Ruby Stardust (Ruby Rose fanfic)

THIRTEEN (ISELEN POV)

"I didn't know you could drive a human car." My angel smiles, keeping her eyes on the road, and her hands hold the wheel firmly. Ruby has insisted on taking a ship to come to the Earth because Heze believes that teleportation would make me feel sick, apparently humans don't tolerate it well and she wants me to try shorter trips to get used to it.

"It's not that difficult, it only requires coordination and focus."

"Well, yes, I guess it's more difficult to drive one of your ships. Turn right on the next street..."

"Actually, Kullat does all the hard work so it'd be easy for you to learn if you want to try..." Ruby follows my orders and stops the car finally. "Although we also learn to drive the old-fashioned way, without an auto-pilot, just in case."

"I miss Alrisha," I confess while jumping out of the vehicle grabbing my black jacket. "It's reassuring to know that she's always willing to help me every time I make a mistake and I feel a bit insecure when she's not around." Ruby looks at me puzzled, frowning for a second.

"I'm sorry, my love, you know she's connected to your Internet and I can give you an earbud right now if you want it but I never thought you'd need one, I mean, we're on Earth and this is your home... You're supposed to be the expert here."

"I'm fine, don't worry. It's just that it feels weird how fond I've grown of the computer despite she's not a real person." I guide my mate down the street while ignoring the astonished looks of my former neighbours, the ones who spoke badly of me behind my back, at least it's not raining today and a shy ray of sunshine lights up the old wall of the cemetery, wildflowers grow in holes where the bricks have disappeared... Spring has arrived finally while I was far away in a space ship.

"She's a real conscious mind, Alrisha is programmed to think like we do, she can identify our feelings watching our facial expressions and responds accordingly with empathy..."

"Hello boss," my assistant's happy voice cuts my mate off. "How are you? Have you enjoyed your holidays?"

"I'm fine, thank you. This is Ruby Stardust... He's Alex and is in charge of taking care of my shop when I'm not here..."

"I'm pleased to meet you..." I can't help smiling when hearing her formal tone of voice and seeing her offering her hand to my assistant solemnly, too stiff to look human actually, it's pretty obvious she's been practicing but doesn't look natural yet. The boy shakes her hand staring at her mesmerized, his eyes jump from her pink and violet hair to her pretty face and then her tattooed hand. I wonder if I stare at her like an idiot sometimes too... I clear my throat and Alex blinks, coming back to reality.

"Here you have the keys, boss, I've taken good care of your plants and cacti. There aren't cut flowers in the shop anymore although I got lots of phone calls from brides who want a wedding bouquet and regional politicians who want flower arrangements for some events, and when I say a lot, I mean dozens... I think Julian has spilled the beans."

"Seriously? Of course, the Mayor scoring political points..." I grumble opening the door. "I bet he's been bragging about having introduced the leader of the aliens to her human mate... the entire country must know it now." Ruby looks at us bewildered and raises an eyebrow when hearing my upset tone of voice but she decides not to interrupt us, I guess she'll demand an explanation later. "This is my flower shop," I gesture and step back so she can walk in. Ruby takes a look around with curiosity, the wooden counter, the while marble sink, the small colourful pots full of cacti and the glass bottles in the window seem to grab her attention despite they're empty now.

"What's this?" she whispers entranced getting closer to a plant with green leaves and gorgeous white flowers that grows in a sunlit corner. "It smells wonderfully."