CHATROOM
LOVE
Chapter Ten
Sunday,
September 9, 2001
Rose yawned and stretched, sitting up in bed and
swinging her legs over the side. A glance at the clock told her that it was
past ten. She smiled, standing up.
She hadn’t gone out the night before, but instead had
stayed at home and spent several hours surfing the Net and chatting with Jack.
It had been nearly two o’clock in the morning before she finally logged off,
but it had been well worth it.
She and Jack had found out so much about each other in
their marathon chat session--when their birthdays were, what they were best at
in school, what kind of music they liked best--all sorts of things. Jack had
told her that even though he’d been living in Canada for over a month, he still
missed the United States, especially California, where he was from. Rose
couldn’t imagine living anywhere but Canada, even though she had been to
Europe, too. Still, she could sympathize. It would be hard to leave the place
that she called home, and she sympathized with him, losing both of his parents
in a fire. She had lost her father to cancer a year earlier, and even though
she had her mother, she still missed him.
She had told him more about the country club, and
promised to show him more of Edmonton when there was time. He had offered to
take her to the Roxy next Friday, if he didn’t have to watch his little
cousins, and Rose had agreed, then offered to help him watch the kids if he did
have to baby-sit. She was pleased that he’d asked her out, though she wasn’t
sure yet whether they would get beyond being just friends. She really liked
him, but after her experience with Cal, she wanted to move slowly, to take her
time and make sure that what she was doing was right.
Rose had told Jack more about the country club, about
the kinds of things they could do there. She had always enjoyed playing tennis
there, but Jack had told her that tennis wasn’t his best sport--in fact, the
only time he had ever tried to play tennis was in school in California, and the
teacher had promptly informed him that he wasn’t supposed to hold the racket
like a baseball bat. But because Rose enjoyed the game, he had agreed to try
it, too, mentioning that maybe she would be better at teaching him than his teacher
had been. She had also promised to take him to dinner at the country club,
insisting that she would pay, since she doubted that he had the money to afford
to eat in such an expensive place, and anyway, they would only allow members to
pay for meals there, under the assumption that only members and guests ever got
in. Laughing, Rose had told him, though, that one time a non-member came in,
without being anyone’s guest, and no one bothered to check to be sure he was a
member. When the time came for him to pay, they realized that he wasn’t a
member, and were at a loss as to what to do. Only members had accounts with
them, and they couldn’t take any other payment. Rose’s father had finally come
to the rescue, paying for the man’s meal and insisting that he owed them
nothing.
Rose was shaken from her thoughts by the sound of her
cell phone ringing. Picking it up off her desk, she turned it on.
"Hello?"
"Hey, Rose," Dawn’s cheerful voice greeted
her.
"Hey. What are you doing up so early?"
"Early? Rose, it’s 10:30. I looked for you
online, but you weren’t there, so I called here."
"I stayed online for several hours last night,
chatting with Jack."
"Oh? About what?" Dawn teased her.
"Anything and everything." Rose’s voice
warmed. "Dawn, he’s done so many fascinating things, even though he’s only
seventeen. He used to live near Los Angeles, and his parents used to take road
trips every summer and bring him along. He’s been all over the United States,
and even to Mexico. He knows all about art, and artists, even the ones who
aren’t so famous..."
"Sounds like someone’s got a crush on him,"
Dawn teased her.
Rose sighed. "Oh, come on, Dawn. We’re just
friends."
"Whatever you say, Rose." Dawn laughed.
"Hey, I hear you’re going to take him to the country club on
Tuesday."
"Yep. I promised to show him around, show him
some of the fun things that you can do there."
"Like golf?"
Rose wrinkled her nose. "That’s not fun."
"He might think it is."
"Well...well, if he does, I guess I’ll go along,
but I still like tennis better. I could try it, just for a little while, but I
just don’t see what’s so much fun about hitting a little ball into a cup in the
ground."
"What’s so much fun about hitting a ball back and
forth across a net?" Dawn countered.
"You like tennis, too. Don’t pretend you don’t.
You just beat me last weekend."
"Yeah, and good, too!"
"Dawn!"
Dawn laughed. "So, what else are you going to
show him, besides tennis and golf and all that?"
"I thought I’d treat him to dinner there."
"Oh, that sounds good. Are you sure you’re just
friends? He is hot."
"Dawn, I don’t know what’s going to happen. I
want to take it slow, so I don’t get into a situation like I was in with
Cal."
"Jack seems a lot nicer than Cal."
"Still..."
"Well, don’t take it too slow. I may just decide
to go after him myself."
"Dawn!" Rose surprised herself at her
reaction. She didn’t want her best friend going after Jack. Thinking quickly,
she teased, "I’m sure Tommy would love that."
Dawn wasn’t fooled. "He’d get over it. Come on,
Rose. I was teasing you. Jack’s all yours. He likes you, too, you know. When he
got back after dropping you off the other night, every other word out of his
mouth was Rose. Tommy couldn’t stop teasing him."
"Really?"
"Of course. You know how Tommy loves to tease
people."
"No, I mean about Jack talking about me. What did
he say?"
"Oh, that. Well, pretty much just that you’re the
prettiest girl he’s met here, and you have a good sense of humour, and you like
art..."
"Really?"
"Just friends, huh?" Dawn laughed. "I’m
going to let you go now. You probably want to write all about him in your
diary--"
"Journal."
"Whatever. And then call him, or try to see if
he’s online so you can chat some more."
Rose laughed. "You’re right. I do like him."
"Of course you like your friends."
"Dawn!" Rose sighed in exasperation.
"Stop teasing me. I just woke up."
"Okay. Okay, Rose. I’ll leave you alone now. Want
to meet me at the country club at three? I bet I can beat you at tennis
again."
"Sure. Maybe you can give me some clues about
what to show Jack. I’ll see you then."
"Bye, Rose."
"Bye."