by Amber Heart
“Great. I’ll meet you at your dorm at three thirty.” The class was dismissed, and she floated out of there like she was full of air. The smile never left her face, and when her other class was over at three, she practically ran back to the dorm. When she opened the door to their room, she stopped dead. Blaze was sitting on the couch with Eric, and she couldn’t have been closer to him unless she was sitting in his lap. A low growl started in Rosalie’s throat. To be fair, though, Eric was doing his best to keep her at bay, even though she was making it difficult. Steeling herself for any fallout, she decided that she needed to put her mousy tendencies to rest. Rosalie hitched a smile across her face and sauntered towards Eric. Vanessa came out of the kitchen, and both her and Blaze’s eyes were on Rosalie. Once Eric realized that he wasn’t the sole object of Blaze’s attention, he followed her line of sight to see Rosalie come stalking her way across the room. Her eyes were locked on his and there was such an intensity in them that his heart skipped a beat. It was easy to believe that only the two of them were the only ones in the room. Rosalie put her hands to either side of his face, leaned in, and kissed him. It wasn’t just a soft and sweet kiss, it had some power to it, and Eric’s hands came up to pull her into his lap. Rosalie lost herself in the kiss, but she was very aware of the open mouthed incredulity that was radiating from Vanessa and the daggers that were coming from Blaze. She didn’t care. She was old enough now, and if she wanted something, she wasn’t just going to sit back and let it walk by, she was going to take it. When she finally backed off, her cheeks were pink. Her eyes met Vanessa’s, and her friend winked at her in approval. She pointedly ignored Blaze.
“Are you ready to study?” She put an emphasis on study so it sounded like studying would be the last thing they were doing, and she felt a little satisfaction when Blaze got up and stormed out of the door. Eric nodded and followed her into her bedroom.
“I can’t believe that you got rid of her. I’ve been trying to do that for weeks.” Rosalie was still a little shocked that she had done what she did, but she felt a little bit of fierce pride in it, too. She was staking her claim on Eric now, and Blaze could get lost.
“Well, I can’t promise that she’ll leave you alone, but I’ll do my best to keep you safe.” He laughed and headed over to the computer that she’d put on her bed. He started to open the box and read the owner’s manual to make sure he set it up properly. She watched him, feeling a warm glow in her chest area. The two of them got the computer up and running, and he dictated to her as she typed her notes out. They weren’t doing anything special, just spending time together, and she felt like she was on cloud nine. He wasn’t trying to get handsy with her, wasn’t trying to get into her pants, and was being an all around gentleman. It was a shock to her, because she hadn’t thought he had it in him when she’d first met him. The bad boy persona had been a huge turn off, because it was a life that she didn’t want. But now…
“Thank you so much for helping me. I never wanted you to buy me a computer. I’m not a gold digger, I swear.” She’d been afraid that that was what he thought of her. He looked up at her, with an unreadable expression on his face.
“Do you really think that you have to defend yourself to me? I wouldn’t have bought this for you if I didn’t think you needed it. I know that you would have never asked or expected anything. That’s why I bought it. It’s also why I don’t tell people who I really am. I don’t want a flock of girls after me for my money.” Relief rushed through her. It wasn’t a situation that she thought that she would ever be caught up in, but here it was. The studying done, he lay on the bed with his hands behind his head, just looking up at the ceiling as he talked. She bit her lip. Should she go and lay down with him? Deciding that she was going to risk it, she crawled up on the bed with him. “Well, hello there. I must say this feels a lot nicer than that leech trying to get to me.” They both shared a laugh at Blaze’s expense. The two of them lay there, talking for what seemed like hours. Finally, Eric looked at his watch. “Damn it. I’ve got to get going. I’m sorry. My mom has this charity dinner, and I have to go.” Now that she knew the truth about him, and his lifestyle, she felt like there were no barriers between them, and that she didn’t have anything to repulse her about his attitude.
