Repeat // Roger Taylor

seven

I was a little worried. There hadn't been near as many customers at the store lately. We had our regulars, but even a few of them had begun to show up less and less, until not at all. I wasn't worried for me, I knew I could land another job if I had to and even if I didn't want to work, my parents would continue to provide for me, but this was all Al had left. This was his place and it always would be.

I locked the doors and began walking back to my house. Freddie was in class and my parents were at work, so I would have the house to myself for a while, which I didn't mind. I usually cleaned or wrote in my journal.

When I arrived at my house, I realized how nice it really was outside. I decided I should take advantage of the weather so I walked to my room and grabbed my backpack and went back outside. I started walking to the park and as I was, I made a mental note to get new glasses as I pushed mine back on my face for what seemed like the hundredth time.

I looked around and was thankful I didn't see many people. There was a bench right off the sidewalk and I decided that would be where I'd stay for a little while. I got out my Literature journal and began studying over the notes I had taken in the last lecture. I loved studying and I loved learning. I enjoyed retaining knowledge. It made me feel powerful and useful and both of those were satisfying to me.
I had been studying for over an hour with no interruption when suddenly a voice brought me out of my studies.

"Ella?" I looked up and saw Roger a few feet away on the sidewalk.

"Roger, what are you doing here?"

He glanced down at the ground, almost in a shy manner. Though being shy wasn't really Rogers thing.

"I was leaving a friend's house." His slight blushing and hesitation to the question helped me draw the conclusion. He was leaving a girl's house.

I chuckled a little. "You're still wearing last nights clothes," I pointed out in a sarcastic tone hoping he'd pick up on the fact that I was well aware of what he was doing. He smirked, glanced down, and then back up at me.

"I'm heading home to change and then was going to get a bite to eat. Would you care to come with?" He asked taking me a bit by surprise.

I looked down at my journal and my glasses fell completely off this time. I reacted quickly trying to catch them but instead knocked my journal out of my lap and onto the grass below me. Roger stepped forward to pick up my glasses while I picked up my journal. I sat back up and noticed he was dangerously close to me. He gently slipped the glasses back on my face and tucked a stray piece of my hair behind my ear while doing so. It was so smooth I thought for a minute this boy had to be from a cheesy romantic comedy. But he wasn't. He was just Roger. And Roger was just that good.

"Sure," I half whispered and he did that same smirk again. The very one I was growing to hate because I didn't hate it at all. I was actually very, very fond of it.