Tyler and Josh smiled excitedly as they walked into the adoption center, ready to hopefully meet their future son of daughter.
They got their background checks cleared and badges on, walking towards the area where 0-3 year olds played.
"HELLO I AM RUBY I ENJOY YOUR SHIRT!" A girl yelled as soon as they walked in, waddling up to them.
"Aww, hi Ruby! I'm Tyler, and this is Josh," he smiled as he squatted down and sat on the floor so he was eye-level with the girl.
"THAT IS VERY NICE I LIKE YOU," Ruby yelled as she crawled into Tyler's lap.
That's when the boys noticed Ruby was the only one there. They both thought it was weird, but they brushed it off. Maybe all the other babies were sleeping.
"I like you too!" Tyler smiled.
"HELLO MR. JOSH I AM RUBY I ENJOY YOUR SHOES," Ruby yelled as she made her way to his lap.
"Hi, Ruby! You don't have to call me Mr. Josh. Just Josh is fine."
"OKAY JUST JOSH HELLO I AM STILL RUBY I STILL ENJOY YOUR SHOES."
"Thank you!" Josh chuckled. "I like your dress."
"REALLY?!"
"Yeah! It's super pretty."
"ARE YOU MARRIED?"
"Yep," Josh smiled, Tyler holding up his hand with his wedding ring.
"THAT IS A VERY PRETTY RING I ENJOY IT VERY MUCH."
Tyler and Josh laughed. They didn't know why Ruby seemed to 'enjoy' everything, but she was so adorably sweet.
"Thank you! Josh picked it out."
"I AM GOING TO GO GET SOME SNACK I WILL BE RIGHT BACK I ENJOY SNACK," Ruby informed them, getting up on her incredibly pudgy legs and waddling out of the room to go get some snack.
"I'm gonna go ask why she's the only one real quick," Tyler said softly.
Josh nodded, staying in the room in case Ruby came back.
Tyler returned a minute later, Ruby still gone. "They said she's the only one 0-3 who hasn't been adopted."
"Really?" Josh said. "Poor girl. She's so sweet."
"And she's been here since she was born and all her friends are gone," Tyler said.
Just then, Ruby returned. "HELLO TYLER HELLO JUST JOSH I HAVE GOT SNACK FOR YOU," she said with a wide smile as she waddled back in with two cups of goldfish.
"Aw, thank you, Ruby!" Tyler smiled. "You can have my snack, though."
"RUBY CANNOT HAVE ANYMORE GOLDFISH."
"Why not??"
"SHE ALREAY HAD THREE BAGS TODAY."
"That's a lotta goldfish," Josh giggled.
"I REALLY ENJOY GOLDFISH."
"How old are you, Ruby?" Tyler asked as she crawled into his lap again.
"THREEEEEEEEEE YEARS OLD. HOW OLD ARE YOU?"
"I'm 28 and Josh is 29. We're old."
"DO YOU LIKE COLORS?"
"I love colors! Josh does too. Sometimes he dyes his hair crazy colors."
"CRAZY COLORS?!"
"Yeah!" Josh smiled, pulling out his phone to show her pictures. "I've done yellow and pink and blue and red and green."
"I ENJOY THAT ONE," Ruby said as he showed her the picture of him with pink hair.
"But now it's just brown," Josh said, running his fingers through his hair.
"I think he's handsome no matter what," Tyler smiled.
"I ENJOY HIM. HE IS HANDSOME. MR. JOSH," she said, crawling into his lap. "YOU ARE VERY HANDSOME."
"Aww, thank you, Ruby," Josh blushed.
The boys stayed there for the rest of the day, learning more and more about Ruby.
"But now I don't got frens cause they all got families but I don't," Ruby said quietly at one point.
It turns out she wasn't always yelling, only when she was excited. The only reason people hadn't adopted her was because they thought she was always loud, but if they actually spent time with her, they'd learn she wasn't.
"Some people don't like me because I am loud," she said. "And I try to be not loud but I just get very excited and enjoy my time and I get loud again so they say 'Ruby shhh' so I shhh but then I get excited again so I don't shhh."
"We like you, Ruby!" Tyler exclaimed. "You're the coolest person we know! And we don't mind if you're loud. If it means you're happy, we don't care at all!"
"REALLY?!"
"Yeah! Sometimes Josh and I get loud when we get excited, and that's okay!"
"I ENJOY YOU WILL YOU PLEASE BE MY FRENS?"
"We'd love to, Ruby," Josh smiled.
Shortly thereafter, one of the workers came in and said it was time for Ruby to go to dinner then go to bed. She kissed both boys on the nose and gave them hugs before she waddled away while holding the woman's hand.
The boys looked at each other and just knew.
They headed to the front desk, Josh hugging Tyler's waist with a grin.
"We think she's the one," Tyler said with a smile. "When can we get her?"
