Chapter 4

"Is this skirt pretty?" I held out a black miniskirt in front of me and pretended to model it. Rose smiled and shook her head.

"It’s too short," she replied.

"Aish!" I cried.

"You’re much too pretty and sophisticated to show skin," Rose advised.

Much too pretty and sophisticated. That’s bull!

"I guess…" I said, my words trailing off. Rose picked up another black skirt, a much longer and more "sophisticated" skirt.

"How about this one?"

It reminded me of nineteenth century women. It was actually very pretty.

"It suits you better than the other one," she said. I took the skirt and modelled it in the mirror.

"It is…My! You do have an eye for fashion!" I said. Rose played with her hair.

"It’s just a hobby. Why don’t we look for a top to go with that?"

She found me a cute pink top and told me to try it with the skirt. I dragged her along into the dressing room because the top had a zipper that was hard to reach in the back.

"I don’t think I should…" Rose said.

I looked at her for a moment. "We’re both girls. Don’t freak out."

She shook her head. "But I…"

"C’mon," I said, dragging her in the dressing room.

I took off my shirt and turned around to face her.

"Help me with the top," I said. Rose stared at me for a moment, her eyes wide. Then she covered her face in her hands.

"I don’t think I should," she said. I could barely understand her.

I walked over to her and stared at her for a moment. She looked up at me, shocked, then buried her face again. Then she did something really weird. She sat down in a fetal position, silently counting "1, 2, 3…Breathe…"

I looked at her oddly. What is she doing?

"What’s wrong?" I asked, putting my shirt back on. "Are you having cramps?"

She shook her head. After a moment, she stood back up, her eyes closed this time.

"We should get going," was all she said and left the dressing room. I looked at the top. I guess it’s not meant to be, pretty top. I only bought the black skirt and not the top because Rose wouldn’t help me into it.

Okay, she’s weird.

A couple of days later, I had to go to work at The Tracks hotel. The manager assigned me to do the laundry. I didn’t mind because she allowed me to wash my own laundry for free as a bonus. Rose insisted on coming because she didn’t understand her schoolwork and wanted to hang around with someone. I thought it was a great idea. We could talk and get to know each other better. Maybe I could get over the weird experience with Rose at the store a couple of days ago.

"Good evening, Mrs. Han," I greeted as I entered the hotel. Mrs. Han, the manager, smiled at my presence.

"How are you, Miss Lee?" She asked.

I smiled and replied, "I’m fine. I hope it’s not a problem if I have my friend with me. She’s new to Evergreen."

Mrs. Han glanced at Rose, who was dressed in a black V-neck blouse with a long black skirt. Rose’s hair was nicely combed down so the layers in her hair were nicely displayed. I knew what Mrs. Han was thinking; who is this odd person? But since Mrs. Han knew what kind of worker and person I was, she nodded at Rose and smiled.

"Don’t be too much trouble now," was all she said. So Rose and I entered the basement of the hotel and I began doing the laundry.

The women working earlier had smoked so it was quit foggy downstairs. Rose and I began coughing at the smell of smoke.

"I hate smoke!" she said, waving her hand in the air to clear the smoke away. I covered my nose with my hand. I agreed with her; I hated smoke too!

After a couple of minutes of coughing, the smoke cleared. I showed Rose the little section I usually worked, folding towels and blankets.

"Is this all you do?" Rose asked. I nodded.

"It doesn’t seem like much, but these blankets are heavy! It gets tough when they’re heavy." I replied. Rose decided to help me do the laundry but wouldn’t accept any pay.

"I’m thankful enough to have a place to stay," she said as her payment. I insisted on paying her, but she kept declining.

"Hard work should be paid," I said. Rose laughed at my comment.

"Shye," she said, "my father’s rich. I really don’t need money."

I thought of what she just said. "You’re right. You’re from Black Stone. Everyone there is high-class and rich."

She stuck out her tongue at my comment. "I hate being rich."

Hero immediately came into my mind. I knew he didn’t mind being rich. Everything was always done for Hero. He took advantage of it. If I was rich, I would take advantage of it too. But since my parents are in the middle class, I had to work hard for everything. Getting into Evergreen took a lot of time, committment, and hard work, not to mention money.

"Some people are just blessed, I guess," I said, folding a towel. I felt how warm it was. It was nice to have a warm feeling. Even though Rose is still new to me, she gave me a warm feeling. Every time I came home, the apartment was warm and dinner was made. It was nice having someone as kind and absolutely pretty living with me. I think Max is jealous that I have a new friend! He didn’t say much around breakfast when he saw Rose. He’ll get over it.

"But I will admit that I am very selfish," Rose said, helping me fold the towels. I looked at her when she said this. Guilt filled her pale face. "That’s something you get for being rich."

"What do you mean?" I asked curiously.

"I have every thing," she said, focusing straight ahead of her. "But it seems like when I have it all, I end up losing it."

Is she talking about virginity or what? I’m confused!

"I’m still lost, Rose," I said.

"I have a very nice home in Black Stone City," Rose said. "I have a nice family, a nice car, a great college education…A wonderful future. But what am I missing?"

I thought about it for a moment. She’s missing…Love!

"Love," I replied and looked at her. She looked at me, and I saw tears in her eyes.

"But you’re so pretty," I said. "And your fashion is awesome. Who wouldn’t want you?"

Rose didn’t reply, then turned away. She wiped her eyes and stood silent for a moment.

"I’m sorry," she apologized. "I didn’t mean to get all emotional."

I placed my hand on her shoulder. "It’s all right. Love is always crazy! Don’t be embarassed."

I knew what I said touched her because her face lit up with that pretty smile. Her lip gloss made her lips look so pretty. How I envied her!

"May I ask you something, Shye?"

I nodded. "What is it, Rose?"

"Have you ever been in love?"

I didn’t have to think about it twice. My eyes shifted away from her to the towels in front of me. I haven’t thought about the actual feeling of love in a long time. I’ve told myself to forget trying to find love and just date for the heck of it. Love was too far-fetched for me.

"I have," I said, still not wanting to look at her. "But he broke my heart."

"What did he do?" Rose asked.

It was hard to talk about it! Just thinking about it all hurt so bad. But I didn’t want to cry. I couldn’t—and I wouldn’t. I’d be weak if I did.

"He told me he loved me then left me two weeks later. He wasn’t even man-enough to tell me he was leaving," I said and immediately filled with anger. "He hasn’t even tried to contact me. It’s pathetic, isn’t it?"

I finally looked at Rose. She looked very concentrated on me.

"It is…" she replied, looking away.

I took a deep sigh. I can’t cry! No! I won’t cry! "How about you? Have you ever been in love?"

Rose didn’t reply but nodded.

"How did that go?"

She was still looking away. It took her a moment to finally look at me again.

"I messed up big time," she said.

"How so? Did you cheat?"

"No. Let’s just say that I should’ve never let go."

I nodded. "Does that mean you’ll go find him? You should never give up on love! It’s so precious! You have to go find him! And win him back!"

I pushed her a bit to show her how much I meant it.

"Believe me," Rose said. "I’m trying to win her back."

I smiled at her comment. She stared at me for a moment. I could feel how anticipated she was by the look in her eyes. But I could also see that her eyes showed sorrow. At that very moment, I just hugged her. Even though I was a new friend, I felt her pain. Letting a love go like that! It must be hard!

But as I was hugging her, I realized something.

She had said, ‘I’m trying to win her back’.

Her? Rose is trying to win a girl back? I immediately pulled away and faked a smile. Rose smiled and we continued folding the towels in silence.

I thought about it for a moment…

Is Rose a lesbian?

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