All Over Again

| Chapter Thirty-Six |

Raffo wanting to go on a date with Ruth didn't register in her mind until the next morning when she woke up with a start.

She hadn't thought much of it last night, as she was more than a little preoccupied with their . . . festivities, and then falling asleep right after they cuddled, so it didn't cross her mind. Until she reminisced on everything that happened and recalled him asking her out on a date. She said yes, of course, but now that she was thinking about it, she wondered if this meant they were moving forward in their- well, whatever it was.

It must be if he asked her out on a date, right?

She didn't know the answer to that, but she hoped it was a step in the right direction for them. Before she could help heralded, she slipped into a world of fantasy- daydreaming about when the date would be, where it would be, and if that day was gonna come soon enough. The thought of going out with him left a warm afterglow in the pit of her stomach and a giddy grin went sprawling across her cheeks.

"RUTH MARJORIE SEMPLE YOU SNEAKY BITCH!" Jana came screeching into her room after slamming open the door, startling Ruth out of her comfortable daze.

Ruth squealed and covered her blanket over her head, but her cousin wasn't having any of that. She bounded on the bed screaming and holding her down or shaking her shoulders until she released the blanket from her grip. The blanket snatched off the bright pink bonnet from Ruth's curls. "Hey!"

"Don't hey me you traitor!" Jana smacked her arm. "You didn't think we'd notice that Raffo never fucking showed up last night? And we didn't hear not one peep from you? HOW STUPID DO YOU THINK WE ARE?"

Jana wrestled her again and Ruth's scream followed. "I DIDN'T HIDE IT."

"BULLSHIT."

"YOU GUYS NEVER ASKED IF I WAS HAVING COMPANY OVER."

"KNOWING YOU WERE GONNA GET DICKED DOWN ON HALLOWEEN WOULD HAVE BEEN NICE TO KNOW. WHAT IF WE CAME HOME TO THAT?"

Ruth's cheeks erupted into a fit of flames. That time it was her turn to smack and wrestle Jana. "I DIDN'T GET DICKED DOWN YOU PERVERT."

"HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO BELIEVE YOU, LIAR?"

"WE DIDN'T DO IT. WE JUST . . . "

Jana gasped, appalled. "NASTY BITCH!" she hollered, though there was a hint of amusement underlying her tone.

"JANA I PROMISED WE DIDN'T GO TOO FAR. WE JUST MADE-OUT."

Jana challengingly narrowed her eyes at her. "Did he touch your man in the canoe?"

Ruth wrinkled her nose at the crude saying. "That's disgusting, J."

"WELL?"

"MAYBE. BUT IT DIDN'T GO FURTHER THAN THAT."

Jana looked satisfied enough with her answers and rolled off to the side of her. "Good enough. Just wanted to know how big a hoe my cousin is."

"Did I disappoint?" Ruth huffed, pushing her tangled curls out of her face.

She shrugged. "Are you guys officially together yet?"

"I don't know—I don't think so."

"Then nope! Make his pretty ass work for it," Jana winked. "At least two or three dates and then WHAM! Homeboy won't even see you coming. Oh wait . . . well, maybe at that point—"

Ruth laughed loudly and shoved a pillow over Jana's face. "Shut up, J."

The two giggled like little school girls. Jana calmed down enough to fill her in at what happened at the bonfire, which was nothing new, that consisted of a moping Mirana, a flirting Terry (and Johnny), and a drunk Jana trying to jump over the flames of the fire. They didn't come back home much later than Raffo left, which was a total relief, and that was that.

Jana wanted to know how her night was with 'sexy ass Raffo', her words not Ruth's, though she wholeheartedly agreed with them, and Ruth kept it PG with the details. She wanted to keep what happened between her and Raffo between them and she was happy her cousin didn't push that. She did, however, ask about the date and where they'd be having it.

"He didn't say," she admitted. "We were sorta—uh, preoccupied."

Jana smirked. "I'm sure you were. Maybe you should stop being a scaredy-cat and text him."

"I'm not being a scaredy-cat," she lied.

"Yeah right. Just ask him about it now. You need me to take your phone again?"

"Nope!" Ruth quickly snatched up her phone from the nightstand before Jana could. By the slithering smirk on her cousin's face, she knew her fast fingers had barely made it.

She only hesitated a second, before her thumbs skimmed along the screen.

Ruth: Hey, sorry to bug you at work. But I have a quick question.

She pressed a nail between her teeth, impatiently waiting for him to text her back. He didn't answer right away, which was nerve-wracking in itself, but after ten minutes of pondering her existence, he responded.

Sasquatch: What's your question, aiukli?

She squirmed on the bed, her nervousness resulting in the increasing of her heart rate and the decreasing of her sanity. There was no need to be nervous. He was the one who asked her out on a date after all; if he wanted to take it back, he would have done so already.

Ruth: Well, I was thinking about something you said last night about going on a date? When did you want to go out?

Jana peered over her shoulder, curious. Both waited in anticipation for a few minutes while Raffo got his text together.

Sasquatch: I was gonna say next week, but I'm not doing anything tonight. Tonight good with you?

Her belly dipped with excitement.

Ruth: Tonight sounds great!

Jana looked at her expectedly, her eyebrows raised. "Need help getting ready? Picking an outfit?"

"I have a feeling even if I said no you would still do it," Ruth mumbled, side-eyeing her grinning cousin.

"Yep! Now how the hell are we supposed to figure out what you're gonna wear?"

*****