Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Silver Moon" data-source="post: 3867023" data-attributes="member: 8530">Chapter Two-hundred-twenty-one, “The Question Game“, Saturday, June 17th, 9:45 P.M. George asks Ruby, "So, what do you think of my house? Your parent's place is maybe five times the size, but as I said before, I bought this many years ago and it works fine for myself and my three employees." She says, "I like it! It's much bigger and nicer than my house. I wish I had the water in the tub like you do. Now that would be a wonderful luxury. Although," she teases, "It could use a woman's touch for decorations. I mean, your pictures are beautiful but you could use some color around here!" He replies, "Well, my cook is a woman and she has made some suggestions about how to improve the place. Maybe I should allocate a budget and let he make those changes." "Oh, I'm just teasing you George. The place is really nice. Although I do prefer lots of color..." She smiles, "What's the backyard look like? Care to give me a tour?" He states, "No, until that newspaper comes out I would just as soon not have any of the neighbors see you and think that I'm harboring a fugitive. But you can look out from the back windows." Ruby frowns. "But it's dark out! And are your neighbors that nosy?" She sighs, "Okay, I guess it's better to get the tour during the daytime anyway. How about we play the question game instead? That would be fun. Are you up for that Mr. Eastman?" she grins. "We could do it while we eat our dessert." He says, "The question game? You mean when you think of a historical person and the other person has twenty questions to guess their identity?" Ruby laughs. "No I'd fail miserably at that game! It's where I get to ask you any question and you answer, and after you answer, then you get to ask me one. It could be silly or serious or anything in between. Come on," Ruby goads, "It'll be fun and informative, I promise." He pours himself another cup of wine and says, "Okay, I guess I'd be willing to try. Go ahead with your first question." "Good sport!" She holds out her glass to be refilled also. She had been doing more speaking over dinner than drinking and was ready for another. "Let's see...," she taps her full lips, "An easy one. What's your favorite color?" He replies, "It depends on the application. For advertising I find that mustard yellow is the most effective. For other things....well I've always been partial to red." She states, "Me too! My favorite color is red. But I guess that might be obvious. I knew you had good taste. Why don't we go in the sitting room, we'd be more comfortable I think. We can take care of the dishes later." Ruby stands and stretches a little. "So, what's my question?" He asks "Have you ever posed for a formal portrait from a professional photographer?" They take the bottle of wine and their glasses, make their way into the sitting room and sit next to each other on the couch. Ruby sits sideways on the couch, facing George. " To answer your question, I have actually, in Promise City." Ruby blushes a little bit at the thought. "He was uh, your cousins competitor." She takes a quick sip of wine. "He was going to be doing the photographs for the festival. He didn't really know what he was doing. I tried to help, but I don't really know what I was doing either." She shrugs. "They came out pretty good regardless. I wouldn't be opposed to someone who actually knew what they were doing taking my picture though. Some of those pictures you took when you were in Promise City came out really good." She grins again, "Are you asking me to take my picture?" He states, "Ah, an easy question, the answer is Yes." She says, "Well, I look forward to it then, my professional photo shoot. I hope it happens soon. And I hope I can get one or you and me out of that too." He says, “Now it is my turn. What is your favorite mode of transportation? She comments, "Now, hmmm.... that's a hard question! For regular every day travel I would have to say your coach outside is pretty darned nice. But the truth is, any transportation that gets me to faraway places I want to go works for me. Like the train. Or..." She pauses, wondering if George has even heard of what she's thinking of. She takes a sip of wine. "I'd have to say my favorite way of traveling is the spell that my wizard friend knows. It's a teleport spell and can take you anywhere you want to go. So that's my answer." She waits to see George's reaction. His eyes go wide and he says, "A wizard spell...that can take you from one place to another? Why that is...incredible." Ruby excitably continues, "Yes, it IS incredible! You wouldn't believe it! In one moment, as fast as the blink of an eye, you can be from one place to another. My teacher took us, me, my friend Kate and his great granddaughter, from Promise City to New Orleans. We spent the night there, having dinner, visiting a few different clubs and dancing. At the end of the night, he brought us home. It was really amazing. And he took my friend Kate across the world to Greece! Imagine that. WE could travel anywhere we wanted." Ruby blushes. "I mean, you could." "And it's...safe?" he inquires. She answers, "Sure it's