaking Ruto's hand. Zelda couldn't take it anymore. She couldn't stand Ruto always getting all the attention. "I'm Zelda." She said, forcing a smile.

For the first time, the boy's smile was directed towards her, which made Zelda go weak in the knees. "Nice to meet you." Link said.

Another customer came in, and Link seemed to remember that he was at work. "So would you like anything?" He asked. Ruto shrugged, "Um, one second. We're still thinking."

Link nodded and turned to the lady who had just walked in, "Can I help you ma'am?" The lady nodded and began her order.

While Link was typing the lady's order into the cash register, Ruto turned to Zelda and whispered, "So far so good. Now what we're gonna do is ask to hang out with him."

Zelda nodded nervously and waited for Link to finish talking to the other customer. Ruto stood grinning excitedly by her side.

"So...Link." She said, emphasizing his name in a very seductive manner. "We should hang out sometime. What are you doing tomorrow?"

Link smiled, "Nothing really. I don't have to work tomorrow. Do you want to meet up for ice cream or something?"

Ruto giggled, "Trying to make me fat now? I'm just kidding, that sounds great! Here's my number..." She waited for Link to pull out a small notepad before continuing.

Zelda was dumbfounded as she watched this. It seemed as though she had suddenly become invisible to the eyes of her friend and Link. "They're making plans without including me?" She thought with confusion.

Ruto tapped her shoulder and pointed towards the door. "Let's go." She looked at Link and winked, "See ya tomorrow at noon!" With that, she lightly pushed Zelda out the door and toward the car.

Link was left alone at the register once again. He wondered why they had left without even getting something to eat. It seemed to him as if they'd come in just to speak with him, without intending to eat in the first place. He shrugged and continued working, thinking all the while about the date with the almost-stranger girl tomorrow.

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As soon as they got in the car, Ruto pumped her fist into the air. "Yes! I told you it wouldn't be hard to get hooked up with him!" Then she looked at her friend, and realized Zelda wasn't in as high spirits.

"Look, Zellie. I'm sorry, but he just seems more interested in me. It's nothing personal but... I'd kind of like it if you didn't come tomorrow."

Zelda looked at her, and tried not to show her anger. "Sure, I understand." She said in a slightly sarcastic tone, but Ruto was too busy daydreaming to notice.

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When they got home, Malon was still out. Zelda was upset that she didn't have a friend to talk to. She decided to go into her room and think things out.

"It's not fair! Ruto knew that I wanted this chance for myself, but she goes in and steals it!" She cried to herself. "Oh well, I guess Ruto will go out with Link tomorrow and they'll fall in love and get married and have a bajillion kids, and I'll be left single forever." Zelda thought miserably, then her mind focused on Link.

At least one mystery was solved: She knew his name now. "Maybe I should just be happy for Ruto and move on..." She thought, but something inside her was telling her that Link wasn't Ruto's type anyway. He was too mellow, and maybe a little shy. "Kind of like me..." That was her last thought before she fell asleep, still in a haze of confusion.

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Zelda woke up the next morning completely tangled up in the sheets, which is a big sign of having had a restless night. She sat up, her hair ruffled and messy. She smiled at first, thinking about the new day, but then she remembered what had happened yesterday. "Ugh, of course." She muttered as she staggered out of the bed.

Ruto was sitting at the small table eating a yogurt and reading a magazine. She looked up when she saw Zelda, "Hey girl!" She greeted. "Today's the big day! I'm so excited!" She grinned and turned back to the magazine (which Zelda noticed was a local dating magazine).

"Sure. Big day." Zelda replied in a monotone. "Big day for you." She thought bitterly. "Where's Malon?" She asked, wanting to change the subject.

"She sleeping. She got back kinda late from her date last night. God knows what they were doing after dinner." Ruto said, then giggled at her own thoughts.

"Oh." Zelda wished Malon was awake so she would have somebody to vent her anger on, a good friend who would understand. Then it occurred to her that she couldn't vent her anger anyway, not with Ruto still in the vicinity.

Zelda plopped onto the couch and turned on the TV so she could half-listen to the old re-runs of the shows she had seen billions of times before.

