Chapter Text
“I’ll buy you a drink.”
“Weiss, no!”
So this is how she dies; surrounded by a bunch of her friends at a restaurant for her birthday, flushed face as they holler at her and offer her more drinks and desserts, utterly embarrassed in an unfamiliar way. Gods, this is why she doesn’t usually drink. She knows people say stupid stuff and do stupid things when they drink (she will never forgive Yang for throwing up on her favorite blanket), so why did she open her mouth?
Why did she tell her friends about the cute boy across the restaurant?
It was an accident; After she had taken her first shot of vodka, as well as the two tasty cocktails they made her chug (curse her for being easily pressured), it started to kick in. First it was the pain in her chest, burning as the alcohol hit her stomach. Then, it was the heat in her cheeks and back of her neck, a light sweat much different than embarrassment or shyness. Lastly, the thing that got her in trouble was her loose tongue.
It had been an accident, whispering to Penny that the boy across the restaurant was cute, but she simply couldn’t stop her eyes from wandering outside of her peripheral vision from the moment she noticed him; pretty smiles to the older woman he sat with, bright eyes beckoning her in like flying saucers, and soft, tan skin poking out from his rolled up sleeves and partially unbuttoned top. He was simply gorgeous, and she couldn’t be the only one to notice.
Well, Penny definitely made sure that wouldn’t happen, loudly repeating it to her for everyone else to hear. Of course her friends threw a fit and collectively decided she needed to go for it. Go ask him out, get his number, come on, I’ll buy you a drink if you do.
“You’ve told me you’ve never liked anyone, until now,” Penny says. “I think you should go for it!”
“Ugh, guys stop it,” Ruby complains. “I just think he’s cute, I’m not trying to find a boyfriend or anything.”
“We all know you’re not brave enough—” Yang says.
“Hey!” Ouch.
“Which is why,” she continues, letting them turn back to her. “I’ll do it.”
“Yang no please—”
“Do it!” Nora slams her fist on the table, and ends up knocking over her drink.
While most of the table makes fun of her and shove napkins onto the mess, Yang takes the moment to say, “Come on, please?”
“Worst case scenario, he says no and you never see him again,” Blake points out, not looking up from dabbing the table.
“But what if I do? What if he suddenly shows up everywhere afterwards?” Ruby counters. “And I’m just reminded of being rejected over and over again?”
“What if he says yes, though?” Pyrrha suggests. “You’re adorable, Ruby, and a wonderful person too.”
“I know I’m not a bad person, but like… what if I’m annoying? Or—”
“Stop right there,” Weiss cuts her off. “You’re not annoying.”
“Are we forgetting when you two met?” Yang reminds them.
A horrible story leading to a best friend. Ruby was walking to class with a stack of books, not looking where she was going, and ended up bumping into Weiss, dropping her books and causing Weiss to fall. To this day, Ruby will argue that it wasn’t her fault that someone had to wear high heels to class, however she still felt bad, and after seeing how pissed Weiss was, she decided the only way to make it up to her was by making cookies and babbling to her constantly as an apology. Soon enough, Weiss begrudgingly started to call Ruby a friend, and now they were even roommates. Ruby’s never been super organized, and as much as Weiss hated it, she had maids and butlers to do everything for her, including chores. They took a bit, but they both taught each other a lot and have reached an equilibrium in their apartment.
“You’re not annoying anymore,” Weiss corrects herself. “Even if you were, the right person would love that about you. If he’s not interested because of that, he wasn’t worth it in the first place.”
“You deserve someone good,” Blake hops in. “But you’ll never know if he is if you don't take that chance. Plus, he is pretty cute.”
Ruby whines, resting her head on her palm. “I don't know…”
“I’ll do the dishes for a month,” Weiss offers.
“I’ll pay for your bill,” Pyrrha interjects.
“I’ll make you an entire batch of cookies,” Ren says.
