Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Sweat drips from Ruby’s forehead. The Bistro Huddy night shifts were always exhausting. After hours of standing over the scorching grill and Joey constantly barking orders, things started to get tense. The only thing keeping Ruby going was the thought that she only had one more hour. One more hour until the restaurant closed, and she could go home and pass out into her warm, comforting bed. Until tomorrow, that is, when she would have to do it all over again. Still, working at Bistro Huddy was better than some of the other shitholes she previously worked at. At least here, she generally got along with everybody. Ruby had a record of making enemies out of co-workers. Not everyone could handle her blunt expression and hard exterior. Years of working in the restaurant industry would do that to someone. Nevertheless, just one more hour.

“Oh hell no. You are so not doing this to me Terry.” Ruby hears someone yelling from outside of the kitchen. She looks up to see Nicole and Terry, long engaged in a heated argument. “Come on Nicole, Aaron’s out sick. Take one for the team and close up the shop.” Nicole’s muffled screams can be heard as she snakes her face into her hands.. Terry was usually pretty lenient on things regarding Nicole. It takes a lot of desperation to order her around. No one wants Nicole on their bad side.

“You owe me big time for this one.” Terry looks flabbergasted. The utter audacity Nicole possesses is somehow both incredibly annoying and weirdly impressive. “This is literally your job. I’m your boss, you gotta do what I tell you.” Terry responds. Nicole shoots Terry a furious look. She turns back towards the bar and stomps away, stopping to yell one last remark. “You're back on my shitlist. Have fun working your way out.” Terry rolls his eyes and mutters to himself under his breath before walking away. “Jesus almighty, can’t get anything done in this place.”

Ruby doesn’t mean to listen in, but it's hard not to when it comes to Nicole and Terry’s shouting. Truthfully, Ruby has trouble not noticing when Nicoles is around. She’s a miserable bitch, but a hot miserable bitch. Anyone would have trouble looking away when she makes herself seen. Something about the way she commands herself keeps Ruby interested.

Joey stands near the front bar of the kitchen, chopping vegetables with Nico on his right and Pickles to his left. “Nico, I need six orders of fries.” Joey orders Nico. Never even looking up from his work. “You got it man.” Nico yells back, flipping a batch of fries onto a near plate. Joey nods his head to the left. “Pickles, pick up the pace on the Santa Fe chicken.” Pickles throws a few chicken breasts on the grill, sizzling through the heat. “Alrighty chef!” Joey wipes his forehead with a towel. The heat is obviously getting to him. Even Joey has his limits.

Pickles grabs a spatula to flip the chicken. Nico looks over and gives him a sly look. Pickles nods and tosses the chicken high into the air, a game the two often like to play. How high can they flip the chicken and land it on the right side. However, this time it doesn't work out too well. The Chicken hits the side of the grills and falls to the ground. Pickles and Nico look at eachother and cringe before breaking out into laughter. Joey hears the commotion and turns to see what happened, while still cutting vegetables. his face turns red from anger.

“Goddammit Pickles. What the fuck is wrong with you? Get that back on the grill and-” the sound of a loud chop is heard from in front of him. Everyone's face turns from amusement to horror. Joey turns around to see his finger cut open, bleeding all over the counter. He slowly turns back to look at Pickles. Everyone holds their breath.

“That’s it, I’m out. Now I gotta go to the fucking hospital thanks to your dumbasses.” Joey drops his knife and grabs a towel to wrap over his finger. He throws his apron on the kitchen floor and seizes his coat. “Ruby, you're closing.” Joey points his finger to Pickles and Nico. “I don’t trust either of you two assholes to get shit done anymore.” With that, Joey walks through the back door, slamming it behind him. The three cooks stand in silence, taking in the recent events. Ruby smacks her hand to her forehead and lets out an exasperated sigh before getting back to work. Pickles and Nico look over to each other and shrug before moving back to cooking.

Just what ruby needed. An extra hour of work. Not only that, cleaning the entire kitchen. A job not built for the weak. Just another delay from the sweet release of sleep. Ruby looks up to see Nicole talking with Bridgette in a secluded corner by the kitchen. Nicole looks up at her and raises an eyebrow. Ruby glares at her and quickly turns her head back down. The night could only get worse from here.

The restaurant is dark and mellow by the time ten o'clock rolls around. Everyone had said their goodbyes and left for the night. Everyone except for Ruby and Nicole. Cleaning the kitchen apparently wasn’t too bad of a task. Everyone was shockingly good at packing up their own stations. A deep clean wasn't necessarily needed, just a good wash over. Ruby was done in thirty minutes, thank god. Just enough time to go home and get a decent amount of sleep before her eight o’clock shift the next morning.

Ruby ties her chef’s coat around her waist, nothing but a tank top covering her upper half. She moves to grab her beaten up letterman's bag from the back when she hears a clattering noise, as if something had hit the ground. “Shit shit shit. Fuck this place!” Ruby had almost forgotten about Nicole's presence. The cleaning duties of the front of house and kitchen didn't really overlap. Maybe she should just ignore it and move on. But something told Ruby she should go check out the situation.

When Ruby enters the dining area, she sees Nicole sprawled out on a booth. A bucket and mop laying on the ground next to her. The bucket had spilled all over the floor, leaving a drenched mess. This is quite possibly the reason Terry doesn’t give Nicole the closing shift. Ruby sighs and walks up to the other woman.

“Hey.” Nicole jumps up, hitting her head on the table. She lets out a soft cry. Nicole looks up to see Ruby standing over her. “God, creepy much? I didn’t even know anyone was still here.” Ruby rolls her eyes. She picks the bucket off of the floor and grabs the mop. Nicole stares, puzzled. “Get up.” Ruby starts to mop up the extra water and disperse it through the restaurant. “Hey wait, what do you think you're doing?” Ruby doesn't look back at her. She doesn't have time for this shit. She motions over to the kitchen. “Go fill the bucket.”

Nicole looks confused, but moves to fulfill Ruby’s command. She comes back out of the kitchen with a full bucket. Ruby turns back to look at her. “Grab the extra mop in the supply cabinet. We're getting this over with.” Nicole raises an eyebrow, but complys. The two co-workers mop in silence, getting the last bit of work done.

Ruby checks her watch. By the time they finish, it's almost eleven. Ruby huffs, there goes her only hope for a decent amount of sleep. Ruby grabs her mop and the bucket, throwing it back into the supply closet and washes her hands, preparing to leave. “Hey, wait!” Ruby turns her head to see Nicole running over. She looks exhausted, more so than Ruby. However, Nicole wouldn't need to start her shift until four. Which Ruby, of course, hadn’t taken note of. That would be incredibly strange, memorizing her schedule. She just somehow stumbled upon the knowledge of when Nicole clocked in and out. For no reason in particular.

Nicole has a sweet smile plastered on her face. Seemingly genuine to the untrained eye. “Wanna make me some fries to celebrate the end of the night?” Ruby stares at her in disbelief. After all her hard work, Nicole just wants more out of her. She grabs her bag and leather jacket, moving towards the back door. Ruby feels a hand on her arm. “Wait wait, I was obviously joking.” Ruby turns back to look at her. A tingling sensation where Nicole had grabbed her.

“You're unbelievable.” Ruby tells her. Nicole glares back. She goes silent for a second before rolling her eyes. “Thanks by the way.” Nicole mumbles under her breath. Ruby raises an eyebrow. “Yea whatever. I just don’t want Terry on my ass too.”

Ruby turns around and heads out the door. Nicole runs for the door and yells out to her as she leaves. “See you tomorrow I guess.” Ruby turns back to look at the other woman. “Yea, see you tomorrow.” A blush forms on her cheeks. Nicole shuts the door and walks away. As Ruby gets on her motorcycle, she can’t help but think to herself, maybe helping Nicole was worth it. Even if she’s a bitch and a terrible co-worker, she still has a heart, somewhere deep deep down.

After a long night of tossing and turning, Ruby found her way to work just on time. Joey, unfortunately, was back and in the full swing of things. Still his terrible self. She was deep into her day's work when Nicole struts into the building. Just as annoyed to be there as ever. Nicole clocks in and walks over to the kitchen. She leans her arms on the window and peers in. Joey is immediately irked to see her. “The fuck are you doing over here. Go run some food.” Nicole shoots Joey a glare. “Calm down chef hatchet, I’m not here for you.” Joey gives her a resentful huff before turning back to his work. Nicole turns her attention over to Ruby.

“Hey, thanks again, or whatever.” Nicole looks away, staring at the wall. She’s obviously not used to thanking people. “Yea, sure.” Ruby responds, quickly turning back down to stare at her work. Not wanting Nicole to see her blushing. Nicole stares at her for a moment, thinking about something Ruby doesn't understand.

“Nicole, it looks great here! I don’t know what you did, but keep it up. I’m promoting you to the closing shift.” Terry vocalizes from behind her. Nicole whips her head around and glares at Terry. “Oh hell no. This was a one time thing. We agreed on that Terry!” Terry looks a little frightened, but stands his ground. “Well, now you're taking the shift. Aaron can’t be trusted to close. Not after the clopen incident. You start on wednesday.” Terry starts to walk away as Nicole still looks furious. She pushes off of the kitchen window and follows behind. “You can't do this to me! I’ll quit. I don’t care about this shitty job anyways.” Nicole's remarks can be heard even from the kitchen as she follows Terry to the front of the house. Ruby listens in, intrigued at the change in schedule.

