Chapter 08: Acceptation
-A few hours earlier, Moordale College-
Ruby and Otis are packing their respective backpacks, their last class was the same, history class.
They were some of the few students still at the school. Most of them had already left some time ago.
The rest of the Untouchables, Olivia, and Anwar, had a shorter timetable than Otis and Ruby. And they had already left with their boyfriends to go home.
Eric and Adam were lucky enough to be released early by their teacher, so they left for Eric's house. They couldn't keep their hands off each other for long.
Ruby and Otis walked and talked hand in hand through the corridors, oblivious to the stupid rule about lines in the corridors.
They laughed and smiled without worrying about the outside world as if they were literally in their world.
The most talked about couple in school, they were in a place that meant something to them. They were in 'Otis' space', where he normally kept his bike.
This place was special because it was where Ruby first assumed her relationship with Otis. They weren't yet boyfriend and girlfriend at the time. But the gesture was meaningful, as Ruby showed that she was no longer ashamed of being with Otis.
However, Ruby only did this because she had hit a wall, a wall which was Otis' "supposedly" non-existent pride. And it was this pride that made Ruby realize how much she wanted to be with him. 2 times
"Hehe, how cute. We're in the same place where Ruby Matthew admitted she was hooking up Otis "Sexkid" Milburn. It's a memorable day." Otis continues unlocking the bicycle while talking to Ruby.
"*Sigh*, Unfortunately, you didn't have the self-confidence to go on with me in hiding. You wanted to show everyone that we were together, I just confirmed what most people already knew." Ruby says in an arrogant and confident tone, typical Ruby. She was holding Otis's helmet in one hand while the other was analyzing whether there were any imperfections in her nails.
Other people might even think that this was the real Ruby, but few know, more precisely it was just her parents and now Otis. And Otis knows how to disarm her easily.
"So..." Otis begins to say in a sad tone, his expression was one of deep regret, when he looked at Ruby, her heart squeezed at seeing him like this. "... You didn't do this because you like me? I thought you..." Otis stops as if in pain to finish the sentence and Ruby can't take it anymore her expression falls apart and she says.
"No, Otis. Otis, I did it because I like you, okay, I like you a lot. I'm sorry for saying something like that..." Before Ruby can continue speaking, she notices that Otis' expression of sadness has disappeared and he has an amused look on his face. And that's when she realizes she's been tricked.
"One of these days, Otis You're going to say something real and I'm not going to believe it, you idiot," Ruby says, but the little smile on her face is always constant. It cancels out any effect of what she's said.
Anyone who looked at Ruby at that moment, and knew what Ruby was normally like, would be surprised at how happy she looked at the moment, they would see the "Otis Effect" firsthand, as Olivia once told Ruby.
The two of them smiled like fools madly in love, they couldn't wait until they could express all that love alone.
Otis finished unlocking the bike chain and put it in his backpack. They walked to the front of the school where Otis insisted that Ruby put on her helmet.
"Fine, I'll put that ridiculous helmet on," Ruby says ironically, Otis smiles at Ruby's childish attitude and says.
"It's not ridiculous, Ruby You look beautiful," Otis says as he puts it on Ruby's head, now with the helmet, and shakes it sideways.
"Stop it. And, Otis, I AM beautiful. I could be dressed in the worst clothes and I'd still be beautiful." Ruby says smiling at Otis, she tucks the sides of her hair inside her helmet and continues. "You have to be grateful that a girl like me likes a nerd like you," Ruby concludes, and as soon as Otis hears the last part. He smiles mischievously, already with something in mind.
"A nerd like me, right... But, if I remember correctly..." Otis says with a big smile, and Ruby feels a chill go through her body, already aware that something bad is coming.
"... Someone said to me, out of breath and with a satisfied smile on their face, this person said: 'This is the best sex I've ever had.' so this nerd's got something going for him, doesn't he?" Otis smiles at a red and embarrassed Ruby.
