The Air I Breathe (Student x Teacher)

Chapter One: Ruby and James.

Never in her life, had someone taken Ruby's breath away.

The man standing out in the rain wearing a fitted black suit was the first to manage that; he looked like a heavenly funeral mourner, as if the beauty of death had a human face. She swore that his sorrowful aura was what called upon the storm and the destructive hail, which was reflected within his hollow eyes.

His allure was of the stars, ethereal and otherworldly, it was enough for her to question if he was real. It was as if he had been sculpted to perfection by the most talented of artists, his features soft yet masculine, and she didn't know how someone could look so dangerous yet serenely beautiful all the same.

He triggered her fight or flight response, but all she could do was stand there stupidly, gazing up at him with a slightly opened mouth.

Love at first sight was a ridiculous notion to her, but not in that moment, her scrambled mind made her feel as if that was what she was truly experiencing; all because the attractive stranger caused thunder to quake within her, simply by staring into his silver eyes with ones of gold.

"Thank you, I appreciate it." She repeated, but her voice sounded far away, as she was too taken by the deity-like man before her to process what she'd said.

All too suddenly, it was as if she was snapped out of her stoic state of being.

The corner of his lip tilted up at her reaction to him, as if it was a usual occurrence for him to receive such a powerful response from others, and she didn't doubt it. Ruby knew her face was red, she could feel it burning even in the harsh wind, which finally caused her to tear her eyes away and look down at the ground.

Why am I blushing?  She asked herself, since she couldn't remember the last time she'd blushed.

"No problem," He replied kindly, and as Ruby came back down to earth, her jaw dropped over how deep his voice was now that she was truly listening. He didn't have a baritone voice, he was definitely a bass, because he had the deepest and roughest voice she'd ever heard. "I'm sorry, but I couldn't help but overhear you and your friend. I don't think it'll be a problem if we seek shelter inside the center until the storm calms, if that's alright with you, of course."

Ruby's blush intensified when she realized he was referring to the fact that she was a patient, "I'm not sure how I feel about going back into that hellhole right now."

God, he knows I'm a f*****g addict.

She turned to look at the gazebo to their right, which was placed in the middle of a garden for patients to use in their free time. Her mind wasn't thinking straight as she nodded towards it, suggesting they seek shelter there instead, where no one would be able to see them and he could do anything he wanted with her.

He definitely could, since he stood tall and strong, like a looming oak tree that'd been alive for a thousand years; the stranger had a body like a gladiator, and he could very easily overpower her.

Whatever, it wasn't like she was opposed to dying anyway.

"Gazebo it is, then." The stranger acknowledged, before beginning to walk towards the wooden structure with the girl in tow, but stopping in his tracks when she released a monotonous ow. He turned to look at her and saw that a piece of hail had struck her arm, causing a red welt to form, but she didn't look the least bit pained. "Are you okay?"

She nodded, "Yeah, I'm okay."

A look of realization crossed his face, she'd definitely get struck more than a couple of times by the time they reached the gazebo, since the umbrella wasn't big enough for the both of them.

He gave her an apologetic smile and she smiled sheepishly when he raised his arm, which she tucked herself under gladly, thinking he was offering her his protection; plus, she wasn't going to deny being held by the most attractive man she'd ever laid eyes on.

That was when his laugh rang out, more thunderous than the storm, hoarse and unnatural: it was as if he hadn't laughed in a long time, and forgot how. A smile slapped itself across Ruby's face despite her confusion, because he didn't have a laugh as attractive as himself, it was very... silly in a way, and it broke his statuesque appearance.

"I have an extra umbrella strapped to this one," He said, pointing at a little bulge strapped to the pole of his umbrella. "I was going to give you that one, but I guess this works."

If Ruby's face had been red before, it was almost purple now, and it didn't help that he settled his arm around her shoulders, shielding her from the hail successfully since she'd literally pressed herself to his side. It felt warm and heavy around her, strong and reassuring, providing a sense of security despite the fact he could literally break her in half if he wanted to. 