Ruby looks up at all of her friends, eying them for a few seconds. Despite having most of them giving her smirks and giggles, she does see complete sincerity from everyone. She personally thinks they're blowing this whole thing out of proportion, and she hopes they won't react like this every single time she expresses even the slightest bit of interest in a boy. However, they had some pretty tempting offers right now, and a teeny tiny part of her hopes he will be interested, and if everything goes well, there won’t be another boy to act like this over.
Okay, I’m getting way ahead of myself.
She sighs. “Are the offers on the table even if he says no?” When they all nod, she makes her mind up. “Okay,” She caves, feeling like she’s agreed to sell her soul to the Brother of Darkness.
Yang gives her one more glance, and without saying another word, she hops right out of their booth and starts walking towards the cute boy across the restaurant.
-
“Hi there!”
Oscar was only here to catch up with his aunt. His college classes were fun, finally feeling like a normal kid after being homeschooled his entire life, his grandfather checked on him constantly (perhaps too often) and made sure he adjusted well to his schedule and was getting good grades, and it was just incredible to be away from home for the first time.
Even if he hasn't really made any friends yet.
Not that he minds too much, though. Going to a frat party sounds like a total nightmare, and he doesn't care enough about alcohol to get himself a fake ID to meet other people at bars, so those are both out. His classmates are nice to him, with all of them going through the same anxious experience of the first taste of independence, but none have extended past classmate cordiality. What he wants is to make sure he stays at Beacon, so that means grades are more important than anything else. If he stays on top of his classes, that means he'll have four years to figure out how to socialize.
Maybe he needs to try sooner, because now there was a girl in front of him who walked over as soon as his aunt went to the bathroom. She’s a tall blonde, looking a few years older than him, with the most mischievous grin on her face as she stood in front of him. He feels extremely intimidated with the way she stares at him so confidently, however she doesn’t seem malicious, and his aunt would return shortly and save him if the conversation goes awry.
So, he lets out a weak, “Um… hi?”
If she sees his confusion, she doesn’t comment, instead clearly having something to talk to him about. “My sister over at our table thinks you’re cute and wants your number.”
He follows her finger when she points to a large corner booth, counting eight more people who are all staring at him with excitement, like they want to kidnap him. All except the redhead he could see burying her face into her hands— that must be her sister then— and it makes him flush; it doesn't seem to be a prank, when the sister is clearly embarrassed about it and can't even look up at him.
Wow, this is new. He never planned on going on dates or finding anyone this soon when he’s still getting used to university, and frankly, he’s a bit surprised someone noticed him and is flustered by him. He hasn’t had that sort of attention on him before, and at the very least, it was a big ego boost.
It would be great if she could look up and he could see her face, though.
“The one hiding her face?” He asks hesitantly, just to confirm.
The blonde turns back to the table and scoffs. “For fuck's sake,” she whispers under her breath. “Just a second,” she sends him a quick smile, just as cunning as the one she had when she walked up to him, before seeming to mouth something to the white haired girl next to his supposed admirer.
-
“Oh my Gods oh my Gods oh my Gods—” Ruby’s freaking out. Yang walked right up to him with no shame! And now they’re talking! She can’t deal with this, she can't face him, she wants to leave or hide in the bathroom, but she's in a middle seat so the best she can do is hide her face in her hands.
After a few seconds, Weiss taps her and says, “You’re fine, he's not looking at you.”
Ruby dares to look up, and oh my Gods Weiss is a lying snake who’s going to die in her sleep tonight because he was looking directly at her with an indecipherable expression, with bright eyes on her and only her (not even looking at her friends, just her) and she gasps and breaks the eye contact to groan into her arms on the table. “Weiss!”
“He needed to see what you look like!” Weiss argues, not looking ashamed at all, and Ruby lets out a whine.
“What is she doing?” Jaune mutters.
“She’s sitting down!” Nora answers, pointing at Yang now sitting next to the older woman sitting with the boy.
