Rosemary and Juliet

A Strange Development

Rosemary

"Rose, give me your hand," Seth said, laughing.

"Mocking David, now, are we?" Rosemary took his hand as they walked to her second hour. Since homecoming, they became more of the touchy feely sort, which was weird for her, but almost refreshing.

They were hugging and holding hands and he walked her to as many classes as he could, and he made her smile. And that was an accomplishment, because ever since Alec... Seth made her happy. That was what mattered.

Sometimes she would still cry, or wish she wasn't breathing anymore, but he was always there for her to talk to. His arms felt like the safest place in the world to her, and...

She was falling in love with him.

It may not have been a romantic love, per say, but it was certainly love in all its intensity. And for the first time, she hadn't a doubt in the world about his sincerity. She could feel it in the way he looked at her with concern when she cried, the way he looked to make sure she was laughing when he made a joke. Every time he promised her that he was in it for the long run, she had no reason not to trust him. Even though she knew it would never last, she knew he believed it would. That was all the proof she needed.

"Um, Rose, you're clinging," he pointed out, waving their hands around. She blushed, realizing how hard she was squeezing his hand and lightened her grip.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to," she laughed awkwardly.

"I mean, I don't mind it, just thought you'd like to know," he told her. "You don't have to hold on so tight, Rosey, I'm not going anywhere."

****

"Okay, new seats today!" her German teacher exclaimed as though it were the most fascinating bit of news he could give them. He started telling them where to sit, and she ended up next to Ryan.

Oh, shit. Time to make a total dunce out of myself...

She smiled awkwardly at him, which he returned, and then they carried on. Herr Miller was actually teaching them something today before they were left to work on whatever worksheet was homework.

As he droned on, Rosemary doodled in her notebook and made sarcastic commentary under her breath. It was no disrespect to Miller, of course, just sometimes the way that she remembered things. The longer the lecture continued, the more Ryan started indirectly responding to her commentary. They had quite a nice little banter going by the time it was over.

When Miller stopped talking, so did their muttering, and they began working on the paper they'd been handed. It was math (except in German, which made it zero percent different), and so she pulled out her phone to use the calculator.

Should I say hi? No. I shouldn't. I don't want to bother him. He's probably busy with the work. And thinking about Sidney... Wait, shit, how is he already done? What a fucker. God damn, I can't even- Her thoughts broke when she tilted her phone sideways, and twice as many functions became available on the calculator.

"Oh, shit!" she gasped, smiling at her discovery. "That's so cool!"

He glanced over at her, his eyes twinkling in amusement as she stared with amaze at the buttons she didn't know existed.

"Sorry," she mumbled awkwardly. "I'm... very easily fascinated."

"I see this," he laughed. "I feel like one day I'm going to look over at you and you'll just go, 'Ooh... fingers.'"

"Shut up! I'm actually a very intelligent human being, fascinated by the unknown."

"Like extra buttons on your phone's calculator?"