Fate

  It was only a few years earlier that she’d met him, and yet it felt like so long ago. How could she have known that he would be the one to show her happiness like she never knew existed and be the same person to cause a heartache that would equally match the intensity of her love for him?

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Rose

  Then…

  Vincent was an odd one to understand. Having just met him, he seemed nice enough, yet his family was obviously making it clear that he needed to be watched closely. Sal had even warned him to be on his best behavior, something Rose noticed had bothered Vincent.

  Even before his explanation about the tattoo, she didn’t think he looked bad, but especially now, after having spent some time talking to him, she was even more convinced Sal was maybe being a little hard on him. He’d been perfectly respectful except for the few times he slipped and gave way to the foul language. But that didn’t bother Rose. Just about everyone at her school cussed.

  They reached the front porch of Alex’s large home, and Vincent smiled. “Yep it’s still here.” He walked up the stairs of the porch and sat down on the porch swing then patted the seat next to him. “Have a seat.”

  He may be polite and sweet, but one thing Rose had noticed was that he was also smooth. She knew the type. Here she’d never even held a boy’s hand, and yet she was already sure Vincent had done much more. Even at only sixteen and even though they’d just met, Rose could’ve sworn there’d been a few times he may’ve been flirting with her. She even caught the way he’d checked out her legs, and he wasn’t at all fazed when he realized she’d seen him do it. Instead, he’d smirked in response to her goofball, embarrassed expression. He must think her so lame especially after her, “anti-drugs” rant: this after he’d just finished telling her he’d tried them and had even gotten a tattoo in the process. Sure he’d regretted it, but she still could’ve spared him that and her, “my body is a temple” speech.

  Determined to leave a better-than-lame impression, she cleared her throat, ignoring her very inexperienced fifteen-year-old pounding heart and walked up the stairs.

  He stood up just as she reached the porch swing. When he realized how close she actually was and that their faces were now only inches apart, she saw the corners of his lips lift slowly into one of the sexiest smiles Rose had ever witnessed. “That wasn’t very chivalrous of me.” Without taking his eyes off hers, he waved his hand over the swing, making her heart pound even harder, “Ladies first.”

  She prayed he didn’t hear the enormous gulp she took as she sat down. Trying to understand why she was suddenly so nervous when she’d been just fine in the backyard with him by the koi pond, she mentally chastised herself for being such a baby. Plenty of the girls on both the soccer and volleyball teams at school had boyfriends, and she sat next to boys at school many times. She could do this without going into cardiac arrest for the love of Pete.

  “What was that?” Vince smirked as he sat down next to her closer than she’d expected.

  Her eyes grew wide as mortification set in. Had she said that aloud? She often thought out loud without even realizing, especially when she was nervous. Grace caught her all the time.

  “Huh?” She raised her eyebrows feigning confusion and wondering how much of it she’d said aloud, trying desperately to appear cool about feeling his thigh against hers.

  “You love Pete?” He sat so close to her she could feel the heat of his body radiate off him, and that sexy crooked smile of his wasn’t helping. “Is that your boyfriend?”

  “No uh,” she shook her head feeling like a complete idiot, “it was nothing. I was thinking about something else.”

  “Of a guy named Pete?” He pressed, humor lacing his eyes as he waited on Rose’s response.

  “Well, no it’s,” she stammered the frustration mounting as his smirk grew bigger watching her make a total fool of herself. She never got this tongue-tied ever. “It’s just a saying. You know ‘for the love of Pete.’” She shook her head. “Never mind, but no, I wasn’t thinking of any guy, and I don’t have a boyfriend.”

  He smiled even bigger now. “Really? Why’s that?”

  Mercifully Sal and Grace came around the corner, and Rose loved them at that moment for their timing.

  “Checking up on me already?” Vincent teased. “I told you I’d be cool.”

  “The food’s here,” Sal said without smiling at Vincent’s playfulness. “Why don’t you guys come get something to eat?”

  Vincent turned to Rose, lowering his voice. “You don’t wanna go back into that circus yet, do you?” Lowering his voice even more, his next words made her literally tingle. “Stay out here with me a little longer?” There was a sudden gentleness in his eyes. “Yeah?”

  Unable to even speak for fear her voice would be a squeak, she nodded, and he smiled, turning back to Sal to inform him that neither of them were hungry and they’d grab something later.

  Rose managed to look away from Vincent’s profile just in time to see Sal frown and lift his hands midair, parting them as if parting the Red Sea. “Can you get a little space between the two of you? C’mon, Vin. There’s enough room on that swing.”

  Vincent laughed, glancing back at Rose who was sure her face was as red as it was hot. “You’re kidding me right?” But he scooted away from her a little, her pounding heart ever grateful. Maybe now he wouldn’t hear it.

  For once today Sal’s distrust in Vincent had come in handy, not that Rose minded him sitting so close. The good looks obviously ran deep in this family, and Vincent was certainly no exception. She’d never been so close to such piercing and incredibly sexy eyes. But that was just it. When she first laid eyes on him, she immediately dismissed the thought that a guy like him would be interested in her. She knew nothing about him, yet the polo shirt he wore looked so out of place with his jeans, shoes, hair and just his entire character that she hadn’t been surprised when he mentioned he’d been forced to wear one of his dad’s shirts.

