The Second Date

"Wait, 'another' BJ?! Just what the hell have you been reading Rose?" I asked.

"You really don't want to know, Matt," she said gravely, as she shook her head slowly. "I've... seen some shit." I didn't even know how to respond to that, so I just stayed quiet, and Rose thankfully moved right on past the awkward subject. "But anyway, you should definitely write that story, Matt; I'd buy a copy." She glanced at the bookshelves again and gingerly ran her fingers across the spines. "Maybe you could even get it published and sold in stores!"

"I don't know about that," I said, as I nervously rubbed a hand through my hair. I really wasn't that good. But then again, if that pasta witch book got published, maybe I did have a shot.

"No, no, hear me out," Rose began, as she dreamily gazed off into the distance. "I can see the cover now: A guy and a dog standing together under a night sky full of stars... maybe some magical spell shit swirling around in the corners... The title up top, and at the bottom, Matthew... uh... actually, what is your last name?"

"It's Gardner, but my name's not Matth—" I blurted out, before promptly cutting myself off. I had hoped Rose somehow didn't hear me, I realized she had when she eyed me suspiciously, and a sly grin crept onto her face.

"Wait... Your name's not Matthew?" I looked away from her, hoping she wouldn't dig any further, but of course she did. "Oooh, what is it?" I shut my mouth and shook my head as my cheeks started to burn. Rose looked disappointed. "You really won't tell me?"

"I hate my name; it's embarrassing," I said, as I tore my gaze from her and stared absentmindedly at the books crammed into the shelves.

"Please?" Rose gently pleaded with me; her voice was sugary sweet as the question left her lips. I frowned and shook my head again, but then she started to try and figure it out anyway.

"So, it's not Matt, but it's also not Matthew." I let out a sigh and kept shaking my head. "Uh... Mateo?" That wasn't it, either. "Matt... tholemew?" At that point, I quit shaking my head and just stared at her in disbelief, trying my hardest not to laugh. That one was a first.

"Really, Rose? That's what you're going with?" I asked, incredulously.

"Well, I don't know!" she exclaimed, with a shrug as she clutched the basket of books tightly in her fingers.

"That's not even a name!" I exclaimed, failing to suppress a grin. Rose looked at me with a pouty frown.

"Well, what is it? You can't just leave me in suspense! You know my name," she added, with a huff.

"I only know yours because I saw it on your ID, which you showed me," I said, smugly, hoping that was enough to worm my way out of telling her. Rose's stare hardened even further, though, and her irises flickered gray for a moment; thankfully, it was a lighter shade than I saw during her phone call with her sister earlier, so I didn't think she was that pissed at me.

"Whatever," she said flatly as she turned away from me and crossed her arms. "I told you my embarrassing nickname earlier-" she said, reproachfully. As she turned back toward me, though, there was a hint of a smirk on her face as she spoke again. "-so, I think it's only fair that you tell me your name. Quid pro quo, Matt. Quid... pro... quo." She stared at me expectantly and the seconds marched on as I considered whether to tell her or not. Ryan knew my full name, but that was only because I had let it slip after a few too many shots one night. As I stared at Rose, I knew she wouldn't let me hear the end of it if I didn't tell her; besides, if she didn't get it from me, she'd probably just ask Ryan what it was.

"Ugh, Alright!" I said, finally relenting. "But you have to promise not to laugh, okay?" Rose nodded and stared at me expectantly. I felt myself turning pink, and I let out a long, drawn-out sigh.

"It's... Mathias," I grumbled as my cheeks turned crimson. Rose immediately burst out laughing as her blue eyes became emeralds once again. Unfortunately, my brain was torn between thinking she was cute and being pissed at her. Infuriatingly, the part of my brain that thought she was cute was currently winning. "You said you wouldn't laugh!"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" she said, with a chuckle. "It's just... unexpected. With a name like that, you could be the protag from one of these books."

"My... mom picked out my name," I grumbled, as my gaze dropped to the floor. "She, er... really likes fantasy books." Rose laughed even harder at that, and I shot her a glare and let out a heavy sigh; she was clearly enjoying herself at my expense, and I didn't think it was cute anymore.

"Are you done?" I asked flatly, furrowing my brow at her. It took her a little bit to calm down, and her cheeks turned bright red when she finally did. She looked at me and nodded as her mouth sagged into an apologetic frown.

