The door was open. I walked inside. I felt like I was floating on air. I nearly tripped over my own feet as I reached the kitchen, finding my mom resting against the counter. She stared at me, but I turned left and walked towards the couch. I was so high off of life. No, I think I was high off of Alex.
I laughed. "Mom,"I called her over.
"Hello. How was it?" she asked, sitting next to me.
"Perfect. He opened my doors, bought my ticket, and oh my god he kissed me again!" I smiled widely.
"Did he?" she smiled.
"Yes. Oh mom, he's so amazing," I babbled, not meaning for the words to actually leave my mouth.
"Are you high?" she suddenly asked me.
I stared at her and cracked up. "What the heck, um, no," I answered. "Can't I be in love?"
She laughed at that one. "Oh stop it."
"Just kidding."
"What movie did you two see?"
"I don't exactly remember, but it was scary, I think," I told her, remembering how upset I was at the time.
"You think? How don't you know, unless you weren't watching it," she questioned me.
"Well I was just kind of angry at first because he was acting really different. But then things got better after he told me what was wrong. We talked it out, and now everything is great," I sighed dramatically.
"That's wonderful, honey. I'm glad you had fun," she told me.
I stood up and crossed my arms, shrugging my shoulders and biting my lip. "Me too," I admitted.
I went to bed that night, happy as could be. I couldn't believe I really wasn't dreaming. I also couldn't believe I actually liked a boy. I never used to even think about boys like that. A few months ago, when living in Florida, I swore to myself I would never start to develop feelings for any boy until I was way out of high school, but this kid was just so addicting. I never wanted to be away from him. I liked him so much, that there wasn't a way to even explain it. All I knew was, I fell for him,and my mom was right. There was no turning back.
I didn't sleep well that night, maybe because it was so hot inside my bedroom. I tried opening my door to see if that would help, but it didn't, whatsoever. About an hour later, at around five in the morning, I decided to open my window as wide as I could. That's when I realized how hot it was outside, and it made my day, to be honest. Even though it reminded me of Florida, the musty heat flowing into my room, I was pleased. I was happy to wake up to something that didn't bring me bad memories. This was an amazing feeling, knowing I had gone through my parents divorce, without falling apart.
I fell back to sleep after I crawled back under the covers, and then woke up peacefully a few seconds before my alarm clock rang. I rolled out of bed and got dressed, wearing jean shorts today, finally! I was sweating by the time I began to look for a shirt. I chose a white one, which made me look really tan, and then I pulled back my hair into a low ponytail.
We all ate breakfast as a family this morning, and then Jimmy had to go to school so my mom told Jake and me goodbye and she left. Jake had an attitude problem, and I didn't even want to bother to ask him why. All I saw was the money my mother had left for him on the kitchen counter. Stephanie met up with us and us three walked to school, but she hardly said a word. It looked like something was troubling her for a while, but then she seemed fine once we arrived at school.
She walked with me to my locker, and I didn't exactly understand why, because hers was all the way on the other side of the the building. I did the combination to my lock and glanced at her from the corner of my eye before opening it to get out my textbook.
"You alright?" I asked her, curiously. I suspected something was up.
Her face proved I was right. "Um, yeah," she shrugged, seeming like it was nothing.
"Are you like, sure?" I frowned.
"I just have a question to ask you," she stated, her shoulder leaning against the locker next to mine.
I swallowed hardly, noticing Alexander walking towards us by looking over her shoulder. He stopped suddenly and gave a nervous expression to me, hiding behind a kid just in case Stephanie was to turn around. I smiled at her and let out a small laugh.
"Okay. What is it?" I giggled.
She turned around, but thankfully didn't see him. She looked back at me and raised her left eyebrow, showing a slight smile. "You're laughing, because?"
"Because I got no sleep last night. It was beyond hot, and I didn't have enough time to take a cold shower, so, I'm just a little over tired. If that made any sense," I said quietly.
"It did," she assured me. "Darlene and I are going to go swimming after school today."
"You are?" I asked her, cautiously.
"Yeah, it's major hot outside, and I'm probably going to invite Alex. There's this big hill, right, and there's this huge lake right underneath it, sometimes we jump off of it in the summer and stuff. Well, we want to go swimming in that lake."
