Everybody's Romeo, Nobody's Juliet

Chapter Three: Falling for You

"What do you mean you can't go?" she asked Kristopher. She stood in his living room, backpack on her shoulders and wide frown on her face.

"I have to watch Kendra because Mom went to my aunt's place in Stuttgart." He answered, watching his sister bounce up and down on the sofa.

"Talk about bad timing." She sighed. "It's the first Tuesday off that I get so we can go watch Dortmund practice and we can't make it."

"Sorry Rose." He said.

She shook her head. "It's no one's fault. It's just that we'll probably wait for a long time for me to get another Tuesday off and go."

"You don't need me to go there, you know." He told her. "Why waste an opportunity?"

"It won't be the same." She replied. "Besides, I won't be able to work up my nerve to talk to him and return the jacket."

"You'll be fine." Kristopher assured. "Go."

Before she knew it, Rose found herself cycling her way to Brackel. It was a beautiful morning with the sun shining with just the right warmth and the sky was an endless blue carpet. It would've been a busy day at the coffeehouse if she was there. But she had no work that day because Mr. Becker was visiting his mother and had to close shop for the day. She finally had an opportunity to go Borussia Dortmund's training ground and watch the team practice. 'And return his jacket.' She thought. She took a deep breathe. 'I can do this.' She said to herself, concentrating her eyes on the road. A car honked behind her. 'What's their problem? I'm on the right side of the road.' The car honked again but this time a person called out, "Hey Rose!" Her eyebrows shot up far on her forehead, her head snapped to her left in surprise.

"Oh good Lord!" she exclaimed, her mouth dropping open. Marco and Kevin was waving at her from the backseat, their smiling faces peering from the rolled down window. On the passenger seat sat Erik Durm who was also looking at her. Her knees locked in place as she stared at them, dumbfounded. She didn't see the small pothole in front of her causing her to lose control of her bike. The bike swerved and she fell forward on the pavement. There was a loud "thud" when her head crashed on the concrete. She laid sprawled on her side. She sat back up; one hand flat on the pavement and the other rubbing her forehead with her knuckle.

"Owww." She groaned. She felt a small cut on the side of her forehead, about an inch above her right eyebrow. She checked her hand, blood smudged her knuckles. "Ah, shit."

"Hey!"

She looked up. 'Oh no.' Marco was sprinting towards her. She got back on her feet as fast as she could and dusted off her backside. She wiped her bloodied knuckle with the sleeve of her jacket.

"You okay?" Marco asked.

"Yeah, just a little dazed." She answered.

"You're bleeding." He said, pointing to the cut on her forehead. "Let me see."

She took a step back. "That's okay." She said, pulling out her handkerchief from her front pocket. She pressed it against her wound. "My fault, I lost control of the bike."

He shook his head and looked back at the car behind him. The door on the right was open with Kevin standing beside it, his hands in his pockets. "No, we shouldn't have distracted you like that. You would have kept your eyes on the road if we didn't. Sorry."

"Oh, no. It's fine." She said, waving her free hand. "I just got startled, that's all."

"Exactly my point. You wouldn't have been startled if we didn't yell out your name." He bent over to pick up her bike.