I Found You

Rosie awoke the next morning feeling embarrassed. She had accidentally revealed a piece of her past, something she didn't want them to know about.  

When she came down stairs no one was there. She thought that she would cook them breakfast instead. It was the least she could do for them. 

Rummaging through the kitchen for a few minutes finally got her the supplies she needed. 

She was mixing more pancake batter and turning the second batch of bacon when Jimmy came into the kitchen. 

Rosie couldn't help but laugh at the sight before her. Jimmy's pj's were twisted awkwardly and hiked up one leg. His shirt and glasses were crooked as he rubbed one eye and yawned. 

“Good morning, whatcha doing invading my kitchen?”

“Well, I just thought that...” she trailed off and set the pancake bowl down. “Last night was embarrassing for me and you guys were so cool with it. I figured that I could show my appreciation by making everyone breakfast.” 

He smiled and hugged her tightly. 

She started to shake with fear but relaxed after a few seconds. His arms provided her with a slight sense of comfort, something she hadn't had in a long time. 

“Look whatever happened to you, I'm so sorry and I wish I could make it go away.” he whispered into her hair. 

“It wasn't something that you could control.” she sighed. “There's no need to apologize.” 

They couldn't enjoy their moment long because Rosie had to finished cooking. She shooed Jimmy out to shower, telling him to have everyone dressed for breakfast. 

When she finished setting the table she ran upstairs to shower and dress herself as well. 

When she came downstairs the boys were there as well as a blonde woman. Upon seeing Rosie's arrival she jumped up from her chair and came over to her and hugged her. 

“You must be Rosie! You are as beautiful as they said you were!” 

“Hi.” she said quietly 

“Oh shit where are my manners?! I'm Valary, Matthew's girlfriend.” 

“It's, um, nice to meet you.” 

“It's so great that you're staying. Being the only girl isn't always super fun.” 

She gave a small smile and joined them at the table. 

“So where are you from?” asked Valary

“Wisconsin.” Rosie, Zacky, and Jimmy replied at the same time 

Valary smiled and began eating. 

“Damn Jimmy! This is delicious!” 

He smirked. “I didn't cook this. Rosie did.” 

She smiled and transferred her compliment to Rosie.

The unease in her stomach slowly dissolved as breakfast went on. She watched as they laughed and joked with each other about pretty much everything. It gave her a sense of comfort, reminded her of home. 

When the table was clean and the dishes were washed, Valary offered to have a girls day with Rosie. 

The concept wasn't exactly foreign to her but she had never really had one. Job hunting never really left time for much else...

So before they knew it they were at the mall. Valary dragged her into a store claiming that she wanted Rosie to try on a dress...

The dress was purple and sleeveless with a silver belt around the middle. Rosie stomach churned nervously as she was pushed into the dressing room. 

When the dress was zipped up she turned and stood face to face with her reflection. The figure in the mirror looked distorted, disgusting. 

She turned and allowed the contents of her breakfast to come spewing out of her mouth into the trash bin in the corner. 

“Rosie?” Valary opened the door and rubbed her back soothingly. 

“I'm disgusting.” she whispered to herself sadly. 

When she calmed down, Valary helped her out of her dress and out of the store. 

She took Rosie to a coffee shop where they sat with tea. 

“My dad had left,” Rosie sniffed, “He left me, my mom, and my three younger sisters. Things were okay at first but then mom lost her job. She found another one but she didn't make as much money as before so it was harder to pay the bills. As time passed we started inching closer and closer to debt, I remember watching her sit at the kitchen table just budgeting and budgeting.” 

Rosie went quiet until Valary grabbed her hand and squeezed comfortingly. 

“I tried to help by finding a job but the minimum wage wasn't making even a dent. My friend told me about this job and at first I turned it down, but I got home that day and saw all the over due bills.” 

Tears fell from her eyes and into her drink. She was not only ashamed of herself but also afraid of what she would think once she heard. 

