Chapter 1 #3
She stills, her gaze snapping to mine. “I don’t know if your girlfriend would appreciate that,” she says, her lips turning downward, and the distaste in her tone is hard to miss.
A chuckle escapes me. I brush my thumb across my lower lip as I study her. “My little Rose,” I murmur, unable to hide the smile in my voice. “She’s not my girlfriend.” I hold her gaze a moment longer. “You don’t need to worry.”
I lower my hand and reach for her, never breaking her gaze.
She doesn't pull away. We're only inches apart when I tuck a loose strand of hair behind her ear, my fingertips barely grazing her skin.
Her eyes soften, and for the briefest moment, she leans into the touch before catching herself.
The moment slips away almost as quickly as it came, leaving me wondering if I'd imagined it.
Surprise flickers across her face before it's carefully tucked behind a teasing smile.
She tilts her head ever so slightly. “Maybe I’ll see you around…little Alex.” The words are meant to tease, a lighthearted attempt to unravel whatever had passed between us, but all they do is draw me closer.
Aware that my parents are only a room away, I lean in until my mouth is near her ear, close enough to catch the faint scent of her perfume.
My smile comes slowly, almost against my will, as I stay there for a moment longer than I should.
Every instinct urges me to close the distance between us completely, to forget where we are and who might be listening.
Before I can act on the impulse, she steps back.
“Damned to love,” she mumbles beneath her breath, putting space between us and breaking whatever spell had settled over the doorway.
“Nothing little about me, baby,” I say, rising to my full six-foot-four height.
She chuckles, walking backward, and I already hate the distance growing between us. “Promises, promises,” she teases as she bounces down the concrete steps.
At the corner of the house, she glances back over her shoulder, and our eyes meet one last time.
Only then do I wonder which promise she meant.
Maybe I'll see you around. Nothing little about me.
Or maybe both. She lifts a hand in a small wave before slipping into the back seat of the waiting car.
Someone shifts over to make room for her, then glances up.
I meet the stare of the man beside her. His eyes narrow on me for the briefest moment before his attention returns to Rose.
As the car pulls away, I remain in the doorway, my forehead resting against the cool glass of the storm door, trying to make sense of what the hell just happened.
I've never chased after anyone. I've never cared enough to.
Yet somehow, in the span of a few minutes, she'd unraveled every certainty I'd had about myself.
The engine’s rumble fades into silence, yet I don’t move—a challenge thrown. And I accepted, damned or nothing at all.
In the glass of the front door, I lift my head to see my reflection staring back.
Shadowed eyes. A steady heartbeat. Composed.
On the surface, I look exactly the same.
But I can still smell her perfume, sweet and sharp and true to her name, just like a rose.
So beautiful, yet guarded by thorns that protect the softness within.
I hear my parents approaching as they walk out of the kitchen, their faces wearing knowing smiles.
“You are so fucked,” Dad says with a laugh as he reaches for Mom's hand and leads her toward the stairs.
She laughs beside him. “Alex, finish packing up these boxes, please. I need to help your father with something,” she says. Dad tries, but fails to stifle a laugh.
“Gross!” I call after them. “I don’t want to know!” The bedroom door clicks shut behind them.
My parents’ laughter drifts down the stairs, but all I can hear are Rose’s departing words.
“Maybe I’ll see you around…little Alex.” Her voice echoes through the empty doorway, flooding my mind, thick and viscous as blood.
I close my eyes and watch the words spill from her bloodred lips, each syllable clinging to me like a curse long after it’s been spoken—my sin and salvation in equal measure.
The taste is bittersweet, smoke gathering on my tongue before slipping past my lips and curling into the air like a lover’s caress.
It haunts me long after she’s gone, clouding my mind with visions of a future I have no business imagining.
When I open my eyes, the silence feels different.
Something inside me, something dormant for two decades, sleeping in the forgotten corners of my soul, finally stirs.
It rises with the certainty of something that has been waiting for this moment all along, and I know whatever this is, whatever she’s awakened in me, won’t rest until she is mine.
I don't understand what she is to me. I only know that when she walked away, she took some part of me with her. “I’ll find you,” I whisper into the empty room, where the echo of her presence still lingers.
Then I close the door.