"You're an idiot, Otis. I've already told you. What's said during sex stays in sex."Ruby says without looking at Otis at any point, she's tremendously embarrassed.
'Little does he know that I like him for so many other reasons... that I love him for so many things... Not that the sex is anything less than wonderful... You get the idea.'
This moment between the two is interrupted by a familiar voice, for Ruby, the voice was someone below her on the food chain, someone she shouldn't worry about and would never feel less than her ever again.
And for Otis, that voice meant so many things, so many good times, but mostly bad.
Maeve Wiley comes running, trying to catch her breath, she stops right in front of the couple and looks straight at Otis.
"I need to talk to you, Otis!"
Ruby automatically goes into attack mode as soon as it feels threatened.
"What do you want, CockBiter? There's nothing for you here, Shoo Shoo." Ruby swats her away as if Maeve were a animal.
"Ruby, I'm not talking..."Maeve starts but Otis interrupts her.
"Ruby Please, I've already asked you not to call her that."
Maeve is still not used to this new Otis and is therefore surprised.
'Otis, is that Otis challenging the Evil Queen? I thought he was her puppy. Looks like I was wrong, it's not the same Otis, not by a long shot. Maeve thinks silently as she looks at the dynamic of the couple, it is very different from what she had previously imagined.
"Maeve, please don't provoke her. And if you can, I'd like you to speak here." Otis puts his hands in his pockets and waits for Maeve's response.
"I'd like you to just the two of us, it's personal." Maeve finishes speaking and Ruby changes her expression again, ready to deny this tramp any opportunity to be alone with her boyfriend.
"Ruby, trust me." Otis starts to say, and remembers, that maybe one thing will calm her down, a demonstration.
Otis approaches Ruby and puts both hands on her cheeks. With his hands on her face, Otis pulls her into a kiss. No tongue, just a light, tender kiss.
Ruby sees no other option but to grab Otis around the waist and pull him as close to her as possible.
The kiss only lasts a few seconds, but it feels like minutes to the young couple
And it seems like an eternity to Maeve She even rethinks whether to continue, but quickly reaffirms her resolve and ends up... Deciding not to speak.
Maeve knows that she is going to be a rock in Otis' relationship. She didn't want to do that, not this time. She thought that Otis would leave Ola to be with her.
And she knows how much it hurt Otis for her to try to meddle in his relationship, and she doesn't want to hurt him.
Their time has passed, they've never really been in the same time or place. And for her, from what she's seeing, they never will be.
She had never seen such an expression on Otis, or Ruby Such tenderness, such... Love. In each other's eyes, Maeve wanted that love for herself, but not at the cost of hurting Otis.
When she realizes that their kiss is coming to an end, she quickly says.
"Ohh, Otis. No more, Aimee will be able to help me." Maeve doesn't give Otis a chance to say anything, and he stands there, still not understanding why she came to talk to him.
"I told you, Otis. She's weird," Ruby says as she hugs Otis from behind.
The blue-eyed boy doesn't say anything and the next moment, he's guiding his girlfriend so that he can load her onto his bike.
On the way to the Milburn residence. Otis was quietly pedaling along the familiar path to his home, although he hadn't used his bike much recently due to Ruby taking him and bringing him home.
But, he hasn't lost his touch, on the contrary, due to his continuous training and efforts, taking Ruby with him requires almost no effort at all. It's like a walk in the park.
So far...
"Otis, be honest with me. What is it with you and Maeve?" Ruby, with her arms around Otis' abdomen, asks him.
*Sigh*"I still thought it took you long enough to ask that, hehe." Otis laughs amusedly and this prompts a snort from Ruby, she says.
"Contrary to what you think, Otis. I'm afraid of some things, yes, I'm not that clueless." Ruby clarifies and Otis laughs, this time a real laugh.
