Ruth's POV
The car ride is going by ridiculously slow mostly because Michael and Luke won't shut up. They are chatting about something to do with outer space and the planets or something like that. I tuned them out early on because I can't stand hearing them talk with such excitement over otherworldly things. The way they're bonding is actually annoying and even though my brother doesn't bat for the other team, I'm beginning to think this matchmaking is for his benefit.
Tuning them out was probably a mistake in its own because as I stare out the backseat window, I have nothing to distract me from self-loathing about how bad of a friend I am to Serena. My mind hasn't been where it needs to be and has been focusing on someone I shouldn't be thinking of as much as I do.
Even now, when I should be thinking of an excuse as to why I didn't buy Serena a gift or even wish her a happy birthday last night, I can only thinking of the way Ashton looked at me before we left.
The smile that I've started to grow fond of never surfaced. Although, what do I know? From where I was standing he could have been giving me a toothy grin and I wouldn't be able to see it from my distance. But from what I could see, he did look less than thrilled. I was expecting to hear him ask where I was going or invite himself with us, but instead, he just turned his back to me and slammed his door. He might as well have just slammed his door in my face because the distance didn't make it hurt any less.
Maybe he's mad because we (and by we, I mean Luke) invited Michael instead of him. If it were up to me, neither Michael nor Ashton would be here with us. It would have been just me and Luke going to meet up with Calum and Serena, but no. Luke had to play matchmaker for his own selfish reasons and invite Michael, who I don't even have a crush on anymore, with us. Idiot.
Yeah, it's sweet that Luke is trying to set me up with someone decent, but I'd like to have the upper-hand when it comes to choosing people to date. Michael is a good guy and everything, but I haven't hung out with him long enough to even feel remotely attracted to him.
"Hey Ruth, you okay?" Michael asks, twisting around in his seat to face me.
"I'm-"
"She's just upset that she forgot Serena's birthday," Luke says, cutting me off.
"Damn," Michael says. "If I ever forgot Ash's birthday, I'd never hear the end of it from him."
"Thanks, Michael, that makes me feel so much better," I say with a roll of my eyes.
"Sorry."
"Don't take it personally," Luke says. "She's very irritable in the mornings and it doesn't help that she was up late working."
"Luke, how much did this car cost you?" I ask innocently, rubbing the smooth leather seat.
His blue eyes sternly glare at mine through the rear-view mirror. "Ruth, I just got insurance on this baby; don't you even think of keying it," he warns.
"Like I even have the guts to key your car," I scoff. However, he didn't say anything about taking it for a little spin and accidentally leaving it at a parking meter and letting it get towed.
I hop out of the car after Luke parks at the café, quite poorly I should add. The teal and white exterior of the building is outdated but fitting, although, it wouldn't hurt to touch up the paint here and there. Leading everyone inside, I scan the open yellow room until spotting Serena and Calum sitting and talking at one of the tables. Calum is quick to notice and wave for us to come over.
Whipping out my best 'I am totally a morning person' smile, I amble over to their table. "Happy birthday," I cheer, sitting next to Serena and giving her a quick side hug.
"See, that's how you wish someone a happy birthday," she says, clearly upset given by her bitter tone.
"What is she talking about?" I ask Calum who is busy hugging Luke.
After pulling away from the blonde, Calum sits back down next to Serena and places his hand on her thigh. "Her mom called this morning and said-"
"-Happy birthday, you're living in sin," Serena finishes his sentence, mimicking her mother's voice spot on.
"Damn," I breathe. This is good-not good for her of course, but at least she has no idea that I forgot her birthday. "That's sort of messed up."
"Oh, there's no "sort of" about it, it's one hundred percent fucked up."
I forgot how strong of a Catholic Serena's mom is. She has never liked the idea of Serena living with Calum before marriage because she viewed it as "impure" and "sinful," which is one of the main reasons they never moved in alone together until recently. Her mom was barely okay with him living with us in the beginning, but she thought since I would be there, no funny business would occur. Boy, was she wrong. It's like trying to keep two bunnies from mating. Crazy kids.
