4 Miles to Paradise

Chapter 24 Continued: Pancakes, Pickup Lines, & Pink Eye: Part 2

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Recap of 24:

Maze hops on his skateboard, still bloodied, bruised, and now there's dirt all over his clothes due to that ground wrestle with Rose.

He leaves without even a goodbye.

"Give me back my phone!" Rose shouts back at him, but he doesn't turn around.

Chapter 24: Pancakes, Pickup Lines, & Pink Eye: Part 2

"He's such a wazzock," Rose complains, pouting over the fact that he's stolen her precious phone. Now, she can either:
        A. go find Winter and help her fix her brother problems, or,
        B. go find Maze and solve her Luke problems.

The first seems a better idea. She's still not ready to face him, truly, not sure, she'll ever be.

She shoves her hands into her pockets, searching for her keys. At first, her movements are rapid because she's annoyed, but they soon become frantic, when she cannot find them.

"That little shit!"

Now how am I supposed to go anywhere?

Rose stomps out of the park with one of Maze's favorite skateboards clutched in her arms, so tight her knuckles whitened. She throws it at a tree, cracking it, not completely in half, but close, and then, throws it in a dumpster. She knows it's excessive, but her id is in control. She wanted to hurt it, so she did, not caring about the consequences of her actions. Maze would get mad, so what? Right now, she's mad!

"Rose?"

She hears her name being called, and pictures those three little fairies chasing after Sleeping Beauty. Her head turns, and across the street is Penn. Without even looking, he crosses the busy street; cars honk, people shout, middle fingers are raised, but his attention is only on Rose, and he's smiling at her. A smile Luke has never given to her, to anyone, in his entire life.

Why can I not stop thinking about him, even for a day?

"Thought I spotted red hair," he says as he opens his arms to give her a hug. She isn't all that into touching, but allows his arms to wrap around her for a few seconds.

"What're you doing here?" She asks.

"Work ended, so I was going to go to my car, but I saw you." He looks down at her feet, nervously. "Do you, uh, need a ride?"

"Actually...yes, I would. You don't mind, do you? I was going to go to Winter's." She didn't want him to make assumptions about her using him for a ride. She does like him. She's just not sure she's ready for a relationship. "There's some sort of a pink eye, crisis."

"Of course," he smiles funnily, "it's no big deal." He points across the street. "I'm right over there."

"Okay."

The drive takes only a few minutes, and consists of them talking about Winter's problem, or as much that she knows of it, which isn't much.

As they arrive, Penn follows Rose up to the door, which she bangs on while screaming, and opens, since it's unlocked. "Winter! You called, I heard!"

Benji runs over to her singing, "Rose," which sounds a bit off because he's missing some teeth, though adorable nonetheless.

"Hey big guy!" She smiles but doesn't hug him.

His eyes are red and puffy; it's definitely pink eye.

"Black coffee, I think that's what my grams used for me as a kid. Do you have any?" Penn asks.