˗ˏˋ DISTRACTION, PETER KAVINSKY ˎˊ˗

˗ˏˋ FOUR, REWRITTEN ˎˊ˗

     PETER FACETIMES ROSALIE LATER THAT night, when she's already finished washing the dishes from dinner and started on her analytical essay for English. Her hands are covered in blue ink smudges, from carelessly fiddling with the pen.

     The screen is momentarily blurry, and Peter's face only shows up after a few moments of shuffling. His hair is messy, and sticking out in all different directions, and he's a bit sweaty. The wind is blowing forcefully, his figure moving fast and changing often. There's someone else there that he's talking to, and Rosalie wonders why he's riding his bike at eleven o'clock at night.

     And why didn't he call her when he was alone?

     Peter looks down at his phone at that moment, and the fleeting question of how he's holding it crosses her mind. There's a big grin on his face, before he turns away from the phone and gestures the other person to come closer. At this point, he's stopped moving, and everything is much clearer.

     "Rosie, baby," he greets, and Rosalie can feel her cheeks flushing. She knows he only said it to show the other person there that they know each other intimately— which they really didn't, but oh well— but she's always loved pet names. That is, until Peter said it.

     Rosalie glances at her open door, grabbing her phone and getting up to stick her head out to peek if her parents or her brother heard. After a moment, she closes her door and throws herself down onto her bed.

     "Peter... darling." She replies after a moment, forcing herself to sound sweet and cute— like an actual girlfriend.

     Who even says darling anymore?

     Well, her grandfather only refers to her grandmother as so, but they were her grandparents. Nobody her age says darling anymore.

     They really should, though.

     There's a loud 'whoop' and holler after she returns the affection, and a bunch of laughter. A blurry figure emerges from the side of Peter, Greg— one of his close friends. The resolution is starting to clear as he stands still, closer than she expected to the camera.

     He's inspecting the screen, or more specifically her. "Man, I thought you were lying! Rosalie Garcia, man," he shakes his head as he claps Peter on the back, "you did the impossible! Dude, we all thought she was untouchable." Greg celebrates, and Peter laughs— but Rosalie isn't quite as 'happy' as the two of them.

     Was she too unapproachable, or was she so unappealing that nobody wanted to go for her?

     Was she easy to be interested in, but hard to be with?

     She figures that she should take it as a compliment, as if she was above them and out of their leagues, but there's an underlying feeling that she doesn't like to it.

     "Greg, I'm right here. You don't have to talk like I'm not there." She clarifies after a moment of watching them, and the boy starts laughing harder.

    What was so funny about that?

     Greg just shakes his head, "I gotta go, see y'all tomorrow, 'specially you little Rosie," his tone sounds a bit mocking, and he walks away, but not without a comment about taming the dragon.

     Rosalie's annoyed, she's never really liked some of the people Peter hung out with, but she couldn't judge him for his friends. Not everybody liked Chris, but she still hung out with her.

     She waits a moment before speaking, and Peter finally glances back down at the screen. The sound of her voice seems to catch his attention, and he's started up on his bike again— and she finds herself needing to repeat what she says every so often.