Mark My Words

45 | Right Swipe, Left Swipe

Rosalie stood on the icy curb long after the Eagles filed inside. After a long, painful moment, she felt a hand shake her by the arm. She turned to find Joanna standing there, tugging her in the direction of the bus.

"Did you—Did you see that?" Rosalie said, pointing back at the scene of the incident.

Joanna scoffed and said, "Yeah, I saw you almost eat shit before losing your shit."

"No—I mean, yeah, but that girl—"

"You mean that person?" Joanna said. Rosalie shut her mouth before she could scream from the mixture embarrassment and guilt that burned a hole through her chest. She put a hand to her face, shaking her head.

"Yeah. Yeah, sorry. I'm not... I'm not an asshole. Sorry."

Joanna didn't say anything, but dropped her hand in favor of reaching for the railing on the bus stairs. She clasped a hand to the doorframe as Rosalie wondered about... everything. In a few mere seconds, Rosalie thought about what Joanna had said, about her ex from Kaiserslautern coming to the US. Could it be that there were other Kaiserslautern girls in America now? It would explain the fact that Rosalie had never seen or heard of a Drew Mendoza before now.

It would explain Joanna's terse attitude.

"Do you..." Rosalie started. Joanna turned to look at her, and for a moment, Rosalie's mouth ran dry. She cleared her throat before looking up at Joanna's stoic expression and saying, "Do you know them?"

Joanna furrowed her brow and shifted her weight to her other foot. "What? No. I've never seen them in my life."

"Oh. But you're... It just sorta seemed like you knew them for a second."

Joanna narrowed her eyes further. Rosalie jolted at the sight, distinctly aware that Joanna only ever used it to terrify people (namely Jace Clemons). It was enough to convince Rosalie that Joanna in no way knew about Drew Mendoza until the moment they stopped Rosalie from falling.

"You could have cracked your head open. Nice of them to save a known rival," Joanna said. She tugged Rosalie forward by the front of her sweatshirt, and continued to drag her up the steps of the bus.

Through all of it, her teammates had struck up the school anthem and were chanting and shaking the bus with their stomping feet. Rosalie swayed between the seats, heart still drumming in her chest begging to escape. She wasn't sure where it wanted to fly, so she didn't trust it one bit.

She put a hand to her heart before raising it up high and calling for attention on the bus. Whatever the case, she needed to keep her shit and the team's shit in order before losing her mind at the hotel later.

***

Rosalie collapsed backwards onto her hotel bed. She let out a deep, drawn out sigh that hitched when the bed bounced beside her, sending her jolting before settling into the comforter once again. She tipped her head back and met Ray's eyes from where she dropped down beside her. Rosalie picked up one of the fluffy pillows, flopped it over her stomach, and squeezed her arms around it with another sigh.

Across the room, Juliana finished propping the door open. She walked over, flinging her duffle onto the other bed as Ray shimmied up and propped her head up on her hand. Ray eyed Rosalie, who was staring at the popcorn ceiling speckles, wondering absently whether or not they could be counted.

"I thought I saw you and the Eagles' captain talking," Ray said.

Rosalie hummed in acknowledge. She pictured the blonde, devilish semi-stranger with their gold-rimmed black sunglasses. Their dimples. Those defined smile lines and cheekbones. She knew that Blake Miles would take one look at them and become determined to kickstart their modeling career.