You say that you love me.
What exactly does that mean?
Only good on weekends
Silent in between.
“Help yourself, Ruby,” Diana offered the next afternoon when Ruby stopped by the
bustling Hanson household. “We’ve got cookies, egg nog, cut up vegetables, anything
you want.”
“Oh, no thank you,” Ruby said holding her hand to her stomach. “I’ve been eating
all day. But maybe later.”
“Come on,” Zac whined trying to drag Ruby away from the crowded downstairs.
“I’ve gotta give you your present,” Zac said wrapping his arms around her waist from
behind and resting his chin on her shoulder. Diana looked at them out of the corner of her
eye and smiled to herself while she loaded dishes into the dishwasher.
“Okay,” Ruby laughed. “Let’s go upstairs then.”
Zac took her hand and led her out of the kitchen and up the stairs to his room.
“Alright, you want me to go first, or do you want to go first?” He asked sitting on his bed
with her.
“I’ll go,” she smiled placing a small wrapped box and an envelope in front of him.
“Open the box first.”
Zac pushed up the sleeves of his gray v-neck sweater and began to unwrap the
festive paper.
“Okay, before you open it,” Ruby said pulling her legs into an indian style.
“There’s a story. You know how I saw Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds do that
acoustic show in New York?”
“Uh huh,” Zac nodded. He loved Tim Reynolds and thought he was an awesome
guitar player.
“Well I didn’t tell you but I caught that at the show. Anyway, go ahead and open
it.”
Zac flipped open the box and inside was a yellow guitar pick. “Oh my gosh. Was
this Tim’s pick?” He asked looking up at her.
“Yeah,” she smiled. “I was so close to the stage. And he gave it to me
afterwards.”
“Holy shit.” He picked it up and held it between his thumb and index finger. “This
is so awesome, thank you,” he said reaching forward to give her a hug.
“You’re welcome. Now open the other one,” she told him.
He carefully tore open the envelope and pulled out the card which she had painted
herself with swirly designs. He opened the card and a rectangular piece of paper fell into
his lap. He picked it up and read the writing. “Oh my God, Blues Traveler’s coming to
Tulsa?”
“Yep. Guess who has the other ticket.” She smiled.
Zac looked up at her. “No way. January 4th,” he read. “You’ll still be here.” He
looked back at the ticket smiled back at her. “Man, how much do I love you?” He asked
leaning forward again to hug her.
“So you like it?” Ruby laughed squeezing him back.
“Yes,” he said giving her a kiss on the cheek. “Thank you so much. God, this is
all so great. You’re awesome.”
“Well you’re welcome.”
“Now open mine,” he grinned taking two boxes from his nightstand. “This one
first.”
She took the rectangular box and tore off the paper that she could tell he had
wrapped himself. It was a cassette tape that said “I love you” across the side. “What is
this?” She smiled.
“My friend has this recording equipment. So those are mostly all the songs I’ve
written for you so far,” he explained.
“Aww, Zac,” she smiled at him. “That is the sweetest thing. Thank you,” she said
wrapping her arms around him. “And it’s all you singing and playing on here?”
“Yeah,” he nodded. “So it might suck.”
“No, I bet it’s awesome,” she assured him placing her hand on his knee.
“Well you can listen to it when you get home. Now open the other one,” he said
pushing the other small square box forward.
“Gosh, what’d you do now?” She raised one eyebrow unwrapping the paper. She
opened the velvet box to find a pair of small square-cut ruby earrings that matched the
necklace he gave her the past summer. “Good lord,” her eyes widened. “Zac, I can’t
believe you.”
“Do you like them?” He asked.
“Yeah,” she nodded. “They’re beautiful. But you didn’t have to buy me these.
They had to have cost you like-”
“It doesn’t matter,” he interrupted. “I want you to have them.”
She searched his eyes with hers. “Thank you,” she smiled. “I love you,” she told
him sitting up on her knees and giving him a hug.
“I love you too,” he hugged her tighter. “Merry Christmas.”
She kissed his cheek. “Merry Christmas,” she told him before kissing his face a
few more times. “So Zac,” she said turning around so she could sit against him between
his legs.
“Yes?” He asked wrapping his arms around her waist and kissing the top of her
head.
“Matching jewelry is sort of a boyfriend-ish thing to give,” she said holding the
box of earrings inspecting the red stones.
“Mm hmm,” he grinned placing his chin on her head. “You could say that.”
“So are you trying to tell me something?” She asked tilting her head so she could
look up at him.
“Well you’re a confusing woman, Ruby,” he said holding her tighter. “You say
you love me-”
“I do love you,” she told him placing her hands over his.
“And we definitely have sex. But you aren’t my girlfriend. I don’t understand.”
She looked down and picked up one of his hands lacing her fingers between his. “Well when I’m home we have sex. But then I leave and...and you’re not there.”
“But I still love you even when you leave,” Zac said twisting her silver ring around
her index finger.
“I still love you too,” she told him.
“And I don’t want to date other people. I can’t.”
Ruby nodded slowly. “So what do you want to do?”
“I wanna be your boyfriend. Even when you’re at school. I think we could do it,”
he told her.
She paused taking a deep breath. “I think we could do it too,” she looked up at
him.
chapter 8.