"I think you showed it to me before," I smiled.
"Well, would you like to come?" she asked me nicely.
"Sure. It sounds like fun," I told her, opening my locker and finally taking out my textbook.
"Okay. I'll just have my brother swing by your house, and he can take you to this spot we usually hang out at. It's this cleared out space right next to the lake. We use to have picnics there when we were younger," she laughed at the thought.
I did too, picturing Alexander on a picnic with his two sisters. "I would love to go," I easily replied.
"Great! So, it sounds like a plan," she said, starting to walk passed me, almost in a rush. "Wear your bathing suit under your clothes, and I'll talk to Alex and I'll tell him to get you around three."
"Cool," I nodded.
"Tootles!" she laughed, walking down the hall and disappearing behind all of the students.
I closed my locker and shook my head, and leaned my back again my locker, loving the thought of seeing Alex without a shirt. I wondered if he had a good body, or if it was just whatever and not such a huge deal. I also wondered if he would find me attractive in my bikini, but then I got a little nervous. I closed my eyes and let out a deep breath, hearing the late bell ring as someone tapped me on the shoulder.
"Shit," I opened my eyes and jumped.
"Sorry!" It was Alexander.
"Oh, hey," I smiled. "It's alright."
He stared at me, for a pretty long time, and then he put his hands on the lockers, each beside my head, just like he had done the very first night he had kissed me. "We match," he grinned.
"What do you mean?" I breathed out, getting dizzy as he gazed into my eyes and then finally I snapped out of it when he laughed at me.
"Um, I'm wearing jeans and a white shirt, and you are too," he said slowly, making me feel like an idiot.
I had to laugh though, because the way he said it made my heart melt. "Oh, yeah," I smiled, blushing.
"You look good today," he told me.
My eyes widened and I tightened my jaw. "Thanks," I said. "You always do."
"Do I?" he asked, grinning, but also looking annoyed in a way.
"Yeah," I laughed, grabbing the collar of his t-shirt with my hand and pulling him closer to me.
His lips were only an inch away from mine, and I could feel him tense as he stepped away. He rubbed the back of his neck and looked down at the ground as I stood there in confusion. "What was my sister talking to you about?" he asked me, acting as if nothing was wrong.
"She wants me to go swimming with her and Darlene today," I quietly said, hugging my textbook tightly against my chest.
"And what did you say?" he asked, cautiously.
I shrugged, starting to walk towards my first period class. "Walk with me?" I asked him.
He was walking beside me and I think he could feel the tension between us, and that was when he took my arm and halted me to a stop. I looked up into his intense eyes and waited for him to speak.
"I would kiss you," he began, after clearing his throat. "But, I don't think anyone should know about us just yet.."
My heart rate slowed down and I shrugged in response. "Okay, me either," I told him, even though it was far from the truth.
"Really?" he frowned, looking awfully suspicious.
"Well, I mean I don't want my best friend to hate me just yet," I said, a little attitude in my voice.
"And I don't want her to hate you at all," he stated, still gently holding onto my arm. "That's why we have to be careful about this," he hesitated. "About us."
"Us?" I scowled. "But there isn't a us, Alex."
He looked kind of hurt, in a way. "I'm just saying, I can't kiss you in public, not for a while."
"Fine," I said, pulling out of his hand. "That's fine with me, seriously."
"Listen," he ordered. "I want to, but I can't. Right now I want our feelings for each other to be a secret."
I nodded, trying not to blow up. I didn't want to hide mine. "Alright," I whispered.
"Alright?" he asked, seeming sad.
"You're not wearing a hat today," I noticed.
He grinned and rolled his eyes. "Way to change the subject," he laughed softly, and then stepped closer to me. "But I'm glad you did."
"I'm alright with hiding our feelings a little while, Alex," I began. "But, do we have to hide them forever?"
His eyebrows narrowed and he shook his head after a few long seconds. "No," he answered. "That would be impossible."
He walked me to my class, and the rest of the day continued. We had lunch but Alex had to go to football practice instead. Stephanie and Darlene were in a pretty good mood, which picked up my spirits as well. We went to track and ran a lot, and we were so hot that we had to run as fast as we could to the girls bathroom to cool ourselves down before we had heatstroke.