“Damn Ruby, already on Nicole’s goodside. Teach me your ways.” Nico shouts from beside her. Ruby shoots him a look. “Stop fucking around before I fire your asses. We got shit to do.” Joey shouts at him. “Heard!” Nico returns to the deep fryer. Was Ruby on Nicole’s goodside? The sentiment didn’t feel like such a bad thing. Closing with Nicole the previous night felt weirdly good. Maybe it was the thought of being a helpful person, or maybe it was Nicole herself. Either way, the idea of closing suddenly didn’t sound so bad.

“Hey Joey, I can start working the closing shift more often if you need.” Ruby yells to Joey. Joey raises an eyebrow and lets out a sly chuckle. “Well look at that. Someone finally pulling their weight around here. Take as many shifts as you want.” Joey looks around to Pickles and Nico. “You two idiots could learn a thing or two from Ruby here.” Pickles and Nico groan and frown at her. Ruby looks back down at her work, silently smiling to herself. A good night's sleep can wait for a while.

Chapter Text

By the time Wednesday rolled around, Ruby had started to regret her offer to take the closing shifts. She had already spent three nights cleaning the restaurant after hours this week. And most unfortunately, closing with Aaron. Nicole had yet to start her schedule change, which meant the previous closer was still on duty. Aaron fucked up more times then Ruby thought humanly possible. This time, it wasn’t worth offering a helping hand. Thank god for Wednesday. Finally, Ruby gets to work with someone even slightly competent.

Nicole, of course, was not looking forward to her closing shifts. She spent the last three days sulking around trying to pawn off her nights onto other servers. Unable to find anyone willing to switch with her. Turns out, people feared the idea of extra work more than they feared Nicole. By the time Bistro Huddy’s hourly sign turned from open to closed, everyone was exhausted from a long day's work, excited for the rest of the night to come.

“Ruby, you good on closing tonight?” Joey puts on his coat and grabs his keys from his pocket. Coming from Joey, that's less of a question and more of an order. Ruby grabs a towel and heads for the cutting board. “Yea I’m good.” She yells back to him. “Alright, see you tomorrow.” And with that, Joey’s out the door. Just Ruby and her thoughts left alone. Nothing but the anticipation of an interaction with Nicole. All Alone. Just the two of them.

Ruby looks out the kitchen window to see if Nicole is close by. It’s not like she wants to see her or anything, just out of sheer curiosity. Unfortunately, Nicole’s nowhere in sight. Ruby huffs and goes back to her work.

After only five minutes of wiping down the kitchen counter, Ruby hears the sound of muffled music coming from the front of house. Some pop bullshit she would rather not listen to while already working on a task she didn't want to do. Ruby, slightly annoyed, leaves her towel on the counter and steps outside of the kitchen to see what the commotion was.

The music goes from muffled to blaring as Ruby walks down to the dining area. Nicole must have taken over the restaurant stereo system. As Ruby turns the corner into the room, she sees Nicole sweeping the floor while simultaneously using the broom as a microphone. God, this was going to be a night. This was definitely not the interaction Ruby was hoping to have. She walks over to the restaurant stereo system and pauses the music, making Nicole whip her head around in confusion.

“Are you trying to make my ears bleed?” Ruby shouts at her. Nicole drops her broom and glares back at her. “Come on. If I have to clean the restaurant I should at least be allowed some form of entertainment. This place is so lame at night.” Ruby rolls her eyes. She looks down to a booth near Nicole and sees an open bottle of chardonnay. Was Nicole seriously drinking the restaurant's supply?

Nicole follows Ruby’s eyes to the wine. She swiftly turns her head back up to meet her. “ok listen…” Nicole tries to explain. “Are you serious?” Ruby retorts. At least when Aaron fucked up it didn’t effect her state of mind. “I didn’t have my shift drink today! I’m basically just cashing in my freebie.” Nicole points to the bottle. “I’m doing them a favor really, that wine tastes like shit.” Ruby pinches the bridge of her nose in aggravation. This was not how this was supposed to go.

Nicole walks over to the table and grabs the wine, offering it to Ruby. Ruby stares at her, dumbfounded. “Come on. Have one little drink with me?” Ruby blushes. She’s never been much of a rule follower by any standards, but this seemed a little out of line. Nevertheless, the thought of one little drink with Nicole didn’t sound like such a crime. Ruby grabs the bottle and takes a long swig. Nicole looks utterly pleased with herself.

“Damn Ruby, didn’t know you could throw it back like that.” Ruby rolls her eyes at Nicole. She takes a seat at the booth and sets the bottle onto the table. Nicole watches her with a wandering gaze before sitting down across from her. She grabs the bottle and pours herself a full glass. The two women sit in silence as they sip their wine.

“So… come here often?” Nicole asks. Ruby glares at her. “Shut up.” Nicole snorts to herself, proud of her own dumb joke. “I’m making conversation!” Ruby stares off, out of the window. This was so stupid. Getting wine drunk with Nicole. “What’s with the wine anyways?” Ruby questions. Nicole leans back and groans. “Some idiot on tinder ghosted me and I was feeling bad about myself.” Of course this whole thing was over some guy. Nicole couldn't go a week without finding a new man to put on her roster.

“That's so stupid. Don’t let some dumbass guy make you feel bad about yourself.” Nicole frowns. She turns her head back down to look at Ruby. “Easy for you to say, you don’t even like guys.” Ruby’s shocked by this statement. How did Nicole even know she didn’t like men? It’s not really something she brought up with coworkers. Ruby wasn’t someone to let her private life and work life mix.

“That’s crazy to assume. How do you know I don’t date men?” Nicole shoots Ruby an annoyed look. She could see right through her. “Duh, look at yourself. You're basically a walking stereotype. With the tattoos, piercings, all that shit.” Ruby rolls her eyes. Maybe Nicole was right. She didn't exactly fit the mold of an obviously straight girl. Sure, she has tattoos and piercings. She uses a carabiner to keep track of her keys. Even riding a motorcycle could be construed as something other than straight. Still, Ruby thought she wouldn't be clocked so easily.

“Whatever, I don’t need some straight girl calling me a stereotype.” Nicole grins. She places her elbows and the table and rests her head between her hands. “Who said I’m straight?” This was bait by Ruby and Nicole knew it. Just a way to test the waters, see if a chance would ever present itself. “That's crazy to assume, you know.” Nicole tells her. Ruby snorts, she takes another swig of the wine and sets it back on the table.

“I guess I shouldn't be surprised. You’ll hook up with anything with a pulse.” Nicole sits astonished by Ruby’s comment. It was a far exaggeration, but this is how the game is played. “Wow, ok. Jealous much? Ruby shrugs, leaning back into the booth. She crosses her arms and stares at Nicole. “Oh please. I have standards.” Ruby argues. Nicole raises an eyebrow, taking another sip of her wine.

“You must have pretty high standards considering I haven’t seen you with a girl in the two years you’ve worked here.” Ruby had hit a bit of a dry spell as of recently. It’s not like she hadn’t been able to find any women, girls flocked to her like sheep. It just took a lot to keep her interested.

“I just know what I like.” Ruby retorts. Nicole shoots her a menacing grin. “What about the girls here? Bridgette, Amber. Deb even. No one your type?” Those women were unfortunately not for Ruby. She loved all of them as friends, but when it came to dating, she needed more of a challenge. Something more exciting. “Not for me. Plus dating a coworker can get messy.” Nicole looks Ruby up and down. Searching for some semblance of truth.

“I guess so. I’ve never been one to date a coworker either.” Ruby scoffs. Everyone knew she had a thing with Brad. Although no one really knew how deep that relationship went. “What about you and Brad?” Nicole snorts and rolls her eyes. “Please. Me and Brad are far from dating. We just hook up sometimes when we’re bored.” Ruby raises an eyebrow. Now the mystery has been solved. They were nothing more than friends with benefits.

“If you say so.” Ruby suddenly remembers the real reason why they're in the restaurant to begin with. She checks her phone, they’ve already wasted half an hour. “Shit. we need to get going.” Nicole looks surprised. It seems Nicole had also forgotten about their closing shifts. She checks her phone and cringes. “Damn Ruby. Stop distracting me and get back to work.” Nicole stands up and grabs the bottle. She inspects it, noticing it's fully gone. Ruby gets up and starts walking towards the kitchen.

“Hey wait.” Ruby turns around to see Nicole smiling at her. “Thanks for the chat. I needed something to get my mind off of that stupid guy.” Ruby smiles back at her. “Yea, anytime. I’m always here to help take your mind off of men.” Nicole shoots her an amused look. Ruby turns back around and heads for the kitchen. Turns out, the night had gone better than she expected.

The next morning, Ruby clocks in for her eleven o’clock shift. By the time she gets there, Nicole had already been working for an hour. Maybe it was a trick of the light, but she looked perkier than usual. “Jesus, it's eleven in the morning, how are we already out of wine? Ruby, go grab me some chardonnay from the bar, we're low on stock.” Joey yells to her. Well shit. It’s not like they drank the kitchen’s wine. Hypothetically, it shouldn't be their fault. Still, this made Ruby a bit anxious.

Ruby sets down the knife she was using and walks up to the bar. She notices Nicole standing at the host's stand talking with Amber in a hushed voice. Probably something about Joey, she hoped. Joey and Amber had been having relationship problems as of recently. Just another reason why romance between coworkers was a bad idea. Nicole turns to see Ruby and grins. At the sight, Ruby quickly turns away.

“Clint, I need a bottle of chardonnay. Joey’s in a mood.” Clint smirks at her. “Anything for you gorgeous.” Clint winks, immediately making Ruby roll her eyes. Clint turns around to grab the wine. He looks puzzled at the sight. He turns around and yells to Terry, a few feet away. “Hey Terry, Didn’t we have three bottles of that chardonnay?” Terry walks to the bar, confused. “We should. What happened to the other one?” Terry turns to the host stand, looking for Nicole. “Nicole, did you do inventory last night?” Nicole cringes. She looks at Ruby with a face of guilt.

