Begin Again

| Chapter Forty-Four |

Flying back to New York wouldn't have been such a bad idea, had it not been for Ruth's exhaustion and sore feet from the killer heels she wore at the wedding. Her eyes still dropped with fatigue, and her body aches from dancing that night. But Ruth didn't have time to be tired, for a flight awaited her and Raffo.

Raffo waited patiently at his front door with their packed luggage glued to his side. They're only going to be gone for a few days at most, but Ruth's tendency to over-pack made it look like they'd be gone for an entire week. She always thought of over packing as a necessary talent, but Raffo, on the other hand, didn't seem to think so and rolled his eyes every so often.

"What the hell are you going to do with five pairs of jeans and three leggings?" he had argued, watching her struggle to close the lid of her suitcase as she sumo wrestled the damn thing shut.

Instead of engaging with his unsupportive behavior, she stuck her tongue out at him and leaned her body weight harder onto the lid so the zipper wouldn't have to stretch so far between the two metals. Raffo rolled his eyes at her childish antics and stretched his hand down to help her, but she swatted it away.

"I don't need your pity help," she grumbled back, nudging the zipper over another centimeter. It took another five minutes, but she was eventually successful in getting it closed up.

And now that everything was packed up, Ruth did one last sweep over everything in the room, making sure she had everything for the weekend. Her parents were waiting for them at the airport, so she didn't have a lot of time to kill to mentally prepare herself for her one arch nemesis in life. TSA.

The flight she could handle. The nasty snacks, a given that she could take. Even the flight attendants who might flirt with Raffo didn't seem so bad. But TSA? That was the capital of anyone's anxiety. The yelling, the lack of smiles, the judgment in their eyes after looking down at your mismatched Disney socks, she was lucky she never fainted in front of them. So taking longer to look around Raffo's apartment was necessary in her eyes.

"Ruth, we need to go," Raffo reminded her, twisting the front door knob for emphasis.

Ruth frowned at the rush, but grabbed her scarf and cell phone, anyway. She went to reach for her luggage as well on the way out, but Raffo shook his head and told her he had it. Though she gave him a hard time that morning, and he was well annoyed with her for the first few hours, he was still a gentleman. So when they climbed in the car after loading it up, and he turned to buckle his seatbelt in, she didn't hesitate in gripping his jaw and drawing him closer to her. She pressed her lips to his and gave him a short, yet sweet kiss that still had her heart rocking against her chest.

"I'm sorry for being such an asshole today," she whispered, pulling back to look at him. He licked his lips. "I'm just nervous."

Raffo frowned and drew a hand up to her face. "You don't have to be nervous, you know. I'm going to be right there with you the entire time. Through TSA, Emily, those crazy New Yorkers and all."

It occurred to Ruth then that all of those things made Raffo just as uncomfortable as it did Ruth. Not them specifically, but he was going out of his comfort zone for her. He was traveling to a new place and was stuck in a large city for a few days. Raffo may tolerate Oklahoma City now, but a place like New York would be overwhelming to anyone. He didn't like new places all the time, nor did he care for the city life. And yet, he was willing to go for her, to be who she needs for a few days.

Raffo Leflore was taking a bite out of the Big Apple, and pushed away his own limitations for her. And she was more than grateful for it. So grateful that she could have cried, had it not been for the looming thoughts of TSA.