CHAPTER THREE
MEMORIES
TUESDAY 20th SEPTEMBER, 2005
Ruby was having a bad day. And it was only ten thirty.
There was something so unbelievably dismal to waking up to the ear-splitting sound of her step-mother's irritating voice. Much to her greatest displeasure, the wicked witch of the west and Ruby's father had arrived home from their month long holiday in Aruba – though, in Ruby's opinion, a month was nowhere near long enough for them to be away.
It was the dogs barking continuously that had woken her up, followed by the sound of Stella Dupres' usual melodramatics. Ruby was certain that the woman cared about those stupid dogs more than anything else in the world. They weren't even good dogs, either!
As an avid dog lover, Ruby really didn't enjoy saying that, but she couldn't help the resentment she felt. Chihuahuas were, by far, the worst breed. They were evil, ratty looking things, with high pitched barks, far too much energy, and unnecessary aggression for something she could easily boot half way down the road with one decent kick. They do say that dog's are very similar to their owners, though, so Ruby guessed that made sense.
Stella Dupres, née Hearst, or, as Ruby liked to call her, Cruella de Vil, had met Andre Dupres around three years ago. Soon enough, Ruby was standing on a beach in Hawaii, in a honey gold bridesmaid's dress, plastering on the biggest smile she could muster. (Side note - the dress was gorgeous. It was simple, but still stunning; a medium-low cut neckline, tight at the waist, flowing out gently at the skirt.) Despite the rest of Stella's flaws, Ruby did have to admit the woman had fashion taste. Expensive taste, actually. That entire wedding cost a fortune.
Anyway, Stella was, to put it simply, the worst. To list a few things off the top of Ruby's head, she was impossibly high maintenance, had an annoyingly whiny and nasally voice, and terrible, terrible taste in home decor. Most of all, she really did not like Ruby, which was fine, because she didn't like Stella very much either.
She'd tried really hard to give the woman a chance, despite her initial impressions that Stella only liked her dad for his money. As it goes, she clearly is quite in love with him, but Ruby still had good reason to believe the woman was materialistic – though she tended to keep those thoughts to herself. Especially since Lexie had called her a bad feminist.
"You see a blonde, skinny former cheerleader with lip fillers, a boob job and a Brazilian bum lift, and you immediately label her a gold digger!" Not true, by the way.
Firstly, to set the record straight, Ruby would never critique the cosmetic choices other women make. In fact, she very much supported her step-sister, Peach, when she had her nose job a couple years ago. Secondly, Lexie did later actually meet Stella, and instantly understood exactly what Ruby was talking about, so she had to take the bad feminist label back.
Anyway, yes, her evil stepmother was back home, and with an annoyingly excellent sun tan too. That bitch. Ruby wasn't best pleased about no longer having the house to herself either, she'd enjoyed having her own space the past month. Now she was going to have to put up with her dad and Stella again. Ugh.
Somehow, though, that still wasn't the worst part of her day.
Ruby had faked a smile and entertained Andre and Stella's holiday stories over breakfast that morning, though Stella's tendency to embellish made her about twenty fucking minutes late to class. Then, when she was getting ready, her favourite velvet scrunchie snapped, which was definitely the most upsetting part of the day so far. And to top it all off, her car proceeded to break down just as she was about to pull into the school parking lot (talk about embarrassing!)
Luckily, a bunch of freshman from the basketball team were loitering around, and helped give her car a push. In that moment, Ruby couldn't help but find herself missing the insanely, and potentially inhumanly, strong Emmett Cullen, who, judging by the size of his muscles (not that she was looking...okay, fine, sometimes!) probably could have used one hand to successfully get her car into the safety of the parking lot. Ruby did wonder where the Cullen's had gone. She kind of missed them – especially Alice, she was sweet. Weird, but sweet.
So, yeah, the day had started on a bad note. That morning, the biggest worry weighing on Ruby's shoulders had been how the hell she was going to get her car fixed. Fortunately, Malia had swooped to the rescue, giving La Push's resident child mechanic, Jacob Black, a phone call. He promised to tow her car to his garage after school, which meant that Ruby would be taking her first unintentional trip to the Rez in about four years.
