She's Too Naive

Chapter 15

I stood motionless for a few moments, too shocked to react. I was expecting us to kiss eventually, but I was not expecting him to ask. Coming back to myself, I nodded slowly and Rosen smiled. He stepped closer to me and placed one of his hands on my cheek as he leaned in. I closed my eyes and he pressed his lips to mine, soft and slow. Warmth surged through my blood as the sound of the ocean breathed in my ears. The kiss was over in the next moment, and I opened my eyes with a smile. Swift but sweet would be the best way to describe it, and first kisses were usually like that.

Ara called out our names, both of us taking back a step to give the other some space to process. Neither of us said anything as we walked back to the fire pit holding hands, and found everyone was up and starting to pack things back into the vehicles. The fire had dwindled down to embers and we ended up needing flashlights to see what we were doing. Rosen and I parted ways as we both began helping with the cleanup.

I started up my Jeep as Lee threw some sand on the pit, making sure the fire was completely out. Ara was going to get a ride home from Lynn since they lived closer to each other, which left me with driving Rosen back to Mr.Milkshake so he could retrieve his car. My tires spun on the sand as I drove off the beach, flipping on my brights. For the first few moments it seemed that we both were unsure of what to say, but Rosen was the one to finally broke the silence.

"I had a lot of fun tonight," He said with a grin, a similar grin to the one I saw when I first met him in the gas station.

"Me too," I replied back, softly. "i'm glad you don't mind hanging out with my friends, they seem to like you which is strange because we usually don't befriend vacationers," I added with a teasing laugh, turning down onto mainstreet. I was a bit sad when we parked in front of Rosen's car, signaling the end to a wonderful night. Rosen cleared his throat when I put the jeep into park, the engine idling in the silent night air.

"You know what you asked me the other night? The thing about what we should say when people ask if we're together." My heart skipped a beat as he said this, and I nodded for him to continue.

"My answer to that is you can say yes, if you would like." he spoke slow and deliberately, obviously giving me time to process his words. I was thankful that he was leaving it open to me to make the final decision on where I wanted to take this relationship.

"I would like to be able to say yes," I said, a smile slowly growing on my face as I glanced towards Rosen. He smiled a smile of his own and leaned over the console, kissing my cheek gently.

"Then it's official," He reaffirmed and I nodded, he nodded, we both laughed. I enjoyed the simplicity of how we acted around each other. Our relationship was still developing, but that would come with time and was one of the reasons we took that step forward.

"Bye Ellie May, text me when you get home yeah?" He asked as he climbed out of the jeep.

"Yeah I'll let you know when I'm home. See ya," I replied with a wave as Rosen slammed the door, and jogged over to his car. I waited until he started his car before pulling back onto the road and heading back towards home.

☾

I was sitting on the couch, eating some crackers when my parents finally came home. I jumped up right away, the crackers spilling to the cushions as I raced into the foyer. My mom greeted me with open arms, which I gladly went into.

"I see the house is still standing," My dad joked, but he did scan the room carefully. My parents knew about the break in, but decided against cutting their trip short to come home. They had notified my Grandma to come check on me, but after that I was on my own again. They trusted me to take care of everything and besides, the Police said there was nothing they could do if they did come home.