“I can’t look,” Ruby moans. If she said she was going to throw up from how anxious she is, would they grant her mercy? What if he doesn’t like what he sees? She had to have looked stupid, staring at him with wide eyes and hideously red cheeks, then she probably embarrassed herself even more by hiding her face like a child.
Brothers please save me.
-
Oh wow, she’s cute. Really cute. And she thinks he’s cute? Now she’s back to hiding her face— what a shame, it’s a beautiful one— and he’s left stunned that someone as cute as her also thinks the same about him. Really?
“So? Do you think she’s cute?” The blonde pulls him out of his thoughts.
“Uh… yeah, actually, I do,” Scary to admit, he’s never even liked anyone before but if he’s getting this opportunity to find a pretty girlfriend handed to him, he’d be stupid not to try, even if her sister is extremely intimidating and might give him a shovel talk.
“Hi there, can we help you?” He hears his aunt’s voice walking towards them, and if this was any other conversation he would be grateful, but she has been on his tail about finding friends or a girlfriend from the moment he moved here.
“Hi, I’m Yang,” She sticks her hand out— oh she has a prosthetic arm, he wonders what happened— to shake his aunt’s.
“I’m June,” his aunt shakes her hand, still giving her a wary glance.
“I was just telling…”
“Oscar,” He says, only now realizing he never got her name, or given his.
“Oscar,” Yang continues and gestures to her table. “That my sister, the one in the red and black over there, thinks he’s cute and wants his number.”
Aunt June’s face lights up, and he knows he’s in for an embarrassing time. “Oh, Oscar! How sweet!”
“Aunt June!”
“Come on Dear, I’ve been waiting for this! You’re eighteen and in college now! This is the perfect time. Yang, you said? Tell us more about her. Maybe a picture, since she won’t get her head out of her hands for me to see her,” June says, and pats her seat for Yang to sit down. Dear Gods.
“Well, her name is Ruby,” Yang sits down and pulls out her scroll, eventually opening her gallery to pull up a few photos. “She turned twenty just a few days ago which is why we’re here, she’s a criminology major at Beacon, she does track and field—”
“What’s she like?” June interrupts her, and he has to admit she’s pulling the conversation in the right direction. It’s all very interesting to hear about her, but it says nothing about compatibility.
Yang takes it in stride. “She’s more introverted. She doesn’t really like parties and such, even if we’re all there. She’d rather read books, watch movies, or play video games instead.” She pulls out a picture of her, Ruby, and a couple of her other friends in a giant living room, all covered in different blankets and snacks all around them, and Ruby’s smile for the picture is… really pretty.
“She sounds like your cup of tea, Oscar,” June is grinning at him, and he can’t even deny it.
“Really?” Yang leans an arm on the table to eye him.
“Oh, my nephew’s not much of a partier, either,” June is all too happy to explain, and he wants to die or jump off of a building. Why does she make him sound like such a loser? “We live on a farm outside of Mistral, so I homeschooled him, but I could only teach him so much, and he wanted to see the world. His grandfather is the headmaster at Beacon—”
“Ozpin?” Yang cuts her off with a gasp.
“Yep, he offered him a place here as long as he stayed on top of his classes, and he’s been doing quite well,” June gives him a grin. “So that's been his biggest priority.” No one knows him like she does, but right now, he can’t decide if it’s a good or bad thing.
“What do you major in?” Yang turns back to him.
“Uhh, environmental science,” he answers. “Maybe a minor in english? I don’t know yet.”
“So you probably like to read, then?” Yang raises her eyebrows at him.
“Oh, he was the typical kid who would stay up with a flashlight under the blanket to finish the last chapter,” June answers with a teasing look towards him. “Of course, I never let him sleep in when there was work to do every morning, but he would still stay up late multiple times a week.”
“Oh, Ruby was the same way. Even with track and field and marching band in high school, as well as her job, she'd still fit a couple chapters in each night,” Yang tells them. “But there’s a lot more to her that you can learn about yourself. Can’t spoil everything, you know?” She stands up again, conveniently (or purposely) making herself look even more gargantuan than before. “So what's it gonna be, Oscar? Are you interested?”
