A Lovely Night: Rose

"How was it?" Penny asks.

"Worth the wait." I run a finger over my lips, remembering how they tingled.

"Your first kiss sounds ten times better than mine. I think he made out with my chin more than anything," she says, distastefully.

I laugh. "How did it go with AJ?"

She hums a cheerful tune. "Where do I begin? He was a gentleman. Super funny, could carry a conversation, and he just got accepted into Cornell."

"I approve. I bet your dad was glad to hear that."

"AJ's all he talks about now."

She finishes my parts. I'm sitting on a pillow between her legs as she braids my hair. It's Saturday, just a day after my date with Ben and she wants to hear everything.

"But Rose, the way he looks at me." She shakes her head. "Like I'm the only one in the room."

"He better. What else happened?"

She bubbles. "We ate lunch by the docks and stayed until it was time to order dinner. The stars were out and the moon was full."

She's good at romanticizing. It's apparent that we watch too many movies.

"Do you feel the same way with Ben?"

The tail of the comb slides across my scalp as she separates my hair.

"I do."

"Looks like we'll all have dates to homecoming. Matt said it went better with Heather than he expected. Whatever that means."

"You think she's good for him?"

She shrugs, dipping her finger into the jar of blue magic before greasing my scalp. I could fall asleep, it's so relaxing.

"She's perfect."

Matt moving on seems to be for the best.

"He and I were talking by the way. We're going to apply to the same colleges."

Her finger stops mid trace. "You're not staying local anymore?"

"No. Angie's not going to school right away. I've been looking out of state."

"Rose, this is perfect!" She shakes my shoulders, cheering into my ear.

I try not to fall over.

"I have to call Matt. No, wait! We have to find a list-never mind I'll find a list of colleges that have our majors!" she says.

I can see a hundred ideas flooding her brain at once. "Can you imagine another four years?" For a second I thought this was it for our trio.

"You're my girl for life. We're not going anywhere." She wraps her arms around me.

I think back to meeting her in the first grade. We were inseparable. Matt came into our lives in middle school, and it just felt so easy with him. Like getting the third piece to a puzzle that we didn't know was incomplete.

"You two are the only other family I have." It's a soft confession. My eyes sting when she hugs tighter.

"Like I said, we're not going anywhere." She lets me go and pulls apart the braiding hair. She starts a section. "Now finish telling me about that date."

I tell her about the horse I rode, and how I swung from a rope and into a lake like Tarzan. She can't believe it! She says that he sounds good for me, and that I've needed to live a little.

We go back and forth with our stories, laughing at how mushy we sound. The sweet fragrance from the hair products leaves a nostalgic scent that I remember all too well from childhood.

I grin. Maybe we have a few more years left to make memories.