A Chance Meeting

Chapter 2

"I'm such an idiot!"

"Because you forgot to get his number?" I sighed. It'd been three days since Hiccup took me in for the night and I hadn't seen him since. I'd been so worried about losing my job that all I really knew about him was his name.

I also knew what apartment building he was staying in, but that was pretty much useless since someone had to buzz you into the front door and I had no idea what room he was in. I could weight by the front door for hours and hours, but that was just pathetic.

Ruffnut had sent a half-assed apology the next day. I could tell she didn't really mean it because she didn't even wait for me to reply before she started texting me all the details from her night. Her way of making things up to me was inviting me to a coffee shop a few days later. I was still upset with her, but coffee was coffee.

"Why do you even want to see him again? Is it because you want something a little more... physical out of him?" I blanched at her suggestive wink. But she had a point, why was I so eager to see him again?

Did I want to say thank you again? I'd tried to hand him a twenty as I left but he'd refused it.

Damn him for being so... so generous! It was infuriating.

"I don't know, I just want to make it up to him – and NOT in the way you're insinuating!" Ruffnut held her hands up in mock surrender. "And don't think you're off the hook for abandoning me either! I can't believe you just left me like that."

I wanted to act like I wasn't hurt by her actions. That I was able to shrug off what happened, but I couldn't. Ruff, the person I consider to be my best friend, valued a piece of meat over me. Was I not worth anything in her eyes? I always knew she was a little self-absorbed, but this was a completely different level.

"I already said I was sorry, geez." And she wasn't even taking me seriously! Maybe I'm overacting, but a real friend wouldn't blow me off entirely like that. I couldn't be here anymore.

"I – I need to go; I start work soon." It was a total lie, but Ruff was seriously getting on my nerves.

"I thought you weren't on the clock for another hour?" Ruffnut's eyes narrowed. I was more than a little surprised, and a little touched, that she knew my schedule. I must be desperate for attention or something, because suddenly Ruff wasn't on my nerves anymore.

"Usually, but they're short staffed today." I actually felt a little bad for lying now, but I was committed now. I grabbed my coat, paid for my coffee and walked out.

"Hey! Wait up. Let me walk you to your job." Ruff materialized next to me, slipping her winter gloves on. Don't get me wrong, it was super nice that she wanted to spend more time with me, but now wasn't exactly the best time since she could find out that I had lied to her.

"Don't want any spooky men to kidnap you." My face flushed with embarrassment. Not only was she unknowingly calling my bluff but now she was mocking my insecurities! Of course Ruff had to say that right after being a decent human being. I'd mistakenly assumed that she still had something more substantial beneath the surface.

I wiped the start of a tear before it could form, there was no way I was giving her anything else to make fun of. That was it. That comment was the straw that broke the camels back. I was just about to tell her to get lost before I had a heartbreaking revelation. Without Ruffnut, I had no one.

I hadn't bothered to keep up with any of the friends I'd made in college. I was too focused on making sure that I got every single dollars' worth from that place to make any serious connections anyways. My mom would always say that college were some of the best years of her life. My godmother was her roommate for all four years. My roommates were all party animals who always smelt of booze and weed. I couldn't relate to them and so college was never anything more than a means to an end. Ruffnut was the only person who I talked to. Would it be worse to have someone that makes you feel like a joke, or to have no one at all?