He glances at his aunt, who’s telling him ‘don’t you dare be stupid and say no’ with her eyes, and not assisting him at all.
“She… She really thinks that?” He gets out.
Yang seems to give him a break and her eyes soften. “She does. I know when she's lying and when she's not. And, for the record, we’ll admit that you are a cutie. A bit too young for most of us, though, and a bit too male for me,” She winks, but her words are nothing but sincere.
Oh, that’s actually really nice to hear. Not that he’s insecure or anything, but he might be riding this high for a while. But if he were to look at all of them, he can't deny a tether pulling him to Ruby over everyone else; she is gorgeous, somehow fitting the type he didn't even know he had, and the fact that she had enough interest to send her sister over is…
“Yeah,” he decides before he finishes his thought, surprising himself. “I… I’d take her number. Or give her mine— what— whatever she wants.”
Yang looks at him again, examining him one more time, before a big smile spreads on her face. “What if she wanted to meet you right now?”
“Um— I uh…” Okay, now that just sounds terrifying. The idea of a bunch of strangers who are all clearly invested just watching them interact, or having them all trying to get to know him all at once— he considers himself brave sometimes, but not that much.
“I’m joking,” She laughs loudly at him, and then clicks on her scroll and turns it to show him her screen— a contact for ‘baby sister’ and a number. “I know I said she wants your number, but I guarantee she’s gonna be too scared to text you first. Don’t leave her hanging,” Her last sentence is just a bit aggressive, but clearly protective more than anything else, and he nods quickly.
“Uh… Ruby, you said?” He checks.
“Ruby Rose,” she nods.
“Yeah, I’ll— I’ll text her tonight. Promise,” He pulls out his scroll and types it in, then puts it back down on the table.
Yang seems satisfied, and with a grin, she says, “Well Oscar, I hope I see you around. Nice to meet you both,” and walks away, leaving him red faced to deal with his aunt’s excitement and teasing he was sure to face.
-
“I’m back!” Yang sings, sitting back down in the booth, and Ruby finally looks up at her sister, who doesn’t say anything else for a second.
“...Well?” Weiss breaks the silence, and the whole table erupts in chatter.
“You were there for so long!”
“What happened?”
“How did it go?”
Yang is silent for a bit longer, and Ruby feels her body shake in anticipation, knowing Yang is purposely keeping her expression neutral. “Yang you’re killing me,” she pleads, her fingers drumming anxiously on the table.
Then, she grins victoriously, and says, “He said you’re cute too.” She lets the whole table lose their shit for a moment, before continuing. “He’s a freshman, majors in environmental science, and he also is a bookworm, according to his aunt.”
“What’s his name?” Pyrrha asks.
“Oscar. But get a load of this; Professor Ozpin is his grandfather.”
The table loses their shit again.
“What the hell?”
“No way!”
“He’s a nepo baby?”
Ruby barely comprehends their jokes and comments, too focused on the fact that he thinks she’s cute too. Wow, one of the first cute guys she sees is interested in her too— wait, is he? He could’ve thought she was cute but still rejected her, maybe not wanting to date right now but wants to spare a bit of her feelings—
“Did you get his number?” She blurts, and everyone quiets down and turns back to Yang.
“No,” She shakes her head, and Ruby’s heart drops, until Yang gives her a shit eating grin again. “I gave him yours. He said he would text you tonight. He even promised.”
“Ruby, holy shit!” Nora is jumping in her seat, looking like she’s going to tackle and shake her from across the table— actually, Jaune and Penny are also giving her the same look, and she wonders if they’ll kill her before she even talks to the boy.
While everyone is cheering, Weiss swivels her head around to find the waiter, then gestures to him. “Can we get another round of shots?”