“Yep, only saw two. You must have forgotten to order the other one.” Terry narrows in on Nicole, obviously not buying it. Nicole turns her attention back to Ruby. “Ruby was there, she was.” Terry looks back at Ruby, raising an eyebrow to her. “Ruby, what did you see? No covering up for Nicole, now.” Ruby, obviously, wouldn't tell him the truth. That would get not only Nicole in trouble, but her as well. She looks back at Nicole, who gives her a narrowed look. Ruby turns back to Terry.

“Just two bottles.” Terry doesn't seem convinced. He lets out a surrendering sigh and pinches the bridge of his nose. “Alright, fine. You win. I don’t have time for this shit anyways.” Terry walks away, still grumbling angrily to himself. He turns back to Nicole for one last remark. “And no congregating by the host's stand. Get back to work!” Nicole rolls her eyes before turning her attention back to Ruby. She gives her a quick wink before turning around towards her tables. Ruby blushes at the action, watching her leave.

“Hey, you still need the chardonnay?” Ruby turns back around as Clint hands her the bottle. “Oh yea, thanks.” Ruby speeds back to the kitchen and gives the bottle to Joey. “took you long enough. What you got better things to do than your job?” Ruby shakes her head, turning back to her station. “Terry was giving me a talking too.” Joey rolls his eyes. “Aw jesus, that guy. Don’t let him talk to you like that. Only I get to reprimand my cooks.” Ruby smiles. At least if anything, Joey’s always got her back.

“You got tonight? I promised Amber a night out. Suddenly she needs a date somewhere other than here.” Nico and Pickles snicker at his comment. No one’s more oblivious on how to treat a woman then Joey. “Yea, I got you Chef.” Joey smacks Ruby on the back. “That’s what I like to hear.”

As Ruby chops her vegetables, she lets out a small smile, growing excited for the nights to come.

Chapter Text

Joey made an executive decision to make all of the Bistro Huddy cooks stay late Thursday night to deep clean the kitchen, Leaving Ruby no chances for a moment alone with Nicole. Besides a few quick glances in Nicole’s direction, Ruby had no further interactions. To make the situation even worse, Nico and Pickles were no help to the task. They spent the entire night fucking around in the kitchen rather then cleaning, leaving even more work to be done the next night. Thank god it was a one time thing.

The Friday rush came and went, giving Ruby a mix of stress and anticipation. After Wednesday's shenanigans, there was only more to come. Finally, as the restaurant came to a close, Ruby had time to be alone with her thoughts. The rest of the staff said their goodbyes and went home. Ruby started her nightly routine. Turning off all of the equipment, wiping down the table, and a million other tasks to get done.

As she cleans, the front of house is oddly silent. No loud music, no fuck ups, nothing. Ruby starts to wonder if she’ll have any excuse to go out and talk with Nicole. Thankfully, she wouldn't need to find one. In the dark of the restaurant, Nicole comes strolling up to the kitchen window with a deep smirk plastered on her face.

“Hi.” Ruby looks up to see Nicole in front of her. “Hi.” She responds. Nicole leans over the window and looks around to see the kitchen. Ruby stares, a bit confused at her strange nature. “Got any fries left in there?” Ruby sighs. Of course Nicole’s only talking to her to get free food. “Really?” Nicole frowns. “Come on Ruby, I’m starving. Terry gives us like no time for breaks.” That’s a lie on Nicole’s part. Terry gives them plenty of breaks, Nicole just wastes her sitting on her phone. “Please, I’ll take anything. I’m so low maintenance, I swear.” Ruby scoffs. “Oh, I know that’s not true.” She stares at Nicole, who gives her a sweet smile, immediately making Ruby give in.

There's not much left in the kitchen by this point, Ruby had packed most things away for the night. Still, she can make something work. Ruby opens the small kitchen freezer to find a discarded chicken cutlet, the last of the night. She pulls it out and gets to work. Ruby turns the stove back on and throws the chicken into a pan, searing it with a bit of yesterday's chardonnay. The action lights a small fire over the pan, making Nicole jump back and shriek. Ruby snickers at her motion.

Ruby moves on to chopping a bit of leftover vegetables found on the line, then tossing them into another pan, sauteing to a crisp. She grabs a few seasonings found in a cabinet and adds them in. After a few minutes, Ruby plates her concoction and puts it on the window. Nicole stares in awe. She immediately grabs the dish and starts digging in.

“Oh shit, this is really good.” Nicole says through frantic bites. Ruby smiles. “Yea, you're welcome by the way.” Nicole leans over the counter, still eating her dish. “Seriously, you're like, actually a really good cook.” Ruby looks at her, offended by the comment. “Yea no shit, I work at a restaurant.” Nicole finishes her food in record time, apparently, not exaggerating when she said she was starving.

Nicole looks down to Ruby’s left arm, inspecting it. She looks back up to Ruby to ask a question. “New tattoo?” Ruby had in fact gotten a new tattoo as of recently. A little hatchet on the lower half of her forearm. Just something to show off her years working as a cook. “Yeah, got it a few weeks ago.” Ruby walks through the kitchen door to meet Nicole on the outside. She stretches out her arm towards Nicole to show it off. Nicole grabs Ruby’s wrist to take a better look. “Wow, so cool.” Ruby blushes at the sudden touch. Nicole looks back up to her.

“Have you ever thought about getting one?” Ruby asks. Nicole lets go of her arm and leans back to the window. “Maybe someday. I’d have to really think it over.” Ruby follows, leaning back. “Oh yea? Any idea what you would get?” Nicole takes a minute to think. She shrugs. “I don’t know if anything significant enough in my life has happened yet.” Ruby leans slightly in, getting closer to Nicole.

“That’s unfortunate.” Nicole rolls her eyes. “We can’t all have a full sleeve by our thirties.” Ruby gives her a questioning look. “I’m twenty seven.” Nicole looks surprised. Apparently, she didn’t know as much as she thought.

“Really?” Ruby nods. “Goddammit I thought I was younger than you.” It was pretty well known that Nicole doesn't like to reveal her age. It’s not like she was old or anything, just a strange quirk about her. “How old are you?” Ruby questions. Nicole looks away, seemingly embarrassed. “Thirty…” she mumbles under her breath. Thirty? That wasn't old by any standards.

“Huh? That’s young, what's the problem?” Nicole rolls her eyes, looking back at Ruby. “I don’t know, I thought I would have done more with my life by this age. Don’t get me wrong, I actually like being a server, but it's not the most impressive job.” No one could have guessed this insecurity about Nicole. She’s always been incredibly confident in herself, something Ruby admired.

“That's stupid. I mean, you're like, an incredible person. Don’t worry about shit like that.” Nicole looks a bit surprised. She looks Ruby up and down, searching for a sense of deception. “An incredible person, huh? Quite the compliment.” Ruby blushes, revealing more truth than she meant to. “Whatever, you know what I mean.” Nicole turns her body towards Ruby, leaning in slightly. “No, go one. Tell me more about how amazing I am.” Ruby rolls her eyes, leaning closer to Nicole.

“I’m not feeding into your need for compliments.” Ruby turns back around and heads for the kitchen. She grabs her towel and starts wiping down the counter near the window. Nicole still stands in front of her. “Come on, tell me how gorgeous I am now.” Ruby grins in amusement. She turns back up to meet Nicole’s gaze. “You already know you're gorgeous.” Nicole gives her a questioning look. “Now get back to work.” Nicole stares at Ruby for a minute, before turning towards the front of house. With that, Ruby gets back to cleaning.

As everything came to a finish, it was already later than Ruby would have liked. It seemed as though whenever Ruby worked with Nicole, things took longer than usual. Nicole’s laziness seemed to transfer to other people. As Ruby was gifted the responsibility of holding the restaurant keys, she needed to officially close up shop.

Ruby heads over to the front door, wondering if she’ll see Nicole on the way. However, it seems as though Nicole had left for the night. A classic Irish goodbye on her part. Ruby moves to the front door and notices something strange as she’s about to turn the key. Nicole sits on the curb of the sidewalk with her hands in her face, seemingly seething with anger.

Ruby opens the front door to see what's going on, causing Nicole to look back with a startled jump. Nicole stands back up and turns towards Ruby. “Why are you still here?” Ruby questions. Nicole looks back to her car, pissed. “My piece of shit car won’t start.” She violently kicks the vehicle, yelping from the pain brought by her own force. Ruby smacks her hand to her forehead. Of course, something like this would happen to Nicole.

“Lemme take a look.” Ruby takes off her coat leaving nothing but a white tank top covering her upper half. She moves towards the front of the car. Nicole moves back, with a face Ruby couldn't quite pinpoint. Ruby opens up the car and tries to turn it on. It was safe to assume the battery had died. She gets back out and pops open the hood. Not much could be done to kickstart the engine without a second battery. Nicole was out of luck.

“Your batteries dead.” Nicole rolls her eyes and crosses her arms. “Yea, no shit. There's no way I’m calling an UBER this late. A hot girl alone at night is the perfect candidate for like, kidnapping or something.” Ruby shuts the hood of the car and turns back to lean against the front. She considers her options here. She could leave Nicole alone to fend for herself, which was probably not a great idea. There was, of course, another idea.

Ruby sighs and looks back at the car. “I could give you a ride, I guess. If you're that desperate.” Nicole raises an eyebrow, looking Ruby up and down. “What, like on your motorcycle death machine.” Ruby looks around, seeing if there's anything else close by. “You got any other options?” Nicole considers the offer. In a moment of defeat, she sighs and turns around towards the front door.