We were cracking up laughing by the time we had the sink running, wetting so many paper towels and drenching them in the cold water. They were not exactly helping that much, even though we had them on our heads for the longest time, so we put our heads under the facet too to get our hair wet. Girls came walking into the bathroom and staring at us like we were freaks, maybe because we were sitting on the floor, but we just laughed it off and waited for them to leave, since we got there first.
School ended and I met up with Jake, and he was actually in a much better mood by the time we got home. Our mom had popsicles ready for us, which made us both laugh, but I could tell Jacob was a little hurt because of the way he face dropped when he saw the box. Our father use to have them ready for us after we got home from school on a scorching hot day like today was. I had to smile though, because of the weird slurping sounds Jimmy was making from sucking on them too hard.
I ran to my room and found a few bathing suits, and decided to put on my hot pink and black bikini. Then I slid into a brown sundress and wore a pair of my flip flops, ran to the kitchen and saw that I still had about thirty more minutes until Alex would be knocking on the back door. Time passed by really fast, and when I heard the three loud knocks I kissed my mom on the cheek and told her I'd be back later.
I opened the door and there was Alex, waiting for me and smiling. "Ready?" he asked.
"Yeah, I'm so ready," I laughed, taking his hand and walking towards the path.
"You're wearing your swim suit right?" he made sure.
"Of course I am," I said, putting my hair at the top of my head in a bun.
"It's so hot out," he complained.
"Don't you just love it?" I exclaimed, laughing at the dirty look he was giving me. "Sorry, I forgot your a winter boy."
"Yes I definitely am," he said to me, putting his arm around my shoulder.
"Which is weird," I quickly added, him pinching the side of my waist, obviously not knowing how ticklish I was. "Oh my god stop!" I laughed.
"Stop, huh?" he laughed with me.
"I hate you," I laughed harder, him finally stopping.
"You hate me?" His face looked so depressed.
"No! I was just kidding," I answered as fast as I could, feeling bad that I had hurt his feelings.
Then he laughed. "Me too," he told me.
"Jerk," I mumbled, us both continuing to walk towards the lake they were going to meet us at.
"We're going to go to the hill, alright? We don't have to jump, I just want to show it to you," he explained anxiously.
"Good, because I'm not jumping off a cliff," I declared.
"Ugh, fine," he sighed.
"I bet you can't wait to see me in my bathing suit," I teased him.
He looked at me and smiled, his cheeks turning flushed. "No comment," he said, suppressing humor. I think I embarrassed him.
When we got there I walked to the edge and stared down, noticing how high we were. I took a few steps back and shook my head repeatedly.
"It would take a lot of guts to do something like this," I mumbled to myself, wishing I would just learn to be brave.
"Let's do it," he smiled, almost reading my mind.
"No way," I refused. "Do you know how high of a fall this is?"
He took my face with his hands and moved closer to me. "Take risks," he whispered.
I shook him away. "It's way too scary."
"Please," he begged. "You have your suit on under your clothes."
I sighed. "I know, but," I walked a few steps closer to the edge again and looked down, seeing how far of a drop it really was.
It looked about maybe two or three school buses long in length, and for a moment I did feel like it would be fun. I turned around and stared at him, shy because I realized how much he would really see my body. It wasn't that I didn't feel comfortable, because I was, it was just nerve racking because of how much I liked him.
He pulled his shirt over his head and threw it onto a rock, and I couldn't believe how muscular he was. He had the hottest abs, and looked exactly like a male model. It was funny. Without thinking it through I slipped out of my dress and stood perfectly still in my bikini, crossing my arms and pressing my lips together.
He smiled right away. "Woah."
"Shut up," I said shyly.
"Um," he hesitated. "So, is that a yes?"
"Fine," I gave in. "I'll jump if you jump."
"Ha!" he laughed. "Yes!"
"But Stephanie and Darlene want us to meet them," I told him. "So maybe we should just head back down."
"But they'll be waiting for us right down there," he pointed towards the river below us.
He got me. "But," I sighed.
"You already said you would," he complained.
"But now I'm changing my mind."
"You can't change your mind," he told me.
"Yes I can," I snapped.
"No you can't," he smirked.
