Rose Ch. 11

on Wednesday, July 9, 2014
    Yes, I know, it's been a while since I posted a chapter.  All I can really say about this chapter is that this is so not what I intended to happen in this chapter.  The picnic was supposed to be just the beginning, and then they were supposed to go someplace, but as I wrote the story developed in a way I didn't expect.  I guess my plans will have to wait a chapter.  Also, I am about two chapters away from what I am predicting to be the middle of the book, unless what happened while I was writing today happens more often.  This is pretty exciting for me.  I've never been this motivated to write.  Hopefully I can keep focused on Rose and get the second half of this book written as fast as I am writing the first half!

**Yet again I completely forgot to update the French to English translations.  Here's the link! 




Rose

Chapter 11

The following week consisted primarily of dark clouds and rain that barely relented enough for le marché.  Rose never minded the rain, but she did mind how frizzy her hair got because of the humidity.  In order to avoid the annoyance, she had braided her hair down her back.  She tread through the puddles with groceries in hand until she saw Dahlia just outside La Mine, waving her arm to catch her attention.
Vite!  Inside, out of the rain.”  She pulled Rose inside.
“Dahlia, quoi...”
“Surprise?”  She giggled while Rose’s eyebrows scrunched together in confusion at the scene in front of her.  After a moment, she pulled Rose down, maybe a bit to aggressively, onto the blanket spread out in the middle of the shop floor.
Qu’est-ce que c’est?”
“Well,” Phillippe leaned back onto his hands and spread his legs out in front of him.  “I planned a fun picnic because the weather’s been so nice, but apparently l’univers heard and decided to work against me.  Luckily I ran into Dahlia et Florian and we set it up inside.”
“Then I had to stand there and wait for you to come by.”  Dahlia added, shaking out her wet, curly hair all over Florian.  “We didn’t know how else to get a hold of you.”
“Oh, Dahlia, I should give you le nombre de mon portable.”  She pulled out an old cell phone from her purse and traded with her friend so they could easily type in their numbers.  Phillippe glanced over her shoulder, making her feel self-conscious, so she typed faster and passed it back.  “Um, before we start our picnic on this lovely day, I have to go back to the shop to drop these off.”  She stood and picked up the bags.
“Well, I’ll come with you.”  Phillippe stood and took the bags from her.  On their way out, he still managed to open the door for her, despite his arms being full.  They hurried to the shop, where Rose insisted that he stay out in the rain while she went inside.  After a minute, though, he ignored her request and went inside to get out of the rain.
Bienvenue!”  A woman in blue approached him.  “What brings you in here today?”
“Uh, well, the rain mostly.”
Her face fell.  “Oh, so you’re not looking for anything?”
He felt his stomach twist with guilt.  There was only one other person in the shop, and judging by how similar she looked to the woman in front of him, he guessed they were related.  “Oh.”  He shoved his hands into his pockets while his eyes quickly scanned their merchandise.  Close to the cash register he spotted a watch display.  “I could use un nouveau montre.”
“Oh!”  Delighted, she showed him the options and rang him up while chatting pleasantly.
He remained gentil on the outside, but inside he felt maladroit.  Just as she was putting the watch in the bag, Rose appeared with an umbrella in hand and panic in her moonlit eyes.
She interrupted her aunt who was handing Phillippe the receipt and said, “Tante Mystie, I’m heading back to Dahlia’s.  She asked if I could said, well dragged me inside, but I had the groceries so I came back here after telling her I’d come back.”
Ouai, c’est bien, chère.”
“Be back by 22 heures!”  The woman in red across the shop added.
Toujours, Tante Faline!”  She kissed Mystie’s cheek before heading out.
Phillippe signed the receipt before handing it back to Mystie, then headed out with his bag.
When the door closed, she turned to him and practically shouted, “What was that?”
Je suis désolé!  I don’t even know what happened in there!  I stepped inside to get out of the rain and the next thing I know, I’m buying a watch!  By the way, this is a really nice watch.  I can’t believe I got it for such a low price.”
Rose’s laughter interrupted him.
Quoi?”
Stifling her laughter but not her smile, she said, “C’est Mystie.  She was born to sell.  There is something about here that convinces almost everyone to shop.  I warned you not to go inside!”
“Nothing happened, except I bought a really nice watch.”  He pulled the watch out and put it on his wrist.
