Rosaline followed the hand on her arm and traced it to the sleepy-looking guy who still had the drunk Pete holding onto his other arm and shoulders tight.
“He is not always like this. Can you listen to his side of the story? Find out why he treated you so disrespectfully. Please?”
William said with pleading eyes, though his face and tone betrayed no emotion.
‘I don’t want her to think badly of anyone around me.’
William was confused about his thoughts.
‘Dude, she is probably underage. Calm down! What’s wrong with you?’ he told himself.
‘Wait! That’s not the point. Why am I so bothered that she might be underage?’
‘He is quite good-looking now that I look at him and seems like a good friend.’ Rosaline thought.
‘WTF? Why would you think about him? Get a hold of yourself,’ Rosaline told herself.
Pete’s sniveling brought them back to their senses. Rosaline looked at him and pointed at his hands which were grabbing her arm with raised eyebrows.
“Well?” Rosaline said with a ‘Talk! You have 2 mins!’ expression.
Somehow that made William smile. “Shall we sit by the counter?”
“Alright,” Rosaline nodded and headed to the bar where William was previously sitting.
William grabbed Pete and followed Rosaline.
‘Did she know I was enjoying her misery from the beginning?’ William was conflicted at the thought.
“All right, what happened?” William pulled himself together and asked Pete while his other friends came to sit behind them.
William ordered lemonade for Pete, hoping it would sober Pete. He asked Rosaline if she would like anything.
Rosaline just shook her head and frowned. ‘Why the hell am I doing this? I don’t care about their reasons as long as they leave me alone.’
William noticed the conflicted expression on her face and chose to focus on Pete instead.
“What happened between Supriya and you?” “And details, please. Don’t make me fill in the gaps.”
Rosaline smiled unconsciously.
“I don’t know.” Sighs.
”Day before yesterday night, we were making out in my apartment and about to head to bed.”
“Seriously? Do we need to hear this?” William interrupted Pete before he discussed his sex life in front of the girl he was crushing on.
Pete gulped his lemonade, ordered another, and continued oblivious to William’s discomfort.
“I thought she did not want it, so we made out and slept. She moved around so much that I had to take a cold shower for an hour.” Pete sighed at the memory of his busting balls.
Rosaline looked at William with unmistakable anger in her eyes, while William could only look at her pleadingly as his face remained impassive.
Pete continued, “I caught a slight cold because I slept on the sofa.”
Pete sneezed at the moment, proving his point.
“Anyway,” Pete continued, “yesterday, I refrained from seeing her, but she fought because of that.”
“I told her I did not want her to be infected, but she just shouted nonsense about not liking her, not taking her seriously, not knowing her, and whatnot.”
“I thought she was cranky and needed to sleep it off.”
Pete sighed and crushed an ice cube in frustration.
“This morning, I went to her place. I even brought her favorite flowers and breakfast from that hopelessly expensive and deadbeat place she likes. But she told me that we broke up yesterday.”
“I didn't even know that we broke up. So, I asked why.”
“She said because I don’t want her, nor do I know what she wants.”
Pete suddenly got very irritated and punched the counter and crushed a few more ice cubes as if he wanted to tear his ex to pieces.
“Guess what was the deal with her?” Pete asked vehemently.
“Apparently, instead of taking a cold shower when I thought she did not want it, I should have begged and pleaded until she finally slept with me.”
“In her words, I don’t know how to coax her. I should know girls mean yes when they say no, except for when they mean no, which I have no idea how to figure out.”
“I should want to, not want to, but actually, be desperate to see her and be with her even when I’m sick. She ought to be the one to control me as the only rational one.”
“Will, tell me what the hell is wrong with her brain?”
Pete growled while gnashing his teeth. All his previous sobs turned into anger and frustration.
William and Rosaline exchange a glance. They didn’t know what to say.
Pete downed the entire class of lemonade before continuing.
“You never liked her, Will. Tell me why. I know that she used to like you when we were kids. She even went to your school and got you into trouble, but that was all when we were kids.”
“I want to know what I missed.” Pete was practically begging at this point, trying to regain some level of sanity.
Rosaline looked at William inquisitively.
