The Notorious R(uth) B(arakat) G(rimaldi)

Chapter 28: Games Night

The damp settled in over the valley, seeping into Ruthie's bones, like it did every year. Even Elliott, who was used to the legendary London fog, was surprised at its tenacity. Sometimes, in the late afternoon, it would almost clear, and a kind of watery sunlight would wash over them for a bit, but as soon as it was dusk, the fog would roll back in, filling low lying areas with a wispy white stillness.

"Good lord, this is depressing," Elliott remarked. He and Ruthie were walking Amal Clooney, or "Looney-Cloo," as Ruthie called her. "I don't think I've had a good look at the sun for days, maybe even weeks."

"Welcome to the Central Valley," Ruthie said, her voice glum. Amal was pulling her Flexi-Lead as far as it would go, wanting to take advantage of the outing and smell as much as she could. "I think once we didn't see the sun for, like, fifty days or something."

Elliott just gave Ruthie a squeeze as they kept walking.

"I know, how about a games night?" Ruthie proposed. "Pizza, Pepsi, and Pictionary, at my house?"

"Your friend or the drink?" Elliott teased. "No, never mind, I don't care, I'm in."

"Great, I'll call Linda and Gordo, too, we can play Cranium, and maybe MarioKart?"

"Um, Ruthie?"

"Yeah?" Ruthie was making a shopping list in her head and wasn't paying close attention.

"Could we maybe ask Amelia as well?"

"Sure." Ruthie walked on a few steps, then stopped as Elliott's words sank into her brain. Amal was also pulled up short as the leash tightened.

"Wait, what? Who?"

"Amelia," Elliott repeated. "I'm kind of concerned about her, if I'm honest. She's gotten so quiet, and different from how she used to be." Elliott's brows knitted as they continued walking.

"And how do you know 'how she used to be'?" Ruthie asked, working hard to sound neutral.

"I'm sorry, how she sounds like she used to be," Elliott responded, not noticing Ruthie's discomfort. "From what you've said, she used to be the life of the party, right? Joking around and laughing a lot? But since that wanker used her and threw her away, she's so withdrawn. Sometimes she doesn't say one word when we walk home."

To Ruthie's dismay, Elliott and Amelia walking home together had become a daily thing, since they had nothing going on right after school, unlike Ruthie, who had tutoring and chorus until dinnertime.

Auditions for Les Mis were in a couple of days, too, and nearly all the people in chorus were working on audition pieces, except for Susan Cornell, the only true soprano in the group. She was the only choice for Cosette, and everyone knew it. As far as Ruthie knew, no one else was even auditioning for the part.

"I guess we could invite her," Ruthie said, hoping her unwillingness didn't show. She couldn't very well tell Elliott that she was jealous of poor Amelia, could she?

"Really?" Elliott sounded relieved. "Thank you, Jelly Bean, I know she's not your favorite person since the mess with the knobhead, but you know how sorry she is about all that, right? How much she regrets what she did?"

"I do," Ruthie said slowly, wondering how Elliott knew how sorry Amelia was.

"Look, I want you to know that I'm only talking to her because I really am concerned about her, that's all, yeah?" He stopped and turned Ruthie to face him, and Ruthie was entranced by his red lips and white skin, and his hair, which the fog and damp had twisted into curls all over his head.

Elliott, for his part, was nearly knocked over by Ruthie's beauty. They faced each other in the growing darkness, as the fog quickly gathered around them. Her tiny corkscrews of hair were nearly dripping from the damp, and he was aware of how her front rose and fell in her soft, gray sweater. Her cheekbones were nearly slavic, and her luminous eyes seemed to glow in the dusk.