  What had come as a surprise was when he asked her if she wanted to check out the koi pond with him. After she’d finished being stunned, she managed to play it all cool like she wasn’t totally flattered and giddy about the invitation to hang out with him alone.

  When he’d flirted with her earlier, she was certain she’d imagined it, or at best he was just teasing trying to make her nervous like some of the guys at school had started doing more often these days. Knowing now that she hadn’t been imagining anything and that he actually wanted to hang out with her alone longer, she wasn’t sure how much more her never-been-there heart could take.

  Playful flirting was one thing, but even though she’d done her share of flirting, she was in no way prepared to do so with a guy in Vincent’s league. She knew his type; there were a few like him at her school: guys that looked and acted years beyond their age. One even drove a motorcycle. Not in a million years could she picture herself having a conversation with him much less flirting with him.

  Taking a deep breath, she reminded herself a senior had recently asked her to the prom. A senior. Okay, so he’d been her friend for years, and he couldn’t decide who to take without getting some major hate from several of his off-and-on girlfriends. So he asked Rose who everyone knew was his platonic friend from one of her advanced classes that consisted mainly of seniors. Still, she was going to the prom with one of the most popular seniors at her school. If she ever got a chance to tell Vincent about it, she didn’t have to mention that part.

  Vincent chuckled as Sal turned back and looked at him one last time before turning the corner and going out of sight. He shook his head and glanced back at Rose. Since she didn’t really expect to be hanging with him this long, she hadn’t been ready for their friendly banter to turn into a squirming fest. While his playful eyes toyed with her, her stomach now turned in anticipation of his continual questioning about her boyfriend—something she’d never even come close to having.

  Before he could to beat that drum again, sh
e tried changing the subject. “Sal seems pretty anxious about you misbehaving. There’s gotta be a story there. Tell me about it.”

  That instantly wiped the smirk off his face, and he shrugged. “I may’ve run into some trouble in the past: dumb stuff, mostly running with a crowd that tends to,” he pulled a leaf off the tree next to the porch and began tearing it in small pieces, “I don’t know...make bad choices.” He looked up from the leaf to look at her and smiled but not like before. It wasn’t a coy smirk; it was sweet and gentle like when he’d asked her if she’d stay out here with him. “I’ve never been like them, not too much anyway. It’s just that hanging with them sometimes I got caught up in their trouble. But they’re my friends. We go way back. I can’t just turn my back on them. So instead, I’ve been trying to convince some of the ones closest to me to change their ways, be smarter. We won’t be kids forever.” His eyes brightened suddenly. “Consequently, my father’s gonna talk to my Uncle Sal today about me possibly getting hired to work part time at one of their restaurants this summer.” His gentle smile was back to being coy, and the funny thing his smile did to her insides was back again. “If that happens, I’ll be out here all summer.”

  Rose was still trying to concentrate on his use of the word consequently. He’d been doing that all day. Throwing in these big words—words a would-be troublemaker wouldn’t normally use. She’d wondered if he was trying to prove something. Then his last statement sunk in, and she realized he was waiting for her response to him being there all summer.

  “Really? All summer, huh?” was all her lameness could think of to say.

  “Yeah, since Sal is with your sis maybe we’ll get a chance to hang out. I don’t know anyone else out here.”

  Thoughts of hanging out with him all summer inundated her. But she wouldn’t start writing his name all over her notebook just yet. He could just be saying it to be nice. And he didn’t even have the job yet. Sal didn’t seem too keen on Vincent. They may turn him down flat. Besides, guys like Vincent were beyond inexperienced prissy girls like her. Hanging out to him could mean something she was in no way ready for, so she kept her response minimal.

  “Yeah, that’d be nice.”

  She almost said cool instead of nice, but even that sounded a little too eager. Something about the way he looked at her told her he already knew without even asking just how inexperienced she was. Her demeanor probably screamed that she was still in the never-even-been-kissed club while he was probably already a man in every way. Even if he already knew, she wanted to be clear in case he was wondering. No matter how exciting the thought of spending any time with a guy like Vincent was, doing so would be nice. Nothing more.

  ***

  This party is not the same without you. I’m bored now. =(

  Rose smiled after reading his text, feeling her insides instantly go wild. She’d been staring out the window of Sal’s backseat daydreaming of the guy she’d met today who she was sure she’d never hear from again. Just because they’d exchanged numbers when they said goodbye didn’t mean she expected to hear from him ever again. She’d been certain she would be forgotten as soon as they drove away, and here he was texting her, not even ten minutes after she left. Taking a deep breath, she took his words for what they were worth. He was bored.

  Pushing the fact away that he could be texting anybody else, yet here he was texting her, she refused to make more of it than it was and texted back.

  It’s almost over, right?