“Make hers a double,” Yang chimes in. Ruby opens her mouth to argue when her sister has a finger pointing towards her; she hasn’t ever had more than two or three shots worth at a time, and the thought of two more scares her even more.
But those two drinks got her to admit a boy is cute, and then have her sister talk to said boy, who thinks she’s cute too, and then promised to text her. She’s extremely embarrassed in a brand new way, but she took one of the biggest social leaps in her life, and for now, it looks like it paid off. Maybe she does deserve some free alcohol. They’re literally here for her birthday!
Even still, a chaser was required.
“Cranberry juice too, please,” She pipes up before she loses her courage, and the waiter nods and walks away. “Weiss, this will be the end of me, you know that? Your bestie is going to die trying to drink vodka, and then you’ll have to third wheel Blake and Yang by yourself.”
“No chaser!” Nora shouts, and Ruby glares at her.
“You can chase your alcohol with a sip of Oscar,” Yang says, and now they’re laughing at Ruby again.
“Sounds like you’re screwed either way, Ice Queen,” Jaune says. “Ruby either dies from alcohol, or she lives and gets a boyfriend and you become a fifth wheel.”
“We don’t know what’s gonna happen,” Ren tells him.
“Don’t be so pessimistic!” Nora smacks him. “I can see it now, Ruby Rose and her boyfriend, Cute Boy Oz—”
“We cannot call him that,” Blake shakes her head.
The waiter drops off all of their shots (and cranberry juice), and Ruby barely gets to balk and wonder if she can even finish the giant shot in front of her before Ren of all people raises his and says, “Here’s to Ruby getting a boyfriend.” and the rest cheer.
Gods she hates her friends so much it makes her want to run into a wall. With these thoughts, she powers through a double shot of vodka, making her almost gag. When she gets it all down, she shudders before remembering that she has cranberry juice, providing a relief after a few seconds of hell. How did her uncle do this like it was water? Maybe she should never do this again, because continuing to drink just so she eventually doesn't pull a grimace just sounds like a nightmare.
Oh, but after the conversation blessedly turns away from her, she’s content to sit back and listen to the chatter in a haze. Except she realizes after a bit that she’s not listening, and letting her thoughts run a bit more rampant than usual.
My face feels so hot, if I put my hands to my cheeks they would probably burn just like my chest. Maybe I could try a frozen margarita to cool down? But drinking more would be a terrible idea, I might say something more stupid. How could I just admit a guy was cute like I was telling the weather? Speaking of the cute guy, what’s he up to?
She glances at him from the corner of her eye, then once she sees he’s too busy talking to a waiter, she fully turns her eyes to him. He’s asking the waiter something, then lighting up once he gets an answer with a really cute smile of relief and eyes still so big, then his waiter leaves and his aunt is smirking at him. He thought she was cute? She may never recover from this knowledge. It’s so exciting to feel the rush of grabbing someone’s attention, even with the chance of him just chickening out on her and she never sees him again. She thinks she gets what Yang would talk about during her middle and high school years, finding someone cute and not knowing how to deal with it. She briefly wonders if the alcohol is what matters here, if it’s why she feels like bursting out of her spot to ask him out, forget the phone number and just do something now and never leave her side— where on Remnant is this confidence coming from? She just got over her fear of making her own dentist appointments. It has to be the alcohol, right?
“One brownie bite for the birthday girl,” Their waiter startles them when he walks up with a plate, and they all turn to him as he puts it in front of Ruby, who looks at him confusedly.
“I never ordered dessert?” She looks at the rest of the table, who are all just as clueless as her.
“Well, this is from the nice, young man at that table,” He points to Oscar, who’s looking at her from across the restaurant, definitely a bit timid but still bravely making sure she knew it’s from him, and then he smiled at her Oh my Gods—
“Ruby. I'm freaking out,” Nora kicks her under the table.
Oscar gives her a nod, before turning back to continue talking to his aunt.
“You’re freaking out?” Ruby finally turns away from him; as startled as she was, once she made eye contact she couldn’t look away, like she was hypnotized, until he broke the spell by looking away first, not noticing the big grin on her face.