I rub Serena's back soothingly and tell her not to take her mother's comment to heart. The last thing she needs on her birthday is another fight with her mom.
"Does she really expect me to be the 'perfect' child?" she says. "It's my choice to live with Calum and what we do is none of her business."
"Ser," I call, subtly nodding my head to Michael to help her realize that now is not the time for her to spill out her frustration with her mom in front of someone she barely knows.
However, from obvious confusion in her eyes and knitted brows as she glances at Michael and then back to me, I think that's the least of her worries.
Luke and Michael sit across from us, and Michael formally introduces himself to Calum. If he and my brother can get along so well, I'm sure he and Calum will be the best of friends in no time. Hooray...
"Why is Michael here?" Serena whispers in my ear, eyeing him suspiciously as he continues to talk to Calum.
"Luke invited him," I explain, giving a subtle glare to my oh-so-wonderful brother who has joined in their conversation.
"Why?"
"Because he's an idiot."
"It's good to see you again, Serena," Michael says, completely oblivious to the fact that we were just talking about him. "Happy birthday, by the way. I would have baked you something if I had known earlier."
Serena smiles sweetly. "Thank you. It's the thought that counts," she says. "Plus you'll be helping make the wedding cake so that makes up for it." She waits for Michael to delve back into their guy talk before whispering to me again. "Where's Ashton? If you were going to bring someone, I figured it'd be him after what happened last night."
Well, she's not wrong, but I don't think I'm Ashton's favorite person at the moment.
"I tried inviting him, but he wouldn't answer his door," I lie. "He's probably sleeping."
"He probably wore himself out by flirting with you," Serena snickers.
"Shut up."
Saving me from Serena's teasing, our waiter, Seth (at least that's what his nametag reads), takes our food and drink order with such enthusiasm. I swear Seattle is full of chipper morning people and it's sickening. Seth tells us our order will be out shortly and leaves us to our return to our conversation.
"So how are the wedding plans going?" Luke asks.
"They're going," Serena says. "We've hit some roadblocks though."
"What kind of roadblocks?" I ask and she points to Calum who is chuckling nervously.
"He doesn't have enough groomsmen," she says. "He only has Luke as the best man. He needs two guys to walk down the aisle with my cousin and co-worker."
"Do we really need groomsmen and bridesmaids?" Calum stupidly asks. "Why can't Luke and Ruth be enough?"
"Because it's not enough for my mom," Serena argues.
"I can do it," Michael speaks up and all eyes draw to him. "I mean, if you want? It wouldn't be the first time. There have been several occasions where Ash and I would have to act as a substitute groomsmen for our clients."
I'm trying to picture Michael in a tux and it's proving to be difficult, especially because of his bright hair. I bite my tongue to keep from laughing at the mental image but let it out when I see the grimace on Luke's face. Someone's not thrilled about having a certain baker in the wedding and it's not entirely me.
Serena and Calum look to one another, conversing with only their eyes. I will never understand their couple telepathy. Without a single word of discussion, they come to an agreement and smile gratefully at Michael.
"Do you think Ashton would be willing to help out?" Calum asks.
"I'm sure he won't mind," Michael says, shrugging.
Serena wiggles in her seat with excitement. "Roadblock has been cleared!" she says with a fist pump in the air.
Great. As if being their neighbor and having to visit the bakery wasn't enough. Now they're a part of the wedding. There is literally no escaping them.
"Now we need to find a photographer," Serena adds.
Luke clears his throat and shamelessly points to himself. "If only there was a photographer you knew," he says, making it blatantly obvious he's talking about himself.
"Be subtle, brother," I tease and receive a kick on my leg from underneath the table. "Jerk," I mutter, rubbing the soon-to-be bruise.
"Because you guys are my friends, I'll even give you a discount," he says.