“Ok, fine. But if I die and can’t show up to work tomorrow, I'm totally blaming you.” Ruby gets off from the car and follows Nicole to the door. She holds the door open for Nicole. “That's fine with me.” The two women head for the back alley.

Ruby opens the backdoor and walks towards her bike. She throws her coat back on and grabs the helmet off of the seat, offering it to Nicole. “Here, you can use my helmet.” Nicole stands beside her, looking nervous. “That’s gonna fuck up my hair, I just washed it.” Ruby rolls her eyes and stands her ground, Still holding up the helmet. Nicole looks at the bike. She huffs and grabs the helmet, putting it over her head.

Ruby takes a seat on the bike, motioning Nicole over. Nicole hesitantly takes a seat behind her, not knowing what to do with her hands. “Wait, what do I hold onto?” Ruby smirks back at her. “Me, dumbass. Hold on tight.” Nicole blushes under her helmet, slowly moving her arms around Ruby's waist.

The tight feeling of Nicole around Ruby sends a spark through her system, a feeling she would rather not think about at the moment. She starts the engine, and speeds off towards the street. Nicole’s screams of panic can be heard from behind her. Her grip around Ruby tightens as they keep moving, leading Ruby to go faster.

The two swerve through streets and corners, making their way towards Nicole’s apartment. Although relatively close to the restaurant, It was probably a good move not to let Nicole find her own way home. After a few minutes, Nicole had finally calmed down. Ruby hates the fact that she’s enjoying this so much. Nicole holding her so tightly, needing her in this moment. It excited her.

As Ruby pulls to a stop in front of Nicole’s apartment, she’s almost disappointed to have made it. Nicole steps off of the bike and takes off the helmet. She had been right in her hair getting fucked up, she looked like she had just been hit by a car. Nicole hands the helmet back to Ruby as the two stay there for a moment.

“Thanks for the ride.” Nicole utters. Ruby smiles, still just staring back at Nicole. “Yea, of course.” Nicole gets a mischievous grin on her face, concerning Ruby at the sight. “Since you were so sweet to help get me home, do you wanna pick me up for work tomorrow? We both start at eleven I believe.” Ruby rolls her eyes. Nicole was such an inconvenience. Although, her house hadn’t been too far out of the way, and Ruby didn’t hate the ride.

“Ok fine.” Nicole cheers. “But this is a one time thing. I’ll call a mechanic tomorrow, I know a guy who will fix you up for cheap.” Nicole smiles at Ruby, causing a warm feeling to form inside of her chest. “How can I ever repay you?” Nicole jokes with a sweet voice, seeming more genuine then she means to be.

“You can stop being a nuisance every shift.” Nicole laughs. She turns around and heads for her apartment, yelling from behind her. “Yea, we’ll see about that!” Nicole enters her apartment and leaves Ruby alone. She starts her bike and heads towards her own apartment, feeling excited about the next day.

Ruby picks up Nicole in the morning like promised. She had called a friend prior to leaving who she knew could get Nicole’s car fixed by that night. After today, she wouldn't need to taxi her to and from home. Much to Nicole's dismay, they make it to work just in time to clock in. Ruby was always on time, unlike the other women, who had a tendency to be chronically late. Ruby sets up her bike in the back, and the two walk into Bistro Huddy like normal.

As Ruby and Nicole walk in, Nico takes notice of their arrival together. Ruby sets her things down and puts her chef’s coat on. She walks into the kitchen to see Nico, Pickles and Joey clanking their kitchen tongs. “Hey Ruby, good night?” Nico asks. Ruby rolls her eyes and throws a dirty dishrag at him. Nico, unaffected, laughs at her actions.

“Her car broke down, I just gave her a ride to work.” The three other chef’s laugh, not buying the sentiment. “Oh ok, now I see why you've been taking the closing shift.” Joey remarks, leading a series of laughter through the kitchen. Ruby glares at the three. “Get back to work, assholes.” Nico, Joey and Pickles joke with each other about Ruby and Nicole’s night. Ruby rolls her eyes and starts the grill.

Maybe they were right about why she really wanted the closing shift, but Ruby could never admit that. However, from how it seems, her nights had been going better than expected. Even if Nicole was a complete nuisance to her, Ruby still values the time they share together. With each night they grew closer, Ruby felt a glimmer of excitement she hadn't felt in a long time.

Chapter Text

After Saturday’s night shift, Ruby was rewarded with her Sunday off. Although she usually treasured her time apart from the restaurant, she spent her day longing for a way back in. Working six days a week seemed like hell for the average person, but that was standard for the cooks at Bistro Huddy. In return, they were pretty lenient on requested days off. In the past years, Ruby had become accustomed to the long hours and frequent work schedule. Before taking on the closing shift however, she usually got off around the time the restaurant started to slow down.

On Monday morning, as her work schedule had circled back around, Ruby once again requested the closing shift. Nicole always refused to work Sunday brunch, so they usually had a decently similar schedule. Although, the servers tended to work shorter shifts as they had more servers than cooks. On Monday, Nicole's shift started at four. Much more reasonable than Ruby’s ten thirty.

When four o'clock rolled around, everyone was fully into the swing of things. Monday’s weren’t usually that busy, but today seems to be out of the ordinary. The kitchen had a constant influx of tickets, making Joey even more cruel than usual.

“Runners, I need runners!” The servers seemed to be especially lacking today. Food was starting to pile up on the window. As the servers came over to run cuisine, one in particular seemed to linger more than necessary. “Hi again.” Nicole strolls up to the kitchen with no intention of running food. Ruby sees her and smiles. Unfortunately, the other cooks also notice her appearance.

“Hey.” Nico and Pickles giggle to themselves at the sight of Nicole, clanking their tongs together. Ruby shoots them a glare. Joey notices Nicole and grows angrier at the sight. “Go run food Nicole, I don’t need you flirting with my workers right now.” Joey shouts at Nicole as she rolls her eyes. “Maybe if it didn’t take you forty five minutes on every order we wouldn’t have to run it all at once.” Nicole retorts. Joey fumes at the expression. “Maybe if you spaced out the orders we would have more time to make the food. Now get your ass out of my kitchen.” Nicole glares at Joey before turning back to Ruby. “See you tonight.” Ruby blushes as Nicole grabs a few dishes and walks away.

Nico notices Ruby blushing and laughs. “Oh you got it bad.” Ruby turns back to glare at him. “I don’t know how you did it.” Pickles adds in. Ruby ignores them and gets back to work. “Looks like I’m not the only one gettin it with a coworker.” Joey looks over to tell her as the kitchen staff laughs, causing Ruby to blush in embarrassment. “I got shit on all of you, don’t even try.” The other cooks look at eachother and cringe before getting back to work.

She wasn’t lying, you learn things about people when working closely with them. They wouldn’t want Terry finding out about how Joey used company money to provide Pickles with his daily supply of skittles. Nico certainly wouldn't want people knowing he was the one frequently hotboxing the walk-in, although that wasn’t much of a secret. She had a hundred things on each of them, and they didn’t have anything on her, until now apparently.

When all is said and done, everyone leaves for the night. Not without giving Ruby a hard time on the way out. Joey tells Ruby to refrain from using the storage room for inappropriate activities while sending her a wink. At least, if anything, she wouldn’t get in trouble with Joey for whatever's to come. That man loves to use restaurant property for personal gain. They were a tight family here. At the end of the day, they help each other out.

Ruby had made a promise to herself that she was going to have an easy night. She needed one, after the recent events. Especially with the new comments from her coworkers. Besides, she needed to collect herself. Getting involved with a coworker was never a good idea. And with the way things had been going, she needed to pull back before making a bad decision. Her feelings had only grown stronger recently, taking a moment away was a good idea in the long run.

Ruby puts in her headphones and gets to cleaning. She knows Nicole’s not far away and tries to distract herself from the knowledge, immersing herself in work. As she finishes up in the kitchen, Ruby needs to go check if Nicole is still in the front, just to see if she needs to lock the door. She grabs her sweater from the back and moves to the front of house. As she turns the corner, Ruby finds Nicole sitting in a booth on her phone, her work didn’t seem even half finished. Nicole hears Ruby come in and turns her head.

“What are you like, avoiding me now?” Ruby hadn’t necessarily been avoiding Nicole, just keeping her distance. Even if she had been excited to work with her again, she needed to keep her composure. “No, just doing my job, unlike you it seems.” Nicole rolls her eyes. She gets out of the booth, looking slightly nervous. “What?” Ruby asks. Nicole crosses her arms and looks away, an awkward silence falling over them. “Can you maybe like, stay with me while I finish up. It gets creepy here at night.”

Well, there goes Ruby’s plan. She obviously can’t leave Nicole alone now, that’s just cruel. She takes a minute to weigh her options before responding. “Alright, fine.” Ruby moves over to a booth, placing her sweater next to her as she sits down and turns her music back on. Nicole perks up and grabs her mop, getting back to work. They sit in silence for a minute. But of course, Nicole can’t stay quiet for long.

“Let me guess, you're listening to some death metal shit or something.” Ruby rolls her eyes. Despite the appearance, she wasn’t one for metal. She was more of a vintage punk type of girl. “I’m listening to a drum set for a show I'm playing in.” Nicole stares at her with a pure look of shock. Ruby didn’t really talk about her outside life much. No one knew she spent her down time playing a bit of music with a few friends. It wasn’t anything serious, just a way to blow off some steam. Playing drums was a good way to get the pent up anger out.

They didn’t play actual shows much, really only for themselves. But an opportunity presented itself and the band obliged. Ruby was friends with the owner of a local bar, and after finding out about the band, they asked her to play a set on Friday, which she had already requested time off for.

