16 and Ready to Mingle || twaimz

Chapter 14 (Issa)

Finally is the day when I get to meet Rose. I call her (not FaceTime) and tell her the address of my hotel and she tells me that she's gonna pick me up in about 40 minutes because the distance from her house to NYC is about 30 minutes.
While I wait I check Instagram, Twitter, all that jazz. The wait goes by pretty fast actually because, well, time goes by when you're on the Internet!
Rose texts me saying she's in the lobby, and I go downstairs in the elevator with my phone in my pocket. (Of course, because this is what this generation has come to!)
As I get downstairs, I notice her immediately, because she's dressed in ripped jeans, converse, and my llama shirt (!) and she has her hair in a bun. And she has no makeup.
She smiles as she makes eye contact with me.
"Hey!" she practically squeals and runs up to me and hugs me. Not knowing what to do, I just hug her back.
She pulls away and smiles really big. She must be really happy to see me.
"Ohmigosh," she starts, "I'm such a big fan! I know that kinda sounds weird now that we're friends, but still, I'm so happy to see you!"
I smile. "I'm happy to see you too! And it's not weird at all."
Rose smiles again. "Do you want to drive or should I?"
"You drive," I say quickly. "I do not know anything about this place. This is like the first time I've been here."
"Really?" Rose looks surprised. "Well, if you insist. I'll drive. But I'm a terrible driver."
"But you're here, and alive," I reply, "but I'm a pretty bad driver too."
We exit the hotel and get into her car, which is a ford. I do not know anything about cars, so I don't know what ford it is.
Rose starts the ignition and starts driving towards the end of the street and takes a turn.
"So, how was Washington, D.C.?" She asks me.
"It was really fun," I reply. "I had a party with my friends. Did you see it on my snapchat?"
"I did."
"Oh, anyway, my meetup's gonna be here in NYC at 11 AM tomorrow. Wanna come with me?"
Rose grins, but doesn't take her eyes off the road. "I would love to."
We pull up to a Starbucks and Rose parks right in front of the door. (You know what I mean) She turns off the engine and takes out the keys. Instead of getting out, she sits for a little bit, taking deep breaths.
I just stare at her stupidly then I say, "Oh my gosh, are you ok?"
Rose looks at me and smiles apologetically.
"Sorry," she says. "It's just that--I get carsick sometimes. It's kind of stupid that I got my driver's license. But I hope it goes away soon when I get older."
"Do you want me to drive on the way back?" I ask, concerned.
"If you want to," Rose replies. "Unless you want to go somewhere else after this."
"I would maybe like to go somewhere else after this, but I do not know where to go at all."
"I can tell you where to go."
"Ok. Thanks." I smile at her, and get out of the car. She follows me, tucking the car keys into her front pocket.
We get inside, and I order a venti iced coffee. Rose orders a tall chai tea latte. I decide to be a gentleman and I offer to pay, even though I'm broke af.
We sit down across from each other, and Rose takes a sip of her tea.
"What do we talk about?" She says. "I feel like I already know everything about you from FaceTime."
"I don't know," I answer. "This feels really weird, because, well, I'm an adult, and you're still a kid." I watch Rose blush.
"I'm not a kid." She pouts a little bit.
"According to law, you are. I'm really sorry for saying that."
"OTP," Rose mutters under her breath, barely loud enough for me to hear.
"What?"
Rose snaps back to attention, taking another sip of her tea shyly. "Nothing."
"Girl, I heard you say something."