The Path to Hue

Part XIII

"Hey, is rocky road an acceptable flavor for our emotional distress?"

"Hm, I'm feeling mint chocolate chip actually,"

"What if.... I get both?"

"Then you're a damn sociopath Ruby, haha," she sniffles into the phone. "But I don't blame you, our situation isn't too great..."

"Haha, I guess so." I say awkwardly, "uh, anything else I should get?"

"No, I think that's everything. Thank you Ruby,"

"I'll see you soon, okay?"

"Be safe, love you."

"Uh, bye!"

That caught me off guard. Oh gee. I hope I didn't make things worse. I grab a few extra snacks for myself and head to the self checkout, I scan the pints of ice cream and can't help but think of Sunny. I shouldn't have just ditched her at the mall. Especially after leaving the dorms for so long. I just wish she saw the way Vi mistreats us, mistreats her.

"Hey Vi-hive, welcome to the live! Me and my bf Colin-- say hi! -- we're just at the grocery store picking up some snacks after all the drama going down, and I wanted to let you all know it's all true!"

I can't fucking do this right now. The nerve she has to livestream in the middle of a public place, where I'm not even 20 feet away. I had a panic attack not even 15 minutes ago I can't do this shit-

"Hey, everything alright?" Someone places their hand on my shoulder, I turn without hesitation and it's- Poppy?

"Oh, hey Poppy- Poppy! Oh my god I haven't seen you in forever, I'm so sorry I haven't even texted you!"

I lean into her and her arms wrap around my torso,

"It's okay. I just missed you Rubes, are you doing okay?"

"No, far from it. I'm sure you've seen what Colin and Violet have been posting,"

"Uh, I don't think so? I haven't been on social media actually. Something happened between me and Jade, I had to uninstall everything so I don't constantly freak out haha..." she sighs and puts her arms in her pockets, "But what's up with you? I saw you just freeze for an entire minute-"

"I can tell you once we head out, I do not want to be in Violet and Colin's vicinity at the moment, I'm so done with confrontation."

"Okay Rubes, let's get your snacks and dip,"

-

"Wow. That's so fucked up of them to do,"

"I know. I'm still not over it,"

"Well, how can you be? The post was just an hour ago, I don't blame you."

"Yeah, I guess so."

"Don't be so hard on yourself, friendships end in the worst ways sometimes, it's not your fault."

I nod and turn on the ignition, "Yeah, um. I'm just headed to the dorms by the way, I hope you don't mind, but I did buy ice cream. Don't want it to melt,"

"Oh for sure! I was gonna head to the library if that's alright. Would you mind dropping me off?"

"It's no prob P," I smile. We're on the road now and she's connected her phone to the aux, definitely prefer her music over Colin's. Just thinking about it made me cringe.

"Yo, my tunes off today? I can always change it-"

"No no, it's alright. Just, the entire situation going on,"

"Oh yeah. Want me to get your mind off it for a bit?"

"You don't have to tell me about Jade if you don't want to Poppy-"

"Ruby, I need to talk about it with someone. I feel like I'm going to explode if I don't,"

"Oh, go ahead then, Sunny gave me a basic rundown of the situation. I hope that's alright," I turn down the music and roll up the windows. It's still a 10 minute drive to the school from here.

"That's fine, I trust you guys. Uhh, but yeah! Jade was trying out that makeup look on me, and I don't know what came over me! I just spilled my heart out to her. Ever since the start of last summer, since that beach day we all had, I haven't been able to stop thinking about her. And she storms out right? I run after her apologizing cause I feel stupid, and she just look at me and just- kisses me! And it wasn't a bad kiss at all! I'm still thinking about it! Like wow, I really want her to do it again. But she's with Bella for almost 2 and a half years now. But yeah, Bella is being so weird around me, super dismissive of everything I do or say. I'm pretty sure she knows already. And I feel bad, but... not as bad as I should feel?? Like I really like Jade, maybe it's just a phase, but I know now. And I just wanted to go for it at that moment, is that wrong Ruby?"

"Poppy, I'm not gonna lie, that is exactly how I felt with Violet. Before this entire ordeal happened. I don't want you to go through what I did, but then at the same time I don't want you to expect the worst. My advice to you is to be patient with things, but since Bella already knows, just give them the space they need until they're ready to talk. And if they don't want to, that's fine too. I've got your back, always. Okay?"

She takes a deep breath and nods.

"If all the cards are against us, maybe we can just date each other Ruby," I laugh,

"We'll just have to wait and see I guess, it seems like we're everyone's last choice anyway haha,"

We laugh and the self depreciation actually doesn't feel horrible, I'm glad I have someone who has an idea of what I'm going through.

"Looks like we're here,"

"Alright Ruby, thanks for the ride! I'll see you later, yeah?"

"For sure, I won't ghost you babe," She waves and heads in through the front doors. I get my bags of food and make my way to the dorm.