“Just eat it before Nora steals it from you,” Weiss nudges her.
A large brownie with whipped cream, chocolate syrup, and a strawberry on top? It’d be rude to turn down such a treat, but as she devours it, she's thinking that the smile he gave her might just taste a bit sweeter than her dessert.
Oh well, a gift is a gift.
-
“You’re just gonna buy dessert for someone when I’m paying the bill? Where are the manners I raised you with?
“Oh come on, I wanted to be a gentleman. You taught me chivalry too, you know.”
“We're gonna talk to your grandfather later about where you got your snark from while you've been gone."
“Whatever.”
-
Twenty minutes after finishing her dessert, she can no longer fight her urge to use the bathroom. She’s been trying to avoid “breaking the seal” at all costs tonight, fearing she would just go over and over again, but her limit has been reached, and she excuses herself during a conversation not involving her.
She’s glad this isn’t a crazy bar or club where girl code is enacted, because she needs a moment to herself. She feels like she's made it to a save point, like a video game character leaving all the action to find a spot where they can pause and get their thoughts together. Maybe Blake was onto something with the whole “drinking then looking at yourself in a bathroom mirror to think about how drunk you are” phenomenon, because she doesn’t even make it into a stall before getting distracted by her reflection.
So he saw me and thought I was cute, despite me staring at him so stupidly with my entire face looking like a tomato. And my stupid smudged mascara makes me look like a raccoon! Maybe he just couldn’t tell from that distance? What if I’m so annoying over text he doesn’t even want to see me? What if he thinks one of my friends is cuter? Okay, but they’re all older than me, and are either taken or not interested. What if my friends don’t even like him and I can’t bring him around? Okay, again, getting ahead of ourselves right now. He thinks you’re cute which is a win by itself, and he did send me a free dessert after getting my number. Let’s focus on the little victories and just overthink when I’m sober tomorrow.
With that thought, she quickly uses the bathroom and washes her hands, ready to join her friends again because, cute boy or not, she is having a lot of fun with all of her friends. The rest of them are busy frequently, with senior classes and graduation next spring, so they can't meet up as often as they'd like to. She guesses that she can handle a bit of teasing when they all made the effort to be here for her birthday. She looks at herself in the mirror for just a second, takes a deep breath, and as soon as she steps outside she stumbles into someone.
“Oh no! I’m so… sorry…” She trails off as she looks up and sees Oscar, her eye candy of the night. Introduce yourself! “Oh! It’s you!” She blurts out, and she immediately wants to go back to the bathroom and bury her head in a toilet.
“Yeah, it’s me…” He says awkwardly, though not seeming too uncomfortable.
Oh wow, he’s taller than she expected. Not quite as tall as Jaune, maybe an inch or two shorter. His eyes are also really pretty, like green and gold leaves falling to the ground in October, and he also has freckles, scattered all over his cheeks and nose and if she looks down she can see them on his neck too, and I need to say something instead of ogling him.
“Um— I— I’m… sorry for bumping into you, and also the way my sister just… walked up to you like that,” She eventually decides to say. Can her cheeks stop burning for five damn seconds?
He laughs softly. “That’s alright,” he gives her a sweet smile and she is starstruck. “She definitely surprised me, but… not exactly an unwelcome message to receive.”
She’s probably giving him the dumbest expression right now. Not an unwelcome message? Like he was glad to hear it? Like she said something good about her? What does that mean?
“What… uh… did she say, exactly?” She feels her heart in her stomach, anxiety over just how much her sister said and how embarrassing it was.
Thankfully, he seems to be a bit flustered too. “She… said that you… thought I was cute and wanted my number.” She’d give her sister kudos for being blunt about it if she also didn’t see Yang literally sit down with him and the woman he was with for way too long. “And a bit more about you. You’re Ruby Rose, you just turned twenty, you major in criminology, and would rather read a book at home then go to a party or bar,” He rubs the back of his neck and looks down at his feet before turning back to her with a shier expression. “Seems like something we have in common.”
