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I'm reading in my room when there's a knock on my door. "Come in!" I call out to them as I put my book down. The door fully opens and I am greeted by Ms. Sullivan. "Oh hello, is something wrong?" I ask her, concerned. "Oh no, nothing's wrong. It's just that I forgot I was meeting up with a friend today and with Oliver out of the house for now, I need someone to watch Ruby. Do you think you can?" Ms. Sullivan asks. "Oh, well yes I can!" I answer, smiling. "Thank you so much, Iris! This means a lot to me! I'll ask Oliver to come home soon to help you take care of Ruby." Ms.Sullivan tells me.

I shake my head. "No, you don't have to. I can take care of her myself, also, I don't want to disturb him." I say. Cause if I do he'll beat the crap out of me..She smiles at me. "I'm glad you care but, I wouldn't want to leave you alone with Ruby." She says. "Hey!" I hear Ruby exclaim, offended. I laugh a bit and so does Ms.Sullivan. "Well, I'll be off now. Again, thank you so much!" Ms.Sullivan says and starts to leave. "Have fun!" I call out to her. "Thank you, I will!" She calls back and leaves.

Ruby comes up to me. "Want to have a tea party with me and my teddy bears?" Ruby asks me, her eyes wide and full of hope. How can I say no to her? I smile at her. "Can Snuggles come to?" I ask her, playing along. She gasps and smiles excitedly. "The more the merrier!" Ruby exclaims. I laugh a little. "Let me get him." I say. After I grab Snuggles, we go to Ruby's room and I see that she already has everything set up.

"Sit here, Iris! Snuggles can sit right here!" Ruby exclaims, pointing to two seats next to each other. I sit in one and place Snuggles in the other. Ruby takes her seat and pours fake tea into my cup, Snuggles' cup, her teddy bears' cups, and her own cup. Ruby holds up her cup, her pinkie out, and pretends to take a sip. Now all we need are the fake scones. I chuckle silently to myself. Then Ruby looks at me expectantly. I pick up the cup and pretend to take a sip. Ruby gasps and then smiles.

All of a sudden, we hear the downstairs door being opened then closed. Ruby and I share a terrified look. Then the footsteps begin running up the stairs. Ruby whimpers in fear, runs over to me, and buries her face into my back. I get myself ready mentally and physically. The door slams open from it being kicked open and Oliver runs in. Ruby hasn't looked up from burying her face in my back.

"You scared the poor girl!" I exclaim. His eyes widen for a second and he walks over to us. "Oh no....Ruby, it's just me. Your bro-bro." Oliver says to her in a calming tone, smiling at her. Ruby looks up, a few tears in her eyes and she sniffles. Aww, poor thing. "Oliver?" She says. Oliver nods and wipes her tears. Ruby sniffles again and Oliver picks her up. "Come on Ruby, don't cry. I'll give you all the ice cream you want, I'll even take you to the park." Oliver tells her. I smile at the relationship between the two. Ruby wipes the rest of her tears. "You will?" She asks. "Mhmm." Oliver says, nodding. Ruby smiles at this. Oliver smiles next. "There's the smile I wanted to see." Oliver says to her. Ruby giggles and Oliver puts her down.

Oliver looks at the table, then Ruby, then me. "I guess you two were having a tea party?" He asks. Ruby and I nod. "Well I hope someone brought the scones cause I'm hungry!" Oliver exclaims, sitting in a seat next to me. "Wait! I thought you were taking me to the park?" Ruby asks him. Oliver sighs and looks at her. "Fine, go put on your shoes." Oliver tells her. Ruby smiles and runs to put on her shoes.

Oliver looks at me. "Well howzabout it, nerd? Want to come to the park with us?" Oliver asks me. I roll my eyes at the name. "Sure, I don't have anything else to do anyway." I say, shrugging. "Alright, I'll be waiting outside." Oliver says. Instead of walking out the door like a normal person, he jumps out Ruby's window. My eyes widen and I rush to the window. "Oliver?! Are you alright?!" I call. He may be a jerk but he's still a human...at least, I think so. I hear someone laugh. "Awww, you do care." Oliver says from outside. I roll my eyes. "Ugh, whatever Sullivan." I say and go to put on my sneakers.

Once Ruby and I put on our shoes, we walk outside to Oliver who's on his phone. "We're ready!" Ruby exclaims, excited. Oliver looks up from his phone and at us, he smiles. "Lets go then." Oliver says and we begin walking to the park.

