The Ineffable Ruth Rhodes

22 perhaps she found a home

ruth

Vincent Alderage was the exact type of person you had a crush on.

You'd catch him looking at you in class and tell your friends, thinking he liked you when he was really just daydreaming. He was the type of 'dream boy' you were infatuated with, not because you got to know him but because he was handsome— no, he was beyond handsome, he was beautiful, kind and playful.

It would be easy to see any feelings towards him as infatuation, after all, everyone was infatuated with Vincent Alderage.

So as this odd feeling started rising in Ruth, and she felt like her insides were being squeezed with a tight fist when he smiled at her and did that thing where he shook his curls, of course she reasoned and said it was infatuation. It was all infatuation, how she wanted to swallow whole not only his pain, but all the pain in the world, so he'd never have to know pain again.

Of course it was.

Ruth told herself it was infatuation.

Of course she wasn't in love with Vincent.

But she'd be wrong.

"How does it look?"

Ruth turned the camera around and let it face her mirror, showing Sumaiya her outfit over facetime. Dressed in a ribbed turtleneck sweater and black jeans with her hair down, Ruth posed like a showgirl and showed her friend different angles. Sumaiya let out a giggle.

"You look amazing, Ruth." Sumaiya wiped a fake tear, and asked her to take lots of pictures for her. "Wish I was there."

She hummed. "Have you met Sage's parents yet?"

She shrugged as she ate a spoonful of food. "A couple times."

"Did they like you?"

She grinned. "'Course they did. That's why I met them the second, third, and fourth time."

Ruth sighed shakily. "Vincent has six siblings. I not only have to impress his mother, but a family of eight."

Sumaiya's brows rose and she let out a laugh that said 'you're screwed'. "Sage is an only child, so it was pretty easy for me."

Ruth's hopeful smile dropped.

Sumaiya threw her head back and laughed. "You're going to be okay. They're all kids, right? Kids are pretty easy to please. Plus you're very likeable, Ruth."

Ruth laughed in patent doubt. "God, I don't know what I'd do without a friend like you."

"It's a good thing you don't have to imagine."

—-

The doorbell rang, and Ruth calmed her nerves, swinging the door open after checking the peephole.

"I finally came on time," Vincent said, seemingly out of breath, with his eyes sparkling. And then his eyes dropped down to her outfit, and then up to her hair (she'd taken out her braids for the occasion), and his expression was... indescribable. She felt the need to fill the silence.

"I noticed. Good job." Her lips twitched and she reached over on instinct, ruffling his hair. And then she froze, realizing what she'd done, trying to draw her hand back, until Vincent grabbed it mid retract, with a smile.

"Thanks," he said softly, and jutted his head to his car. "You look incredible."

"You too."

"Ready?"

Ruth nodded, trying not to focus too much on his smile which was making her knees weak, and the fact that he was still holding her hand as they made their way into the car, thinking to herself I can do this.