an arcadian summer

chapter 5

The night went by fast and it's soon 9 am, I would stay in this bed forever if I could but I have things to do. I pull out my bucket list I made on the train, and read it out loud for myself.

"Taste local food, go surfing, visit town's most famous nature attraction.."

Luckily this town is also by the sea, I'll finally get to learn to surf. If anyone can teach me though.

I go to the bathroom and wash my face with cold refreshing water. It will be really sunny today so I make sure to put on a lot of sunscreen. I put my curls up with a hairclip, I don't bother to straighten my hair in the summer. I touch up my face with mascara and lipgloss finally, my face looking much better.

Not knowing what I'm exactly doing today, I decide to wear a cropped white blouse and a matching long skirt with my regular sandals.

After I'm done I take a quick photo of my outfit and send it to Inez. She sees the message right away and calls me.

"Love the outfit, where are you going?" she asks. I look at myself in the mirror unsure.

"I don't know yet, first I should find a place to eat breakfast", I smile.

"Have you met your roommate yet?" she asks and I remember I haven't told her about what happened.

"Already calling him my roommate-"

"HIM?"

"Yes, let me speak", I say before she continues. She doesn't say anything more and I start to speak again.

"Last night I thought someone broke in, cause it said on this note he would be gone for the night, then at like 2 am I was woken up by the door and I panicked so I got ready to attack until I bumped right into him and hit him with a frying pan. Weird thing is, he looks exactly our age and I feel like I've seen him before."

"Wait, you hit him with a frying pan?" she asks.

"Yeah! I mean what if it was an intruder-"

"That's so funny, tell me more", she interrupts.

"He acted all grumpy, it was 2 am so I understand but still, I stole his keycard. Just to be sure." The keycard is still laying on top of the bedside table and I put it in my totebag.

"Where is he now? Can I see him?"

"What? No, I'm not gonna film him in secret."

I hear her sigh through the phone and I laugh at how invested she is.

"Well, I just want to make sure you're not staying with some wanted murderer on the loose. Shit, I gotta go, call me later", she says fast and hangs up before I get to say bye.

As I leave the bedroom I smell some delicious food in the kitchen. I didn't realise how hungry I must be before my stomach starts growling.

I walk to the end of the hallway and see the guy from last night standing in the kitchen with his back facing me. He's wearing a white buttoned shirt with loose beach shorts, I can just tell that the outfit is expensive from what he was wearing last night. I notice his dark hair is a lot messier now but still looks perfect somehow. As if he sensed my stare, he turns around and looks directly at me.

"Morning, Rapunzel."

"Morning", I yawn and walk over to the kitchen island.

"So you're who I have to share room with", he says, eyeing me up and down. That would've sounded perverted if he didn't have this annoyed look on his face. Maybe he took this the wrong way.

"Look, I didn't mean for this to happen and I'm sorry if it disturbs you, but I need a room and this was apparently the only room they could set me up with. I won't bother you, it will feel like I'm not even here. I'm actually going out now for breakfast. "

He rolls his eyes and hands me a plate of pancakes.

"I know", he says, eating from his plate in his other hand.

I look down on my plate, contemplating if this is safe to eat. He could've poisoned this beforehand to kill me.

"It's not poisoned, you seriously can't be this paranoid."

He takes a bite from my pancake with his fork and eats. After swallowing it, he raises his eyebrows and points to his throat.

"See?"

I close down my laugh and start eating my food. We don't say anything but I watch him clean up the kitchen after himself.

"So what brings you here?" he asks as he leans back on the counter. I guess his body still hurts after I hit him with that frying pan.

"I've always- Actually no, that's a secret", I answer, making sure I don't talk with food in my mouth. I can feel his judgement through his eyes.

"Been here since I was small but I don't live here anymore", he shrugs.

I get an idea.

"Would you mind showing me around?"

He blinks, surprised? This guy is hard to read.

"It's not like I can't be by myself, it would be maybe good if I had some type of tour guide to an unfamiliar-"

"Sure", he says flatly. I can't help but think he's annoyed, he sure looks like it.

"Oh, great," I feel a little relief. "When are you free?"

"When you are", he replies.

I didn't plan to spend my summer with a man, especially not anyone other than Jamie, but getting a little help isn't bad. It's not like I'm gonna fall inlove.

"Let's go now", I smile and put my empty plate in the sink.

"You don't need your frying pan out there, Rapunzel", he walks to the hallway. I roll my eyes and grab my totebag.

"Wait for me", I shout and follow him out the door. I lock the door behind me, and I feel so excited. Then I remember he doesn't know my name.

"Oh I forgot to tell you, my name is-"

"Roselyn", he cuts me off, with the wrong name too.

"It's Rosalie actually, but I go by Rosie."

He shrugs and continues to look ahead till we get into the elevator. Why does he act so grumpy? It's summer, the weather is amazing and you could do so much fun.

"So, where are you from?" I ask feeling curious.

"New York, going to study there for college too in autumn", he eyes me.

"So you must be 17?"

"Turned 18 in spring." He is my age.

Sometimes I forget people have earlier birthdays. I feel like I'm being annoying asking all this stuff, but if we're gonna spend time together I should be able to get to know him a little bit.

"Oh, I turn 18 on the 22nd," I don't know why I said my birthday but oh well. "young and sweet, only seventeen", I sing under my breath as the floor numbers go down.

He laughs and shakes his head. Finally some emotion. The elevator door opens to the lobby and I follow him out outside. The warm air surrounds us and I look at all the green around the driveway. I hadn't gotten to see how pretty it was out here before now.

"So, William right? I have this bucket list I'd like to fullfill", I stand infront of him. He looks up from his phone, a strand of his dark hair falls over on his eyes.

"Let me see it", he says and puts his phone down.

I give him the paper, he reads over it fast and gives it back, then he's on his phone again. I look at him confused. Suddenly a black fancy car stops infront of us, and I realise he was ordering a taxi. Was hoping we could walk instead though.

"I want to show you the town from the local streets first", he explains as he opens the car door for me.

"Oh, thanks", I sit down in the car.

We sit together in the backseat on each side, I glance at him sometimes but he's just on his phone. The radio plays a song I've heard before and I can't help but hum the lyrics.