••••••••••••••Oliver's POV••••••••••••••••

We arrive at the park, immediately Ruby takes off to the slides. I chuckle at her actions. I notice some people around me watch me intently, I just glare at them and they turn away. "So, are you always like this with Ruby?" Nerd asks me. I smile at the thought and look at her. "Yes, yes I am." I reply, smirking. She shudders. "What's wrong?" I ask, raising an eyebrow. "You! I can't believe it! Are you bipolar or something?" She asks me, eyeing me curiously. "No....maybe? I don't know! Just don't tell anyone, okay?" I tell her. She nods slowly. She always does as she's told....maybe I should ask her for tickets to the next football game. I spot an empty bench at the park. "Lets sit there." I say, pointing to the bench. She looks over to where I pointed and nods.

We begin walking over to there. Then, out of the corner of my eye, I notice some shady looking guys eyeing us....specifically, nerd. I roll my eyes. Poor nerd...poor small, naive, gullible nerd.. I glance at her. I won't be surprised if she gets kidnapped one day. I sigh and remember my promise. I hesitate before putting my arm around her shoulder, she tenses up and it takes a while for her to relax. Geez, am I that bad? The guys look at me and I shoot them a glare, they look away obviously annoyed.

We get to the bench and sit down, that's when I notice....nerd's cheeks are red. "Nerd, are you blushing?" I ask her, surprised. I've never seen nerd blush before...probably because when I put glue on her chair, she's mad. She shakes her head furiously. "N-no....maybe....yes.." she says, giving up on her lie. I chuckle, removing my arm from her shoulder. "If you we're uncomfortable, you could've just said so. Besides, those guys were staring at you. If it weren't for me, you'd probably be unconscious in a van far away from here." I tell her, smirking. "Excuse you, but I can handle myself, thank you very much!" Nerd exclaims, her blush dying down. "Yes, cause telling them to 'fudge off' would work." I say, laughing and referring to what happened with her and Addison. I shudder at the thought of Addison. Iris smacks my arm...it didn't hurt...at all. "Um...ow?" I respond, unsure of how to act. "That was different!" Iris exclaims, looking away from me. "Right, my bad." I say, sarcastically.

My phone vibrates and I check to see it's a text from Adam in our group chat with Lucas and Ross. He's just asking about the homework. Then I remember. "Hey nerd, do you have your phone on you?" I ask, looking at her. She looks back at me, confused. "Yeah, why?" She asks. "I need to give you my number." I say. She raises an eyebrow. "The bad boy wants to give me his number?" She asks. I sigh. "Do you have to bring that up all the time? It's just for emergencies only!" I say. She sighs and hands me her phone. It's already opened to contacts so I put my number in with the contact name 'The Hottest Person In The World'. I hand her her phone back and she laughs. "Yeah right." She mumbles. Then I allow her to put her number in my phone and she names herself 'The Greatest Person In The Universe'. I snort. "Yeah right." I mumble, copying her purposely. She shoots me a glare and I laugh.

"I'm gonna go check in Ruby." She tells me. "I'll come with." I say, sliding my phone into my pocket. We both get up and look for Ruby. We find her by the swing set with another girl her age. Ruby notices us approach. "Don't you think so?" Ruby asks the girl, gesturing to us. Nerd and I exchange a confused glance. What the hell are they talking about? The girl nods. "What are you talking about?" I ask. This time, Ruby and the girl exchange a glance and then smile innocently. "Oh, nothing~" Ruby replied. Then they run off, giggling.

"That was weird." Nerd says. "Yeah, no kidding." I reply. "What do you think they were talking about?" Nerd asks me. I shrug. "Not sure. I do know it was about us though." I say. I glance at Iris, she's already eyeing me, then I look at her. "What?" I ask her, confused. She shakes her head. "It's nothing." She says. "It doesn't seem like nothing. What's up?" I ask again. "Maybe she meant-" nerd was cut off by the sound of the ice cream truck.

Ruby runs over. "Bro-bro, can I get ice cream?!" She asks, excited. I notice nerd smile and I look down at Ruby, smiling also. "What flavor?" I ask her. She smiles wide. "Strawberry!" She exclaims and runs to the ice cream truck. I chuckle at her then I turn to nerd. "Do you want anything?" I ask her. Oh no....nerd is right, I am a soft marshmallow. "Uh, yeah sure." She says, surprised. I'd be surprised too, I don't normally do this. "Okay, thanks for treating us." I say, smirking. Nerd laughs and shakes her head. "I should've known." She says. I laugh a bit. "I'm just kidding, lets go." I say and put an arm around her shoulder, walking with her to the ice cream truck. .......why am I doing this? Why is she different then others? I can act myself around her. Sure, I'm still an asshole but I'm still pretty caring and always joke around too. Maybe I am Brad from another dimension...

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Heyo!! I know this chapter came out late...well, at least where I am..and I'm sorry! I didn't have time to do it earlier or yesterday. But anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and if you did please like, comment, and give feedback! Bye bye💖

~FT