OVERLOOKED ㅤkotlc

030. Crash and Burn

When I wake up, she's gone.

The bed is freshly made, and it's like she was never here.

Maybe I dreamed the whole thing up.

I get up, then see a note at my desk, in her familiar cursive.

Thank you, it reads, with a heart at the end of it.

So it wasn't a dream.

I feel strangely disappointed. If it wasn't a dream, then that means something bad did happen yesterday. And it means I'll be helpless once again.

It should be your friends that help you defeat your demons, right? Well, I barely ever seemed to do that with Sophie. It wasn't me, after all, who came up with the inspiring quips.

There's a knock, and I immediately head to the door. I open it, and I'm greeted with...

Not Rosaleen.

"Hey, Dex," Ruy says, smiling a bit at me.

I raise my eyebrows. "Hi?" I say.

"Hi," he says.

There's an awkward, awkward silence.

Ruy clears his throat. "Um," he says, "Melia wanted to ask if you wanted to hang out with us? And Alvar, too."

I tilt my head. "Is Rosaleen coming?" I ask.

"Mm... no, I don't think so," he says. "I asked earlier, but Jaelynn said she wasn't feeling well."

Oh. I hope she's okay. "Wait, Ruy, I wanted to ask something."

Ruy looks at me, curious. "Go ahead."

"Does... Do you know if anything happened yesterday?" I say. "During Rosaleen's mission? Like... did Alvar mention anything to you?"

"Alvar did mention something that he messed up," Ruy says slowly. "But I think it's confidential. Sorry, Dex."

"Oh." I force myself to smile, even though I'm frustrated. Wherever I go, it's the same, huh? Confidential in the Black Swan, confidential in the Neverseen. "It's okay," I say.

"Yeah. I'm sorry I couldn't help you with that." He pauses. "Why do you ask, by the way?"

"Oh, I'm afraid it's confidential," I say. "Sorry, Ruy." Too late, I realize he might take the teasing the wrong way.

But Ruy laughs. "Touché," he says, a smile on his lips. He teasingly shakes a finger at me. "Watch your mouth, though, we have a Torture Chamber in our oh-so-secret basement."

I grin, but it's a little unsure. I can't tell if he's joking or not.

"We don't actually have one," he adds quickly. "But Melia has one."

Melia? She seemed nice last time. "Does she, now?"

"Mm-hmm. We talk about future and stuff there." He shakes his head. "It's pretty torturous, but also really, really amazing."

"Torturous," I repeat. "Care to explain?"

Ruy smirks. "Only if you come with me. We're blowing stuff up today, and I'm pretty sure that's your specialty, yeah?"

"Um... blowing... huh?"

"Chemistry," he says. "If that explode-y baking volcano counts as chemistry."

"Oh."

"So," Ruy says, gesturing to come outside, "wanna come blow stuff up?"

I laugh. "Of course," I say. "Let's blow stuff up!"

He chuckles, and I come outside, closing the door behind me. "Wait, but Ruy," I say, "I didn't forget the torture thing."

Ruy mock-sighs. "Is it really a friendship, though, if you have to bribe someone in hanging out with you?" he says dramatically. "My whole life has been a lie—"

"Then get your lover to kiss it all away," I deadpan, then laugh. "I'm curious now, though. And you wouldn't break a promise, would you?"

I never would've thought there'd be a day when I laugh and tease Ruy Ignis.

Ruy hides a smile. "Oh, fine," he says. "But only for my honor."

I press my lips together, suppressing my smile. "Let's not keep your honor waiting."

"Yeah, yeah." He hesitates. "Promise not to laugh?"

"I promise."

"Swear it."

I put my right hand on my heart. I clear my throat. "I, Dexter Alvin Diznee, solemnly swear on blowing stuff up, that I will not laugh at whatever Ruy Ignis's honor wants to tell me."

He nods. "Good," he says, but his voice is shaking with laughter.

"Good," I echo, desperately trying not to laugh.

"Don't laugh," he warns.

"I'm not!" I say, even as a small laugh escapes me.

"Sure," Ruy says, chuckling. He shakes his head. "But actually, the torture thing is a bit silly."

My laughter ceases. "I'm sure it isn't," I say.

"Oh, but it is." He hesitates. "It's just, like... a superstition. You know?"

Not really, but I nod.

"It's just... I think all the relationships in the Neverseen are fated to crash and burn."

Well, that catches me off-guard. "Really?" I say.

He nods. "Um, yeah, because... well, you know Jolie, right?"

My footsteps stall, then I hurry to catch up to him. "I know her, yeah."

"Her and Brant, that didn't go so well, did it?"

No, it didn't.

Ruy rushes to continue, as if now that he's started, he can't stop. "Trix and Umber, that... Trix takes antidepressants now, for God's sake, and Umber's dead." His voice is bitter.

"And," he says, "look at Glimmer and Jaelynn. They're doing well, but if they were to ever return to normal society, the Matchmaking system would destroy them. They'd be a, a—"

"A Bad Match," I finish. I already know the aftereffects of that.

Ruy sighs. "Yeah. And... Dex, there's a lot more. I had a friend named Theo, who was forced to kill his lover. I don't know if Theo did it, but... Alex's dead body was in Mysterium. And then there's another couple that ran away to the Lost Cities, then died in a year."

I bite my lip. "But that doesn't mean..."

"I know," Ruy says, and he offers me a pained smile. "But I think about it anyway."

I don't know what to say to that.

He shrugs. "But," he says, his voice lighter, "it's probably not true! And as long as Melia doesn't worry about it, it's okay."

We stop in front of a door at the end of a hallway, and there's a long silence. "This," he finally says, "is the lounge room."

A mischievous grin tilts his lips up, our past conversation washed away. "And we get it all to ourselves today."

˚ ༘ 🌷 ── author's note!

"a trace of honesty was in my voice. but so was a coating of uncertainty and a sprinkle of fear." —overlooked draft 1, chapter 14 ,,, oh yeah we LOVE cupcake emotions :')

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