Ethereal ✾ ||C.S||

VII. Delicate

✾Ruby's pov
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My alarm went off and I was left in no doubt about the severity of the hangover when a cat stamped outside my window. My head felt like elephants were tap dancing on the soft, squishy part of my brain. The fun effects of the pink cherry blossom drink were gone and I was left with the nasty ones.

Ugh @ life.

I had this massive pain in my stomach. It contracted violently. I quickly ran to the toilet and sat down beside it, gripping the side with one hand and holding back my hair with the other. I sank to my knees and retched until the pink liquid with bits of pineapple came out. After two more rounds of heavy heaving, I surveyed the mess with watery eyes.
I got up, washed myself and flushed the toilet. My throat felt sore from the stomach acid that was layering it. My knees felt weak. I sat on the edge of my bed for a bit and gathered my thoughts. It was a Monday morning so school was still on the table.

I pulled on some comfy grey pants and a lavender colored, full sleeved sweater. I tied my hair into a braid and threw on a pair of sunglasses so I wouldn't have to make eye contact with people and the sun in this horrendous state.

-

It was last period and I had been ignoring Cole all day. I don't know why, but I didn't want to talk to him for some reason. It was weird. Mr. Cadbury, our biology professor was telling us about this assignment he was going to give us that required us to work in pairs and we were allowed to pick. My head felt dizzy so I just decided on playing along with anybody who picked me. And surprise surprise, it was Cole. He sat down beside me with his bag and his textbooks.

"Hey, what's wrong."

"Nothing.", I said while scribbling down some song lyric that were stuck in my head.

"So what does it mean if I tell you to go fuck yourself?"

I kept forgetting the lyric after that.
Cole took the piece of paper from me and took out a yellow pencil from his binder ring and scribbled something down on it.

"Or if I say that you're beautiful to me."

He gave it back to me and I looked at it. He had written down the lyric I had forgotten.

"It's my favorite band.", He smiled.

"Mine too."

"So, partners?"

"Yeah, I guess."

The assignment was to grow a plant and take care of it for two weeks, until it was about five inches tall and record it's growth rate in different environments and resources. Mr. Cadbury handed us the seeds and wished us good luck. The bell rang and I was so glad that this wretched day was finally over.

"So my place or yours?", Cole ran up beside me.

"Yours is fine."

He grabbed my hand to stop me from walking away any farther and said,

"Ruby, what's wrong?"

"I told you it's nothing, now can we please get going?", I said in a more harsh tone.

He sighed, let go of my hand and we moved along to his car.

-

"So how do we do this?", Cole looks at the seed packet in my hand. I took out my phone and googled some instructions while settling up on his bed.

"Okay, so I'll tell you what to do and you follow."

"Aye aye.", he said while getting up on his feet.

"Step one, find the right container​."

He ran into the kitchen. I heard some spoons and pots falling. He came back with a transparent, plastic yogurt cup.

"That'll do.", he said, looking at me.

"Step two, lay down the potting soil."

He tore the packet of mineralized soil that Mr. Cadbury had given us for the project and filled up the container about halfway then patted the soil firmly in place with a little popsicle stick he'd being sucking on.

"Step three, plant the seed in the middle of the pot."

He then carefully took out the seed from the packet and placed it into the pot in the most fragile way possible. It was almost cute.

"Step four, water the plant with lightly salted water."

He proceeded to water it with his water bottle and ran to the kitchen once again for some salt. He then came back and sprinkled it on top of the seed, mimicking the viral "salt bae" meme.

"Step five, place it in sunlight."

He then placed the container on his window sill. I stood up from the bed and walked over to him near the window.  We both sat there looking at it like it was going to grow into a plant then and there.

Cole smiles to himself and just looks at the little baby seed as if it's the most beautiful thing in the world. And I couldn't help but watch him. He just looked so happy and pleased over something so small.

"It's so delicate."

"Yeah, it really is."

"You know.", He says, not taking his eyes off of the seed,

"It's not polite to stare."

I roll my eyes and get up from my spot and sit on the edge of his bed again. He comes over and sits next to me. He pokes the side of my tummy and I let out a yelp. Once he notices my reaction, he smirks and gives me an evil stare.

Fuck, he found my tickle spot.

He tries to poke me again but I slap away his hand.

"Don't even dare."

"Oh, Ruby.", He laughed coldly.

"My innocent, little Ruby.", He slides closer to me but I stand up and step back.

It wasn't long before I felt my back hit the wall. Cole lunges at me and begins poking my tummy continuously. We both roar in laughter, no matter how hard I tried to push him away, it wouldn't work cause he was gripping me so tight. He stops when he notices water in my eyes due to all the laughing. We both got really tired. Cole fell onto the bed and I sat there with him. Both of us were out of breath.

"Hey, I never thanked you for driving me home last night."

"Oh, it's okay really."

"Did you have fun at the party?"

"Not really, what about you?"

"Honestly, same. It was such a drag."

He ran his fingers through his hair for the hundredth time.

"It didn't look like that last night.", I mumbled.

"What do you mean, Ruby?"

"Nothing, forget about it."

"Umm, okay."

"Can we order pizza.", I said to change the topic.

"Sure."

He unlocked his phone to place our order.

As the the call was ringing, he booped my nose and said,

"That topic change was not very subtle, sweetheart."

He winked at me and then walked out of the room to order our pizza cause the signal wasn't strong in his room.

Wow.

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