The Unexpected

Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Later that night Emma dropped me off at my house. I carried my two bags (opposed to her six) inside and waved at her through the window. I was hoping to retreat to my room as quick as possible- I had a Calculus worksheet I had neglected to do that was due tomorrow, but Rose stopped me as soon as I passed the kitchen.

"Where were you for so long?" She asked me. My grandmother was clad in a long cheetah print shirt and white pants (tights? Leggings?), snake skin heels completing the look. Her strawberry hair that looked so much like mine was, how do I put it? big. For someone over twenty and in a right state of mind, that couldn't be normal. I had grown used to it.

"I was with Emma. We were out buying..." I paused. "stuff."

"Stuff, then," Rose looked unimpressed with my cover-up. "You do realize I work at your school, right? There's a dance coming up, and I would bet my two month supply of hairspray you and that friend of yours were out getting dresses."

"Guilty."

She nodded. "It did help that you're holding one right now."

"Oh. Yeah," I said, looking down at the dress in my hands. "This is the only one I could stand to look at." I added the last part, indiscreetly eyeing Rose's attire.

"So, go on child," Rose commanded. "I want to see it."

Dumbly, I held the dress up. Rose sighed. "I meant put it on."

"Oh," I said, feeling stupid. "I'll be right back."

I ran up to my room, throwing the bags on my bed before slipping on the dress. The silky fabric was soft against my skin. Since I was only modeling for Rose I merely smoothed it down before finding her in the living room.

She looked over me before breaking out in a grin. "Oh, Ricki, it's beautiful."

I was a little surprised she liked it. Or at least the dress.

"Wait-" Rose frowned slightly. I was thinking I spoke too soon, but instead of commenting on the color of the dress, or how it was made for someone with a little more going on in the chest area, for example, Rose simply got up and left the room.

She came back in seconds later, carrying a pair of sandals. "Here," she held them out to me and I took them, slipping them on. "Those were mine," she explained, smiling sadly down at the golden, slightly heeled sandals. I walked in a circle, surprised to see that even though they had to be years old, the shoes seemed brand new.

"They fit perfectly," I said.

Rose nodded, "Good, I was hoping they would. I wore those for my junior year dance."

"Where you met grandpa?" I asked, remembering the stories Rose told me. I pictured a toddler me sitting on my grandma's lap. But that was before Grandpa passed away; before my grandma stubbornly became 'Rose'.

"Yes, where I," Rose repeated, swallowing deeply. "met your grandfather." She looked away for a second, and I thought I saw tears brimming in her eyes before she blinked them away. It was the first emotion Rose had let slip in a long time.

I wrapped my arms around her, the dress wrinkling between us. The moment lasted only a few seconds before she slipped out of my grasp.

"Now, you best be getting to bed. It's late," Rose said, and even though it was only nine-thirty I nodded, feeling slightly hurt.

Bonding moment over.

Once upstairs I shed the dress and hung it up carefully. After making sure all the wrinkles were out I changed into pajama shorts and a long T-shirt. I had just finished washing my face when my laptop dinged.