//in honor of marvel wentz being born
she was just leaving the dance studio and getting ready to call a taxi when she'd gotten the call. she almost didn't answer but frank rarely called her unless he was in the car and it was usually to tell her the latest starbucks last name mispronunciation. but it was that time and ruby knew that if she didn't answer now, it'd be rough to explain later.
walking back into the dance studio, ruby pressed accept and held the phone between her ear and shoulder. "i was just about to call a cab, frank, what's u-"
"ruby? oh fuck, ruby, she's coming! i-i managed to get patrick on the phone and managed to get him to stay with leste but, shit, rubes, tyler's in a lot of pain and he keeps asking for you! well you and pete but that asshole isnt answering." she could hear the anger in his voice at that. "im hauling ass to the hospital, could ya meet us there?"
"w-what hospital?" ruby replied, running over to her locker and throwing her bags inside. "i-it isn't far from the house, right? i don't have a lot of cash.."
"it's the memorial hospital, the one that's like 4 blocks away from the studio. j-just get here when you can, kid!"
"wai-"
CLICK
the blood in her head pounded, everything becoming brighter. she knew that this would happen any second but it seemed too soon. grabbing her wallet, ruby rushed out of the door, tears threatening to spill down her cheeks as she sprinted down the street.
four blocks didn't seem far, especially considering it was almost dusk, leaving the foot traffic to be pretty light.
yet as she rounded the corner, her heart dropped. how could she forget that some charity was throwing a parade today? the streets were packed in every direction, people bunched together in close groups.
looking back at the studio, she contemplated calling the cab company after all. it'd be easier than attempting to go through the ever growing crowd. but what was the faster option?
ruby huffed slightly, her tiny frame pushing past people in a futile attempt to get through the crowd. thanksfully, mademoiselle had all the dancers start a new routine so her muscles didn't hurt as much when people started to push back. but it felt like she wasn't getting any closer.
"shit," she said quietly, finding herself standing in the doorway of a small toy store. it'd been a good 20 minutes since frank had called and ruby didn't even know if she was even going in the right direction anymore.
"excuse me.." a voice called out from the door, an elderly lady peeking out from behind it. "are you okay, miss?"
"i, um, i don't know. d-do you know where the memorial hospital is? i don't know where im going and i-i have to get there as quickly as i can."
"sweetie, it's fine, calm down. these parades throw off everyone's sense of direction. it's around the corner but you can use the back door if you want. it'll take you right there." the woman smiled, looking out at the crowd. "it's better than walking through this."
ruby sighed softly, running a hand through her hair gently before nodding. "yes please. im sorry to disturb you though-"
"oh, don't think about it. i was just closing up and i saw you standing there." she laughed softly, ushering the girl inside before shutting the door once more.