“It’s alright. I know you have a busy schedule, and I wouldn’t dream of holding you up. Thank you again, so much, for the laptop. I’d been saving up some money, but I was still only about halfway there. I swear I’ll repay you one day.” Rosalie didn’t like to accept charity, and even though it was easy for him to buy one with the hundreds of dollars he had, she didn’t want him to think that she wanted to be with him because of the money. It was more the romance behind it all.
“I told you, don’t worry about it. Consider it a gift to make up for me being such an ass from the very beginning, ok?” She raised an eyebrow at him. “I’m sorry, but I do need to go.” She jumped up, getting the door for him and letting him leave. As he walked out of the dorm room, Vanessa came barging out of her bedroom, almost barreling her over, slamming the door behind her and dragging her to the bed.
“Ok, spill!” Vanessa looked at her with such a fierce look of anticipation that Rosalie couldn’t help but laugh.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Rosalie decided to play around a little and Vanessa gave an exasperated growl and Rosalie threw her hands up in surrender. “Alright, alright. He was in one of my classes, and we got paired up as lab partners. We kind of went from there.” It wasn’t a complete lie, but she still had to make sure that she didn’t give any hint of his true family connections to anyone else. If and when he wanted to reveal that to his friends, that was on him. Vanessa’s eyes were shining.
“I’m so excited for you! He’s a sweet guy deep down, but then again, I’m sure you can already tell that, or you wouldn’t be with him. The standoffish way that he is with most people tends to make girls run the other way, but with his adorable face, they tend to come back and try to make it work.” Rosalie blushed.
“You don’t think that Blaze is going to, you know, try to kill me in my sleep, do you? I know she was after him for a while, and what I did today was more than just stake a claim.” Even though she was trying to break out of her mousy ways, she was still not very big on confrontation.
“No, you’ll be fine. She may try to do the odd thing to steal him from you, but she won’t actually hurt you. She knows better than that.” There was a dark look in Vanessa’s eyes, and she wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing, but knowing that she was safe from Blaze lifted her spirits that much more.
Chapter 13
Rosalie felt like she was on cloud nine. Eric was into her. Not only that, he really wasn’t the pretentious asshole that she’d originally met. He was a sweetheart who just happened to have a hidden identity. It was a little on the romantic side and made her think about some of the romance books she’d read. Thinking about him made her cheeks red and warm, and it gave her butterflies in her stomach. She tried not to think about the people who might stand in the way of her happiness. Blaze might try some petty things to get back at her, and that was fine. She understood and that wasn’t what bothered her. No, she was worried about Eric’s mom. She looked like she wouldn’t accept anyone below the rank of princess for her son. Rosalie bit her lip. Maybe she could kill the mom with kindness the next time they met. The smart remark she’d given at the cotillion wasn’t exactly going to work in her favor. Well, it had when it came to Eric, but not when it came to the mom. That was going to be her main priority, between classes and homework, of course. She had to find a way to get his mom to like her.
The day was a little chilly with a heavy wind, and Rosalie went down to the little coffee shop where she’d gone on her first day. She’d seen Blaze there for the first time, but she wasn’t thinking about that at all. She was thinking about the nice, chintz armchairs in front of the fireplace. Her class had gotten cancelled because the professor had a
last minute emergency, so she’d taken the opportunity for a break and grabbed a book she’d been wanting to read. Rosalie was perfectly happy reading for hours on end, so she planned on making a day of it. It was something that she used to love doing, and sadly didn’t have much time for it anymore. She bought her hot chocolate and settled into the fluffiest armchair. Taking a deep breath, Rosalie smelled the crisp freshness of the pages, opening the book for the first time. That was heaven. The smell of a new book, the crinkle of a brand new page, and the leathery feel of the cover. How long she sat there, buried in the book, and lost in a story that she wished she could be a part of, she didn’t know.
“Don’t think you’ve won anything.” Blaze stood in front of her, hands on her hips, staring daggers at her. Rosalie looked up, trying to bring her mindset back to reality. Seeing Blaze didn’t exactly give her the warm fuzzies, but she knew that she couldn’t avoid the girl for the rest of her time at school.
