Chapter 5

“Are you not coming in?” He says smiling. His eyes hold amusement.

He looks so casual. He’s wearing baggy shorts and is shirtless. What in the world is going on?

His jet-black hair looks ruffled. I see a tattoo on his left shoulder. A beautiful black butterfly. It must be professionally done, because wow. It looks like Art.

“Rosie, will you not come in?” He opens the door further and I can hear people talking and laughing inside.

Did he just give me a nickname?

He did! No one has ever given me a nickname. Everyone just calls me Rose and I rather like it that way, honestly.

Rosie sounds childish. Cute but childish. Eh, I don’t like it.

“Don’t call me that.” I push past him and enter the house. I know this house like it’s my own. The only strange thing here today is the human that I know as ‘Sterling’.

I hear the front door close and lock, Sterling of course. He walks behind me quietly. I reach the Living room and everyone is spread out. Wesley’s parents are on the couch and Wesley and his sister are on the rugged floor.

Wesley’s mother looks up at me. “Oh dear, Rose! How are you?” She stands up and hugs me warmly.

I hug her back. She smells so good. “I’m good, Mrs. Harris. You look very lovely this evening.” I say with honesty. “And as you too, Mr. Harris.”

Wesley’s dad chuckles. “I’m sure, Rose.” He smiles widely.

“Come sit, we’re playing games.” Mrs. Harris says.

I sit down next to Wesley on the rugged floor. He is staring at me with a smirk. “What?” I ask.

“Nothing.” He shrugs his shoulders and maintains his grin.

You might ask why I didn’t greet Wesley or why he didn’t greet me. But that’s just the way we are. We don’t greet each other every time, because we’re always talking to each other.

Online or in real life. So he feels kind of like a birthmark on me that is just there for eternity.

Do you greet your birthmarks? Yeah, I thought so too. You don’t.

“What are we playing?” I ask, almost forgetting Sterling. I did not imagine him, did I?

Nope, he’s right there. Sitting near Sarah.

“Um, why don’t we play board games?” Sterling suggests. He avoids looking at me. What’s his ploy here?

I don’t even wait for anyone to answer.

“May I ask? Who is this shirtless man and how do you all know him?” I blurt out.

There’s a bit of silence at first, then everyone starts smiling. Even giggling.

Why are they smiling? Do they know something that I don’t? I’m getting annoyed.

“He’s Sterling. He’s our neighbor, Wesley’s new friend,” Mrs. Harris explained.

New friend? This man is a stalker! A creep! Sadly, a creep that I thought was my soulmate a few hours ago.

“Oh,” I mumbled softly.

“Do you know him?” Wesley asks.

I shake my head intently, bent on letting everyone know that I don’t.

I do know him, but not really well. Come to think of it, I don’t really know him at all. I just know that he’s super nice and that he stalks me for some weird reason.

“She does know me. We met for coffee a few hours ago,” Sterling says confidently. He has a daring smirk on his face. As if daring me to speak up.

Everyone’s eyes are on me. I have to say something but my brain is panicking. I can’t think of anything to say.

“Awww, that’s very sweet.” Mrs. Harris gushes. She looks at her husband with a look of love. “Remember when we were just like them? In love and going on our little coffee dates?”

“No!” Sterling and I say in unison.

Sterling and I share a look. Urgh, this is not going well!

“Yes, Sterling and I met for coffee a few hours ago. But it was very professional.” My voice is surprisingly firm.

“Professional, huh?” Wesley wiggles his eyebrows.

“Shut up before I tell them about Zoey.” I purse my lips. Daring him to say another word. He’s smart and knows that I am quite capable of spilling the beans.

He shuts up but has a stupid smile on his face. I can’t help but smile a little too. I just have to find a way to wipe it off his face.

“Wesley, your mother and I are done for the night. You boys take over,” Mr. Harris says. His voice sounds like a remix of Wesley’s voice. So alike but stronger.

“Boys? Come on, Mr. and Mrs. Harris. You both know it’s us girls that keep the house from burning down.” I say proudly. Sarah and I fist bump while Wesley and Sterling roll their eyes.

He lifts his hands in surrender. “Right, right. How could I forget?” He laughs heartily. “Goodnight folks.”

They head upstairs, leaving me in the lion’s den.

Sarah would be going to bed any minute now. Her bedtime is 10 p.m. She knows this. My two-man army is about to deplete really fast.

Sarah and I start to tidy up while the boys head upstairs to prepare the two guest rooms. One for Sterling and another for me.

“So is he really your boyfriend?” Sarah asks me with all seriousness.

I almost choke on my own spit. “What!? Who?”

“Sterling.” She says calmly. She’s really good at cleaning. The whole living room is already sparkling and I’m still here organizing the board games so I can take them where they belong.

“Oh, no!” I say, feeling really embarrassed. “He’s just someone I met today.”

“Really?” She asks me in a matter-of-fact tone.

“Okay, not really. I met him several days ago. But we only just interacted today. And when I say interact, I mean talked.”

She squints her eyes at me. She is a living lie detector. She could always tell when someone was lying and I still don’t know how.

“Okay, you’re telling the truth.” She smiles, revealing her teeth. Two are gone and she looks adorably funny. “He’s really nice, you know.” She yawns saying this.

I shrug my shoulders. “I guess so.”

I can tell she really wants to have this conversation but she’s sleepy.

“Goodnight, Rosie.” She starts to walk away but I stop her.

“What did you just say?”

“I said goodnight.”

“And after that?” I beckoned her to continue.

“I said your name,” She says plainly.

“No, you said Rosie. My name is Rose. Why did you call me that?” I ask her in a sing-tone.

“Oh. Sterling has a friend named Rosie.” She says and stares in the distance for a few seconds. I guess it clicked for her. “He must have been talking about you,” She says thoughtfully.

“Mm-hmm. Go to bed, Sarah.” I kiss her on her forehead and she dashes upstairs to her room.”

Rosie.

The nickname that my stalker has given me. It’s rather cute. But I rather not be given a nickname by a psycho.