A New Balance

Another Fight

Blake was out for about twenty minutes, and he woke up in Karl's van. "He's awake!", Ruth shouted. Her and Karl came over to help him sit up. Ruth smiled with relief.

Blake held his head as he sat up. "Ow," he said, then looked around. "What happened?", he asked. "You were completely knocked out by this biker dude, bro," Karl said. Ruth nodded. "Yeah, so I called Karl and he came and brought you to the van. We were super freaked out!", she explained. Blake nodded. "Okay... but why did that dude knock me out?", he inquired. Ruth chuckled. "You took a swing at him!... I mean, you missed pretty badly, but you sure did try!", she said excitedly. "Oh...", Blake said with an embarrassed chuckle, "Oops."

Ruth smiled. "Don't worry about it," she said, "you did well considering how drunk you were." Blake looked at her and smiled. "Thanks," he said. Ruth nodded and then turned to Karl. "How about we pick up my boxes and move them to the house?", she suggested. Karl nodded and made his way to the driver's seat. "I'm on it," he said, starting the car.

Once the boxes were packed into the van, Karl, Blake, and Ruth decided to get something to eat. They went through a drive-thru and then made their way to the house.

Blake looked at Ruth, who was eating some fries. He smiled unconsciously. Just looking at her made him happy. Ruth caught Blake staring at her and smiled. "You want some fries?", she offered. Blake quickly snapped out of his trance. "Uh...", he said, realizing that he was staring, "No... no thanks." He chuckled nervously and Ruth nodded.

Soon after that, they made it to the house. The four men and Ruth moved the boxes into Ruth's new room. Considering none of them were particularly strong (at least not as strong as they liked to think they were), the job went pretty smoothly and quickly.

Blake knocked on Ruth's doorframe. "Hey," he greeted as she unpacked. She turned to him and smiled. "Hey," she said, "What's up?" He entered the room and smiled at her awkwardly. "Um... I wanted to talk about earlier... y'know... me getting knocked out and all that," he said. Ruth shrugged. "It's really not that big a deal. I've seen Karl get knocked out many times," she replied with a chuckle. "Yeah...", Blake said, "but I feel like we were kinda having fun before all of that." Ruth smiled and nodded. "I agree, but it was that biker dude's fault, not yours."

Blake nodded, but still wasn't convinced, which Ruth noticed. She walked closer to Blake and put her hands on his shoulders, looking into his eyes as to comfort him. He became more flustered than comforted, though. "Listen," Ruth said, "you're cool. Like, super cool, so you don't have to worry about embarrassing yourself around me or anything. I mean, we're housemates now, right?" Blake nodded, still flustered, but as he looked into her eyes, he became less so. He smiled and nodded. "Right," he agreed softly.

"Woah," Adam said, standing in the doorway. "Are you like... going to kiss or something?", he asked. Ruth dropped her arms from Blake's shoulders and chuckled. "What?! No!", Blake said nervously. "Of course not," he said with a forced laugh. Adam was confused by his friend's reaction, but decided to move forward. "The pizza's here," he told the two. He then left.

Ruth rolled her eyes and laughed. "He really sees what he wants to see," she said. Blake turned to her. "Yeah," he said with a nervous chuckle, "he does that."

The four housemates all sat in the living room in front of the TV. "So, what do you guys wanna watch?", Anders asked. Ruth perked up; she had always loved movies. "Ooo! Let's watch a horror movie!", she said excitedly. Blake smiled at her enthusiasm, but Anders just became annoyed and Adam became nervous (he was terrified of horror movies). "No," Anders said sternly, "we need to watch something good like 'A.I.' or... maybe something with Shaq." Adam nodded, trying to hide his fear. "Yeah," he forced a chuckle, "horror movies are, like, so lame." Blake noticed that Ruth's smile had dropped.

"Hey!", he said, "I think we should let her choose, dudes. She just moved in, after all." Ruth smiled at him. "Thanks, but I want everyone to agree on the movie." Anders rolled his eyes. Blake took note of this. "I'm down for 'A.I.'," Ruth said, "I'm a fan of HJO." Adam had a look of relief. "I-I totally think that's what we should watch," he agreed.

The morning after that went by pretty smoothly. Ruth woke up before the men and showered, then got ready for work. By the time she was ready, the guys were up and getting ready too. She wished them a good morning before heading off to work at a pet store (she was assistant manager and mostly enjoyed her job). The men, however, arrived at work late (as always).

The three men were sitting in their cubicle. "Hey, Ders," Blake said. Anders turned to him. "What?", he asked. "I have a kinda weird question," Blake told his friend. "What is it?", Anders inquired. Blake was clearly a bit hesitant to be asking the question. "Uh... well... I was wondering why you always seem so, y'know... annoyed by Ruth," he said. This made Anders' expression turn into a stern one. "What?", he asked. Blake forced a chuckle, trying to lighten the mood. "Never mind," he said, "It's not a big deal or anything." He turned to his computer, but Anders was still staring at Blake coldly.

"If you have a problem, then tell me," he said in a challenge tone. Blake shook his head. "No, dude. Just... forget about it." Anders stood up and walked closer to Blake, looking down at him. "Tell me, bro," he said. Blake stood up too, not wanting to be looked down upon by Anders.

"Guys, what's going on?", Adam asked. "There's nothing going on," Blake told him. "Actually," Anders said, "I think there is." Blake just shook his head and turned to leave, but Anders stood in front of him and stopped him. "What's your problem, dude?", Blake asked. "You know exactly what my problem is," Anders responded. Adam stood up now too in case he needed to stop a fight. "Well, clearly I don't," Blake replied. "Hey, let's not fight here in front of Waymond," Adam said, motioning towards Waymond, who was staring at them.

Anders ignored Adam and continued. "No," he said, "I want Blake to admit it." Blake scoffed. "Admit what?" Anders got closer to him, their faces now almost touching. "Admit that the only reason you let that b*tch into our home is so that you can get laid," he said. That was what set Blake off. He launches himself at Anders, pinning him to the ground. "Don't call her that!", he shouted.

Adam quickly grabbed Blake and pulled him off of Anders, but not before Blake was able to punch Anders once in the face. "Ow!", Anders exclaimed as Adam pulled Blake up off of him. "Bros before hoes!", Anders shouted at Blake. "She is a bro!", Blake shouted back, "And she's a better bro than you'll ever be!" Adam guided Blake back to his chair and then helped Anders up. Though they were separated and no longer in a physical fight, the two still glared intensely at each other.