“Blaze, I didn’t mean to take him from you, and I’m sorry if you feel that way. To be honest, I didn’t even like him in the beginning.” Thinking that honesty was going to be the best policy, Rosalie told her the truth. Well, some of it. She wasn’t going to betray that Eric wasn’t who Blaze thought he was.
“I don’t need a little Goody Two Shoes like you trying to turn him around. He’s perfectly fine the way he is. I’ve got my eye on you, and I’m going to do whatever I can to replace you.” Rosalie felt a chill at the blatant threat and poison in the girl’s voice, but she opened her mouth to say something else, anyway. She never got that far. Blaze picked up the cup of hot chocolate that Rosalie had been drinking out of and promptly dumped half of it on Rosalie’s head. Before she could even get to her feet at the impertinence of it all, Rosalie dumped the rest of the drink on the brand new book Rosalie had been reading. That set her off. She didn’t mind the attack on herself, but she hated the loss of her book. Something snapped in her. When she looked up at Blaze’s smirking face, lightning flashed in her eyes. Blaze’s smirk slipped a little, but she quickly hitched it back up.
“I don’t have a problem with you, but if you keep doing things like this, then I will. Just because I don’t want to fight with you doesn’t mean that I won’t. If I do, you’ll lose. I know I look mousy and weak, but I can promise you that I’m not.” Blaze huffed at her like her threat meant nothing at all, then turned on her heel and walked out. Granted, Rosalie was bluffing, but Blaze didn’t know that. When her book got ruined, she was ready to spit fire. It wouldn’t last long, though, and by the time the fight actually came around, her heart wouldn’t be in it anymore. She was actually relieved that Blaze had left rather than calling her bluff. The only thing that she was really upset about, was losing her book. Now she had to buy another copy. Growling under her breath, she picked up the empty cup and her sodden book, threw them both in the trash can, then left the café, doing her best to ignore the strange looks she was getting for having hot chocolate dripping down her hair. On the walk back to the dorm, her anger crested in her, and she was surprised to see that it hadn’t disappeared already. Normally, she didn’t hold grudges, and anger dissipated as soon as it manifested, but now she just couldn’t get rid of it. She banged the door open, stalked across the living room to her own door, unlocked it, and barged in. Vanessa had been sitting on the couch doing some kind of homework, and she was frozen in place, watching Rosalie. Slowly, she put down her work and slunk to the door to see Rosalie rummaging for her shower bag and towels.
“Hey. Um, what’s going on? Are you ok?” Vanessa kept most of her body behind the door jamb, just to be safe if objects started flying.
“I was at the coffee shop reading when Blaze showed up.” There was still anger in Rosalie’s voice, but now there was a tightness to Vanessa’s face, too. She’d had a private talk with Blaze when Eric had made his choice, and Blaze had promised to leave Rosalie alone. Vanessa had a few friends, and they were all pretty much the same. Rosalie was different, and she was actually having a positive influence on Vanessa, even though she wasn’t going to tell her that, and she wasn’t going to lose that. “She took my hot chocolate and dumped it on me. I don’t really care about that because I can go shower, but she poured it out on my book, too, and now I have to go buy a new copy. I just want to slap her or something.” Vanessa smiled. Rosalie really wasn’t a violent person, and it showed. If the worst thing that she could think of to do to her was to slap her, then it went to show how good a person Rosalie really was.
“Ooooh watch out! Rosalie’s on the war path.” Vanessa smiled, and Rosalie couldn’t help but laugh. It was good that she had Vanessa to vent to. It seemed like all the anger was gone, and now she just had a mild annoyance that she had to find a ride to the bookstore to get herself a new copy.
“That’s right! And I’m damn scary!” Rosalie straightened, put her hands on her hips and gave a scary look. Vanessa burst out laughing. The pink robe that she had hanging from her head by the hood didn’t exactly scream scariness.
“I’m shaking in my little boots.” Rosalie grabbed her bag and closed the door behind her.
