A New Balance

The Date

Ruth had been living in the house for about three months now and it was going fairly smoothly. Maybe it was because Ruth had such a different work schedule during the week or maybe they were just lucky, but, either way, everything was working out. It probably also helped that Ruth was willing to party with the trio on weekends (maybe not quite as hard as they did, but she participated).

What was thriving the most, though, was Blake and Ruth's connection. They hung out a lot when they could, sometimes alone and sometimes with Adam, Anders, and/or Karl. The two smoked together, drank together, watched movies together, etc., but they mostly enjoyed just talking, and they would talk about pretty much anything. Sometimes it was work or their interests (usually art, crafts, movies, and wizards/fictional magic), other times it was Adam and Anders. When they were high or drunk, though, they mostly just joked around.

At first glance, you would probably say that they were close friends, but Anders saw something else... something that he didn't like. He wasn't wrong, though, there was something. Blake and Ruth both felt it, but neither of them fully recognized what it meant.

Well, Blake kind of did. He would stare at Ruth and steal glanced when she wasn't looking and try to get as close to her as possible (both physically and emotionally). It was actually kind of obvious that he had feelings for Ruth. Even Adam saw it. Ruth, on the other hand, was socially clueless and had no idea. In a way, this was great because it kept them from becoming awkward around each other. In another way, though, it kept them from seeing something big: that they both had feelings for each other.
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"Hi, Ruth," Anders greeted, sitting across from her at the dining room table as she was eating cereal. Ruth raised an eyebrow; Anders didn't usually talk to her, at least not one-on-one. "Hi," she replied cautiously. "So, um, I have this friend who's like, super cool and I think that you two would... you know... work well together," Anders said with a suggestive smile. "Okay?", Ruth replied, not fully sure what he was getting at. Anders had to stop himself from rolling his eyes at her cluelessness. "I was wondering if you'd like to go on a date with my friend," he said, this time as straightforward as possible so that Ruth would understand.

"What are you guys talking about?", Blake inquired as he entered the dining room and sat next to Ruth. His hair was a mess because he had just woken up. Ruth smiled at him. "Your mane is looking wild this morning," she said with a laugh. Blake laughed too. "Well, I am part lion," he joked back.

Anders, again, had to stop himself from rolling his eyes. "Ruth?", he said, grabbing her attention. She turned to him. "Yeah?", she said. "Should I let my friend know that you're interested or...", said Anders. "Oh!", Ruth said, remembering that they were having a conversation before Blake came in. "Uh... I guess one date couldn't hurt," she said hesitantly. Anders smiled excitedly. "Great," he said, "I'll set it up."

Blake just looked confused. "A date?", he asked. "Yes, a date," Anders confirmed coldly. "It can't hurt, right?", Ruth asked Blake. Blake paused for a moment, his heart dropping. "Uh... no, I guess it can't," he replied with a forced smile.
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For the first time in a long time, Ruth dressed up pretty nicely for her date. Sure, she didn't look super fancy with her plain black dress and her signature black Converse, but it was a step up from how she normally dressed. She even put on some eyeliner and some lipstick and added some jewelry. By the time she was ready, she looked in the mirror and smiled. 'Not that bad,' she thought.

The three men were watching a movie when Ruth came out of her room. Adam saw her first. "Woah," he said, "you look different!" Anders then turned around, shocked at her nice appearance. Finally, Blake turned and looked. As soon as he saw her, his heart soared. "Woah," was all he could manage to say. Ruth smiled nervously. "Do I look okay? Be honest," she asked. "Hell yeah! You're actually kinda hot," Adam told her. Ruth looked down and smiled; she liked that Adam thought that she looked good, but "hot" for him usually meant something extremely sexual.

"Thanks," she said, then noticed that Blake was just staring at her speechlessly. "What do you think, Blake? Is it okay?", she asked him. Blake just nodded. Ruth chuckled. "I'm just going to hope that you actually like it," she said half-jokingly. When there was no response, she decided to just move on. "I should get going," she told her housemates before leaving.

Once the door closed behind her, Adam turned back to the TV. "I've kinda got a boner right now if I'm being honest," he admitted. Anders scoffed and rolled his eyes. "She's really not that hot, man," he said. Blake remained speechless, his heart still beating faster than usual. "Blake?", Adam said, getting his friend's attention. "Huh?", Blake said as he turned to look at his friend.

Adam laughed. "Woah, dude," he said, "you've definitely got a boner." Blake quickly covered his lap with a blanket in case Adam was telling the truth. "What?! No!", he said anxiously. Adam laughed again. "Dude! It's not a big deal! I've cranked off to her before," he told his friend. "What?! You can't... you can't do that," Blake said frantically. Anders laughed at Blake's reaction. "I have too," he lied, just wanting to get a rise out of Blake.

Blake stood up quickly. "You guys can't do that! That's just... like... not okay!", he shouted at his friends. "Calm down, dude," Adam said, "I mean, she's a woman and she lives with us... She basically signed up for it." Blake became upset and more flustered. "But... you can't... you can't just, like, do stuff like that!", he said.

"Woah...", Adam said, his expression showing that he thought Blake was being irrational. Blake just continued to stand and mumble nervously until running to his room. "Well that was weird," Adam said to Anders.
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Ruth got back from her date pretty late that night. When she arrived home, the men had moved from the living room to their bedrooms. She sighed and leaned against the door. The date didn't go very well. She didn't have her hopes up going into it or anything, but she was hoping it would be at least okay.

She had arrived at the on time, but had to wait about twenty minutes until her date actually arrived. When he got there, he immediately went up to another woman and when Ruth waved him over, he had a clear look of disappointment. Then he only talked about himself most of the night before asking her to come back to his place for sex. She, of course, said no, which made the man angry. He began ranting about how "all women are the same" and then started attacking Ruth personally. He mostly said that she was ugly and that she didn't deserve him. After that, he stormed out and left her at the bar alone.

In terms of first dates, it wasn't as bad as it could have gone, but the man's words kind of hurt. Ruth couldn't help but feel that he was right; she believed that she wasn't pretty and that she probably didn't deserve him. Sure, he was just some random asshole, but she couldn't keep from taking his words to heart.

To numb the pain, she decided to do what always made her feel better (or at least numb): drink. She went to Blake's room and knocked on his door. "Hey," she said from outside the door, "Wanna get drunk?" She heard some noise inside the room for a moment before Blake opened the door. He smiled at her, trying to forget how he felt earlier. "Didn't you just come from a bar?", he asked. Ruth chuckled and nodded. "Yeah... but I'd rather get drunk with you than by myself," she said. Blake became confused. "What about your date?", he asked. Ruth looked down, not wanting Blake to see that she was hurting. "It didn't really work out with him," she admitted with a shrug.

Blake couldn't help but feel some relief when she said that, but his concern overshadowed it when he saw Ruth's expression drop. "Do you wanna, like, talk about it?", he asked. Ruth shook her head and sighed. "Not really... I mean, the guy was just a jerk," she said. Blake became more concerned. "What did he do?", he asked. Ruth hesitated to consider what to say before she spoke. "He just pointed out some things about me that I didn't feel like facing tonight," she explained. Blake was going to ask for more details, but Ruth started speaking again. "Let's just get drunk and forget about it," she suggested with a smile. Despite wanting to know more, Blake nodded in agreement, not wanting to push Ruth too much. "Sounds good," he said, putting on a smile.