Two days later the sky was blue and cloudless and the scent of sardines barely noticeable as Rose pedalled her first deliveries toward the Pelican Island Bridge. Her phone rang it the tune of a spunky salsa beat and Rose bobbed her head to a few bars as she checked the screen. Cool,' she thought, a text from Lissa. She pulled to the side or the road to take a look.
'Helllllp! Muffy strks again! What up w/u?'
Rose laughed, imagining how Lissa's annoying cousin was torturing her friend. She keyed a quick message with her news:
'Met hot boy.'
She pressed SEND and her phone rang almost instantly. She glanced at the screen. Lissa, of course.
"What's his name? What does he look like? When are you going out?" Lissa babbled as soon as Rose picked up.
"It's Dimitri. He's really cute in that chin-length-manly-hair kind of way, and I don't even know if he likes me yet. I'm on a quest to find out...and to get his digits. I'll keep you posted."
"You'd better," Lissa said.
"And I hope you're wearing that cute whit mini that shows off your legs. That'll get his attention."
"You think?" Rose asked, glancing down at that very skirt. She didn't want to admit that yesterday and today she'd put on extra-hot outfits hoping to run into Dimitri. Needless to say, her mom had been pretty happy to see Rose in a skirt again, but now that Rose had it on she wasn't so sure it was a good idea. And maybe she should have left the kitten-heeled slides in the closet too, even if they were fabulous. Oh well.
"Ugh, here comes Muffy with her tennis racquet," Lissa whispered.
Rose. Heard a scuffling sound, then a soft thud.
"Where are you?" she asked.
"Towel hut," Lissa whispered. "I can't play another game of tennis, Ro. We just got here and she's already wiped the court with me six- oh, gotta go!" 'Click'.
Rose almost felt sorry Lissa, but not quite. At least things are looking up on my end, she thought, flipping her phone shut and hopping back on the bike to begin her deliveries. She was bound to run into Dimitri again sooner or later.
By the time she'd reached the end of her twelfth run without a single Dimitri sighting, Rose resigned herself to the fact that it was probably going to happen later rather than sooner.
As she pedalled across the bridge back to Pelican Island her mind raced with thoughts about the cute boy with intense eyes. She wondered who he was. A tourist? She'd never seen him before but then that didn't mean anything.
She didn't know every guy in Richfield and/or the surrounding area. But then again, if he did live around here he'd probably be vacationing on Bella Island with everybody else.
Rose glided to a halt in front of the Italian Scallion and parked the bike against the building.
So if Dimitri's a tourist, that means he'll be leaving by the end of the summer at the latest, she said to herself.
She shook her head. 'What are you doing Rose? You don't even know if he likes you and you're already stressing about when he's leaving?'
She decided to think about the way he said her name. Rose, Rose, Rose...
"You wanna talk to who?" Rose heard her Dad saying into the telephone when she entered the shop. "My daughter? Why? Who is this?"
Rose gasped. She knew exactly who it was! Or, at least she 'hoped' she knew. It made sense now. Dimitri didn't ask for her home number because she'd already given him her work number - on the menu! Clever guy.
"I'll take it. It's my friend," she told her father, who handed over the phone, then disappeared in the kitchen.
"Hello?" She said into the receiver.
"Uhhhh, is this Rosie?" A boy's gruff voice said over the line.
"Dimitri?" She asked, though now she'd heard him she wasn't so sure. At the same time she wondered, How does he know about Rosie? He knows me only as Rose.
"Yeah, that's me," the guy breathed. "Want to go out tonight? I hear you're an awesome kisser."
Girls giggled in the background.
"Shhh!" someone said through the laughter.
Now she knew it wasn't Dimitri. "Who is this?" she demanded.
"You know," the guy said through a snicker. "Danny."
The girls cackled louder right before Rose slammed the phone into its cradle on the wall. "What jerks!" She muttered.
Mason walked by with a case of soda on his shoulder. "Who's a jerk?"
Couldn't she have a second of privacy? "Nobody," Rose replied, though she had a feeling she knew who was behind the prank call. With no Caller I'd on the store phone, she picked up the receiver again and dialled *69 to see if she could find out who was playing with her. She jotted down the recorded number and then dialled it.
"Bella Island Jitney!" a girl answered with a sing-songy tone. "How may I help you?"
Rose slammed the phone again. "Jerks!"
"WHO?" Mason asked again, this time from the drink refrigerator.
"Nobody!" Rose cried and stormed to the door of the shop. On the way out she heard Eddie ask Mason, "What's her problem?"
Oh, Rose had a problem all right. Three of them: Mia, Camille and Tasha. And she knew how the game went down. She couldn't just let this prank go unchecked.