He was the largest man she'd ever met, she felt like a toddler by his side.

They began to walk towards the gazebo, and surprisingly, it wasn't awkward.

"Um, my name is Ruby... Ruby Mendes." Ruby began, looking up at the stranger with a grin, feeling herself slowly return to normal. "Thought I should let you know, since I basically just threw myself at you."

"Ruby." He repeated, thoughtful, as if her name held some type of significance. "I'm James."

That was too much of a common name for someone like him, Ruby had pictured him having a unique or exotic name since he didn't look to be from around here. It was basic, there was millions of James' in the continental US, it was the first most common name and it certainly didn't suit him.

"James." Ruby repeated, just as he had her name, shaking her head slightly. "You don't look like a James, I would've guessed something a little more... spicy."

He chuckled and shook his head at the blunt girl, "Well, it wasn't a name I was born with, my parents changed it when they adopted me."

"Oh!" Ruby exclaimed, almost a bit too enthusiastically. "What was your original name?"

"Santiago." He breathed, a smile settling onto his face, uplifting his somber aura for just a moment. Immediately, Ruby could tell he identified with this name more, something about saying it made him appear content.

Santiago suited him, and even though he had a light complexion, there was something latin about him that she could not place. She wondered if he spoke Spanish, his birth name had rolled off his tongue fluently and without an American accent, and with a name like that she didn't doubt that he descended from a Spanish speaking country. As she eyed him, she decided he definitely had Latin American roots, judging by his thick hair and eyebrows which were almost black in color. His features weren't caucasian, nothing about him was, even though that's what one would think upon first glance.

"Santiago." Ruby chirped, as if that name tasted a lot better on her tongue than the one he had now. "That suits you much better, now... mind introducing yourself, again?"

He gave her a smile, "I'm Santiago Arian Villalba, and it's nice to meet you...  Ruby Mendes."

Ruby returned that smile, "Likewise, Santiago."

"I feared I would never be called that, again." He sighed, almost in relief, and Ruby swore his face lit up like the sun when he looked down at her. It was a much better look on him to smile although it seemed misplaced, as if he didn't do it often or it didn't belong there, it was almost like watching the angel of death try to smile.

He had dimples that matched her own, and they brought a childlike quality to him despite the fact he was probably in his mid-twenties and looked like he could kill a man with his bare hands. 

"Why?" Ruby asked, frowning.

"My sister was the only one who called me by my birth name and always has." He replied without hesitation, looking back at the funeral home that sat next to the rehab center. At this, Ruby's heart dropped to the pit of her stomach, realizing why he was in a black suit, and she didn't know how she hadn't noticed until now.

His sister had passed, and he was fresh out of her funeral service... wasn't he? That'd explain the cloud of depression hanging over him, the sad and tormented look in his eyes, and the extreme pain he seemed to be in.

The only person she'd ever met that seemed as broken as her, was him. She could see how shattered he was, and when they looked into each others eyes, she knew he could see the same hollow within her because it was also within him.

"I'm really sorry," She murmured, her hand reaching up to rest against his forearm before giving a comforting squeeze. "Has she given you any signs that she's right here with you?"

James immediately looked away, but not before she saw his lip quiver, and she hated herself for making him break with her careless words. Before she could apologize, he gave a barely audible yes, but didn't offer any explanations. She immediately dropped the topic, letting her hand fall to her side, she didn't want to make him more uncomfortable that he already seemed to be.

Why did she have to be such a blabber mouth? 

"Where are you originally from?" Ruby asked, never having had a filter, she always said what she meant and she couldn't control her bluntness no matter how hard she tried; and right now, she was definitely trying. "Santiago Arian Villalba is a Spanish European name, but you don't look like a Spaniard man."

"You make a lot of assumptions about me, and so far they've all been correct." James said, giving her what one would barely even consider a smile. But Ruby knew that was the most he could offer, and she beamed up at him, which caused it to widen for just a moment. "I was born in Argentina, and at seven I was adopted and brought to the states with my sister."

