Chapter 2: The Date
A/N: Twilight and all its characters belong to Stephenie Meyer, I wouldn't be living in a cramped apartment if they were mine. The OCs are all mine.
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“Happiness is like when you pee in your pants. Everyone can see it but only you can feel its warmth.”
Ruby looked herself over in the mirror. She wasn’t sure what to wear and she wasn’t sure what came over her to make her so bold as to ask him out. She just knew that she wanted, or needed (and that thought frightened her, to need something that badly) to see him again. So she had just asked him out but she had no idea where to take him, she was still very new to Forks and wasn’t sure what there was to do for fun on a Friday night. She decided to leave it up to him to decide but that still didn’t help her decide what to wear.
After changing twice, she scolded herself for acting so silly and dressed how she would normally dress. It was a little too cool for a dress so she choose light blue boot-cut jeans, black sneakers, a black T-shirt, a fire engine red hoodie and simple silver hoop earrings. She left her hair loose, put on black eyeliner and a touch of her favorite lipstick; Chocolate Mocha. She grabbed her necklace, which she never took off, and tucked it into her shirt. She wasn’t ashamed of who she was but sometimes people were weird about it; if they only knew the half of it.
She grabbed her license out of her book bag, slid it in her front pocket as she grabbed her car keys from her dresser and ran down the stairs.
“Grandma,” she called out. “I’m going out. I don’t know what time I’ll be back, so if you hear someone coming into the house in the middle of the night…,” she trailed off knowing her grandmother got what she was saying.
“Yeah, it’s either you or some mass murderer. Either way I’ll be sleeping,” her grandmother said as she walked to the doorway from the kitchen, wiping her hands on her apron. “Hope you have fun.”
“I will. I got a date.” At this her grandmother smiled.
“Forget have fun. Hope you get lucky.”
Ruby brought a hand to her face and shook her head blushing. “Gods, you’re a dirty old woman. What am I going to do with you?”
Her grandmother just shrugged. “So, who’s the boy? Anyone I know?”
“Maybe.” This is a small town, she thought. “His name is Jacob Black.”
“Ahh, yes. Billy’s boy. I’ve never met him personally, but if he’s anything like his father, I bet he’s a looker. Gods, that man is hot.”
“That man is young enough to be your son.”
“So. That doesn’t mean I can’t look my share.” She laughed when her granddaughter turned five shades of red.
“Goodnight grandmother,” she giggled as she rolled her eyes.
“Night, child. Have fun”
Ruby drove back to Jacob’s house, a nervous wreck. She didn’t date. In her old town, people had an idea of what she was, not the full extent, but enough to be the source of everyone’s gossip. It resulted in her not having any friends, which she thought was unfortunate because she saw herself as a very lively and vibrant person. She hoped she had a chance to start over here, have friends finally.
She pulled up to the big red house at about six forty-five. Taking a deep breath, she turned off her car and got out. She had gone no more than two steps when the front door opened and Jacob came out. She was glad to see he was dressed casually also; dark jeans, white and navy sneakers and a navy t-shirt that was stretched tight across his torso.
“Hey. You look nice,” he said causing her to feel a rush of warmth come over her.
“Wow, he talks. I knew you had it in you,” she teased. “Thanks. You look nice too.”
“Umm, what do you want to do?” He was talking to her more but he still looked at her as if he couldn’t bear to look away.
“Actually, I have no idea,” she laughed and he joined her. “I’m new here, like I said, and I don’t know everyth- Hi,” she said as she looked over his shoulder. He heard her mumble “Big Boys. They really do eat their Wheaties here,” as he turned to see what she was looking at, only to find Billy, Embry and Quil holding Claire in front of the porch and he groaned.
“Guys, I told you to stay inside.” He looked annoyed but not mad, more like he knew they would do this. She could help it, she laughed softly.
“I’m guessing they wanted to sneak a peek at me, right?” He was expecting her to be mad or embarrassed that they were all staring at her but she wasn’t. She just looked happy, at ease.
“You don’t mind? It’s just my dad and my best friends.”
“No, it’s cool. I’d like to meet them.” She followed Jacob as he walked back to his house.
“Dad, this is Ruby.”
She held out her hand and he shook it. “Nice to meet you, Mr. Black.”
“Call me Billy. You’re Peg’s granddaughter, right?”
“Yes.”
