The song will go at the *
~Ruby's POV~
"Where are we going?" Sapphire missed the turn on the freeway.
She thinks for a moment before responding. "You need a vacation. From your dad and mom and gang. We'll take the long coastal route home for a few days. How does that sound?" She smiles at me while I ponder the idea. It sounds nice. A few days with just Sapphire? No it sounds perfect.
"Okay fine. But lets not tell anyone where we are. I don't want anything or anyone coming for us."
"Deal." Sapphire makes a turn onto a ramp that's labeled Los Banos.
...
The sun has started to go down but it'll probably still be light out for an hour. I love long summer days. Sapphire is still driving but I think we're getting close. I watch as she drives. She's always so careful, always using her blinker, always pays 100% attention to the road. She barely gets road rage! It's crazy, even I was cussing out a few jerkwads on the way here. But she just laughed.
"Sapphy how are you always so calm on the road? Or calm in general? It amazes me."
She just giggles a bit before responding, "I know they all have somewhere important to go too. Maybe going home to their kids or spouses, late for a night shift or dinner reservation. So it doesn't bother me as much. No use in yelling if the can't hear us anyway."
"But don't you ever need to release any anger? Yelling feels nice sometimes."
The car starts driving through a city. I guess we're here. "I suppose it could. But I have no need to be angry right now. I really happy where I am." She turns and looks at me through her soft blue bangs. A bit of blonde is starting to show from her roots.
"You're really pretty." I blurt out stupidly. She just giggles while stopping the car at a gas station.
"You're beautiful," she replies. I blush and cover my face.
"Sapphiiiire! I'm supposed to make those comments!"
"Says who?" she asks.
"Says society's standards on lesbian couples."
We both look at each other with a straight face. Well at least she is, I bust out laughing as she giggles quietly.
"Oh," I wipe a tear from my eye, "Oh my gosh I'm hilarious Sapphire."
She opens her door. "Yeah yeah haha. Come on let's go get snacks."
I jump out of the car and reach over to hold her hand securely. She locks the trunk and we head into the mini store. She lets go to go to the bathroom so I just start gathering a few things. What kind of chips does she like? Does she drink soda? Maybe we should just get water?
Over the aisle, I see the bathroom door open and the top of her little blue head walk out. I smile to myself. I grab some random chips and walk to the aisle she's in.
"Hey Sapphire I didn't know which you'd like so I grabbed them all!" I look down and immediately become filled with rage. On the ground is Sapphire with another guy standing over her, holding onto her arm pretty tight.
"Hey! You fucking cunt get the hell off her!" I drop everything and run over to them, tackling the guy and punching him straight and clean in the face. All I can see is red. How fucking dare he touch Sapphire! To think this guy could've hurt her! The thought alone makes me punch this dickhead harder, my fists balling up tighter.
"You'll. Fucking. Learn. Not. To. Touch. A. Girl!"
"RUBY! STOP!" I hear Sapphire yell. She never yells. I stop my movements and look in her direction. "Ruby I'm fine. Get off him. He was only helping me up after I slipped!" She gestures towards a wet floor sign that is sitting next to here.
Horrified, I look between her and the guy cowering in fear under me. He looks practically harmless.
"I- I'm so sorry," I whisper quietly. I quickly stand up on my feet and back up into the aisle behind me. I can't believe I just did that. This poor innocent guy. I- I beat him up for no reason.
I'm a monster.
I look towards Sapphire who's helping the terrified guy up. "I'm sorry," I say meekly before running out of the store and lock myself in the car.
...
Sapphire stands outside the car, filling the gas tank. She handed me a first aid kit she just bought to patch up the guys face. He left about 5 minutes ago. I've just been sitting here quietly, staring at my split knuckles. I hit him pretty hard... Hard enough to injure myself.
Sapphire lifts herself into the truck and looks over to me. She doesn't say anything and neither do I. I try not to look at her. I already know her face is full of disappointment. She'll probably turn us around and head home.
Surprisingly I feel her soft hands take one of mine and bring in close to her. I look down but turn my head towards her to see what she's doing. Her emotions are nowhere to be found, but she grabs the first aid kit that I neglected and starts to clean up my cuts.