"Sorry," she sheepishly piped up. "It's a nice name, Matt. It's very... unique."

"Well, I hate it," I grumbled before I went silent, taking a little time to simmer. Rose was quiet, and she just stared at me as her eyes turned a rich, deep chocolate brown. I felt bad; I knew I was being petty, but I didn't appreciate her poking fun at me. "You said you wouldn't laugh, Rose."

At that moment, another intense thunderclap sounded outside, and Rose let out a little squeak as she jumped a bit again. Her face went pale as she looked up at the ceiling for a moment.

"What's wrong?"

"It's just... really coming down out there," she said. She looked back at me, and her frown deepened as her eyes became amber again. "I, erm... really don't like storms." My lips curled upward into a comforting smile as I took her hand in mine and gave it a little squeeze - it was trembling ever-so-slightly. My earlier petty annoyance with her evaporated in an instant and was replaced by concern; all I wanted to do in that moment was comfort her.

"How about we go downstairs and see if we can't wait it out, then?" I asked as I flashed her a comforting smile. Rose nodded after a moment, and she returned my smile with one of her own, though I could tell she was still nervous.

"I'd like that. And Matt... I just want to say that I really am sorry about earlier. I promised you I wouldn't laugh, and then I went and did it anyway. I really shouldn't have poked fun at you." Rose's weak smile sagged into another guilty frown as she looked at me.

"Apology accepted, Rose. It's just... a bit of a sore subject for me. I'm sure you can relate; I know you don't much care for your given name, either."

"I really don't," she said, as her cheeks continued to burn, but then she smiled bashfully at me and spoke up again: "But hey, it's just another thing we have in common, right?"

"Right," I said, before looking down at our interlinked hands. Hers felt a bit sweaty in mine, but I didn't mind. "Should we head downstairs then?" Rose nodded and flashed me a smile, and we headed back to the stairwell.

We both headed down and arrived back at the first floor. The guy from earlier was nowhere to be found, and Rose broke away from me and headed to a small sofa that was set up in the far corner; it too was flanked by two floor lamps, but they weren't owl-shaped ones, like the others; these ones had a more vintage style, with dark green tops and a little pull chain to turn them off and on. My mom had the same lamps, albeit in a smaller size, in her reading room back home. Rose flipped on the lamp on her side of the couch and grinned as she picked up a book.

"Hey, Rose? Could I ask you a question before you get into that?" I asked. Rose looked over at me and nodded.

"Sure! Ask away."

"Your, er... parents," I said, turning a little pink. "What do they do? If your mom was asleep when your sister called earlier... does she work night shifts, then? I'm just kind of curious."

"My mom's a nurse. She does work thirds, so she sleeps during the day, usually," Rose said.

"Gotcha. What about your dad? What does he do?" Rose's features immediately hardened as soon as the question left my mouth, and her face became blanched as her eyes did something I had never seen; they flashed gray, amber, and brown in rapid succession before settling back to blue.

"R-Rose, are you okay?" I asked shakily, as I hesitantly put a hand on her shoulder. "I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you." Rose looked over at me, and I saw tears gathering in the corners of her eyes. "Rose—"

"—I'm okay, Matt," she cut in, softly. "Just... give me a minute, okay? I'll explain." I nodded, and she sat there for a bit. She snuggled up against me, and I wrapped my arm around her shoulder and gently squeezed. She smiled at that and let out a soft sigh before she spoke. "My dad's... not in my life anymore."

"Oh. I'm... sorry to hear that, Rose," I said. She fervently shook her head and scrunched her face up into a grimace.

"Don't be, Matt; he's a terrible person," she spat. "I... really don't want to get into it right now, but... he..." Rose let the sentence trail off, then let out a sigh and hastily spoke up: "He's rotting in prison, like he f-fucking deserves." Her voice finally cracked, and her book slipped from her fingers and tumbled to the ground as she buried her head in my chest. My heart broke when I heard her begin to weep.

"I'm sorry, Rose. I'm sorry," I repeated softly as I gently cradled her against me. "I wish I hadn't brought it up." We sat there for a couple minutes until she finally calmed down. When she looked up at me, her eyes were puffy, and her face was wet from her tears. She wriggled out of my grasp and shook her head vigorously before she wiped her eyes and nose with the sleeve of her jacket.