She wasn't entirely sure of the ethics of letting an untrained prodigy mechanic fix her car for a very low price, but she'd rather put her life in Jacob's hands than get hit on again by the creepy middle aged men who ran the garage in Forks. Yuck. Plus, it meant that she could visit her childhood happy place, which was more of an incentive to go than anything else.
The more that Ruby's apprehension for the end of the day seemed to build, the agonisingly longer school dragged on. Like, seriously, triple maths? Who even writes these timetables? They should be shamed for child abuse.
Ruby knew one person who would have enjoyed triple maths though, and it was the very best friend she was at her absolute wits end trying to get hold of.
There was no rational reason for Ruby to worry. It wasn't like Lexie hadn't skipped school before, or completely disappeared off the radar for a day or two. Ruby usually had some sort of forewarning if it was going to happen, but Lexie could definitely be spontaneous. She was a Sagittarius after all. Still, Ruby was a little concerned, and those concerns only grew as her best friend's absence continued throughout the day.
When the bell finally rang, Ruby and Malia headed straight from biology and out of the building, caught amongst the large crowd of students rushing outside to get home. In the distance, the unmistakable figure of Jacob Black was leaning against his car, wandering eyes drifting around the parking lot as he waited for the two girls to arrive.
"Jake!" Ruby called excitedly, waving a hand to capture his attention. A huge smile lit up her expression when Jacob's stare landed on her, his own features brightening. After dodging through people, Ruby quickly weaved through the gaps between cars to reach Jacob, who she immediately threw her arms around.
"Hey, long time no see, Rubes," Jacob chuckled, his arms moving securely around her back to return the hug.
She pulled away to smile up at him, only then taking in his appearance properly. Ruby couldn't quite believe how different Jacob looked compared to when she last saw him - though, to be fair, that was a while ago. But still, he was completely towering over her now, boasted huge biceps, and, to be honest, he actually looked kind of hot.
"So, what's up with the car?" Jacob asked, cutting her thoughts short.
Ruby blinked a few times. "Oh, it broke down this morning," she informed him, leading the way to her Acura, which was conveniently parked a few spaces away. When she reached it, she leaned against the pristine white painted side door, and patted a hand on the bonnet. "Just about managed to get parked, with the help of the basketball team."
Jacob's eyes drifted over the vehicle, his eyebrows raising. "Sweet wheels."
Ruby smiled. "Thanks." She watched Jacob move around, either to examine the vehicle or admire it further. "You think you can help?"
"For sure," Jacob replied confidently, casting a look over at Ruby. "Won't take much to get her running again."
"Him," Ruby corrected. Jacob quirked an eyebrow. "His name's Barry."
Jacob bit his bottom lip, appearing to stifle a laugh. From beside Ruby, Malia failed to do the same thing. Jacob spared a brief glance at her, before his attention resumed on Ruby.
"My bad. Won't take much to get Barry running again," He corrected.
Ruby smiled sweetly at him. "You're an angel, Black."
Jacob took a few minutes to secure Barry. He was towing him ahead, whilst the girls followed behind in Malia's car.
Ruby felt apprehensive about the entire ordeal, and particularly their end destination. Oblivious to her worries, Malia was babbling excitedly about her return to the Rez.
"Embry and Quil will be there for sure," Malia told her, one hand resting on the wheel, whilst the other clutched half a ham sandwich. Ruby was offered the other half, but she declined. "It's gonna be like a reunion for you guys!"
"But with two people missing," Ruby reminded her.
Malia cast a gentler look over at her. "Have you still not heard from Lexie?"
Ruby shook her head. "Nobody has." Alright, fine, she was getting super fucking worried. Nobody else, including Lexie's twin brother, seemed to be that bothered. But Ruby knew Lexie. She only ever went entirely off the radar when something was badly wrong.
"You said she's done this before, though, right?" Malia asked her. "Disappeared for a while?"
"Yeah, but something really just doesn't feel right," Ruby replied, glancing down at the cell phone in her hands. She'd been checking it obsessively for most of the day, but with no luck. "I'll head straight to hers once the car is fixed, hopefully find out what's going on."
The worries about her best friend's whereabouts continued to plague her mind throughout the drive, worsening with each sign that directed them to La Push. Ruby couldn't help thinking that it was wrong to be returning back to a place where she shared so many memories with one particular person, only to not have them there with her. Lexie had always been up for heading down to the beach, or checking in on their way to Port Angeles, but it was Ruby that never wanted to go. Now, she was heading back, but without her best friend. Ruby kind of felt like she was cheating on her.
