Time

Her face was beautiful that much she could tell. Dark, yet warm brown eyes glancing between the burrito she was making and her pale skin and face. Her voice was soft yet strong, growing louder as she laughed and joked with her coworkers all the while returning her gaze back to her; full of love. She felt herself blushing as she was handed a smoothie by a young man with blond hair while the woman that was working on the burrito wrapped it in tinfoil then handed it to her in a white pastry bag.

“I’ll see you after work then, love?” She found herself saying to the woman, surprised by how happy and warm her tone was as the woman gave a dazzling smile and nodded.Glasses sat gently on the bridge of her nose, the smell of coffee grinds mixing with her vanilla perfume. Her face; she couldn’t describe it, no matter how badly she wanted to. It was just beautiful.

“Of course baby. Now make sure you eat all of your burrito since I made it for you. I love you!” She was almost sad to go as she walked towards the exit of the coffee shop, the words on the door almost a blur except for the large sign that read Oak as she pushed open the door, a bright white light illuminating the entire area, the warmth of the coffee shop gone as she stepped outside.

+

She gasped awake, a small sweep of sadness coming over her chest as she sat up in bed. A cold sweat had taken over as she looked around to get a feel of her surroundings. She was still in her bed, in her room, with the same posters and bookcase surrounding her as she sighed and dropped back to her pillows.

She was still in her bedroom. She was still suffering from heartbreak.

The thought of red hair and warm smiles made her chest ache as she sat up in bed, the rest of her body numb as she fought to get herself dressed all the while grieving. It had been almost a year since that terrible day had happened, and yet she still felt the same as she had when she was first given the news. The ring she had felt heavy around the chain of her neck, fingers trembling as she slowly brought them up to unclasp it and hide it away in a small box. Nobody knew. Not her parents, and not even her best friends.

That made it that much harder.

She didn’t want to think about it as she lazily got dressed, adjusting her loose black pants with chains and her tight fitting tank top. She never really dressed like this until after that horrible day happened, black nails contrasting against her pale skin as she brushed her fingers through her matted hair. She wasn’t in the mood for life, let alone school, and it showed as she merely grabbed an apple from the spread her mother made in the kitchen.

“You don’t want any pancakes love? They’re your favorite, I made them for you—”

“I’m alright, thanks mom. See you after school.” Not another word as she left through the front door and started the car, making sure her seatbelt was on and tight as she made the drive to school, feeling numb the entire way there. Though a year seems like a long time it wasn’t in her heart, the nightmares almost every night proving to make it seem so. Although it was rare to have a dream like the one she had last night, the memory of it hazy as she tried to recall it.

Recall how happy she was, how content and bright the woman she was talking to seemed to be before she left for the exit and woke up.

Something wasn’t right, but it was a feeling she refused to acknowledge as she pulled into the school parking lot and turned off her car. Just as she’d exited her best friend Lucy hopped onto her back, causing her to drop her apple and grip her friends thighs to keep her up.

“Good morning bitch!”

“What’s up, asshole?” She retorted, dropping Lucy from her thin frame as her curvy friend flipped a piece of curly hair out of her face.

“I saw you when you pulled in; you seemed super out of it. You alright?” What was she meant to tell her? No, she wanted to die because the person that meant the most to her was ripped away from her grasp? She wanted no part in this life anymore because she didn’t think it was worth living? No. She couldn’t possibly say that without having her best friend hate her and her parents placing her on suicide watch.

“Yeah! Just tired; had a weird dream.”

“Oh? Do tell.”

“I’d rather not.” She chuckled, steering away from the subject as they both walked to their class. It was normal as usual, the teacher droning on and on about slavery and the Reconstruction era until the class phone rang. She didn’t pay any attention, blue eyes focused on the orange and yellow leaves dotting the trees and ground as fall really started to take over. She wrinkled her nose at the thought of snow, and then her mind drifted to that terrible night, chest tightening, eyes starting to water—

“Sorry to interrupt your class Ms. Walker but we have a new student from California.” She snapped her eyes towards the front of the classroom, slowly lifting her head up to see who they were. Her eyes landed on black combat boots, slowly scanning up the black jeans that clung tight to her hourglass figure. She wore a white and black striped, long sleeve shirt underneath some band T-shirt. Her black painting nails held tightly to a sketchbook, pen doodles drawn all over the cover.

Her face is what made her sit straight up in her seat, blonde brows furrowing because there was something so familiar about it; yet she couldn’t figure out what. It was oval shaped, milky brown skin complimented with onyx eyes that never seemed to focus entirely on one thing. She had wild curly hair, all of it resting just at her shoulders as she gave a shy wave.

“Hi,” She muttered, dark eyes stopping just as they met bright blue. The girl smirked, causing the blue eyed girl to blush a deep red before retreating back to the window. Damn she was pretty, and she felt a pang of guilt just for thinking it as she cleared her throat and tried to make herself invisible.

“I’m Marie. I just moved from Oceanside, and now I’m here in Highlands Ranch. It’s…different. Safer.” She tried to crack a joke; nobody laughed. Except for the girl by the window, trying to stifle it as she snuck another glance towards Marie. Her brown eyes were focused on her again, almost knowing as she played with a necklace tied around her neck. She saw it was heart shaped but couldn’t see the pattern inside it, deciding not to dwell as the awkward introduction was finished. Then she started to walk.

Long legs carried her down the aisle of the desks, everybody staring at her; but she was only focused on one pair of eyes, perfectly done brows arched in curiosity as she came up towards her. At first she thought she was going to stop in front of her, holding her breath until she continued to walk, chains attached to her belt clinking as she winked at the girl. It seemed like her heart skipped a beat, fingers clenching the ends of her chains attached to her own pair of pants as she heard the chair scrape behind her.

Of fucking course the new girl would sit behind her.

She felt nervous, the smell of cherry blossoms growing stronger as she felt a piece of paper slip over her shoulder and land on her desk. She unfolded it, the neatest hand writing in purple ink jumping out to her as she read to herself.

My names Marie. What’s yours?

She rushed to pull out her green pen, clicking it open and scribbling back a reply. She quickly tossed it over her shoulder, hearing Marie scramble to catch it and unravel it.

Rosalie. Rose, for short.