"Yes I," but before I could finish the sentence I noticed him running towards the edge of the cliff and pulling me by my wrist along with him. "Stop!" I yelled, laughing at the same time.
He scooped me up into his arms and stopped right at the very edge.
My face was completely against his chest and my nails were digging into his arms. "Shit! No," I refused. "No way!"
"Come on," he begged me. "Please?"
"No!"
"You already said you would!"
His warm skin against mine made me completely stop caring. "I'll die!"
"No you won't," he laughed, holding me tighter as I closed my eyes tightly shut.
"You really want to be the cause of my death?" I whispered.
"You're not going to die," he told me. "I won't let you."
"Okay," I excitedly gasped. "But you have to kiss me first."
He grinned. "Okay," he whispered, as I took his face in my hand and kissed him with all of my heart.
Then I opened my eyes and stared at him silently for a while. "One more..." I stated, him kissing me once more, this time much harder, and without me expecting it is when he pushed off the edge.
And with that he jumped off the cliff with me still in his arms, and it was only about five seconds until we hit the water, getting pulled down under because of our hard impact. At first I couldn't tell where the top of the water was, so I began swimming farther down, hating the fact that I didn't get a chance to hold my breath. I turned and kept swimming, trying to reach the air but I couldn't, and at this point I really couldn't breathe. I went so deep that my ears popped. I could feel the splashing of water from around me and coming from up top, but I couldn't hold my breath any longer. I sucked the lake water into my lungs and it filled my chest and began burning terribly, making my throat kill and my head pound against my skull. I opened my eyes and everything started to go black. My whole life flashed before my eyes. Was I dying? Then all of a sudden I felt someone's arms around me and I was pulled from the bottom of the lake but slowly drifted off into a deep sleep.
"Rosie," I heard someone shouting, I was awake but not able to open my eyes. "Please, Rosalie," he said in a frightened whisper. He was lightly pushing on my chest, and then out of nowhere I felt his fingers pinch my nose and his mouth was soft against mine. I felt him blow air into me, his oxygen filling my damaged lungs. After his lips left mine the water leaked out of my mouth and I began coughing, unable to stop. "Oh my god," he sighed, as I felt the relief in his voice.
I eventually stopped choking and gagging and opened my eyes, his body leaning over me and his face was right above mine, only inches away. His hair was dripping and soaked, and I couldn't believe I was thinking about what he looked like instead of worrying about my own health. I smiled and then started coughing again and this time my throat hurt even worse.
"I'm so sorry," he said, as I sat up slowly, of course with his help, and realized where I was.
We were sitting on the land straight across from the cliff, which meant he would have had to carry me out of the water. I turned to look at him and then got dizzy, so I fell back down onto my back.
"Rosie," he whispered, leaning over me again. "Are you alright?"
I closed my eyes. "Yes," I choked out, grasping my throat with both hands.
"Shh," he told me. "Don't talk."
"But," I said, choking more water up.
"Please just stay quiet," he begged me, his hand brushing my face.
I opened my eyes again and stared up at him, not being able to listen. "Alex," I muttered, swallowing down more lake water.
"Stop," he complained, looking scared out of his mind. "You can talk after you've coughed up all of the water you decided to choke on."
"You," I tried to swallow down the lump in my throat, but couldn't. "You saved my life."
He didn't smile. He only nodded. "I'm sorry."
I laughed, even though it made my throat burn even more. "For what?"
"You warned me," he said, angry with himself.
"Yeah," I coughed.
"You told me that you were going to die."
"But I didn't," I whispered. "And," I inhaled. "And I was only joking."
"Joking?"
"Yes," I cleared my throat.
"Well you really could have," he frowned, his eyebrows narrowing.
I decided to just nod instead of making my lungs worse.
He looked away from me for a few seconds, and then back into my eyes. "It would have been my fault," he whispered.
I shook my head. "It's okay," I swallowed.
"No it's not," he frowned.
I grabbed the back of his head, completely out of my mind but not caring about anything at all. "It's my fault," I whispered, his warm hand still lightly on my cheek.
"No it isn't," he argued.
"Alex," I exhaled slowly. "I'm the one who sucked in the water."
"And I'm the one who made you jump."
"You didn't make me do it," I mouthed.