“Wait, what the fuck, like a music show?” Ruby smiles slightly, enjoying surprising Nicole like this. “What other type of show is there?” Nicole drops her mop and runs to sit across from Ruby, excitement in her eyes. “Are you serious? Why didn’t I know you were in a band?” Ruby shrugs. “It's not a serious thing. I don’t like people here knowing about my personal business.” Nicole rolls her eyes. “Drop the dark and mysterious act. I need to know more. Where is it? When are you playing?”

Ruby stays silent, not wanting to reveal anymore information then she has too. The last thing she needs is the entire Bistro Huddy staff coming to her show. “Come on, if you don’t tell me I’m just gonna stalk your instagram until I find the details.” Nicole smiles menacingly. “I’m very good at getting information out of people.” Ruby knows that’s true. She once found Aarons parents house on google maps just to prove she could do it.

Ruby sighs, knowing she has no other options. “Fine. This Friday, The Violet Muse, eight pm.” Nicole is giddy with excitement. “I am so pulling up.” There is no way Ruby’s letting that happen. Out of all people, Nicole would only make her nervous to perform. She can’t embarrass herself in front of her. “Like hell you are, you're not invited.” Nicole frowns at her, obviously offended. Maybe Ruby was a bit harsh, but she can’t have Nicole there.

“Oh yes I am, I can’t pass up this opportunity.” Nicole leans back in the booth smirking. Ruby sighs. She knows Nicole’s gonna get her way no matter what. “You're not even gonna like the music.” Nicole doesn't seem to care. “Whatever, I just wanna see you play.” Ruby blushes. Nicole gets out of the booth and moves next to the other women. Ruby, confused, moves over to let her in.

“Let me hear.” Ruby stares at Nicole. They were sitting so close that Nicole's shoulder brushed up against Ruby’s. She takes out one of her wire headphones and gives it to Nicole, who puts it in her ear. Ruby puts a few of their songs on shuffle and presses play.

Ruby looks over to Nicole, who listens intently to the music at play. She nods her head slightly to the beat as the song travels on. Ruby’s heart beats in her chest, nervous of what Nicole is going to say. After a few minutes, Nicole takes out the headphone and turns to Ruby.

“This is amazing.” Ruby‘s stunned by the statement. She knows Nicole’s more into whatever’s popular at the moment, much different than the sound of Ruby’s band. “You really think so?” Nicole silently nods her head and stares at the other women. They look for each other in the dark of the night.

Nicole turns away and slowly lowers head onto Ruby’s shoulder. Ruby tightens up at the sensation, something she hadn’t expected, but secretly yearned for. As Nicole stays there, Ruby slowly relaxes and loosens her shoulder, listening for the sound of Nicole’s breath. Ruby feels Nicole start to shiver slightly. The heating at the restaurant turns off around the time of close. Of course, Nicole would be the one to forget her coat.

Ruby grabs her sweater from the booth and carefully sets it around Nicole, hoping to comfort her. Ruby feels as Nicole silently smiles into her shoulder. Although the night is late, Ruby decides to stay there for a while, careless to the thought of work the next day.

Ruby didn’t end up leaving Bistro Huddy until late into the night. Nicole took far longer to clean the restaurant, leading the two of them to stay up for hours later then close. Although everything could have been done earlier if the two had worked together, Nicole insisted on finishing up herself. Ruby was unsure if this was a purposeful act to stay up and talk longer on Nicole’s part. She had also insisted on borrowing Ruby's sweater when she left for the night, promising to bring it back the next day. Ruby didn’t quite believe in her oath, but let it slide anyways. The knowledge of Nicole wearing something of hers kept her warm on her way back home.

Ruby came into work the next morning groggy and fatigued, which to her own shock, didn’t feel as bad as she would have thought. The night was long and restless, but oddly pleasant. Ruby steps into the kitchen like normal, getting ready for her morning shift.

“You look like shit.” Joey immediately lets her know. Ruby huffs at him and rubs her eyes, red from the lack of sleep. “Thanks.” Joey snorts, getting started early today with the slander. Nicole didn’t start for a few more hours. She was accustomed to sleeping in after a long shift, which Ruby wasn’t so privileged to do. All the extra work for seemingly no reward. Although, benefits always presented in the end.

As for now, her partial secret was out. Ruby had unintentionally started unity in her work and home lives. It was bound to happen at some point. The people at Bistro Huddy had a method of worming their way into every part of you. But at this point, Ruby’s starting to wonder if it’s really a bad thing. Letting people she cares about get to know her wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.

At the moment, Nicole understood her more than anyone else in the joint. And that could just be exactly what she needs right now, someone to see her. Someone she's beginning to truly care for.

Chapter Text

The nights leading up to Friday were fairly uneventful. Nicole and Ruby worked their weekday night shifts with no issues. Besides, of course, getting distracted from their work with constant chatting. Their conversations were moving into flirtatious territory from Ruby’s perspective. But then again, it was Nicole. She wasn’t the easiest person to understand.

As expected, Ruby never got her sweater back. Nicole never even brought up the subject, refusing to acknowledge the fact that she still had it. Ruby wasn’t completely bothered by the theft, it only meant Nicole had purposely kept something of hers.

Ruby clocked out of her Friday shift at six, giving her plenty of time to prepare for the show. The cooks interrogate the purpose of her early release, as they always do. Terry had informed Joey that Nicole was also taking Friday night off, leading to questions. Ruby tried to ignore them for the most part, as she often does. Not without a series of teasing from the staff.

Ruby arrives at the violet muse around seven. The band needed plenty of time to set up and prepare for the upcoming performance. After sound checks and arranging, Ruby heads over to the bar to kill some time before they go on. It’s not as if she’s necessarily anxious, just a bit of pre-show nerves.

The bar is full of posters promoting their band, Knife and Cleaver. Ruby had obviously chosen the band name, an homage to her day job. The name was fitting for their punk aesthetic and sound. Ruby had decided to dress for the occasion, wearing a black tank top with an open button up over it, dark ripped jeans, and combat boots. Her neck, ears and arms covered in chains and various cuffs.

Ruby chats with the band while sipping on her drink of choice, keeping an eye out for a particular co-worker. As the clock ticks closer to eight, Nicole is nowhere to be seen. This is what Ruby had wanted, of course. She had explicitly told Nicole not to come to the show. Yet still, she caught herself feeling disappointed at the missing sight.

The lights start to dim and the bar patrons go silent. A shocking amount of people had appeared for the show, and still, no Nicole. Ruby’s bandmate taps her on the back, letting her know it was time. She sets her drink down and heads over to the stage. As the band moves towards their instruments, the crowd erupts in cheers. A spotlight shines on each member, blinding Ruby from the audience. The bar owner jumps on stage to give a final statement before the show.

“Hello everyone! Welcome to the violet muse. We are so excited to welcome, for the first time performing live, Knife and Cleaver!” Ruby starts the first song with a count off from her sticks. The band follows through, leading into something slightly slower to start the show. Ruby tries to get into the groove, but the disappointment of missing Nicole is catching up to her. Still, she trudges along.

As their first song ends, the crowd breaks out into applause. Ruby looks out to see everyone excited about the music. She survey’s the bar and sees the door open. A frazzled Nicole steps in. She looks up to see Ruby on stage and smiles, giddy with excitement. Ruby feels her nerves start to fade. Turns out, Nicole had shown up for her after all.

The band starts their second song, something a bit more upbeat. Ruby gets into the groove of things, beating her drums harder. She looks down, her vision still blurred by the lights. She sees an outline of Nicole pushing her way to the front and cheering along, completely ignoring the rest of the band and only looking toward Ruby.

As the band flies through their set, Ruby feels herself smiling the whole time. After each song, she hears Nicole cheering the loudest. Maybe it's just selective hearing, but she chooses to believe Nicole cheers for her only. By the time they finish up, Ruby grows more and more excited to have Nicole there as support. The singer thanks the crowd for their appearance and introduces the band.

When it comes to Ruby, Nicole claps the loudest and whistles to her. Ruby stands up and smiles, throwing her sticks to the crowd. She sees as Nicole violently pushes through the crowd to grab them. She succeeds and holds them up, victorious. Ruby laughs as the band disappears through the curtains.

After Ruby finishes packing up her drum kit, she heads towards the bar. Nicole leans against wood, holding two drinks in hand. Ruby noticed she had also dressed for the occasion, looking slightly out of place amongst the alternative crowd. She sports a backless black top and a short blue skirt, with buckled kitten heels. Ruby laughs, apparently this is what she thought was appropriate for a punk show.

Ruby pushes past the bar patrons and makes her way to Nicole. Nicole hands her a beer as Ruby leans next to her. She notices Nicole holding a T-shirt. “You bought merch?” Ruby questions. Nicole smiles and unfolds it. “Obviously, gotta support the band.” Ruby grins as Nicole lays the shirt on the bar next to her.

“So, what did you think?” Nicole looks around the room, taking in the interior of the place. “It was… incredible. Not usually my scene, but I think I’m starting to like it.” Ruby laughs, this couldn't be farther from Nicole’s usual frequents. And yet, she still showed up for her.

One of Ruby’s bandmates moves towards Nicole with a grin on his face. She rolls her eyes at the sight of him. “Hey, can I buy you a drink?” Ruby glares at him. Of course, everyone here probably noticed Nicole's appearance. She not only stood out from the crowd by her obvious displacement, but also from her noticeable charm. “Ew. Move along.” Nicole turns to look at Ruby. “I’m here with someone.”

The guy looks between the two women and smirks. “Damn Ruby. I’ll leave you alone with your girl.” The man walks away to talk with the rest of the band. Ruby blushes at his sentiment. “What, not interested in flirting with the guys here?” Nicole raises an eyebrow at Ruby. She turns her body towards the other women. “I’m not here for them.” Ruby smiles and turns towards Nicole, facing towards each other.

