Hike Into My Heart

Chapter 2: An Almost Civil Conversation

The next morning, Rosé was sitting on the couch, eating cereal and watching Looney Tunes on Cartoon Network when she heard someone descending the stairs. She rolled her eyes in annoyance because there was only one person that it could be. She honestly had the urge to get up and walk out the door right then and there, but she decided to just stay and finish her breakfast. Her awful cabinmate strolled into the room seconds later, not even acknowledging Rosé as she immediately went into the kitchen. Not even two seconds later, she was already complaining. "Do you seriously have to leave your stuff all over the countertop? You know, we do have cabinets here."

"Listen…" Rosé trailed off, realizing that she didn't even know this girl's name. She thought about calling her Grinch, but she was too curious. "You never told me your name."

"Yes. You don't know my name because I don't want you talking to me," the blonde snapped.

"I guess I'll just have to call you Grinch, then," Rosé said nonchalantly. "If you're sure that you can't tell me what your actual name is."

"Fine." The girl rolled her eyes. "It's Lisa."

"Lisa," Rosé tried the name out for herself. "That's actually a really pretty name."

The blonde looked taken back by the compliment, almost as if she had never heard that before. Rosé found that to be surprising because Lisa was such a beautiful name. She would think that someone would have complimented her on it before. Rosé supposed that the lack of compliments probably had something to do with Lisa's personality.

"Thanks, I guess," Lisa finally said, looking much less angry than she previously had. In fact, she looked almost shy.

Rosé didn't think that she could resist the chance to tease this girl, so she patted the space beside her. "Why don't you come and sit by me?"

Brown eyes hardened again, like she was getting ready to argue, but the fire went out after a few seconds, and the girl seemed to relax. "Can I have some of your cereal? I really love Froot Loops."

Rosé shrugged, a little surprised. "Take some."

She had been intending to ask rude questions to make the other girl mad, but now she wondered if they might be able to become acquaintances. Maybe, if Rosé was nice to the girl, then Lisa would be nice to her, and they could just stay out of each other's way from now on without yelling at one another.

After grabbing her cereal, Lisa plopped down on the couch beside Rosé, and they sat together in silence, their attention fixed on the screen in front of them where Looney Tunes was still playing. Rosé found it hard to focus on the cartoon, though, because she was hyperaware of the fact that a girl who she didn't even know was sitting next to her, eating cereal, as if this was an everyday occurrence. Lisa didn't seem bothered in the slightest by this fact, her eyes firmly fixed on the screen. She seemed to have forgotten that Rosé was even present at all. Rosé wondered if she should just leave and let Lisa be, but she found that she couldn't stand the silence, so she decided to go ahead and make small talk. "So, did you watch Looney Tunes when you were younger, too?"

Lisa nodded, finally bringing her eyes away from the screen to rest on Rosé. "My sister and I used to love this show. Our mom watched it with us a lot."

"My dad used to watch it with me. He loved it, too, and he used to try to mimic the voices for me." Rosé shook her head with a fond smile on her face. "He still does the voices from time to time."