Reckless Passion

Chapter 1

— Chapter 1 —

“So how are you and Peter?”  Amanda, one of my best friends, anxiously asked me.

“Yeah!  Tell us about you and Peter!”  My other best friend, Jazz pressed.  Jazz was short for Jasmine, she hated her full name, Amanda and I only called her that if we wanted to really piss her off.

I laughed and flipped my hair over my shoulder.  “We’re wonderful.”

“It must be amazing to have a guy that you like also be liked by your parents.”  Amanda gushed.

“Oh yeah, my parents love Peter.  I can’t blame them I mean, he’s perfect.”  My cheeks flushed as I looked over the counter where we stood in line at FreeState Coffee.

My name is Rose.  Rose Laiton.  I have reddish-orange hair…go ahead call me a ginger, I quite like being called that and I take pride in being one.  Although don’t give me any of that “gingers have no soul” nonsense because that’s just plain idiotic, got it?

I’m confident in myself, for the most part.  I’m not cocky, or at least, I try not to appear that way.  A lot of people just confuse my confidence with being too full of myself, I really don’t mean to come off that way.

Anyway, as you know already, I have a boyfriend named Peter.  He’s the sweetest boy on the face of the earth.  He has short blonde hair and brown eyes like me.  He’s also tall but I’m a bit short for my age, maybe just under the average height for girls my age.  I’m nineteen by the way, Peter is only a year older than me.  Also one of the many things my parents like about him.

Speaking of my parents, they’re okay.  I mean, I love my parents, it’s just they tend to get on my nerves a lot.  They’re so overprotective.  I haven’t really had any boyfriends before Peter, and well I go to an all-girls private school which was chosen by my parents so it’s not like I get to meet many guys.  I’ve had a few guys ask me out and I’ve went on enough dates but nothing was ever made official until Peter.  I met Peter at this very coffee shop, it’s been my favourite coffee shop ever since.

Back to talking about my parents, my dad is a total workaholic.  He owns a huge corporate business so I guess he doesn’t really have a choice but still.  I don’t have a very close relationship with him considering the only time I see him is usually at dinner, then he either goes back to the office or he works in his home office room all night.

And I know what you’re thinking right now, “Oh god she’s one of those snobby rich kids.”  No.  I’m not.  My family is a bit wealthier than your average family but I don’t like to go out and buy out all the expensive stores or brag about the money I have.  I also hate attending those giant parties my parents always have, but they always make me attend.  Peter usually comes along, he doesn’t mind the parties at all, he’s pretty easy going.

I’m not originally from London, England and neither is Peter.  My parents and I, along with Peter and his parents, moved here about two years ago.  I hoped that Peter didn’t convince his parents to move here just because I was, he assures me that’s not the case but sometimes I wonder.

My parents give me the impression that they want me to be the snobby rich type but why would I want to be that type of person?  I’m no better than everyone else and I certainly don’t want to act like it.

My mom is always buying me expensive name brand stuff and okay I admit, I do like some of it, but I can live without it too.

“Your iced latte, Miss Rose.”  The cashier smiled as she held out my drink to me.

“Thank you very much.”  I returned the smile and handed her the money, taking my drink and walking out the door with Amanda and Jazz following behind me.

“Did you see that guy sitting on at the table in the corner near the window?!”  Amanda beamed.

“No?”  Jazz and I said in unison.

“Oh my god.  He was so gorgeous.”  Amanda gushed while fanning herself.

I chuckled as I turned to her while walking.  “You should have asked him out.”

“No way!  He would say no and that would make me more humiliated than I already would be!”

“I would have done it for you, all you had to do was ask me.”  I smiled.

“Aw, Rose.  You’re amazing, you know that.”

I shrugged and turned in the direction that I was walking in just in time to see a male body inches away from my face.  I shrieked as his body collided with mine, knocking my iced latte out of my hand.

“Rose!  Are you okay?!”  Jazz asked worriedly as she and Amanda held my arms and stared at me, trying to see if I was alright.

I gaped at my iced latte which was now splattered all over the sidewalk.

I looked up at the sound of a snicker.

“You should watch where you’re going, love.”  The boy spoke.

He wasn’t much taller than me but he did look a little older, maybe because of his noticeable stubble.  He wore a light blue jean jacket over a white shirt, darker jeans that were rolled up a little above his ankles and black converse sneakers.  His thick dark hair was a little messy and a bit swept to the side.  And his eyes…they were the most beautiful shade of blue I had ever seen.

I scoffed.  “And you should learn some manners!”

“I believe you were the one who wasn’t paying attention to where you were walking.”  He said with a cocky smile.

I glared at him.  “All the more reason you are to blame!  You were watching where you were walking, you could have moved to the side to let me pass, you jerk!”

He breathily chuckled.  “Look, I don’t have time for this.  I have places to be, people to see.  So if you’ll excuse me.”

He turned and started walking away.

“You’re not even going to apologize?!”  I shouted after him.  “I hadn’t even gotten to taste my iced latte because of you!”

The boy ignored me and kept on walking.

I let out an annoyed grunt.  What a jerk.