Just Rose

Chapter Seventeen

Sarah's dad arrived within a few minutes. He shared Sarah's horror that I didn't know who James Bond was and promised that I would be invited the next time they watched one of his movies.

"Alright, stay safe, Rose," Mr. Williams said when they dropped me off at my house about a half hour after meeting up with Sarah and I.

"Thank you," I said. "See you, Sarah." She gave me a wave as I closed the door.

Max came up to me as soon as I walked into the house. "So Just Rose, how'd it go?"

"I almost died."

Max studied me. "Literally, or figuratively?"

"Literally," I said. "But not because of Sarah. I guess she was just overwhelmed at Food, because I only had to talk to her for a little while to get her to calm down, and she seemed like she was genuinely sorry."

"Are we talking about Sarah?" Josh asked, walking up to us.

"Yes," Max and I said at the same time.

Josh grinned. "Weird."

"It went pretty well," I continued. "She's still mad at Kiana, which, I mean, is understandable. Right?" Josh nodded his agreement but Max cleared his throat.

"I don't think-" he began.

"It's definitely understandable," Josh interrupted.

"Anyways, she agreed to drive me to Kiana's house because she was almost as worried as I was that Kiana would tell someone. And on the way there-"

"Kiana wouldn't ever tell anyone," Max objected. "She said she won't. And I trust her."

"It's a lot to take in at once. If I was in her position, I probably would have told someone," I pointed out.

"But she-"

"She's my friend too, Max. I'm not trying to beat down on Kiana or anything. Sarah just agreed to drive me to Kiana's house. And you know that big hill you have to go down to get to Kiana's neighborhood? Sarah's minivan's brakes gave out on the hill."

"What?!" Josh exclaimed.

"It was really scary. If I'd been with Kiana instead of Sarah, we probably would have crashed," I said.  Josh laughed. "But Sarah did some crazy driving and we ended up coasting to a stop on a side street somewhere and her dad picked us up and drove me home."

"And that's why you almost died," Max finished.

"Exactly. So Sarah's definitely not going to spill any time soon, but I'm still not sure about Kiana in the long run. I mean, for now she's fine, but how long can she keep this secret? Especially if she's not talking to me."

"What makes you think she's not talking to you?" Max asked.

"I tried calling her once or twice at Food, too. And I've texted her about ten times but she hasn't said anything. She's really, really upset."

"Well," Max said, "You did lie to her and-"

"Dude," Josh interrupted, pushing Max a little harder than he had to. "You're not really helping."

 Max cleared his throat. "But Kiana and I-"

"Maximillian. If you're going to be all lovey-dovey just go do something useful somewhere far away from here," Josh said, pushing Max towards the kitchen.

"What are you doing?" asked Alec, appearing at the top of the stairs in his pajamas. He rubbed his eyes tiredly.

"Nothing," Max, Josh, and I all said at once.