Chapter 5
I didn't see her for a while. Rose. Her name was pretty, and I haven't looked at the flower the same since. My mum came home with pretty yellow ones that she bought at a local market, and I swear, she was trying to taunt me. But then I realized she would have no idea that her name was Rose, and even if she did, what would be the purpose of her buying them? To remind me that I'm such a jackass?
I've regretted asking her out ever since the words tumbled out of my mouth. Even if I were to see her at this point, I don't think I would have the nerve to talk to her again. She flat out rejected me, without even so much as a glance. She said no. Just like that.
My mum was out shopping now, and I found myself thinking about her.
I was a mother's boy, you could probably ask anyone. If the fact that I'm 21 years old and still live with her doesn't tell you anything, then the way I treat her definitely would. Most boys my age wouldn't give their mum's the time of day, and that's why I didn't get along with most guys in my school. I treated my mum, and women for that matter, with respect. I didn't understand how to treat them any other way.
I moved out briefly, when I turned eighteen, but only working at a small cafe, the pay wasn't great, and I could barely make ends meet. And when my mum and dad began fighting, and he kicked her out of the house, she came to my flat to stay for a bit. She realized then just how broke I was, since all I had to eat in my kitchen were frozen meals.
She began helping me with rent then, but the heater in my flat was broken, and the place was a dump, so she insisted we move out. We had a different flat for a while, and that's when she sprung the whole moving idea on me. She didn't give me much of an option, and I didn't want to live in a different country than my mum, if we're being honest. So I just went with it.
Now here we are.
And apparently, I'm not the only twenty one year old still living with their parents, since Rose is as well. That oddly made me feel better about the situation. I'm not going to lie, I've been a bit embarrassed about living with my mum still, but since Rose does as well, it doesn't seem like such a strange thing to do. Maybe things are different in America.
Or maybe it's because Rose is a delinquent who lives with her parents because she doesn't have enough drive to move out. She dropped out of high school, so this is plausible.
Although, she's still trying to get her diploma, so she can't be too bad. Maybe she just made a mistake by dropping out.
I guess I'll never know, since I'm probably never going to be brave enough to talk to her again.
I was once again, sitting on a pillow in the living room, when my mum came through the door.
"Harry, sweetie, guess what!" She grinned, holding a sack of groceries in a paper bag. Who uses paper bags anymore?
"Yeah, mum?" I looked up at her from my laptop, where a movie was playing.
"I was shopping in town, getting some groceries, you know? When I ran into that girl. And she mentioned you," My eyes grew wide, not expecting this, "She told me to tell you that roses may be beautiful, but they still have thorns. Whatever the hell that's supposed to mean. Anyways, that's not what I wanted to tell you. After she told me that cryptic message, which you'll have to tell me what it means because I'm curious, I asked her if there were any job openings. She said at the store, there was, but it was only part time and the pay wasn't nearly enough for me to pay the bills. So she recommended this factory called Aldi, but it's in Webberville, which is a twenty minute drive away, but the pay is incredible! So I called and I have an interview tomorrow. $18 an hour! Could you imagine if I were to get that?"
I smiled, "You will, mum. They'd be a fool not to."
"Hopefully they agree," She giggled. "Oh! There's also a couch on the side of the road across the street. At that girl's house. I tried getting it, but I'm too weak to even move it a foot. Could you come down and help me?"
My mum was covering about a million topics in a minute, and she was out of breath at this point. I laughed, nodding my head and setting the laptop down before standing up.
"It's a nice one, I hope?"
"Really nice. It's leather and everything. I'm not totally sure on why they're giving it out, but I'm not complaining."
"Alright, then. You can start dinner, I can probably get it myself," I mentioned, looking out the window to see a small, leather love seat at the end of Rose's driveway. She told my mum to tell me roses are beautiful, but they still have thorns. Is she implying that even though she's beautiful, she can still hurt me? That sounds a bit conceited, but I don't think she meant it exactly like that. I think she meant it more metaphorical, like even though I'm so obviously intrigued by her, she still has the potential to hurt me. I couldn't explain the feeling I got when I realized it almost sounded like she cared.
I walked out the door and across the street, looking at the small couch and deciding what the best way to do this is. I'm probably just going to drag it, but that's going to get the bottom of it dirty, since I have to cross a dirt road in order to get it to my house. And then I knew I probably shouldn't have sent my mum off to cook dinner, since I wasn't sure how I was going to do this by myself.
"Now you're stealing my couch?" I heard a voice behind me, as I began to push the couch. I looked up to see Rose, and I immediately stopped.
"Wait, you're not giving this away? My mum told me to get it, since it was on the side of the road."
"No, we are. But my mom's only giving it away since it's mine. I wanted to keep it, since it's comfortable as fuck, but she's an asshole, so you know," she shrugged.
I nodded in response, beginning to push the couch once again.
"You honestly plan on pushing that across the street by yourself? You're gonna ruin it. Do you know how much that thing cost?" She huffed, coming over and going to the opposite side. "Lift it up, I'll help you."
I lifted, and she had the other side. It surprised me just how heavy this couch was, considering it was so tiny. It also surprised me how Rose lifted it up so easily.
We took tiny steps across the street, until it was in my yard.
"You can carry the rest in yourself," she stated, dropping it abruptly, before turning around and sauntering off.
"Hey Rose!" I hollered when she was a ways away. She turned around, crossing her arms and waiting expectantly for me to speak. "Roses may have thorns, but you just have to know how to avoid them."
With that, I saw a ghost of a smile on her face, probably one of the first smiles I've seen her make, before she turned back around and disappeared inside her house.
