A New Balance

Now for the Present...

When Ruth returned from work, the men were already home and there was palpable tension in the air. Ruth knocked on Blake's door. "Blake?", she said. "Come in," he replied, so she did so. "What's up with you guys? I feel like you're always doing something together, but you're just in your room and I'm pretty sure I heard Adam crying in the bathroom," she said with concern. Blake sighed. "I don't know... I guess having a new housemate is kinda messing with our balance," he explained. Ruth frowned a bit. "Oh...", she said, clearly feeling guilty. Blake noticed her expression and quickly wanted to make her feel better. "It's not your fault though," he assured her, "Ders is just being a bit of a d*ck."

Ruth raised an eyebrow. "How so?", she asked. "He was just saying stuff at work today that wasn't okay," Blake explained. "Like what?", Ruth inquired. Blake became anxious, not wanting to hurt Ruth by telling her about what Anders had said. "Just... stuff, y'know?", he replied, not looking at her. Ruth realized that Blake didn't want to talk about it, so she changed the subject.

"You do art, right?", she asked him. Blake looked back up at her and nodded. "Yeah," he confirmed, "how did you know?" Ruth smiled at him. "Adam told me," she answered. Blake's heart fluttered ever so slightly. "You and Adam were talking about me?", he asked excitedly. Ruth chuckled. "Yeah," she nodded, "I wanted to know more about you so that I could get you something to show my appreciation, y'know? I mean, you played the biggest part in helping me live here." Blake smiled, genuinely touched by her gratitude. "You don't need to thank me for that," he said. "Too bad. You're getting a gift," Ruth said playfully.

She went and got something from her room, coming back with a box that had a green bow on it. She handed it to Blake and sat next to him. "Open it," she encouraged with a smile. Blake smiled back and then did so. "Oh my god," Blake said when he saw what was in the box, his eyes widening, "I drew that!"

The gift was a T-shirt with one of Blake's drawings on it. He held it up to his chest. "That's so tight butthole!", he exclaimed, making Ruth laugh. "I'm so glad you like it!", she said. Blake looked at her with a big smile. "Of course I do!", he said. "Mind if I try it on?", he asked her. She nodded. "Go ahead."

He quickly took off his shirt and put the new one on. Ruth blushed slightly at the sight of Blake being shirtless, but turned away to hide it and then quickly stopped. "This is so cool!", Blake said, looking down at the shirt he was now wearing. Ruth looked back at him and saw how happy he was. She chuckled. "You look great," she complimented. Blake looked from the shirt to her. "Thanks so much," he said.

In that moment, as their eyes were locked and they were both smiling with joy, something happened... a spark, maybe. They both knew it, but neither of them said anything; they just sat and stared into each other's eyes. Blake noted how beautiful Ruth's big, brown eyes were and his heart began to beat faster

The moment was ended suddenly by a knock at Blake's door. "Did you take my porno magazine?", Adam said as he entered, stopping when he saw that Ruth was there. Ruth and Blake quickly turned away from each other "Uh...", he said, embarrassed, "Sorry... I didn't know you were in here." Ruth looked at him and quickly put on a smile. "I was just, um, giving Blake his present," she explained.

"Do you like it, dude?!", Adam asked excitedly with a big smile. "Of course I do! It's awesome!", Blake said, matching his big smile. "Yeah, Ruth came to me for ideas and I, like, totally helped her pick this," Adam bragged. Ruth nodded. "Yup, he really helped me out," she confirmed. "Well, thanks, man," Blake said to Adam. Adam shrugged casually. "No big deal," he said.

"Well," Ruth said, standing up, "I should get ready for bed." "But it's only, like, 9 o'clock," Blake pointed out. "Yeah... but I have work tomorrow and I need to get there early," Ruth lied.
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By 9:30, Ruth was ready for bed. She laid down to sleep, but something was on her mind. 'Why did I lie?', she thought. 'And am I crazy or did Blake and I have a moment? And if I'm not crazy, then what did the moment mean?' She continued to ask questions and analyze what had happened until she fell asleep.
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A/N: I hope someone gets the joke I made with the title, if not the joke is that "now" and "present" can mean the same thing, but they don't in this context.
Haha.
I know it's not actually funny, but titles can be hard to think of.
Anyway, this chapter was irregularly short and I'm not sure why. I apologize for that.