A New Balance

They Don't See It

Blake and Ruth ended up getting blackout drunk that night. When Blake woke up, he realized that he was on the roof. That happened all the time, though; the more notable thing was that he was laying next to Ruth. Her head was on his chest and his left arm was around her. He almost sat upright with surprise, but he stopped himself, realizing that he would wake Ruth, who was still sleeping peacefully. Once his feeling of surprise faded, Blake observed Ruth's face and smiled. Though her hair was messy from whatever they did last night, she still looked so peaceful. He moved a strand of hair out of her face so that he could see her better. 'Wow,' he thought to himself.

He then had a revelation (one that should have come a long time ago): he realized that he had feelings for Ruth. In the moment, he wasn't concerned about what that meant for their friendship; instead, he just felt happy to have her by his side and in his life.

Ruth groaned, beginning to wake up. Blake heard her and quickly decided to pretend to be asleep so that she didn't know that he had been... well... watching her sleep. Ruth quickly sat up when she realized where she was, causing Blake to pretend to wake up. "What... What happened?!", she asked in a panic. Blake was confused. 'Why is she so freaked out?', he thought to himself. "Hey, what's wrong?", he asked. "I don't remember last night, like, at all," Ruth told him. Blake chuckled. "That happens to me and the guys, like, every time we get drunk," he said. This calmed Ruth down a bit. "Really?", she asked Blake. He smiled and nodded. "Yeah," he replied, "it's really not a big deal."

Ruth realized that he was right and chuckled at herself. "You're right. I guess I finally got on your guys' level, huh? At least for one night," she said jokingly. Blake chuckled and nodded. "Yeah," he agreed, "congrats; most people can't do what we do, y'know?" Ruth smiled at Blake, happy with her accomplishment.

She then looked around. "We should probably get down," she said. Blake chuckled and looked around too. "Yeah," he agreed with, "Here, I'll show you the way down." Ruth nodded and followed him.

When Blake and Ruth entered the house and into the living room, Karl was sitting on the side couch (where Blake usually sat). He looked at them with a stern expression. Ruth and Blake's happy expressions turned into confused ones. "What's up, dude?", Blake asked. Karl stood up and walked closer to them. "Did you two bang?", he asked them seriously. The two were completely taken aback by the question. "What?! We did not bang!", Blake exclaimed.

"Why would you ask that?!", Ruth asked. "Well, you guys spent the night together!", Karl said defensively. "We just got drunk and fell asleep on the roof, man!", Blake told him. Ruth nodded in agreement. "Look, you two have been spending, like, all your time together," Karl explained, then continued, "Everyone else seems to see it but you!" "See what?", Ruth inquired.

Karl was about to answer, but Adam entered. "Why are you guys yelling?", he asked. "Adam, you see it, right?", Karl asked instead of answering Adam's question. "What are you talking about?", asked Adam. Karl motioned to Blake and Ruth and Adam understood right away. He nodded. "Yup," he agreed.

Blake and Ruth were just becoming more and more confused. "What are you guys talking about?!", Ruth asked sternly, demanding an answer. Now Adam looked confused. "You don't see it?", he asked. Ruth rolled her eyes. "Can you just tell us what you're talking about?", Blake asked. Adam ignored him and turned to Karl. "I really thought that they were banging," he said. Karl nodded in agreement. "Me too!", he said, happy that Adam was thinking the same thing.

"Is that what this is about?!", Ruth asked, clearly a little pissed off. "Why would we 'bang'?! We're, like, best friends!", she exclaimed. Blake was honestly hurt by this; he just realized that he had feelings for Ruth and now she seemed disgusted by the idea of them together. Adam put his hands up in surrender. "Sheesh," he said, "sorry." His reaction made Ruth realize that she was being a bit dramatic and decided to calm down. "It's okay... I understand why you might have thought what you thought and I'm sorry for snapping," she apologized. "Don't worry about it," Karl said, "I snap sometimes too." Ruth couldn't help but chuckle. "Yeah... I know," she said, smiling at him. Karl smiled back, happy that she knew him so well.
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Anders knocked on Blake's door and entered. "Hey, man," he greeted. "Hey," Blake replied, looking up at his friend. "Listen... I don't want to... y'know... start anything, but I wanted to warn you about something," Anders said. Blake tilted his head. "Yeah? What?", he asked. Anders sighed deeply and sat down next to Blake. "Well, I know that you and Ruth have gotten really close and that's great and all, but I think you have the right to know something," Anders said solemnly. He took out a folded piece of paper from his pocket, unfolded it, and handed it to Blake.

Blake read it and looked confused. "Ruth is insane," Anders informed him. Blake raised an eyebrow. "This paper just says 'Ruth is insane' with a frowning face," he pointed out. Anders nodded. "Yes, it does," he confirmed. Blake became more confused. "Who told you this?", he asked. "I talked to a past therapist of hers and she told me," Anders said, then pointed to the bottom of the page. "That's the name and number of the therapist," he said. Blake shook his head, finding it hard to believe. "You're lying," he said. Anders shook his head. "I'm not," he assured.

Blake just stared at the paper for awhile, concerned and shocked. Anders sighed and patted his friend's back comfortingly before standing up and walking to the door. "I'm sorry about all of this, bud, but you needed to know." He then exited the room.

Blake sat there alone for a moment, just staring at the piece of paper. 'It's not true,' he told himself. He took out his phone and dialed the number. "Hello?", a woman on the other end said. "Uh, hi... is this Dr. Daniels?", Blake asked. There was a short pause before the woman replied. "Yes, it is. Who am I speaking to?", the woman asked. Blake paused. The color of his face was completely drained and he hung up the phone, unable to speak. 'She's insane,' he thought, scared and shocked.
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A/N: For clarification, I wanted to say that going to a therapist doesn't mean you're insane; Blake is just kinda clueless and unfamiliar with therapy outside of movies and other media.

Also, I fully support therapy and can personally testify to how much it can help.