Chapter 19:
Disclaimer: I don't own Chrono Crusade or any of the characters!
Rosette tapped her fingers as she waited for Chrono to return with their food orders. She had fully expected Chrono, the rich jerk who was usually chauffered in a limousine or drove sports cars to school, to bring her to a luxurious restaurant with waiters waiting on them. Instead he had surprised her by bringing her to a fast-food restaurant and became the 'waiter' himself by pulling out the chair for her and ordering food. She preferred it this way. She would have felt ill at ease if he brought her to one of those restaurants because she wouldn't have known the proper dinner table etiquettes and what food to order, giving him another reason to laugh at her.
Her thoughts returned to the clock she saw, no imagined, at home just moments before. Tick tock tick tock The golden clock had been on her mind the whole time and Chrono had noticed her distraction when he tried to make polite conversations with her on the car ride to the restaurant. He had complimented her look and asked about any preference that she might have for their dining place. She replied with a distracted "Hm" and when he saw that she was not going to pay him further attention he kept quiet, creating an awkward atmosphere.
There was something familiar about the clock. She could almost feel the smooth slippery texture of the metal on the clock and feel weight of the clock hanging on the chain around her neck. She shook her head. She had not seen that clock ever before in her entire life. It was just a fragment of her imagination though the details that she saw and felt were hard to come up with if they were based on pure imagination alone.
She looked up as Chrono returned with their meals, setting the tray on the table in front of her.
"You seem to have a lot on your mind. A penny for your thoughts?" Commented Chrono as he sat down opposite Rosette and settled into his seat.
"Nothing worth mentioning. Besides, what makes you think that I will share my thoughts with you of all people?" asked Rosette with an annoyed look. He had not exactly been the kindest person in school and could barely even be considered as part of her intimate circle. She had to admit, he had seemed to be a nicer person than she first thought on their first meeting especially since she got to know him better these few weeks. However, she is not about to let him find out that her impression of him had improved.
"Let's just say that I am not used to girls being so distracted while on a date with me- even girls who are as unattractive as you." Chrono replied with a rakish teasing smile.
Rosette was about to rebuke him with a rude remark at his offending words when she looked and saw that he was smiling teasingly at her.
"Alright, I was distracted but do not think for a minute that it has anything to do with you. Since it's unrelated to you, I don't see any need in discussing them with you."
Chrono started to argue but saw her determined eyes glaring back at him and held his tongue. 'Could it be due to the nightmares that I was getting a lot of, especially before I regained my memories? True, the nightmares have decreased in frequency ever since regaining my memory but I used to be really distracted sometimes when the nightmares hit me real hard the previous night. Could it be happening to her too?' thought Chrono with a frown. 'No point asking though. She doesn't seem willing to share and no point forcing her. Main point is to enjoy our first date together.' He smiled at that thought and started eating his fries thoughtfully.
A few strands of hair fell down covering his eyes and Rosette resisted a strong urge to reach out and brush them aside. He was really handsome when one put aside his personality faults and looked past his rugged demeanor. His purple hair, rare and strange a colour that it was, seemed to oddly compliment his fair skin and sharp features. His eyes were big and round- too round for a male to own in Rosette's opinion- but was more than made up for by his ruby eyes which were framed with long thick eyelashes.
Chrono glanced up from his food and Rosette quickly looked away, blushing furiously having been caught in the action of observing him. He smiled with a knowing look as if he knew what she was thinking just moments before.
Chrono looked up and found himself looking into Rosette's sky blue eyes. The rosy tint on her cheeks created a contrast to her skin which was complimented by her pink blouse. Her hair looked so soft and silky- Chrono stopped in mid- thought and chuckled to himself. She will probably throw a fit if she knew what he was thinking.
"So Chrono, why ask me out on a date all of a sudden?" Rosette said trying to appear as calm as she could despite internally fighting to keep her voice level and avoid from further embarrassing herself by accidentally blurting the wrong things.
"I just thought that I have dated quite a number of girls and never have I met one like you. Mind you, that number is no small number either. I have never before in my life met a girl who is as air-headed, clueless, hot- tempered and " pausing to take a breath and smile knowingly "kind, loyal and compassionate at the same time."
Rosette whose face was looking more and more like someone who had swallowed a chili was about to burst into a tirade when she stopped in mid-breathe and starred at Chrono in shock when she heard his last words.
There was a stagnant pause till Rosette asked wide-eyed and managed to stammer out "Did you... Did you just say what I think you just said? Did you just compliment me?"
"Yes and I thought I will like to know you better because of everything I have learnt of you so far. Of course" Chrono shrugged as he picked up his drink and leaned back in his seat with a mischievious expression "you are not as beautiful as the other girls I have dated so far but I guess you will do for now."
Rosette tried to digest what she had just heard. "So you just decided that you wanted another conquest?"
"No! I mean" Chrono quickly tried to correct himself "I find you really interesting and want to learn more about you."
"Ok..." Rosette glanced down at her food and started to eat "What do you want to know about me?"
"How many siblings do you have?"
"One. A brother."
"That's Joshua right?"
"Yes. We are really close. There was once when we were so mad at Ms Kate for punishing Joshua with classroom and toilet cleaning duties that we put a frog in her cabinet and another in her bag. That was one memorable day. The scream we heard was loud enough to be heard all the way in the arctic." Rosette smiled in fond memory.
"What did Joshua do to deserve toilet and classroom cleaning duties in the first place?"
"Oh you know, the usual things that children do. He gave her a cockroach hidden in a beautiful box and had a card on it that states that the box was a gift from her 'Secret Admirer'. "
Chrono laughed as he imagined a young Joshua preparing the 'gift'. "How did she find out it was from him at the end?"
"He recycled his homework worksheet as paper for the card. Apparently he forgot to erase his name from the worksheet." She smirked as she remembered the scolding her careless brother had gotten from the incident.
Chrono threw his head back in hearty laughter. It was really easy to feel at ease with Rosette around. He had chosen to bring her to a fast- food restaurant, which he heard from Azmaria that Rosette liked to frequent, instead of bringing her to a luxurious restaurant because he had a feeling that she would be uncomfortable in those surroundings especially given the personality that he knew from their previous life.
He smiled to himself. This was going to be one of the best nights in his life.
Joshua sat at his computer, staring absently at the screen. The lady- now that he thought about it again, it seemed to more like a girl's voice- was screaming for help in the forest. Her voice had a bell-like quality to it. He could not quite put his finger about it but there was something familiar about her voice. It felt as if it had belonged to someone he used to know. But who? Why was she in the dark forest?
There were fizzled flashes of a girl with white hair and crimson eyes. There were also flashes of another man sometimes. He had long white hair. Joshua knew that he might be putting too much thought on a dream but it kept getting more and more realistic as he dreamt more of it each night ever since Azmaria moved in. Now that he thought about it, Azmaria has a bell-like quality in her voice too. Joshua closed his eyes. He must be too stressed up from the exam preparations and was starting to imagine things. All these could not be true because if they were, that girl in the dark forest would have been Azmaria and he might, just might, have known her in another lifetime.
End of Chapter
