we keep this love in a photograph

Chapter 6

Saturday rolled around with overcast skies and the muggy closeness that made Jennie feel like she couldn't breathe, although that might have just been the panic of trying to choose an outfit for a baseball game. Having never watched a game before, Jennie wasn't overly excited about the match, and her knowledge of how the game worked could have barely filled a teaspoon, but she'd done her research the night before so she could at least follow along and understand Rosie's excitement for it.

Mostly, she was just looking forward to seeing Rosie again, their lunchtime coffee on Wednesday feeling far too long ago for her liking.

She insisted on having her driver take them to the game this time, to skip the trouble of looking for parking, and they pulled up outside Alice's apartment in the sleek black towncar to find Rosie outside, leaning against the brick wall with a shirt over her arm.

Jennie opened the back door and poked her head out, a smile on her face as she lifted her sunglasses. "Rosie!"

Attention caught, Rosie's eyebrows rose as she pushed off the wall, loping towards the car and slipping inside. Shutting the door behind her, she buckled in as she looked at the driver in the front seat with mild surprise.

"You weren't kidding about the driver, huh?" she smiled at Jennie before leaning as far through the open partition so she could greet the driver.

Watching with thinly veiled amusement, Jennie raised her eyebrows as Rosie settled down on her seat, "how're you?"

"Excited," Rosie grinned, gesturing to her outfit, a white shirt with navy blue piping, emblazoned with a logo of a shark. She was wearing a matching blue cap and Jennie couldn't help but smile. "I even stole my sister's jersey so you ... could match."

She held up the shirt that she'd brought with her, an identical copy to the one she was wearing, which Jennie took to mean they were the official uniform of the San Francisco Sharks. With a mild look of amusement, Jennie reached out and took the shirt, holding it up to eye it before she smiled and slid the partition up. She'd decided on a pair of cropped jeans and loafers, with a plain white shirt, and Jennie quickly unbuttoned her shirt, catching a glimpse of Rosie's mouth clamping shut as she quickly busied herself looking out the window.

Fighting back a smile, Jennie slipped the shirt off and the baseball jersey on, buttoning it up and turning to Rosie, leaning across the empty middle seat. "How do I look?"

Turning back around, Rosie smiled brightly, her cheeks still faintly pink and set the blue baseball cap on Jennie's dark head, tugging it down snugly and fixing her hair. "Perfect."

Smiling to herself, Jennie leant across the seat and whispered, "you too."

Not only for the satisfaction of seeing Rosie's cheeks redden further, but because she meant it. With a quiet laugh, Jennie hesitantly touched the back of Rosie's hand, wondering to herself if it was okay to do so, if she would know that Jennie wasn't teasing her, only enjoyed the flustered look on Rosie's face.

"I like it when you blush like that," Jennie admitted after a moment, a pleased smile spreading across her face as she teased her. "Are you embarrassed?"

"I- no," Rosie scoffed, "trust me, in the army ... you see everything. I just didn't want to stare."

"Well that's the first time I've heard that."

Giving her a withering look, Rosie rolled her eyes as her little finger brushed against Jennie's on the seat between them. "Another first," Rosie murmured with a droll smile.

The conversation went back and forth, full of light teasing and witty remarks, the city passing by as Jennie's driver navigated the way through each block, towards the stadium that rose up amidst the skyscrapers across the harbour bridge.