I wasn’t surprised to see Rosie roaming the aisles of an 7Eleven store; I was more shocked to see her in a 7Eleven store all dressed up like it was after midnight on Prom night. She was wearing this long purple dress; her hair messily pulled back in what seemed to be half down and half in a bun. She looked out of it, yet for some reason still looked so beautiful.
“So now you’re following me or something?” Rosie said, looking through the snacks on the shelves. And now I’m back to reality.
“I don’t know, Roe,” I began to say, playing along. “You’re the one dressed up for the Oscars in a dirty ass 7Eleven.” Rosie finally looked at me and rolled her eyes, not saying much afterwards. “Seriously, what are you doing here?”
“What does it look like I’m doing here?” Rosie spat out, grabbing a bag of hot chips from the shelf. “I’m buying snacks.”
“Roe,” I simply said, tired of her cryptic answers. “If you were at one of those fancy events with Prescott just say it. It’s better than lying to me.” As much as I hated the fact that she was probably his company tonight, I Know the real reason she’s in here by herself. “I used to do the same shit whenever I went to those fancy events that had no food. Plus, I would get high sometimes before going to those events and get mad munchy.” I finally looked over at Rosie, which in my surprise is already looking at me. “The Chili and Limon ones are better, by the way.” Rosie looked at the bag of chips in her hands before putting them back and grabbing the other flavor.
“Thanks,” Rosie simply said. There was a brief silence between us before I ultimately sighed and began the conversation once again.
“It slaps with a slushie.” I mentioned.
“Really?” Rosie asked, looking at the other snacks on the shelf. “Is that your go-to combo?” I nodded my head, grabbing my own bag of the same chips.
“You want one?” I kindly asked. “It’s on me.”
“It’s fine,” Rosie quickly dismissed, putting the chips back and about to walk away. I quickly grabbed her arm; not too rough, but enough to get her attention. She quickly turned around; I can see the fumes rising through the pupil of her eyes. “Let go of me.”
“Roe,” I softly said. I learned that if you needed to get Rosie’s attention, you needed to make sure you made your presence known. In addition to that, you needed to talk to her softly. I don’t know the extent of her past trauma, but I’ve learned that you had to make Rosie feel safe when you needed her attention. “Get what you want, nd I’ll pay for it. It’s okay.”
“I don’t need you for something so stupid,” Rosie fought back, yanking her arm from my hand. It didn’t stop me from grabbing her arm once again; this time, bringing her closer to me.
“Friends rely on each other, no matter what,” I said, now looking at Rosie’s face. “And you, Roe, are my friend, regardless of whatever the fuck you may think about me.” Rosie took a moment to actually hear what I was saying. I slowly let go of her arm, in which she sighed and picked up the bag of chips.
“I’ll take a cherry slushie,” Rosie softly said. I smiled, walking down the aisle with Rosie toward the slushie machine.
…
“So what was tonight’s event for?” I asked, sitting on a bench outside of the store. Rosie took a sip from her slushie before ultimately sighing.
“Some dumb networking event for heir business owners,” Rosie answered as she rolled her eyes. “Prescott insisted I’d go with him, but I didn’t realize that my ears would bleed out boredom.” Another thing I learned about Rosie is that no matter how many times you can tell her something is bad for her, she will only listen if she tells herself that. With Rosie, you sometimes just have to go with the flow in order to get answers out of her, no matter how painful it may be.
“Do you always go to these events with him?” I asked, curious to know more. “Like, wouldn’t you already be used to how bullshit these events are?”
“Yeah, but I don’t do it for him,” Rosie looked at me as she answered. “I do it for me. Gives me a chance to go out for a night and be anything I want to be. Like tonight, I was the distant cousin of a sole heir of a beauty brand company. It was fun for like the first 15 minutes; then it got super boring.” I couldn’t help but laugh; Rosie always knew how to make a bad situation into a tolerable one.
“Do you come up with your backstories for these events?” Rosie nodded as she took a handful of chips from the bag. “And what happens if someone’s like, oh, let us invite you over for tea and crumpets–“
“First of all, dude,” Rosie stopped me as she laughed. “It’s the 21st century; not the Boston Tea Party. Secondly, I just don’t show up. Prescott only takes me to these events, but never anything too intimate. That’s not my cup of tea.” I look at Rosie sitting on this dirty bench with a dress that probably costs more than everything she owns; current and future. How does she do it? How does she just do these things without even thinking twice about it? Why pretend to be someone else when you are perfectly fine the way you are?
“Do you hope to one day go to one for art or something?” I finally asked. “Like, would you ever go to an event and try to make a real name for yourself?”
“I wouldn’t want to associate myself with these type of people,” Rosie began to explain. “You and I both know that all these people care about is what they are wearing and how much better they are compared to others. It’s bullshit and so fucking toxic.”
“So why even go to them in the first place?” I asked, not really thinking about how I was asking. I knew I said it in a way where it came off as annoyed that she kept going to these events with Prescott. Surprisingly, she didn’t look upset with me or like she was going to storm away or something. She just sat there, kicking her legs from underneath her purple dress, and sighs.
“The same reason you went to them with your girlfriend,” Rosie admitted. She doesn’t look at me when she does, but she knows I’m looking right at her.
I wanted to scream. I wanted to shake her out of the delusion that she actually was… in love with Prescott. That was the reason that I went to these events with Kalia; I was in love with her. I’d do anything that she wanted to do whether or not I liked it or not. Sure, Kalia would treat me like disposable shit when her career came first, but there was a moment in time that I knew we were in love. Prescott ‘douchebag’ Jones is not capable of loving another person other than himself. Rosie is a smart girl, so why is she acting so oblivious to the fact that this man is using her?
I couldn’t handle it anymore. I immediately dug into my pocket and took out my bag of weed and roll up. Rosie slowly turned her head as I did so; taking a paper out, mixing the grabba and bud together, and began rolling it. She sighed and turned her head.
“I know that’s not the answer you were looking for,” Rosie began to explain. Quite frankly, I didn’t want to hear anymore about this. “But it is what it is.”
“You can’t help the people you love,” I started to say back. I finished rolling the blunt and lit it up, taking the first puff. Be her friend, Micah. She needs one more than ever. I took another puff and pointed the blunt in Rosie’s attention. She looks at me after looking down at he blunt.
“I don’t think I should smoke with you,” Rosie finally said. I knew she was referring to the hook up we had a couple of months ago.
“Dude, relax,” I said, giving the blunt to Rosie. “Those snacks are gonna hit so much more when you hit this.” Rosie carefully took the blunt from my hand and began to smoke it. I figured it was safe that both of us are out here, on this dirty bench, with nowhere to go really. Be her friend, Micah.
“Oh yeah?” Rosie questioned, taking her two puffs before passing the blunt back to me. “You know from experience or something?”
“Duh,” I playfully said. “Because Chili Limon chips and slushies are deadass nasty together.” I couldn’t help but laugh when Rosie sucked her teeth and nudged me on the shoulder. It was a good thing she was still smiling, knowing that I was just playing around with her. “Let’s start walking, it’s cold as shit out here.”
“You’re telling me,” Rosie said as she got up from the bench. She was shivering in her tiny ass jacket. The fuck would he make her wear this skimpy ass jacket in this cold? I quickly began to take off my coat to unzip my hoodie. Once I do, I handed it over to Rosie.
“Put it on,” I demanded more than suggested. “You’re not dying from the cold out here with me.” Rosie rolled her eyes and put on my hoodie underneath her jacket.
“Happy?” Rosie sucked her teeth. I smiled as I began to walk down the block with her.
“Ecstatic,” I simply replied.
Letters From Liz. 