safe! I mean, I wouldn't try to do it myself, you'd have to be with someone who knows how to cast it. But sure, it's safe. If you'd like, I can show you some stuff I can do later. After our question game!" "So my next question is, if you were going to travel somewhere soon, where would it be?" He replies, "I have always wanted to see the Great Wall of China." "How exotic! Would you take me with you?" she smiles mischievously He replies, "It would be a rather long trip, probably two to three months. I couldn't spare that much time away from my work right now, but maybe someday. Now for my next question....why did you come to Rochester?" "You didn't answer the question George! But I'll let you off the hook for this one," she laughs. "Why did I come to Rochester? Well," she pauses, taking a moment to think, "The truth? The truth is, I came to see you. When I first decided to stop here, I was only coming to return your ring to you. I felt like it was hanging over my head. I didn't want you to think I turned you down and kept it for the money or something. But as time went by I realized I just really wanted to see you, maybe the ring was my excuse." Ruby pulls her feet up underneath herself. "I wanted to make sure you were okay after what happened that horrible night. I... I've been thinking about how good of friends we used to be. I guess after everything I've been though, I just forgot. You know, the one thing I really ever wanted was to be loved by someone. You know it wasn't my parents. And now, I never believe anyone when they tell me. But you... you've always cared about me. And I shouldn't have been so careless with how I treated you. And I wanted you to know I was sorry." She shrugs then laughs. "So I guess that's my very long winded answer. Is that what you wanted to hear?" He exclaims, "What I wanted to hear? Ruby, all that I ever want to hear from you is the truth. But on that note I think we should probably end this game, it is getting rather late." Ruby's face doesn't hide her disappointment. "Alright, if that's what you want." She stands from the couch. "I had fun tonight George, I really did." He replies, "And I did too. This has been a good day and tomorrow's newspaper will clear up the misunderstanding with the authorities. I never telephoned your parents back and should probably leave a note for William in case they call in the morning. Any suggestions about what I should say?" She states, "I don't want you to get caught in any lies or get in any trouble because of me. So don't lie about it. But I really don't want to see them and can't imagine they'd want to see me. Just tell them I am safe and happy and will be returning to Promise City very soon." He says, "Okay, I will leave him a note to that effect." He walks her down the hallway to the door of the guest room where she is staying. She follows behind him, although slowly. She stops in the doorway near him, staring briefly into the darkness. She looks back to George and smiles at him. "Thank you, for the very enjoyable day. You really did a lot for me today and I appreciate it." He says, "We can discuss it more tomorrow." Ruby senses that he is stalling. "I'm sure we will." She sways closer to him. "Is there something else you want to say George?" "Only goodnight," is his awkward reply. She continues to look deep into his eyes and says, "Goodnight." Ruby then takes a small step forward into the dark room before she turns back to George. She puts her hands on his clean shaven face, stands on her toes and kisses him softly on the lips. He gives her a deep passionate kiss. Ruby falls against the door frame, pulling George with her, returning his kiss. She wraps her arms around his neck and keeps him close to her. He responds and then after a three to four minute embrace pulls himself away. He says, "Thank you...I will see you tomorrow." Breathlessly Ruby responds, "George... I...I...," She bites her lip then says softly, "Good night." George walks over to the door to his own adjacent room and heads inside, closing the door behind him. Ruby stands in the doorway for a long moment, before heading into her own room. She uses a spell to light the candles left inside for her. She goes to the window, opens it to feel the night air and stares up at the stars for a long while. Eventually, lost in her thoughts, she turns back into the room. She slowly undresses and puts on her new nightgown. She had been wearing them this trip, sharing her room at night and all, and she had chosen some ones that she actually liked on some of their shopping trips through the city. They weren't the old fashioned uptight nightgowns, but rather soft, figure clinging but covering sleepwear, mostly resembling Greek and Roman gowns. Ruby takes down her hair and brushes it thoroughly before putting out the lights and plopping down, unsatisfied, in bed. She tosses and turns, restless and lonely, hot, uncomfortable. A good amount of time passes as she rolls around, her thoughts flooding through her mind. She says to herself, “You always do better when you listen to your heart, not your head, girl. Listen to your heart.” She climbs out of bed and quietly heads to George's room. She uses her deft hands to open the door and