Just Rose

Chapter Twenty-Three

Maybe it was because we'd begun our relationship with a magical kiss on New Years' Eve, but my romance with Eddie seemed to progress at an incredibly fast rate. Soon we were doing things together every day. Kiana and Max sometimes came along with us on double dates, but for the most part we preferred to do things with just the two of us.

Eddie really understood me. We could talk for hours on end about our goals, what we thought of the latest history exam, where we hoped to be in ten, twenty years. However, despite how long we were able to learn about each other's hopes and dreams for the future, it seemed that neither of us wanted- or had the capability- to dwell on the past. I knew my reason why, and as I got to know him better throughout the first month of the new year, I began to figure out Eddie's. His childhood hadn't been the best in the world, and it seemed that he was always trying to re-start. We had that in common.

"Shut up about Eddie already!" Sarah exclaimed two weeks after Timmy's birthday.

"Let her talk, Sarah," Kiana gently urged. "She's just excited."

"I can see that you're getting fed up with all her talk about him, too. Don't pretend you're not," Sarah said, throwing herself onto Kiana's bed. Once again, our Saturday Calculus-studying plans had strayed from how they were supposed to go.

"I mean, maybe it's becoming a bit much," Kiana admitted, not looking me in the eye. "But it's not like he's a bad guy. Max and I used to be that way, too."

My eyes darted towards Sarah, but she didn't blush or frown at the reminder of Max and Kiana's relationship. "Yeah, for like a week. This has been going on for almost a month. They'd better stop being that way. Okay, Rose? Otherwise I'll need to get Julie to lecture you on the principle of... wait for it... balance."

I shrugged, fingering the bracelet he'd made for me. Apparently his mother made jewelry in her free time and she'd taught him how to make a simple wire bracelet. I sighed, remembering how he'd given it to me just two days earlier. He was such a romantic.

"Julie hasn't said anything yet," I pointed out, moving my eyes from the steel-blue wire.

"Yeah. Yet."

***

"Rose, I think we need to have a little talk," Julie said when I walked in the door later that night. Kiana had driven me to Apples on her way to dance, and then Eddie had dropped me off after his shift ended- something that I'd called and gotten permission to do before doing, of course.

"Oh!" I exclaimed, surprised to see her so close inside the door. "Um, okay," I agreed as I slipped out of my shoes and coat. "What about?"

"You and Eddie," Julie said. "You know how much I liked him when you first brought him over, right?" she asked once we were inside her bedroom.

I nodded.

"Right. He's a good guy, I'm sure. But I have to admit, even I'm getting a little bit tired of all this. You've barely been home all month. School is obviously time-consuming, and I'm glad that you're out doing things with your friends, but it seems like lately Max and Josh bring over Sarah and Kiana and you're off somewhere else with Eddie. Everyone misses you," she said gently.

I nodded. "I'll talk to him about it," I promised. I paused. "But, I mean, we are dating. Isn't doing things together what people who are dating are supposed to do?" I knew it was a lie, that Josh and I hadn't done things together every day- or every week, for that matter- but Julie bought it.

"Right," she agreed. "And I know that in the past you've been with people you're dating every day. Which may have been fine back then, and given the circumstances-"