"Yeah I did," he said stubbornly. "I picked you up and wouldn't let you down."
"I didn't," I got interrupted by a cough. "I didn't want you to put me down," I finished.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes."
"Oh."
"And I wanted to jump with you."
"No you didn't."
"Yes I did," I argued, coughing once more.
"Stay quiet," he said, me pulling down his head without him expecting it, lifting my head up to kiss him.
At first his lips were closed and hard, almost like he was shocked at my response, but I didn't exactly care. All I cared about was him. He saved my life by dragging me out of the water, and all I wanted to do now was to kiss him. Actually, that's all I wanted to do, ever. By now he was kissing me back, his soaked hair in my face, until there was a bit of a problem.
"Alex?" Stephanie asked, him lifting up his head as I kept my eyes tightly shut and flung my arms by my side.
"Help me," he yelled, as I heard Stephanie and Darlene make their way over to me. I stayed as still as possible.
"What happened?" Steph asked him, touching my arm.
He put his hands on my chest and barely pushed down, as I pretended to choke up more water. I opened my eyes and he put his arm under my neck, holding me up.
"Rose," she said frantically, as I spotted Darlene glaring at me from where she was standing. "Are you alright?"
I looked at Stephanie and smiled, lightly coughing, my throat still burning. "I think," I whispered.
"She didn't get a chance to hold her breath," he told her softly. "And she swallowed the water and by the time I brought her up for air she had already gone unconscious."
Her eyes widened with horror. "You could have died!" she yelled.
"I'm fine," I told her quietly.
"Oh my goodness," she said, freaking out.
"I'm okay."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah," I answered, looking back to Alex.
"What happened?" she asked him.
"We jumped off the cliff," he admitted. "I made her do it."
"No," I said, my throat starting to burn again.
"You both are lying," Darlene snapped, us all staring at her in shock.
"Lying?" I asked.
She nodded fiercely. "You both were kissing," she growled.
I looked up and noticed Alexander's face turn red. "No."
"Yes!"
"Are you kidding me," he shouted at her.
"I saw it," she scowled.
"You didn't see anything," he yelled.
"Alex, calm down," Stephanie said to him.
"I was giving her mouth to mouth," he yelled again, making them jump.
Darlene still looked mad, but why? "Oh," she said, crossing her arms.
"She could have gotten way more hurt if I hadn't of made her let out the lake water," he threatened. "How can you try starting shit with me at a time like this?"
"At a time like what?" she demanded, nothing but heartless.
"Darlene," Stephanie gasped, her jaw dropping dramatically. "She could have drowned!"
"So?"
"So?" Steph echoed, sounding like her throat closed.
"Don't even go there," Alex said, while I took his hand, hoping he would just ignore her.
"Go where?" she said, putting her hands on her hips and glaring at me. "You shouldn't fake choking. Just admit it, you both like each other."
"What?" I whispered, shocked and taken by surprise.
"Go home," he told her, trying to control his temper. "How can you be so rude and heartless?"
"I just thought you were kissing her," she told him.
"Even if I was kissing her," he hesitated. "You still have no right to even worry about it."
"Yes I do, she's your sister's friend."
"Shut up," he yelled, making me worried. "Give me a break."
"Don't tell me to shut up!" she moaned.
"She could have seriously died," he snarled. "And you accuse us of kissing each other?"
She dropped her gaze to the ground. "I'm sorry," she told him. "You're right, maybe I shouldn't have said that."
"Damn straight I'm right," he said, looking down at me now.
"It's okay," I told him softly, wanting to drift off into a deep sleep.
"No it isn't. You could have," he stopped, standing up. "You could have died."
"But I didn't," I said, already losing my voice.
"It's not the point." And he quickly walked into the woods in anger.
I sat up nervously, wanting to run after him but he was already gone. I turned to stare at Darlene's frightened face. "How could you," I stopped, almost crying with pain as I swallowed down the lump in my dry throat.
"Just be careful," Stephanie told me, gently helping me onto my feet. "You can faint."
"No I don't care," I argued, walking right up to Darlene glaring her in the eyes.
"Woah," she said, noticing how angry I looked.
"He saved my life," I said, as calmly as I could. "Is there a problem with him saving my life?"
She shook her head. "No."
