Vince: I’m lying here thinking about you…I just wanted you to know.

Immediately, the butterflies began to stir. As tempted as she was to tell him she’d been doing the very same thing—lying there thinking of him, she dare not; she couldn’t! Almost afraid to ask, she did anyway.

Rose: What are you thinking?

Vince: How glad I am now that my parents dragged my ass to that shower. I’m almost glad I screwed up and was forced to go; otherwise, I know I wouldn’t have. I would’ve never met you, Rose. Imagine what a damn shame that would’ve been.

Rose tried so hard not to read too much into the things he said, but how couldn’t she? Her insides were a mess with this weird excitement, and her heart was now palpitating wildly. Grace, who was lying next to her, was looking at her again with concern all too apparent in her face.

“Last text, I promise,” she said as she began to text back to him.

It would’ve been a shame to not have met you either, Vincent. I’m almost glad too that you did mess up, but I’m even happier and so very proud of you that you say you’re staying out of trouble now. My sister is staring at me. I gotta go to bed now. But I look forward to tomorrow’s morning text. Goodnight. =)

Rose gave Grace a smug look. As promised, she put her phone on the nightstand and made herself comfortable. She didn’t have to worry about Vincent texting her back; he was usually very respectful about not texting her once she said goodnight. And earlier, she hadn’t said goodnight, so even tonight’s out of the blue text hadn’t crossed the line. Thoughts of him would keep her up no doubt, and she couldn’t stop smiling. He’d been sweet to her since day one, but it seemed to be happening more often now. He seemed to enjoy doing things like this: making her feel like she was so incredibly special. She couldn’t decide if his being so far away was a good thing or a bad thing.

Being near him would surely have her falling hard. Via text she felt safe, but in person she still wasn’t sure she could handle a guy like Vincent. He seemed so complex. There was so much to him unlike the simple guys her age at her school.

The next day his morning text had her stomach in knots, and she couldn’t decide once again if this was a good or bad.

Vince: Good morning, Rose. Guess what?

Rose: Good morning, Vincent. And I’m no good at guessing so just tell me.

Vince: It’s not a for sure thing, but my uncle said he’d get back to my dad about me coming out and staying with them for the summer. My dad says it sounds promising. We may get to spend the summer together. =)

Holy Moses! Rose reread the text again. It appeared this was good news to him. Here, once again, she was torn between being excited and being scared to death about spending time with him—in person.

CHAPTER FIVE

Vince

Rose: I’m crying as I write this, but I don’t think we can be friends anymore.

Vince shot up to his feet, walking away from the stairs where he’d been sitting with his friends and Lorenzo after reading the text from Rose.

“Where you going?” Lorenzo asked. “You’re up next.

“Take my turn for me,” Vince said already texting Rose back.

Vince: Why? What did I do?

They’d been playing dice against the stairs of his apartment building. Normally, Vince would never let anyone take his turn when they were playing for money, least of all Lorenzo who sucked at it. Right now, he didn’t give a shit about anything except Rose’s text.

For weeks, he’d been doing his best to stay out of trouble and in his parents’ good graces. He wanted to prove to them that he’d changed and make up for the whole tagging incident. But mostly because once his uncle told his dad he’d get back to him about Vince going out to stay and working for him over the summer, Vince knew he had to be smart about this. He understood why they were apprehensive about him, but now he had a real good reason to behave. He wasn’t about to give his uncle or parents any reason to not allow him to go.

Rose had grown on him. Even though their communication consisted of only texts and emails, there was something so sweet about her. Unlike his cousins, she hadn’t judged him when he’d emailed her to explain about the tagging incident and some of the other trouble he’d been in during the past few years. He was sure she’d hear about it eventually, and he wanted her to get it straight from him—no one else.

Even though Rose had never been in trouble in her life, she’d had nothing but positive things to say. She even praised his efforts to straighten out. She was funny, had a good head on her shoulders, and was a good girl. Surprisingly, what made him try even harder to be good was that she was proud of him, damn it. He could hardly wait to spend time talking to her again in person, not just texting and emailing. Now that they were so close to summer, she was telling him this? He couldn’t imagine what he’d done or what she’d heard that would have her crying about not being able to be his friend.

He took a deep breath when his phone dinged and her message appeared.

Grace and Sal broke up, and she is so devastated it’s killing me. I can’t be reminding her of him by talking about you. I’m sorry.

Even though it was a relief to know it had nothing to do with something he’d done, it still stung that Rose could so easily dismiss their friendship like that. To him what had been building between them for weeks was like no friendship he’d ever experienced with anyone, let alone a girl. He wasn’t even sure if he should respond or if her sorry meant she was cutting him off just like that, but he had to.