The Rules of Engagement: A Lesbian Romance (Rulebook Book 2)

by Cara Malone

  Her phone buzzed in her hand a few minutes later and she saw that Mira was calling her. With a groan, Max picked it up.

  “Hey,” Mira said. “I just got off work and I’m driving so I can’t text. Are you free to talk?”

  “Umm, sure,” Max said. At least it would give her a few minutes’ reprieve from thinking about Ruby and Megan.

  “Well, I didn’t enjoy it, for the record,” Mira said, and it took Max a moment to realize she was referring to the patron from her text message. “I was being sarcastic, and I hope I never see that guy again because I don’t think I could look him in the eyes after that. Anyway, what’s up with you? Is Ruby still there?”

  “No,” Max said. She wasn’t going to mention her jealous fit this morning – she was starting to feel genuinely embarrassed by the way she reacted – but when she opened her mouth to say something non-committal, every insecurity she’d had since the beginning of the summer suddenly poured out of her. Mira was the only person she’d ever spoken to frankly about this sort of thing, and suddenly it seemed like she had to tell someone or else she’d fall apart. “I think I’m pushing her away.”

  Max told Mira about how good their week was, and how Ruby had even asked about the ring in a way that gave Max hope, and then she told her about the yoga instructor who was definitely putting the moves on Ruby, and how helpless she felt every time Megan’s name made its way into a conversation. She told her about hearing Megan on the phone this morning and how she’d spent the rest of the day trying not to think about Ruby coming home to Megan just sitting around the house, waiting for her.

  “It’s only a matter of time before Ruby realizes that she chose wrong,” Max said. “And if she doesn’t go back to Megan, then it’ll be someone else. I can’t keep her happy in a dorm room for her whole life. I mean, she practically lives at the yoga studio all year, and I don’t know how I’m supposed to compete with gorgeous women in silky yoga pants touching her and correcting her form every week.”

  “I’m sure it’s nothing,” Mira said. “They do that to everyone.”

  “She put her hands on Ruby’s hips right in front of me,” Max said.

  “That’s just part of the class,” Mira said, echoing the same reassurance that Ruby had given Max after the class had let out. “Besides, there are about fifteen different instructors at that studio and as far as I know, only one of them is gay.”

  “Her name was Tracy,” Max said, clenching her jaw at the memory of her hands on Ruby.

  Mira snorted and said, “Oh shit, she’s hella gay.”

  “Great,” Max said, tunneling deeper under the blankets. She was hoping to get some comfort out of Mira, or at least a few minutes’ distraction, and this conversation was going worse than she could have imagined. “What am I supposed to do here?”

  “You’re going to have to go down there and beat her up,” Mira said. “Show her who the alpha dog is.”

  “Really?” Max asked. She’d never hit anyone before and the idea of any kind of confrontation – physical or otherwise – made her feel a little sick.

  “No!” Mira said loudly. “Max, I was joking!”

  “Don’t joke with me,” Max said indignantly. “Especially not on the phone.”

  “I’m sorry,” Mira answered. “Look, Tracy’s sexual orientation isn’t what matters here. Ruby has never given you a reason to believe she’s been unfaithful, has she?”

  “No.”

  “That’s because she loves you and the two of you are in a committed relationship,” Mira said. “You have to trust her, and give her a little credit. She’s a big girl and she can handle all the Tracys and the Megans of the world. She chose you, Max.”

  Max sighed, flipping her blanket off her face. It was getting too hot under there, and she had to come up for air. They talked for a few minutes about Mira’s latest library war stories, and then Max hung up, resolved to call Ruby – or at least text her – to explain her behavior this morning.

  CHAPTER 17

  It was past two when Ruby finally got to Chicago, after a couple quick pit stops to refuel and re-energize. She was tired from the drive and fluctuating between concern and irritation with every mile away from Granville that she drove without hearing from Max. She hadn’t spoken to her since they went to sleep last night, and she hadn’t answered a single one of Ruby’s messages. Ruby had no idea what went wrong, but she knew Max must be upset about something.