“I’m gonna go wash the chocolate out of my hair, but would you mind taking me to the bookstore when I’m done? I just want to pick up another copy. I was at a really good part.”
“Yeah, sure. I need to go get some play anyway. I swear this literature class was a mistake.” Vanessa hated her class, and was only too happy to provide Rosalie with rides every now and then in exchange for help in that department.
“Great! Thank you so much. Back in a jiffy.” Rosalie grabbed her things and went to shower. On the way, she smiled. Having a good friend like Vanessa was something that she hadn’t been able to experience before, and now she was loving it. Eric crossed her mind while she was washing her hair, and she wondered what he was up to. When he wasn’t around, she thought about him almost constantly. Well, between classes and homework, anyway. She couldn’t wait to go out with him again, but had been struggling to come up with cheap dates so that he wouldn’t pay for both of them. She considered herself independent, but she really wasn’t making much money right now, and she needed to change that. While she was doing her homework on her new laptop, she discovered a website that let her work from home as a writer. She was good at inventing stories, and she’d applied to quite a few jobs. Now she was just waiting to see if anyone would hire her. It was something that she knew she could do even with her busy schedule, and it would make her feel better about herself. When she didn’t want them to, thoughts forced their way into her head, telling her that she wasn’t good enough for Eric, and that he would never be with her once he found out exactly who she was. Right now he was just looking at something new, and that was why he was still around. At first, it had been to prove a point, now it was a novelty that he was exploring.
Unfortunately, for Rosalie, this was more than just a novelty. She’d been falling for him pretty steadily, and that gave her the constant fear that he was going to move on. Getting herself a job on top of the strenuous class schedule she had should show him that she was hard working and willing to do anything that needed to be done. She hoped that he would weigh that against the fact that she wasn’t rich and that it would have some significance to it. She still had to find a way to convince his mom that she was good enough, but she figured that could wait. She had to convince Eric first, otherwise he would dump her and she wouldn’t have to worry about the mom. She was worried that she was going to lose the first real relationship that she’d really felt something in. Rosalie got out of the shower and hurried back to her room. She didn’t bother with blow drying her hair, she just braided it and let it be. Getting dressed quickly, she grabbed her purse and knocked on Vanessa’s door.
“I’m ready!” She hung up the phone quickly and smiled.
“Great! Let’s go.” It struck Rosalie as a little odd that she got off the phone right when she came into the room, but to be honest, it could be something as innocent as she wa
s leaving so she had to go. Giving Vanessa the benefit of the doubt, she followed her out to the parking lot and got into her car. The two of them blared loud pop music on the way, Rosalie swaying to the music and Vanessa singing at the top of her lungs. This was what she’d always wanted in high school, as far as friendship went, but better late than never. The book store loomed into view, and pure happiness rushed through Rosalie. It was a good thing that Vanessa was with her, because she could spend hours here and not even realize it.
“Keep an eye on me. I go a little crazy in the bookstore,” warned Rosalie. Vanessa just laughed and waved it off.
Chapter 14
It was Saturday, and Rosalie was enjoying the fact that she didn’t have to get up early for class. The muted noise from outside lulled her into a comfortable place where she was floating on pink cotton candy clouds. Her pillow was soft and she was snuggled into it, loving the fact that she didn’t have to get up if she didn’t want to.
BANG! Her bedroom door burst open with such violence that it hit the wall and bounced off. Rosalie almost leapt from the bed in panic, grabbing her nightstand lamp as a weapon. Her heart was pounding, racing a hundred miles an hour. Was she about to be assaulted? What was going on?
“Good morning, sunshine! Hope I didn’t startle you.” The voice was welcome, but not this early in the morning.
“Eric! What the hell are you doing here? How did you even get in? The door was locked.” Rosalie tried to give her heart a pep talk in order to calm it down, then put her lamp back on the nightstand.
“Well, you’re right. It was locked. I’m pretty good at picking locks though.” He winked at her, and she sighed heavily. It was a false alarm, and as much as she cared about him, he wasn’t going to take her lounge time from her. She crawled back under the blanket.