"We have to pay you?" Serena says jokingly.
"I have to make a living somehow," he says with a shrug.
"Fine, Luke, you can be our photographer," Serena says, and despite the bruise Luke just gave me, I can't help but smile at him. It's jobs like these that he'll be able to build his portfolio and soon snag more photography jobs.
Seth comes back to our table with our orders and gently places each plate in front of us, warning us that the plate is hot and not to touch it, which of course I do anyway and instantly regret it. He gives Serena her order last and I'm jealous at the sight of it. Fluffy pancakes topped with fresh assorted fruit and a generous amount of powdered sugar sit on the plate in front of her.
I look down to my boring plate of strawberry Belgian waffles and frown. Across from me, Michael mimics my expression as he stares down at his plate and then to Serena's. His eyes lift to mine and I can't help but laugh when his expression changes to embarrassment after I catch him eyeing Serena's food.
We sing 'Happy Birthday' to Serena and make sure we sing loud enough for the entire café to hear and make her feel even more embarrassed because what kind of friends would we be if we didn't embarrass the crap out of her on her birthday?
As we eat, Serena continues to talk about all her wedding plans and all that still needs to be done. I try to get her to stop talking about it just for today so that she can celebrate her birthday without stressing, but she replies with a big, fat "no." However, she does stop when Calum tells her to stop eating with her mouth full.
"So, Michael," Luke starts, "you went to high school with Ruth, right?"
And so begins Luke's attempt at being a matchmaker.
"Yeah, that's right," Michael answers, dropping his fork onto his empty plate.
"Got anything good to spill about her?"
"No, he doesn't," I answer for him.
"Come on, Ruth, don't be a grouch," Serena says. "I wouldn't mind hearing from someone else what you were like in high school."
"Ser, don't encourage him," I whine.
"Most of what I remember of Ruth is from when we were in our home economics class," Michael says, happy to share some (most likely) embarrassing stories of me. "At least once a week, our teacher would have to pull out the fire extinguisher because of Ruth. For example, this one time we were learning how to sauté vegetables and Ruth put a little too much oil in the pan. Let's just say if I didn't pull her away from the stove, she would have burned her eyebrows off."
Home economics was the one class that almost kept me from graduating. No matter what I did, I would somehow end up putting not only myself, but my entire class in danger because of my incapability to cook. I'm surprised I wasn't kicked out of that class after all the casualties. And by casualties, I mean all the pots and pans that I ruined.
"And here I thought I knew about all your cooking adventures," Serena says, laughing with Calum.
"Don't make fun of me," I say. "I tried my hardest back then."
"What's your excuse now?" Luke asks with a crooked smile, but it quickly fades after I kick his shin.
"You still can't cook?" Michael asks.
"Let's just say I haven't spent much time in my kitchen since I moved in," I say, shrinking in my seat.
"I can teach you a thing or two if you want," he says. "I'm not the best chef either but I can make some decent food."
Luke is grinning from ear-to-ear, unable to hold back his pride as he watches his attempt at matchmaking unfold. Too bad for him there's nothing romantic between me and Michael coming from it.
"Didn't you set fire to some chicken not too long ago?" I say.
Michael chuckles lightly. "That was an accident. Normally I don't set fire to anything. Things get burned here and there, but it's rare that I'll start a fire."
"Burned is better than nothing at all, so I'll take you up on that offer."
The apples of his cheek rise as he gives me a toothy grin. Even though it hasn't been often, I like hanging out with Michael. Having some familiarity in this new lifestyle of mine is needed and since Serena can't be there at my every beck and call, Michael is the next best thing.
We finish eating and leave Serena to bother Calum with more wedding planning because God forbid she take a break from it. If I am anything like her when it comes to my future wedding planning, I just might have to kick my own ass.
Luke drives me and Michael back to our apartments to drop us off. He waits until Michael is out of the car before turning around in his seat to face me.
"I think that was a success," he says. "You both aren't the best at cooking; go bond over that. I expect to see progress, Ruth."