"So, when's the last time you were at the Rez?" Malia wondered, a clear attempt to take her mind of the situation.
"Uh, a few years ago." Ruby swallowed thickly. There was one other person she was returning without, and this she could do absolutely nothing about. "I stopped coming after my mom died."
There was a momentary pause as Malia gathered her words. People always did that. Living in Forks, most people were fully aware of the situation, so she no longer encountered it that often. But there was always an exception. And every single time, it reminded Ruby of how much she utterly despised that damn pause.
"That must have been hard for you," Malia eventually spoke, approaching the subject tentatively. "Is this the first time you've been back?"
"Not exactly," Ruby answered, feeling her voice start to waver. She hated the way this always happened whenever she spoke about her. "We, uh, we scattered her ashes here. There's this tree, I say it's her tree; when we used to have picnics she'd always pick that particular spot, I don't know why. So we scattered some of her the ashes there. Everyone went for food at Sue Clearwater's, but I wasn't really feeling it, so me and Lexie sat by mom's tree and talked. Then she pulls a pocket knife out of nowhere, and says we should carve my mom's initials into the trunk. So, we did." Ruby smiled fondly at the memory. "I don't know if it's still there or not."
"I hope it is," Malia said genuinely. "It would be nice for you to always have that."
Ruby's eyes had started to sting. She cleared her throat, shifting her seating position. "Yeah, it would."
"I didn't realise you had such an attachment to this place," Malia continued after a few moments of silence had passed between them. "I guess 'cos I'd never seen you around before, I just presumed you'd only visited a handful of times."
"I used to spend most days in Tiffany Call's back yard," Ruby started to explain. "Tiffany, my mom, and Melissa, Lexie and Joey's mom, they built this amazing tree house for us. We'd always spend hours in there. Me, Lex, Joe, Embry and Quil. The famous five."
Malia's mouth curved into a smile. "That's adorable."
"Yeah, until Joey set it on fire."
Malia whirled her head around, her eyes widening in surprise. "On fire?!"
Ruby chuckled at her expression. "Yeah, it was an accident though. He dropped a lit cigarette, the fucking idiot."
"Did it burn down?" Malia asked, turning to look at her again, probably more engrossed in the story than she was with actually driving.
"Pretty much. Embry had the sense to use the garden hose on it," Ruby replied, giggling at the memory.
Malia's laughter filled the car. "Oh my god, that's amazing. How old even were you guys?"
"Like, thirteen," Ruby chuckled again. "It's one of the last memories I have here, actually."
"Nothing like ending on a high, huh?" Malia grinned over at her in amusement. She turned her attention back the front, pulling into a familiar road.
The recognisable sights instantly caught Ruby's attention, and she began to lean forwards to get a better look. Almost nothing had changed. Even the blue house, painted on the corner, was still there, the exact same shade. And then there was Elan Reede's old home – he was Ruby's very first boyfriend, who promptly broke her heart by moving away six months later. Asshole. She hoped he was doing good though.
The car rolled to a stop outside Jacob's house. Ruby remained very still, feeling overwhelmingly nostalgic, like, to the point that her heart was feeling weird. Either that or she was about to go into cardiac arrest. It wouldn't completely surprise her, the unhealthy amount of daily stress she had was bound to take its toll at some point.
"We're here," Malia announced, excitement dominant in her voice again. She took the key out of the ignition, shifting to face Ruby. Her expression faltered slightly. "You okay? Take your time, it must be strange coming back here."
All that Ruby could manage to do was nod, staring blankly outside as Malia unclipped her seatbelt and got out of the car. Ruby was thankful that she was left to her own devices for a few minutes, allowing her to process the fact that she was actually back. Ruby Dupres was sat in a car, in the very place she'd avoided going for so long. Somewhere she'd been terrified of returning to for years.
