ruby
"Joseph." I mumble from where I lay squished between my wall and my boyfriend. "Joe." I nudge him with my foot, trying to wake him up. "Oh, my God, babe. Get away." He moves his head slightly, but only to move it closer to me. There's one useful thing I've learned from my time with Joe, and that is Joe will always wake up if you touch his feet. He hates people touching feet so much that it even wakes him up.
I move both feet around, trying to find his. I, eventually, end up kicking his foot accidentally hard, making him groan before opening his eyes. "What are you doing, gorgeous?" He whispers, rolling on to back and pulling me closer to him and slightly away from the wall.
"Trying to go pee, but you won't let me up." I laugh, vaulting a leg over him to get up from the bed. I step immediately on to my cold, hardwood floors. My old bed is so small. It's only a twin, which is very different than what Joe and I are used to sleeping in. If we get into an argument while on vacation, we are screwed. We're always touching each other somewhere. There's no empty space, whatsoever.
As I make my way to the bathroom, I pass Regina who is coming out of the bathroom in her bikini. It's the one that she bought on clearance during December last year. The top is covered in many different bright colors, and her bottoms are an electric green. "Hot." I comment simply.
"It makes my ass look kind of fat, but who can worry about stupid things like that when it's just a bit over ninety degrees outside and we live on a beach?" Regina shrugs, taking another drink of the protein shake in her hand. It's so weird to see Regina eating healthy after watching years of her sometimes eating beef jerky as a meal. "Are you joining?"
"I guess I could. I have to find my swimsuit first." I answer as Caspar passes the hall to the kitchen. "Your cousin is about to find out that there is literally no food in this house." Before Regina has a chance to answer, Caspar groans from the kitchen.
"He'll live. I put your old bathing suit in the bathroom in your cabinet. I pulled it from storage when I went." She replies before walking down the hall, and I cross into the bathroom.
While brushing my teeth - with Joe's toothbrush, because I forgot mine in London, I open the bottom cabinet. The top one is for all of Regina's things, like makeup and soaps, and the bottom cabinet is mine. There's not much room in the bathroom to walk, even less to have some kind of chest-of-drawers, so our only bathroom storage are these two wall cabinets. We agreed that towels would be stored in hers and toilet paper would be stored in mine, but there's barely any toilet paper in the house, so I got the much better deal here.
I roll my eyes as I pull the 'old' swinsuit from the cabinet. I spit in the sink before laying the bikini on the closed toilet. It's definitely not my old one.
The top is strapless and a bright pink, similar to the dress she had worn to the airport yesterday. I don't know how Regina expects me to keep this up when I literally have the smallest bust in Los Angeles. I squeeze myself into it and make a very unattractive sound. I look at my reflection in the mirror on the back of the door. I pick up the string bottoms, which are a black covered in neon paint splatters. I pull my hair out of the bun after I slip them on, ready to complain about it to Regina.
She literally brought me the worst bikini she could find me. She knows I hate anything that doesn't have straps. I've always had a problem with them. For the fair point that I have nothing where I need it. At my junior prom, I was basically the only girl not wearing a strapless dress, just because after trying on the eighth strapless dress, I realized it just wasn't happening. They were all either too tight or too big, and I was not taking the risk of it falling down or suffocating myself, which is almost what is happening right now.
When I go to open the door, the radio in the kitchen begins blaring 'Summer Lovin'' from Grease, which is a movie I did not miss when I moved away from Regina. She watches it all the time. She's the only person I know that actually likes Grease. I walk out of the bathroom and straight to the kitchen. Regina, Caspar, and Joe are all crowding inside the small kitchen, singing along with the radio loudly. Joe stops as he catches sight of me and pulls me over to him. I stand between his legs with my back to the counter. He drapes his arms over my shoulders, and I hold his hands in mine.
"You look different in pink." Caspar comments. I give him a small look causing him to hold his hands up in surrender.
"You look hot in pink." Joe says, trying to cheer me up after realizing that I'm not in the happiest mood. I turn my head to kiss him quickly, showing my appreciation. When I turn back to face Regina, he kisses the top of my head. Joe, being the precious thing he is, always feel as if it's his job to make me feel better no matter who is the reason I'm upset.
"Before you say anything, you do look super cute and not too squished." Regina says, turning the radio down.
"I feel super squished." I protest.
"Why don't you wear the one that you bought in London?" Caspar asks, pulling his cousin's toast out of her hands. She sticks her tongue out at him taunting him further.
"Yeah, I can't. I forgot it in London along with my toothbrush, so I had to use Joe's this morning." I answer to anyone listening.
"You used my toothbrush?" Joe asks, a slight hesitating tone in his voice.
"You stick your tongue down her throat almost every day, Joe. Calm down." Caspar says.
"Okay, gross. Let's not talk about that." I comment. Regina hands me half a slice of toast as Joe nudges me slightly forward so he can get down from the counter.
"I'm going to get my swimming shorts, alright?" He answers my slightly concerned face. I don't want him upset at me over using his toothbrush. When he kisses the side of my head, I know we're okay.
"Come on, Ruby. We can go down to the beach and sunbathe and tan and just feel at home." Regina rambles, pulling on my arm. I squeeze her hand and smile at her.
"It hasn't felt too great over here, has it?" I ask her seriously as Caspar leaves the room to find Joe.
"I've missed you. I don't have anyone to tell anything to. You missed out on an entire boyfriend." Regina answers.
"Why didn't you just tell me over the phone?"
