Ulysses Paradox (a Will Lenney fanfiction.)

chapter five

I was a Flower of the mountain yes when I put the rose in my hair like the Andalusian girls used or shall I wear a red yes and how he kissed me under the Moorish Wall and I thought well as well him as another and then I asked him with my eyes to ask again yes and then he asked me would I yes to say yes my mountain flower and first I put my arms around him yes and drew him down to me so he could feel my breasts all perfume yes and his heart was going like mad and yes I said yes I will Yes.

-Molly's Soliloquy, Ulysses

Bzz. Bzz-zz. Ruby's phone was lit up again, and she finally grabbed it.

Book club pushed to six. I need to pick up a prescription

                                                              Sounds great, is James actually coming?

James, Will's friend, had texted her the day before she and Will met for their meeting, to see if the invitation for their book club was legit. After checking with Taj and Audre, who were surprised that he was actually interested, they agreed that he was welcome to come, so long as he was prepared. She opened the group chat and let them know that James said that he'd be there, so to assume that he was serious.

Her clock read ten in the morning, and Ruby jotted down a to-do list for herself to finish before she left tonight. Laundry was piled up to her hip in the closet, and the dishes weren't looking much better, so she closed her laptop and begrudgingly started walking around her flat, picking up socks and t-shirts that had migrated away from the pile she needed to tackle. She put in one AirPod and fired up the Youtube app— as had become a habit since the first night after she'd met him— and found an old video from Will to watch while she sorted colors and whites, and got them ready for the washing machine.

More than a week had passed since their meeting, and Ruby acknowledged that distance was best for her. Being around him stressed her out, it made her feel on edge. She couldn't put her finger on it, but after watching so many of his videos she was beginning to think that maybe his sense of humor was too crass and on the nose to handle in person. He'd surely toned himself down at their meeting, but he enjoyed having the spotlight pushed onto him. She, on the other hand, did not enjoy strangers poking fun at her.

It was getting late, and Ruby was hurrying to get dressed and run out the door, snatching her copy of Ulysses off the end table as she pulled on a pair of jeans that she realized, were too big. She didn't have time to find her other pair, so just grabbed a belt and started shoving things into her bag, cinching her pants to her waist as she walked out the door.

Ruby sat down next to Audre with five minutes to spare, and gave her shoulder a squeeze.

"Is Taj running late?" She asked.

"Well, technically no," Audre said, "he's got a couple minutes, but I wouldn't mind giving him grief since he's always up in my arse when I arrive last minute... and I'm the one who had something to do today!" She shrugged. "Some people, I tell ya."

"Yeah, and no James either? I really thought he'd be down, he seemed like he was interested in it, and had some opinions on Mr. James Joyce, here." They both pulled out their copies and Audre pulled out a notepad that looked like she'd shoved a personal transcript of the text onto one page. When the door opened, they both turned to see Taj walking through the door, and gave him a wave.