A Guide To Love For A Bozo

1-Never wake up the love of your life, they'll get angry

RING RING RING RING RING! Ruby rolled out of bed and onto the floor with a loud thump, making Bug jump out of his once peaceful sleep. She stood up and stomped over to her doughnut phone. She sucked in a breath, preparing herself to shout at whoever had woken her from her a peaceful slumber.

"Hey, Ruby?" It was Clancy. And that means-

"YOU WOKE ME UP FROM SLEEP YOU KNOW, BOZO!"

-that.

"Whoa! No need to shout. It's nearly 9 in the morning!"Clancy said defensively, he knew how important Ruby's sleep was to her. "Just wanted to say that the gang and I are going to the Diner to celebrate the first day of the holidays, you know."

"Yeah, I'll be there in ten."

"Really?"

"Nope. Make that 20," Ruby said after a moment's thought. She hung up without another word and started to get dressed. She was 15 now and there had been some new additions to her wardrobe. She felt she needed a change from her usual tee, jeans and sneakers. So she pulled on a simple tank top and a pair of shorts with her favourite yellow sneakers. She left her shoulder length hair down slid her glasses onto her face.

Ruby rushed down the stairs with Bug right on her heels, the massive husky almost tripping over Ruby's feet. Flung the fridge door open, poured herself a glass of banana milk and dropped a slice of bread into the toaster- praying that there wouldn't be a message imprinted onto it. She really wanted a day of today, maybe even a week. She had been really busy last week with Spectrum calling her in nearly every day to crack some code that the others couldn't crack. She had been up late working sometimes as late as 3 in the morning, much to her distaste.

Mrs Digby waltzed in with the groceries in her hands just as Hitch appeared in the doorway.

"Let me take that for you," Hitch said taking a plastic bag of Mrs Digby, only for it to be snatched away from him.

"I can do it myself you know! I may be old but how else do you think I got all my strength from? Years of doing the groceries!" Ruby could tell that Mrs Digby was about to start one of her little stories so quickly bid them goodbye and shut the door on Mrs Digby's lecture.

Ruby walked to the diner at a fairly quick pace with bug trotting along beside her. She glanced at her watch quickly before entering the diner- she was 5 minutes and 37 seconds late. Not too bad. She left Bug outside Double Diner before heading inside. She soon finds them at their usual booth.

"Hey, guys!" She said giving them a small wave. They replied with a general 'hey'. She slides in on the end next to Clancy, and orders a jelly donut. Mouse and Elliot, naturally, sat next to each other. They had been practically inseparable ever since they had finally got together after a lot of false starts. Del and Red sat on the very inside of the booth opposite each other.

They caught up on each other's lives and what they were going to do later in the holiday. Clancy, however, was being quiet. Sure, he was participating in the conversation but not as much as usual. He stole occasional glances every time Ruby would speak. Del, who was sitting next to Clancy, noticed and whispered in his ear.

"Why don't you just tell her?" Clancy started at her, confused. He felt the heat creep up his neck

"Tell her what?" He whispered back. Del gave him one of her 'You know what I mean' looks. He sighs quietly. "It's really not that easy, you know."

"I could do it for you," she sucked in a breath ready to tell Ruby how Clancy feels.

"No!" Clancy said in a stage whisper. "No, you will not. Bozo." Del put her hands up in a mock surrender.

By the time they were about to leave 2 hours had passed and the temperature was getting hotter. The sun had just gone past the middle of the sky.

"Clance do you want to go down to the tree?" Ruby asked she had something on her mind that she wanted to talk about. Something that could only be discussed with him, no-one else. Clancy nodded not trusting himself to speak. When he was younger, he saw Ruby as a loyal best friend and the coolest person ever. Especially, with all the cool Spectrum stuff. But now at the age of 15, he was like a love-struck puppy.

They walked down to the tree with Bug trotting alongside them occasionally sniffing a tree or a post. The tree was still used but more as a meeting place, they only used the messaging system when thy really needed to. Ruby chocolate colored hair floated when the cool breeze occasionally blew, cooling her skin. She breathed in the cool air as they walked in a comfortable silence, the only thing that could be heard was Clancy's shallow breathing. He was nervous, he was very nervous. He was going to confess to her the moment they were sitting on the tree.

Though there was a small matter that Ruby already knew. She saw all those stolen glances, she heard everything that was muttered under his breath. But she just acted cool, acted like she didn't know. But, the thing is, she felt the same way.

So, she made the first move. She moved closer to him and took his hand in her's, it was a small gesture but it was enough to get it moving. Clancy looked up at her, surprise all over his face. He stared at her in awe making Ruby squirm under his gave. She gave him a shy smile and tucked her hair behind her ear with the hand that held Clancy's hand. Clancy's hand brushed against her cheek and he swore he was hyperventilating. They were both blushing now but Clancy still had something to say.

"I think I like you." He said timidly his eyes more focussed on the floor than on what he was saying. He repeated himself but this time he looked her in the eyes. "I like you, Ruby." Ruby's face visibly softened and she beamed at him.

"Can I tell you something?" Clancy nodded, they had stopped walking now and were currently standing in the middle of the pavement. "I like you too."

They stood close together looking at each other, eyes filled with something close to love. Only now did they realise that Clancy was a good two inches taller but that didn't matter at the moment so Ruby momentarily put it to the back of her mind. Clancy leant down and Ruby went up onto her tip-toes.

The kiss was shy and short as if they testing how deep the water was, but it was enough. Enough for both of them. Baby steps. One at a time.