"It's alright, Matt. There's no way you could have known," she said, before she smiled weakly at me. "Don't mind me; I'm just over here being a mess again." She chuckled, and her cheeks turned pink. "I really need to stop doing this; I feel like I'm gonna scare you off at this rate." I shook my head and offered her a reassuring smile.

"Don't be silly, Rose. I just want you to be okay..." I said. Her smile widened at that, and she nodded after a moment.

"O-okay. Erm, thanks, Matt," she said, as heat bloomed in her cheeks. "That... really means a lot to me." She looked out the windows. "Oh, hey... I think the storm's passed now." Now that she mentioned it, I didn't hear any more rain, either.

"I think you're right. That was pretty quick."

"Right? I'm glad," Rose said as she stood up from the couch and pulled the chain to flip off the lamp. "Well, we should probably head out, if that's alright with you." I nodded and stooped down to grab the book that had fallen on the floor earlier. It was some sort of urban fantasy vampire detective novel called 'Blood Moon Rising: A Trystyn Bloodmoon Novel.' It turns out that it too was written by R.M. Therris; Rose must have been a fan. I grinned as I stuck the book in the basket on the ground before scooping it up. Rose looked over at me and frowned. "Oh! You didn't need to get that for me, Matt." I just shrugged and turned toward the counter, where the clerk (and that creepy-ass owl) were waiting for us.

"Eh, it's fine, Rose. Let's just pay for these and get going." She nodded and we both made our way to the counter. Rose quickly paid for her books, but she asked for them to be separated into two different bags for some reason. We headed outside into the gloom once again. The rain had stopped, and the sky above us had brightened up once the storm passed, but it was still pretty dreary out. There were puddles of water scattered around the sidewalk and roads.

After we left the store, Rose handed me one of the plastic bags. I hesitantly took it from her and looked over at her, confused.

"What's this?"

"It's for you," she answered with a warm smile as she nodded toward the bag.

"Huh? Y-you got me a book?" I asked, as I grabbed the book from the bag and looked down at the cover. There was a picture of two Pollies on it; the title was 'Polymorphs and CPM: A Primer.'

"Yup! It's an older edition, though; I hope that's okay," Rose said, with a grin as her cheeks turned a bit pink. "There's still a ton of good info in there, though. I figured you might be interested. Plus, the next time you forget the library exists, you can still read that." I looked over at her, and her warm smile only made things worse as I felt a wave of anxiety creep over me.

"You really didn't have to get me anything," I hastily replied, as the corners of my mouth drooped into a slight frown. I put the book back in the bag and reached for my wallet in my back pocket. "How much was it? I'll pay you for it." Rose shook her head.

"Huh? No, don't worry about it," she said, as her smile faded. "It's a gift, Matt." My cheeks reddened.

"I appreciate the thought, Rose, but I'm a bit... weird about gifts," I said, as I dropped my gaze down to the bag in my hand. "I'd rather just pay you for it and be done with it."

"Matt, you really don't have to pay me for it. You don't owe me anything." My frown deepened at the words - I'd heard them before.

"Maybe not now, but... what about down the line?" I asked, as I looked back up at her.

"What, do you think I'm going hold it over your head or something?" she asked, through narrowed eyes. She sounded slightly offended at the notion. My gaze fell to the ground again, and I saw my reflection in the puddle on the ground by our feet. I stared at it for a second, then let out a sigh as I looked back up at Rose just in time to see brown irises flit back to steely blue; she looked genuinely hurt.

"It's just that... it's happened before, is all," I answered glumly. Rose knitted her eyebrows as she stared back at me and frowned.

"Let me guess - with your ex?"

"Yeah," I said, sheepishly. "When Cait got something for me, even if she claimed it was no-strings-attached, it was never just a gift; she always wanted something from me, and she use her so-called gifts as leverage to get it." I was silent for a second, and when Rose spoke up again, her words were soft.

"Matt, I promise you I would never do something like that." I nodded after a moment, and a fresh wave of heat bloomed in my cheeks. Rose really didn't seem like the type of person to do that; she had already treated me so much better than Cait ever did.

"I-I don't think you would, but I... it's just where my head goes, you know? It's what I'm... used to. I'm sorry."

"No, no. It's okay. My ex did things like that to me, too, so I get it. I know it took some time for me to sort of... put myself back together after I finally broke up with him. Well, time and therapy," she said, with a sigh. "He was a real piece of shit." Her face grew pensive, and she frowned a bit as her gaze dropped to the ground.