Her therapist, Lainey (she was nice, mid thirties, always wore a different colour pant suit every time Ruby saw her, talked about her pet cat Yoda a lot, also a great listener – though, Ruby assumed that was a given, since it was probably biggest part of the job description). Anyway, Lainey had been telling her for a long time that it would be helpful for the healing process if she went back to the Rez. Ruby would smile and nod, and pretend like she'd take the advice on board, but instead she was thinking fuck that. So, Ruby had always pushed the idea away, because she knew it would conjure the strongest feelings about her mom, and she wanted to avoid them at all costs.
But then Embry and Tiffany Call turned up at her little bookstore last weekend, and made her start to long for those childhood days. And then Malia arrived at school, and it felt a bit like the universe was half a second away from smacking Ruby in the face, because it was so obvious what it wanted her to do. She had to go back, she had to face it. Something was pulling her towards the Rez, and Ruby couldn't fight it any longer.
So there she was, sat in the car, eyes closed, breathing deeply because her pulse was wildly racing out of control. Only, Ruby was entirely alone. And she was staring to wonder if she'd properly thought it through. It was going to be difficult enough being back there without her mother's presence, but not having Lexie to hold her hand? Or Dean to be there for her? Or Joey to set her at ease?
Fuck. She couldn't bottle it now, though. How would she even get home? Her car was broken for fuck's sake. Poor Barry. That was the whole reason she was there in the first place. Maybe it would have just been easier to go to the gross mechanic's in Forks instead. On second thoughts–
A set of knuckles rapped loudly on the window, sending Ruby jolting up from her seat. An embarrassing half scream, half gasp flew from her lips, and Ruby's eyes burst open to be met with the cheeky grin of none other than Quil Ateara. Shit bag.
Embry sheepishly stood beside him, shaking his head at his best friend, who he then whacked on the back of the skull for good measure.
"Ow!" Quil exclaimed, rubbing his head as he turned to face Embry. "What was that for?"
"You scared her."
Quil rolled his eyes. "Duh, that was the point." Embry hit him again. "Ow! Damn, Embry, if you like her that much just marry her alrea– ow!"
Embry straightened up, his hand falling back to his side as Ruby began to get out of the car. Quil turned his head to glower at him briefly, put Embry paid him no attention, his eyes were fixed elsewhere. "Hey, Ruby."
Her lips curved into a smile. "Hey, Embry. Hey, Quil."
"Nice to see you after all this time," Quil said, a faint smirk crossing his mouth. "Embry hasn't shut up about–"
"Gatsby," Embry interrupted lowly, eyes narrowing at his friend. Quil raised his eyebrows in amusement. Embry cleared his throat, attention falling back on Ruby. "Uh, I started reading Gatsby."
Ruby's face suddenly lit up, and Embry felt a little guilty that she seemed so excited about a book he absolutely hated. "What do you think?!"
"It's...it's good," Embry managed to get out, unable to help wincing at how utterly unconvincing he sounded. He could not lie for the life of him, and it was definitely starting to become a problem.
Ruby's expression dropped in disappointment. "Oh no, you hate it don't you?"
"No, I–" Embry scrambled to come up with something, but drew a blank. In the end, he decided that honesty was the best policy. "Yeah, I hate it."
Ruby shrugged it off. "Oh well, it's not for everyone."
Malia emerged from Jacob's garage, wiping her hands on her jeans. "Hey, losers." She greeted the boys with a grin. "Here to help out?"
"Here to see Ruby, actually," Quil replied as Malia slung an arm over his shoulders. "These hands are far too delicate for mechanics."
Ruby and Malia shared an amused look, before the four of them began to head inside the garage, Embry and Quil remaining behind the two girls, pushing and shoving one another. Before a fight could break out between them, Jacob appeared from behind the car, his hands already stained in oil.
"Yeah, so this is probably gonna about an hour tops," Jacob told Ruby, biting down on his lip as he glanced over the vehicle. "Nothing too serious, just a faulty battery."
"You're sure you're okay to do this?" Ruby double checked with him, still a little concerned that she was getting a seventeen year old to fix her car.
"Course," Jacob said casually. "Discounted price, but only if I get to take it for a spin afterwards."
"I'll think about it," Ruby promised. Jacob responded with a toothy smile.
Quil let out a low whistle, walking a circle around the Acura. "Wow, nice car, Rubes," he commented. "Think I can take her for a spin when it's fixed up too?"
"Firstly, it's a he," Ruby corrected. "His name is Barry. Secondly, absolutely not."