"Then what the hell's your deal?" I asked.
"I said I was sorry," she rushed out. "I thought you both were lying."
"Does it look like I'm lying?" I asked her.
She looked down at the ground. "No," she answered.
"Now go find him and apologize," I ordered.
She grimaced at me now. "What if I don't want to?" she challenged.
"You owe him a sincere apology," I growled.
"Rose," Stephanie shrieked. "Stop!"
"Yeah Rose, stop," Darlene smirked.
"Stop?" I glared at Stephanie. "How can you tell me to stop? Your brother saved my life! Darlene is just a heartless little bitch!"
"Excuse me?" she gasped.
Stephanie shook her head and crossed her arms, looking upset. "She just thought she saw something else," she struck up for her.
I turned towards Darlene and gave her the dirtiest look I could. "You've got some nerve," I whispered, now shaking from the wind.
"Listen," she sighed.
"No. I don't like you anymore," I scowled, her face dropping.
"Rose come on," she began.
"No Darlene," I shouted, walking as fast as I could in the direction Alex had gone.
"Alex!" I yelled, not having any idea what way he had gone. "Alexander?"
I kept walking forward, dripping wet, my throat burning so bad that it almost felt like it was bleeding. I could barely breathe, and I nearly cut my foot open on the pebbles I was stepping on because of being barefoot. I had no clue where I was going, but I kept walking and yelling his name and then I came to the place where the campfire was. It was the spot where I met him the night we had our first kiss. I walked towards the center, staring down at the rocks and sticks where the warm fire used to be, which made me shiver and think back to when Stephanie almost saw us kiss.
I was so pissed off at this point, that I seriously wanted to punch Darlene in the face. How could she get mad at him saving my life? How could she even consider the thought of us kissing, when I was on the ground coughing up water and bile from almost drowning? I couldn't believe any of this. I almost fell to the ground until I heard a stick crunch from behind me.
I turned around as fast as I could and I saw him. "Alex," I said, so happy and relieved to see him.
He looked like he had just been crying, but I knew it was probably just from getting water in his eyes or something. "Rosie," he half smiled.
I stepped about a foot in front of him and smiled sheepishly. "How does it feel to be a hero?" I asked him.
"A hero?" his voice changed, turning deep and distant. "I'm not a hero."
"Yeah you are," I told him, hating how he was blaming himself for what I had done.
"You could have drowned," he said, frowning. "Well, actually you did drown."
"But you saved me," I stated, wanting to grab his face and shake him back to reality.
"But I wouldn't have had to save you if I hadn't of asked you to jump with me," he told me, his voice sounding desperate and angry.
"Why are you blaming yourself for what happened? It was an accident, not my fault, or yours. It just happened, I swam deeper down and I got tired of holding my breath," I explained.
"Still," he shook his head.
"Stop it!" I yelled at him, his eyes widening. "Why are you doing this? Why is everything always your fault?"
He looked dumbfounded. "Um, I don't know," he questioned.
I sat down on the log beside him, and he sat down next to me. "It wasn't your fault," I whispered, staring down at the ground and then closing my eyes.
"Okay, it wasn't my fault," he softly spoke.
"It wasn't."
"Alright, it wasn't," he stated, taking my hand and squeezing it hardly.
I looked up at him and didn't say anything until my voice came back. "Good," I whispered.
"I'm just, you weren't breathing and," he stopped. "Forget it. You're alright, that's all that matters."
"I don't like Darlene," I said, him laughing.
"I understand why. I don't like her either, sometimes. She's so rude, and I don't even understand why," he told me.
"Why is she always so pissed of at everything?" I asked him.
He looked confused. "I don't know," he answered.
"Maybe she has a crush on you," I said, his eyes widening. "Just kidding."
"Thank god."
"I'm kind of hungry," I smiled. "Want to come back to my house and make some lunch with me?"
He grinned, and nodded. "Sounds great, but I think we should go back to the hill and get our clothes," he chuckled.
"Good idea," I agreed, us both getting up, holding hands, everything perfect. "Oh, um, Alex?"
We stopped walking and he looked down into my eyes, silently. "Yeah?" he said.
"You might have asked me to jump," I began. "But, it was my choice, and I wanted to jump with you."
