"I Love You." Sex Education

"Good morning."

"And why the fuck do I not mind?"

Is a whisper that wakes Otis up. After getting used to the sunlight that shined directly on his face, he smiled a small smile at Ruby. He had been miserable without her, so to see her here with him again really did make his morning brighter then the sun in his face.

He honestly never thought he'd come to like a girl such as Ruby. She was mean, snarky, sassy, bitchy, pretty much any synonym of mean, it was her. However, once he got to know her, got to see past the mask she wears at school, he met a new Ruby. He met a Ruby who was kind, loving, and surprisingly smart. He even came to find she could be sweet when she wants to be, however rare that is.

Ruby had so many good points that only he and her parents knew about. It honestly made him feel a little special that only he got to see this side of her, a side that not even Olivia and Anwar got to see.

He remembers one of his Favourite moments with Ruby. It was during Summer, before they became 'official'. They had met up at their usual spot in the woods when it had started raining so badly after they had finished, Otis could barely see 10 feet in front of him. When he had said goodbye and started leaving, Ruby did the most un-Ruby thing and offered to take him home. When he inquired about why, she haughtily replied, "Well, if you get hit by a car while crossing the street, then who will be there to annoy me about video games on a daily basis and remind of unsayable you are." He would've passed it off as the usual insult, if she wasn't blushing like a passionfruit.

Which, for Ruby, is about one of the nicest things he was able to get out of her before they started dating. Otis realizes that's not much to other people, but for him? It was like a door opening. It told him that he was finally able to chip away at that icy wall Ruby constantly has up. He could only hope the wall wasn't back up after messing up so badly with her.

He really did regret what he said, he should've been more clear and vocal with her. It's yet another testament to how bad Otis is with words, and how he sucks at talking about his own feelings and emotions. He's glad he was able to clear things up with Ruby, a girl he'd never expect to date, but a girl he's sure he'll grow to love; scratch that, beyond love.

The break up affected him a lot more than he expected. He remembers his mom asking if was on his period due to how moody he was. Eric also asked why he was acting the way he was towards everyone, stating he was cold, curt, sarcastic, barely spoke in complete sentences and would blow up at any little thing (now that he thinks about it, kind of like Ruby on a bad period). It all came to a head when he yelled at Ola to 'shut the fuck up' in the living room of his house. Otis, Jean, Jakob, and, of course, Ola were all watching an alien movie together late at night, he doesn't remember which movie, but that's irrelevant. The reason he got so angry was because Ola kept rambling on about Lily throughout the entire movie. The whole 2 hours or so of the movie was spent trying not to blow up at her at inadvertently reminding him how lonely he was without Ruby. He couldn't hold back anymore when he heard her say, "Now, I know Lily's a little alien crazy, but she's a good person; she may be a little blunt though." Before adding a 'At least she's not Ruby's level of blunt, yeah, she's just a complete bitch. Don't get why anyone would want to date her.' under her breath. It was so quiet nobody but Otis, who was right next to her, heard it. Otis was momentarily confused at her sniping him like that for no good reason, before confusion quickly gave way to anger. Yeah, they got into a big fight after that.

Insults were thrown, some cups and plates went flying, alongside some fists and Otis is pretty sure he saw Jakob grab the smoothie machine out the corner of his eye, after which, he cradled it protectively. Otis still has no idea why he did that or what he was gonna do with it. Anyway, after yelling at his mum, he stormed out of the house to go to Eric's. That was a couple days before the France trip, and he's been crashing there ever since.

It's a good thing he could too, because it was actually Eric who helped him see who he truly should be with; the one that made Otis realize how happy he was with Ruby. Otis has always been quite dense to the feelings of others-at least when he's not in his 'I'm gonna therapize the shit out of you' mode-and now that he's been given a chance to self reflect, he sees now just how insensitive he was to not only Ruby, but his past 2 love interests as well.

First was Maeve who he absolutely humiliated in front of a hundred students just because he couldn't accept the fact that he missed his chance with her.

Second was Ola who he also humiliated just like Maeve. It's quite simple with her. He didn't like the fact that Maeve put a nice little ribbon on another one of his relationships, like she almost did with Eric. So, he decided to try and keep Ola as his girlfriend by blurting out three make or break words he didn't even mean.

Eric was even able to nudge him enough in the right direction that Otis was able to come to the wide eyed realization that he and Maeve are constantly hurting those around them.

He hurt Eric by putting his love for Maeve ahead of his long time best friend.

He disappointed and, in a sense, betrayed his mother by thinking he was some licensed sex therapist.

He hurt Ola by dating her when he was still hung up on Maeve.

But most of all, he hurt Ruby.

Otis will never forget the look on her face when he broke her fragile heart. He'll never forget the idiotic act of questioning her love for him when it was so, so obvious that she meant it. The anguish she portrayed when he suggested they keep hanging like they did. Only in his talk with Eric did he realize it sounded like he asked that they should keep having sex.

He knows that pretty soon he's going to have a long and proper talk with Ruby about the, shall we say, 'incident'. He's absolutely dreading it (just like I'm dreading writing it) but he knows it has to happen, or else he may not be able to properly seal up the crack in her heart.

Otis knows well of the pain that comes with heart break; his heart shattered after he thought Maeve completely ignored the voicemail. He still feels the phantom pain when he thinks about it; Months of drowning his sorrow in cheap alcohol and late night romps with Ruby in the forest is not easily forgotten, after all, as much as he want it to.

But an exemption can be made for now, as he cracks his eyes to welcome the gleaming sunlight, to see the mildly blushing, always beautiful face of Ruby Matthews.

He may still have some extra baggage from Maeve that won't go away, memories that refused to be forgotten, but doesn't everyone?
Everyone's hung up on someone. Right now Otis is hanging off a ledge with a brittle rope called Maeve...

And he can't wait for the day Ruby cut's it.

"Good morning."