"Got it. Argh, I'll be honest with you, Ruby. There's nothing between me and her, at the moment I didn't even know we were friends or that she wanted to talk to me again." Otis says as he keeps the bike running.
"We've had very few conversations since the summer and that's because of something that happened before the summer started..." Otis stops talking, gathering the right words in his mind before he speaks. Ruby interprets the silence differently.
"The fact that we slept together the night of the party?"Ruby draws her conclusions about Otis' silence.
"No, no. Funnily enough, it was the same night. I said I liked her, that I loved her, in an audio that I left recorded on her phone, and I even went to see her in person. But before I could see her, I saw an outfit I'd lent her lying in the mud and her talking to a guy." Otis keeps the steering of his bike steady and unflappable. Showing that this subject no longer moves him like it used to.
"She was the first girl I liked, and I came to think I loved her. But love shouldn't be so difficult, so painful. Love should be easy, and peaceful. It will have its difficult moments, of course, but it won't outweigh the good ones."
'Like ours, Ruby.'
Otis remains silent for a few seconds and Ruby waits for him to continue this time, absorbing every sentence he speaks.
"And that was I still waited for her at the place I'd booked, and she kept me waiting. Then I got my answer, and we haven't spoken since."
"I see, and you... Did you still like her when you were with me?" Ruby asks laconically, and Otis realizes it's a delicate subject.
He finds himself in a minefield, where any wrong step could blow everything up
Otis decides to tell the truth.
"I admit that at first, yes. It was pretty new and we were talking about it being casual and everything. So, yes. In the beginning, yes."
Ruby nods and although Otis can't see it, he feels her head move and understands.
She knows he's telling the truth, her Otis is very honest with her. Ruby knew that Otis kind of used her to get over Maeve, but she didn't care much for him either at first. It was just casual sex.
"And when did you decide you wanted to be my boyfriend? it when you asked me to be your girlfriend or did you think about it a long time before?"
"I'll admit that even before you told the school that we were together, I was already wondering if there was any way it could happen. But seeing that you were ashamed of me, I thought there was no way."Otis says and although Ruby can't see his face, she knows he's smiling.
"Otis, it wasn't shame I..."
"It's all right, Rubes. You don't have to explain yourself." Otis smiles and Ruby hugs him even tighter.
They maintained a pleasant silence for the rest of the way.
They were very close to the Milburn residence and soon they arrived.
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Otis and Ruby arrived at the Milburn residence, while Otis put his bike away Ruby turned her gaze to the tree house that was progressing more and more towards completion with each passing day. It made her wonder how her and Otis' dynamic might change when his sister came into the world.
'Will we spend less time together?'
She tried to distract these thoughts by playing with her jacket, she was wearing her yellow jacket, because what would the yellow day have been if she hadn't abandoned the rules and regulations of the untouchables' dress code, but mostly because yellow was slowly becoming their color, the yellow they wore that night at the party at Olivia's house, he had told her several times that it was the color that looked best on her, even since their casual days when Ruby made fun of him in the woods when he was getting "too personal". It was the color she was wearing when someone found out about her "secret affair". In short, it was the color she was wearing at many important events in between.
Otis finishes putting his bike away and arrives at Ruby's side, he starts to open the door with his key while Ruby feels more and more nervous.
She had already met all the people who would be at the dinner tonight, but she had met them individually and not in a more formal setting like this. So yes, Ruby Mattwes is more than nervous and wants to make a good impression on her boyfriend's parents.
As soon as Otis opens the door, the first thing the young couple hears is the deep voice of an irritated Swede and another female voice.
'That must be Jakob, Otis said something about him being Swedish or something.'
'Mom. I'm home, and Ruby's with me." Otis warns and a silence permeates the house with the intrusion of the two. Jean and Jacob come out of the kitchen with big smiles on their faces, as if they hadn't been arguing just a few moments ago.