“She’s a feisty one. Tells me every time I see her that it’s a shame I’m in a chair all the time, ‘cuz she’d really like the opportunity to check out my butt.” Ruby laughed until tears were threatening to spill over, and Jacob thought he never heard anything as beautiful.
“Yeah, that sounds just like Grandma Peg.”
“It’s nice to finally meet you. Peg talks about you all the time.” Quil decided to take the moment to introduce himself and Embry.
“Hi, I’m Quil and this is Embry,” he interrupted. She shook both of theirs hands. “We’re Jacob’s best friends in the world. He’d be absolutely lost without us. He practically looks up to us.”
“Sure, sure. Enough with the lies.” Jacob would have at least teased them back but they had caused her to laugh again and he lost his train of thought.
“And who’s this beautiful young lady?” Ruby asked as she smiled at Claire.
“I’m Claire and I’m three.” She held up three fingers to illustrate her point.
“Claire bear, don’t lie,” Quil said as he tickled her. “Sorry. She’s actually four going on five.”
“No Quil, It’s fine. She’s a girl and every girl is entitled to shave a few years off her age.” She looked at Claire again as she laid her head on Quil’s shoulder. “You’re just a smart girl, aren’t you?” Claire smiled back and nodded fiercely.
“So, where are you two headed?” Billy asked causing Jacob and Ruby to give each other uncertain looks.
“Umm, we’re not sure actually,” Ruby answered sheepishly. “What’s there to do in this town?” she asked everyone.
“Not much,” Embry answered.
“There’s always the bowling alley. That’s where we’re going, I promised Claire,” Quil told them as he put Claire down on her feet. “You guys should come with us. We’ll have fun,” Quil said to the two of them. Jacob took a deep breath and vowed to smack Quil in the head later. This was supposed to be his first date with Ruby, his imprint, and now it was turning into a group outing.
He pulled her to the side before asking her softly, “If you don’t want them to come they don’t have to.”
“No, it’s fine. First dates are usually a long awkward Q and A, right? Well, supposedly. I wouldn’t know, never been on one… and that was too much information.” She cleared her throat and turned a bright shade of red. Jacob tried his hardest not to smirk but she looked so damn cute when she was embarrassed. “But anyway, maybe having more people around will make it less stiff.”
He thought about her logic for a second and had to agree. He was nervous before at the prospect of the two of them getting to know each other but now it might just be easy.
“Sure, only if you’re cool with it.”
“I am,” she reassured him then turned to speak to his friends. “Bowling sounds fun. We can take my car.”
Embry went inside to get Claire’s jacket and Quil ran to his car quickly to get Claire’s booster seat. Once they were settled they started their drive to the bowling alley. For being the only Bowling alley in town, Ruby noticed it wasn’t crowded. Probably because all the teens go to Port Angeles for their weekend fun, she thought.
They rented two lanes, one for the four of the adults and one with bumpers for Claire. Ruby and Jacob made small talk as they played. They found out they both attended Peninsula College but that he attended the Forks extension site; he was taking Auto Tech classes as well as the basics and she was going for Nursing and was going for a minor in Botany; she wanted to follow in the steps of her grandmother and mother and become a midwife. She was older than him by almost a year; their birthdays were in the same week. She liked all animals but he disliked cats. She thought family and friends were more important than anything and he couldn’t agree more.
They purposely didn’t speak about two things: his secret and hers.
Earlier, Sam had congratulated Jacob when he explained that he had imprinted and told him the best advice he could give him was to follow his instincts. They weren’t forbidden from telling their imprint about their secret but they should also do it tactfully, as it was such a big secret to not only tell, but to understand as well.
After two games, where Embry got the highest score the first game and Ruby the second, Jacob asked if she wanted to get something to eat. They left Embry and Quil playing with Claire as they walked over to the snack bar. They ordered a couple of burgers and sat at one of the few tables the place had.
“How come you moved to Forks?” he asked as they sat.
“I had nowhere else to go. My parents died – car accident – and it was lonely and sad living in our house all by myself. I decided to come here to go to college and live with my grandmother.”
“Sorry. I know what it’s like. My mom died too.”
“Sorry.” She gave him a small sad smile that said ‘it sucks doesn’t it?’
“What were they like?” She looked like she wanted to talk about them more and he asked to give her the opportunity.
“They were great. The best parents you can ask for, a little eccentric and they were my best friends. They were really into the flower child scene when they were younger and they never let it go. They were born Carlos and Rebecca but by the mid sixties they were calling themselves Stardust and Moonflower. That’s how I got my name, Star after my dad and Moon after my mom. And to quote Ponyboy Curtis, ‘and it says so on my birth certificate’.” She picked at her fries as she tried to get her emotions under control.
