Red makes all girls look good. Especially you, Rose. That's what Owen had said to me on our first date. As I looked at myself in the mirror, I couldn't help but agree with him. On this matter, at least. Nope, close off. Do not think about him. This is not a night to dwell in the past. Ive got better things to do. Ring! "Rose will you answer that? I'm a little stuck." Mom yelled. I sighed. She was probably in the kitchen experimenting again.
Taking the stairs two at a time, I ran to the front door. "Back Benny," I scolded my St. Bernard as he tried to open the door first by jumping up on it. When I turned the doorknob and opened the door, a red rose caught my eye."Hi, this is for you." Ryan said with a nervous smile handing me the flower. I beamed and took the stem. "Thank you, it's beautiful. Let me get my jacket and then we can go." I said and pulled Benny with me as I backed out of the front hallway.
The first thing that caught me was the stench in the kitchen. It was a mix of rotted eggs, sour milk and burnt sugar. In the center of the fog sat my mother with a spoon in one hand and a bowl of who knows what in the other. Her bright blonde hair was pulled back into a bun and her light brown eyes were filled with a hectic light that she always got when she was cooking. She had ingrediants all over her clothing.
"Hi honey! You look nice." She said, pointing to my red blouse and white lace skirt."Thanks, can you hand me my jacket?" I asked as I got a cup of water for the flower. "Sorry, no. Like I said, I'm stuck." My eyes darted to the seat of her chair covered in goop."What happened?" I asked and grabbed my jacket. "I was trying a new dessert sauce with honey and molasses and then I dropped some on the chair, and then I tripped..."
"Ok, enough said. Bye Mom!" "Wait a minute, where are you going?" She asked in the motherly way. "I'm going out for the night." I mumbled."Oh, with a boy?" She teased. I rolled my eyes. "No, with Benny." I said, patting his head before he went to greet my mother, "Yes, a boy." "You're lucky your father isn't home. You know he'd be drilling the poor boy." I nodded."Exactly why I decided to schedule for tonight. When will he be home?" I asked.
She looked at her watch."Should be late, be back by ten. And stay away from Rose's." She warned."Don't worry, I wouldn't go there unless I wanted Daddy to get to know him before I did." I said, and waved goodbye. "Have a good time!" she called out after me.
"So where are we going?" I asked Ryan."Well I was thinking dinner and a movie. For dinner it's a tie between two places and you are the tie breaker." I grinned."What are they?""Some chinese place I heard was nice, and a place called Rose's." I felt blood rush from my face. Rose's, as in my Rose's. "Chinese sounds good." I squeaked. He smiled."Cool."
Dinner was ok. We talked and I got to know him more, but it really wasn't any different from any other date I'd had. Now when we went to the movie... wow. He hadn't picked a movie, but asked my opinion, which was always nice. We went to an action movie with violence for him and romance for me. Since we were a little bit late the only seats left were in the very front next to some old people who had already fallen asleep. When the lights turned down I became extremely aware of Ryan sitting so close to me.
Five minutes into the movie I started to get kind of cold. I crossed my arms, hoping that he wouldn't notice. He did. "Here." He whispered, and handed me his jacket. I mouthed a thank you to him. I pushed my arms through the sleeves and accidentally touched his hand. I blushed as he really slowly took my hand. You gotta love cliché's. After that, I felt it. I felt the spark that I hadn't felt since... nope. No. Im with Ryan now. When the movie ended we walked out of the theater still holding hands. During the ride home, I couldn't stop smiling.
Way too soon we arrived at my doorstep. Without a sound we walked up to my porch. "I had a great time tonight. Thanks." I said. Usually on first dates this part was awkward, but not this one. "Me too." He said with a smile. His eyes strayed and he reached out and brushed a single strand of hair out of my eyes. His hand rested on my cheek. I felt my face burn where he touched me.
"You have really pretty eyes." He said softly. My blush deepened. He leaned closer to me, closing his eyes. Automatically, I closed my eyes to. When his lips touched mine for the first time I felt a tug in my chest, a tickling in my stomach, and my brain went fuzzy. I havn't experianced something like this for a long time. His lips were warm, and fit against mine perfectly. It was in that moment, that I knew I fell in love.
Ryans POV
When I kissed Rose, every single part of me electrified. I could smell her perfume, it was intoxicating. The feel of her lips on mine was... indescribably amazing. The kiss made me want to tell her everything. Everything about me, my family, I wanted her to know. But I knew I couldn't risk it. I knew from past experience that the longer I stood on this porch, the better the chance that the front door would open and her dad would hit me with a bat. I really slowly pulled about an inch away from Rose. I was still close enough that I could feel the heat radiating off her face.
"Night, Rose." I whispered. She looked up at my face from underneath her eyelashes. "Night." She whispered back. I smiled, and walked back to my car, feeling on top of the world. I lived only two minutes away, so it wasn't long before I was home. The second I walked in the door, Dad pounced."So, how was the date?" He asked, wiggling his eyebrows in the way he knows bugs me. "Good." I answered, trying to hide my smile and miserably failing. "Who's the girl?" Mom appeared around the corner. Her face was cold.
"Just a friend from school." Mom raised an eyebrow, "Don't worry. She doesn't know anything." "And you will be keeping it that way." Mom said, and left again. I started rubbing the back of my neck. "What your mom means is, glad you had fun." Dad translated. I sighed."She hasn't reverted back yet?" I asked. Dad shook his head. Mom used to be as carefree and happy as Dad before the incident, "Do you think she'll ever forgive me?" I asked. He shrugged."It was big." He said. I nodded."I know. It still is." Dad patted my shoulder. "It's ok. Go to bed, I'll talk to her again later." He said. I nodded."Night Dad."
As I walked into my bedroom I pulled out my phone. Three missed calls, ten new texts all from the same person. I licked my lips and dialed her number. She answered before the first ring even finished. "Change your mind?" She answered. I fought my urge to gag. "Sadie, stop this." I said. "I know you aren't over me. You left me so suddenly, there's no way you could love me one second and get bored of me the next." I closed my eyes.
"Things changed way before that. You didn't notice because you were so preoccupied with your hair." She coughed. "I'm so sorry I wanted to look good for my guy. Too bad I wasted so much glitter on you." Think stereotype teenager when it comes to Sadie. "Listen, I've moved on. You should too." She was quiet for a second. "What do you mean you've moved on? Are you dating again?" she demanded."I'm a free man, I can do what I want." "This isn't funny, Cha..."
"Do not call me that." I hissed. Then I realized my mistake."Why not?" She asked.
"I meant don't call me anymore. I'm dating someone else now, learn from me, leave me alone." I pressed end. That was close.