"Ruby! It's good to see you again, I'm glad you agreed to have dinner with us." Jean welcomes Ruby with joy at seeing his son's girlfriend, Jakob gives Ruby a welcoming nod and a practiced smile. When no one is watching, Jakob nods with an expression of respect on his face at the sight of his stepson's stunning girlfriend.
"Dinner will be out soon, please make yourself at home." Jean finishes before walking slowly to the kitchen with Jakob in tow, her belly was already a considerable size and tiring Jean out much more easily.
Although Otis and Jakob spoke to Jean about her cooking for so many people when she should be resting, that they could order food, after some insistence, she agreed to Jakob's idea of cooking but on the condition that she would help him, Jean can be very stubborn, just like her son.
"Coat!" Otis nodded, trying to imitate a gentlemanly style, ready to remove Ruby's coat.
All Otis got was a slap on the arm, as if to say "I can do this myself, you idiot", but in the most amusing way possible.
"Ouch!" Otis says and Ruby scoffs at his shout, and soon they're both laughing with glee. Across the room, on the sofa, Ola observes the contrast between Otis and Ruby's current situation compared to that of her and Lily.
While Ola and Lily had an uncomfortable time together, Otis and Ruby are currently in the room of the, so far, youngest Milburn.
They talk and laugh about the most diverse subjects and before they know it, half an hour has passed and dinner is ready. Jean shouts for Otis and they go into the dining room to eat at last.
.
.
.
Vegan was a new concept for Jakob, so he thought long and hard about what he would choose to cook for everyone for dinner tonight. And with Ruby's dietary condition, his options were limited. In one of Otis and Jean's conversations, which is becoming more and more common, Otis ended up commenting that Ruby wasn't vegan and only claimed her diet when it suited her, which brought relief to Jakob.
So Jakob kept an eye on Ruby, watching her reaction to his food.
"Damn, that's incredible," Ruby admitted quietly, but everyone at the table heard her and laughed with her. She couldn't help it if the food was that good.
"Sorry," Ruby says, embarrassed. She could swear she felt her face heating up. Normally, if Ruby was in a different environment from her usual one, she would adopt a personality that some people call "Bitch".
But despite being in a "new" environment, having dinner on an occasion that makes her nervous, Otis manages to make her relax in a way that only he could. She always feels at home around him.
Safe. Welcomed. A place where she can be herself.
"It's all right!" Jakob smiled back. Happy that she was enjoying the food he had made.
Ruby's speech broke the ice and everyone present felt more at ease.
"How are you enjoying your last year at school?" Jean starts by asking Ruby.
Otis knew these questions would come, his mother seeing Ruby as an enigma in the little interaction they'd had before.
"Well, is it possible to enjoy school?" Ruby replies.
"Your school days are the best days of your life!" Jakob gives his opinion on Ruby's question.
"My dad's always talking about it, I mean, if I got paid to do it, then maybe!"
"Money isn't everything!" Jean says in that mildly scolding tone.
"I know," Ruby said softly. She, more than most, knew the importance of money.
"What do your parents do, Ruby?" Jean continues her questioning, now about Ruby's parents.
Before Ruby panicked thinking about what she could say to avoid this subject. She thought about it, but panic took all her ideas and excuses. Ruby feels Otis' slightly calloused hand on her hip, calming her down a little.
"Her mother is a nurse, she works at the hospital nearby. Jakob, the tree house, do you know when you'll be able to finish it?" Otis tries to change the subject and when he sees Jakob's face light up at the chance to talk about something he likes, he realizes he's succeeded.
Ruby visibly relaxes and Jean notices all this interaction between the two, no wonder she's such a good therapist. She's very observant.
*ding-dong*
The sound of the doorbell interrupts every one's conversation for a few seconds, but when Otis volunteers to answer the door, everyone goes back to chatting normally.
'Who could it be?
.
.
.
"I'm Officer Rose, and I'd like to ask you a few questions about Mr. Groff's case. If it's no trouble." The policewoman said, in a tone that left no room for negative answers.
