Re: Ruby & Jasper
“So you weren’t like… purposefully… We’re friends, right?” Ugh. She hated the way that sounded. Needy and insecure. Ruby crossed her arms over her chest and looked away. “Jules and I… We… People’s opinions matter to her. That stupid, fucking crown matters to her.” It didn’t matter who she had to step on to get it. She wasn’t like Sebastian, who Ruby thought probably got it because he was weirdly nice to everyone. Jules was a serious queen bee. People didn’t mess with her because they were scared of her. It was such bullshit that Ruby hadn’t been able to handle it. Not back then. Now it infuriated her. And she hated to see Jasper get pulled into it. Fucking her was one thing, but dating? It just seemed like a bad idea. “How do you know she’s not using you?”
If he’d actually given it any thought, Jasper would have seen how different Ruby and Jules were, and probably could’ve predicted that they wouldn’t or didn’t already get along. But it had never crossed his mind that this would be an issue, and now Ruby looked a little jealous herself. It was all kind of baffling to him. He agreed that crowns and stuff were bullshit, but lots of things in life that people cared about were bullshit. “No, I wasn’t purposefully anything, fuck,” he assured her. “Of course we’re friends. I just don’t even get it all myself, much less can explain it to anybody else.” Jasper uttered a short laugh at the idea of Jules using him and cocked an eyebrow at Ruby. “What could she possibly be using me for? If anything, being around me hurts her rep. We had our first real date ever yesterday. She’s rich and spoiled, she doesn’t need anything that I got.”
“Ugh, I’m not trying to be a bitch!” Ruby said, pulling on the ends of her hair as she looked up at the sky. “She just knows exactly what to say to set me off.” Though the same could be said in reverse, couldn’t it? Ruby had been trying to get along with Jules, and yet somehow they’d ended up threatening each other. Fuck. It felt very rational a half hour ago, when she was sure that throat-punching Jules was the way to go. Now? Not so much. “I dunno. That’s just what she does. It made sense in my head,” she huffed, running her fingers through her hair, then fluffing it up. “I’m not trying to-- to whatever the fuck she thinks I’m doing. Things just… escalated quickly.”
Okay, so maybe she was more upset than she’d looked at first. Jasper was quickly learning that was a thing with girls. He held up his hands in a peaceful sort of gesture, hoping Ruby wasn’t going to start yelling at him like Jules had done. Why couldn’t girls just punch each other and get it over with like dudes did? “It’s okay,” he said. “She’s just drunk and upset, she’s got some jealousy issues and sounds like you two have some ... history. So just ... chill out for now, okay?” He shook another cigarette out of his pack and offered it over to Ruby. “Here. I know you’re not trying to do anything, we’re cool, it’s fine.”
Ruby took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, her hands moving to her hips as she paced for a moment. Dammit all. She needed to calm the fuck down. Have another drink, find a guy to dance with, and forget about Jules. It shouldn’t be that hard. She huffed a little laugh. “Yeah, we… we used to be friends,” she said, pretty sure Jasper had picked up on that part. The rest was hard to explain. It was like she’d said and Jasper even acknowledged-- Jules was spoiled and rich, two things Ruby most definitely was not. Reputations mattered to Jules. She knew what to say and how to act to get what she wanted. Ruby had always seen it as using people and it didn’t sit well with her. She refused to play the popularity game and it cost her, but she’d never really cared. There’d never been a reason to fight over it. Until now. Ruby put the cigarette between her lips and leaned in, hoping Jasper would light it for her. At this rate she was going to owe him a pack. “Thanks,” she said. “I’m sorry. I really didn’t come here to start a fight.”