NOVEL SIMPLE Chapter 5
Matt was angry, not at Blake or any one else. The target of his ire was in fact “UGH, DAMN IT! I can't believe I passed up the opportunity to touch some boobs because I PANICKED!” himself. Last night an opportunity that he'd never had was offered and he was too nervous to accept it, instead running away in shame because of his erection. His mind had forgotten the fact that he was not in his old world, where women find men like him repulsive.
He was just so shocked by the sight of Blake standing in the door topless, acting like nothing was out of the ordinary, that his mind had stopped functioning at full capacity. Apparently in this world a woman being shirtless was the same as a man being shirtless in his old world. Basically it was acceptable in casual situations for the most part. Thinking about all this and Blakes sexy body was starting to make him hard again, so he decided to deal with Blake later and head to work, he needed to show up on time for his first day. Although he was kind of annoyed he needed to wake up at 7:30 am on a Saturday.
Entering the front door at 7:50 am, ten minutes early, he didn't see anyone right away so he decided to knock on the door to the office in the back. After a couple of seconds the door opened and Martha stepped out, giving him a smile “Hello Matt, welcome to your first day of work. I’ll give you a quick overview of everything that you're going to be doing here, and when Jane, the cashier from yesterday, gets here she will show you how to use the register.” she started walking back into the main room of the store, motioning him to follow.
She gestured to the bean bag corner “This is the chill corner, basically a place for customers to sit and hang out while reading the comics they get here. When you're on break you can spend your time there or in the office relaxing, we have a vending machine in the back if you get hungry, there's also a couple different fast food places within a five minute walking distance.”
Matt smiled and followed along as she showed him where everything was, it didn't take too long as the shop wasn't that big. Eventually the cashier he saw yesterday, Jane apparently, showed up. Martha called out to her “Jane, today all you need to do is show Matt how to use the register. After he gets the hang of it just watch over the shop and make sure no one steals anything, I have to go check on our other locations so I'll leave you in charge” Jane answered with a ‘yes ma’am’ and Martha headed out the door, giving Matt one final wave.
After Martha left, Jane smiled nervously at him. ‘I've never been alone with a boy as cute as him before. What do I say, maybe a hello? Does that sound too formal? Maybe I’ll just say a ‘sup’ and-’
Interrupting Jane's train of thought Matt walked up to her and held out his hand with a friendly smile, “Hello, im Matt nice to meet you” He had noticed she had frozen when Martha left, and realized he needed to make the first move.
Jane took his hand awkwardly and shook it, “Sup, my name is Jane” she said, although it came out a bit forced.
Matt grinned “It's nice to meet you Jane. So Martha told me you could show me how to use the register?” For some reason Matt had found it easier to talk to women after realizing most of them would probably be more anxious talking to him than he would be speaking to them, although he still got nervous around really attractive, confident girls like Blake.
Jane, realizing she was left in charge and had to take the lead, spoke up “Yea, here follow me. It's not that hard once you get the hang of it.”
Ruby Rose was really stressed out, walking through Vale she thought back on her shitty week. She had been getting bullied basically her entire life, and this week it was especially bad because her big sister was not around as a deterrent, off shadowing her uncle on one of his missions. Her main bully, Rachael and her boyfriend Zack had been rather brutal. One of Rachael's cronies had found her doing anime poses in the bathroom mirror and had recorded it, spreading it around to her entire grade at signal. If she had any chance of making friends before this it was gone now, she was essentially a social outcast at signal at this point. The entire week was filled with verbal abuse. She didn't really get physically bullied because she was rather strong, in the top three in her grade. She had tried going to the principle but she would get the same result every time, it basically boiled down to “Were training you to be a warrior, if you can’t even stick up for yourself how can we expect you to stick up to the Grimm” She knew it sounded rather brutal, but compared to some of the other training academies it was tame. She’d heard that in Vacuo only 45% of each class would graduate to Shade, the rest either dropping out due to the pressure or dying during their training in the deserts.
