A Little Push

He watched her giggling with Ronny and as usual, seeing Rose happy made him happy as well. Mack strode into the room, plopping down on the couch opposite from the one the girls were sitting on. Ronny smirked knowingly and casually bumped Rose's shoulder. The former pink ranger blushed and looked away.

"I'll just go…talk to Will about our plans for Valentine's Day," Ronny chirped as she unfolded herself from the orange couch. She flounced across the room, shooting one last grin at her friends before leaving them alone.

Rose shook her head at Ronny's antics before turning back to her abandoned novel. "So what was that all about?" Mack asked when Ronny had gone. He wondered what they'd been talking about before he'd come into the room. Could it have been about him?

She sent him a smile. "Just girl stuff, Mack. You wouldn't want the gory details." Rose gave that little smile again before turning her attention to the book once more. Her eyes focused in on the neat black letters but when she'd read the same sentence three times in a row she gave up.

"Got a date to that ball thing yet?" Mack asked, secretly hoping that Rose's answer would be 'no' so he could ask her to go as his Valentine. He hated the look on her face at his question. "So I'm guessing that's a no?"

Rose nodded and looked away awkwardly. "That's not really my thing, if you hadn't noticed. It's a really stupid holiday if you ask me. I wish your dad hadn't told the mayor we'd be there. It's so much pressure to find someone to go with who doesn't expect more from me than I'm ready to give right now."

Mack nodded. "I know exactly what you mean. Girls come up to me in the streets asking to be my Valentine's date. They don't even know me. I'd much rather go with someone who I know well and who I'd have fun with. Someone like…you." He looked away as her eyes widened.

"Oh Mack," Rose breathed, shocked by this statement. "I would love to go with you, but I-"

"As friends," Mack added quickly. "Nothing more than what you want it to be, Rose. I would never try and pressure you into doing something that you wouldn't want to do." He gave her a nervous smile.

"Sure Mack. We can go together. I'm sure we'll have a lot of fun." Rose tried to return the happy grin as she stood and followed Ronny's path out of the lounge, but as soon as her back was turned to him it slid off her face. Friends. That was all he wanted to be. It was all guys ever wanted to be with her.

Mack's blue eyes followed her out of the room. Friends. Of course that was all she wanted to be. He was still thinking about this when Will walked into the lounge. "Ask her yet?" he smirked.

"Yeah," Mack sighed. Will raised an eyebrow.

"Did she say no? You look kinda unhappy for a guy who just asked out the cute girl he's been crushing on for a long time."

"It's not a date. We're just friends." Will winced sympathetically.

"Ouch. Tough luck, Mack. But Ronny seemed so sure that Rose liked you as more than friends," Will mused. "She said you're all Rose talks about when they have their girl time. Maybe…"

"It doesn't matter, Will. Even if Rose isn't into me like that, at least I won't have to watch her spend the Valentine's Ball with someone else. Of course, by next year I'll have to, but that's still a long ways off from now."

"Cheer up, Mack. There's only one pink ranger in history that didn't end up with someone who had been a red ranger at one point, and that was Xander's girl Vida Rocca. Rose will come around. Maybe she just needs a push in your direction."

Mack looked insulted. "You can't force someone to fall in love with you, and you better not try to 'give her a push in my direction.' If something happens, it happens. Don't try to force things on Rose, because she deserves to be happy. And if that's not with me, then what can I do about it?"

"Fight for her," Will stated. "Make her want you."

"Drop it," Mack advised as he too left the room.

--

"He played the friend card?" Ronny asked the former pink ranger, who nodded miserably. "But Will says Mack's had a thing for you since we all met. I wonder why he would play the friend card."

Rose picked up one of the heart shaped pillows on her bed. She buried her face in it. "Maybe Will had his wires crossed and mistook Mack having a thing for me for Mack actually hating me. I bet they're laughing about it right now."

"They're not," Ronny said quickly. "They're not like that, Rose, and you know that as well as I do. Now, maybe he loves you like you love him-"

"I never said that I love him, Ronny," Rose said, her voice growing shrill and her cheeks blushing red. "I don't know where you even got that idea. It's crazy. I like him, but I most certainly do not love him and I-"

"What's the first thing you do when you get up in the morning?"

Rose blushed the precise shade of red as Mack's ranger uniform. "Check my email and my phone to see if he sent me a message." Ronny smirked. Rose had nothing to do but admit defeat. "Ronny, I know you're planning something. Just let me do things my way."

"Yeah, because you really will do something about it. I'm helping you out here, Rose. I demand that you let me push him right where he belongs – you. I want you two to stop pining for each other so the rest of us can have a nice afternoon and not have to bet on how long it's going to take for our red and pink rangers to wake up and smell the coffee."

"You guys have bets?" Rose squawked indignantly. "Because it's not anyone's business but mine and his - if, of course, he has feelings for me that aren't platonic."

"Which he does," Ronny insisted. "Here's what we'll do. First of all, on Valentine's Day, me and you and Vella are going to get ourselves so gorgeous that Will, Mack and Tyzonn aren't going to know what to do with themselves. Then as the evening goes on, I drop a few hints just so you're on his mind. By the time we get home your name will practically be Hartford." Ronny looked hopeful. "You know that's what you want."

It was what Rose wanted. "Don't do anything too embarrassing," she implored her friend before burying her face in the pillow once more.