#rueledits

       Ruel shook his head and whispered, “Not with these guys.”

       Everyone was just crowded around the living room area listening to the drama unfold. It was clear that both Adam and Gabe had been drinking already, and Gabe held a beer in his hand as he continued to argue back and forth with his friend. Because they were both intoxicated, none of the conversations really made any sense. It didn’t take much to figure out the source of the problem, seeing as the girl they were arguing over was in the corner crying her eyes out. Once Gabe stepped closer to Adam and set his beer on the coffee table, all of the other guys got up and started moving towards them.

       “Okay, you should go get in the car,” Ruel leaned over the couch arm and tried to hand his car keys to you. 

        You slightly swatted his hand away before replying “Nah, I’m good,” never taking your eyes off of the boys. Here’s the thing: when you were in the kitchen earlier, you received some tea on the situation that revealed maybe Gabe wasn’t exaggerating as much as everyone thought he was. Apparently, the main reason Adam’s girlfriend offered to host the Friendsgiving this year was to try and make everyone like her despite her past with Gabe. And Gabe was not holding back. He was exposing the homegirl repeatedly, confirming most of what you were told in the kitchen. 

       You probably shouldn’t have dismissed Ruel like that, but you couldn’t help yourself every now and then because deep down you kind of enjoyed when he got angry with you. The dominant persona that he took on was something so natural and passionate and always enchanted you as much as it startled you.

       “Babe,” you could hear Ruel continuing to get your attention but you were too invested in what was going on. His tone that started off as gentle was now getting more aggressive as he had to keep repeating himself. Usually, you would let Ruel protect you in a situation like this. However, no one else was making any moves to leave the apartment at any time soon, so why should you have to be the only one to miss the fight? 

       In retrospect, Ruel was probably only trying to prevent you from getting hurt in the impending cross-fire between the two guys because you both knew that he would rain down hellfire and shut the whole party down if any of those drunk clowns touched you even if by accident. You knew that he was protective but he was just going to have to get over himself today. 

       Once Gabe put his beer down and took a step towards Adam, you felt a firm hand press down on your shoulder with keys in the palm.

       “Y/N, go start the car. I’ll be over in a minute and we can go-”

       You cut him off, “I’m good, I’ll just wait for you.” You could feel his eyes burning into the side of your face but you couldn’t care less. No one was paying attention to the back and forth between the two of you. The only thing people could focus on was the constant blows Gabe attempted to make towards Adam’s face which he missed each time. The rest of Ruel’s friends began to slowly gather around the two just in case things got too serious. He had previously mentioned to you that this conflict had been growing a huge wedge in between everyone and that if they started fighting, they were going to try and let them resolve this on their own. But it was getting too far. Ruel needed to join the guys in separating them, but he didn’t want to leave your side until you were out of the place. Apparently, Gabe had a tendency to swing on women when he got too upset. And he was clearly past the point of anger now.

       “Y/N. Get. Out of here. Into the car, now.” You looked up to see his stern expression on his face. Who was he, your father?

       “No, I’m enjoying this.” 

       After obviously being fed up with your protests, you felt his hand grab your arm firmly. He wasn’t hurting you, but the pressure of his hand against your arm was enough to let you know he wasn’t playing around. 

       Before you could get up, he whisper/yelled to you, “For fuck's sake, Y/N can you please just do what you’re told for once.” The hurt you were feeling was overpowered by the anger that boiled up inside of you.

       “What the fuck did you just say to me?” you spit out at him as you snatch your arm away. He had some nerve to speak to you like that in front of his fucking friends. 

       In reality, you usually stood up to him anytime he challenged you like this. It was no secret that Ruel had a temper when things didn’t go his way, but he’d only ever snapped on you like this once or twice before. Although it was a potentially dangerous situation, you could handle yourself and you surely didn’t need him talking to you like a child in front of everyone like that. You snatched the keys out of his hand and stormed out of the living room. It was obvious that Ruel didn’t care about your own feelings even though he made a point to not let anyone else hear what he whispered in your ear. 

       As you waited in the passenger seat of his car, you grew increasingly angry at your boyfriend. You thought about how unnecessary that comment was. In fact, you actually considered driving off and leaving his ass but immediately dismissed that thought because he was already frustrated enough at the situation and that would only add fuel to the fire. You tried to scroll through twitter to distract yourself from how upset you were feeling but doing so only paused your thoughts just for them to be resumed as soon as he appears outside of the building.

       It took him about twenty minutes to return to the car and you could only assume it was because the boys actually did start fighting each other. After he got into the vehicle and started to drive the both of you back home, he broke the silence between the two of you. 

       “Geez, it’s so hard to calm Gabe down when he gets plastered like that.” 

       You didn’t respond and just continued to stare at your phone. You were still beyond pissed and Ruel could definitely feel the tension. He just sighed and brushed it off, ignoring your attitude by turning on some music and singing obnoxiously loud along to it. This nonchalant behavior only pisses you off more. Does he not feel the need to apologize for the way he spoke to you?

       “Fuck, I left the crockpot. Was too caught up in the bullshit to realize. I’ll probably stop by over there tomorrow morning to get it.”

       You still didn’t look up from your phone but this time you reply with a low “okay.”

       “Well, do you wanna stop and get food before we make it back? I know you didn’t get to eat anything before the shit hit the fan.”

       You quickly clap back to him with a short “I’m good.”

       Ruel shook his head and you could see his jaw tense out the corner of your eye. You felt the car swerve to the side and you begin to feel equally as annoyed as you are anxious to see what he was about to do. He pulled over to the side of the road and put the car in park. 

       He wasted no time before saying, “okay,” as he pressed both of his hands onto the steering wheel. 