"Sapphire?" I asked hesitantly as she finishes wrapping one hand. She sticks her hand out, palm up. I place my right hand in hers and she gently starts to clean this one. She hums for me to continue.
"I'm sorry," I say hoarsely. I can feel tears welling behind my eyes and one slip out. "I'm so sorry." I bite my lip to hold back any sobs from escaping.
She lifts my hand to her lips carefully and kisses my palm before wrapping it. "I know you are Ruby."
The car ride is quiet. I don't really know where we are going. It's been an hour and the sun has finally set. Its a light dark blue sky over us now. Sapphire sings quietly to herself to a song in a different language. It sounds French maybe, but either way, it's beautiful. If I wasn't so mad at myself I would probably try singing along too. We haven't talked about what happened back there but I sure have been thinking about it.
The truck pulls into a motel and parks in front of a set of stairs.
"Here we are," Sapphire states. I look at the clock to see it's around 8. "What city are we in?"
"Monterey," she replies. I just nod and grab the bag of snacks we never opened. She leaves to the office to check out a room as I wait in the car. Is she gonna want separate rooms after what happened?
Sapphire walks out and looks at me through the window, gesturing for me to come out. I leave with the food and follow her up two flights of stairs. We reach room 309 and she unlocks it with an old looking key. I turn around and look off in the distance. We're pretty close to the ocean. It looks so much different than the ocean view back home. "Sapphy look!"
"Hmm?" she turns around and looks out to the ocean with me. "It's so much clearer here than at home. Prettier too," she says as she wraps her arms around me in a tight hug. I smile to myself before I remember.
"Sapphire?" She sighs quietly before nuzzling her face between my shoulder and neck. "Do you wanna talk about it?" She askes me. I nod and she lets go to head inside the one-bed room. I follow.
She sits in the middle of the bed after briefly checking it for bed bugs. I sit on the edge, holding one leg to my chest. We're quiet for a moment before I decide to speak first. "Are you mad at me?"
She replies quickly. "Of course not."
"But why?"
A pause. "Because I know you didn't mean to."
I can't hold in my thoughts any longer. "But Sapphire! Didn't you see what I did? I beat him to the pulp for no reason! He was helping you and I immediately got defensive and stupid and angry before thinking of what I was doing! It was dumb and reckless and I'm such a horrible person! I'm a monster! I stupid gang made, anger filled, fighting monster!" I start crying hot, angry tears as I cover my face. The bed shifts as Sapphire moves closer to me. I lean into her chest and cry even more. I'm so pathetic. "I don't even understand why you trust me. Why do you even feel safe around me?"
"Ruby." Slowly I wipe my face and look up at her. She sighs. "Take a moment. Think of just flexibility, love, and trust. You aren't a monster. You should never think that."
I wipe my eyes again. "What?"
"When you get angry, your head fills with thoughts. Thoughts that might alarm you. What someone says and how it harmed you. Or what someone did. So you lash out. Somethings you did fail to be charming. But it's okay.
"I understand why you have all this anger and why you lash out. You lose sight, you lose touch and all these little things seem to matter so much that they confuse you. To the point that I might lose you." I nod along, starting to understand what she's saying.
"Just take a moment to remind yourself, take a moment to find yourself, take a moment and ask yourself if this is how you fall apart." She pulls me into her lap and I wrap my arms around her tight, I shake my head in response.
"But it's not. It's okay. You've got nothing to fear. I'm here. I'll always be here okay? You're not a monster."
I nod along as she rubs my back. "It's okay. I've got nothing to fear. It was just a thought. I just thought he hurt you but he didn't. I thought I was a monster but I'm not."
"That's right." I lay my head on her shoulder and finally relax for the first time today.
"Today's been kinda shit," I whisper in her ear. I slide off her lap and sit beside her, mindlessly playing with her long hair.
"Are you tired?" I shake my head no. "Then the day isn't over. We have 3 hours until midnight. I suggest we go out."
"Out? Where? We don't know the city." Sapphire stands up and puts her shoes back on. "Well let's get to know it."
...