Quil looked at her strangely. "You named your car Barry?"
"Yeah."
"Dude, you're talking to the person who named her cat, Elmo," Embry reminded him, casting a glance over at Ruby.
"Oh, Elmo." Ruby placed a hand on her heart at the thought of her childhood cat. He was a tabby, and she absolutely adored him, up until she was ten years old, and her dad accidentally ran him over. Traumatising.
"Fair point," Quil said."
"Hey, Mali, you mind helping out with this?" Jacob asked, as Embry and Quil launched into an entire discussion about pet names.
"You do mechanic work too?" Ruby questioned her new friend curiously.
"Sometimes," Malia responded, heading over to Jacob. "I'm pretty decent at it."
"Wow, that's a cool skill to have."
Malia gave her a small shrug. "Just stuff I've picked up."
Ruby nodded, thoroughly impressed. As they began to discuss words she did not understand, Ruby decided to let the two of them get to work, and instead returned back to the conversation Embry and Quil had engrossed themselves in, which had, somehow, moved from pet names to Star Wars.
"Rubes, weigh in on this, the prequels are great, right?" Quil asked, looking at her hopefully. Embry rolled his eyes.
"No, the prequels kind of suck," Ruby replied truthfully.
Embry smirked in satisfaction. He turned towards Quil with a look of triumph, arching his eyebrows.
Quil scoffed at him. "Well, I'm now officially done talking to both of you," he declared. Ruby and Embry shared a glance as Quil moved past them, stepping over the tools sprawled on the ground.
"He gets moody when people insult his favourite films," Embry clarified.
"I remember," Ruby smiled.
Embry chuckled, the pair of them watching their friends for a few seconds. Embry then shoved his hands in his hoodie pockets, turning to look at Ruby. He began to search his mind for interesting conversation openers, which completely went out of the window once she locked eyes with him and he forgot what words actually were. Fortunately, Ruby spoke up first.
"I was thinking of taking a walk," she told him. She hadn't been actually, it was quite a spur of the moment decision. "Maybe to the beach. You fancy coming?"
"Yeah, course," Embry responded, perhaps a little too enthusiastically. He tucked his long hair behind his ear, skin prickling with embarrassment as he realised how quickly, and eagerly, he'd answered her.
He could practically hear Quil speaking to him through his mind. Play it cool, dude. He spared a look over at his best friend, whose eyes widened a little as he tried to convey something without talking. Embry had no idea, though, so he turned away and followed Ruby out of the garage instead.
They walked quietly for about a minute, hands kept securely in their jacket pockets.
"So, how's your mom?" Ruby opened the conversation. "It was nice seeing her at the weekend."
"She's good," Embry replied. "Hasn't shut about about you guys coming over."
"Aw, that's sweet," Ruby said. "I've missed this place. When we were driving in, I was thinking about all the memories I have, everything kind of came flooding back."
The corners of Embry's mouth twitched. "Like the treehouse burning down?"
Ruby laughed out loud, her head tilting back. "Oh god. I was telling Malia about that."
"We really did have some childhood, huh?" Embry chuckled.
"We did," Ruby nodded in agreement. They continued to walk side by side, shoulders partially brushing, though neither of them committed to it. Actually, Ruby hadn't even noticed. Embry, on the other hand, had, and his heart was racing. "I, uh...I wish I hadn't been so..." Ruby trailed off, a heavy sigh leaving her lips. "I don't know, afraid of coming back, I guess."
"Sometimes you just need time to deal with things," Embry responded. Ruby's heart softened. He'd always been so understanding. "Nobody blames you for staying away, you know that right?"
She started to slow down, peering over at him. "Really?"
"Course not," Embry reassured her. "Everyone's missed you, obviously. But people understand. My mom, the boys, Billy, Sue and Harry...all they wanted was for you to be okay."
Ruby drew her bottom lip between her front teeth. If she thought she'd started to get emotional in the car earlier, there was no match for the tears threatening to fall after Embry's words. (She was such a sucker when it came to hearing that people actually cared about her – In sophomore year, Ruby's English teacher told her she was proud of her for getting into the finals of a slam poetry competition...Ruby literally burst into tears on the spot. It was ridiculous, but she just couldn't control it).
