"It's this smarmy private school my mother insists on sending me away to. She says its 'good for my future' or something like that."
Rose was impressed, the only thing that gave him away was the extra blink at the end of his sentence. She doubted anyone else would've even caught it. Her eyes lingered a little too long on his face, searching.
He cleared his throat, "how about you?"
Rose smiled, his voice snapping her out of her reverie. "I'm actually being transferred to a new school this year, I don't know much about it, but apparently its out of this world."
He nodded, and leaned back on the bench, resting his elbows behind him. Suddenly, as though a switch had been flipped, Rose was so overcome with emotion; it was hard to think straight. The weight of a new school, a new life, this challenge, the boy, all stretched out in front of her. It seemed impossible. She sagged down, hunching her shoulders as though that would brace her against the mental blows she was suffering.
Warren turned to face her, and she straightened up, flipping her hair and squaring her shoulders. He looked at her questioningly, but said nothing.
"Warren," she started.
He cocked his head, waiting for her to continue. However, no words came. They sat there in comfortable silence, listening to the woods around them. He leaned toward her, the threat of a kiss in his posture.
She sensed danger, and slid silkily off the bench. Rose extended a tiny hand to him, "Come on, let's go."
The walk home was pleasant, albeit uneventful. He walked with her all the way up to her apartment building, and to the door. She opened it and started to go inside.
"Rose," although his voice was soft, it startled her. She turned around slowly. He extended his hand and brushed it along her cheekbone, the barest of touches. She pulled away ever so slightly and awarded him a coy grin. Internally, she laughed at the image of him frozen, arm still extended as though he expected her to move back into the position she occupied a few moments ago. She puckered her lips and pressed them against her slim fingers, blew him a gentle kiss and shut the door on his confused, (but oh, so lovely) face.
Rose slammed her bedroom door to let her father know she was home and collapsed on her bed with an enormous sigh. Being a tease was exhausting, not to mention stressful. She tried to balance the perfect amount of whore vs. pristine. She was the Lady of Illusion, making him believe she was completely his, and her lovely, compact body was within his grasp, while maintaining a strict 'no touching' policy.
She signed on the computer.
Sociopath(ic): matty, loveeeeeeeee
Super Mattt: hey babygirl,
Super Mattt: way to peace me out this morning
Sociopath(ic): dude, I had to go. My father doesn't exactly approve of me sleeping over boys' houses.
Super Mattt: bah
Sociopath(ic): so, guess who I was hanging out with this afternoon
Super Mattt: i couldn't begin to and even if i could i'm not sure i'd want to
Sociopath(ic): Warren
Super Mattt: slut
Sociopath(ic): he's cute!
Super Mattt: Rosey, come on, you know you can do better than him
Sociopath(ic): I thought this guy was your friend!
Super Mattt: yea, but he's not good enough to be dating you!
Sociopath(ic): we're not dating
Super Mattt: did he make a move?
Sociopath(ic): he tried to kiss me, I think… but I backed away
Super Mattt: why
Sociopath(ic): I can't just give it to him! he's gotta work for it! I've got to feed him the words he wants to hear, ones that'll draw him close to me
Sociopath(ic): but at the same time I've got to remain emotionally unattached. its all very complex
Super Mattt: woman, people are gonna start callin you The Black Widow if you keep shit up like that
Super Mattt: i hate when you get all "no emotions" and shit cause i know its not true. you're just lying to yourself if you think that's how you really want to feel about someone… and you can go and log off the computer and pout but think about what i said. you totally know it's the truth.
Rose didn't log off, but she jammed her finger into the moniter's power button, making it go black.
Matt could read her like a book, and his words struck a nerve.
She pulled the covers over her head and screamed into her favorite purple pillow. The muffled scream turned into crying. She sobbed until she had nothing left and her makeup was streaked down her face.
Maybe this whole 'evil plot' thing is going to be harder than it looked, she thought morosely to herself.
Her pouting was interupted by her computer pinging at her, announcing the arrival of a new message. She assumed it was Matty and let it go, she would deal with him later when she had calmed down. However, another ping bounced through the speakers, and another one after that. She decided either Matty had something very urgent to tell her, or it was someone else.
The latter instinct had been correct. When she fired up the screen, a new message window had been illuminated.
War&Peace: hey
War&Peace: I just wanted to let you know I had a great time today, you're a pretty awesome girl, Rose.
War&Peace: text me sometime, I'd love to hang out with you again 723-4669
Despite her face being sticky with tears, she couldn't help as a little grin formed on her lips.