The Ineffable Ruth Rhodes

24 ring

ruth

Ruth narrowed her eyes at the board, reading over her notes one last time before she tilted her doritos towards Sumaiya, and she took a couple pieces.

"When's the unit final?"

"Thursday, I think."

Sumiaya laughed. "Isn't that the same day as your Shakespeare final?"

Ruth glared at her friend. "Yeah."

"Have you finished your script?"

She nodded and hummed, eyeing the inside of her almost empty dorito bag. "Almost. Vincent said he wanted to add a few things and then he'd let me look at it again before performance day."

A small hum and a snatch of chips. "How is everything with him, by the way?"

Ruth narrowed her eyes at her doritos, almost hopeful they'd let her disappear with magic or something.

"It's going well," was all she said.

"That's good," Sumaiya said, then looked down. "And is he... do you think he's the perfect guy for you? The right guy for you?"

"No ones perfect," she replied, swiftly dodging the question. But she knew that if she didn't reply, Sumaiya would come to the worst possible conclusion, so she smiled and pretended to think, tapping a finger on her chin and looking up. "Although if I had to change one thing to make him perfect I'd make him like sweets more. When I brought some cupcakes to his family his mom told me he hated them."

Sumaiya laughed. "Hated?"

Ruth nodded. Her story wasn't a lie-- Vincent really did hate any sweets. As the story went, she brought him (and his family, of course) cupcakes as a thank you for the dinner the following week, and was horrified to be informed by his mother that Vincent didn't have much of a sweet tooth. She, of course, did, and so she took the cupcakes and shared it amongst the rest of the family. Ruth was utterly mortified, and Vincent was unaware of said interaction.

"So? What exactly is your perfect man? Someone with a sweet tooth?"

"Of course." Ruth laughed and began to really think. "Hmmm, but also someone who likes babies."

"So he has to want kids."

Ruth nodded. "Someone kind, and intelligent." Then her answer began to change. "He has to love rain like me, and art and classic music, so we can fall asleep to Chopin as he runs his fingers through my hair." Ruth smiled softly, finding the conversation silly. "Someone kind and who wants what's best for me, I guess. But I still have a lot of time for all of that. I don't need to decide that now. Perfect can change."

The bell rang, and the teacher, but not before Sumaiya let a few words go.

"I'm not worried," Ruth's friend shook her head slightly, almost mindlessly, "You wouldn't date someone who you didn't think you were going to spend the rest of your life with, even if you don't quite love him now."

Any other day before the dinner with Vincent's family, or maybe her birthday, Ruth would've laughed and shook her friend off. But for some reason, she found herself nodding too, and letting a small smile take over her face.

Maybe Ruth was afraid of answering the question because maybe, maybe, the answer had already changed without her noticing.

Ruth said goodbye to Sumaiya, but not before heading to the library to pick out a few books

The halls were empty, nothing truly out of the ordinary, Ruth thought as she made her way to her locker.

Except for the life-sized Vincent leaning against her locker with a backpack strap on his shoulder, curls falling over his eyes as he looked down at his phone.