She's Too Naive

Chapter 17

Lee and Lynn were fighting. I had no clue what for, as she didn't tell me anything, but we could all tell by the space between them and the tension in their shoulders. Neither of them acknowledged each other as we all ate our ice cream in silence. Lee was sulking, barely picking at his Blizzard before tossing it in the trash.

My eyes met Josh's and he shrugged in response to my silent question. It was strange how two people could have such an impact on the entire group. It was all of us, or none of us. Our unwritten code. Although, I felt pretty confident Lee and Lynn wouldn't break up, their silly spats never lasted longer than a week.

I had to admit that was one of the worst Dairy Queen nights we had ever had. The tension was thick and it hung over our heads like a heavy cloud. Thankfully, Josh was driving me home that night and he was always able to crack a smile no matter the circumstance. He kept the windows rolled up, as tonight was a bit chillier than usual. I managed to steal one of the many sweatshirts he had piled in his truck, since he refused to turn the heat on, with only a mild glare from him. I pulled it over my head right as Josh took a sharp curb, going a little faster than usual and sending me against the door of the truck.

"Jeesh, slow down," I retorted as I got resituated and buckled my seatbelt. Josh rolled his eyes at me.

"You shouldn't be talking." I snorted a laugh as he grinned. We all knew I tended to have a bit of a lead foot when it came to driving. It was honestly surprising I had yet to be pulled over. "Hold up I have to show you something. Going fast isn't even half as exhilarating as this." Josh suddenly turned off onto a side road, leading us to the outskirts of town.

"What are you doing Josh?" I asked warily as he pulled to a stop on the road. As soon as he shot me a grin, I immediately knew the answer.

He shifted into gear and the truck roared to life as the wheels spun, creating a light fog of smoke. I squealed as soon he released the clutch, sending us peeling off onto the road at a high speed. We didn't go too far before he slowed slightly and quickly jerked the wheel to the left, spinning us completely around. I gripped the dashboard as we spun, an excited whoop echoing inside the truck cabin from the both of us.

Finally, the truck halted to a stop in the other lane, the smell of burning rubber permeating the air. We both were in tears from laughing so hard as I loosened my grip on the dash. The high beams reflected the road, and thankfully there still wasn't a car in sight.

"You just put like a hundred dollars worth of your wheels on the road," I laughed, pointing to the black streaks across the pavement.

"I needed new tires anyways." Josh shrugged, shooting me a grin. I laughed again, and was silently thankful for his superb ability to lighten up anyone's day.

He flipped up the radio and we both belted out lyrics as he drove me home. But as soon as he pulled into my driveway, he immediately turned the music down when we saw the other car parked there.

"I forget you have a boyfriend now," He said teasingly, but I sensed an undertone of sadness creep into his face. Was he worried I would abandon all our friends? His mood faded quickly as he ruffled my hair. "Little Ellie May is all grown up now." He grinned as I opened the door. I rolled my eyes but waved as I stepped out of his truck and turned towards where Rosen was now leaning against his car. I shouldered my backpack and headed over to him.

"Hey, you haven't been here for long have you?" I asked guiltily. I hadn't checked my messages while I was at Dairy Queen, and hoped he hadn't asked to come over.

"Nah." he shook his head. "I just pulled in and was going to knock when you guys showed up." I watched his gaze linger on Josh's truck as he turned a corner and out of sight.

"Oh, well what's up?" I hoped I wasn't coming across as rude, because I was genuinely happy to see him but was a little surprised.

"Ellie? Are you- Oh hi Rosen." My mom smiled from the open front door, the light from inside spilling around her. Rosen gave her a polite smile and nod, while I gave her a look that said go away. She got the hint and the door closed slightly. "If you guys want to come in and warm up, go ahead. I was just going to bed," she added, giving us another smile before shutting the door completely.

I sighed softly under my breath, and turned my attention back to Rosen. He stuffed his hands in his pockets, and an unsure expression crossed his face.

"To be completely honest I don't know why I came," he said with a small laugh, shaking his head at himself. I smiled as he met my eyes again.

"It's okay, I know the feeling." I grinned. "If I knew where you lived,  I'd want to  come over too. Just to talk," It was true what I said, when you liked someone you wanted every opportunity you could get to learn more about them.

"throwing a party without me?" a voice interrupted. We both turned towards the familiar face with a grim expression. I was surprised when Rosen's whole body tensed up, and he stopped leaning against the car to stand up straighter.

"What do you want Knox," He said lowly, taking a few steps towards Knox to get subtly in front of me.

"I just want to talk, Rosen," Knox grinned, but I could see his expression waiver ever so slightly as his gaze darted to me. "You know, about that one thing." My eyes narrowed in confusion as I glanced to Rosen, looking for an explanation to who this guy really was and what he wanted.

"Knox is a friend of my brothers. He just likes to annoy people, but he's relatively harmless." Rosen didn't miss a beat, but I saw Knox's eyebrows raise slightly.  I flashed back to that night at the party when Rosen explained that the alley event happened because his brother got into some bad things. This explanation did nothing to calm my nerves, and instead only heightened my wariness of Knox. If Rosen's brother was involved with guys with guns, what type of person did that make Knox? It was clear Rosen didn't trust him, and didn't want us interacting.

"We have nothing to talk about," Rosen dismissed sharply, his tone suddenly threatening. It seemed so strange I had forgotten the Rosen in the alley. The one who took down a guy with a gun so easily and saved us both. Knox held both his hands up and shrugged, looking to me.

"I could just talk to Ellie then." He only said it to rile up Rosen more, and I instantly despised him for it. Whatever he had to tell Rosen,  he wasn't going to give up that easily. Rosen sighed in irritation.

"Fine, we'll talk. But leave us both alone, and definitely leave my girlfriend out of this." I think both of us were a bit shocked to hear him acknowledge this out loud. It was one thing to say it in your head or to friends, but to say it like this was completely different. Rosen's eyes flashed over to mine, and a small smile grew on his face. I smiled back, but Knox cleared his throat.

"Deal," Knox stated, he seemed to be leaning more heavily on his crutch. Both boys nodded and Knox started to hobble away. Did he walk everywhere? Where was his car? Rosen exhaled when Knox was out of sight, before giving me an apologetic look.

"I'm so sorry about him, he's a real pain in the ass and I don't know why my brother was ever friends with him."

"Don't worry about it," I dismissed with a shrug. In reality, I was worried. I didn't like that Rosen had these people talking to him. His brother was affecting his life in a negative way, and I wanted to confront him to get his brother to sort it out. As the thoughts of his brother passed through my head, I started questioning why Rosen never talked about any of his family. He never talked about New York or his hometown friends. He was closed off to me, but I was too oblivious to realize it.

"I'm getting a little chilled so I think I'm going to head in," I blurted out, pointing my thumb over my shoulder to the front door. I watched Rosen's shoulders droop, and immediately felt guilty. This was only a summer fling, I reminded myself as I started back towards the porch. He wasn't obligated to spill his life story to me so quickly. Rosen didn't move from where he was standing and I glanced at him before I went inside, giving him a small wave and smile. He only returned a halfhearted smile, and although I felt guilty, a big part of me just felt like there was a piece of Rosen that I was missing. An important piece that I needed to know.

OOOOOHHHHH a bit of a shorter chapter. Hmmm Is Knox trustworthy or not...:) Please vote and leave a comment. We are almost to 1k reads!! So exciting. Thank you guys! :))