“Ponyboy who?”
“Ponyboy Curtis. He’s a character in one of my favorite books, The Outsiders.”
“Oh, what about Ruby and Joy?”
“My mom said she picked Ruby because it came to her in a dream and Joy because that’s what I brought them.”
“I’m really glad you didn’t think I was an idiot and asked me out,” Jacob said as he took a big bite of his food.
“I’m glad you said yes. This is the most fun I had in a really long time… actually it’s the first time I had fun with people my age.”
“Why is that?”
“People were freaked by me so I just hung out with my parents.”
“You never had a friend or anything?”
“When I was in Kindergarten, I had a best friend, Peter, but he moved away and after that nothing until I met Bella. She’s cool.”
“Why?” Jacob couldn’t understand why no one would hang with her. She was such a beautiful and kind person.
Ruby thought about how to answer that. She could lie, make up a tale about eating paste when she was younger and the ridicule of it followed her all her life or she could tell him the entire truth, which she felt was a little too heavy for first date conversation. She settled for a version of the truth, a half truth.
“You know how some people are Catholic or Lutheran or whatever,” He nodded so she continued, “well, my parents were Wiccans and they raised me that way.” She watched him carefully as she spoke but he didn’t flinch or look horrified so she took that as a good sign. “When I was younger they gave me this,” she pulled her necklace out from her shirt. He leaned forward and took the pendant in his hands and saw a red star inside of a small silver circle. “It’s a pentagram, ruby and silver. Nothing evil and nothing to be feared but too many people, who don’t know anything about this stuff, mistook it for a sign of the devil or something. No one wants to hang out with you when they think you have three sixes etched in your skull and your cousin is Damien.” She gave a humorless little laugh. “It’s not like that at all. We’re very into nature and believe the female is just, if not as powerful, as the male. We show respect for, well, pretty much everything.”
He nodded. He could understand how some people might be scared of that, people were usually scared of the weird and unknown, but he wasn’t, it wasn’t even the weirdest thing he heard today.
“So,” his voice held a teasing tone to it “No pointy hats?” She cracked a smile, happy that he was making light of it, as she shook her head no, “No virgin sacrifices?” She actually laughed so hard at that that a couple of people looked at her, before shaking her head no again. “I suppose you don’t dance naked under the full moon either”
“Actually,” she raised one eyebrow and smirked, “That one is kind of true.”
“What?”
“Not the dancing part, though I’m sure some have done it, but some prefer to worship in the nude. I only just started doing it myself and I don’t do it all the time. It’s very liberating being skyclad.” Jacob was very much trying to be a gentleman and not think about her in the nude but he had a quick flash in his mind of her naked, her long black hair dancing in the wind as she stood in the forest under a full moon. He blushed so bad at the thought, that Ruby noticed and finally realized what she had been talking about and what he was probably thinking. “Oh my Gods, I can’t believe I was talking about that.” She brought a hand to her face. “I don’t have a brain filter, my words don’t check with my brain before coming out of my mouth.”
“Nah, it’s cool. I like that about you, you wear your heart on your sleeve. Makes you endearing.”
“Oh…Kay. Thanks,” she muttered as she felt the warmth climb up her neck and flood her cheeks. Just then Embry, Quil and Claire showed up, having just finished their game.
“She’s blushing,” Quil teased, “What did you say Jacob?” Quil winced as both Jacob and Embry smacked him in the head.
Ruby had a feeling that happened to Quil a lot. She looked at Claire and asked “Does he get hit a lot?”
Claire nodded her head and snickered, “Oh yeah. A whole lot.”
They sat down with Ruby and Jacob and made small talk. After Ruby saw Claire eyeing her fries, she offered them to the bubbly little girl, who covered them in large amounts of ketchup before shoveling them down. Ruby felt she found a kindred spirit in Claire. The young girl had a zest for life and loved to smile and laugh and generally enjoyed being silly. She seemed to look at Quil like he invented the sun and he toted on the girl, he seemed to be happy making her happy.
I wonder what that’s about. It can’t be anything malicious, I would be able to tell, she thought.
