don't compare

“It’s better than nothing,” he pointed out, he usually got more nervous about getting lost when he was alone. Not that he enjoyed when it happen when he had company, but it did make him feel more calm, “Left, come on, if we hurry, we may get there in time,” he said with a small smile, “I never had anything from Apple in my life, but all maps are the same, aren’t they?”

“I suppose,” Ruby said uneasily. She didn’t exactly have another option, so she chose to trust in Rich’s words, as doubtful as she might be - it wasn’t a comment on him, rather a comment on her distrusting personality in general, finding it hard to place anything in someone else’s hands. “Alright, which way first?”

A taunting smile found his features, obvious pride in Ruby’s agreement that undoubtedly grew their oversized ego. “Sweetened or unsweetened?” Luca questioned, more as a request to indulge in his small victory. “I doubt a color coding system can be that complicated,” Luca drawled, and his head rolled forward to give Ruby a look. He scoffed, outstretching his empty hands in front of him to show Ruby. “Love, it’s not gonna hurt you to let me help. I get it, you’re a strong, independent woman, but that pile of books is almost as tall as you are. Come on, stack them up,” he coaxed again. “Oh, you know. Somewhere off campus,” Luca answered ominously, not offering much of an answer.

“Unsweeetened.” She confirmed with a small smile. “I appreciate your attempt to help, but I’m just fine,” Ruby added as they began to walk, heading toward the exit. “It won’t hurt me to carry them either. But if you truly need to...” She handed him one book from the top of the pile, a slim paperback, her concession. “Does that feed your saviour complex enough?”

“I thought it was the subway system that was supposed to be amazing and always on time,” Kenzie said, looking up from her phone at Ruby’s words. She sat up more and looked both ways down the road. “I’ll pay for us a cab if you really don’t want to walk.”

“I guess maybe,” she mumbled, unhappy enough with the situation to avoid mentioning her apparent mistake. “No, Kenz, you don’t have to. I can walk,” Ruby said with a quick smile to try to validate her reassuring tone of voice. “I’m just annoyed. That’s all.”

“Probably not cheap,” he didn’t mind walking, but he did wish that they didn’t need to, “How hard it can be to follow google maps? The last time I did, I reached my destination, so we should be good.” if he was wrong, at least they weren’t alone.

“Well, I suppose that’s a vote of confidence.” And she didn’t really have much choice, if she didn’t want to spend her entire day waiting for a bus that seemingly would never come. “Which way first?” Ruby asked, sounding slightly resigned. “Should I cross reference your directions on Apple Maps too for good measure?”

“I was thinking that like five minutes ago,” Nikki mumbled, not even looking up from the magazine she had been flipping through while she waited. “Hope you weren’t counting on this for anything important. I think you’re going to be late.”

“I just hate being late,” she said impatiently, “to anything. I have a schedule.” And she followed it religiously, whether it was a weekend or weekday, and if she was being honest Ruby was more anxious than she’d care to admit that it was apparently being broken today. “Are you? Going to be late to anything?” She asked more out of politeness than anything else, checking her watch for what felt like the billionth time. 

“You’re really flattering me now,” Ruby admitted, looking down in embarrassment, “but I appreciate you trying to make it seem like I’m not a dumb amateur anyway...” Well, in her defence, photography was not one of her interests, when it did not relate to her infamous studygram. “Wildlife sounds good. As long as we’re not gone too long. I don’t wanna be stuck in some woods and then it gets dark...”

“Ugh, that was what I was afraid of,” he missed his bike, back at home, he used to go everywhere with it. He wished that he could have taken it with him, “I guess we don’t have another choice, unless we call an Uber?”

“How much is an Uber gonna cost?” Ruby grimaced. Not within her budget for the month, that was for certain. “I guess we’re walking. Should we get Google Maps up? I hope you’re good with directions...”

“Probably. I mean, I don’t exactly speak Japanese, so...” She’d made an attempt, downloaded Duolingo and purchased a dictionary, but Ruby didn’t think it was a reasonable expectation for her, in this short period of time, to grasp the language to any degree of fluency. Still, she persisted regardless. “I sure hope they do. And that we can type out the destination ... accurately.”

