She's Too Naive

Chapter 28

"I'm not supposed to leave you alone," he said.

"It's a dressing room, you're not coming in with me," I scoffed, turning my back on him. I entered one of the empty stalls, double testing the lock on the dressing room door.

"Girlfriends," I could hear Cole say with a laugh. "she wants to buy everything in here, but my wallet isn't thick enough for that,"

"I hear you man," a deep voice answered, earning a few chuckles.

I sighed, tuning them out as I began sorting through the clothes I had picked out.

I had tried on over half of the things, but only had a few pants and a couple shirts picked out so far.

"Ellie?" Cole's voice interrupted, a knock at the door. "Rosen called . If you want to hang out with everyone yet we should go." I paused while undoing a button on my shirt. I recognized the hidden meaning behind his words, and figured what I had picked out would have to make do for now.

"Okay, coming," I replied in an overly singsong voice as I quickly stripped, stepping back into my other clothes. I piled the clothes I had chosen in one arm, and the ones to be put back in the other.

Walking out, I threw the unwanted clothes in the return bin, but didn't bother folding or hanging them up neatly. Cole followed after me as we began our brisk pace towards the registers.

"Rosen said he saw some of the Def, wanted us to get out of here as fast as we could," Cole whispered in my ear as we walked. I nodded, trying to keep my face neutral.

As Cole began paying, Rosen walked up and joined us, tapping his foot anxiously on the floor. I thought about whacking him across the head when he kept looking around the store. He looked panicked, and anybody would be able to see that.

I tipped my head down as the three of us silently exited the mall, heading towards the car. When I had first seen the vehicle this morning, I had wondered what happened to the other car that they had back in Shorely. Then, I remembered they had to trash it to help stay hidden. I had no idea where this car came from, and I don't think I wanted to know.

Only when we had made it safely back onto the highway, with no signs of anyone trailing us, did Rosen breathe a sigh of relief. He slumped in the driver's seat, turning the radio on to fill in the empty noise.

"They probably saw you too," Cole said, looking at Rosen.

"Yeah, but I was more worried they would see Ellie," he replied. Cole didn't comment, instead turning the radio up to stop any and all conversation.

I looked between the two, biting my cheek and contemplating what was going on with them. For some reason, the tension had gotten really thick.

☾

"So where are your parents?" I asked Rosen, wanting to break the silence in the living room. It was just the two of us sitting there, everyone else somewhere upstairs. Rosen had asked to sit next to me, claiming he was sharing a room with Knox and was worried he'd punch him again. Cole seemed to have a much higher tolerance to Knox.

"I don't know. Remember we were taken as babies? None of us have a clue who our parents are, and I doubt the Def would even know either." Rosen replied. Oh yeah.

"How old are you? And is your name actually Rosen?" I fired off questions, not being able to take all of them anymore. Rosen smiled slightly.

"I guess today is finally the questioning day," he said with a small laugh. "I'm 19, and yes my name is really Rosen Parker. But Parker is my middle name. At the Def, we are all considered a family, meaning our last name is all Defaecatio. They are the ones who name us. That's why the police don't have any record of me, I technically don't exist." he grinned.