She liked Quil. He was funny and a bit of a smartass really, but he was also very nice and seemed to enjoy being the ‘life of the party’. She took a liking to Embry also. He was shy and almost tried to hide behind his curtain of hair. He seemed slightly nervous with her at the start of the evening but now was relaxed and joking more. He was very sweet and considerate of everyone even the people around him, saying ‘Thank you’ and ‘Excuse me’. He was good, not a bad bone in his body, she could tell.
Once Claire slumped over onto Quil and yawned, they got up and started to settle the bill. Embry and Quil paid for themselves and Claire, which left Ruby and Jacob playfully arguing over who paid. After a minute, Jacob pulled out his wallet and paid for the two of them. They left and Ruby drove them all back to Jacob’s house. Ruby said bye to the boys as Quil carried the now sleeping Claire to Sam’s house, with Embry following. That left Ruby completely alone with Jacob for the first time that evening.
“So,” Ruby started as she locked eyes with Jacob, “I should probably head back home,” she said, not really wanting to end the evening now.
“Do you have to?” Jacob asked quickly.
Ruby shook her head, “No.”
“Come with me,” he said as he took her hand. His hand felt very warm against hers, it was smooth with a few scars and calluses. Gods, don’t ever make him let go, she thought. He led her past his house, past a row of bushes and trees and into his garage. She saw a beautiful old Harley in the corner and a VW Rabbit near to the garage doors (her dad may have been a hippie but he was still a man and he loved cars). “Pull up a seat.” Jacob gestured to the hood of his car before sitting down himself and lying against the windshield.
She shrugged and mimicked his position on the car. She had been wanting to talk to him about something and figured now that they were alone, it was a good time to bring it up. “Jacob,” she began without looking at him, “Can I ask you something?”
“Anything,” he answered truthfully. He would do anything for her. She looked at him cautiously because of his answer. She knew that she could ask him anything at any time and he would tell her the truth. She just knew it. She could see in his eyes that he would go to the ends of the earth for her and she felt she had the answer to her question before she asked it.
“I know Bella pretty good. Enough to know that you mean something to her; you’re her best friend, her… I don’t know but something important. She told me about what happened a while back; Edward leaving her for her own good and how you made her feel whole again. She said that although you were never more than friends that you fell in love with her.” She took a deep breath and let it out slowly, “I guess what I’m trying to ask is… are you in love with her? Because if you are that’s ok, I just want to know. I think we should be clear on that.”
He turned on his side so he was facing her and waited until she was looking at him before he spoke. “Bella and I went through a lot together that year. She had lost Edward and I… I found out some things about myself that I wasn’t too happy with. I did fall in love with her.” Ruby closed her eyes and nodded in resignation, not knowing why that hurt so much when they only met earlier that day. “But,” he continued and a tiny spark of hope flared inside her, “It was one sided and eventually that loved faded and now it’s gone all together.”
They stared into each other’s eyes for a moment, before she smiled, said “Ok” and they both resumed their previous positions. From where they were laying they had a clear view out the garage doors at the stars in the cloudless sky. They didn’t speak for some time, just enjoying the easy silence between them and watching the stars.
Ruby was amazed when she saw a shooting star. It wasn’t the first time she ever saw one but for some reason she felt her heart skip a beat when she saw it. It reminded her of her father, Stardust. He used to tell her all the time the very thing Jacob told her earlier, that she wore her heart on her sleeve. It was her best quality, he would say. Always say what’s on your mind, because it’s the truth and even though it’s possible for bad things to happen from telling the truth, worse things happen from telling a lie.
Taking a deep breath, she turned her head to look at Jacob. “Jacob?” she said softly, just above a whisper.
He mirrored her move and looked at her. “Yeah?”
“This has been the best day of my life. I had so much fun. Your dad and friends are great. I haven’t smiled or laughed this much since my parents were alive. So first, I wanted to thank you for that.”
“No problem. I’m glad you had fun.”
“Second, I just wanted to say… um, I don’t want to freak you out or anything but… I really like you. More than I think I should for just meeting you today. I feel like I’ve… like I’ve known you my whole life.” She thought she freaked him out with that much truth but then he smiled and her heart melted. He smiled so wide his teeth were showing and his face looked years younger.
Then he said two words that cemented this as a day she will always remember no matter how long she lived.
“Me too.”
They gazed at each other, both smiling wide before resuming their relaxed position stargazing and just when she thought nothing can make this night any better, he reached out and took her hand. His overly warm, large hand enclosed her small one in a tender grasp and her smile widened.