slip inside. She sits on the edge of his bed near his head. She can't tell if he is sleeping so she whispers, "George, are you awake?" He does not reply. Her eyes adjust to the dim light. She sees him unmoving in the bed beneath the blankets and letting off a light snore. She reaches out a hand in the dark and finds his arm. She climbs onto the bed and hovers over him, her long hair falling forward, framing her face. She lays her hand on him as she gently shakes him, "George, George, wake up please." He continues to snore. Ruby furrows her brows. She shakes him a little less gently and says in a louder voice, "George!" He rolls a bit to the right just as Ruby is shaking him awake and falls off of the bed and onto the floor with a loud "thud". She lays on the bed with her head hanging off the edge where George is. "Awake now sweetie?" she asks. "Huh? What?" he exclaims and he untangles himself from the blankets and begins to stand up from the floor. "Are you okay George?" Ruby says, sitting upright but back on her heels and offering a hand to George to help him back in bed. "Apparently you're a very deep sleeper." George heads over to the wall and turns on the switch for the electric lights. The bulb takes around ten seconds to turn on and illuminate. George is attired in navy blue flannel men's pajamas although he reaches over for a terrycloth robe that he then puts over it. He asks, "What's wrong Ruby? Did you have a nightmare?" Ruby squints and has to look down from the light brightening up the room. She says, "I was just... lonely. I wanted to talk to you. Do we need all that light?" He stands there and rubs his shoulder, the spot where he hit the floor. he says, "Ruby, it's late and we've both probably had too much to drink. Why don't you go back to bed, we can talk tomorrow." "It IS tomorrow. And I'm not drunk, if that is what you're saying." She pauses for a moment before she says, "Why can't I stay here? Nothing has to happen, I just don't like sleeping alone and Jane is gone now..." She keeps her head down, still squinting from the light. Finally her eyes adjust and she looks up towards George with her big hazel eyes. "Look, I don't know what's happening with us, I've only seen you for a day and I'm...," her voice trails off. "Well, I'm not sure what it is. And if it IS something, I want it to be right this time, I don't want to mess it up. It's important," she says rubbing her wrist in nervousness. "But I'm lonely and don't like sleeping by myself, especially in a strange place and it's dark and quiet... I'm not used to it. And we're friends. So why can't we keep each other company?" He says, "I understand. But Ruby, it would not be appropriate.....and I would not trust myself to not fall to the temptation." Ruby blinks at George a couple of times before slowly climbing off his bed. "I understand too," she says, her voice somewhere between disappointed and cold. She walks towards the door. "I...I guess I thought you were different." He exclaims, "Different? Different than what?" She stops at the door. "When we were in Promise City, you told me you didn't care about society and all their expectations... but you do, because you talked about doing what's appropriate more than once today." She shrugs, "I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable. I should leave you now and won't bother you again." He exclaims, "Ruby! I don't care about what society thinks! They're not here in this house and what we do is none of their business! It is not appropriate because of your friend Richard being here now. He is right upstairs and if we....well, it could make your business relationship with him more difficult. He's also proposed a business arrangement with me that would be better negotiated without the added complications. If he wasn't here I would not hesitate."" 'Well, you've certainly thought that though." In a way Ruby was glad to hear it wasn't what she thought. She looks back over her shoulder to George. "He doesn't care what we do. Why would he care? Why would that affect my business relationship with him? It has nothing to do with that at all." George says, "Ruby, how do you know that? I am not clear what your relationship is with him, he is more than just a business partner, he is also your bodyguard. Perhaps he wouldn't mind, he didn't hesitate to let you take the room beside mine. I don't know.....I do not know enough about him to draw a conclusion." "If he didn't trust me, he wouldn't have let me out of his sight. He is here to protect me, someone is after me and he doesn't want me to get hurt. I would have told you about that but it didn't seem the right time yet. He's also become my friend this trip." She pauses for a moment. "The truth is, what I do is none of his business anyway. He'd probably say the same about me." "But you don't need an excuse, I told you I understand. I can tell you about the other stuff some other time." She meets his eye for a moment then looks away. "Good night George." She pauses there for a moment, just in case. He replies, "Good night Ruby, we can talk further tomorrow." She unhappily heads back to her room. She throws herself on the bed and hopes for sleep to come soon.</blockquote>

Verification