88 What If I Was A Fairy?

Ruby had noticed Ash wasn't in the best mood the entire time they were in San Francisco and the trip wasn't even half over yet. She wasn't sure what was eating at him either since he didn't speak unless he absolutely had to.

That night after Flora was asleep she parked herself cross-legged in midair so her eyes were level with his as he sat on his bed to get answers.

"What's going on with you?" she demanded. "You've been in a terrible mood this entire time and it can't be only because I laughed at a pretty funny situation earlier. Tell me what's wrong and I can help."

"You can't," Ash said decisively.

"Well you can't know that for sure unless you tell me!"

He flopped back onto the bed and stared at the ceiling dramatically. "Trust me, you don't want to know. Let it go, alright? I'll be fine once this trip is over and I can sleep normally again and not nearly get arrested by stupid humans for going out into the sun properly covered."

So that was bothering him. But the way he worded it made it seem like the real reason he was upset was something else entirely and those two things were simply adding insult to injury.

Ash was fairly easygoing when he wasn't trying to avenge anything. What could have upset him to this extent? And why was he so sure that Ruby wouldn't want to know about it? That was the truly puzzling part since she didn't think there were any secrets left between them.

"I do want to know," she said gently. "If something is bothering you I want you to tell me because getting things off your chest is helpful in and of itself even if telling someone doesn't fix the problem."

"What if it makes the problem worse, Ruby?" he asked in a weary tone.

The only way the problem would get worse in this case was if whatever was bothering him was directly related to her. She wracked her brains trying to think of anything she could have done to upset him but was coming up blank.

"What did I do?!"

Ash draped his arm across his face when he answered so she couldn't see his eyes. "The beds! You got a hotel room with two beds. Why would you do that? What did I do wrong? Haven't we slept next to each other more than a dozen times already?"

Ruby was flabbergasted. That was what had been bothering him this entire trip?! Was it really that big of a deal? She did it because she thought three people in a single bed would be squished and the closer she was to him the more flustered she became.

"Am I that repulsive to you?" he continued. "Do you hate me being close to you that much? I've been trying my best not to cross the line so what more do I need to do?"

She looked at him like he was nuts. "What gave you that stupid idea? You aren't repulsive at all! And you didn't do anything wrong, I just…do you realize you give off mixed signals? I know it's not your fault but a maiden's heart can only take so much, you know."

There. It was out. The mortifying truth that what he did affected her.

Ash shifted his arm to look up at her confusion. "What?"

Ruby buried her face in her hands. She shouldn't have said anything! But it was too late to back out now. She needed to finish her explanation.

"You might not realize this because it's impossible for you to get flustered but I'm a fae with zero dating experience. Touching me all the time and saying such cheesy things with a perfectly straight face is practically lethal, okay?

"I know you would never be interested in a fairy so you can't act like you're my boyfriend half the time and expect me not to be affected. It's embarrassing and I don't know how to handle it so can you please stop before I spontaneously combust?"

Ruby heard the bed shift as Ash sat back up. He gently pried her hands away from her face and gave her an unfathomable look.

"If I understand you correctly, are you saying these things would be fine if I was your boyfriend?"

Was that really the takeaway he got from that? She meant that he needed to stop doing that because they could only ever be friends! Where did he get the idea that she wanted him to be her boyfriend?

"That's not—" Ruby stammered. "We aren't…I mean, we could never…you're a vampire! I'm a fairy! We can't like each other like that; it goes against nature!"

This did not deter Ash in the slightest. He plowed right ahead by asking, "What if I was a fairy?"

"Huh?"

"Would you love me if I was a fairy?"

She froze. What kind of crazy question was that? It sounded a lot like he wanted her to love him. The only reason he would want that was if he was already in love with her first but that couldn't be possible.

Ash had been fairly clingy lately but she thought that was some sort of trauma response. Could it really be more than that? But they hardly knew each other; he couldn't possibly be in love with her!

More to the point, they were completely different races who never should have crossed paths so how could he even entertain the absolutely ridiculous idea that he was in love with her?!

His icy hands were still holding onto her warm ones and he looked more serious than she had ever seen him. "Ruby, I don't care what you are. You are more important to me than anything in the world because you're you. It took nearly losing you to realize what I should have long before; I am hopelessly in love with you.

"I was upset because I thought you were pushing me away. But if you were only doing it because you thought I was leading you on, I assure you that isn't the case. The only reason I didn't do more was out of fear that you would leave me. I could deal with anything life throws at me but that."