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A/N: Just a side note, in case anyone was confused, Peg is a nickname for Margaret. Seeing as she is an older woman I thought Peg suited her better than Margie or Maggie.
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“Happiness is like when you pee in your pants. Everyone can see it but only you can feel its warmth.”
Ruby looked herself over in the mirror. She wasn’t sure what to wear and she wasn’t sure what came over her to make her so bold as to ask him out. She just knew that she wanted, or needed (and that thought frightened her, to need something that badly) to see him again. So she had just asked him out but she had no idea where to take him, she was still very new to Forks and wasn’t sure what there was to do for fun on a Friday night. She decided to leave it up to him to decide but that still didn’t help her decide what to wear.
After changing twice, she scolded herself for acting so silly and dressed how she would normally dress. It was a little too cool for a dress so she choose light blue boot-cut jeans, black sneakers, a black T-shirt, a fire engine red hoodie and simple silver hoop earrings. She left her hair loose, put on black eyeliner and a touch of her favorite lipstick; Chocolate Mocha. She grabbed her necklace, which she never took off, and tucked it into her shirt. She wasn’t ashamed of who she was but sometimes people were weird about it; if they only knew the half of it.
She grabbed her license out of her book bag, slid it in her front pocket as she grabbed her car keys from her dresser and ran down the stairs.
“Grandma,” she called out. “I’m going out. I don’t know what time I’ll be back, so if you hear someone coming into the house in the middle of the night…,” she trailed off knowing her grandmother got what she was saying.
“Yeah, it’s either you or some mass murderer. Either way I’ll be sleeping,” her grandmother said as she walked to the doorway from the kitchen, wiping her hands on her apron. “Hope you have fun.”
“I will. I got a date.” At this her grandmother smiled.
“Forget have fun. Hope you get lucky.”
Ruby brought a hand to her face and shook her head blushing. “Gods, you’re a dirty old woman. What am I going to do with you?”
Her grandmother just shrugged. “So, who’s the boy? Anyone I know?”
“Maybe.” This is a small town, she thought. “His name is Jacob Black.”
“Ahh, yes. Billy’s boy. I’ve never met him personally, but if he’s anything like his father, I bet he’s a looker. Gods, that man is hot.”
“That man is young enough to be your son.”
“So. That doesn’t mean I can’t look my share.” She laughed when her granddaughter turned five shades of red.
“Goodnight grandmother,” she giggled as she rolled her eyes.
“Night, child. Have fun”
Ruby drove back to Jacob’s house, a nervous wreck. She didn’t date. In her old town, people had an idea of what she was, not the full extent, but enough to be the source of everyone’s gossip. It resulted in her not having any friends, which she thought was unfortunate because she saw herself as a very lively and vibrant person. She hoped she had a chance to start over here, have friends finally.
She pulled up to the big red house at about six forty-five. Taking a deep breath, she turned off her car and got out. She had gone no more than two steps when the front door opened and Jacob came out. She was glad to see he was dressed casually also; dark jeans, white and navy sneakers and a navy t-shirt that was stretched tight across his torso.
“Hey. You look nice,” he said causing her to feel a rush of warmth come over her.
“Wow, he talks. I knew you had it in you,” she teased. “Thanks. You look nice too.”
“Umm, what do you want to do?” He was talking to her more but he still looked at her as if he couldn’t bear to look away.
“Actually, I have no idea,” she laughed and he joined her. “I’m new here, like I said, and I don’t know everyth- Hi,” she said as she looked over his shoulder. He heard her mumble “Big Boys. They really do eat their Wheaties here,” as he turned to see what she was looking at, only to find Billy, Embry and Quil holding Claire in front of the porch and he groaned.
“Guys, I told you to stay inside.” He looked annoyed but not mad, more like he knew they would do this. She could help it, she laughed softly.
“I’m guessing they wanted to sneak a peek at me, right?” He was expecting her to be mad or embarrassed that they were all staring at her but she wasn’t. She just looked happy, at ease.
“You don’t mind? It’s just my dad and my best friends.”
“No, it’s cool. I’d like to meet them.” She followed Jacob as he walked back to his house.
“Dad, this is Ruby.”
She held out her hand and he shook it. “Nice to meet you, Mr. Black.”
“Call me Billy. You’re Peg’s granddaughter, right?”
“Yes.”
“She’s a feisty one. Tells me every time I see her that it’s a shame I’m in a chair all the time, ‘cuz she’d really like the opportunity to check out my butt.” Ruby laughed until tears were threatening to spill over, and Jacob thought he never heard anything as beautiful.