*We decided to leave the car behind and walk, hand in hand, down the unfamiliar streets. I kept my guard up the whole time in case there were any creepers watching us. We walk up to a street full of lights and people. Trees wrapped in string lights line the sidewalks with buildings full of bright neon signs. "Sapphire where are we?"
"I have no idea. But this looks promising?" I just swallow as we walk down the street full of night people. Music plays from every building we pass, a group of bikers drives by, cheering like they're having the time of their lives. Sapphire giggles at them as she watched them pass.
We walk past a building as two very tall, dressed up ladies walk out, smoking cigarettes. One of them sees us and taps the other's shoulder. She also turns and looks at that. "Well, would you look at that," one of them says in a very deep voice. Are these... men?
"Oh my gosh more!" I turn to Sapphire who slows down in front of them. She has a small hidden grin on her face. "Are those men or women?" I ask. Sapphire just starts to giggle a bit.
"You've never seen a drag queen before honey? Where you from?"
"San Fransisco?" I reply hesitantly. Sapphire starts to laugh out loud now. So do the 'drag queens'. "You guys live in San Fransisco and have never seen drag queens before? What are you hermits?"
"No I have, she's a bit isolated," Sapphire replies. I look at her a bit offended. "I am not isolated. I just don't live in the gayest part of town."
"You live in the gayest part of America. I'm kind of disappointed." The one with the deep voice playfully scoffs. "What are your names?"
Sapphire answers for us. "I'm Sapphire, this is my girlfriend Ruby. We're just passing through the city and decided to explore a bit."
"Well how about this Ms. Ruby and Sapphire. Because it's a such a shame you don't know what a drag queen is, I think it's our responsibility to educate your poor souls." They are really sassy. "Come on. You guys are coming in."
I look up at the neon pink sign of the building, it says FAB with a rainbow next to it. We're going into a gay bar.
"A gay bar?"
"What? Are you homophobic and gay? That's hard to pull off," the one with the purple hair says.
Sapphire responds, sensing my offense to his- her? statement. "No, we're just underaged. We're both 17."
"Ooooh," says the purple haired queen. "Girl that's nothing. I first went to a gay bar when I was 12."
"10," says the other one.
"Now let's go." Sapphire giggles as she pulls me along inside. The bouncer looks at us as we pass the long line but doesn't say anything.
"Sapphy do you think this is a good idea?"
"Maybe," she smiles.
I sigh deeply as we enter a mosh pit of neon lights, alcohol, and swaying, dressed up bodies. The drag queens have left us. "Ruby here put this on," Sapphire grabs my left wrist and puts a purple wristband around it that says taken, she has a matching one on her right. She looks up at me and leans in, giving me a small kiss which I easily respond to.
"I know today wasn't great, but we're still gonna have fun okay?" she asks stoically. I nod with a smile and let her drag me onto the dance floor.
Sapphire gabs both of my hands when we get to the middle and starts moving us around. It's awkward at first, not knowing how to dance to this random song. But she has one of the faintest smiles on her face, so I know she's enjoying her self. I spin her around a few before pulling her closer, much to her surprise. She laughs as I start swaying us together, totally offbeat.
"Ruby you're doing it wrong." She laughs again and let's go of me. She starts dancing on her own as an upbeat song starts to play. I keep my eyes on her the whole time as she does. It always surprises me to think of how open and expressive she is when we're together. Such a closed off and quiet girl, but here with me, she'll dance as if no one's watching.
"Come e're," I say as I dance close to her, matching the rhythm of her movements. She puts her arms around my neck and sways her hips while I rest my hands on them. Her bangs have fallen to the sides of her face and I look into her eyes.
"Sapphire."
"Yeah," she asked breathlessly.
"We're in a random unknown city, after meeting my mom in prison, illegally dancing in a gay bar."
She stops moving for a moment. "Yeah?"
"I've grown up in a gang, fighting people, making drugs, dealing, using guns. And I've honestly never felt more alive than I do now." I lean in and kiss her forcefully. Her arms wrap around my head and she buries her fingers in my hair. I grip her waist and dip her slightly, putting even more love into the kiss than ever before. Nothing else is here but us, and the taste of her lips. The feeling of us together.
