Reconciliation

[Fiori]

It was an average afternoon in Seattle that Sunday. Well, it was raining, but for most Seattleites that constituted a fairly average day.

Of course, not everyone in Seattle was used to city's infamous weather. Some, like the drenched Russian-American teenager making his way down the street, never got used to just how often it rained there compared to the rest of the USA. Whilst he had been living in the city for nearly ten years by this point, to this day he still could not get used to how much it rained, nor could he ever get over just how nonchalant everyone else in Seattle was about it.

In any case, the teenager's main concern that day didn't have anything to do with the weather. In fact, whilst normally he would be worrying about getting his favorite leather jacket soaked, that afternoon the teen's thoughts were about a certain girl he intended to visit. Again, fairly normal for a teenage boy to be thinking about nothing but a certain girl, particularly one whom he found attractive. In this instance though, his thoughts weren't so much "How do I get into her pants?" and more "How the monkey-fucking Christ am I supposed to explain what happened last night?"

It wasn't long until he reached his location, the teen taking a deep breath before stepping through the door into the relatively dry record store. From the looks of things, the girl he was looking for wasn't around, the only other customers in the store being a trio of metalheads arguing about which Blind Guardian album was the best. There was of course the student standing behind the counter, a ginger-haired girl with a disdainful look in her eyes. Seeing as he was pretty sure that the girl he was looking for was currently at the store, he saw no other option than walk up to the counter to ask the student about her whereabouts.

"Hey! Say, uh, do you happen to know where I can find-" he began.

"Ruby's downstairs." the student interrupted, her head motioning to the staircase leading down to the store's basement.

"Oh, uh, thanks!" replied the teen before making his way towards the staircase, the student barely taking any notice of him.

As he made his way down the staircase, the boy began to feel an unbearable sense of doubt creeping up on him. Memories of the previous night's events began to play out in his head, bringing about feelings of embarrassment, sadness and guilt. The closer he got to the basement, the more he wanted to turn back and forget the whole thing. Just return home and distract himself by sitting in front of the tv playing video games.

In the end though, unlike the previous night, he didn't give into temptation. He didn't want to drag this out for weeks on end and spend his last remaining years of highschool regretting that he never made amends with Ruby. Sure, he could just talk to her tomorrow, or the day after. Or the day after that. Or the day after that. No, he had to sort this out right here, right now.

Sure enough, downstairs making sure that the VHS cassetes were arranged in alphabetical order was the girl he was looking for, Ruby Forrester. She didn't seem to notice him at first. Good, that meant he still had a chance to turn around before it was too la...

Hey! Remember why we're here? No way I'm gonna turn back now, not after making it this far.

Thankfully, before he had a chance to change his mind, Ruby turned her head and spotted him.

"Oh, hi Brian..." she said.

"Uh... Hey Ruby." he replied, scratching the back of his head.

Well, she isn't immediately telling me to fuck off, so things are going pretty well so far.

"So, uh, noticed that there's a new girl working behind the counter." he said, avoiding the subject.

"Mandy? Yeah, she just got the job last week. Kind of a bitch if you ask me, but she seems more reliable than the last student dad hired."

"Heh, yeah, I remember that guy. Always thought he was a dick..."

The two stood there for a moment silence, both of them ignoring the the colossal elephant in the room. It wasn't long though before Brian finally decided to stop avoiding the issue and talk about what he came there to talk about.

"Look, Ruby, I... I know I'm probably the last guy on the planet you want to talk to right now, and for good reason! But..."

"Brian, it's cool. I understand."

Brian stopped mid-sentence, Ruby's reply taking him somewhat off-guard.

"In fact, there's something I've been meaning to tell you. Something that I should have told you years ago, and it's only been recently that I've been able to get my thoughts straight about it."

"Um... Yeah, uh, go for it. I'm all ears." replied Brian, not particularly sure where this was going, but nevertheless curious about what his ex-girlfriend had to say.

Ruby took a deep breath, the young girl feeling pretty nervous about what she was about to say as well. "Okay, here goes..."

From there on, she told him everything. She told him the truth about how she had felt whilst the two of them were a couple, about how she never truly felt attracted to him or any other boy for that matter. And most importantly, she told him about what had happened after she had left his apartment, about how her encounter with Regan ended up revealing a lot about both of them.