“I’m starting to suspect,” Ruby said glumly as she looked up and down the road, “that this bus is never gonna show up. Whoever told me the Japanese public transport system was amazing, they lied.” She sighed. “Guess we’re walking.”

Luca flashed a grin, Ruby’s acquiescence unexpected but warmly welcomed. The look turned to mild confusion when she continued, then their brow raised with perturbation. He didn’t need to ask to know Ruby was serious about scheduling things down to the minute. Their mouth opened to respond, though halfway through they realized they couldn’t even manage a white lie to her question. “Make it a bookstore and coffee run and you’re sold,” Luca offered amiably, reaching out his hands to gesture for the books in Ruby’s arms. “I’ll even help you color code, help make up for lost time or what not,” he said.

“I could,” she allowed, “go for a green tea.” Compromising wasn’t necessarily something she wanted to do, but she sensed that when it came to Luca, her own stubbornness wasn’t quite going to overcome his. Better compromise than go all his way. “I don’t expect you to learn my colour coding system. I can just work harder after,” she promised. “Oh, I’ll carry these,” her arms moved just out of his reach, hugging the books close to her. “Where were you thinking? “

It was nice to catch up with Ruby again, neither of them getting the chance until now after Valentine’s Day. The questionnaire got a few things right, though she was still unsure how accurate she could credit it, but they got along well and that was enough for her. “Now that you mention it, I thought the air condition wasn’t really helping but thought I was imagining things.” She pushed her hair back, flattening it as she pulled all of it into a messy bun that rested on the top of her head. “Do you think we can call someone to come check it out? We’re not going to survive an entire trip like this.”

“Maybe? Or,” she thought out loud, “do you think it’s something we could fix? I hate calling out for the staff when it could just be a really simple fault,” Ruby admitted with a grimace. “I mean, I just worry they’ll hate me for kicking up a fuss..”                                                                             

“Believe it or not, I’m still stuck on the definition of limits,” Bowie admitted. “If you can get that concrete, I’ll even bring snacks. I’m in like Calc 2 and it’s solely by chance, I swear. Everyone’s trying to get outta that class as fast as they can, even the teachers.”

“I’ll do my best,” she swore, grinning. “No worries about snacks. I like helping people with homework. Besides, isn’t explaining things to other people the best way to consolidate your knowledge? So I’d be benefiting too,” she reasoned. “I always get annoyed when teachers act like they don’t wanna teach part of the subject material. Isn’t that the whole job they signed up for?”

“I guess that makes sense, I’m gonna guess that he is either a professional photographer or it’s one of his hobbies,” he honestly never cared this much about quality, he always used his phone to take pictures and how it turned out, he posted it, “I could try to figure it out? No promises though, like I said, I don’t use pro cameras, so I don’t know a lot about them.”

“I think he just wants me to get a hobby which isn’t school,” Ruby admitted with a shrug. Her dad could try all he wanted - as far as Ruby was concerned, she needed no other focus in her life. “Any help would be appreciated. I mean, you can’t be worse than me?”

“Meant to,” she echoed gently, sounding more unconvinced than Bria about that, although she smiled nonetheless, happy for Bria to be enjoying herself. “I guess I was just being dumb. I’m sure the manual said something about that and I just skipped over... no matter,” she said quickly. “What are we taking pictures of?”

“Okay,” Ruby said with a forced laugh, “now I’m really starting to think you and my mom have a secret plot to get me a social life. I swear,” she added, “I am seriously, absolutely, okay. You don’t need to stress about my fun, Kenz.”

“Roo, relax. Take a deep breath and look around you. I know how important your education is to you, but when are you going to be in this beautiful place again?” Kenzie pointed out, leaning across the table towards her friend. She motioned around them at the incredible view. “At least let yourself enjoy the beauty around you while you can. You can still study. Just look up every once in a while.”

“Never, if I mess up all my exams and end up working in McDonald’s,” Ruby muttered. “I am looking up. Periodically. Eye strain is a real thing that I’m trying to avoid. Anyway,” she added, “you’re sounding a lot like my mom, Kenz....”