Renovating the Heart (FFXV)

XXVI) Two Steps Back

Rue rolled out of bed the next morning, fully enveloped in her blankets, and hit the ground with a thud, groaning. Slowly, she disentangled herself and unplugged her phone, checking the notifications she missed while it was dead after shoving her glasses onto her face haphazardly. Her heart skipped a beat. Four missed calls from Eren? As she headed to the bathroom, she opened the texts he'd sent her.

Hey, where are you? I've been waiting out here forever!

Hello? Did you forget about dinner?

Call me back, dork! They're starting to give me weird looks.

Wow, okay. Standing me up? Low blow. Seriously though, where are you?

Rue? Are you okay?

I just stopped by and you weren't home. Relir and Dex have no clue where you are. Just let me know if you're okay when you see this, okay? There's a lot of freaky stuff going on around here lately and I don't you to get hurt.

Rue stopped what she was doing, biting down on the toothbrush that hung from her lips, and texted him back immediately, overwhelmed with exhaustion, guilt, and fear. How could I leave him hanging like that? Scanning over her message, she quickly hit send in order to keep Eren from suffering any longer.

Gods, I'm so sorry Eren. I totally forgot about last night! Rayne invited me out for Gladio's birthday, so I was in Hammerhead until about one. Super duper sorry! I'll make it up to you, I swear.

She set her phone down and forced herself to keep brushing her teeth, staring hard at her reflection as her heart pounded. #$%^. What a way to start my day. She couldn't help but feel terrible. Not only had she left him to sit and wait at some restaurant by himself while he insisted to waiters that someone was joining him, but the simple thought to let him know about her plans had never crossed her mind. Obviously, he didn't always need to know what she was doing, but it would have been considerate. Just as she began to comb through her messy hair, her phone buzzed against the counter. She jumped, quickly checking his response.

No sweat! Just glad you're alright.

Rue gnawed on the inside of her cheek anxiously, unsure if he was just being nice. What if he's actually pissed? Her phone vibrated again.

Want a lift to the Citadel? I can drop by on my way.

Sure!

She forced herself to set her phone down, taking a deep breath. Well, I guess we'll see. Quickly, she got dressed, thanking any god that would listen that her clothes weren't wrinkled. Her cellphone buzzed once more just as she finished chugging a cup of coffee and she jammed her feet into her shoes, taking the sound as her signal to head down to the parking lot. Honey meowed loudly in protest as she hurried out the door, forcing her eyes away from the place she could still see the bodies of the two girls.

"I know, baby," Rue cooed, reaching out and stroking the cat's smooth head. "I promise we'll snuggle later."

Stumbling over her own feet, she hurried to the elevator and jammed her hands into her jacket pockets. The lobby was fairly empty, just as empty as it always ways this early, but Rue still felt chills as she stepped into the cramped space. Perhaps it was the realization of how dim it really was inside her prison of an apartment; perhaps it was because she was afraid of what Eren was going to say. When she stepped outside, she was startled to see him outside his car, walking quickly toward her. Before she could even say hello, he'd pulled her close and erased her frown with a kiss. Rue hardly had time to react before he pulled away, eyebrow raised.