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At about 10:00 that morning, Ruto stood up from the table and announced, "I'm off! I still have two hours to shop and plan before I meet Mr. Hottie for ice cream." She grabbed her purse and ran out the door.

Zelda sighed, knowing it was too late to stop her now. "That's two of my friends that have gone on a date this weekend. How come it's never my turn?"

The door to Malon's room opened and she walked out, looking like she had been woken up. "Why's that Ruto so darn noisy all the time? I was sleeping just fine, then I hear that loudmouth's loud mouth banging off the walls."

Zelda couldn't help but chuckle at her friend's angry rant. "Good morning, Mal. How was the date last night?"

This question triggered a completely different mood in Malon. She suddenly smiled and her eyes lit up. "It was great! Want to hear about it?" Zelda nodded, knowing Malon would tell her anyway."Well, it started off with me bumping into Sheik at the mall where I was shopping before the date. I was so nervous because I didn't want him to think I was desperate. But it all worked out in the end because we decided to spend the day at the mall, plus go to dinner later, so it was like two dates in one. He said I looked great in what I was wearing already, and that I didn't need to buy anything special just to go out with him. It was like he read my mind! So I decided not to buy anything after all, and then we went to a really nice restaurant and it turns out we have so much in common, and then on the way home..."

Zelda didn't really understand much of anything that Malon was saying, for she was talking so quickly. But she nodded every few moments to let Malon know she was at least attempting to listen to the story.

"And it was just perfect! We've planned another date at the park next weekend. I can't wait, it's going to be so... Zellie what's wrong?" Zelda's eyes were red and watery as if she was trying not to cry.

"It's not fair! It's just not fair..." Her tears fell as she tried to think of how to explain the situation.

"Zelda, just tell me." Malon said firmly.

"Ruto is off on a date with the boy from the other night!" Zelda continued to tell Malon all about the plans they had made to go down to the pizzaria, and how they had started talking to him, and how his name was Link. She went on to explain that Ruto was flirting with him, and that he seemed to like her better, but that they seemed like completely different people.

"And she knew I liked him! Why did she go in and steal the chance from me like that?" Zelda cried.

After patiently listening to Zelda's cries, Malon said, "It really seems to me that Ruto was afraid that you would go out with him, so that's why she decided to steal the chance."

"But why wouldn't she want me to go out with him?"

"Because... well you and I both know that Ruto likes to be with the best-looking guys, so maybe she knew she would have been jealous if you went out with him. Link was it? He's definitely in the good-looking category, so Ruto just wanted to show him off. Think of it this way, she's like a little kid with a new toy. She likes to show it off to all the other kids so they get jealous, but as soon as she gets bored with it, it doesn't matter to her what the other kids think. At that point, she tosses the toy out and walks away."

Zelda wiped her eyes, "So you think that Ruto is going out with him just to make me and other people jealous?"

"Possibly."

"But what's the point? Why doesn't she just let me go out with him instead? It'll last longer because we both know that Ruto just has 'flings' and never anything real."

Malon nodded, "That's exactly right. She isn't good at keeping long relationships, so she would get jealous if you did. I say you should just wait until after this date that they are having, then go in and take Link back. He'll realize that you'd be much more committed than Ruto is."

"I guess that sounds like a good idea." Zelda said, then smiled, "Thanks Mal, I feel a lot better now. I'll talk to Ruto when she gets home, find out how the date went, then I'll try to have some time with Link alone so he knows that I'm a much better girlfriend than she is."

Suddenly, Zelda couldn't wait until Ruto got home. She actually wanted her to go on the date.

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Whew! This chapter is done with, but I am having a slight case of writer's block. I have about fifty possibilities of what could happen next, but I don't know which one to use. Should I make this story dramatic, or should I bring it back down to the 'cute' level?

It seems that this story has taken a turn for 'drama', but if you have any ideas about how to bring it back to the 'cute' level, let me know because I'd like to get started on Chapter 3 as soon as possible. (I'll start on it regardless, but ideas are definitely appreciated)

Chapter 3 will probably be focused on the ice-cream date between Ruto and Link. I really need suggestions right now, so please review and let me know how I can change the story. Or if you like the way it's going, tell me you like it. That would be great too. Until Chapter 3, review!

-Musical Grass-