#oliver d.

He pulled open the door to reveal a brightly smiling girl. "Ruby? What're you doing here?" Oliver asked, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion as a boom of thunder sounded around them. "I wanna take you somewhere," she replied excitedly, protected from the rain by a small porch roof. He tapped his fingers against the doorway, eyeing her strangely. "You do see the thunderstorm going on around you, right?" he questioned. She made a 'psh' noise and raised an eyebrow at him. "Are you going to let that hold you back?" Ruby tempted. Oliver laughed, shaking his head slightly. "What did you have in mind?" he asked. "That," she began, raising a finger, "is a surprise." "Okay, no," he immediately responded, "No, no surprises from you, Ruby." "Oh, come on! Please?" she begged, "I mean, why not? It's not like you're doing anything else." "Actually, I have a lasagna in the oven," he countered, "I really don't want to let it burn to a crisp." "Your mom can take it out." "Nah, she won't be home 'til nine o'clock. I'm that lasagna's last hope." "Oh..." She looked disappointed here, which caused just a smidge of guilt to grow in his chest. Oliver rubbed the nape of his neck absentmindedly, glanced up at the sky after a flash of light and returned his gaze to Ruby. She was looking down at her shoes, one hand fidgeting with the strap of the tote bag on her shoulder, as she seemed to contemplate her next course of action. He was about to at least invite her inside when she finally looked back up at him, blue eyes bright with new enthusiasm. "How about I show you the surprise right here?" she asked, a wide grin on her face. "Now you've really got me curious about what the heck it is," he informed simply. "I'm going to take that as a 'yes,' so could you please turn around for me?" she requested, almost mockingly polite. "Whoa, whoa, why?" he asked, holding up both hands in defense. "I'm going to blindfold you," she stated, as if it wasn't a big deal at all. "Uh, I'm not so su-" "No, come on," Ruby said, like an impatient nurse at a pediatric center, grabbing his shoulders and forcibly turning him around. So he acquiesced with a sigh, shutting his eyes and sinking his hands into the pockets of his jeans. After a moment, he felt a silky fabric over his skin. "Is this- is this a fancy scarf?" "Yeah, so?" He smiled to himself, reveling in the knowledge that someone like Ruby exists, a girl who shamelessly shows up at his door wanting to show him something that she feels deserves the surprise that comes with being blindfolded beforehand. He felt the tug of the scarf being tied around his head and let her take his hand, guiding him towards where he thought the door was. He reached his hand out blindly and managed to grab the knob, gently pulling it shut before allowing Ruby to pull him along again. Oliver jumped as a loud boom of thunder sounded and held tighter onto Ruby with both hands without even thinking about it. "Don't worry, Ollie, I've gotcha," she soothed, an edge of amusement in her tone nonetheless. "I'm never gonna live that down," he stated with a groan, yet never loosening his grip. It was here that they stepped off the front porch, though for Oliver it was more of a stumble, and entered the rain. "Oh, Ruby!" he cried as he quickly became drenched. "Embrace it," she told him happily as she continued to drag him across the front lawn. Wet grass stuck to his bare feet as the downpour soaked his blindfold and made it slip ever so slightly down his face, his long nose the only thing besides his ears keeping it up. A hand was pushed against his chest, making him fumble to a stop. "Okay," she said, "now lay down." "What? No." "Oliver," "No." "Oliver," "No!" "Do you trust me?" "Don't go all Aladdin on me," "Come on, I know you trust me. You've already gone this far, if you go back now you would've gotten all wet for nothing." He was silent for a minute, though the sound of crashing raindrops was loud enough to fill the space. He hated that she had a point. "Alright, fine," Oliver said, holding onto her arm to steady himself as he sat on the soaked ground. He let go of her then, though he could feel her prescence sit down beside him. "Now you've got to actually lay down," Ruby instructed, "You know, like, back on the ground." "Yeah, I know," he replied, his reluctance finding a way into his voice, though he did what she asked all the same. "Perfect," she stated. A moment later, the scarf was tugged upwards and he opened his eyes at the same time. There was a flash of bright color as the fabric disappeared from his vision before he took in the full view before him. It was like everything was a mixture of blues and whites and grays. A flurry of transparent flecks fell around him, like liquid crystals crashing to a marble floor. Specks of light rushed