FicWad

After her classes, when she finally got to her apartment, Rose told Vanessa everything about her interesting encounter with Cole. Vanessa was her best friend from high school. They had met on the first year thru mutual friends and Rose fell in love with her laugh. It was so contagious and melodic that she knew they'd soon become friends. Now, Rose and Vanessa were living on rent in an apartment they've had, until to long ago, to share with another girl, Chloe. She had left a couple of weeks after due to her boyfriend leaving Buffalo. They didn't mind tho, Chloe was never much of a friendly person anyway. Rose was so happy to find her friend home that night, because she hadn't seen her in a week. This was because Vanessa was spending now most of her time with Josh, her senior year boyfriend. They had a solid relationship and Vanessa seemed happy, wich was enough for Rose to be for her too.
« So, you're saying that he studied archeology and likes reading classic novels too? Did he quote you a Jane Austen book or something?»
« Vanny, I'm telling you, we talked about the most random topics . We even talked about politics , wich you know I hate. Oh, and religion too!»
« Wow, okay, he seems a brain. The kind of guys that you're into. But what about his job? Does he have any brothers or sisters? Does he still live with his parents?»
Rose quitened on this. How she could have forgotten of asking him these things? She got so absorbed into their chat and she totally forgot of asking him these basic informations. But he was so good at carying on the conversation that it didn't even cross her mind once. And his voice was so mesmerizing. She could have listened to him all day long.
« Hmm, very nice. You know what he reads , his political views, his religion , but you know nothing about him as a person. I mean, you're not the kind of girl that just randomly goes on a coffee with a guy she has never seen before. You usually do your research very accurately before even considering starting to talk to a man. What's going on with you?»
«Uhm, it's not like I haven't seen him before. I saw him everyday in the last couple of weeks at the park»
«Right, so you knew him well , didn't you?»
«Hey, what's up with you?»
«Nothing, I'm just looking up for you Rosie. You deserve to find someone who trully appreciates you for who you are. I don't want you to end up having big expectations on someone and then getting your heart broken again. You've got to be more aware of that. Guys nowadays are not like the ones in the books that you read. Oh, and he didn't even ask you for your number? Who does that these days? And you're convinced that he's really interested?»
Rose knew she had a point , but she couldn't help getting a little bit irritated as well.
« Well, maybe this time's different. Maybe he is different. You don't know that. »
« Just, be careful, okay? I hate seeing you down and I don't want to pick up the pieces any sooner, okay?»
« Alright , I will. »
Rose then excused herself to her room saying that she would've gone to bed. She couldn't carry on that conversation because she knew Vanessa was right. But she didn't want to admit that to herself yet, because she felt that time would've gone to be different. Would've gone to be good, for once . She had to hang on to that little hope she had in that moment to try to avoid falling back into the purgatory she had in her head. She didn't want to face her demons that night, she was being optimistic. That didn't happen very often. Instead of drifting off to sleep , she first checked on her finances. That month she had worked extra shifts at the bar, so she was able to afford paying the rent for the next month and paying for her and Cole's coffe tommorow. ' What if Vanny's right? What if he doesn't show up tommorow?'
She didn't want to think about these options, so she took her pills and falled into Morfeo's arms soon after.
************
As soon as Cole said goodbye to Rose, he reached for his phone to call his brother.
« Dylan, hi man. I have news. Today I met this lovely girl named Rose and we talked and talked about the most random things. I mean she just has the most fascinating mind I have ever met and...»
« Whoah whoah, slow it down , brother. Breath, and try to make yourself understood, okay? I'm at the gym right now and I just made one hundred push-ups, so I'm pretty exhausted, you know? So, you met this girl, and? »
« Like I was saying, her name is Rose and we went to starbucks to get a coffee and we talked for like two hours straight about the most random topics»
« How'd you meet her?»
« She was sitting on the same bench I had seen her for the last couple of weeks and today's the day I found the courage of speaking to her. She was reading a uni book about Shakespeare and when she tried to skip the song on her phone, I said 'hi' to her»
« Right, and then you two went out for a coffee and talked about the most random topics for two hours»
« Why are you repeating what I just said to you?»
« Listen, Cole. What is she like? What's her job? Who does she live with? Does she have a boyfriend? A baby? What do you actually know about this girl? Because talking for two hours about archeology or politics or whatever you two talked about doesn't make you get to know someone»
Cole came to the conclusion that his brother was right. He didn't ask her any of these things and he didn't even asked for her number. He felt so stupid in that moment and remembered he had feared he'd look like a creep if he asked her when they were taking the coffee. Or when she was passionately talking about that Sylvia Plath's book she loved . Or when he was joking with her about how stupid Trump's hair looked. Or when they said goodbye to each other.
They had talked for two hours and yet he knew nothing about her. He didn't know who she was. He had remained only with a beautiful name stuck in his mind and a stimulatig conversation.
« Well, what can I say? You're right, okay? Feel better now?»
« No, you dumbass. I just want you to be more cautious about this. You know how girls are, most of them just want to get to know us because of our past. »
« Yeah, well, you found Gabrielle, isn't she different? Plus, she doesn't even know who I am . Doesn't seem to. »
« And it would be the first time a girl's pretending she doesn't know what we do, right? Listen Cole, don't get too excited with this one and you won't be let down, okay? Don't make these big expectations you always do. Not this time. You'll find someone special, but when you least hope for it. So get yourself back home and let's go to Stevie's tonight, does that sound good to you?»
Cole took a moment to think about Dylan's offer. His brother was right. Girls were always approaching them because they had seen them on 'that show' or on 'that add' or whatever. They always invented the most lame and absurd excuses to talk to them just because they were known . Not because girls wanted to get to know them, for who they really were. But then again no one had ever talked to him about religion or politics or archeology on a first date. No other girl seemed really interested on what his passions were and how to chose to study archeology at NYU.
' Was that even a date?' He felt like he knew her for such a long time even if they only had met that morning.
' Maybe she is special' he thought to himself.
' Or maybe not' so he headed home and then straight to the pub with his brother and Oliver, their best friend. That would've gone to be a long night.