       “I get that you’re mad because I took that tone with you back there but I just didn’t want you to get hurt. You weren’t listening, and they were about to start fighting.” 

       “So I’m going to ask you again,” you finally looked up from your phone.

       “What do you want to eat?”

       You rolled your eyes and sighed because you desperately wanted the conversation to end, so you simply said “I’m good, Ruel. Let’s just go. Please.”

       It took everything in you not to snap at him and say “I don’t need you to take care of me”, but you didn’t even want to argue with him at the moment. 

       The only thing you wanted was space from him, which he couldn’t possibly understand. In Ruel’s mind, he had to take care of you and protect you at all times. You usually viewed this as enduring and you knew he only meant well, but he’d taken it too far this time. 

       By now, you could tell that he was as annoyed with you as you were with him. 

       “Fine, but don’t ask for shit when we get home,” he spat out. 

       You thought “trust me, I won’t.” That last statement left a sour taste in your mouth mainly because he knew all too well that you’d cave in at some point in the night and want to go back out for food. The way he acted like he just knew you and was the boss of you only pissed you off more. Why couldn’t he just fucking apologize? Did he seriously not see anything wrong with the way he treated you back there?

       Ruel made it seem like a challenge. You were gonna show him that he didn’t know you as well as he thought. 

       When you finally got back to his home, you rushed upstairs to take a shower and change into some different clothes. You walked out of the bathroom and into the bedroom to be greeted by a relaxed Ruel laid out on the bed barefoot and scrolling on his phone. He barely even lifted his head when you walked out in leggings and a t-shirt. It wasn’t until he saw you going into the closet to get a pair of shoes that he sat up and asked you what you were doing. 

       You respond matter-of-factly, “To get food,” in a much brighter tone than you had before as you dangled his car keys in front of him. He stood up to challenge you and said, “Stop playing, now.” 

       He still had a warning tone about him which set you off. Was he seriously still acting like a bitch? It was time to snap.

       “No Ruel, why the fuck do you seriously think that you can tell me what to do and when to do it as if I can’t drive myself or protect my god damn self.”

       He opened his mouth to reply but you continued before he could speak.

       “Furthermore, I’m a grown-ass woman and you are not my dad. Plus, I’m older than you. Fuck outta here.” 

       You were beyond pissed at this point, but finally expressing yourself made you feel a little bit better. He stood up off of the bed, took two big steps towards you, and stood over you. He chuckled as he slipped the keys out of your hand.

       “Yeah, but I am much bigger than you,” he simply stated, refusing to break eye contact with you even though you so desperately wanted him to. The fact that he was making a joke out of your anger made you want to fucking explode. You snapped your body away from him and began to look up rideshare deals on your phone so you could leave on your own terms. 

       “Okay well, I’m getting an uber.” He walked right behind you, keeping up with you perfectly and had the nerve to ask “Wait, why?”

       “Because I want to leave. I’m sick of you and I don’t want to be here with you anymore, get it?” you snapped. Before you could open the door halfway, your body jumped as you saw his hand reach over and close the door. 

       Ruel got back in front of you, grabbed the bottom of your chin, and moved it slightly up so you could look him in the eyes.

       “Okay, this was cute but now it needs to stop.”

       You huffed because you simply didn’t give a fuck about his opinion anymore. You decided to go back to your silent treatment and wait for him to stop blocking the door so you could leave. 

       “You can be mad at me all you want. Go be mad downstairs or something. But please don’t leave this house. Especially not on your own.”

       Once again, who the fuck was he talking to? As you felt the tears forming in your eyes, you instantly became grateful in your mind that his parents were both out of town at the time and weren’t home to witness the big argument that rose from you and Ruel. You should’ve known that he wouldn’t be crazy over the idea of you leaving without him but he didn’t give you much of a choice. He wasn’t listening to you, and when you got super upset you always had a tendency to run away before saying something that you might regret. You only wanted to leave to cool off and clear your mind and you knew that food would certainly shift your mood quickly. However, the fact that you’ve never been anywhere around Sydney on your own and you were only there to visit him probably prompted this response from him. 

       Nevertheless, he was still very wrong in this scenario. 

       “You know what? Fuck you, Ruel. I understand that you might have been frustrated with me but there was absolutely no need to talk to me like that. You made me feel like shit. I still feel like shit. Please, just let me leave before either of us makes things worse.” You finished your last sentence before your head dropped and you began to let out a soft cry. 

       Ruel’s face immediately softened up, and he pulled you in for a hug. 

       “Baby, I’m so sorry. I know that I shouldn’t have snapped on you like that, but I’d rather you be mad at me for a while than you getting hit by one of those drunk idiots.” He grabbed your chin again to look up at him. “I knew I had to say something drastic to get your attention, but I realize that there was probably a better way to handle that. Hey, I’m learning how to love you in ways that you need me to. I just love you so much, and for me, it sometimes means that I want to protect you.”

       You pouted up at him in response. “Yeah, but I don’t need you to take care of me.”

       He leaned down to give you a big, soft kiss. “Yes,” he leaned back down and gave you another puffy kiss again, “you do.” 

       He finally let your chin go and you didn’t try to make another attempt to leave him. He grabbed both of your hands and said, “Just let me take care of you, yeah? It makes me feel better.” 

       You pressed your head into his neck in response, knowing that being able to take care of you in person took a lot of stress off of him since you both were used to a long-distance setting. He wrapped his long arms around your figure and embraced you for a long time, your body remaining stiff before you realized that he was genuinely upset about hurting you. 

       “Okay, but I’m still hungry.”

        He sighed into a hard laugh at your honesty, causing you both to have the first light moment between you two of the evening.