The Ineffable Ruth Rhodes

10 not easy to fall out of love with

ruth

Friday came excruciatingly slowly, as if the fact that Ruth was dreading the day did nothing to prevent it from coming at her like a barreling ram at 200km per hour.

She never was a fan of big parties— mainly because it simply wasn't her style and the settings made her uncomfortable. Nevermind the crowds of people who would be there.

"Sumaiya you look incredible," Ruth said honestly, eyes running over her friend's outfit.

Dressed in a white v neck sweater and light jeans, Sumaiya smiled widely. Ruth wore dark baggy jeans, with a light violet piping lettuce edge cropped top, hair elegantly braided back for a change.

"Me? Vincent is gonna go insane when he sees you."

At the mention of his name, the smile almost slipped off her face. Somehow she was more nervous.

"Right," she replied. "You ready?"

The girls made their way downstairs, and Ruth told Sumaiya they'd probably have to wait a while, as Vincent was almost never on time. Ruth was right, because almost twenty minutes later, he rang the doorbell twice. Ruth opened the door with annoyance.

His curls were wild but loosely combed out, his eyes bright and cheerful, and he was dressed in jeans and a tee, with his usual accessories. He looked edible.

He spoke first. "Hey."

She narrowed her eyes at him and murmured a 'hi', then turned to her friend watching her with shaded eyes, "He's here." She angled herself towards the upstairs. "I'm going!" she yelled to her family. No reply, as she expected.

"Excited?" she grinned, wrapping her arm around Sumaiya's shoulder as they walked towards the car.

Sumaiya scoffed, but Ruth saw the smile tug at her lips. "Not really. I'm only coming 'cause you're going."

"Oh, I'm so blessed to have you as a friend, Oh Great One."

"You should be," she laughed, hitting Ruth's hand off her shoulder.

How bad could it be? She thought as she entered the car. She had Sumaiya with her, which was just about all she needed.

How bad could it be indeed, Ruth.

---

Ruth could hear the loud music from outside the house, countless, large crowds of people on the lawn, some leaving the house and some entering.

"Nervous?" Vincent took his eyes off the scene and studied her face.

Yes. "Not really."

He nodded, intertwining his fingers with hers. "Good."

"I'll leave you guys to it, yeah?" Sumaiya had stayed silent the whole drive, and Ruth suspected it was because she was still convinced Vincent had blackmailed her into the relationship or something.

As if she had any dirty secrets to be blackmailed with, much less any dirty secrets she would tell Vincent of all people.

Sumaiya waved with a small smile, not waiting for Ruth to respond.

They followed her inside after Ruth calmed her nerves.

Pools full of recognizable and unrecognizable students were loitering across the large hallways and opening living rooms, all doing different activities. She could recognize a couple of them, but her head was spinning with how much was going on at once she could barely stand to look at one place for more than three seconds. Some people were off to the side talking, some were dancing to the unnecessarily loud music, some were wandering, some were brushing past them, some were... busy with each other.