She's Too Naive

Chapter 1

Welcome to my new story!

The first time I met Rosen Parker was anything but extraordinary.

Naturally I didn't think anything of it when, due to my clumsiness, I spilled a dozen packaged cookies on the floor and some nameless guy helped me pick them up. He gave me a strange look, which I completley ignored, choosing instead to walk to the cash register after muttering a small thank you. 

But the second time I met Rosen Parker in that same night would definitely not be categorized as normal.

I waved a small goodbye to the lady running the cash register before I headed out into the night. The town streets were brightly lit in the dark, so I wasn't worried about seeing where I was going. My friend Lynn had invited me over for the night, but she decided I had to pick up snacks on my way to her house. I didn't complain, even though I wasn't really happy about this request since walking around town at night wasn't something I particularly enjoyed doing.

I went over the directions she had texted me and tried to find the street names and turns I had to take. I've been to her house before, but I suck at directions. Plus everything looked slightly different at night. The roads and sidewalks were pretty empty at this time, although it was only a little after eight. I noticed that there were a  few open doors to some of the bars, suggesting to the rowdiness that was taking place inside. I finally realized I must have taken a wrong turn at some point when the houses started looking a bit run down. Our town was generally a safe place, but every city had its bad side. 

I was too busy looking down at my phone and waiting for the GPS to kick in to not notice what was happening in the alley I was passing by.

"Hey!" A rough voice shouted. Of course when someone yells in the middle of the night you look up to see where it's coming from.

It took me a minute to register the scene I was looking at. A man, the one I presumed had shouted at me, had pinned a figure against the brick wall. It was too dimly lit in the alley for me to easily make out facial features. There was another guy nearby, watching on with interest. The bag of snacks in my hands dropped to the pavement with a thud at the same moment I saw the barrel of a very black and shiny object pointed at me, a gun.

"Oh," I breathed out, my heart starting to gallop in my chest. This usually would be the point when a sensible person ran for help, but I was too frozen in fear to take action. 

All three guys stared at me and I felt scrutinized under their gazes. My pulse was jumping erratically, and it felt as if I would fall to the floor from a heart attack. My eyes darted to the person being pinned against the wall and I blinked against the murky darkness of night, realizing it was the very same guy at the gas station I had run into only twenty minutes earlier.

The guy who helped me pick up the cookies.

The one guy who was not busy pinning the gas station guy to the wall came up to me and grabbed the front of my jacket roughly, dragging me further back into the cover of the dark alley. My converse shoes skidded against the ground as I stumbled forward. I didn't put up a fight, because I knew I wouldn't be able to win. These guys were huge compared to my small frame, and I had no practice in fighting techniques. 

The guy who held the scruff of my jacket, pressed the cool metal object to my forehead. I automatically flinched at the contact of metal on my skin. My whole body was tingling with adrenaline, and my brain itched to decide whether to fight or flight. What had I just gotten myself into. 

"What are you doing here?" The store guy asked, giving me a confused look. His voice was slightly muffled from lack of breath at being pinned against the red brick wall.

"You two know each other?" The guy who had the gun trained on my forehead asked. I blurted out a yes at the same time the store guy blurted out a no. We both looked at each other sharply.

"Dan, go back to the car and call the guys. The girl won't do anything." I looked over to the one pinning store guy to the wall. Dan, removed the gun from my forehead, pushing me slightly, and nodded before jogging off. I breathed out a small sigh of relief. "Is she your girl Rosen? I was wondering why you'd run off to a crappy town like this, but now I can see why," The guy grinned and put more force into his grip on Rosen. For a second my mind went off and thought about how nice of a name Rosen was. It suited him with his red brown hair and his daunting appearance.

This was so not the time to daydream.

Rosen glared at the guy "No, I don't even know her name," he spit out, fighting against the guy's hold on him.

"Come here beautiful," the guy motioned me towards him. I internally gagged at the pet name, but took a few steps closer. All I could hear was the whooshing of my heart stampeding in my ears. 

"No, stay over there," Rosen said sharply. I stopped walking for a second before continuing to move towards them.

"Sorry, but I'm more likely to listen to the guy with the gun," I said while trying to slow down my heart and calm down my shaking form. As soon as I got close enough he pressed his gun to my forehead and let Rosen go. Rosen's whole body was tense, his jaw set and his eyes shadowed by the dim lighting.

"Alright Rosen here is the deal. You come with me or I shoot your girl in front of you," The guy warned, his gaze darting between the both of us. I was so terrified, my brain could barely understand the words he was saying. My teeth chattered (not from the cold) and I clamped my jaw tight to stop the noise. 

"She's not mine," Rosen replied trying to sound casual, but I noticed his eyes flashed to mine. I widened mine in response, clearly hoping he could do something to get us out of this mess.

"Well who is she?" The guy looked a bit worried now and he shifted his stance slightly, the gun pressing harder into my face and most likely leaving indents. I winced, but tried to refrain from moving away and risk getting splattered across the sidewalk.

"I don't know her. I just ran into her at the store like half an hour ago," it took a moment for this to sink in to the man and as soon as the gun wasn't pressed to my brain, Rosen was on the guy. I let out a small shriek as Rosen knocked the guys head against the wall once and he stopped moving. It all happened so fast I couldn't even process that Rosen just did it. Some part of my brain told me I should probably run, but the message didn't get to my muscles so thank god Rosen took my arm and started running. I could barely keep up at first, still frozen in shock by the events that occurred.

"Can't you run," Rosen snapped at me and slowed to a brisk walk for a moment. His grip on my arm had gotten significantly tighter and I tried rubbing the area above it.

"Sorry," I said quietly and he sighed, looking guilty, before letting go of my arm and taking my hand instead. We started running again right away and I heard a car driving the road slowly. I gripped Rosen's hand harder and ran faster. We ducked off the sidealk, and into the cover of the houses. He seemed to know exactly where he was going so I just let him take the lead. We wove between backyards and down streets. Thankfully, it didn't take long before we hit the busier part of town again and slowed down to a walk. I let go of Rosen's hand, and tried to control my racing heartbeat. My feet were aching and I was gasping for breath.

"This is why I don't do track," I muttered. Rosen let out a small, strangled laugh and looked at me with a grin. Somehow I found it inside me to grin back.

"I'm Rosen Parker by the way," He said and stuck out his hand. I raised an eyebrow at him, but took his hand anyway. What an odd situation.

"I kind of overheard while we were being threatened, but it's still nice to meet you I guess. I'm Ellie Charleston," It seemed such a strange way to introduce ourselves after almost dying in an alley.

"You got a middle name?" Rosen asked curiously, tilting his head to look at me.

"May," I replied to his strange question. Who asks a girl her middle name when they first meet? "Do you?" I asked, confused. Rosen just looked at me and smiled like he had an inside joke I wasn't apart of.

"Ellie May. I like that,"

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