William sighed, having to explain.He had always hated explaining, and this happened to be something he practically covered for Supriya for over a decade on account of their mothers being friends. But it was time to let the cat out of the bag.Moreover, he was reluctant to hide things from the petite girl and let her misunderstand him, a thought which terrified him just as much as it surprised him. “Do you remember when we were kids, she used to chase me around and pretend that we were childhood sweethearts who would get married when we grew up?” William asked Pete. Pete rolled his eyes, “Don’t we all know that?”.William sent him a glare which made Pete stammer. He smiled hesitatingly and asked him to continue. William shook his head helplessly, which made Rosaline squint her eyes at him. “Well, she wrote me a love letter which read like she was begrudgingly replying because I stalked her. And she made sure to get caught. That got me in trouble.”“She testified to the teachers t
“Is that why you never liked her?” Pete asked.“Why did you not tell us this before?” Pete’s eyes were full of grievances. “When we grew up, she flirted with all of you, although subtly, to avoid confrontations.”“She was always clever to avoid suspicion and looked pitiful whenever someone tried to oust her.”“I never thought she liked you or anyone for that matter. That’s why I told you to be careful.” William explained. Pete was flabbergasted. “Why did you not tell me all this in detail? I thought you just did not like her on account of the trouble she caused in school”. William shrugged, “Her mother’s good friends with my mom, so when confronted, she begged to keep it under wraps and that she would ensure she never bothers me.” Pete looked like he was constipated. “What about the other things?”Before William could reply, Evelyn piped in.“He did. So did I, but all of you were blind as a bat.”“And she cried so pitifully whenever confronted that you guys always let it slide.”“
Rosaline was shocked by her outburst.‘What’s wrong with me? I don’t know them. I should be calling the cops for all that guy did to me earlier.’ She smiled awkwardly, trying to hide her embarrassment but frowned upon seeing the smile in William’s eyes. That made her roll her eyes.‘Screw it! I’ve already said it out loud. Let’s just go with it.’ “Well, you can also get back together with her. Get screwed again.”“Spend your entire life trying to figure out when NO means NO and when NO means YES. And every time you break up and get frustrated, you can ruin some other innocent girl’s evening.” William curled his lips at the word innocent, which made Rosaline want to kick him. But she ignored him and continued.“Or since she already told you that you broke up. Just accept it and detoxify yourself.”Evelyn hooted at that and gave Rosaline a high-five, “well said, bro!”.‘I have a feeling we’ll get along well.’ Rosaline smiled at that but was shocked by her thoughts.‘Shit! I’ve to le
Rosaline saw William as soon as she exited the bathroom.He squinted at her as she made her way back. She only glanced at him, furrowed her beautiful brows, and ignored him. Somehow, this made William smile. He walked up to her and tried to start a conversation.“Hey, got a minute?”“And may I ask why you would need it?”Her voice was cold and held clear distance and indifference.William felt awkward. He tried hard to understand why he was so bothered about the probability of her being underage. But he masked his emotions well.“Well, I just want to say sorry and thank you.” He replied confidently without any awkwardness.“It does not matter,” Rosaline said with a sigh.“Can I ask you something rather inappropriate?” William decided to bite the bullet.“Why would you ask if you already know it’s inappropriate?” Rosaline retorted with raised eyebrows. “Maybe I’m just selfish.”“...” Rosaline was speechless, and that made William smile. “How old are you?” Rosaline could see the nerv
Rosaline got up quite late, having partied till late last night.Looking at her sleepy appearance in the mirror, she thought of William. She shook her head, flattened her messy hair, and went on with her morning routine. There was a commotion at the breakfast table with her parents waiting for her. She had an uneasy feeling about it. “Good morning, people!” Rosaline said with a smile.“You guys did not wait for me for breakfast, did you?” She had hardly finished what she was saying when her father, George Dayne, slammed the local newspaper on the table. She picked it up with curiosity and saw two pictures of herself which were rather vague.One was her leaning toward Pete, and Pete’s face was unmistakable.The other picture showed her leaning toward William; even William’s back view was vague. The headline was rather glaring.“Shameless groupie steals another woman’s boyfriend!”Rosaline instantly knew that it was Supriya’s doing.As the photographs were from inside the bar that
On the other side of the city, Tom and Rita Brown also saw the news.Tom Brown and George Dayne were professors at Apex University and had been friends for over 20 years. Their families were close as well. George’s nephew, Maddox Dayne, got acquainted with the Browns while visiting his uncle and got to know Tom and Rita’s daughter Ellaria.They became childhood sweethearts and were about to get married in 5 weeks. They had known Rosaline since she was a little kid. They had thought William and Rosaline would be a good match.Both families had agreed to set them up during Max and Ria’s wedding. But seeing the news report, both Tom and Rita hesitated.‘Although we have known her since she was a child, Lina studied abroad for the last five years, and five years before that, Lina was in a hostel. God knows what she has become these years.’ ‘Maybe we should wait and see for the next few days before settling things.’“Tom, what do you think about the news?” Rita asked, obviously worried
William also chanced upon the pictures while his father was reading the newspaper. Even though it was not clear, he recognized them right away. He went to the bar, but it was closed and only had some people cleaning and preparing for the evening. He asked the available staff if they knew the girl or anyone in her group but got nothing. Getting no leads the usual way, he was tempted to investigate it himself but resisted the urge thinking she might not like her privacy to be intruded on by a stranger. In no mood to work, he went to the all-familiar Apex park by the lake.Despite its small size, Apex Park held immense charm in the city center.It had a small rock mountain with a rugged path to the top and a natural lake and stream. All of which were surrounded by dense forest. The entire area was preserved in its natural beauty, making the climb rather adventurous with fresh air, the calming sound coming from the stream, and a great view if you managed to climb on top.As luck woul
“What do you have in mind?”William was pleasantly surprised.At best, he had hoped she would be in touch to stay updated on the issue.He had not dared to wish for anything more. “Let her run amok. Make her desperate. Collect evidence. Make her believe she has won. And, then, show our hand.” ‘I just want to vent. Since that woman dared to cross me, too bad for her.I am not someone that she can use in her mind games. Since she is a bitch, I don’t even have to feel bad about venting my frustrations over my parents on her. Besides, she started it.’‘She doesn't care. It’s something else that this scandal indirectly caused that bothers her. She is just looking for an outlet. But why do I think she is hot? I should be alarmed.’ “How old are you?” William asked.“Are you kidding me?” Rosaline was caught off guard by this sudden change in topic. “C’mon. You said you were going to tell me if we meet again.”“Why are you so fixated on it?” Rosaline was curious why he would ask about her