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Ruby gently stirred awake, a shift of weight in the bed jostling her out of her slumber. As her eyes adjusted to the darkness around her, she was quick to notice that there was now a large empty space beside her. She rolled over and sat up, looking around for the man who was just resting beside her, but Jim Hopper was nowhere to be seen. She quickly noticed, though, that the sliding door to the patio was left open, and even in her half-awake daze, she was able to piece together where he’d disappeared to.
She pushed herself out of bed and grabbed the nearest piece of clothing to cover her nude figure, which happened to be one of Hopper’s flannel shirts lying on the floor. Sure, it probably hadn’t been washed in a few days - or weeks - but at that moment, she had more pressing matters on her mind. She buttoned the shirt as she walked, starting with the top going downwards as she passed the open patio door and stepped out into the cold night air. The chill of the hour hit her quick and harshly, stinging her cheeks and fogging her breath, but if she had gotten cold that quickly just from stepping out, then she was much more concerned about how cold Hopper must be as she finally caught sight of him on the edge of the deck. At least he’d had both the time and the sense to put on more than a shirt before stepping out for a smoke.
He didn’t even turn his head to look at her, staying leaned down with his arms resting against the railing of the deck with his cigarette drooping from his mouth. She closed the sliding door to keep the house warm and quickly stepped towards him, placing a hand on his arm to get his attention. “Hey,” she chirped softly, the time of night making her instinctually talk in a near whisper. “It’s freezing out here, Jim. Why don’t you come inside?”
He continued to stare out at the still water of the lake, taking a slow drag from his cigarette before finally standing up straight and turning to face her. Even in the dark of the night, she could see clear as day that there was an even deeper darkness behind his eyes. He may have been looking towards her, but his mind was somewhere else, somewhere far away and, unfortunately, somewhere very painful. He stared into nothing for a little longer, before his gaze finally focused on her, and he paused for a moment before speaking. “Do you ever feel cursed?”
The question came as a shock to Ruby, and she scrunched her eyebrows in confusion and concern as she continued to stare up at him with her mouth hanging open, as if the words she couldn’t even think of were caught in her throat.
He didn’t give her a chance to come up with a response as he continued, “You know the last person to go missing in Hawkins was, uh... the summer of ‘23,” he spoke slow and monotone, making it obvious he was just thinking out loud. “Last suicide was ‘61.”
She let out a sigh in a sympathetic pain, her freezingly chilled breath coming out as clear as the smoke from his cigarette. She hadn’t let go of his arm that whole time, and she trailed her hand down to take his larger hand in her own. She had already put the pieces together of why he was acting so solemn; having both a missing child and a suicide case practically a day apart must already be hard on him as the chief of police, but the fact that it was such a small town must have meant that the community was close-knit. Ruby had only just moved to Hawkins less than a few months ago, so she still felt like an outsider to the town, but she could only imagine how much of a toll these tragedies were taking on Hopper's emotional state. She looked down at his hand as she pulled it towards her gently, not yet making eye contact with him as she rubbed her thumb along his knuckles. “That doesn’t mean anything, Jim. These things, they aren’t your fault. Sometimes they just… happen.”
A few seconds passed as she noticed a tension in him that hadn’t been there a moment before, and when she looked back up into his eyes, she could see that he was fully looking at her now; it seemed to her that he hadn’t expected a response at all. His tongue slid over his lips as if he were preparing to say something, but the only thing that left his mouth was a heavy sigh as he released his sudden tension and recoiled his hand from her gentle grasp, turning back to the water and staring out at the horizon. “Why don’t you head back inside, it’s cold out here,” he said absentmindedly as he brought his cigarette back up to his mouth.
Ruby knew that he was trying to get rid of her, but she also knew that she didn’t want to leave him when he was obviously going through some dark introspection. This was only the third night she’d spent with him, and yet she couldn’t help but feel a pull to comfort him, to let him know that he wasn’t alone at a harsh time like this. And from what she’d heard around town, she was probably the only woman in Hawkins to spend more than two nights total with him. Despite his demand, she stepped forward to sidle up beside him and gripped his arm with both her hands. “It is cold out,” she cooed. “I guess I better stay to keep you warm then.”
He turned back down to her and perked an eyebrow up in surprise; for better or worse, she fully had his attention now. “You kidding? It’s gotta be 40 out here and you’re in a shirt , now get back inside before you freeze,” he spoke in a sterner tone.
Ruby was beginning to shiver as the cold air nipped at her bare legs and face, but she tried her best to ignore it with a reassuring grin. “I’m doing just fine,” she replied, cursing the slight quiver in her voice that said otherwise. She cuddled up tighter to the burly man, pressing her cheek against his arm and enjoying his warmth. “ We can just go back in when you’re ready, okay?”
Hopper let out another sigh, this one sounding much less comfortable. “... Why are you doing this?”
“Because I care about you,” Ruby answered without a moment of hesitation.
He scoffed dryly as he took another drag from his cigarette. “You barely even know me.”
“Well I’d like to know you better. That’s why I’m here.” She realized how that sounded like she wanted to pry, and she quickly reworded her sentiment. “I mean, I really do just want to make sure you’re doing alright. You tough guys have a way of shutting up when things are weighing on you, but that doesn’t mean you have to go through it on your own. With everything that's been going on this week… I don't want you to be alone.”
There was a stillness as her words hung in the air; for a moment, neither he nor she moved a muscle. Then, Hopper snuffed out his cigarette on the wooden railing and flicked it into the bushes before turning to drape his arm over Ruby’s shoulders, gently pulling the small woman tight to his chest. He rested his chin against the top of her head, using the opportunity to scrunch his eyes shut and fight back the stirring emotions within him without her seeing. As he contemplated it, he began to realize that this was the first time anyone had reached out to him since… two years ago. He couldn’t admit it, not even to himself, but he was scared to let anyone in after all he’d been through. He’d spent so long building these walls, thinking he’d be safer keeping everything out from now on, but here was this woman he’d barely met a few months back, trying to break down those walls on just their third night together. He didn’t know if he could truly ever tear down those walls for anybody, but he couldn’t deny one thing: he wanted her to stay. At least, for that night.
Ruby was gladly taking in his warmth as he held her for a while longer, and she could hear his heart pumping in his chest as well as feel her own heartbeat rise as she took a chance and raised her arms to wrap them around him in return. She squeezed herself against him, and for one long incredible moment, they just held each other. Like time had stopped, like nothing else existed, like the cold night air wasn’t nipping at their skin and freezing their blood. They just stood there, and held each other, and for a moment Hopper let the rest of the world fall away so he could exist only in that moment with her.
“Thank you,” he whispered against her hair, barely loud enough to be audible. He suddenly stooped down and notched his arm behind her knees before sweeping her up off the ground with surprising ease. “Shit, Ruby, you feel like ice. Let’s get back in bed.”
Ruby reached up and placed a hand on his chilled hairy cheek, grinning gently as she admired his features. At that moment, the reason that she felt the need to comfort him and be near him came to her all too easily. Of course, what other explanation could there be?
She had fallen in love with him.
And she was going to try her hardest to assure that this would not be the last night she spent by his side.