The walk back to her dorm was spent up in her head, she only snapped back to reality when the silver key clicked to unlock her dorm. Rubie stepped inside, slipping off her shoes and paying mind to nothing in general, only letting her thoughts marinate in her mind before she decided to start actually piecing things together in her mind.
Or at least… she would've–
The second she walked into her dorm, she was bombarded by noises of people arguing on an ipad screen and the excited squeals from the girl sat on the sofa, eyes glued to the action. It honestly scared Rubie way more than it should have, almost making her slip on the pristine hardwood floor as she scanned the room to see just what had prompted that sort of response. Sitting on the sofa, was yet another face that she thought she'd never get to see again- this time the recognition was almost instantaneous… the girl- well, this must have been her roommate, right?
She was curled up on the cushions, snacking on a bag of chips and binging cheesy reality tv on her ipad propped up by it's sleek baby blue casing, all while wearing a goofy party hat and sitting around a beautifully decorated cake in a plastic to-go case. The part that surprised her wasn't even… all of this– it was the fact that she seemed scarily familiar, just like every time she'd run into someone here at WIA, that gut feeling rose up once more.
Her slip must have caught the girl's attention however, as her eyes immediately darted to the front door. For a second she just sat there, unsure of what to say or do, almost as if she was looking at Rubie like she was some sort of hologram.
"Uh– hi…?" Rubie straightened herself out, fluttering her hand in a little wave.
"Hi…" she said back with narrowed eyes.
She blinked once, then twice, her lashes fluttering open and closed like iridescent dragonfly wings, baby blue eyes adjusting to the sight of her the more she studied her. Her hand went to toy at her hair, strawberry blonde curls cascaded down her head, framing her face like a comfy fluffy pillow as that borderline suspicious look never left her face.
It wasn't like this sentiment wasn't shared either…this girl… she looked so much like her. Her hair, her eyes, even the way she sat reminded her of that girl from her childhood. She broke the silence first, shaking herself out of her own head like a wet dog shaking off pellets of water. Pure shock coursed through her tone.
"Rubie? You're Rubie Yang right…? My new roomie??"
"H-huh? Oh- yeah… that's me"
The girl jumped a little in her seat, letting out a little peep before scrambling to pause the show she was watching before going back to looking at her with big wide eyes. A second later she watched as a smile pulled at her lips, excitement building up in her gut until he had to explode it all up like a live bomb.
"Rubie!!" her voice boomed enthusiasm, squealing as if she hadn't just sat through 7 hours of schooling. Her eyes sparkled like she was the textbook definition of a kid on Christmas as she stumbled on her words, likely too excited to even begin to sort out her thoughts. "Rubie! Like, like- like you're the Rubie I was friends with! Right? I saw your name when they handed me the notice for a new roomie and- ughh! I just knew it was you!"
Just then she must've realised that greeting an old friend while sprawled out on a couch probably wasn't the best way of going about it. The girl jumped up, pulling Rubie into a hug without giving it a second thought. Same hair, same eyes, even the same soft hugs, but Rubie couldn't help but notice how much she'd changed too– the Mitzi who lived across her childhood home would've never thought to dress in cutesy pastels and indulge in trashy reality TV.
Their little reunion flew by just as the rest of the day had. Mitzi finally found it in herself to explain just why she'd had a flimsy party hat on and a decorated birthday cake on the coffee table. Apparently she had a whole little party planned for when Rubie inevitably came back home, but had sorely mistaken just how long her new roommate would be out for.
"Good thing cake's supposed to be served cold!" she'd said, finally unwrapping the thing from its plastic prison, handing her a plate and a fork as they dug in.
In the blink of an eye Rubie found herself having an impromptu welcome party with her own party hat on her head and an old friend by her side, they talked about probably everything under the sun, topics ranging from school subjects, to year group drama, to what they did while they were away– but soon enough they'd exhausted everything else and the silence that'd settled between their conversation practically demanded for the single topic they'd yet to talk about. One that had kept Rubie confused for the whole day.
"So…" Mitzi started, twirling her spoon through the cup of hot chocolate she'd whipped up. Her pensive, thoughtful gaze kept strictly onto the molten liquid. "...have you met the others yet? YV and Dawn I mean…"
The moment she said that Rubie could sense the little dip in the tone of her voice. It was odd– with the way her shoulders tensed it was as if she were talking about total strangers. Rubie wasn't used to hearing her friends speak so foreignly about each other.
"I did, actually– pretty crazy, I've kinda just been bumping into everyone." she laughed, trying her best to make it roll off her tongue as naturally as she could. Mitzi smiled in response,
"That's nice! The others have changed a loottt since you've left– must've been pretty shocking, huh?"
She thought back to the others. In the back of her mind her friends were still the little kids from her past– she knew change had to have come to them, she was barely still the same herself, but just seeing how much each of them had grown put a little part of her at unease.
"It really was– I didn't think you'd all be so different…" she paused, unsure whether or not she should push it. "Do you… not hang out anymore?"
The air must have gone stale at that very moment. Mitzi paused, the sounds of her spoon clinking against the ceramic of her mug coming to an abrupt halt– but even then it wasn't really like she could blame her. Rubie was sure she must have known this question was coming. Mitzi looked up at her, the look in her eye like a plea for an apology.
