Rose's Rush Hour.

Chapter Fifteen

It was Wednesday and I hadn’t seen or spoken to Callum since our falling out on Sunday. I already missed him, and wondered how he was doing each day that passed.

“I think you should talk to him,” Ed suggested when I met her at the police station that afternoon. She was leaning against one of the officer’s desks with her arms crossed over her chest.

“Yes because it worked out so well last time,” I mumbled in a sarcastic tone. “When he said good bye, he inferred that he didn’t want to see me.”

“But don’t you want to clear up the misunderstanding and patch things up?” Ed asked. “You won’t be able to do that if you don’t reach out.”

I sighed. “He already sees me as a liar and pretender.”

“Then you just have to prove that you aren’t,” she told me.

“And how the heck am I supposed to do that?”

Ed shrugged. “I don’t know. I won’t figure everything out for you.”

I glared at her, and her eyes softened with concern.

“Nkwanzi, I don’t like seeing you so upset. You clearly want to keep Callum in your life and he needs to know that one way or another,” she said. “Just go and apologise to him first.”

I knitted my eyebrows. “And what am I apologising for exactly?”

Ed’s shoulders slumped as she gave me a flat disbelieving look. “You hurt him, my sister. It was unintentional; but he still got hurt.”

“Well it wasn’t really me that hurt him. It was the circumstances that were unfortunate,” I voiced, still trying to lean to the logical side of this whole affair.

Ed’s eyes widened. “You psychopath. Do you really think that’s the kind of shit he wants to hear?”

I frowned and hung my head in defeat. “You’re right, Ed. It was an unfavourable outcome of my actions and now I’m the one that needs to take responsibility.”

“And this isn’t the only thing you’ll have to take responsibility for,” she eased in a reminder. “I don’t see the bet you had with Inspector Raphael working out for you either.”

The whole reason I had come to the station was because it was the end date of our bet. Unfortunately for me, Inspector Raphael had kept up his end of the bargain and hadn’t smoked a cigarette for one week. I knew this because his workmates and Ed testified. Plus, I trusted him – he was honourable.

But instead of claiming his reward, Inspector Raphael had upped the stakes.

“Two more weeks without smoking, and I get two wishes from you,” he’d said. “You get two wishes from me if I fail.”

It made me suspicious to think he already had something in store for his wishes, but I nevertheless accepted the bargain. Whatever the wishes were, they couldn’t be bad or dangerous for me, although Ed thought otherwise.

It was probably because the end date was now on her birthday – 8th July, and maybe Inspector Raphael’s wishes had something to do with that.

*****

On Friday, I made up my mind to talk to Callum. After a busy day at the salon, I headed towards Mr. Vaughn’s workplace. Luckily I found Callum locking up the building. He looked nice, in a sky blue button-up tucked into black trousers and I couldn’t help but smile as I saw him; as though my eyes had been starved of sight for weeks.

He kept the keys in his pockets, ran his fingers through his dark hair and turned to leave.

“Callum!” I called out and he froze in his steps. I padded towards him, but he strode forward in quick steps.

“Callum, wait!” I pleaded, picking up my pace but he didn’t stop.

I knew he’d heard me, and was simply ignoring me.

With a huff, I ran forward and cut into his path, blocking him. He was forced to stop and look at me. The fact that the usual sparkle in his eyes whenever he saw me was gone made me wallow in dejection.

“Will you please just listen to me?” I requested softly.

When he made no motion to reply, I took it as a go ahead.

“I’m sorry, alright?” I started. “I know that you’re upset about what happened and you’re angry with me. You have every reason to be and it’s justified. Callum I didn’t mean to hurt you and I’m sorry. But you should know that I didn’t fake anything with you.

“At first yes, my end goal was the date and sticking it to Poppy. But all of that vanished whenever I was with you. I would forget all about it – the plan, Establishment Day, Poppy. I would forget it all and just live in the moment with you. I meant to tell you about me, about my life, about Ed and my father... I loved hearing you talk about Geography, and I was excited to have lunch with you and your family. And my stubbornness with you was definitely something I couldn’t help because that’s just who I am.”

Something flashed across his face and for that moment, I thought I saw the gentleness I had gotten so used to. It made me hopeful.

“I wanted Establishment Day to be all about us, and it was.” I offered him a small smile. “I’d give anything to cut out that silly get together just so I can paint the perfect evening, but it’s not possible. I meant it when I said I was your friend, and I really want to keep our friendship. So can’t we just move past the whole rivalry issue and keep being friends?” I gestured between us. “Keep being us?”

I held my breath as I awaited his answer. He tore his gaze from mine as his face folded in thought. Hope blossomed in my stomach because he seemed o be considering it.

At last he said, “It’s not that easy, Rose.”

Dismay replaced my hope, and he lifted his sombre blue eyes to mine.

“I...I can’t just move past it,” he expressed, his voice low. “Maybe it’s because of this broken trust but...I can’t. It would be better if we went back to the time three weeks ago when we didn’t know each other.”

I frowned as my heart sank at his words. Why was he making it so difficult? I just poured out my sincerity and I really thought that would be enough.

Wordlessly, he stepped by me and walked past, but I couldn’t accept it so easily. I rotated and grabbed his arm, causing him to turn. Slight surprise was in his eyes as they met my perplexed, pleading ones.

“But...” I stammered, not sure what to do with him. I wasn’t sure whether to argue like I always did, or to beg. What more did he want from me to make things right?

His gaze flicked behind me and suddenly his hand was at my waist, gently pushing me to the side.

My heart did a small leap at the contact as a man pushing a cart full of cabbages passed me by. Callum smiled and nodded at the man while my eyes were glued on his boyishly handsome face. He looked at me once more and his cheeks flushed.

“I was only looking out for you,” he explained his action, but he didn’t move his hand from my waist immediately.

Instead, he squeezed lightly before retracting it in a slow and reluctant manner.

“Good night,” he mumbled and stepped back, turning and walking his way.

Slowly, a wide toothy smile crossed my lips. He still wanted me, I realised. There was hope for us, and I was going to make sure he accepted me.

A/N:

Some speech, huh?