  Not only did he text her all her way home he continued to do so even on his way home. He said he had two hours to kill in the back seat of his dad’s car, and Rose decided it was just that. He was killing time. Though every ping of her phone alerting her of a new message from him made her entire face light up, she kept reminding herself about the impossibility that they could ever be more than just friends.

  As the days passed she kept expecting his texts to dwindle until they stopped all together, but just the opposite happened. Not only did they continue, Vincent suddenly became the person she texted with the most. The scary part was she liked it too much. If he ever went too long without texting her, she’d start to worry it was the beginning of the end; then he’d text something that would make her insides go all mushy again. It’d been weeks now, and she now woke to his texts with a giant smile: one she could tell made Grace nervous.

  Vince: Morning Rosie! How you feeling?

  Rose: =) Morning Vincent. And I wish I could say I wasn’t but I’m nervous.

  Vince: Don’t be. You’ll do great; you’ll see. You’re a born athlete. I’ve read that most athletes good at one sport, typically excel at any sport. You got this!

  Rose smiled as big as she always did at just about anything he’d texted her, but she especially liked how he was always so encouraging. Never one to be so full of doubt, she was now, so this really helped. She was trying out for the varsity volleyball team. She’d been playing soccer since she was a little girl, but she’d only ever played volleyball when she tried out for the team her freshman year. Now she wanted to move up and letter in volleyball, too. But there were so many other girls who she was afraid might be better than she was. If she stayed on the junior varsity team, she’d be a starter for sure, but if she went for varsity, she might make the team but not get much play time. She’d actually considered forgetting about trying out and just staying in JV. Vincent, however, was adamant that she go for it or she’d regret it. Unlike her he was convinced that not only would she make the team she’d be a starter for sure. And he’d never even seen her play! Her phone pinged again; she smiled instantly.

  Vince: “I can accept failure; everyone fails at something, but I can't accept not trying.” ~Michael Jordan~ You can’t argue with Jordan, Rose! You HAVE to at least try.

  Rose laughed out loud. He was always doing this. Quoting something he’d read somewhere or following up an argument with facts and stats.

  Rose: You’re right. I guess can’t argue with Jordan…or you.

  Vince: Oh, you never wanna argue with me, Rose.

  Rose laughed again, feeling silly. It wasn’t even that funny, but he made her so giddy it was almost embarrassing. Grace, as usual, was giving her that look. Rose knew her constant texting with Vincent made her sister nervous. But he was so far away. What could she possibly worry about?

  Weeks later she started practicing on the varsity volleyball team, and the coach was already saying she’d be starting more often than not. Vincent couldn’t be more smug about having been right again. They were still texting day and night, and Rose was finally free of her fear that he’d suddenly stop. The fact remained that he lived two hours away and neither of them had a car. Rose didn’t even have her license yet, so they spoke in terms of friends only—nothing more. Rose liked it that way. It took the pressure off of trying to be cool or sexy or flirtatious. Though he did say things sometimes in his texts that seemed like he might be flirting with her and gave her a major case of the butterflies every time. Just before going to bed one night, she got a text out of the blue from him. They’d stopped texting earlier, and she thought that was it for the night. Then her phone pinged.

  Vince: I’m lying here thinking about you…I just wanted you to know.

  Immediately, the butterflies began to stir. As tempted as she was to tell him she’d been doing the very same thing—lying there thinking of him, she dare not; she couldn’t! Almost afraid to ask, she did anyway.

  Rose: What are you thinking?

  Vince: How glad I am now that my parents dragged my ass to that shower. I’m almost glad I screwed up and was forced to go; otherwise, I know I wouldn’t have. I would’ve never met you, Rose. Imagine what a damn shame that would’ve been.

  Rose tried so hard not to read too much into the things he said, but how couldn’t she? Her insides were a mess with this weird excitement, and her heart was now palpitating wildly. Grace, who was lying next to her, was looking at her again with concern all too apparent in her face.

  ??
?Last text, I promise,” she said as she began to text back to him.

  It would’ve been a shame to not have met you either, Vincent. I’m almost glad too that you did mess up, but I’m even happier and so very proud of you that you say you’re staying out of trouble now. My sister is staring at me. I gotta go to bed now. But I look forward to tomorrow’s morning text. Goodnight. =)

  Rose gave Grace a smug look. As promised, she put her phone on the nightstand and made herself comfortable. She didn’t have to worry about Vincent texting her back; he was usually very respectful about not texting her once she said goodnight. And earlier, she hadn’t said goodnight, so even tonight’s out of the blue text hadn’t crossed the line. Thoughts of him would keep her up no doubt, and she couldn’t stop smiling. He’d been sweet to her since day one, but it seemed to be happening more often now. He seemed to enjoy doing things like this: making her feel like she was so incredibly special. She couldn’t decide if his being so far away was a good thing or a bad thing.

  Being near him would surely have her falling hard. Via text she felt safe, but in person she still wasn’t sure she could handle a guy like Vincent. He seemed so complex. There was so much to him unlike the simple guys her age at her school.

  The next day his morning text had her stomach in knots, and she couldn’t decide once again if this was a good or bad.