“Yeah, that sounds just like Grandma Peg.”
“It’s nice to finally meet you. Peg talks about you all the time.” Quil decided to take the moment to introduce himself and Embry.
“Hi, I’m Quil and this is Embry,” he interrupted. She shook both of theirs hands. “We’re Jacob’s best friends in the world. He’d be absolutely lost without us. He practically looks up to us.”
“Sure, sure. Enough with the lies.” Jacob would have at least teased them back but they had caused her to laugh again and he lost his train of thought.
“And who’s this beautiful young lady?” Ruby asked as she smiled at Claire.
“I’m Claire and I’m three.” She held up three fingers to illustrate her point.
“Claire bear, don’t lie,” Quil said as he tickled her. “Sorry. She’s actually four going on five.”
“No Quil, It’s fine. She’s a girl and every girl is entitled to shave a few years off her age.” She looked at Claire again as she laid her head on Quil’s shoulder. “You’re just a smart girl, aren’t you?” Claire smiled back and nodded fiercely.
“So, where are you two headed?” Billy asked causing Jacob and Ruby to give each other uncertain looks.
“Umm, we’re not sure actually,” Ruby answered sheepishly. “What’s there to do in this town?” she asked everyone.
“Not much,” Embry answered.
“There’s always the bowling alley. That’s where we’re going, I promised Claire,” Quil told them as he put Claire down on her feet. “You guys should come with us. We’ll have fun,” Quil said to the two of them. Jacob took a deep breath and vowed to smack Quil in the head later. This was supposed to be his first date with Ruby, his imprint, and now it was turning into a group outing.
He pulled her to the side before asking her softly, “If you don’t want them to come they don’t have to.”
“No, it’s fine. First dates are usually a long awkward Q and A, right? Well, supposedly. I wouldn’t know, never been on one… and that was too much information.” She cleared her throat and turned a bright shade of red. Jacob tried his hardest not to smirk but she looked so damn cute when she was embarrassed. “But anyway, maybe having more people around will make it less stiff.”
He thought about her logic for a second and had to agree. He was nervous before at the prospect of the two of them getting to know each other but now it might just be easy.
“Sure, only if you’re cool with it.”
“I am,” she reassured him then turned to speak to his friends. “Bowling sounds fun. We can take my car.”
Embry went inside to get Claire’s jacket and Quil ran to his car quickly to get Claire’s booster seat. Once they were settled they started their drive to the bowling alley. For being the only Bowling alley in town, Ruby noticed it wasn’t crowded. Probably because all the teens go to Port Angeles for their weekend fun, she thought.
They rented two lanes, one for the four of the adults and one with bumpers for Claire. Ruby and Jacob made small talk as they played. They found out they both attended Peninsula College but that he attended the Forks extension site; he was taking Auto Tech classes as well as the basics and she was going for Nursing and was going for a minor in Botany; she wanted to follow in the steps of her grandmother and mother and become a midwife. She was older than him by almost a year; their birthdays were in the same week. She liked all animals but he disliked cats. She thought family and friends were more important than anything and he couldn’t agree more.
They purposely didn’t speak about two things: his secret and hers.
Earlier, Sam had congratulated Jacob when he explained that he had imprinted and told him the best advice he could give him was to follow his instincts. They weren’t forbidden from telling their imprint about their secret but they should also do it tactfully, as it was such a big secret to not only tell, but to understand as well.
After two games, where Embry got the highest score the first game and Ruby the second, Jacob asked if she wanted to get something to eat. They left Embry and Quil playing with Claire as they walked over to the snack bar. They ordered a couple of burgers and sat at one of the few tables the place had.
“How come you moved to Forks?” he asked as they sat.
“I had nowhere else to go. My parents died – car accident – and it was lonely and sad living in our house all by myself. I decided to come here to go to college and live with my grandmother.”
“Sorry. I know what it’s like. My mom died too.”
“Sorry.” She gave him a small sad smile that said ‘it sucks doesn’t it?’
“What were they like?” She looked like she wanted to talk about them more and he asked to give her the opportunity.
“They were great. The best parents you can ask for, a little eccentric and they were my best friends. They were really into the flower child scene when they were younger and they never let it go. They were born Carlos and Rebecca but by the mid sixties they were calling themselves Stardust and Moonflower. That’s how I got my name, Star after my dad and Moon after my mom. And to quote Ponyboy Curtis, ‘and it says so on my birth certificate’.” She picked at her fries as she tried to get her emotions under control.