"Oh!" was Otis's reply. "Sure, can it be out here? My family are having dinner, I don't want to disturb them." Otis concluded calmly.
"Sure, it'll only take a few minutes." Officer Rose escorts the boy to the stairwell and then, when he stops, she questions him.
"Otis Milburn, where were you the night Principal Groff was attacked?"
"Attacked, wasn't it a robbery?" Otis asks the policewoman, who flinches because she accidentally said something she shouldn't have.
"Answer the question, Mr. Milburn!"
"Of course, of course. I'm sorry. I was at a party with my colleagues and my girlfriend."
"Will your colleagues vouch for you? Affirming with certainty that you were at that party before 7 p.m.?"
"No? Officer, I don't even remember what time I got there, it was around 7 pm."
"Mr. Milburn, seeing as there is no guarantee where you would be on the night in question and with you being the only suspect with a motive for such a thing, I believe you have to come with me." Officer Rose states categorically, she slowly reaches for the handcuffs while Otis just stares at her.
"Unfortunately for you, Officer Rose. I'm afraid I won't be able to accompany you." Otis says calmly. His face remains neutral but his eyes contain a coldness that wasn't there before.
"And why is that, Mr. Milburn? I'm giving you a legal order."
"On the contrary, Officer Rose. On the contrary. Your order to take me to the police station for questioning in handcuffs without reasonable suspicion or a warrant is illegal, it's been a few weeks since that happened and if we're going to talk about motivation; well, Mr. Groff wasn't very well-liked as you may already know."
"If you don't accompany me, the investigation will continue and I'll come and arrest you when it's over, it's better to clear everything up now before things get worse for you!" The policewoman says in an arrogant tone and without any caution, unlike before.
"Threats now? Officer, me going with you now is admitting to a crime I didn't commit. Look, I know that being the new person on the scene is hard, new town, new people. It's all stressful, but trying to pin a real crime on an innocent person just to solve a case is not a good idea." Otis smiles slightly at Rose, showing calm in the face of a situation that could terrify some people, and also showing a rather high level of knowledge of the law and their rights.
Otis turns his back on Officer Rose, leaving her without any reaction.
'That's not a normal reaction for a 17-year-old boy.
*Sigh*"Shit!" The policewoman looks back at the Milburn residence in time to see Otis close the door. She accepts that she has lost this dispute and gets back into the police car.
When she gets into the car, her partner Jhon, a man in his fifties, asks her a neutral question.
"Hey, did you get anything?"
"Nothing!"
"I told you so!" Jhon looks directly at her with no expression on his face.
"I know, I know. I even tried to get him to come with me to the police station but he knew what he was talking about and he wasn't afraid. He just stayed calm and refused to come."
"Hehe, these kids nowadays. So much more knowledgeable than ever, with their phones and everything." Jhon stops laughing when he sees his partner's distressed expression.
"Don't worry about it, Rose. This case was hopeless. The deputy gave it to us because it's your first case. And you have to learn that soon, you see, not all cases are going to be solved. Not all the bad guys are going to go to jail!" John points his finger at Rose as he shares a sliver of his wisdom.
"That's very depressing," Rose says, pouting.
"That's life!" John sighs and then continues. "Let's go. Let's get something to eat." Jhon only gets a nod from Rose.
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(A/N: Guys, I don't know if the scene of the police was good because I didn't feel much in it. If you, my readers, post here how it would be better and where I went wrong, I'll change it. Just please don't criticize and be done with it, that's very discouraging for your friend here!)
Hey guys, sorry for the delay. I had to rewrite this whole chapter, which is why it's been so late. This has never happened to me before here at Webnovel, but there's a first time for everything, right?
I hope you enjoyed it, and the next chapter will come out on the normal schedule.
Thanks.
From your favorite author,
- AbelWizard.
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