  When she got home, Ruby planned to go upstairs and give Max another call. She should have been home from work by then, and able to read the texts and the note that Ruby left her. She went inside, expecting the house to be empty, but instead she heard the sounds of people in the pool, the diving board springing. Ruby dropped her bag in the foyer and went outside, expecting to find Jade and Celeste. She’d just let them know she was home, then go upstairs to make that call.

  Jade was laying on a lounge chair by the pool, soaking up the sun and lazily sipping from a bottle of lemon water, and Celeste was floating on her back in the water.

  “Hey,” Ruby said to her sister. “Miss me?”

  “Hell no,” Jade said with a laugh. “Why, did you miss me?”

  “So much that I-” Ruby was about to make a joke about driving through six hours of traffic to get to her, but her eyes went to the water as a head full of curly red hair surfaced. “What’s Megan doing here?”

  She said it rather abruptly and all three of them looked at her with a touch of surprise.

  “That’s not very nice,” Jade said.

  “Hey Ruby,” Megan said. “I just came over to swim. We’ve been having a lazy day.”

  “Have you been here all day?” Ruby asked.

  She was starting to connect the dots in her head, and she remembered hearing Megan in the background of her call with her father this morning. It had been so unremarkable at the time that she’d barely even registered Megan’s presence there. They had so many sleepovers as kids that Megan almost seemed like a fixture in the Satterwhite house, but now Ruby wondered if Max might have heard her this morning. It would certainly explain her behavior.

  “Yeah, is that a problem?” Megan asked, looking genuinely confused by Ruby’s reaction.

  “Yes, actually,” Ruby said, suddenly feeling irritated. Megan was the common denominator in every one of her tense moments with Max this summer, and she was sick of having to deal with the same problem over and over again. “Can we talk?”

  “Umm,” Megan said, glancing toward Jade and then Celeste, who was reaching for a pool noodle and trying to act like she wasn’t listening to their conversation. “Sure.”

  Ruby didn’t wait for Megan to swim over to the edge of the pool. She turned and went into the kitchen to wait for her, pulling her phone out of her pocket in the meantime to send Max yet another message.

  Are you upset that Megan was at the house this morning? Please don’t be – I had no idea she would be here and I’m talking to her about it right now.

  Megan came into the kitchen with a towel wrapped around her, dripping water from her hair and bathing suit on the tile. She asked, “What’s wrong?”

  She looked genuinely concerned, and that made Ruby even more irritated. What right did she have to feel concerned about Ruby when she was screwing up her relationship with Max by hanging around like this?

  “What are you doing here?” Ruby asked, struggling not to yell.

  “Swimming,” Megan said. “I’m sorry. We thought we’d have the house to ourselves until later in the afternoon. Ru-ru, what’s the big deal? I’ve swam here a million times.”

  “We’re not together anymore,” Ruby said in frustration, throwing up her hands. “You’re hanging around my parents’ house when I’m not home, making friends with my kid sister. You’ve spent the entire summer infiltrating my family and making my girlfriend jealous. You’re fucking up my life, Megan.”

  “Whoa,” Megan answered. “Hold on a minute.”

  “What?” Ruby snapped. She didn’
t want to hold on. She wanted to go upstairs and call Max again, and start the process of smoothing things over after a negative interaction with Megan… again.

  “I’m not trying to mess anything up for you,” Megan started to object, but Ruby wouldn’t let her continue.

  “Why are you here, then?” she yelled.

  It occurred to her that the kitchen windows weren’t so thick as to be soundproof, and the other girls could probably hear them fighting. It didn’t matter. If they wanted to listen, Ruby didn’t care.

  “I’m seeing Celeste!” Megan shouted back, exasperated.

  “What?” Ruby asked, taken aback. “You are?”

  Of all the possible answers Megan might have had, this was not one Ruby had anticipated.

  “Yeah,” Megan answered, quieter now that Ruby had calmed down. “Remember the girl I mentioned when I brought over smoothies?”

  Suddenly Ruby felt like a jackass.