“Come on, let's get outta here.” Ruby moves away from the bar. She grabs Nicole’s hand, pulling her through the crowd of people. “Where are we going?” Nicole questions. Ruby smiles back at her, not saying a word. She takes them outside and steps onto her back. “Oh shit, not this death machine again.” Ruby grabs her helmet and hands it to Nicole, who sighs and takes it. Nicole steps onto the bike and wraps her arms tight around Ruby. Ruby reves up the engine and heads off into the night.

The two women arrive at a bluff overlooking the city of L.A. Ruby gets off of her bike and moves towards a bench. She sits down, leaning her arms on the wood, and looks back at Nicole, who sets down the helmet and walks over. She plops herself down right next to Ruby, so close that Ruby can feel Nicole’s body heat radiating off of her.

“Damn, quite the view.” Ruby smiles to herself. The two women stare off into the city. “Thanks for coming, even though I told you not to.” Nicole laughs, she leans an elbow on the back of the bench. “Obviously I was gonna come. Any excuse to get out of closing is good by me.” Ruby rolls her eyes and smacks Nicole's shoulder. “I’m joking. You know I came for you.” Ruby turns to look at her. Nicole leans her head against her hand and smiles.

Ruby blushes and looks out to the city. “You know I took the closing shift for you.” Nicole laughs. “Yeah, I had a feeling.” The two women sit silently next to each other, taking in the night. “You know… I’m starting to think relationships between co-workers might not be the worst thing.” Ruby tells her, so quietly you could almost miss it. “Oh yeah?” Nicole replies.

Ruby assumed she would be nervous in a conversation like this. Believe it or not, she wasn’t usually one to make the first move. Intimacy didn't come easy to her, it took a lot of trust to get to this point. But at this point in time, she found herself feeling calm.

“So what do you mean by that?” Ruby looks back at Nicole. She feels a flutter in her chest. “You know what I mean.” Nicole raises an eyebrow. “I wanna hear you say it.” Ruby sighs. Suddenly the night felt warmer than before. “Maybe I like you.” Nicole smiles, she twirls her fingers through her hair. “Maybe I like you too.”

These are the words Ruby had been dying to hear. She hadn’t felt this way in a long time. Suddenly, she wasn’t so scared of the feeling. Nicole slowly moves closer to her. “I’m not looking for a workplace fling or anything. That’s not the way I do things.” Ruby tells her. If she was going to do this, she was gonna take it seriously. “That's ok, I’m not either.” Nicole moves close to Ruby. She places her hand on the other woman's and smiles. Their faces inch closer together, Ruby moves her arm from the bench and places it on Nicole's thigh.

When their lips finally touch, Ruby feels as though a flash of fireworks plays over her. The kiss is slow and intimate. Nicole's soft touch leaves Ruby feeling weak, ready for whatever's to come. Ruby places her arm around Nicole’s waist and pulls her closer as Nicole puts her arms around Ruby’s shoulders. The two women silently kiss in the cold of the night, only growing warmer from each others touch.

Although the night is long and the days are tough, great things are still to come.

Chapter Text

Ruby came in the next morning feeling more excited for work then she had before. The events of the previous night left her giddy for the next day. After their shared kiss on the bluff, Ruby had dropped Nicole off at home. They decided to take things decently slow, not wanting to disturb their work life balance too early on. By the time Ruby clocked in, the other cooks could already tell something was up with her.

“What's got a pep in your step?” Joey immediately asks with a smirk. Ruby rolls her eyes and ties her bandana around her head. “Something to do with Nicole getting off early? Maybe she got off this morning too.” Nico and Pickles laugh as Ruby shoots them a glare. It was far too early in the morning for this. “Go fuck yourselves.” Ruby tells them in a moment of anger. The cooks only laugh, taunting her further.

“Ahh, don’t kiss and tell? Ok, I get it.” This sort of teasing was the norm in the kitchen, but today it was starting to piss Ruby off. Maybe because they were partially right this time. “Worry about your own shit Joey. I’m sure Amber’s got some needs not being met based on the shipment of E.D. meds sitting in the back.” Nico and Pickles turn their attention to Joey, laughing at Ruby’s comeback.

“Ay! Careful there hotshot, don’t make me demote you to dishwasher. I’m sure you and Harold would have a helluva time together.” This was a shallow threat, Ruby’s the most competent cook he has. She waves him away. “Whatever, focus on the tickets before Terry gets on your ass.” Joey rolls his eyes and gets back to the line, not before a few jokes are thrown around by Nico and Pickles. They have shit to get done anyways.

Nicole started around the same time as Ruby. Maybe it was in an effort to not draw suspicion, but she hadn’t come to talk to her yet. Sneaking a few smirks here and there when Nicole picked up food wasn’t off the table though. Finally, around the time of Nicole's break, she stopped by the window.

“Hey, are you about to go on break?” Ruby didn’t exactly have a set break time, just whenever the tickets started slowing down. Thankfully, by the time the lunch rush ended, she had a bit of time. Ruby looks over to the other cooks, who snicker while looking between the two women. “Yea, I got time.” Ruby sets down her knife and walks out of the kitchen, not without a few whistles from the other cooks.

The two women walk outside into the alley, finding a wall to lean back on. Ruby takes a pack of cigarettes out of her pocket and pulls one out to light. Nicole sticks out her tongue in disgust. “You know those cause cancer, right?” she says in a mocking tone. “So do U.V. rays, but that doesn't stop you from using suntan lotion.” Nicole frowns at Ruby. “I like to stay tan. Perfect skin like this doesn't come easy.” Ruby lights her cigarette and takes a long drag. “Come back when you're sixty and wrinkly from overexposure, then tell me how your skin feels.”

Nicole watches as Ruby continues to smoke her cigarette with a sour expression. She moves closer to Ruby. “I’m not gonna want to kiss you if you taste like tobacco.” Ruby looks over to Nicole and raises an eyebrow. “Who says I wanna kiss you?” Nicole smirks. She takes the cigarette out of Ruby’s hand and tosses it to the ground, twisting it between her foot. Ruby gives her a smug look, turning her body towards Nicole. “That eager?” Nicole rolls her eyes and places her arms around Ruby's shoulders. “My break ends in ten minutes, are you really gonna waste time on a cigarette?” Ruby snorts. She wraps her arms around Nicole's waist and pulls her in.

The two women kiss once again. This time, hungrier than the last. Although yesterday’s felt intimate and sweet, this one was different. A whole level of affection was still to be explored. Ruby had completely forgotten of the restaurant behind her, thinking only of the moment she was sharing with Nicole.

After what felt like a lifetime, they were abruptly interrupted. “Where’s Nicole? I can’t have her running off like this.” Ruby heard a voice from right inside the door. Terry had come looking for Nicole, who unsurprisingly, was going over her set break time. Ruby jumped back just in time for the door to open. Terry looks out to find Ruby and Nicole standing next to each other. Luckily, he’s too wrapped up in the restaurant to notice how frazzled they both are.

“Nicole, get your ass back in here. I’ve got Aaron running your table and he’s already messed up three orders.” Nicole rolls her eyes and starts walking towards the restaurant. She turns back around to give one last wink to Ruby, mouthing the words “see you tonight.” And with that, she's left alone in the alley.

As Ruby steps back into the kitchen, she’s bombarded with another wave of teases from the staff. This time, she’s too excited to care. Ruby continues on with her shift when she hears a commotion from outside of the kitchen. Terry and Nicole step through, already in a heated argument.

“You've been clocking out at ungodly hours every night. I can’t keep paying you to horse around on company time.” Ruby freezes at the statement. It was true, Nicole and Ruby had been wasting time every night when they should have been cleaning. Still, this came at a hard fault. “Please, I’m the best closer you have. What are you gonna do, give the shift back to Aaron?” Ruby peers over the kitchen window to see Terry throw his hands up in anger. “Oh hell no, I’m giving it to Bridgette. The only competent server we have.”

Nicole lets out a muffled scream in her hands. She stomps over to the walk in, not before yelling back to the manager. “Whatever Terry. I am not taking this betrayal lightly.” Terry rolls his eyes as Nicole locks herself in the walk in. A muted scream can be heard from inside. Nicole walks back out and glares her way past Terry, moving back to her tables.

Terry rubs his temples before looking to the kitchen. By this point, the entire kitchen staff was locked into the conversation. “Get back to work, all of you.” Terry stomps away into the front of house. Nico lets out a low whistle, everyone moving away from the conversation. Joey raises an eyebrow to Ruby as he continues back to his work. “I don’t suppose you're gonna be giving up that closing shift now?” Ruby rolls her eyes, not looking away from the line.

“Pickles, take my shifts.” Pickles yells over his shoulder towards Ruby. “heard!” And with that, their closing nights have come to an end.

As ten o’clock rolls around, Ruby finally gets the chance to go home. Ruby says her goodbyes to the other cooks and heads outside towards her motorcycle. As she steps into the alley, she sees Nicole sitting against her bike with a smirk on her face. Ruby gives her a questioning look before heading towards her.

“Wanna treat me to dinner?” Ruby raises an eyebrow and crosses her arms, standing in front of Nicole. “It’s late. What’s gonna be open?” Nicole takes a moment to concider. She obviously hadn't thought this far ahead. Ruby sighs. “Come on, I got a place we can go.” Ruby steps onto her bike as Nicole follows. She revs up the engine as they drive into the night.