In all honesty, Ruby did feel very guilty that she hadn't been back to the Reservation. The people there had always been so good to her, considered her one of their own, but Ruby had distanced herself from that place, simply because it was easier than facing her fears.
Meanwhile, her actual family had grown apart since her mother's death. Ruby's sister had moved away, and her father was hardly ever around, always on some sort of business trip, or an unnecessary, lavish holiday with Stella, because apparently they both work so hard that they deserve a break! Fuck that. Ruby would be out there pulling all nighters on the daily, and practically tearing her hair out in the process, studying for exams so she could ace them and live up to her father's unnecessarily high expectations, sacrificing her mental stability, and for what? Him to possibly not even attend her graduation next year because he's working? And her dad wonders why she needs therapy?
Anyway, that didn't matter, they didn't matter, because Ruby, thankfully, did have people who genuinely cared for her. She had Lexie and Joey, and Melissa was practically a surrogate mom to her. Dean and his moms, Nikita and Ella, always looked out for her too. In fact, Ruby's younger step sister, Paige, was actually a pretty decent person. She spent most of the time at boarding school, somewhere in California, but they would Skype regularly, though it was usually to bitch about their dad – quite cathartic, actually.
Back to the Rez though, God, Ruby felt fucking awful. She remembered a few days after her mother passed, when Tiffany and Sue came to her house with a basket of baked goods, and Ruby barely spoke a word to them, mumbled a thanks, and then avoided all their calls. It wasn't a personal thing, she didn't really speak to anyone during that time; Ruby was thirteen, grieving, and very angry at the world (a very intense Linkin Park music phase seemed to epitomise those feelings very well back then).
Now, with the blessing of hindsight, Ruby really felt shit for how she'd treated them. Including Embry. Out of the three boys, he'd tried his hardest to be there for her, and only lately could she appreciate that. She should probably tell him that. Better late than never.
"I never thanked you, by the way," Ruby began. "For, trying to be there for me, after my mom...I didn't mean to push you away or anything. I didn't mean to push anyone anyway, actually. I just wasn't in a good space. And you were always so kind, and patient, and I don't think I appreciated you enough. I'm sorry."
Embry's features softened, a somber smile drifting across his lips. "Ruby, you were grieving, it's okay."
"I know, but I was, like, so angry back then." Ruby exhaled heavily. "I said things, did things that I wish I hadn't. And I can't take them back. I can't take back the years that I lost here, with you, and the boys. And that really sucks."
"Well, it looks like we've got a lot of time to make up for then," Embry suggested, shooting her a smile as he looked over at her, waiting to catch her reaction.
"Would you want that?" She asked him, a little hesitantly, not entirely sure what to say in response. "Like, to hang out more? Because I really missed this place, and you guys, but I don't wanna intrude and–"
"Ruby," Embry stopped her words in their tracks. "Jake told us in school that he was fixing your car tonight, and the three of us basically spent the entire day watching the clock because we couldn't wait to see you."
A huge smile blossomed on her face. "Really?"
"Really," Embry assured, meeting her eyes. "Look, maybe we didn't try hard enough to keep reaching out to you back then, but none of us wanted to lose you."
"None of it was your fault," she said, shaking her head. Ruby came to a stop, prompting Embry to do the same. They were close to the beach now, and as she stared out at the waves crashing against the shore, she could feel all her beautiful memories flooding back to her. It felt like home. "I want to make up for everything," she stated, facing him properly. "For real.
Embry couldn't help the smile that drifted across his face. "Yeah?"
"Yeah."
"Well, I definitely think that can be arranged," he told her, a teasing smirk dancing faintly on his lips. "And I know where you can start too."
"Nope, I'm not going to let you guys drive Barry, he means too much to me," Ruby dismissed immediately.
Embry laughed, shaking his head. "No, not that. I have a better idea."
This peaked Ruby's interests. "I'm listening."
"There's a party next weekend," Embry informed. "You should come. Bring Lexie and Joey, it can be a whole reunion."
Well, Ruby could never say no to a party, especially one at the Rez. And with potential like this to reconcile some old friendships? There was no way she was missing out.
"All right, I'm in."
A/N
Sorry it's been like 3 months since I last updated, 5k word chapter to make up for it tho!! Ruby and Embry are adorable 🥺🥺