She's Too Naive

Chapter 5

I kicked a stone down the sidewalk and watched as it skidded out into the road. Neither one of us spoke at first, and instead stayed in a comfortable silence.

“So where are you from?” I asked.

“I’ve lived in New York my whole life,” Rosen replied. I glanced over at him and tucked a stray piece of hair behind my ear. “Before you ask, I did live in the city,” My cheeks warmed slightly in the cool night air. I had just been about to ask him him that.

“Wow, I wish I could go to New York. I’ve been stuck here my whole life. Never even left the state,” I laughed a bit sourly. “Even though my parents always go on this big month trip every summer.”

“They don’t take you with?” Rosen asked curiously. I shook my head, scuffing my shoe on the sidewalk. 

“Nope, they tell me I have to stay and watch the house or whatever,” I rolled my eyes and sighed. “Even when my sister left for college in California I couldn’t go with to say goodbye or check out her dorm room,”

“That sucks,” Rosen said. I nodded and made a noise of agreement. “Doesn’t it get lonely?”

“All the time, but I’ve gotten used to it. That’s why I try to hang out with my friends a lot too. Helps make it less noticeable,” Rosen opened his mouth to reply but was cut off by a ringing phone. He sighed when he looked at the screen. He flipped it open and put it up to his ear with a frown. 

“What? No we’re fine, just out for a walk. Whatever. Yeah bye.” He stuffed the phone back in his pocket. “Sorry about that. It was just Cole, he’s kind of a pain in the ass sometimes,” I shrugged and gave him a small smile to show I wasn't bothered. 

“Just looking out for each other, yeah?” Rosen smiled at me and my heart jumped slightly. Oh this is bad Ellie, very bad.

“We’ve been friends for a long time,” He said solemly,  suddenly he grabbed my hand and towed me towards the tree line. “I have to show you something,”

“You aren’t going to murder me with an axe are you?” I laughed, but a tiny part of me was worried. When I honestly thought about it, how much did I really know this guy.

Rosen just rolled his eyes at me and walked on a little path I had never noticed before. It was just wide enough for one person to walk through at a time so Rosen lead the way.

We came upon a small clearing, where the first thing I noticed was a huge rock. It looked like every child’s dream. I certainly would have spent my days climbing it if I had known of this place as a kid. Because the sun was just setting, beams of gold glittered through the branches of the trees.  

“Wow,” I muttered, spinning in a circle. “This is so cool,” I turned and looked at Rosen with a smile. “how’d you find this place,” I hopped up onto the big rock and Rosen joined me. There was a good foot of space between us, and a tiny part of me wished there was less. I had to admit that Rosen was very attractive, and I automatically felt drawn to that. I'm sure most girls did. 

“I wander a lot and came acrossed it, it seemed like a good place to get away from all the people,”

“Not a party person either huh?” I swung my legs back and forth slightly like a little kid. “I go to them, but usually don't enjoy them too much. Big crowds of people make me nervous,” I laughed a bit awkwardly at my confession. 

“Yeah, that’s exactly how I feel,” we sat in silence for a few moments and I kept pondering if i should ask him about the night at the gas station. I had a right to know considering I was there, but at the same time I didn’t want to think about it. Rosen cleared his throat, and the sound made me turn to look at him. “I know what you’re thinking…” He trailed off. “About that night in the alley,” he paused for a moment, thinking about what he was going to say. “My brother used to come down here sometimes and apparently got into some trouble. Now he owes these guys some money, but they thought i had it and came after me,” Rosen scratched the back of his head. Everything he just told me made sense, It would also go along with the conversation I overheard him have with Cole. He must be worried about them coming after us again now that we got away. “I called the police after you left, they said they would work on it and that they had some suspects in custody,”

“Okay, thanks for telling me,” I gave a breathy laugh. “I was kind of worried you were apart of it or something,” Rosen looked completely taken aback.

“No way, I don’t get into that kind of trouble. I mean I cause trouble sometimes, but what teenager doesn't?,” He nudged my shoulder with his own and grinned at me. “Well except for you maybe,” I laughed dryly in return. I knew he was only teasing, but was kind of getting sick of all the assumptions. This year, I really need to work on that.

“Yeah, I’m trying to fix that,” I shrugged slightly. He looked over at me surprised.

“Why?”

“I’m kind of sick of everyone always saying how naive I am or that i’m a goody-two-shoes. It get’s annoying,” I muttered, picking at some of my peeling nailpolish. 

“I could help with that,” He smirked at me with a wink and I hit his shoulder playfully. 

 “Ha ha ha. Very funny,” I said sarcastically. “And how would you plan to do that?” I asked, raising my eyebrows. Rosen was quiet for a few moments, clearly just as surprised as I was by the question. I needed to tone down the flirting a bit. A little was harmless, in fact it was a normal teenage thing to do. But I wasn’t looking to dig myself into a deep hole, only to find I forgot the ladder.