Ruby and Nicole arrive at an apartment complex. They park the bike outside and step off. “What is this like, your house?” Nicole takes a step back to look around. It wasn’t the nicest part of L.A, but it was home. “Are you really that desperate to get me into bed?” Ruby rolls her eyes and heads inside.

When Ruby opens the door to her apartment, Nicole stares in shock. The apartment is nicely decorated, with a series of vintage furnishings, still aligning with a darker aesthetic. The door opens to a living room and open kitchen, with a door behind leading to Ruby’s bedroom. Nicole steps inside and takes it all in. “Wow, this is surprisingly well kept.” Ruby rolls her eyes. “I’m not an animal, I know how to decorate a house.”

Ruby slips her shoes off and makes her way to the kitchen as Nicole follows. She opens a few cabinets and starts to prepare a meal. “What are you making me?” Nicole asks. She perches herself on a stool by the bar of the kitchen. “Gimme a minute.” Ruby grins. As she prepares the food, Nicole watches her, twirling her finger through her hair. Ruby finishes the dish in quick time, something simple. She plates her take on nachos, using a series of additional ingredients to create something resembling a barbecue fusion. Nicole licks her lips in excitement.

Ruby places the dish in front of Nicole, who immediately digs in. Ruby watches in utter shock at the way Nicole can destroy a meal. For acting so prissy and proper, Nicole can really put a plate of nachos away. “Ugh, so much better than some fancy restaurant shit.” Ruby takes a chip to try and get some of her own food. “Damn, leave some for the rest of us.” The two women finish the nachos in record time, mostly on Nicole’s behalf.

After Nicole licks her fingers clean, she turns to look at Ruby. “I happened to overhear some things Joey, Nico and Pickles were saying.” Ruby sighs. Unfortunately, the three cooks had never been able to keep things to themselves. “I didn’t tell them anything. They just think they're funny.” Nicole raises an eyebrow. She leans over on the counter, moving closer to Ruby. “So you're not gonna tell them?” Ruby thinks. If she told them the truth, the jokes were only gonna get worse. Ruby, Pickles and Nico already made fun of Joey and his relationship with Amber. She didn’t need them on her back too.

“I don’t think they need to know anything. Not yet at least.” Nicole places a hand on Ruby’s, twirling her fingers around it. “I also don’t think anyone needs to know. A secret relationship is kind of hot.” Ruby snorts, turning her body to meet Nicole. “You sure you can keep that from Bridgette and Amber?” Nicole rolls her eyes. She had never been able to keep secrets from those two. Their constant chatter by the hosts stand was proof enough.

“They don’t need to know everything.” Ruby smirks. She takes Nicole's hand in hers and wraps her fingers around the other woman’s. “Fine by me.” Nicole looks around the room before spotting the bedroom door. She looks back to Ruby and raises an eyebrow.

“You know, I’m already here, and it's so late.” Ruby grins at her statement. “I’m pretty sure we're both off of work tomorrow. No one has to get up early.” Nicole stands up, still holding Ruby's hand. She takes her over to the bedroom door. Nicole stops in front of the room and grabs Ruby’s face, pulling her in for a quick kiss.

The two women smile at each other before opening the door and heading in, shutting it behind them. Turns out, it was gonna be another late night.

Chapter Text

Ruby wakes up on Sunday morning feeling invigorated. Although she’s incredibly sore from last night, she feels more rested than she had in a while. She checks her phone, realizing it's already eleven in the morning, far later than she’s used to waking up. Ruby hears a loud snore from beside her. She turns around to see Nicole sprawled out on the bed, all the blankets on top of her. Of course, Nicole would be a blanket hog.

Ruby realizes Nicole is wearing an oversized t-shirt of hers. Her hair looks knotted and messy, a result of the events from last night. The morning sun from the window shines over her, giving her skin a fond glow. Ruby’s stomach flutters at the sigh. Even like this, Nicole still looked gorgeous. Ruby knew Nicole was a late sleeper from their closing shift talks. Although she was already up, she didn’t want to disturb Nicole from her morning routine. Ruby hops out of bed and leaves for the bathroom.

Looking in the mirror, Ruby realizes her neck is covered in dark hickeys. Nicole was truly a leech. Ruby wasn’t usually one to wear makeup, but looking at this, she might have to make an exception. She washes her face and brushes her teeth, feeling her lips still sore. Although the thought of changing into real clothes sounded refreshing, Ruby was too lazy to put the effort in. She decided to stay in her tank top and boxers from the previous night.

Ruby heads over to the kitchen, deciding to make herself useful while Nicole sleeps. She turns on the coffee pot and throws a few eggs on the stove. Maybe omelets were the right move here. As Ruby gets to work, she hears a soft noise coming from behind her.

Nicole walks into the kitchen, makeup smeared under her eyes and t-shirt falling off of her shoulder. She lets out a loud yawn, stretching her arms out into the air. She walks over to Ruby’s back and throws her arms around her waist, putting her head on her shoulder. “It's so early.” Nicole grumbles. Ruby feels a soft smile form on her face. “It’s twelve.” Nicole groans, pushing her head further into the other woman. “I stand by what I said.”

Nicole looks up to see what Ruby’s cooking, she perks up a bit at the sight. “There's coffee in the pot, mugs are in the cabinet” Nicole quickly kisses her neck and rushes over to the coffee, pouring herself a large cup. She heads over towards the fridge and peers in. “Where's the creamer?” Ruby raises an eyebrow and looks over to her. “I don’t have any.” Nicole stares at her with a face of horror, shocked at the statement. What can she say, Ruby liked her coffee just how it is.

“You drink black coffee? That’s psychopath behavior.” Ruby shrugs as Nicole opts for milk instead. She sulks back over to the coffee, pouring in a generous amount of milk. Ruby finishes her omelets, plating them and moving towards the bar stools. Nicole follows behind, licking her lips at the sight of breakfast, immediately digging in. Ruby respectfully eats her dish, as Nicole finishes her omelet before Ruby even gets a third bite in.

“Jesus, do you even chew?” Nicole frowns and looks down at Ruby’s plate, barely touched. “Your cooking is too good to waste time chewing on.” Ruby smiles as she finishes her meal. She sips her coffee as Nicole sticks her tongue out in disgust.

Nicole takes a moment to look around the room. She stares through the morning light, making things more clear from her survey from the previous night. She spots a guitar by the couch.“You play guitar too?” Ruby places her arm on the counter, leaning her head against her knuckle. “A little, I'm better at drums.” Nicole swerves her head around to look at Ruby. “I’ve always wanted to learn.”

Ruby smiles and stands up. She walks over to the couch and motions Nicole over. Nicole jumps up and moves over to the couch, sitting next to Ruby. She takes the guitar in hand and places it on her knee. Ruby leans over to see her fingers better. “Ok here.” Ruby moves Nicole's hands into a shape on the strings. “This is a G chord.” Nicole tries to get her fingers in the right place, ultimately failing.

“Why is this hard?” Ruby rolls her eyes and tries to get Nicole's fingers back into place. “Just try to push harder on the strings.” Nicole's fingers immediately fall back off. Nicole was a far better server then she was a musician. “I’m sorry I don’t have man hands like you.” Ruby smirks at Nicole, crossing her arms. “You weren’t complaining about my ‘man hands’ last night.” Nicole stares at her and raises an eyebrow.

Ruby stands up and moves behind Nicole. She places her arms around her and reaches to hold the guitar, leaning her head on Nicole's shoulder. She holds Nicole's hands around hers and places her fingers on the other woman’s, moving them to each chord. “Here's a G, a C, A, and D. Ruby shows her with each strum. The motion passes through a few times as Nicole finally gets the hang of it. After a bit, Nicole puts the guitar back down and turns back to look at Ruby.

“Not too bad.” Nicole smiles and puts her hands around Ruby’s face. “Careful, maybe I’ll get better than you.” Ruby rolls her eyes and pulls Nicole in. They kiss softly as the sun shines down on them. The kiss grows quicker as Ruby slides her hands under Nicole's shirt and onto her back. Nicole quickly pulls away and stands up, leaving Ruby puzzled.

“Come on, all this finger talk is getting me going.” Ruby laughs and stands up, leading Nicole back into the bedroom.

The rest of the day was spent lounging in Ruby’s house. Nothing to do, and nowhere to be. Nicole decides to spend the night at Ruby’s again. Nicole was forced to work the Monday morning shift after her time off on Friday, meaning they started at the same time. This worked perfectly well as Nicole left her car at the restaurant Saturday night.

The two women stroll into work, Ruby coming through the back and Nicole through the front so as to not draw suspicion. Joey had taken the day off for a brief court appearance, making Ruby the head chef for the day. Both a blessing and a curse when dealing with Nico and Pickles. Shockingly, the two cooks seemed to respect Ruby more than they did Joey, possibly out of fear. She ran that kitchen like it was the military.

Of course, when the time of Nicole’s break rolled around, she made a stop at the kitchen window. “Ruby, I need help with a customer. Some bullshit alteration.” Ruby knew this was a lie. Just a way to get her out of the kitchen. Ruby turns to the other cooks to let them know. “Nico you're on grill, I’ll be right back.” Nico looks back at her with a smirk on his face, not buying the fake situation. “Heard!” Ruby rolls her eyes and heads out of the kitchen.

Nicole takes Ruby into the supply closet, immediately pulling her into a hungry kiss. Ruby, obviously complies. She soon pulls away to reassess the situation. “I can’t stay for long, we have orders on the line.” Nicole rolls her eyes and twirls her fingers around Ruby’s hair. “I’ll make do with what we have.” Nicole pulls her back in. Ruby pushes her against the wall, pushing deeper into the kiss. Suddenly, their abruptly interrupted by an opening of the door.

