Ethereal ✾ ||C.S||

V. Nothing a band-aid can't fix

✾Ruby's pov

I was sitting in my school's parking lot alone, looking for a nearby Uber that could drop me home because my dad was out late today and my mum wasn't picking up. This was such a shit situation, my battery was at 4%, my mum wasn't picking up her phone and my dad couldn't care less about me. I sighed and locked my phone. I argued with myself if whether I should wait for my mum to call back or just walk home.

My thoughts got disturbed when I saw two guys fighting on the other side of the parking lot, one of them looked familiar. The guy in the black leather jacket was throwing hard punches at the other one. When I got closer to them, I saw that the guy in the jacket was Cole and the other guy was Rick from our calculus class.

"You son of a bitch, stay down!"

Cole began to walk away from Rick who was bleeding terribly. But just when I thought the brawl was over, Rick got up and charged at Cole. He grabbed him by his neck and pushed him into the ground. He was about to punch him in the stomach when I walked over to them.

"That's enough!", I shouted.

And as soon as they saw me, they stopped. Cole got up, he had bloody knuckles and blood dripping from his swollen right cheek. But Rick was in a worse condition than him, he had a black eye and was bleeding from his nose and his ear. Cole had jacked him up pretty good. Rick dusted himself up and walked away from us after looking Cole dead in the eye.

"Are you okay?"

"Nothing a band-aid can't fix.", He chuckled.

He was still pretty pissed cause his laugh sounded like he wanted to rip Rick apart. I took out a band-aid I had in my pocket, I always had these to cover up my scars if our teachers decided to do surprise hygiene checks.

"Here, I always carry one on me.", I handed it to him.

He took it from me and said,

"What are you even doing here, Ruby?"

"Waiting for someone to pick me up."

"Oh, well I'll drop you home if that's okay with you."

I think about it for a second, maybe I should go with him, cause I don't think I'm getting a call back anytime soon from my mum, and I definitely do not want to walk home in this cold.

"Okay, thanks I guess."

"Don't mention it. Let me just get something first then I'll drive you."

I nodded at him and he headed for this little shop right next to our school. He turned around to me and said,

"You coming or not?"

"Oh, yeah. Sorry.", I said and followed him.

Wow Ruby, you're so dumb. Like really?

We enter the brightly lit shop, there weren't a lot of people there, just an old man arguing with the staff about the beer or something. And some kids buying firecrackers and rock candy.

"You want anything, Ruby?"

"A slurpee would be nice."

I watched him walk over to the register and point out a box of Marlboro cigarettes to the cashier.

"I'll take the cigarettes and a large slurpee."

He paid the guy and with that we walked out of there, the cold breeze hitting us as we did.

"What flavors do you usually get?", He asked, handing me the cup before observing me.

"Blue raspberry and coke.", I said while chewing on the pink and white striped straw.

He then sat down on a bench that was next to his car and motioned me to sit with him. I took a place beside him on the tiny bench. The only sounds in the air were of the cars driving by and occasionally the sound of me when I hit an empty part of the plastic cup.
He pulled out a pastel black lighter and lit a cigarette, blowing it's smoke into the air like it was nothing. I observed him, he looked at ease, like he had no care in the world.

-

After him smoking his cigarette and me finishing my slurpee he looked at me and said,

"Well, let's get little Ruby home."

We both stood up and got into his car.
He had a Mustang convertible which I thought was pretty cool. He turned the key and the engine roared into life. The second I heard the engine start I knew exactly what model it was, all thanks to my Top Gear obsession.

"No fucking way, don't tell me this is a 2.3L GTDI I-4 engine."

His mouth was hung open a little.

"You're into cars?"

"Well I know the basics of how an engine works, like what the pistons, rods, crankshaft, and valves are.", I say while playing with a little thread that was sticking out of my shirt.

"Pretty impressive.", He smiled.

The rest of the ride home was silent, not the awkward silent but rather a comfortable one. Cigarettes after sex's new album was playing on the radio and I noticed Cole lightly tap his fingers in sequence with the tune of the song on the steering wheel.

After 10 or so minutes of us sitting in silence, he asked for my address, and we finally got to my place. He stopped the car out front and looked at me.

"Here we are."

"Thank you for this and the Slurpee."

"No problem and thank you for the band-aid."

I smiled and got out of the car. I waved at him and he drove off in his sexy car, I swear I was drooling all over it on the drive home.

After changing into something comfortable, I cuddled up in bed with Stephen King's "IT". I really liked his novels. The way he wrote spoke to me.
Halfway through the 2nd chapter, my phone vibrated on the bedside table.
It was a text from Cole on messenger.

C: "hope u enjoyed ur sugar rush, see u at school tomorrow. x"

Okay...
What do I text back?
Ruby, calm down, just keep it simple.

Me: "good night, Cole. xx"

And with that I put my phone aside and concentrated on my book.

✾Cole's pov

After dropping Ruby off, I head home.

Why does she look so fucking familiar?
Have I met her before?
I'm sure she couldn't be one of my quick fixes. She's not that type of girl.

This was bugging me so much, it seems like I've seen her before but I can't exactly put my finger on it. Maybe if I'll stop thinking about it, it'll come to me?

Ah, fuck it.

I take out a tissue paper from the tiny box placed on the dashboard and rub off the now dried blood on my cheek.
While steering, I look at the band-aid that was on my hand and smile.

Would've gotten really fucked if it weren't for her.

✾✾✾
im hungry.
xx