"Rubie…its…" Mitzi tried. She tried to word things in a way that'd be the easiest to digest. "Well, let's say things are different, alright? People drift apart and friends come and go. We don't… talk anymore."
She pulled a weak smile, that apologetic look still written all over her face like it was her fault that she wasn't able to keep them all together for Rubie's return.
"Yeah, no!" Rubie piped up after a bout of silence, scrambling to lighten the mood. "I get it– it's fine."
Mitzi narrowed her eyes at her just slightly. "Y- You're okay with that? and Rubie nodded, willing the strange feeling in her gut away in favour of a reassuring smile. "I mean, it's like you said. People change…"
She looked back to the coffee table, at Mitzi's ipad still stuck on the last episode of that reality TV show she'd been watching. "What're you watching?" she asked, determined to change the subject.
And thankfully, Mitzi had gone along with it, the lighthearted mood coming back to her as she gushed on about the show– how endlessly dramatic it was and how, sometimes, all you seriously wanted to do was punch the stars in the face. Rubie was glad to sit and listen to her rambling, even watching an episode or two with her just for fun.
Before she knew it, hours had passed. It was nearing 7 pm now and the sun had already gone down– but the two of them were still stuck to the couch like stubborn bugs, eating a makeshift dinner, still watching that reality tv show. She'd almost forgotten there was a world outside the drama on the screen that when the end credits had started playing she'd snapped back to life like she'd just been woken up from a long nap. Mitzi stretched out her arms beside her, groaning at the horrible cliffhanger that episode had ended on as she got up to clean the couch from all the empty snack bags and dirty cups and plates– giving Rubie just enough time to realise her phone had been buzzing with notifications.
The sounds of running water filled a space in the room unoccupied by the song blasting through the credits screen, and Rubie picked up her phone lazily, turning it on to multiple notifications from… YV
y_v.
Hey rubes!!!!
Juuusst checking… u still up for lunaris?
I'm planning to go in half an hour or so, lmk if ur up to go together!
Rubie let out an audible gasp at that moment. Oh shit.
She'd completely forgotten that it was today.
"What happened?" Mitzi called out from where she was right next to the sink, slight worry in her voice. "N-nothing!"
Mitzi came over anyway, just to make sure nothing bad had happened– but she caught a glimpse of the messages on her phone instead. "Mitzi– are you, um– heading to Lunaris tonight?"
She raised a brow, wiping her wet hands off on her shirt, "Yeah, I am– what's up?"
Her mind cast back to the years she'd spent growing up here. If there was one thing to know about the first days of Lunaris, it was that the roads were a complete hell to navigate, God forbid you weren't at least an hour early to the festival grounds. Rubie looked up at the clock on their wall, it was about 6:40.
"It's… a little late, don't you think?" Mitzi's gaze raised to follow hers– a moment of silence as she stood there, reading the angle of the hands before realisation struck her too. Her eyes grew wide, "W-Wait–"
The festival started at 7, if they ran out now and took a taxi to the festival grounds they might have made it on time but– seeing how they'd still been stuck in the cozy sweaters and blankets they'd been in since the start of the evening, it was clear to her that they'd never make it on time.
She watched as Mitzi's panic blew up like a balloon, growing tenfold as she started getting antsy, rushing as she grabbed her phone– "Ah! How come I didn't realise sooner!" her squeals sounded off about the room as she disappeared behind her bedroom door. "Rubie we're so so so late! God– how are we even gonna get there!? The roads are gonna be so full and– ugh!"
Rubie got up, following her roommate to the edge of her bedroom door instead, who seemed so worried she could've carried her panic for the both of them. Mitzi had already started digging through her closet like she was looking for buried treasure.
"This is awful! This is so, so awful!" Then she looked back at the door, wide eyes meeting her own as Rubie jumped in her skin. "What about you? Do you have everything ready yet?? If you're quick about it I'm sure you can make it! Do you have an outfit planned??"
"Uh–" she bit the inside of her cheek, bracing for her reaction. "No…?"
Mitzi paused in her tracks, face going blank as she blinked at her roommate in what looked like sheer surprise.
"Wh–" she attempted to speak– and in her panicked state, Rubie probably should've thought twice about saying something that'd make it worse. "What?!"
She got up, taking Rubie by the hand as she burst her own bedroom door open– her suitcase laid out in the open acting as a makeshift wardrobe, the mess from this morning still strewn about the floor but in that moment neither of them could bring themselves to really care.
"Come on, there's no time! We'll find something– I'm sure!" Rubie watched as she dove down on her knees, sorting through her clothes like she was shopping at some retail chain. Rubie stood aside, twiddling her thumbs "Uh, you know, Mitzi. I could always just go like this…?"
"What? No no no you can't!" Big mistake. She snapped back up to look at her, blue eyes horribly distraught. "This is Lunaris Rubie! I am NOT letting you out the house looking like that!" she grabbed a hold of Rubie's hand, dragging her down with her to sift through her clothes for the quote en quote, perfect piece.
Rubie suppressed a sigh. Looking over at Mitzi, diligently trying to style her friend, with a hint of amusement. God– she just knew this would be a hectic 40 minutes.