  “You’re not just hanging around my house for the hell of it. You’re dating my sister’s friend,” Ruby said. It seemed obvious now – the way they were always near each other whenever they were in a room together. “Shit.”

  “It’s just a summer fling,” Megan said apologetically.

  “Great,” Ruby said with an ironic little laugh. “You’re just here to get your fingers wet and my relationship’s getting ruined in the process. Thanks, Megs.”

  She turned to go upstairs, intent on trying to get ahold of Max again and wondering whether this new revelation would do anything to allay her jealousy, but Megan stopped her.

  “Wait, that’s not fair,” she said. Ruby turned around and gave her a withering look as Megan added, “You have to be responsible for your own relationship. You can’t just pass that off on me because your girlfriend is the jealous type.”

  “Fuck you,” Ruby said. “Maybe my girlfriend wouldn’t be jealous if my ex wasn’t constantly hanging around my house.”

  She went upstairs, snatching up her bag at the foot of the stairs in the process, and went into her room to dial Max again.

  This time, to Ruby’s surprise, Max actually answered.

  “I’m sorry I left without saying goodbye,” Max said in lieu of hello, taking Ruby off-guard. “I overheard your conversation this morning and thought I heard Megan at your house, and it upset me.”

  “Well, you weren’t wrong,” Ruby said with a sigh, walking back and forth across her bedroom while she filled Max in on what she’d just learned about Megan and Celeste. She didn’t know if it would actually make Max feel better, but at least it was an explanation for her presence at the house.

  They talked for a little bit longer than Max could usually be coaxed to stay on the phone, and by the end of the call, she didn’t really sound happy, but she didn’t sound upset, either. Ruby did her best to convey the anger and irritation she felt about Megan’s disruptive effects on their relationship so that Max would understand that she wasn’t eager to have Megan hanging around for the rest of the summer, and then they parted with a round of ‘I love you’s and Ruby collapsed onto her bed.

  It was another crisis averted, but she was really looking forward to getting back to Granville and starting the fall semester so that she could leave all of this summer drama behind. She closed her eyes for a little while, tired from the long drive home, and the next time she opened them, Megan was standing in her open doorway, knocking on the frame.

  “What?” Ruby asked abruptly, sitting up to regard her.

  “I just wanted to apologize,” Megan said, inching a little way into the room. “I felt attacked earlier and I think I was a little unfair in my assessment of the problem. If the tables were turned, I’d probably be reacting the same way you are, and I wouldn’t want an ex-girlfriend threatening my new relationship. If I really am fucking up your life, then tell me to get lost and I’ll happily step back.”

  “You’d get lost for me?” Ruby asked.

  “Of course,” Megan answered. “We may not be in love anymore, but I’m always going to care about you as a friend, and if Max is the one for you, then I would hate to stand in the way of that.”

  The one for you… Ruby let those words echo in her mind for a minute, and then said, “Okay.”

  “Okay, what?”

  “Okay, get lost,” Ruby answered with a smile. Max was the one. Megan turned around and started for the door, and Ruby called, “I’m sorry, too.”

  Megan turned around, and Ruby gave her an apologetic look.

  “What I said was harsh, and it was pretty self-centered of me not to notice that you and Celeste were seeing each other,” she said.

  “Well, we ordered Chinese,” Megan said. “What do you say we bury the hatchet with some orange chicken? It’s not exactly an olive branch, but we do have fried rice.”

  “I shouldn’t,” Ruby said.

  “Come on, I bet you haven’t eaten all day,” Megan said.

  “Not true,” Ruby countered. “I had a very stale muffin from a gas station in Indianapolis.”

  Megan laughed, then came over and grabbed Ruby’s hand, pulling her off the bed. “Jade and Celeste can vouch for the fact that you and I will sit on completely opposite sides of the table and be the most platonic two people have ever been. Come downstairs, Ru-Ru.”

  “Okay,” Ruby said. “But don’t call me that anymore.”

  It was her college nickname, something that Megan created freshman year as an ironic response to Ruby’s desire to pledge Delta Zeta. Somewhere along the line it had become a term of endearment, and she’d outgrown it now.