“Really?” She says loudly, before clearing her throat. “Really?” She repeats more quietly.
“Yeah,” he nods. “I’m uh, kind of glad I won't have to take you to a bar for a first date,” he says, before his eyes widen, like his mouth had spoken too fast, and his ears turn red and he can't maintain eye contact with her anymore.
Maybe it’s the alcohol, or it’s her wanting him to not be so embarrassed, or it’s him just being so damn adorable that she can't help herself from saying, “You could take me to watch seagulls fight and I’d probably still have fun with you.” Crap, she feels like she’s setting a record of how much her mouth can get her in trouble in one night.
He looks back at her with his stupidly big eyes wide, before he sighs with (what seems like) relief. “I’ll… keep that in mind,” He says as he laughs. His eyes look past her for a second, before returning to hers. “I um… I’m sorry, my aunt is waiting for me so I have to leave but… your sister gave me your number to talk to you. If that’s okay,” He rushes out the last part, as if needing confirmation despite everything Yang told him.
It seems silly of him to double check, because of course she would like him to text her, didn't he see how she couldn't even look at him at first, and how awestruck she is to be talking to him right now? But she also gets it, because he took her number, told Yang that Ruby was cute, even sent her a free dessert without even talking to her— but like, is he sure? Is he actually talking to her right now, seeming to stumble over his words, with a similar blush on his cheeks that she has? Does he want to text her?
“I’d really like that,” she says shyly, somehow containing her excitement. Please text me please text me please text me— actually give me your number so I can text you instead— except I don’t even know what I would say, I just want to see you again as soon as possible— “Have a good night, and thank you for the dessert,” She turns to walk away, except the alcohol decides to hit her limbs right then and there, and she nearly tumbles to the ground.
Except she doesn’t, because oh my Gods Oscar manages to grab her around her waist and keep her standing, thankfully looking more worried than amused. She looks at him again, and he’s a lot closer than she expected. “Oh my Gods I’m so sorry—”
“Are you okay?” He asks with wide eyes.
No, I need you to burst into flames and explode so I can recover from how embarrassed I am. “Yes—” She says instead. “I just… can’t turn down free alcohol,” She explains lamely. I promise I’m not this clumsy when I’m sober, I’m not an alcoholic or something, wow you’re warm and you’re still holding me—
He lets go (damn it) once he’s certain she’s steady. “Well, your sister did say you’re here for your birthday. I wouldn’t turn it down either,” He’s back to smiling at her, and her embarrassment fades just a bit.
“Except when it makes me almost fall,” Ruby rolls her eyes, silently lamenting his touch. “Thank you. Sorry again.”
“That’s alright,” He’s waving her off. “I’m just glad I was here to catch you.”
How does he say such words so effortlessly? Would he run away if I screamed because I can’t handle this right now? How can I even face him next time when I’m sober? Will there still be a next time—
“Okay, now my aunt is looking like she’s going to kill me, so I really can’t talk any longer,” He actually looks sad about it. “I’m… glad I got to talk to you. I’ll text you tonight, okay?”
“Okay,” She squeaks out. Tonight!
“Have a good night, Ruby,” He gives her one more smile, a double edged sword paired with the way he says her name so softly. This time, she lets him walk away first, following his movement until he reaches his aunt by the doors, who gives him a pat on the shoulder before they disappear out the doors and leave her field of vision. She walks back to her table, ready for her friends to tease her, only for them to be too busy signing their checks. The only person who seems to notice is Weiss, who’s not one of the worst people to see. As much as Ruby knows the teasing is coming, Weiss will blessedly keep it quiet, at least until they get home, then she will bother Ruby to no end until she gets every single detail, and Ruby won’t even be mad about it when she’s so giddy. She can’t be mad, not when she gets home and sees that fabled text an hour later.
Best birthday present ever.