Losing the Feeling of Feeling Unique

RUBY’S POV

I stared in frustration at the pile of clothes that had accumulated on my bedroom floor

‘God, I hate men,’ I muttered, walking around my room, looking for inspiration. ‘Of course, they’ll quite happily ask you to meet them, but never bloody offer a dress code. How the hell am I meant to know what to wear? I know nothing, I mean where the hell are we going, Jon, where?!’ I asked a cardigan, picking it up with my foot and kicking it across the room. ‘Tell me what to wear!!’

I was fully aware that many medical professionals would, at this point, declare me mentally unstable, but to me, talking to clothes was completely logical, and it worked.

15 minutes later, I emerged from my bedroom, fully dressed in my favourite pair of navy skinnies, with a short blue and grey dress over the top, and some white heels.

I darted around my living room collecting anything that might be remotely necessary for the day, from a camera, to a Swedish phrase book (although I couldn’t quite work out how that would ever be ‘necessary’).

I was just about to leave my flat when my phone rang. I dropped my bag next to the door and walked over to the home phone.

‘Hello, Ruby speaking.’

‘Hey, Ruby! It’s Ryan.’

‘Ryan, hey, how are you?’ I asked warily, unsure of how to act after last night.

‘I’m fine thanks, I err, just wanted to apologise for yesterday, I’m sorry if things got a bit awkward.’

‘It’s ok!’

‘Listen, what are you doing today?’

‘Oh, err, today’s kind of busy.’

‘Really? What are you doing?’

‘I’m out with a friend.’ Any anxiety that had been dispelled by Ryan’s apology, soon replaced itself.

‘A friend?’

‘Yeah, no-one you know!’ Shit. Why did I say that? Now I’d started lying to him. I didn’t even know why, but some unknown instinct made me hold back from telling him about Jon.

‘Oh, okay,’ he sounded confused; I didn’t blame him at all. I glanced down at my watch.

‘Oh, shit, Ry, I’ve got to go! I’ll ring you later, ok?’ I didn’t wait for his answer, presuming he’d say yes, instead I dropped the phone and ran out of the door, grabbing my bag on the way.

RYAN’S POV

‘Ok then, goodb-’ I was cut off by the dial tone. She hung up.

I stared dejectedly at the phone, willing her to call back. I couldn’t help it, I felt rejected.

I’d known her for a matter of days, but she was my sister. I couldn’t help thinking, and I felt guilty for doing so, that she should want to spend more time with me, that she should cancel meeting up with her friends so that she could try and catch up on the 21 years she’d missed with me.

I felt childish and selfish for having such thoughts, but I really couldn’t help it. I tried to rationalise the situation, her whole life was in London, of course she had other things to do.

I was disturbed from my thoughts as Jon entered the living room. This in itself was a completely unremarkable occurrence, but I was intrigued by his clothing.

He wasn’t wearing his normal outfit of blue jeans, t-shirt and flip-flops. Instead he was wearing a light blue shirt, dark black jeans and admittedly, still flip-flops, but he looked different, like he was trying to impress someone.

He gave me a brief smile before grabbing his Ray Ban wayfarers off the kitchen counter and hooking them over his shirt pocket, and then grabbing his phone and a spare key card for the hotel room, before heading to the door.

‘Where are you going?’ I asked curiously.

‘Out,’ he said, as though it was the most obvious thing in the world, I could tell he was still slightly pissed off with me from the tone of his voice.

‘Obviously. Out where?’

‘I’m going to meet a…err…friend.’

‘Really? Who?’ As far as I was aware, Jon didn’t know anyone in London.

‘No-one you know! Anyway, I’ll be back later.’ And with that, he walked out of the room.

I was utterly confused.

JON’S POV

As I slammed the door I felt a pang of guilt. I hated lying to Ryan, but after his outburst about Ruby and me I thought it was only wise to not tell him everything.

I made my way to the lift, and the guilt I felt was quickly replaced by anticipation of mine and Ruby’s…meeting?…date?

I had been practically counting down the minutes until I was going to see her.

Hyde Park Corner tube station wasn’t very far away from the hotel, so I decided to walk, taking in the wonderfulness of London as I did.

Before I knew it, I had arrived at the tube station. People were bustling in and out of it, so I stood back and kept and eye out for Ruby, excitement overtaking me.

A few minutes later, she emerged from the station.

She looked around for a moment before she caught my eye, and beamed. I grinned back as she walked over to me.

When she reached me I leaned down and gave her a soft kiss on the lips.

‘You look…beautiful,’ I said sincerely, she did. Her dark drown hair was reflecting the sunlight, and her natural make-up accentuated her even more natural beauty.

‘Thanks,’ she said, blushing slightly. ‘You don’t look so bad yourself.’

I smiled, before grabbing her left hand and lacing my fingers with hers.

‘Shall we walk, m’lady?’ I said, attempting, but failing, to do a British accent.

‘Why, of course, kind sir!’ she said giggling, as we crossed the road and walked into Hyde Park.