“Ponyboy who?”
“Ponyboy Curtis. He’s a character in one of my favorite books, The Outsiders.”
“Oh, what about Ruby and Joy?”
“My mom said she picked Ruby because it came to her in a dream and Joy because that’s what I brought them.”
“I’m really glad you didn’t think I was an idiot and asked me out,” Jacob said as he took a big bite of his food.
“I’m glad you said yes. This is the most fun I had in a really long time… actually it’s the first time I had fun with people my age.”
“Why is that?”
“People were freaked by me so I just hung out with my parents.”
“You never had a friend or anything?”
“When I was in Kindergarten, I had a best friend, Peter, but he moved away and after that nothing until I met Bella. She’s cool.”
“Why?” Jacob couldn’t understand why no one would hang with her. She was such a beautiful and kind person.
Ruby thought about how to answer that. She could lie, make up a tale about eating paste when she was younger and the ridicule of it followed her all her life or she could tell him the entire truth, which she felt was a little too heavy for first date conversation. She settled for a version of the truth, a half truth.
“You know how some people are Catholic or Lutheran or whatever,” He nodded so she continued, “well, my parents were Wiccans and they raised me that way.” She watched him carefully as she spoke but he didn’t flinch or look horrified so she took that as a good sign. “When I was younger they gave me this,” she pulled her necklace out from her shirt. He leaned forward and took the pendant in his hands and saw a red star inside of a small silver circle. “It’s a pentagram, ruby and silver. Nothing evil and nothing to be feared but too many people, who don’t know anything about this stuff, mistook it for a sign of the devil or something. No one wants to hang out with you when they think you have three sixes etched in your skull and your cousin is Damien.” She gave a humorless little laugh. “It’s not like that at all. We’re very into nature and believe the female is just, if not as powerful, as the male. We show respect for, well, pretty much everything.”
He nodded. He could understand how some people might be scared of that, people were usually scared of the weird and unknown, but he wasn’t, it wasn’t even the weirdest thing he heard today.
“So,” his voice held a teasing tone to it “No pointy hats?” She cracked a smile, happy that he was making light of it, as she shook her head no, “No virgin sacrifices?” She actually laughed so hard at that that a couple of people looked at her, before shaking her head no again. “I suppose you don’t dance naked under the full moon either”
“Actually,” she raised one eyebrow and smirked, “That one is kind of true.”
“What?”
“Not the dancing part, though I’m sure some have done it, but some prefer to worship in the nude. I only just started doing it myself and I don’t do it all the time. It’s very liberating being skyclad.” Jacob was very much trying to be a gentleman and not think about her in the nude but he had a quick flash in his mind of her naked, her long black hair dancing in the wind as she stood in the forest under a full moon. He blushed so bad at the thought, that Ruby noticed and finally realized what she had been talking about and what he was probably thinking. “Oh my Gods, I can’t believe I was talking about that.” She brought a hand to her face. “I don’t have a brain filter, my words don’t check with my brain before coming out of my mouth.”
“Nah, it’s cool. I like that about you, you wear your heart on your sleeve. Makes you endearing.”
“Oh…Kay. Thanks,” she muttered as she felt the warmth climb up her neck and flood her cheeks. Just then Embry, Quil and Claire showed up, having just finished their game.
“She’s blushing,” Quil teased, “What did you say Jacob?” Quil winced as both Jacob and Embry smacked him in the head.
Ruby had a feeling that happened to Quil a lot. She looked at Claire and asked “Does he get hit a lot?”
Claire nodded her head and snickered, “Oh yeah. A whole lot.”
They sat down with Ruby and Jacob and made small talk. After Ruby saw Claire eyeing her fries, she offered them to the bubbly little girl, who covered them in large amounts of ketchup before shoveling them down. Ruby felt she found a kindred spirit in Claire. The young girl had a zest for life and loved to smile and laugh and generally enjoyed being silly. She seemed to look at Quil like he invented the sun and he toted on the girl, he seemed to be happy making her happy.
I wonder what that’s about. It can’t be anything malicious, I would be able to tell, she thought.
She liked Quil. He was funny and a bit of a smartass really, but he was also very nice and seemed to enjoy being the ‘life of the party’. She took a liking to Embry also. He was shy and almost tried to hide behind his curtain of hair. He seemed slightly nervous with her at the start of the evening but now was relaxed and joking more. He was very sweet and considerate of everyone even the people around him, saying ‘Thank you’ and ‘Excuse me’. He was good, not a bad bone in his body, she could tell.