"Um, would it be alright if I gave you a hug?" I asked, as heat bloomed in my cheeks.

"Of course; you don't have to ask, Matt. I'm always down for hugs," Rose said, as she looked up at me and grinned. I remembered our earlier embrace at Whiskers, and hoped I wasn't in for another back-breaking bear hug; still, I just... wanted to comfort her, and I knew I could use a hug at that moment, too. I leaned forward a bit and wrapped my arms around her, and we both hugged each other under the overcast sky. Thankfully, she was a lot gentler this time around, and a few seconds later I started to pull away, but Rose pulled me again and shook her head before she spoke again, her voice muffled from leaning into me: "Just a bit more?" I nodded and continued to hold her, gently rubbing my hands along her upper back, and she squeezed me a bit tighter; I still didn't mind, though. "I'm so glad you're here with me, Matt." My cheeks turned crimson as butterflies fluttered through my stomach again.

"Me, too," I said, as we finally separated from each other. Rose planted a quick kiss on my cheek before she turned away from me, swinging the bag in her hand back and forth as she stood there.

"So... what now?"

"I'm... not sure," I said, as my eyes swept across the drab landscape; the sky was still a cloudy gray, and there were puddles all over the place. "I think I'm over this weather, though."

"I feel you there. We could head back to my place if you'd like. Maybe watch a movie or something?"

"That sounds good to me," I said, with a slight nod. I was glad we wouldn't be calling it quits on the date just yet as we started to make our way toward Rose's apartment. Thankfully, the wind had died down after the storm passed us by. It was still a bit cold out, but without the wind blowing, the weather was much more bearable. "I can carry your stuff for you, if you'd like." I held out my hand, and she grinned at me.

"That'd be great, thanks." She handed me the bag with her two books and her purse. I slung the handbag over my shoulder and clutched both the plastic bags in my fist. Rose started to head toward her apartment, and I stuck close behind her.

As we made our way down the sidewalk, there was a large puddle ahead of us that stretched along the length of the path. I stepped into the grass to avoid it, but Rose jumped right into the damn thing, causing water to splash on me.

"Hey! Watch it!" I said, scrambling to the side a bit before I made my way around the puddle; I stopped just ahead of it and waited for Rose.

"What? It's just a little water," she teased. Rose beamed at me as she took another leap out of the water, causing another small splash as her boots broke the surface of the water; thankfully, I was far enough away that none of the water got on me that time. Her boots hit the pavement hard, and I panicked for a second when she stumbled forward a bit, but she luckily managed to regain her balance in time to avoid falling.

"Careful!" I cautioned, but Rose just giggled as she bounced forward and grabbed my free hand as soon as she reached me.

"I'm fine, Matt." Rose said, smiling as she walked just ahead, gently pulling me along the sidewalk. Weeds and grass crept up between the uneven slabs, and the spindly cracks in the stone were filled with water from the rain. There didn't seem to be any more giant puddles up ahead, though, which was a relief. She looked back at me and spoke up. "You really don't like getting wet?"

"I don't mind getting wet as long it's consensual. Showers? Fine. Pools? Sign me up. Hot tubs? Fuck yeah - but puddles? Getting rained on? Hell, no."

"Bah! You're no fun. I love the rain... just not storms." Rose said, grinning at me as she broke away and zoomed off, spinning around on the sidewalk ahead of me. I just grinned at her - it was really cute.

Fifteen minutes later, we had nearly reached Rose's apartment when another wave of rainfall hit out of nowhere. The drops were slow at first, but soon enough the rain became more intense.

"Come on, let's hurry! We're almost there!" Rose exclaimed, before she separated from me and began to run.

"Hey, wait up!" I called to her, just as another crack of thunder boomed around us. Rose broke into a panicked sprint at that point, clearly desperate to get home and out of the storm. My heart thumped in my chest as I picked up my pace to try and catch up to her, but it was no use; I had no idea how the hell she managed to run so fast.

Rose sprinted along the sidewalk about twenty feet ahead of me or so, and I saw her quickly turn the corner onto the road that her apartment building was on. I gasped as I saw her slip and fall, skidding along the sidewalk for a second before she stopped. I started to panic when she didn't move, and I ran to catch up to her as my thundering pulse roared in my ears along with the sound of the pouring rain.