CHAPTER THIRTEEN - Love of my life, Nutella.

"Here, take these." Uncle Tobias says, handing me a glass of water and some toast. I gingerly hold the toast away from me —

"I hate toast."

He raises one brow at me.

"Eat the damn toast, you need to sober up."

"Eat the damn toast, you need to sober up." I mimic him, taking a bite from the corner of the toast. I chew down on it, hating the way it tastes.

"You're exactly like your father, god help me." He mutters under his breath, sitting down on the edge of his bed. He runs a hand over his tired face before looking at me seriously.

"Ruby, what were you thinking? You can't kiss Woody," he says sternly, his tone concerned. I drop the toast back down onto the plate and cross my arms over my chest.

"Why not? I can kiss who I want."

"Not Woody, okay? You just can't," he protests, his voice slightly rising. He blows out a deep breath, standing up and pacing the room. I frown at him, confused —

"Why can't I kiss Woody?" I say quietly, trying to understand what the problem was. "Because Ruby, you can't."

"Give me a reason!" I shoot back at him, my eyebrow raised high. I stand up and face him, my head held high. "No, I can't tell you!"

"Tell me Uncle Tobias!"

He lets out a frustrated groan, glaring at me in defeat.

"Because Ruby! He's gay." Uncle Tobias finally reveals, shoulders slumping in defeat. I stare at him in complete shock before bursting into laughter.

"Yeah, good one. Now what's the real reason?"

He simply stares back at me, his mouth set into a thin line. "That is the real reason."

"Holy fucking shit, he kissed me!" I yell, unable to believe him.

"I know," Uncle Tobias said bluntly, frowning unhappily. It finally dawned on me what Woody's intentions were — "Is he stringing me along? Is he trying to mess with my feelings?" I asked angrily.

"Calm down Ruby."

"Why did he kiss me? Why did he act like he was into me? Why is every boy I come into contact with a complete and utter dickhead? Fuck, fuck, fuck!" I swear repeatedly, pacing up and down beside the bed.

"Just how many boys has there been?" Uncle Tobias says sternly, holding me still by my shoulders. I swat his hand off me, rolling my eyes.

"It doesn't matter. I seem to attract idiots, okay?" I shake my head angrily at myself, storming out of Uncle Tobias' room.

"Where are you going?" He yells after me.

"To bed so I can sleep for a hundred years!" I yell back at him, slamming my door shut. I flop down onto the bed and spin around, grabbing the pillow before screaming into it.

"What the hell is wrong with me?" I mutter, cuddling further into the sea of blankets and sheets. It isn't long until my eyes are fluttering closed, the alcohol finally causing me to drift into a deep sleep.

*****

I wake up the next morning suffering from the worlds biggest headache. I groan and roll out of bed, narrowly skimming the wall as I almost crash into it. I reach for my bag and pull out a set of clean clothes along with my toothbrush.

As I'm walking to the bathroom, I lazily hold the toothbrush up as a microphone, singing into it. "Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me..."

Last nights events come soaring back to me and I groan louder, running my free hand through my dark hair.

"When will Ruby Wentworth find actual love, who knows? When will Ruby Wentworth find her parents, who knows?" I mumble to myself. I decide to push the love problem aside for now as my parents are still missing and I'm still angry as hell about it. I think about where they are now, if either of them are hurt. . .

"Ruby, breakfast is on the side. You need to be ready in ten minutes." Uncle Tobias yells down the hallway, scaring me half to death. I jump in surprise and shoot him a sleepy glare.

"Can you tone it down? I'm feeling extremely fragile today." I tell him. It earns me a smug I told you so look from him and I roll my eyes, shutting the bathroom door so I don't have to look at him anymore.

"Ten minutes kiddo!"

"Okay! Quit yelling!" I respond, clutching my head dramatically.

*****

"What is this? Ew," I grimace, clutching the glass filled with brown-green gunk. Uncle Tobias is currently drinking an identical one, his almost halfway gone.

"It's a protein smoothie. Drink it."

"Id rather vomit and drink my own sick," I shudder, placing the glass back down. He scrunches his face up in disgust and I chuckle under my breath as I search through the contents of his kitchen. The fridge is filled with nothing other than chicken, eggs and vegetables.

"Where's the Nutella?" I ask him, a mild panic attack beginning to form inside my chest.

"You're not having Nutella for your breakfast Ruby." He says firmly however hands me the jar. It's sealed and I grin widely at him, holding it up. The panic inside of me completely dissolves now that the love of my god damn life is firmly in my hands.

"Did you buy this especially for me?" "Yep."

"Brownie points for Uncle T." I cheer, ripping off the lid and seal. I search for a spoon and dig out a big chunk before devouring it. The entire time, he watches me with a disgusted expression, clutching his crazy health smoothie.

"We should talk about last night." He says, his tone becoming serious. I go in for a second spoonful and shrug my shoulders, brushing it off.

"What is there to talk about? I kind of liked Woody and I thought he kind of liked me. He kissed me but it turns out he's really gay. Big whoop, let's move on."

"You kind of liked him?" Uncle Tobias questions and I nod, leaning back against the fridge.

"I guess I didn't really know him well enough. I need to stop jumping into things when I don't really know what I want yet. I need to be absolutely sure because otherwise, I end up hurt and confused." I say truthfully, my voice becoming quieter and quieter. I watch as his eyes widen slightly and he nods his head slowly —

"That's actually very mature. Good job kiddo." I shoot him a smile —

"Thanks. Now, we should get to work on finding Mum and Dad." I say, putting the lid back on the Nutella and storing it somewhere safe. I make a mental note of where it is incase I suddenly get another craving for it.

"I have a few leads but when I've looked into them, they fizzle out into nothing." Uncle Tobias says darkly, his eyebrows burrowed together in distress. I inhale deeply and turn towards him.

"What about Jane? I heard she's a pretty big psycho."

At the mention of my uncles ex girlfriend, he pauses, his entire body freezing. I watch as his eyes turn a shade darker, his shoulders tensing up.

"Jane is in jail."

"Is there anyone on the outside she might be working with? Is there any chance she might have been released earlier?" I mumble and Uncle Tobias shakes his head confidently.

"She's behind bars for life Ruby, it's not her."

I let out a deep breath, grateful to be able to move on. From what I've heard, Jane really messed things up for my family, the bitch. From the pain flashing through my uncles eyes, I know she messed him up pretty badly too.

"Okay, next suspect." I say, thinking hard about everything I know about my parents past. Uncle Tobias searches through his pockets before emerging with a phone. He looks at me and back down at his phone several times —

"What is it?" I ask him quietly. He pauses for a few moments before responding, his voice quiet. "I think it's time we call Ivory."

"Auntie Ivory." I repeat, my voice a hushed whisper. He simply nods at me in response.