"Give it up for these crazy lovebirds over here!" The DJ of the club announces. I'm not entirely sure if she's talking about us or not, but I do hear cheering within the crowd around us. Sapphire breaks the kiss and holds onto my face. "I think they're talking about us." I just nod and place her back steadily on her feet, a huge grin on my face. "Let's get out of here Sapphy."
...
Sapphire holds onto my hand as we walk to a random grocery store. Sapphire was starting to get hungry. "Sapphire, can I sit in the grocery cart?" I ask excitedly.
"Why do you want to do that? I don't think we even need a whole cart." She states as we enter the store. She's been smiling ever since we left the club a few minutes ago.
"Well need a whole cart if I'm in it!"
"Your logic is flawed," she pulls out a cart and lets me hop in the basket. "No my logic is beautiful! To the chips!"
She just laughs again, pushing the cart as I start grabbing stuff from the sides.
About 15 minutes later, we have enough food to feed a school, piled on top of me. "Isn't this gonna ruin your workout diet? You've been pretty lazy with it recently." I frown. "Its a cheat day Sapphy."
"You've been cheating for a week," she says matter-of-factly. And how are we gonna afford all of this?"
I grin. "Weeeelllll."
"Ruby no."
"You have no idea what I was gonna say!!!" I throw my hands up in the air as she stops the cart.
Sapphire leans forward and whispers. "You're planning to steal all this."
"I just thought it would be exciting! I've done it plenty of times before." She frowns. "But we don't have to. I totally understand how you'd be uncomfortable with this... Actually, this was a dumb idea. I guess I got too eager. I just thought you know you've never done anything like this before and today's been such an adrenaline rush anyway-"
"Ruby." She cuts me off. I look up at her from playing with my fingers. "I'll do it."
"Are you sure?"
"I haven't been sure of anything this whole time. But I trust you. It's illegal and all but maybe I'll get to understand this whole gang thing a bit better. We've already broken one law. Why not another?"
I smile wide and get out of the cart. "Then let's go. I know exactly how to pull this off. But if we're gonna do this then we might as well steal some alcohol." Sapphire nods hesitantly and leads us to that aisle. I start talking about the game plan.
"Okay, this place is pretty empty. Only 2 workers and no security. No one is on the cameras at the moment. One guy in on aisle 7 and the other is on a register. But faced away. As long as everything we grabbed doesn't have security tags then we should be fine going out the back exit."
"How long have you been planning this?"
"Since I got in the cart. Ooh, here's a good one!" I grab the bottle of svedka and lead Sapphire to the back of the store. "Ok. No ones looking. But the cart has security on it so we're gonna need bags. And the only bags are next to the entrance. It'll look too suspicious to grab some now..."
"Done," Sapphire reaches under the cart and pulls a few out. "I assumed we'd need these when I thought we were buying stuff." She smiles sheepishly.
"You're amazing Sapph," I pull her into a quick kiss before we start bagging.
...
"I can't believe I did that!" Sapphire exclaims after we were out of sight from the store. It was easy, but I didn't wanna spoil her fun. "See? We're the next Bonnie and Clyde. But Bonnie and Claudia?"
We reach our hotel and get inside. Sapphire flops on the bed while I grab some snack and make our drinks on the counter. It's almost 2 in the morning. "Do you think they recorded us? What if they follow us home?"
I just chuckle at how cute her worry is. "Relax Sapphy. We'll be out of town before they notice a thing." I turn around and head to the bed. "Here," she takes the drink from me and sips. She makes a face before putting it down. I laugh a little.
"Today was weird," I comment as she lays down. She nods her head and closes her eyes.
"Tired?" She nods.
"You wanna sleep in something more comfortable? I think I have a hoodie and some shorts in the truck?" She nods again tiredly. "Okay," I lean down and kiss her forehead before leaving.
When I come back in her makeup is off and her hair is in a bun. She takes the clothes from me and gets changed.
"Ruby?" She asks as we lay down in the bed together. I hold her close as she presses her face close to my neck.
"Yeah?"
"I love you." I feel her smile with her words.
"I love you too Sapphire."
Thank you @TorrentialSunshine for the Here Comes A Though idea! I hope it worked out well. How hard was that to read without singing it in your head?
And before you all ask, no this is not the end.