Just Rosalie

Slushie Fridays

They sprinted down the street. The rain soaked their hair and drenched their clothes. When they finally made it to Blair's apartment building, Rosalie realized that Blair was probably wealthier than she'd conjured up. Entering the building required a key card, and the inside reminded Rosalie of the days when she toured England with her mother. They'd stayed at a different, fancy hotel every week, and booked some of the most expensive rooms in the buildings.
When they reached Blair's penthouse suite, Blair immediately turned the heater on high to warm up the room.
"I've never appreciated heat so much."
Rosalie slipped her feet out of her soaked sneakers. She craved for her slushie that had slipped out of hand while she was running. Inhaling a deep breath, she looked at Blair rushing up the steps. When she came back down, she carried towels and clothes.
"Here."
She handed Rosalie a towel and clothes and started to pat her own hair dry.
"That was kinda fun actually." Rosalie said as she wrapped her hair with the towel. She proceeded to take off her tank top and shorts, causing Blair's mouth the fall open. But she immediately looked away-her cheeks becoming flushed. Rosalie noticed Blair's reaction and laughed. "I've gotten naked in front of less appealing crowds. Locker rooms were the worst." Blair swallowed and decided to head into the kitchen. She'd take off her drenched clothes too, but was too embarrassed. Rosalie was, then, in nothing but a towel walking into the kitchen behind Blair. "I never fancied you for a prude."
Rosalie chuckled as she placed her bag of snacks onto the kitchen counter. She grabbed a pack and opened it, inhaling the scent of its aroma.
"I'm not. I just respect your privacy."
Blair peered into the fridge and grabbed a bottle of water. Her fridge contained bottles of water, stale eggs and a bag of red potatoes-that was about it.
"Then, I thank you. You should probably change before you catch pneumonia."
Rosalie munched down on her bag of Hot Curls as Blair grabbed her towel and headed into the bathroom to change. She came back out with a robe wrapped around her body.
"Now, that's better."
Blair smiled and inhaled a deep breath of warm air. She'd take a shower if she didn't have company.
"Do you have an extra set of those?"
Rosalie asked, referring to the robe. The towel kept slipping off, and it was quite uncomfortable to continuously tighten it around her body.
"Yeah. I'll go get one."
Blair headed back into the bathroom and came out with a robe in hand. Rosalie took it from her and allowed her towel to drop and pool at her ankles. It was slipping off anyway. Wrapping the robe around her body, she tightened the sash and inhaled a satisfied breath. Blair's eyes widened and she swallowed the invisible lump inside of her throat.
"Much better."
Rosalie smiled widely and wrapped her hair in the towel, once more. She'd have thought twice about slipping her towel off if she realized that it would have affected Blair, but her actions went without thought sometimes.
"I... uh... I'm going to get dressed."
Blair hurried up the steps, leaving Rosalie in amusement. To anyone, it would seem as though Rosalie did it on purpose, but she was just comfortable with her body.
When Blair came back down fully clothed, Rosalie was still in her robe and sitting on the couch with a pack of Hot Curls in between her folded legs.
"The rain's getting heavier."
Rosalie checked her phone, and noticed that the battery was dead. Throwing it aside, she continued to enjoy her snack.
"I guess I'm stuck here till it stops. Jennivine's still coming over?"
Blair shook her head. Jennivine had texted to cancel their plans. So, it was Blair and Rosalie alone for the night. The thunder cracked and Rosalie sprung out of her seat. She hated thunder-actually, she was scared of it.
"She cancelled. Are you afraid of thunder?"
Rosalie's eyes darted at Blair and her chest rose in fear. Every crack of thunder would remind her of that night-the night when she lost Romario.
"No."
She muttered as her breathing became heavy. It was the night she wished that she could forget, yet she didn't want to, because it was the last time that she saw him.
"You sure?"
Lightning streaked the sky and the thunder roared louder than she'd heard in years. She shrieked and curled into a ball on the couch.
"Do you have ear muffs?"
Rosalie quivered. Blair never thought that she'd see Rosalie so scared-fragile. She wanted to comfort her, but didn't want to cross the line.
"No. I'm sorry."
Blair walked over to the couch and kneeled down on the floor next to it. Rosalie's face was buried into a couch cushion and her body was trembling. Blair rubbed her back soothingly. She whispered soft reassurances-that it would be over soon.
After another crackle of thunder, Rosalie started to calm down, but she couldn't relax. Blair fetched a blanket from a closet and placed it over Rosalie's body.
"Come."
Rosalie lifted the blanket for Blair to go under. She'd appreciated Blair's support, and the time that she'd taken to calm her down. Getting under the blanket next to Rosalie, Blair felt uneasy. That was until Rosalie rested her head on Blair's shoulder and wrapped her arm around Blair's back.
"Why are you so afraid of thunder?"
