𝐁𝐄𝐆𝐆𝐈𝐍𝐆 ( 𝘫𝘰𝘦 𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘳𝘺 )

20 | "one month"

REAL LIFE

rosario stood in front of joe's apartment door, her knuckles making contact with the wood as she knocked three times. as she waited for a response her mind began to wander about how she made it to that moment; ready to profess her feelings, again, to the guy she liked.

following the abrupt closing of her conversation with aaron, which ended with him blocking her, rosie decided that she was going to tell joe that there was no longer anything holding them back from finally being together. the only minor problem she found with that, was how she would have to walk to his apartment building, which luckily wasn't too much of a trek.

the sound of the door unlocking pulled rosario out of her thoughts and focus them on the door. when it opened, her eyes immediately met with joe's.

at the sight of the girl, joe's eyes widened a bit in surprise. "rio? what are you doing here?"

rosario's heart began to race as she opened her mouth to answer him, but then shut it again. she knew what she wanted to say to joe; but the words just wouldn't form in her mouth.

"um, i," rosie stuttered out and then sighed. she couldn't believe that she was finally trying to do something that felt good for her and that was the way it was going; awful. she thought for a few moments before deciding to do the first thing that had come to her mind.

the girl took a few tentative steps toward joe so that their noses were almost touching and placed a hand on his cheek, which had begun to grow very rosy. she then placed her lips on his in a soft kiss.

rosie felt joe tense up and thought, "oh god, this is going horribly." until, she felt him relax and slowly kiss her back and wrap his arm around her waist, causing her to smile a bit into the kiss. their lips easily began to move in sync as if they had done this a million times before.

the kiss went on for a while, until rosie started to become like lightheaded from the lack of oxygen and decided to pull away.

joe's breaths came out in small pants as he began to speak, "rio–"

rosario stopped him before he could continue, finally saying the words that wouldn't form before, "me and aaron's fake relationship is over."

the sides of joe's mouth perked up a bit. "oh?" he said.

"yeah," she smiled back at him. "so, i hope this can mean good things for us. but, only if you want them to."

joe pulled rosie in for an embrace. "i definitely want them to," he whispered softly into her hair.

rosario closed her eyes savoring his words and the feeling of his arms
around her.

———

"so," joe said, "how did aaron take it when you said you wanted to stop things?"

an hour had passed and the pair somehow found themselves sprawled out on joe's couch, rosie's back pressed against joe's chest as they laid sideways, talking about anything and everything. well almost everything, except for one thing, that being aaron. that subject matter was like the huge elephant in the room that they both were tiptoeing around, except, apparently, joe had no longer wanted to tiptoe around it.

"not too great, actually," rosie finally responded with a sigh. she racked her brain on what to say about the situation, until deciding to keep it short and sweet. "things kinda ended with him blocking me, but, it's fine, i know he'll come around eventually."

joe rubbed rosario's arm in agreement. "yeah, he will. i promise."

rosie smiled wide and leaned back a little bit more against joe, letting him tighten his embrace around her. she was glad that they had finally gotten the most avoided topic out of the way.

"but, anyway," the girl began, shifting around so that they were facing one another and their legs intertwined, "break is coming up in a few days, got any exciting plans?"

joe pressed a soft kiss on rosie's nose before answering, "nothing too crazy.
i'm just gonna visit my family in massachusetts for a week and then my college friends in chicago. what about you?"

"back to la. frankie already has a list of things that she wants us to do," rosario responded, laughing lightly.

joe looked at the laughing girl in front of him and grinned, he then leaned forward and kissed her for a moment. "i like you a lot. just thought i would put that out there, again," he told her once he pulled back from the kiss.

rosie's cheeks reddened and she smiled widely. "i like you a lot too. and i know i said i didn't want to have to hide things between us from the rest of the world, but–"

"but, we're gonna have to hide it for a bit. i completely understand. people don't even know that you and aaron are "broken up" yet. and once they know that you are and then they see us together it'll look bad."

"exactly. and, i promise we don't have to hide it too long. just," rosie thought for a moment. "one month?"

"one month," joe nodded in agreement his nose brushing lightly against rosie's as he did so. "i can wait a month."

rosario placed a kiss on the handsome boy's cheek and then shifted around so that her back was against his chest once again. this said month hadn't even started yet, but she was already ready for it to be over.