Rosette and I waited outside for Tyrone. It had been one of those warmer days, but that changed when an army of grey clouds invaded the sky and let loose a barrage of cold rain. We stood under an overhang and watched the rain make everything in front of us blurry, like a picture from an out-of-focus camera.
Rosette wanted to head home herself, but I said Tyrone wouldn't mind driving her. In fact, he'd wanted to meet her for the longest time.
"I talk about you... a lot—all good things of course. Ty's been wanting to talk to you."
"Has he?"
I nodded.
"Oh... and quick disclaimer Ty's a huge flirt and if he likes you, he'll ask you out right away. Please turn him down in coldest way possible."
Rosette half smiled and nodded. Which I found strange. Normally she'd make a joke or say something sarcastic, but she said kept quiet. After her sarcastic pep talk in the rink to make me feel better, she'd been quiet and sullen. Like she'd got into an argument and someone said some said something rude to her.
A loose strand of hair covered Rosette's face. It looked just like Cecile's, black and wavy, but you could tell Rosette couldn't be bothered to run a brush through hers. Her laziness resulted in chronic bed head. On anyone else it would've looked slovenly, but on Rosette it looked cute.
I reached down and brushed the hair away from her face.
"You okay?" I asked.
Rosette pulled her scarf over her mouth, she'd been doing that a lot lately. Hiding her face and then taking a deep breath before talking.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just tired."
I thought of asking her again. She didn't look tired, she looked sad. Before I could ask her if she was sure, I heard Tyrone call for me.
"There you are Scottie." He said walking up to Rosette and me. Beads of sweat glistened on his forehead. Tyrone looked at the rain and frowned.
"Any of you bring an umbrella?"
We shook our heads.
Tyrone sighed and clasped his handed together.
"Screw it, let's sprint." He said.
And we did. By the time we reached Tyrone's car we were nearly soaked. Tyrone often bragged about the many things he's done with many girls in his car and looking at the interior often made me wonder: how?
There were empty cans and Mac Donald's wrappers everywhere. I contributed to at last 50% of the mess, but if it were my car, I'd clean up a little if I knew I'd have a girl inside. Then again I didn't have a car, and I was a cheery boy so what did I know?
We all talked for a while as Tyrone drove. Tyrone kept the conversation friendly. He didn't try to flirt with Rosette at all. If anything, he seemed to keep his distance from her. Again, I found this strange, but I understood why when Tyrone asked:
"So how long have you and Scottie been dating?"
I glanced at Rosette in the back seat. She hid her face under her scarf again.
"We're not dating," I said.
Tyrone raised an eyebrow and looked at me like he was trying to solve an impossible math problem.
"Really?" He said, his brown eyes as big as marbles.
I nodded and titled my head slightly.
Why would he think that?
Tyrone sat in silence until the light turned green and the car behind us blared its horn. No one said anything until Tyrone dropped Rosette off. Even with her gone, the awkwardness between us was still thick.
When the silence became too heavy, I bit the bullet and said something.
"I'm gonna go out on a limp here and say you didn't flirt with Rosette because you thought she was my girlfriend."
Tyrone responded immediately in a matter-of-fact tone, like explaining an obvious plot point in a movie.
"Yeah."
"Well, she's not we're just friends."
"Well she's obviously into you—"
"Hold on, Rosette isn't into me She's my friend and—hey why are you laughing?"
"Because you're an idiot."
I sighed and leaned back in my seat.
"You know I like Cecile," I muttered.
"Still? When d'you start liking her? When you were like eight?"
We stopped at a red light.
"No... at least fourteen."
"Well you don't hang out with Cecile, you hang out with Rosette. She's freaking adorable and you can talk to her. Stop... obsessing over Cecile and just date a girl who actually likes you."
"Cecile likes me."
"Not the way you like her."
"Even if you're right... I don't see Rosette that way at all and she probably doesn't see my that way either. I might think this because of my obsession with Cecile... but I honestly think I won't be happy with anyone else."
Tyrone softly banged his head against the steering wheel.
"Jesus Christ you're gonna die alone."
The light turned green, and we drove again. We got to his house and hung out for a while. Tyrone didn't bring up Rosette for the rest of the day. He wanted to I could tell, but hockey tryouts wore him out and he'd rather watch Netflix and play video games than try to convince me to date Rosette.
I can't say I agreed with Tyrone, I didn't. But I can say that, just for a second when we were both quiet in the car, I understood why Tyrone mistook Rosette for my girlfriend. And for a second, I didn't mind the idea.