“If they found out about our friendship, I would get in a lot of trouble.  I’m finally starting to enjoy doing other things because of you, and if that gets taken away...” She trailed off.  What would she do without him?  What did she do before he popped into her life?  She couldn’t even remember back two months ago.  He had done so much for her.  It was strange having a friend.  But what was even stranger was what he did next.  She suddenly found her face squished firmly into his chest by his powerful arms.  Unprepared for the hug, she had left her arms at her side and was so surprised that she forgot how to return the gesture.
When he realized she wasn’t going to hug him back, he remembered why they had never hugged before, Rose’s unease with others.  Pulling away from her because he felt bad for forcing that on her, he realized that she smelled like spring.  “We should probably get back to our picnic.”
Je pense que ça c’est bien.”  She opened up the umbrella she brought, even though they were both pretty wet now, and they walked in silence except for the drops of rain all around them.  When they sat down for their lunch, She had to admire how relaxed and comfortable he seemed in every situation.  She was definitely not like that, especially not right now.  He and Dahlia were both so outgoing and fun, but Rose just sat quietly watching her friends be happy.  Not that she wasn’t happy, because she was, but something felt off.
When the food was gone and energy was replaced with total lethargy, Florian announced that it was time for him to leave to return home, despite Dahlia’s complaints.  After a moment with her head against his chest and some murmured comfort, he kissed her forehead and left.  Dahlia’s joy seemed to evaporate.  Seeing her friend’s demeanor change so quickly concerned Rose, but she didn’t know what to do so she turned to Phillippe.
He nudged her shoulder before packing up the ice chest.  “Well, I should probably head home too.  However, I need my blanket before I can leave.”
Both girls apologized and stood, helping him fold up the blanket.
“Thanks for a great picnic.”  He smiled at Rose and bowed grandly.
“Um, bye.”  Not knowing what to do, she found herself awkwardly hugging him despite the fact that he was carrying the blanket and the ice chest.  Then she turned back toward Dahlia and Phillippe left.
Extremely confused, Dahlia asked, “What was that?”
Rose immediately started tugging on her earlobe and her eyes grew wide as she shrugged and shook her head.
“Do you want to talk about it upstairs?”
Oui.”  They headed upstairs to Dahlia’s apartment and sat on her bed.
“What happened while you were dropping off groceries?  When you came back, you were acting all weird but Phillippe seemed fine.”
“Well, he bought a watch, I got upset because I didn’t want to get in trouble, and then he hugged me.”  She blurted out.
Quoi?  You got in trouble because he bought a watch so he hugged you?”
Non!”  Slower, she explained how stressed she was about her aunts finding out about him and what happened when he wandered into the shop.  “And then he hugged me.”
“Why is that such a big deal?”  But as soon as she said it out loud, she realized two things.  “We’ve never hugged before.  Does that mean that you’ve never hugged him before?”
Rose shook her head.  “It happened so fast and I didn’t even hug him back.”
Dahlia giggled.  Je suis désolée.  I shouldn’t be laughing but it is kind of funny.  You should’ve seen his face when you hugged him.”  Her giggling grew louder.
Realizing how ridiculous it sounded, Rose started to relax.  “I guess it is kind of funny.”  She sighed.  “I’ve never had a friend before him, so I don’t really know how to have friends.  Without him, I wouldn’t have had the courage to talk to you.”  Then she smiled.  “It took him deux mois to hug me.”
Deux mois?  Well it certainly took him long enough!  What is he waiting for?”
“Waiting for what?”
“He hasn’t asked you out yet!”
“Out where?  He took me Aux Jardins de la Mansonière la semaine dernière.”
“You two went on a date?”
“A date?  Non!”
“Then what is he waiting for?”
“I told you, Phillippe is just looking to be my friend.  Nothing more.”
“Then he’s more of an idiot than I thought.”  After a pause, she added, “Are you looking to be more than his friend?”
Non!”  But as she said it, she wasn’t sure if that was entirely true, so she redirected the conversation toward Florian, hoping to avoid mentioning any of these unwanted feelings or how muscled Phillippe’s arms were.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...
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Anonymous said...

Are the characters speaking English *and* French or are they always speaking in French and just some of the dialogue is being written in French?

I feel like there might be an excessive amount of French phrases, even if the characters are supposed to be speaking Franglais. Even with the dictionary it can be quite detracting from the immersion to have to look up what they're saying. This is of course assuming your audience is primarily English-speaking.

Looking forward to more Rose!

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