He smiled, making me feel so much better, and he said, "Okay," and we walked quietly back into the woods.
The rest of the week passed by, and things were a lot different. My throat didn't stop hurting for at least three days, and I didn't tell my mom what even happened. I told her I just was catching a cold from being in the wind in my bathing suit. At school Stephanie talked to me about what happened that day by the lake, and she actually felt pretty bad for sticking up for Darlene. She bought me an Italian icy at lunch and I guess you could say we made up. Her sister didn't even say sorry to me though, which made me even more angry with her.
It was a Sunday afternoon, very chilly outside, feeling like fall with the breeze blowing into our house through our opened windows. It was around one o'clock and I was helping my mom clean the house, dusting the tables and scrubbing the bathrooms with Clorox wipes. We were listening to music and having a pretty good time as Jake watched Jimmy for us in the living room. Everything was going great, and then the phone rang so I raced to my bedroom and answered it.
"Hello?" I panted through the receiver.
"Hey, it's Alex," he said, as I heard the wind blowing in the background.
"Oh, hey," I smiled, putting down the duster and sitting on my bed. "What's up?"
"Driving downtown, it's wicked nice outside," he told me, enthusiasm filling his voice.
"I can tell, my mom has every window in the house opened," I laughed.
"And the sun is pretty hot too, even though the wind can get really cold at times."
"Is there a reason why you're talking about the weather?" I asked him.
"Yeah, actually," he stated, and then there was silence.
"Well what is it?" I begged him.
"You know that lake I took you to that day, where I showed you the sunset?"
"Yeah," I gasped, loving how this sounded. "I remember it, why?"
He laughed, I heard it clearly. "Well do you remember telling me those three things you've always wanted to do?"
"Um, like dancing in the rain," I smiled widely, hoping he could somehow see it. "Which you did with me.. and seeing a shooting star?"
"And the other thing," he hinted, me trying to remember what it was.
"Oh! Sitting in a," I hesitated, sucking in a huge breath of air. "Oh my god, sitting in a rowboat like people do in romance movies?" I asked him, laughter in my voice.
"Yeah," he told me. "I sort of have this rowboat in my garage, well, I did," he told me quickly.
"What happened to it?" I asked cheerfully.
"It's in the back of the truck," he answered bleakly.
"What truck?"
"The one I'm driving right as we speak," he told me, probably hearing the excitement in my tone.
"Oh my god!" I laughed, standing up and running into my closet. "You're on your way here, aren't you?"
"Possibly," he admitted. "If you're up for coming with me."
"Obviously," I blurted out unthinkingly.
"Alright, so, I'm on my way," he told me.
"Oh my god, yay!" I gasped, grabbing a pair of my ripped jeans and shrugging them on. "When will you be here?"
"Whenever you want."
"Five minutes, does that sound good to you?" I asked him, so beyond happy!
"Of course," he told me.
"I'll see you soon," I smiled, putting on a black shirt over my blue tank top.
"Yup, see you soon." And he hung up.
"Shit!" I shouted, in a loud burst of laughter.
My mom came running into my room and stared at me through her reading glasses, soapy gloves on her hands with her hair in a high ponytail. "What the hell," she trailed off.
"I'm kind of getting picked up in five minutes," I smiled, walking by her and putting the phone on my dresser. I slid on my black flip flops and stopped in front of her. "What?" I asked.
"You're supposed to be cleaning with me, Rosalie," she frowned, making me laugh from desperation.
"Supposed to?" I repeated her words, hoping she would think about it and realize I was doing it out of being nice. She didn't ask me to help her.
"Yes, Rose. The kitchen floor needs to be swept, and then we're going to mop it," she explained, her tone changing to rudeness.
"Um, whoa, mom," I growled, looking at her in horror. "You never asked me to help you, I just did it because I wanted to help you out. So why are you making it like these are my chores?"
"Because they are, in a way," she said, my eyes narrowing and staring amazed at her.
"Are you kidding me?"
"Fine, I'm sorry," she sighed.
"Can't I go have a little fun?" I asked, almost begging her to be happy for me.
She smiled and nodded. "I guess you can," she told me quietly.
"Thanks mom," I said softly, hugging her tightly and avoiding her soapy hands.