Skinny Love

Chapter Three

It was six in the morning and I was wandering around the house in my unusual bedroom attire; bra and tights. I had thrown my dress off before I hit the bed last night and I just slept how I was. I was so tired after staying up all night with my friends the night before, and we had trekked through the city the day after so I was pretty much trashed as soon as I made it home. Since I had fallen asleep so early I had woken up early in return. The sun was barely rising through my windows and to let it in I opened the front door.

I started to rummage through the fridge for something to eat. Since I hadn’t eaten dinner I was absolutely starving, yet all that seemed to be in our tiny fridge was some ham and a bottle of milk. I sighed, patting my grumbling stomach and standing straight. I decided to go into town to get some breakfast because there was no way I could stay awake for another few hours. But before I could return to my room, there was a knock at the screen door.

“Hello?”

I carefully stepped over to the front door and peaked around the edge.

“You are aware it’s six in the morning, right?” I asked the teenage boy who was standing on my doorstep. He looked at me for a second and wildly pulled a weird face.

“You are aware you’re in your underwear, right?” He blatantly said back, causing me to frown.

“Excuse me?” I looked down and went red. “Um. Eh. I just woke up.” I covered my mid drift with my arms. “Why are you here so early? Who are you?”

“Well,” He dug around in his messenger bag. “I came to bring these. I was just going to put them on your porch but then I saw the front door was open I decided to knock.” And his hands returned with shoes. Big, chunky, ugly sneakers.

“Those aren’t mine.” I said instantly, wrinkling my nose.

“Those are your sisters.” He said back, calmly.

“No they are not.”

“She left them in my brother’s pub last night.” He held them out to me, expecting me to take them. “He even told me so.”

“They’re not my sisters.” I withdrew my arms from hugging my sides to open the door. The excess cold air shocked the hairs on my arms to stand. I took them from him. “They’re a size 36 for one. My sisters are sizes 40 and 41. And two, they would not be caught dead in such ugly shoes.” And I gave them back lewdly, just to show my point. “I’m guessing your brother is Jonah?”

"Yes.” He put the shoes softly back in his bag. “I’m sorry, but he was so sure about it. He practically forced me out of the house to get them here.”

I could see him and Jonah being related. They both had the strong jaw bone, the soft eyes and the mouth that curled into something of a mocking smile. But this boy had sandy-blond hair, compared to Jonah’s light brown.

“It’s alright.” I leant out to grab the door handle. “Older siblings have the ultimate authority, I understand.” And he smiled.

“You’re Rosie, right?” He asked, adjusting his bag. I nodded. “I’m Will.” Now I took a wild, wild guess and decided this was the boy that Taylor was talking about. He didn’t seem like much of a snob, but I suppose when dealing with your brother’s customers you had to be nice. Even though his comment about my outfit stung a little... maybe he was trying to be funny?

“Nice to meet you, Will.” I smiled and watched him lean back so I could shut the door. When I could see him through the security screen, he started to back away.

“Nice meeting you too.” Down the stairs he was quickly over to his bike; the one from the other day, the same one with the basket and the polished black paint. He threw his leg over one side and sat himself on, not even wanting to take one last look at me before pedaling off. I watched him until he was halfway down the street, then my stomach growled and I was forced to return to my room to shower and change.