"I knew he'd be gone before you even got to meet him, so I didn't say anything. He actually is, so it doesn't exactly matter. I guess it was more of a fling than anything. He was only in LA for about a month." She shrugs, taking the last drink of the protein shake.
Regina and I wait out on the balcony for the two boys, and when they finally join us, we all begin our down the steps to the sand. By this point, I don't even bring shoes with me. I've gotten used to the hot sand under my feet and between my toes. "I still can't believe you left this to live in London." Joe says, walking next to me. He carries two bottles of water in one hand and keeps the hand closest to me empty, in case I want to hold it.
"I almost can't believe it either. Imagine how different both our lives would be if I didn't move." I respond, hooking my pinkie finger with his instead of holding his hand because of the heat. If I hadn't moved over to the UK, I would definitely still be working at the used book shop just off the pier. It's rarely busy and smells of cigarette smoke, but it gave me a good place to paint and, at night I could get on the roof and look at the stars. I probably wouldn't have a boyfriend because no one in Los Angeles is even halfway appealing after all my failed attempts at love.
Joe would still be living a normal life, too. Well, at least his version of a normal life. He'd probably go out more and drink a whole lot more. He'd probably sleep around a bit, and it's horrible to say, but after hearing stories about Joe before we got together, it seems like that was pretty normal for him. Nights when he isn't drunk would probably be filled with so much more sleep than being with me provides.
"I quite like this version of my life." He grins at me, and I return it before sinking on to the hot sand. Regina throws out her huge picnic blanket, which is something we've always used instead of using two separate towels. I roll on to the blanket and pull Joe down with me.
After about almost ten minutes of listening to Joe hum quietly as we laid hand in hand on the beach, Regina nudges my shoulder. "Ruby? Ruby, you need to get up right now." She mutters. I open my eyes from behind my sunglasses to look at her. I take a small glance behind her and immediately see the source of all my problems.
It's Aaron.
This is exactly why I left and why I didn't want to come back. This isn't the first time I've run into him after our breakup. I used to see him in the grocery store. I would keep as much distance between us as I could. He wouldn't say anything to me, just look at me as if he recognized me from somewhere but he didn't know where. The first time he actually talked to me, I actually ran out of the store. I went back to avoiding him at all costs, until he ended up behind me in the line. I had no choice but to talk, and I cried when I got home. A week later, I talked to Regina about my plan to move.
"I saw him a few days ago at your old job." Regina answers. "He asked me what had happened to you. I spit in his face and told him to go fuck himself."
"Maybe there's a chance he won't notice you?" Caspar suggests, but he doesn't sound very confident.
Before anyone has a chance to say anything, he turns and smiles toward us. I swear under my breath, and Joe moves his hand from mine to my leg that is crossed over his. "What do you want to do?" He mutters.
"He'll start a fight, if he sees you. I know he will. I can talk to him. It'll be fine." I reassure him. He pulls his leg out from underneath mine and pats it quickly.
"You know it's a lie." I do know it's a lie, but I would rather hurt myself than Joe. Aaron waves at me before calling out my name. It doesn't sound right. I've grown so used to hearing my name through an accent. I push myself up from the blanket before Joe nudges my ankle. "You don't have to, you know?"
"Yes, I do. I'm tired of this." I know if I don't get him out of my life now, I will never get him away. I've never felt more okay with myself. I used to blame myself for so much when it came to Aaron. I don't have to blame myself anymore because I now know that it was never my fault in the first place.
Aaron tries to hug me when I step up to him, but I raise my hands to push him away gently. "You've been gone for a while." He comments.
"Um, yeah. I don't live here anymore." I tell him shortly. "I've moved over to the UK."
"Wow. I didn't think you would ever leave Los Angeles." I don't say anything else as I look over my shoulder slightly to see Regina with her hand on Joe's shoulder as he watches me intensely. Caspar leans back, much more relaxed than my boyfriend is. He has the same look in his eyes as Joe does, though. "Do you need to get back?" Aaron asks. I hate how sweet he is being. He's having one of his good days. I know it's about to be ruined.
"Yeah." I pull on the ring that almost never leaves my middle finger. Before I can speak, he's talking again.
"Maybe we can hang out sometime before you go back?"
"No. That's a horrible idea." I say, quickly. He grabs my wrist, but I don't make a sound. I know as soon as I try to pull away, Joe is going to cut in.
"Come on, Ruby. I've apologized before. Can't you try to forgive me?" The grip on my wrist tightens, but I clench my fists and stare at him blankly.
"I'll never forgive you. You hurt me so much." I say, my voice lower than usual as I try to sound as threatening as possible. Aaron pulls on my arm, bringing me closer to him. "Aaron, just let me go." I almost plead. I try not to turn around because I don't want to alarm any of them.
"Hey, mate." I sigh as I immediately recognize the voice. I turn my head to see Joe. He smiles at me slowly, nodding his head once. His voice is even and rational, but the small mischievous look on his face scares me. "Let me just give one little piece of advice. You're not allowed to touch her ever fucking again." Caspar grabs me from behind as Joe takes one swift punch at Aaron.
"Shit." I curse, holding on to Caspar arm where it's wrapped around my bare stomach. I watch Aaron on the sand, where he holds on to his nose tightly. I see a few trails of blood on his arm. I reach out to grab Joe's hand to pull him away. Regina steps up to take his place in front out Aaron.
"Are you okay?" My boyfriend asks, caressing my cheeks as he leans his forehead against mine.
"Are you okay?" I ask as Caspar lets go of me to join Regina. He nods quickly before kissing me. "Then I'm okay."