She knew she could probably kick the shit out of all her bullies, and she did beat up Rachael once, but instead of responding physically they instead destroyed her reputation further. At this point though she's really tempted to just beat the ever living f*ck out of Rachael and her cronies because she's not sure if her reputation at signal can get any worse than it is. She knew the school wouldn't care, and in fact it almost seemed like they encouraged the kids to compete and fight amongst each other. Something about ‘only a competitive environment can push you to your full potential.’ or some shit like that. Honestly it all just pissed Ruby off, leaving her extremely worn out at the end of the week. Now it was Saturday, she was tired from the long week and looking forward to de-stressing in her favorite spot in Vale.
Arriving at her destination she looked at the bold letters that read “Captain Comics” and entered with a happy smile. She liked hanging out here because the workers and customers were all super nice. Not to mention she was also a huge geek, liking anything that had to do with comics, anime, or weapons. She usually hung out with a group of girls that lived close by, they were typically on the bean bag chairs in the corner.
Walking in she noticed Jane at the counter, “Hey Jane! How was your week” Ruby liked Jane. She was a twenty year old college student who had dropped out after she realized she couldn't handle the pressure of school, leading her to work here. She was always really supportive of her and her dream, and it almost seemed like she didn't want Ruby to end up like her.
Jane gave Ruby a grin “Same old boring week, the new issue of Grognak the Barbarian came out though and it was amazing, you have to give it a read” she said. When ruby walked up to her they proceeded to do their secret, awesome handshake they made up over a month ago.
Finishing the handshake Jane leaned in to whisper something in Ruby's ear and Ruby, curious as to what made her act so secretive leaned in. “You gotta check out the new worker here though, he is really hot. He’s into comics and anime as well, which basically makes him a fifteen out of ten. He’s on break in the chill corner right now.”
Ruby looked over and blushed, ‘oh man, he's way out of my league’ Looking at the chill corner she saw one of the most attractive boys she's ever seen. He was alone in the corner sitting on a beanbag chair reading what looked to be some kind of comic. Jane, noticing how Ruby was blushing, smirked and pushed her over “Go introduce yourself” She whispered into her ear. Ruby made to protest but before she could the boy looked up and noticed her getting pushed over, it looked like his eyes widened briefly before he gave her a friendly smile.
Sighing, Ruby nervously walked over. She wasn't like her sister, who could confidently walk up to a boy and charm him within ten minutes. She had next to no experience with boys, most of them either dismissed her because of her looks or personality. She knew she wasn't exactly attractive like her sister, she had short stubby legs, an immature face, and was really short, standing at 5’2. Her breasts were small as well. Walking up to the boy her sister's advice rang in her ears “It's all about confidence rubes! Puff out your chest, smile confidently, and introduce yourself. Make sure to get them talking about themselves so you seem like a good listener.” Yang had also told her pick up lines worked well to break the ice and gave her one to use; ‘your eyes are like the ocean; I could swim in them all day’. She was not sure how effective saying that would be, but she trusted her sister not to lead her astray.
Seeing Ruby start to walk up to him Matt smiled. “What are the chances I meet two main characters in this short of a time frame? It was hard to hide my shock when I saw her standing at the counter” Taking in Ruby's appearance he had to admit she was really cute, with beautiful silver eyes, chin length black hair with the tips red, and an adorable looking face. Seeing how innocent she looked he found it hard to believe her main weapon was a scythe bigger than she was.
When she arrived she seemed to stick out her chest, put on a forced smile, and proceeded to butcher her introduction “Hello, my name's Rubes! I mean… uh.. It's Ruby, Rubes is just what my sister calls me, but uh… if you want you can call me that? I mean… never mind. Has anyone ever tried to swim in your eyes?” By the end of her introduction it seemed like all the wind had left her sails, leaving her with absolutely no confidence.
Matt was struggling not to laugh, it was really hard though, she was just way too adorable. Ruby, noticing Matt’s amusement only made her deflate even more, curling up into herself self consciously “Uh, never mind. I'm just gonna.. uh… leave now.” she said awkwardly, turning to the door.
Matt’s eyes widened “Wait, don't leave Ruby, take a seat. My name is Matthew but you can just call me Matt” He winked at her, trying to put her at ease. While he thought her awkwardness was cute he didn't want her feeling dejected, especially because of him.
