Joseph clambered out of the cab, looking inebriated. With his shirt tucked halfway and hair growing untamed after a perilous failed attempt of shoving his hair back, instead, a forelock fell and teased his eyebrows cutely.
He took out his wallet and simultaneously dropped it down twice to the ground uncaringly. The sign of his drunkness was seen affecting his motor skills to the very extent. Ruby hissed after seeing him bend down and regain his balance as he got on his feet again.
He drew from his wallet his credit card while resting his elbows on the cab's window, extending or more like tossing the plastic card in the driver's face.
The driver's size shrunk as he fumbled with the card while swiping it through the barcode machine. His skinny fingers pushed the wrong buttons and he instantly started redoing it.
"And deduct a few more bucks. I'm paying on Ma'am's behalf. Drop her only at Casa Clinton Apartment and not anywhere else." He jabbed his finger in the driver's chest. Slightly looming in from the driver's window, he took a gander at her with pink-dipped eyes as if he didn't dare to talk to her in the face, he chose the one-arm-distance approach.
He knew her address and more importantly when he was under full sail- drunk. Ruby's eyebrows forced together into a pronounced frown.
"What do you mean by anywhere else? Where will I go at this hour of the night?" Ruby gave him the once-over, scoffing at his far-fetched imaginative universe.
"Possibly to the places you don't want to share much information about," he spat tempestuously, rubbing at his eyes to finally look at her.
"You are hammered, Mr Holden. You seriously need some medication besides plastic surgery on your face," Ruby jeered out, breathing out at once as the confined space began to block her windpipes. "I simply hate your crocodile kind of jaw, your jutted-out lips, and those gigantic owlish eyes emitting laser rays all the time I look at you!"
"She sure has a big mouth, stacking up comments full of incoherence might be your specialty." He laughed in his slurred speech. "She blabbers a lot, man I suggest you plug in your earphones before she blows ur brains out.
Ruby's head slung backward as the taxi jerked up, moving as slow as molasses. Hitting on the graphite road, her eyes were glued outside, particularly at Joseph who did open the main gate of his house but slumped down as he entered.
A yelp escaped her lips, she placed her hand on her chest without missing a beat. Rotating her head desperately to find out what happened to him, but only saw the buildings sweeping past. She got worried about that arrogant man's state. But why? He never treated her right but she felt for him as she was being prone to her humanitarian side.
Closing her eyes and with a quick introspection, she patted his shoulder and barked, "Take on the right. Fast."
"But-but he told not to dro-"
"He's an asshole. But tell me, are you an asshole too?" Ruby scratched her eyebrow and felt like slapping the punk right away.
"No-oo," he said, moderately unsure to correct the euphemism for being obedient.
"Good thing. Then just stop the cab," Ruby ordered him, crossing her arms against her puffed-up chest.
"Oka-a," he agreed.
Ruby got off the taxi and reconnoitered the foreign surrounding. "We didn't take a turn until we crossed that red building." She thought to herself and kept on moving mindlessly.
It was dark, silent dead outside, the only limited light spilling on the road was from the streetlights, standing at a distance of a few meters from each other. She recalled the direction and hot-footed to his house, mainly because of the vociferation of the birds and animals somewhere around her. Ruby could feel her heart taking leaps and the soreness of her feet.
A sheen of sweat slathered across her forehead even in the coldest midnight breeze that welcomed her. Ruby was praying, nonstop, not to have any sort of encounter with a stronger stranger from any dark corner.
She pulled the jacket tighter and it gave her arms and back a view of a rippling muscular body that she didn't even have.
Ruby might have lost the route completely, all the buildings looked very similar to each other. She wondered where would she spend the night. And also, there was no hope of that taxi driver coming back and picking her up. If only she had regarded the driver with respect and etiquette, she would have slept in her bed; taking some big Z's.
Ruby rummaged through her braid after pushing down the rubberband since her head started to ache badly. Her limps were giving up already- cause she had no proteins in her stomach, and not even her much-desired pint of drink. Ruby snaked her arms around her stomach and crouched down to lessen the pain. "Just my luck! I don't even have a cellphone phone."
"Ah. where the hell is his house? Ruby, you are a bitch! You can't remember anything. Where will I go now? You should better die─" Ruby was conveying the spiel to herself. She stopped in the middle as she felt somebody's hand cupping her shoulder blade warmly from behind.
Who is this? Perhaps her untimely demise lurked behind her back. Probably has come here to take her permission to take her along with him to heaven, or hell. She erected her back slowly.
Without turning around she continued, "Listen, my father is a renowned officer . . . who works in a police department and my brother is a famous . . . lawyer. It would be ideal for you not to show me your face and bugger off from here. I'm counting till three," grudgingly, she said after taking intervals of long pauses in between.
"Three . . ."
He didn't change his hand's position rather he clawed it tightly.
"Two . . ."
His grip got a tad bit tighter around her shoulder ball as if he would tear it apart from her body.
"One . . ."
He turned her on her heels violently, when she was still making plans as to how to get rid of this pervert. Conflicts of kneeing him in the balls or slapping him, which would be more effective had occupied her mind. Sequestered her thoughts from the clutches of the self-defense act to which she was going to resort, she saw Joseph gawking at her, but this time his eyes spoke a newly found language of innocence and goofiness.
"Oh, you-u scared me," Ruby said bashfully.
"You didn't go to your home? You defied my instructions?" he questioned, and his voice was exceptionally sweet, it seemed like his hangover was eventually coming to rest.
"That's what I can ask you, too. Why didn't you get inside yours?" she asked confidently.
"My house is a house for namesake only. There's a bed, fridge, food, and--- no one. Yes, no one. No life but disturbing silence enshrined within the four walls." Joseph looked sideways, and he seemed very serious as he confessed.
Ruby felt he had been hiding something, she opened her mouth in the hope of getting more in-depth answers to her queries but somehow stopped. She didn't want him to be angry at her again. And, not after he was talking to her nicely.
He pivoted lazily only to inform her. "My house is in the second lane from here, thought of informing you if you were searching." Joseph motioned, and a hiccup erupted from his mouth.
"So I was close." Ruby gasped in amusement, laughing a bit to kill the awkwardness embedded in her.
Word count - 1330
a/n; Joseph's hiding a lot of secrets.
Can u smell the romantic air?
TONS of things r stuffed in my backpack.
Plzz vote, comment and let me know ur thoughts...