Blair asked as she inhaled a deep breath. It was comforting to have Rosalie next to her. She knew that neither Jennivine nor Lee would appreciate their close contact, but they were doing nothing wrong. Friends cuddled, right?
"No reason."
Rosalie shifted her head onto Blair's chest. She didn't like to talk about what happened-she never did. It had been years since the incident, and she'd tried to put those events behind her so that she could move on.
"I'm sure that I deserve to know something about it. I'm not gonna tell anyone, I promise."
Rosalie shifted again. Her head rested against the back of the couch and she pulled the blanket closer to her body.
"I don't like to talk about it."
She whispered as their eyes met. The warmth of Rosalie's brown eyes comforted Blair's tense muscles-she relaxed.
"Then don't. Tell me something else. Anything."
Rosalie smiled and took a deep inhale. She'd told Lee about Romario a few years into their relationship, but she doubted that she'd ever muster up enough strength to tell another soul.
"Slushie Fridays." Blair goofily smiled and moved the blanket closer to her face. It seemed like an interesting story. "I'd spent most of my early teenage years crushing over this girl in high school. She was so cute, her nerdy look-glasses that were too big for her face and oversized sweatshirts."
Rosalie remembered her first. It was one of the best relationships thatbshe'd experienced.
"I'm guessing somewhere along the line there will be slushies, specifically on Fridays?"
Blair watched Rosalie's eyes flicker at her, and earned herself a tap to the forehead.
"Just listen."
Rosalie chuckled and poked Blair's cheek with her index finger. She'd never told anyone that story, but she was about to tell Blair.
"Go ahead."
Blair gave Rosalie her full attention-her eyes blinking but not moving from its subject-Rosalie.
"She'd never date me. I was the girl with a renowned artist for a mother, most popular friends, and head of the soccer team. And she was Zoe, one of the most beautiful souls that I'd ever met."
Rosalie smiled as she thought about her first love-innocent, sweet and perfect.
"What happened to her?"
Blair couldn't help but ask, but Rosalie was not yet there with her story.
"I've always been with girls. I dated girls before her, but I never slept with any of them. It just never felt right. I wanted my first to be special, you know... fireworks." Rosalie closed her eyes, and could almost relive the moment when they first kissed in her mind. "We got paired on a project in Geography glass. She came over to my house a few times. I didn't know that she liked girls. Not until she slept over one night, and as we laid under the covers, I told her that she was beautiful. And unexpectedly, she kissed me. Let's just say, she definitely liked girls."
Blair could feel the emotions slipping out with every word. Rosalie had definitely loved Zoe-more than she thought.
"Then what?"
Rosalie sighed. Thinking about her past made her realize how much similar it was to her present. She was in love once more, to a woman who she wanted to spend the rest of her life with. But Rosalie knew, that sometimes, even the best of loves weren't meant to be. Hopefully, her love with Lee was.
"We dated for about a year. We started having sex four months into our relationship. It was perfect. I loved her... then... well, she loved me too."
Blair knew that couldn't be the end of the story. There was no mention of Slushy Fridays yet.
"Then?"
Rosalie knew that she had to finish the story, no matter how badly it hurt. Even after so much time had passed, it still made her sad.
"She suddenly moved to New York with her mum. We didn't keep in contact. She'd met her new girlfriend within weeks of starting school, and broke off our planned, long distance relationship."
Blair placed her hand in Rosalie's in comfort. She'd been living in Milan while she went to high school, so she thought that Zoe probably couldn't handle the distance.
"You would've been worth the wait. But I don't see how this story has anything to do with Slushie Fridays."
Rosalie felt her heart pull inside of her chest. His voice rang inside of her ears-his laugh was infectious.
"She left Milan on a Friday afternoon... and my brother took me to get slushies and Hot Curls while my heart broke in two. Ever since then, every Friday, we did the same thing. Thus, Slushie Fridays... He named it."
Rosalie didn't have to talk about Zoe to explain to Blair what Slushie Fridays meant, but it sounded better with the full back story.
"So, you haven't spoken to her ever since?"
Blair felt as though Rosalie had some unresolved feelings about her first love. Sometimes, Rosalie thought that was one of the reasons that she'd found it difficult to settle down. She was afraid that it was all too good to be true-happiness always had an expiration date.
"No. Not after she cheated. But it was for the best. She needed someone to be there for her, and I had my brother there for me. I don't regret a thing about her."
The rain was finally over. And Rosalie slipped from under the blanket.
"You should probably call Lee to pick you up now that the weather is settled."
Rosalie nodded and grabbed the clothes that Blair had given her. Her phone battery was dead, so she needed to borrow Blair's. She actually enjoyed telling Blair about her first love story. It was a perfect decoy to avoid the topic about why she was afraid of thunder. She'd never tell anyone else about that.