"come on, ruby, that guy was totally checking you out!" nova laughed softly, looking back at the mysterious blonde man who even payed for their milkshakes. "he's already bought me a milkshake so he's definitely got my seal of approval."
ruby smiled shyly and shook her head. "get real, nova, he was just being friendly. i mean, let's be honest... a guy checking me out? that's a fairy tale." she replied, sipping on her strawberry milkshake.
"oh, whatever you say, little miss grumpy pants. i may be young but im not dumb."
"you gonna add broke in that statement too? because if it wasn't for him, you would have gotten a small milkshake like i did." she teased the younger girl lightly. "but fine, maybe he did look over at me a few times but that's all it was!"
as the pair walked around the mostly empty shopping mall, ruby could feel a familiar pressure building up in her chest.
'no.. please not now.. today was supposed to be nova's day.' she thought to herself, coughing slightly. ruby had spent weeks planning the perfect sister date with nova, having to convince frank to let her come stay over for a night or two, just so she could spend some time with her baby sister.
ruby had even planned to tell nova what was going on: her arrhythmia diagnosis, the surgery she still had to decide on, the treatments she'd been going through. it was one thing to lie and tell her mom that she told her dad and everyone she felt comfortable with knowing but for her to keep lying to nova about all her "rehearsals" when she was still going to the doctor was different.
"hello, earth to ruby celeste joseph.." she heard nova's voice call out to her before shaking her head, finding the pair to have stopped and the smaller sister shaking her hand in front of ruby's face. "where'd you go, sissy?"
"i, uh, i don't even have a clue." she laughed nervously. "god, that felt weird. um.. where to next?" ruby changed the subject quickly, putting on a reassuring smile. the small burning sensation had gone away slightly but it was still there, teasing the girl.
"well, it's almost five p.m. and we still haven't checked out the pet store. maybe we could go there?" nova suggested eagerly, eyes bright with excitement. "ooh, we could even buy a hedgehog and trade weekends for him!"
ruby laughed and nodded, running a hand through her hair. "sounds good."
but as they started walking towards the small pet store, ruby felt the pressure come back, only this time, it came back with a sharp ringing noise in her ears. she winced, biting her lip to take her mind off the pain but it was too much.
soon, the world began to spin and the dim lights shone brighter than the sun. everything seemed a thousand times louder and her chest, god, her chest felt ready to burst!
"ruby, are you okay?" she heard nova ask faintly. she mumbled something back, not too entirely sure what she'd said. but then ruby could feel her heart beat all over her body: behind her eyes, in her ears, her stomach, the middle of her forehead.
"ow.." ruby whined, tears pricking at her eyes before spilling down her cheeks. she reached for the handrail as a last attempt to gain her balance but her hand slipped slightly.
'no, ruby, don't do this! think of nova!' the small voice in her head screamed, trying to remind herself to get better quickly. but it was silenced as the ringing noise got louder. her lungs felt on fire, every breath she took felt like she was inhaling nothing but thumbtacks and exhaling fire.
"somebody help!" nova screamed, trying to hold her older sister up. "please! its my sister!" she tried to take a few steps forward, hoping to at least lay ruby down on the bench but not even she was strong enough to carry her to the bench without her knees buckling.
