A New Balance

Spiders at the Movies

It had been a few months since Anders apologized to Ruth and things were going great. Everyone wanted everyone to be there and they all got along. Karl had even completely gotten rid of his cat problem.

There still remained a bit of an issue, though; Blake's feelings for Ruth still hadn't faded and he still didn't have the courage or confidence say something. Luckily, but unbeknownst to him, Ruth was beginning to grapple with the fact that she was starting to have feelings too. It was all very teen-drama-esque.
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"Do you guys think that Ruth maybe might, y'know... give me a chance?", Blake asked out of nowhere while the trio was at work. They both seemed annoyed. "You've had feelings for this girl for months now, man," Anders said. Adam nodded. "Yeah," he agreed, "Why don't you just tell her already?" "Because that kind of thing ruins friendships and it would ruin our new balance!", Blake told his friends.

"Dude, you either need to tell her or find another girl because you have been becoming more and more of a bummer," said Anders. "Yeah, man. You're supposed to be the fun, goofy one in our group, but now you're becoming, like, a bummer," Adam said. "Like Eeyore," Anders said. "Exactly like Eeyore," Adam agreed.
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Blake spent the entire work day thinking about what his friends said and realized how right they were. He knew he had to do something about his Ruth issue and fast before he became more and more like Eeyore. He was more like Winnie or Tigger, and he needed to get back to that state.
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After work, he visited Karl. "Hey, buddy," he greeted his friend. "Hi," Karl responded with a smile, "What's up?" Blake tried to hide his nervousness with a smile. Lucky for him, Karl wasn't the type to recognize or notice such things.

"Uh... I have something kinda personal that I need to talk about and you have to swear not to tell anyone. Especially not Ruth," Blake informed him. Karl nodded. "You know me, man. I would never tell anyone about your personal business," he assured. Blake nodded and hesitated before continuing on. "Well... I kind of have some feelings for Ruth," Blake admitted. Karl smirked. "Yeah... I kinda sensed that," he said. Blake felt relieved that his friend was so cool with it. "You know her pretty well, so I was wondering what you thought about me asking her out or whatever...", Blake said nervously.

Karl's smile widened. "Thanks for coming to me, man! I'm actually really good with this kind of stuff," he said joyfully. Blake smiled back. "Really?", he asked. Karl nodded. "Definitely," he said. "Great!", Blake said, "So, what do you think? Do you think she'd be interested?" Karl nodded and chuckled. "Oh, definitely," he replied, "She talks about you, like, all the time." A wave of pure joy rushed over Blake and his smile widened. "Really?", he asked. "Of course, man," Karl confirmed. "Sweet," Blake said. "So how should I go about telling her?", he asked. Karl thought. "Well, she likes movies, so maybe you could... I don't know... watch a movie with her and tell her then," he suggested. Blake nodded. "Yeah... That sounds perfect," he said, "Thanks for your help, dude. I really appreciate it." Karl nodded. "No problem. Any time," he said.
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Blake had the whole night set up: he asked Ruth if she wanted to have a movie night that weekend and she agreed. He let her choose the movie, made popcorn, bought some Junior Mints (which she loved), and even cleaned up the living room.

That night, he was really nervous; he had hope that Karl was right and Ruth felt the same, but he needed to brace himself for the possibility that she didn't. No matter how much he tried to prepare and perfect everything for that night, he knew that he had no control over what was going to happen, and he hated it.

When Ruth came home from work, she saw the living room and was visibly impressed. "Wow," she said, "this looks really nice, Blake." Blake smiled at her and did his best to hide his anxiety. "Thanks," he replied. Ruth nodded, then said, "I'll be right back. I'm just going to change out of my work clothes." "Okay," Blake said.

She came back wearing a T-shirt and some shorts (what she usually wore to bed). She then plopped down on the middle couch and patted the spot next to her. "I know you like to have your own couch and all, but I was thinking that we could sit next to each other since it's just us two," she said with an inviting smile. Blake's heart started to beat faster. He didn't expect for her to want to be so close to him, but he loved the idea of it. He sat down next to her and grabbed the remote. "Time for Scream, am I right?", he said with a nervous chuckle. Ruth nodded excitedly. "I can't wait!"

Blake could hardly pay any attention to the movie with Ruth being right next to him. His heart was racing and he couldn't stop rehearsing was he was going to say in his head. Then suddenly, Ruth leaned her head against his shoulder. He froze completely, unsure how to respond.

"Randy's my favorite character," she commented, unaware of how nervous the man next to her was. Blake managed to nod silently. After a moment, Ruth reached for the popcorn that was in a bowl on Blake's lap and he could no longer keep it together. He jumped off the couch, causing the popcorn to fly everywhere and Ruth to be taken completely off guard.

"What's wrong?", Ruth asked, concerned for her friend. "Uh...", Blake said, pausing to think of what to say, "I... I saw a spider in the popcorn bowl and it just, like, freaked me out." He chuckled nervously. Ruth jumped up and away from the couch too. "What did it look like?!", she asked. Blake thought. "Well... it was, uh... black and, um... big," he lied. "Are you sure?", Ruth inquired. Blake nodded. "Yup," he replied, "I'm pretty sure."

Ruth sighed. "This is just great. I was really enjoying our movie night," she said with a frown. Blake's eyes widened. "Really?", he asked. She smiled at him. "Of course," she nodded. There was comfortable silence for a minute or so as the two stood there smiling at each other, then Blake finally spoke. "Now that I think about it," he said, "I think it was probably just a burnt kernel that I mistook for a spider." Ruth raised her eyebrow. "Are you sure?", she asked. Blake nodded. "Yeah... I'm, like... 95% sure."

Ruth paused to think for a short moment. "Well, we could always wait for the spider to skitter away and we could finish the movie tomorrow night," she suggested. "Spiders kinda freak me out when I don't know where they are," she admitted. Blake realized that his plan was about to completely fall apart. "No," he said, "We can't stop! I need to find out who the killer is!" Ruth chuckled. "Well, if it really means that much to you, we can make sure the spider isn't on the couch or in our snacks and we can finish the movie," she said. Blake smiled with relief and nodded in agreement.