Red Roses

Chapter Four: The Park

I stood there, stunned. 

"Cynthy," I whispered.

"Go. Away." Her voice was shaky, but cold. I tiptoed back downstairs and slipped the plate back into the fridge, as though I had never taken it out. I went back to my room to do some homework, when I heard a noise from the next room. A bang, followed by a thump. The bang shook the wall between our rooms, like she had thrown something heavy into the wall. I crawled into my bed and lay there for a few hours, pondering Cynthy's strange behavior.

❤       ❤       ❤

Someone nudged my shoulder, and I jolted awake. Alex's green eyes gazed expectantly. The class around me twittered. My eyes darted around, noticing their giggling faces, yet somehow missing the fact that they were not directed at me. 

"What was the question?" I whispered to Alex. They let out a sigh of a laugh that certainly did not help the redness of my already strawberry-colored face.

"I just asked if you were doing anything this weekend." Despite being off the hook from a third embarrassment in front of them, their smile didn't help the color of my cheeks.

"Oh, yeah. I mean, I'm not. I mean, I'd love to. Wait, were you-"

"Yeah. I was asking if you wanted to... I don't know, hang out or something? I don't know. It's stupid. Forget it. Do you know what the chemical formula for carbon monoxide is?" They turned back to the worksheet.

I inwardly cursed myself. They surely hate you now, Rose. First, you have the same name as their dog, and now you just rejected them.

"Um, I think it's just CO. One carbon. One oxygen."

The bell rang, and they left in a hurry. When I got home, and opened my notebook to finish the worksheet I had evidently slept through, a piece of paper fluttered to the ground. It said:

THE PARK ON OAK STREET
THIS SATURDAY
4PM.

I flipped it over.

YOU KNOW, IF YOU WANT
-A

If I want? They don't hate me? I couldn't wait.

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"Bye Mom! I'm going to Trixie's house!" I closed the door before my mom could respond. I took a deep breath and glanced at the note again, even though I knew every letter better than the back of the hand that was clutching it. I stepped off my front porch and onto the sidewalk, every step bringing strange thoughts to the front of my mind. What if this is all a prank? Alex is not the kind of person who would do something like that. Are they even going to show up? They'd better. I hope they don't think I'm stupid. I was so wrapped up in my thoughts that I almost walked past the park. 

"Hey."

I looked up. Alex was sitting on the monkey bars. They waved. I smiled and waved back. I reached the bars, and they slid over, an invitation to join them. I finally broke the silence.

"I'm sorry about the other day."

"Oh, falling asleep? No problem. You're cute when you sleep." They whispered the last part.

"I- What?"

Their face turned as red as mine had been that day. "Nothing. Sorry."

"It's ok." I slid towards them, placing my hand on the same bar as theirs. We sat in silence for a while longer.

"Can I tell you something?" They asked, passing me a sideways glance.

"Yeah, anything." My heart fluttered and my stomach did summersaults. Alex opened and closed their mouth a few times.

"I... So... When..." They took a deep breath and composed themselves.

"Everything's really hard at my house since Br- Sebastian and I came out." They smashed all of the words together, one big jumble of truth.

I was disappointed, but then felt guilty. Of course it has nothing to do with me. Nothing ever has anything to do with me. But I guess, the one time I wanted, even expected someone to care, it was like all of the other times. 

But then I looked back at Alex's eyes. They looked disappointed. Like they had changed their mind on telling me something.