With not enough time to push away, Aaron walks into the supply closet and yells. Not before dropping his plate of dirty glasses. Nicole doesn't skip a beat. She pulls Aaron into the closet by his shirt and shuts the door. “Aaron, you didn’t see anything. If you tell a single soul I will come to your house and murder you in your sleep. I know where you live, 1946 Washington boulevard, apartment 537.” Aaron stares at her with fear in his eyes. He waves his hands in an effort to get away. “Ok, ok! I didn’t see anything.”

Nicole sighs and lets him go. Aaron looks between the two with a surprised look. “Wow. I was not expecting that.” Aaron lets out a nervous laugh. Nicole points towards the door. “Out.” Aaron quickly moves out of the door, shutting it behind him. Nicole sighs and turns back to Ruby. “Well shit.” Ruby frowns and looks back at the door. “We gotta be more careful. No more making out during work.” Nicole looks disappointed. She lets out a dramatic sigh and puts her arms back around Ruby’s shoulders. “Fine. just one more.” Nicole gives her a quick few kisses and walks towards the door. “I’ll wait a minute before coming out.” Ruby tells her. Nicole winks and walks out back into the restaurant. Once again, Ruby is left alone to reflect on the recent events.

Ruby enters back into the kitchen, not without a few “oohs” from the other cooks. Ruby shoots them a glare and tells them to get back to work. She sees Aaron come up to run some food, giving another glare in his direction. Aaron quickly grabs the food and runs back out into the front of house. Ruby feels a buzz from her pocket and takes out her phone to check it. A message from Nicole reads “My house tonight?” Ruby smiles and puts her phone away after responding.

Although their secret is partially out, Ruby is too happy to care.

Chapter Text

The next couple of days felt like a dream. Ruby and Nicole spent their days hauled up at work, and their nights together. Even with the stress of the restaurant, Ruby got through knowing her time with Nicole was only a shift away. Even with all the constant quips from the kitchen staff and the nervous looks from Aaron, Ruby felt nothing but contentment.

In her past relationships, Ruby had a tendency to get caught up in the stress of work. This time, she was determined to take time to focus on herself and outside life. Nothing was gonna get in the way of her time spent with Nicole. Working together helped the cause. Nicole understood the pressure of the day and found ways to help her relax after.

Nicole didn’t start her shift until two on Thursdays. Ruby, prioritizing her outside life, took the morning off to be present. She would get to work far before the dinner rush, making it easier to skip the morning shift. Nicole woke up surprisingly early at the time of eleven o’clock. A full day was wasted for anyone else, but Nicole was one to sleep away the morning. She sprung into the kitchen fully dressed and ready for the day. Ruby had of course been awake for hours by this time. And yet, she was still surprised by Nicole's sudden appearance.

“What are you doing up so early?” Nicole smiles and walks over to Ruby, giving her a swift kiss. “I’ve got something planned.” Ruby raises an eyebrow. Nicole grabs the other woman's hand and pulls her towards the door. “What are we doing?” Nicole turns back to Ruby with a smirk on her face. “It’s a surprise.” Nicole liked to say ominous things like this, always leaving Ruby horribly confused. Even if she was a blunt and honest person, she still had surprises of her own.

Nicole takes Ruby outside and into her car. She has a giddy expression on her face the whole way through, leaving Ruby even more puzzled. What could she possibly have planned? She wasn’t necessarily nervous, just a bit confused. Ruby wasn’t the biggest fan of surprises, she liked things to be straightforward.

Nicole brings Ruby to a less touristy part of L.A. Somewhere away from the usual crowd of tourists. She parks in front of a dark building and quickly gets out of the car. Whatever Nicole has in store, it was gonna be an interesting adventure. Nicole brings Ruby through the front door, she’s instantly shocked to see it’s a tattoo parlor. Something more well kept then she would usually choose for herself, but surprising nevertheless. Nicole moves to talk with the woman at the front desk. She overhears Nicole telling her about the appointment she had scheduled.

Nicole turns back to talk with Ruby. “surprised?” Ruby was incredibly surprised. They had recently talked about how Nicole didn’t feel ready for a tattoo. This was an unexpected turn of events. “I mean, yeah. Are you sure you're ready?” Nicole wraps her arms around Ruby’s shoulders and smiles. “I don’t need to wait for something incredible to happen in my life. That’s stupid. I’ve accomplished enough already.” Nicole was right. She had been waiting for a breakthrough to be proud of herself when she was so wonderful already. Ruby felt incredibly proud by her sentiment.

Ruby kisses her lightly and smiles. Nicole had truly taken her words to heart, Ruby was glad to hear it. A clean cut tattoo artist calls her name and the two women head over. Nicole takes a seat in the chair as the artist sets up their station. “What are you getting?” Ruby asks, interested to hear the verdict. Nicole smiles menacingly. “The words ‘Property of Ruby’ as a tramp stamp.” Ruby rolls her eyes at her. She was not getting a straight answer out of her. “I’m joking. You’ll get to see after.”

Nicole sets her arm on the table stand, motioning for Ruby to sit on the opposite side. Ruby was unable to see the stencil as it was placed. A true surprise was waiting for her. The artist started and Nicole took it like a champ. Not even a flinch when the needle pressed in. Ruby was pleasantly surprised at her resilience. Even after a full sleeve, she still hated the first mark.

After about half an hour, the tattoo was done. The artist wiped it over and sat back. Nicole admired her arm, pleased with the result. Ruby peered over to see a small line art lily above her inner elbow. It was something little, but gorgeous all the same. “It’s not much, just a piece of my favorite flower.” Ruby smiled at her. It fit her perfectly. Ruby looks at the tattoo artist and grins. “Got time for one more?”

Nicole strokes Ruby's hand as she adds another small piece to her sleeve. A traditional rose just above her wrist, her own favorite flower. A little basic, but meaning full in her eyes. Ruby wasn’t the most spontaneous person, but this felt right. Nicole insists on paying for both tattoos, but Ruby leaves a generous tip in exchange. The two women walk out of the shop hand in hand.

As Ruby starts her shift, no one even takes notice of her new ink. Tattoos weren't much of a difference for her, having a full sleeve covered up enough of the surprise. The dinner rush hadn’t started yet, leaving the cooks in a good mood. Not as many orders left less of a chance of fuck something up, meaning Joey wasn’t as on edge as usual. Even yet, they still had work to get done.

The four cooks talked casually as they prepared the orders they did have, lightly joking around together. The attention wasn’t on Ruby for a change, making her more vocal in their conversation. Ruby didn’t like to consider her co-workers as friends, but she was starting to come around to the idea. Joey’s terrible jokes, Nico’s hoarse laugh, and Pickle's amusing stupidity comforted her. Work wasn’t always such a dreadful thing.

As orders are finished, the servers start to come up to the window to run food. Nicole walks over to the kitchen with an annoyed look on her face. Even in good times, she still loathed having to work. When she spots Ruby her demeanor changes. She gives her a soft smile, making Ruby’s heart flutter. Not long after, Bridgette walks up to the window to help run food. Ruby sees as Bridgette notices the tattoo on Nicole's arm with a look of surprise.

“Nicole! You got a tattoo? I thought you didn’t want any.” Nicole looks away and shrugs. “I got bored and decided to mutilate myself.” Bridgette giggles and grabs her arm to take a closer look. “It’s really pretty.” The cooks take notice and decide to run over to the window to check it out. “Damn, that’s hot. I like a woman with tattoos.” Nico tells her as Nicole rolls her eyes. “Wooow, It’s so cute!” Pickles chimes in. Nicole's expression softens at this, she always had a soft spot for Pickles.

Pickles turns to Ruby with a look of excitement. “What do you think, Ruby?” in an attempt to seem nonchalant, Ruby shrugs. She was an expert at pretending not to care. “Not really my style.” Nicole shoots her a knowing look and takes her arm out of display. “Get out of my kitchen and run some food!” Joey interrupts. The servers had already been wasting time talking, they needed to get back to their jobs.

Ruby and Nicole ended their shifts at ten. Unsurprisingly, They decided to end the day over at Ruby’s place. They lounge about in the bedroom, debriefing the day. Nicole lays against Ruby’s shoulder as she strokes her arm. Leaving her feeling nothing but contentment after a long shift. The events of the day had been exciting, but nothing compared to being together like this.

“Amber asked me about the hickey.” Ruby had gotten back at Nicole with a large hickey on her neck. After having to hide every deep mark Nicole left on her body, it felt like a necessary evil. “Oh yea? What did you say?” Nicole sighs from on top of Ruby. She puts her head on the other womens chest. “I said it was from a hookup. She didn’t really buy it.” Ruby stares at the ceiling. Their secret was bound to get out at some point. Aaron had quickly found out, and the cooks basically knew already.

Ruby liked how things were. She liked spending her work day dramaless and coming home to Nicole at night. If Joey and Amber set an example of anything, it was that work romances caused drama. Even Bridgette and Trick had their own thing going on. Nicole sets her head up and looks at Ruby.

“Terry’s birthday party is next week.” Nicole mentions. Ruby had completely forgotten. Terry was turning fifty three and certain staff members wanted to throw him a surprise party. Ruby would skip it if she hadn’t been guilt tripped by Pickles and Nico. “Oh yea. You going to that?” Nicole huffs. She wasn’t one to show up for staff parties either. But no matter how much they fought, Nicole still cared for Terry.

“I guess so. Great way to waste my Saturday night.” Ruby smiles and pulls Nicole in. Hugging her further into her chest. “Then I’ll be there.” Nicole sighs into Ruby. They lay silently against each other. Ruby listens as Nicole drifts off into sleep. She was starting to feel herself grow tired. Ruby closes her eyes and falls slowly asleep, dreaming of nothing but the present.