I roll my eyes. "Go to Hell, Luke," I joke, hopping out of the car.
"Love you too," he says before waving and driving away.
I jog over to Michael who is waiting by the staircase and grimace. Why couldn't he have chosen to take the elevator?
"Sorry if it was a bother for me to come with you guys," Michael says as we climb up the stairs.
"You weren't a bother."
"You sure didn't seem like you wanted me there."
"That's not true. It has just been a long day."
"It's only noon."
"It has been a long day," I repeat.
He laughs. "Well get some rest, it's going to be a long week," he says with a wink.
"What're you-oh." I completely forgot about the baking lessons this week. I wonder if there's any way to get out of it now?
"Don't you dare think about backing out, Ruth," Michael warns. "You're going to suffer with us."
"That's not a great thing to say when you're trying to force someone to, as you say, 'suffer with us,'" I tease. "You might want to go for a more appealing approach."
He taps his finger on his chin, hard at thinking. "More appealing...Suffer with us or no cake for Ruth."
"That sounds more like a threat...and not appealing at all."
"But there's a positive to it," he points out. "If you suffer with us cake will be made available to you. It's only negative if you don't."
"I feel like I'm not being given a choice in the matter."
"You're not," he says with a huge grin. It almost looks like the kind of grin a little boy makes on picture day for the yearbook. I wonder if that's the face Michael made for picture day. I should check my old yearbook...
We climb the remaining steps to the second floor and stop at the intersection between the winding staircase and hallway.
"Well, this was fun," I say, referring to our staircase adventure.
"You're going to take the elevator the rest of the way up, aren't you?" he says.
"My legs have had enough stair climbing for one day."
He chuckles deeply. "Well, have fun with that."
"Will do."
"See you later, Ruth," he says, waving me off before heading to his apartment.
I contemplate stopping and asking him if he knows why Ashton is in such a foul mood or if something happened to make him crabby but decide not to. I'd rather not drag Michael into unnecessary drama. Then again, I don't want to really be involved in it either.
I lean against the wall of the elevator after the door closes and take the short ride up to the third floor. I head straight inside my apartment, throw my keys on the table by the door, and drag myself to my room. Hating the tight constriction of my jeans, I shimmy out of them and go to my dresser in search of a pair of comfy pants. Just as I pull out one of the drawers, my eyes lock on to the small stack of clothes sitting on top of my dresser.
I should probably give these back to Ashton. But that means I would have to put pants back on...
Sighing, I close the drawer and slide my legs back into my jeans before grabbing his clothes and heading out the door and down the hall to Ashton's apartment. My hand hovers over the door, nervous to see what Ashton will be like when he answers. Maybe I should just wait until tomorrow when he will be in a better mood. Or I can grow a backbone and get this over with.
My fist makes contact with the wood, knocking steadily three times. I rock back and forth on my heels until I hear the locks on the other side of the door turn.
Ashton peeks only his head out the door, looking down to me with little emotion. There's no doubt that he's angry at me. I have no idea why though seeing that I didn't do anything to him.
"Hey," I say, but receive no response from him.
He just stares, uncaring that I'm at his door. Any other time he would be quick to make a cheeky comment or tease me, but I'm lucky to get a twitch of emotion from him now.
"I came to give you your clothes back," I say, holding up the folded stack of clothes. "I forgot to give them back to you since we were in such a rush last night."
His eyes flicker between me and the clothes before he finally grabs the fabric out of my hand. "Okay," he says monotonously.
He attempts to close the door in my face but I press my palm against the wood to stop him.
"What is your deal today?" I ask, frustrated with the minimal talk between us.
"I don't have a 'deal,' Ruth," he finally replies, removing his weight from the door and walking further inside the apartment.
Given he left the door open for me, I take that as my cue to follow after him. "I beg to differ seeing that you tried to slam the door in my face. Why are you mad at me?"
