It was at least a full week before I ran into the mysterious Rosen Parker again.
I had chosen against calling the police to report the incident, as I really had no evidence for them on who the guys that threatened us were. I was also terrified of talking about that night, because saying it out loud would only make it more real.
Summer break had just begun only two weeks back and the whole town was still buzzing with excitement. Teenagers hung out at the local parks, elementary and middle school kids started summer school, and me, well I was just looking forward to a relaxing break before my senior year in high school.
I fanned myself with a store flyer as I tried to cool down from the summer heat. My friend Lynn sighed loudly and flipped over on the grass to even out her attempted tan. Lynn was one of those people, who tried her hardest to tan, but her skin maybe turned one shade darker and then she just burned. She always hated her pale skin, which contrasted with her dark hair sharply, and would do anything to try and get rid of it.
Her boyfriend, Lee, looked like an ice cream cone left out in the sunlight to melt. His black hair was glued to his forehead and even after he took off his shirt, his skin still glistened with sweat. He had been playing a basketball game with some of the other guys, but they all decided to take a break when the heat became too much to take. Today was too hot to do much of anything.
Everyone was sitting around dying, when I finally decided I had enough.
"I'm going to get a slushie at the gas station. Anyone else want one?" I asked while I stood up and brushed grass off my legs, grimacing at the indents it made on my knees. I looked at our group of about seven people and all of them raised their hands. "Well someone has to help me carry them," I said exasperated but nobody jumped up to offer any help.
"Lee and I will just share," Lynn mumbled from the grass. Okay, so six slushies.
I'd have everyone pay me back when I brought them their slushies so I started the walk to the gas station alone. Thankfully it was only a couple blocks, so the walk only would take a few minutes. I automatically thought about my crazy encounter with Rosen the week before, after I had first met him at the very same gas station.
The heat was unbearable and as soon as I saw the store I practically ran to get inside the cool air-conditioning. I breathed in the cold air and wiped the sweat from my forehead.
"Hey Ellie," I looked towards the girl working the counter and recognized her from school. I gave her a smile and a small wave before going towards the back of the store to the slushie machine. I was turning down an aisle for the chips when I ran right into someone.
"Excuse me," I muttered and then looked up and gasped. "You!"
Rosen grinned at me.
"I'm beginning to think you're following me," He said "Already in love with your savior?"
"Don't flatter yourself," I replied with a slight smile and walked past him to the slushie machine. I could feel my face heating up.
Of course he followed me and stood behind me as I got six cups out and started filling them up. I could almost taste the sweet syrupy flavor of blue raspberry on my tongue.
"Thirsty?" Rosen asked amused. I didn't turn to look at him as I put all my focus into what I was doing.
"My friends and I are melting so I decided to be a nice person," I replied casually and started filling up another cup. I grabbed a lid and put it on, pushing a straw through the top.
"Seems like you," He grabbed an empty cup and started to help me fill up the slushies.
I paused as I grabbed another cup to look at him. "And what's that supposed to mean?" I asked. He gestured to my outfit and my lips tugged downwards into a small frown.
"You're wearing a dress in this blasted heat, you're name is Ellie May, and you have bleach blonde wavy hair. It kind of just emits kindness," he pointed out every feature he mentioned, a grin lighting up his face.
"Um thanks?" I stared at him. A part of me was a bit annoyed that he came up with that conclusion, but he wasn't enitrely wrong either. I tried to be a nice person to everyone I knew. To me, it was a big deal whether people liked me or not. This town was all about impressions an I was determined to make a good one.
We finished filling up all the slushies and I did my best to grab two in each hand. I still had no idea how I would carry all of them back to the park. Rosen helped grab the other two and carried them to the cash register with me. I dug through the little backpack I was wearing until I found my wallet and got the required money out. Before she even could give me my change, Rosen had four slushies piled in his arms.
"I'm here to help because I have nothing better to do," Rosen smiled. I stared at him warily at first, before grabbing the remaining two slushies and shouldering open the door. The soffocating heat filled my body instantly and I already started feeling sweat drip down my back and stick to the soft cotton of my dress. Gross.
Thankfully the park was pretty close by; otherwise the slushies would have been liquid by the time we got there. All my friends stared when they noticed another person trailing behind me.
"Here are the slushies," I said to break the silence. At that, everyone raced to grab one so I only had one left for myself.
"Who are you? I haven't seen you at school before," One of the guys, Josh, squinted at Rosen while he took a slurp at his drink.
"I don't go here, I'm just staying for the summer," Rosen answered. His response made sense, as our town had a lot of vacation homes on the beach. The summer months attracted the vacationers, and the winter months always attracted the tourists. At least that's what we called them.
"Cool," Josh nodded. "Nice to meet you, I'm Josh. And that's Lee, Lynn, Tristan, Ara, Abby, and you must already know Ellie," Everyone gave a short wave as they were being introduced.
"Rosen. I only ran into Ellie a few times, but I saw she needed some help," his gaze drifted over to me, and I glanced towards the girls who all had bewildered looks on their faces. They were probably wondering why the heck I never mentioned this guy to them before.
"We were just going to start another game of basketball if you want to play," Tristan jumped in. I bit my lip and looked at Rosen. It was a little bit obvious the guys were trying to include a new member to our group. I didn't expect him to want to play with my friends but he nodded.
"Sure, I haven't played in a while though so I might be under practiced,"
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