Once Claire slumped over onto Quil and yawned, they got up and started to settle the bill. Embry and Quil paid for themselves and Claire, which left Ruby and Jacob playfully arguing over who paid. After a minute, Jacob pulled out his wallet and paid for the two of them. They left and Ruby drove them all back to Jacob’s house. Ruby said bye to the boys as Quil carried the now sleeping Claire to Sam’s house, with Embry following. That left Ruby completely alone with Jacob for the first time that evening.
“So,” Ruby started as she locked eyes with Jacob, “I should probably head back home,” she said, not really wanting to end the evening now.
“Do you have to?” Jacob asked quickly.
Ruby shook her head, “No.”
“Come with me,” he said as he took her hand. His hand felt very warm against hers, it was smooth with a few scars and calluses. Gods, don’t ever make him let go, she thought. He led her past his house, past a row of bushes and trees and into his garage. She saw a beautiful old Harley in the corner and a VW Rabbit near to the garage doors (her dad may have been a hippie but he was still a man and he loved cars). “Pull up a seat.” Jacob gestured to the hood of his car before sitting down himself and lying against the windshield.
She shrugged and mimicked his position on the car. She had been wanting to talk to him about something and figured now that they were alone, it was a good time to bring it up. “Jacob,” she began without looking at him, “Can I ask you something?”
“Anything,” he answered truthfully. He would do anything for her. She looked at him cautiously because of his answer. She knew that she could ask him anything at any time and he would tell her the truth. She just knew it. She could see in his eyes that he would go to the ends of the earth for her and she felt she had the answer to her question before she asked it.
“I know Bella pretty good. Enough to know that you mean something to her; you’re her best friend, her… I don’t know but something important. She told me about what happened a while back; Edward leaving her for her own good and how you made her feel whole again. She said that although you were never more than friends that you fell in love with her.” She took a deep breath and let it out slowly, “I guess what I’m trying to ask is… are you in love with her? Because if you are that’s ok, I just want to know. I think we should be clear on that.”
He turned on his side so he was facing her and waited until she was looking at him before he spoke. “Bella and I went through a lot together that year. She had lost Edward and I… I found out some things about myself that I wasn’t too happy with. I did fall in love with her.” Ruby closed her eyes and nodded in resignation, not knowing why that hurt so much when they only met earlier that day. “But,” he continued and a tiny spark of hope flared inside her, “It was one sided and eventually that loved faded and now it’s gone all together.”
They stared into each other’s eyes for a moment, before she smiled, said “Ok” and they both resumed their previous positions. From where they were laying they had a clear view out the garage doors at the stars in the cloudless sky. They didn’t speak for some time, just enjoying the easy silence between them and watching the stars.
Ruby was amazed when she saw a shooting star. It wasn’t the first time she ever saw one but for some reason she felt her heart skip a beat when she saw it. It reminded her of her father, Stardust. He used to tell her all the time the very thing Jacob told her earlier, that she wore her heart on her sleeve. It was her best quality, he would say. Always say what’s on your mind, because it’s the truth and even though it’s possible for bad things to happen from telling the truth, worse things happen from telling a lie.
Taking a deep breath, she turned her head to look at Jacob. “Jacob?” she said softly, just above a whisper.
He mirrored her move and looked at her. “Yeah?”
“This has been the best day of my life. I had so much fun. Your dad and friends are great. I haven’t smiled or laughed this much since my parents were alive. So first, I wanted to thank you for that.”
“No problem. I’m glad you had fun.”
“Second, I just wanted to say… um, I don’t want to freak you out or anything but… I really like you. More than I think I should for just meeting you today. I feel like I’ve… like I’ve known you my whole life.” She thought she freaked him out with that much truth but then he smiled and her heart melted. He smiled so wide his teeth were showing and his face looked years younger.
Then he said two words that cemented this as a day she will always remember no matter how long she lived.
“Me too.”
They gazed at each other, both smiling wide before resuming their relaxed position stargazing and just when she thought nothing can make this night any better, he reached out and took her hand. His overly warm, large hand enclosed her small one in a tender grasp and her smile widened.
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A/N: Just a side note, in case anyone was confused, Peg is a nickname for Margaret. Seeing as she is an older woman I thought Peg suited her better than Margie or Maggie.