He briefly glances over his shoulder to me before walking into the kitchen. "I'm not mad at you, per say."
"Then what are you mad at?"
He grabs several silver mixing bowls that are scattered around the kitchen counters and tosses them into the sink. "Why were you going out with Michael?"
"I wasn't 'going out' with Michael. I was going out with Michael and Luke to have breakfast with Serena and Calum."
"And you invited him and not me?"
"Is that what this is about? Not inviting you? It wasn't up to me. We bumped into Michael as we were leaving and Luke invited him."
His eyebrows rise. "Luke did? Why?"
"Because he wants to play matchmaker."
"Matchmaker?" he asks in disbelief. "You have a thing for Michael?"
"No!" I say, shaking my head. "I used to like Michael back in high school but not anymore." Good job, Ruth. Just keep talking about your past crush with your current one. "Luke doesn't want you near-he's just trying to protect me in his own way." It might be better if I withhold the fact that this is all Luke's plan to keep me away from him.
"By hooking you up with Michael?"
"Basically."
He stares at me suspiciously, as though he's trying to read me but is failing to do so. The corner of his lip twitches, breaking his poker face and a low chuckle escapes him. "Have I told you your brother is insane?"
There's the smile that I don't hate. It looks so much better than the frown he was previously wearing. I never thought that I would miss seeing it. There's something about it that just makes me want to smile even if I was pissed at the world.
"You've mentioned it before," I say.
"Are we okay?"
I shrug. "That depends; I haven't heard you apologize for slamming your door at me and getting mad for no reason."
His shoulders slouch and he sighs. "I'm sorry for slamming my door at you and getting mad for no reason," he says, as if apologizing is the hardest thing for him. "Are we okay?"
"I guess," I say, smiling back at him. "You know, I think this is the first time we had a conversation where you don't make a smartass comment. I'm really surprised that you haven't yet."
"I have nothing to work with at the moment but keep talking ad I should be able to come up with a 'smartass comment' easily."
"No," I whine. "You're doing good. I like talking like this. It makes it easier to not get annoyed by you."
"I'll keep that in mind," he says, grabbing a kitchen towel and cleaning the flour remnants off the island.
Does this guy ever take a break from baking? "I sort of have a request for you from Serena and Calum," I say. "Calum is short a couple groomsmen and Michael already offered to be one and they are wondering if you'd be one too?"
"Yeah, that shouldn't be a problem. It's nice to break out the tux every once in a while."
"Okay. I'll let them know."
That was easy, although now I'm curious as to what he looks like in a suit. It's hard to see him in anything other than casual clothes and an apron.
"I should probably get going," I say. "I have to catch up on some work if I want to be able to attend the baking lessons."
"You're still coming? Even after I tried slamming my door in your face and was a bit of a dick?"
"Well, you're sort of always a dick so it's nothing different," I joke. "And even though I'm not baking savvy, I don't think door slamming will be a part of the lessons."
He flicks the towel to lie over his shoulder and steps over to me. "That honesty of yours will get you in trouble one day," he teases.
"I'll take my chances." I walk out of the kitchen and to the front door with Ashton hot on my trail.
Beating me to the door, Ashton holds it open and sees me out. "Sorry, again, for the way I acted," he says as I pass through the threshold.
"It's really fine. Just make sure the next time you're mad, there's a legit reason for it."
He nods. "Don't work too hard."
"Don't tell me what to do," I sing, trotting down the hall and to my apartment with a huge grin which I'm thankful Ashton can't see.
______
A/N: Wow, this took so much longer than I thought I would take to write. 4 days to be exact. Thank you to everyone who wished me a happy birthday! I ended up getting unintentionally drunk for the first time on my birthday which was no bueno. Anyway, I don't really have much to say so I'm not going to ramble.
Question of the day: Are any of you going or have been to one of the ROWYSO tour dates? If so, when? I'm going on August 7th in Dallas!
Love you all! -Rebecca xoxoxoxoxo