“Valary, I used to be a prostitute...you may not think good of me after hearing it. I understand if you think I'm disgusting because I know...I know I'm disgusting. And I'm sorry to impose on you and Matt and Zacky and Jimmy. I just-just had to get away from him!”  

Rosie sobbed and laid her head on the table. She waited for Valary to leave and tell everyone else at the house. She waited for her to kicked out right on the spot. 

It was because she waited for all of those things that Valary's sentence surprised her. “Rosemarie you are not disgusting! You are the furthest thing from disgusting and I don't ever wanna hear you say that bullshit again.” 

“What?”

She lifted her hand to Rosie's face and wiped the tears from her face. 

“You did what you needed to do for your family...believe it or not, if I were in your shoes I would've done the same thing.” 

“How are you not disgusted by me?” 

“Because you left. If you were really disgusting then you would still be a prostitute plain and simple.” she smiled. 

“Please don't tell the guys.” she begged silently

Valary held out her pinkie. “Your secret's safe with me.” 

Rosie looked at her pinkie with confusion. 

“Oh come on! You haven't heard of pinkie swear?” 

The memory came flooding into her mind of her using that swear with her sisters. 

She smiled as she took her pinkie and wrapped it around hers, sealing the secret securely. 

Instead of finishing the shopping trip, they headed home. Rosie came into the house and sat on the bed. 

She ran the day backwards in her mind, wondering what that meant for her and Valary. 

A knock on the door tore her from her thoughts. 

She allowed the person entrance. Valary entered the room with a DVD in one hand and a big white box in the other. The box was wrapped in purple paper with a silver ribbon. 

“Here. After the day you had, I figured that a movie and a present would take your mind off of it.” 

Reluctantly, she took and unwrapped the box which held the purple dress, black wedges and a silver bracelet set. 

“And before you say some shit like I can't take this...this is something I'm giving you as a friend.” 

“Friend?” she asked silently

“Well what did you expect me to call you?” 

Rosie leaned forward, pulling Valary into a tight hug. “Thank you.” she whispered

Valary hugged her new found friend tightly. Pulling away to put the movie in. 

Valary had fallen asleep toward the end but Rosie stayed awake to watch all of Titanic. She envied the character Rose while sympathized with her at the same time. She knew what it felt like to be trapped with someone but not what it felt like to love and be loved by a man. Looking over at a snoring Valary, she envied her relationship with Matt as well. She had seen how lovey-dovey they were and she couldn't help but long for someone to do that to her.  

“Uh Rosie, are you Val awake?” Matt called from the other side of the door

“I am but Valary's asleep.” she replied in a whisper

There was a shuffling before Jimmy said, “we are playing cards downstairs...wanna join us?”

She admitted that she didn't know how to play cards. They brushed it off, saying that they would teach her. She got off the bed slowly to join them downstairs at the kitchen table. Warm and welcoming smiles plastered on their faces as the excitedly taught her the rules. 

**Four hours later**

“I still can't believe you made three grand from each of us!” laughed Brian 

“We have found a new champion!” Jimmy reached for her arm and raised it in the air

She smiled a little bit and joked, “Wasn't hard. You guys kind of sucked.”

They burst into loud laughter as they cleared the table for the night. 

Zacky's room was right across the hall from Rosie's so they were walking in the same directions while the guys stay in the kitchen drinking beer.

He walked silently next to her. There was lump in his throat making it hard to swallow. His heart raced. “Rosie?”

“Yes?” 

They both stopped at their doors. 

“I was wondering if I could take you to lunch? I mean you may not be that comfortable here and I totally understand if you aren't cause--” 

“Sure.” she smiled

“Really? Well, then meet me at the front door by two tomorrow.” 

She gave a small giggle. “You got it.” 

As she closed her door, the smile from ear to ear gave way to nerves. She had never been on a date...not a real one anyway. 

In her mind she pulled together everything she had ever seen in movies and studied it.she curled up next to Valary and went to sleep replaying the movies in her mind. Ignorant to the fact that Zacky was lying in his room doing the exact same thing.