through the drops and it was like each one encased a small world. A flash of lightning appeared in the upper left corner of his view, invading the drops and creating an explosion of color that he had no idea existed in a thunderstorm. Suddenly the boom of thunder was more like an epic soundtrack to a summer blockbuster than an unexpected terror. "So what do you think?" Ruby asked hopefully. "I think you would have to be pretty crazy to discover this even existed," he replied, not tearing his gaze away from the sky. "I moved here from Oregon, Oliver," she informed him, "Rain was an every day occurrence, but I loved it. I had to find a way to appreciate it anew all the time. The real hard part was finding a place far enough away from a tree that I wouldn't die by lightning." Oliver was laughing. He had started doing so halfway through her short story and couldn't seem to stop. She didn't question why, she was Ruby after all and therefore understood the need to laugh uncontrollably for unknown amounts of time, but instead laid down beside him. She wrapped her arms around his left one and leaned the side of her face against his side. "Hey, Ruby," he began softly once his laughter died down. "Yeah?" "Would you like to stay for dinner?" "Mmm," she seemed to contemplate this for a moment, "Will your lasagna be burned to a crisp?" "I can't promise anything at this point," Oliver admitted. "Then I will," she said happily. "Even if it's more burnt than the summit of Mount Doom?" "Of course," she laughed, "I've always wanted to taste the fires of Mordor." He laughed again, this time somehow harder than the last. He had never been like this with anybody but Eli. Oliver was drenched and lying in the soaking wet grass while a thunderstorm went on around him, but he was having the time of his life. Never would he look at rain again and not think of Ruby. This he was sure of.

"Eli?" he said into the darkness as he lay flat on his back, hands resting on his stomach. His friend made a noise from the sleeping bag next to him, presumably to show he was listening. Oliver swallowed nervously. "What the hell am I supposed to do?" he asked hopelessly. There was a ruffling sound and a quiet sigh as Eli began to speak. "I don't know what you're talking about, man," he replied, "Ruby wants to hang out with you pretty much all the time, and you obviously like her. If the only thing standing in the way of your fairytale happiness is her parents' approval, than you've gotta get over it." He moaned in frustration and placed his hands over his eyes, rubbing them tiredly. "You are absolutely no help," Oliver stated. "What, because I'm repeating the same advice you've heard from everybody ever?" he answered, "Maybe that's because it's true, you idiot." He sighed, removing his hands and focusing his gaze on the sole light in the room, a tiny green glow coming from a laptop charger. There was always something about the immense darkness of night that made everything that happened in it more meaningful. It was like all that existed in that moment were their voices, their thoughts, their emotions. Oliver always imagined that was why the only time he and Eli ever talked about real things was during sleepovers. Once it had become early morning and they had both admitted their exhaustion, when the lights had gone out and they were waiting for sleep to claim them, a certain understanding was made known without any words or recognition of any kind. So Oliver knew Eli was giving him the absolute truth. He just didn't know what to do with it. "Oliver?" the sound of his name cut through his thoughts and he realized that he had been silent for a while. "I hear you," he answered quietly. "You know, everybody thinks I'm the socially awkward one, the shy one, but sometimes I think that that's you, man," Eli told him thoughtfully, "Have you ever thought that you don't act like yourself? Because I've known you since the 5th grade and every once in a while when we're at school or SuperSmoothie or whatever you do something that's like the guy I talk to at the end of sleepovers. 'Cause let me tell you, those are two different people." Oliver closed his eyes, found no change in his vision, and opened them again. "I don't know what to make of that, Eli. I mean, I believe you, but I don't know what to do about it." "I didn't think you would." Neither of them spoke for a couple minutes. "Have you ever thought about becoming a therapist, Eli?" "You just ruined this whole moment," he replied, mockingly stern, "We were having a moment, man, couldn't you feel it? A moment." Oliver laughed and Eli quickly joined him, the sound of it filling the seemingly empty void. Yet in the distance he could see the little green light reminding him that this was only a dark room at night, and all illusions are only that. An illusion.