Ruby, looking surprised, did as he said and sat on the beanbag chair across from him. It looked like she was trying to come up with something to say so Matt threw her a bone “Do you come here a lot? You seemed familiar with Jane.”
Ruby smiled shyly “Yes, I usually come here during the weekends. I like the workers and the people that hang out here” Ruby seemed relieved that they had something to talk about.
“I'm guessing you also like comics and anime?” Seeing Ruby's embarrassed nod Matt smiled “I'm also really into that, I was just starting on a new series called ‘Criminals of Eternity’, I'm really liking it so far” It was a comic about a couple that were basically Bonnie and Clyde, except they had been alive for hundreds of years and were responsible for some of the most famous heists and getaways in history. It was honestly pretty interesting.
Ruby's eyes widened, “I love that series! What part did you get to?” Ruby asked excitedly, she seemed happy that I shared her interest in anime and comics.
Talking with Ruby, time seemed to fly by and eventually he noticed his break was over. Looking down at his scroll with a frown he looked up to her apologetically, “Oh, sorry Ruby but I need to get back to the register. My break just ended.”
Ruby looked really disappointed, and as she opened her mouth to say something, Jane having overheard our conversation decided to speak up “Don't worry about it Matt, I’ll run the register for now. You can keep chatting with Ruby, just keep an eye out for any shoplifters” After saying this she sent what Matt was sure she thought was a discreet wink to Ruby.
Ruby's face lit up like a kid on Christmas, and Matt honestly found it really endearing. Smiling at Jane he thanked her and continued his conversation with Ruby, completely losing track of time and just enjoying being with her.
Ruby entered the front door of her home with a big, stupid grin on her face. The smile had not left the entire bullhead ride home. ‘I think i'm in love’ Ruby had heard of love at first sight but she didn't really believe it existed before she met Matt, the bubbling happiness she felt when talking to him could not be anything other than love.
Walking into the kitchen she noticed her big sister was back, sitting at the diner table on her scroll. Yang could honestly be described as nothing other than sexy. She had huge breasts, long blond hair, striking violet eyes, a firm ass, and was really muscular. Ruby was honestly jealous even if she pretended otherwise, it felt like she was left with the shitty genes after her sister took all the attractive ones.
Yang looked up and smiled at Ruby, getting up she walked over and brought her into a crushing hug, “Hey Rubes, I missed you sis. How was your week?” She asked.
At the reminder of her shitty week Ruby's smile dimmed a bit, before remembering the boy she just met, causing the smile to return full force. “Great”, she said dreamily.
Yang, noticing how happy Ruby seemed, became curious. “Alright, I gotta ask. What's got you smiling like that?” She questioned.
Ruby smiled shyly, “I met a boy, I think I love him Yang” her face heated up after admitting it, thinking about Matt.
While on the outside Yang was smiling and teasing Ruby, on the inside she was slightly nervous her sister got attached to someone who didn't have feelings for her, or was just leading her on. It happened to Ruby last year, a boy had pretended to like her just to mess with her and hurt Ruby. After finding out what had happened and how sad Ruby was, Yang had kicked the shit out of the boy, not caring in the slightest that she was always told all her life to never hit a boy. Although even then, Yang had never seen Ruby like someone as much as she liked this boy. She was practically gushing about how great and handsome he was. Her overprotective sister mode started to kick in ‘I might have to give this shop a visit to scope out the boy for myself. I can't let Ruby get attached to someone who won't care about her’
After Matt walked into his hotel room he laid down on his bed with a relaxed sigh. Looking at the clock he saw it was still only 4 pm, ‘Today was pretty good, Ruby is really great and I enjoyed my time with her. I’ll have to thank Jane for taking over for me.’ As he was about to head to the shower he paused as he heard a familiar ding.
For getting off your ass and completing the first day at your new job, you have been rewarded 1x uncommon gacha token.
Would you like to use it?
Yes/No
Matt stared at the screen in surprise, ‘It would have been helpful to know I have secret quests’ he thought in slight annoyance, clicking the yes button he pulled the slot machine lever, watching it spin with anticipation.
Received 10x ounces of Marijuana
Matt grinned like the cat that caught the canary ‘my night just got so much better’.