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Chapter 18 – A Different Road
Ruby
Six-thirty did not leave much time to get ready. Usually, I could get myself together in less than half an hour. Tonight, I reasoned to myself, I needed extra time because I needed to make a good impression, and present myself as a confident, professional woman.
Yes indeed. A confident, professional woman who needed her unboyfriend to drive her because going anywhere new by herself could send her into a catatonic state.
The possible catatonia merely worked to distract me from the real problem, which was that this was a date. With Vander. Which he so sneakily, and bossily, arranged. Something about that appealed to me.
I’d gone shopping for tonight, and my outfit told the real story. When faced with the choice of a pretty sundress, or a professional summer suit, I opted for the sundress, even as I wondered at my apparent self-destructive tendencies.
I dried my hair quickly, then rubbed a bit of curl cream through the waves to tame the frizz. I yanked my dress off the back of my bedroom door, and pulled it over my head, smoothing it over my hips. I quickly lined my eyes, added a dab of eyeshadow, and several layers of mascara. I had a weakness for mascara. I glossed my lips and stepped into my sandals, just as the doorbell rang.
I hung back in my room, like a coward, and waited. There was no point in going downstairs to save Vander from whatever Yiayia had on her mind. She’d have her say whether I stood there or not, and I didn’t want to hear it. I gave them a few minutes, then made my way downstairs.
Yiayia’s eyes sparkled, and she held one of Vander’s big hands in both of hers. I rolled my eyes, the turncoat. She was Team Vander all the way. She turned to face him, and he tipped his chin down to look at her, one side of his mouth tipped up in a smile.
“You show my girl a good time tonight. Stay over. Enjoy. I don’t want to see you until tomorrow!”
I scoffed. “We’re not staying over, Yiayia. It’s a business meeting.”
“That not what Vander say.”
“Who are you going to believe?” I snapped. “Vander? Or me?”
She smiled and her dark eyes twinkled with mirth. “Vander!”
He laughed. “If we decide to stay, I’ll text you.”
My yiayia could text like nobody’s business. She would not allow the tech world to leave her behind. She even had an Instagram account, although it had more pictures of tomatoes on it than anything else.
Evidently, Vander somehow knew about her texting capacity and already had her cell number.
My skin prickled with heat and indignation. I never even agreed to a date, and they were shacking me up in a hotel room.
“I’ll see you later tonight, Yiayia,” I said pointedly on my way out the door.
Vander opened my car door, and I slipped inside. I swallowed my ire and decided to make light of the situation.
He swung into the driver’s seat. “You look beautiful, Ruby. I like your dress.”
I flushed at his compliment then ignored it. “I think my yiayia is shipping us.”
“Shipping?” His eyebrows arched in question.
“Yeah, shipping. It’s what the kids say these days. Short for relationship. She ‘ships’ us.”
He chuckled, his eyes alight. “At least she’s not trying to cockblock me.”
I smirked. “No, definitely not that.”
I’d forgotten how easy I could talk to him, be with him. My brain flashed a warning to resist his gravitational pull. I reminded myself of the pain that was an inherent part of loving him. It should have been easier to remember, the stabbing pain of losing him was my constant companion.
“Don’t think too much, Ruby-mine,” he murmured, and I realised I’d stopped talking.
“Vander, I- ”
“We’re not going to talk about this tonight, Ruby-mine.”