"Oh! Does that mean you speak Spanish?" Ruby asked curiously, James didn't know why he was entertaining the girl with information about him when he was quite good at pushing others away and avoiding questions.

"Yes, I speak four of the romance languages: Spanish, Portuguese, French, and Italian."

"That's impressive, I'm a polyglot as well but I don't speak those useful and common languages." Ruby said, without telling him what languages were the ones she spoke. It made him curious, and it wasn't long before he was also asking for information on the quirky girl.

"What do you speak?"

"English, obviously." She giggled, wiping away the raindrops from her eyes before looking up at him for a moment. "But it isn't my first language or even my second: Spanish is my first language, Nahuatl my second, English my third, and Sioux my fourth."

"I understand Italian perfectly but can't really speak it."

"That's also very impressive, and I'm guessing your ethnicity is Mexican?" James asked, truly impressed, since two of those languages were ones that not a lot of people knew how to speak. They were native tongues, one belonging to a couple native tribes of the United States and the other to the Uto-Aztec people of central America.

"Yes, I'm Mexican and a US Native." Ruby said nonchalantly.

He nodded, "I studied the Nahuatl language for a long time, but I couldn't get the hang of it, I think my brain is overloaded with the other five languages I already speak."

Ruby giggled, "What about your sister? Did she speak as many languages as you?"

James smiled, a real smile.

"She spoke more languages than me, even though she wasn't fluent in all of them like I am." He explained, and she could tell he really needed someone to speak about his sister to. She knew that when someone died, the griever's mind would obsess over the lost loved one, and the outlet usually came with recalling the memory of them. "She picked up ten languages, she was a traveler and made sure to speak the language of the places she visited well. She always said that she wasn't a tourist, she was there to submerse herself in the culture and become part of it, without even going to college she became a cultural anthropologist."

"Wow." Ruby breathed as they finally reached the safety of the gazebo and separated, but not without slight hesitance.

That's when Ruby began to tremble, the winds chilling her to the bone, her soaking wet not doing much to help her situation. Her red summer dress had clung itself to her body and her sandals squeaked with every step, the long feathered earrings she wore dripping water onto her collar bone. James turned to look at her just as she pulled her wet hair over her shoulder, wringing it and watching what looked like a liter of water splash onto the wooden floors.

"Your sister really lived, didn't she?" Ruby continued, tossing her hair over her shoulder as James put away his umbrella. James watched her and she watched him, and James' eyes fell to her hair after a second, which hung all the way to her bottom; and all he could really think was that she had gorgeous hair, and it wasn't something he'd ever thought about anyone else. "She saw the world and learned a lot from it, it's what most of us can't do in a lifetime. You must be proud of her."

James paused, as if it were something he'd never thought of.

"I am." He whispered, suddenly comforted by the young girls words. "I've been so focused on my own disaster, about how it wasn't fair to have Anna taken away from me at such a young age. I felt robbed and as if she had a long life ahead of her, but it is what it is, and Anna lived more in her twenty-two years than most people do in eighty."

"She lived many lives, and strangely enough, it's comforting."

Ruby gave him a soft smile, "She's onto her next life, a brand new adventure, and I like to think that death is not the end but a rebirth into another plane of existence. You said you've received signs, and just imagine, she's probably floating about being a troublemaker just to get your attention, and flying without the weight of these flesh prisons."

She pinched at the fat on her arm, "I bet it's very freeing not to have one of these, they're annoying."

Her words caused James to burst into laughter, but Ruby caught the single tear that escaped the corner of his eye and slid down his cheek. 

Then another tear came, and another, the strong emotion that caused his laughter opening the dam that held in all of his agonizing emotions. It was something that happened to Ruby often, her friends knew that in order to make her cry and release her pent up emotions, they had to make her laugh first.

She knew that James would start bawling, but he was struggling not to break down in front her, which was absolutely heartbreaking. He took in a deep and shuddering breath, looking away so she wouldn't see his tears, but she wrapped her hand around his forearm and squeezed.

"It's okay to cry, Santiago."

Those five words melted down his icy walls.