  Megan nodded and said, “Ruby it is.”

  “Thanks,” Ruby answered, following Megan out of her room. They went downstairs, and from the kitchen windows she could see Celeste was climbing out of the pool to towel off while Jade was setting out the food on one of the tables. Remembering what Megan said at the beginning of the summer when she brought smoothies over to treat Ruby’s hangover, she nudged Megan with her elbow and asked, “So she’s straight, huh?”

  “Not so much anymore,” Megan said.

  “Good luck with that,” Ruby said with a laugh.

  ***

  Ruby and Max, along with thirty thousand other students, returned to Granville State University in August. They had new dorm assignments this year, and last fall Ruby and Max had chosen to share an apartment instead of maintaining separate living arrangements. It only seemed logical since they hardly ever slept apart the previous year, and after their tumultuous summer, Ruby hoped that they were doing well enough to make this a good decision.

  She arrived on campus before Max, her Fusion packed full of everything she would need for her second year of library school. Their new dorm was on the second floor, down the hall from her apartment the previous year, and she carried her bags into Founders Hall one load at a time while the rest of the student body was busy doing the same all across campus. Ruby was on her third trip from her car, breathing heavy and hauling a pair of duffel bags full of clothes up the stairs, when Max, Nick, and Janet arrived.

  “Hey, baby,” Ruby said, dropping her bags in the hallway and throwing her arms around Max. “I missed you so much. How was the rest of your summer?”

  “Mostly uneventful,” Max answered, grabbing Ruby’s bags off the floor and moving them out of the way as a few more graduate students – faces Ruby didn’t recognize – walked down the hall and stepped around them. “We spent all of last week resodding the high school’s front lawn after a bunch of new seniors decided to do donuts on it in their cars.”

  “Wow,” Ruby said with a nod to Nick. “Sounds like grad school is going to be a vacation. Did the restaurant we worked on have their grand opening?”

  “Sure did,” Nick said. “Janet and I went to the soft open and those boxwoods you two planted are looking really nice. You and Max should go there for dinner sometime.”

  Nick looked even more sun-weathered since the last time Ruby had seen him, and Max was equally tanned and fit. It was obvious tha
t they’d been working hard for the past few weeks.

  “That sounds like a great idea,” Ruby said.

  “Which one’s ours?” Max asked, picking up Ruby’s bags again. She hated the feeling of being in the way, and loitering in the hall like this would certainly be an annoyance for her.

  Ruby smiled and pointed toward an open door halfway down the hall. “That one.”

  The four of them went into the apartment, Nick and Janet carrying some of Max’s things and Ruby just following behind Max as she hauled Ruby’s clothes in and set them on the bed. Then Max’s parents headed back down to the truck to grab another load, and Ruby snagged Max by the belt and pulled her into a kiss.

  She had been a little hard to convince after their last fight over Megan, but for the most part, she seemed to have come around to the truth that Ruby’s ex was no threat to her. In fact, Megan had been true to her word after that day in July, staying away from the house – and Ruby – for the rest of the summer. She would meet Celeste and Jade at clubs in the city, or pick Celeste up and take her to Evanston, and she gave Ruby the space she needed to make sure Max felt secure.

  Ruby wrapped her arms around Max now, hugging her tight, and murmured in her ear, “I’m going to do such incredibly dirty things to you the minute your parents are gone.”

  Then she pulled away, gave Max a teasing look, and skipped down the hall to grab another couple of bags from her car. Max followed, looking tortured, and the four of them got the girls moved into their new apartment. Nick helped Ruby with her things while Janet and Max unloaded his work truck, and this made the task go much quicker, with half as many panting trips up and down the stairs.

  They got both of the cars unloaded in about an hour and a half, and then Janet puttered around with Max’s luggage, taking clothes out of bags and folding them neatly to be put away while Max shot Ruby impatient glances.

  “Do you girls want to get something to eat?” Nick asked. “We could go out to dinner, maybe let Ruby try that new restaurant.”