Once she had finished, the two stood there in silence for a fair amount of time, the look on Brian's face expressing just how mixed his feelings were about this revelation.

"...Wow. That... That actually explains a lot. I mean, not that I'm suggesting anything about the way you dress or anything. I mean, a lot of girls... Ahem, wow, damn. Not gonna lie, didn't see that coming."

"Believe me, neither did I..." Ruby replied, trying to hold back a bemused expression.

"So... When you said that you wanted to talk to me about something yesterday, said subject was..."

"Yep. Well, not the lesbian part, but pretty much everything leading up to that."

"Oh. So, I guess this means..." he began, before changing his mind mid-sentence.

"Wait, no, what the hell am I thinking! What I did to you yesterday was still unforgivable, even though technically you were intending to break up with me anyway. The fact that I betrayed your trust in the first place is still..."

"Brian, like I said, it's okay! I understand why you did that. If I hadn't made for such a lousy girlfriend, I'm sure you would have never even considered doing such a thing."

Brian stood there for a moment, another thought crossing his mind.

"So, why did you not tell about this sooner?"

Ruby bit her lip. "I... I don't know, I just... You seemed so happy to be with me, I didn't want to break your heart by telling you how I really felt, you know? I thought if I just kept pretending, maybe I'd start to feel the same way about you that you fet about me."

"Ruby, you know me! If I'd known how you really felt, I'd of been more than willing break up if it meant making sure you were happy! Sure, I'd probably get a little emotional about it at first, but I'd of gotten over it!"

A thought then struck Brian.

"Oh god... It wasn't because I was being too clingy, was it? Shit, I knew I was being too clingy! If it wasn't for me, you would have never..."

"NO!" Ruby interrupted. "Nonono, it's not your fault Brian! It's my fault for not telling you sooner. If I hadn't been so fucking silent about the whole thing, you would never have done such a thing."

"That still doesn't change the fact that what I did was a bastard of thing to do someone, especially someone who's been my closest friend since Sixth grade."

"Maybe... Maybe we should agree that it was both our faults?" said Ruby.

"Sounds like a good idea..." Brian replied.

The two stood there in silence for the third time that afternoon, the only sound either of them could hear being the alternative rock song Mandy was playing upstairs.

"So... Regan. She's..."

"Yup."

"And you and her..."

"We didn't go that far, if that's what you're thinking."

"Oh, nonono, I wasn't suggesting that! But uh, does this mean the two of you are now... You know, going out and stuff?"

"Yeah. Well, sort of. She doesn't want her parents to know we're dating, so technically speaking we're still in the closet."

"Ah, right. Don't worry, my lips are sealed... Heh, wow, this has been a weird weekend hasn't it?"

"Tell me about it. What about you and Shiro? Are you..."

"Just so you know, I wasn't lying when I said that we hadn't been going out behind your back or anything. You'd literally walked in at the worst possible moment."

"I know, I know... But are the two of you going to go out, or what?"

"I... Don't know. I mean, I..."

"It's cool, really. If you like the guy, go out with him! Date him! Honestly, I'm just happy to see that you have found someone you like who likes you back."

"Th-Thanks, I... I guess..."

There was yet another pause, one which admittedly wasn't quite as awkward as the other ones.

"So, uh..." Brian began. "...Does this mean we can still be friends?"

Ruby didn't reply. Instead, she simply smiled and gave Brian a hug, one which he gladly returned.

"Couple of years from now, we'll be looking back at this big silly awkward mess and laugh about it."

"Heh, yeah... Say, you want to go grab a coffee?"

"Well... Sure, why the hell not!"

As the two left the store, the first thing Brian noticed was that the rain had finally stopped. Whilst the first thought that crossed his mind was how dramatically convenient the change in the weather was, the next thought that crossed his mind as they walked down the street was somewhat more relevant.

"Say Ruby, you're definitely sure that you're... Well, you know, only into girls?"

"Pretty sure I am, yeah. Why?"

"Oh, nothing. Just... Just a thought, that's all..."


((Brian Zhdanovich and Ruby Forrester's pregame concluded.))