CHATROOM
LOVE
Chapter Eight
Rose hurried down the stairs as the doorbell rang, letting
her know that Dawn had arrived. She stopped for a moment, checking her
appearance in a mirror, before hurrying to open the door. She had taken special
care with her appearance, but not too much care, lest her mother guess that she
wasn’t actually going to Dawn’s house after all.
"You ready, Rose?" Dawn asked her, as soon
as Rose opened the door.
"Yep." Rose laughed, grabbing her purse.
"Let’s go." She started out the door, then called back inside
quickly. "Mom! I’m leaving! I’ll be back around 10:30!"
"Have fun, Rose!" Ruth called back.
"Stay out of trouble!"
"I will!" Rose hurried out the door with
Dawn and climbed into Dawn’s car.
"I can’t believe your mom is letting you go out
on a school night," Dawn remarked, starting the car and driving away.
"Well...I sort of told her that I was going to
your house and hanging out with everybody. I mean, you know how protective she
is. She wouldn’t like it if she knew that I was going to the house of a guy I
met online, and over in Millwoods, no less."
"Does she know about Jack?"
"Yeah. She saw him drop me off. When I told her
who she was, she warned to be careful of who I meet online." She rolled
her eyes, then sighed. "I guess she’s right. I mean, there’s all these
stories about people getting hurt when they meet somebody online who’s not
trustworthy, but you know, I think Jack is trustworthy. Even though I’ve only
known him a few hours, I just feel safe with him."
"And anyway, if he did try anything, you know who
he is and where he lives. He couldn’t get away with much."
"Yeah." Rose looked out the window, noticing
that they were almost there. As they pulled to a stop in front of a shabby
townhouse with several other cars parked near it, she commented, "So this
is where Jack lives."
"He didn’t already show you on your tour this
afternoon?"
"No." Rose giggled. "We spent more time
getting lost than anything else. He has no sense of direction."
Dawn laughed as she climbed out of the car and headed
for the front door. Ringing the doorbell, they waited until someone opened the
door.
"Hey!" Jack greeted them, giving them both a
smile. His eyes lingered on Rose, noticing how nice she looked. "Come on
in."
Inside, their friends were already sitting around,
eating pizza and playing with Jack’s little cousins. The little girl was trying
to get Tommy’s attention, hanging on his arm and chattering away about
preschool. The little boy sat quietly, thumb in mouth, watching everyone with
wide eyes.
Jack introduced them to the small children.
"Johnny, Sandy, this is Dawn, and this is Rose. Can you say ‘hi’?"
"Hi," Sandy told them, dutifully, before
turning her attention back to Tommy, who looked like he wished she would be
quiet. Johnny just stared at them.
"He’s a little shy," Jack explained, picking
his cousin up. "Are you about ready for bed, Johnny?"
The boy took his thumb out of his mouth.
"No," he replied, shaking his head stubbornly.
"Sure you are," Jack told him, carrying him
toward the stairs. "I’ll be back in a minute. I just have to put him to
bed."
"No," Johnny said again, but Jack just
carried him up the stairs, not listening to his protests.
Rose rescued Tommy from Sandy. "How are you,
Sandy?" she asked. "I hear you’re in preschool."
"Yeah," the little girl replied. "Die
Kleine Kinderschule! It’s fun. We speak English and German. Today we got to
play on the swings, and paint, and listen to stories, and..." She jabbered
on, excitedly telling anyone who would listen about how her day was.
Jack came back down the stairs. "Sandy," he
called, getting her attention. "You can stay up with the grown-ups for a
while, but only if you promise to be quiet. Okay? We’re going to watch a
movie."
"Oh, great. A little kid’s movie," Tommy
complained.
"Nah, not a little kid’s movie. Sandy will get
bored pretty quick," Jack told him, looking through the videos on the
shelf.
"Will not!"
"Sandy, you need to be quiet. Okay? Otherwise,
you can go up to bed, too," Jack reminded her.
"Okay." Sandy quieted, them sat down next to
Tommy, who sighed.
"What does everyone want to watch?" Jack
asked, turning back to his friends.
There was a chorus of responses. "The Beach!"
"Unbreakable!" "The Lion King!"
Everyone looked at Sandy, who had made the last
response. "Shh!"
"How about Star Wars?" Jack asked,
holding up a video.
"Which one?" Fabrizio wanted to know.
"Episode 1. It’s the only one we have,
since Johnny took The Return of the Jedi apart."
"I haven’t seen that one. Episode 1, I
mean."
Jack nodded. "So, is that okay with
everybody?"
"I guess." "Yeah, it’s fine."
"I want to see that."
Predictably, Sandy fell asleep about half an hour into
the movie, which was of no interest to the three-year-old. Jack, who had been
holding her in his lap to keep her away from Tommy, got up quietly and took her
upstairs.
He had just tucked her into bed and closed her door
when he saw Rose waiting for him in the hall. Smiling, he walked up to her.
"Hey, Rose. Getting bored with the movie?"
She shrugged. "I’ve already seen it twice with
Dawn. She loves Ewan McGregor."
"Oh." He paused, remembering something.
"Rose...about going to the country club on Saturday..."
"Yes?"
"I’m afraid I can’t make it. My cousins want to
me to watch the kids again."
"Oh." Rose was disappointed.
"Maybe we could go another day?"
Rose thought about it, brightening. "Sure. How
about this coming Tuesday, after school? We could...uh...play tennis or
something, if you want."
"I don’t really know how to play tennis, but I
could try it."
"Well...okay...I could show you around,
too."
"Okay. Sure, I’d like that."
Rose smiled, relieved that he had agreed to come. She
had been afraid that his excuse about having to baby-sit was just to avoid
seeing her.
"Great. Tuesday the eleventh it is." She
grinned, following him down the hall and back down the stairs.