51 - The chapter where Rose meets the Davises

Rose

I put a few slices of bacon on my plate and took some toast with jam and a bottle of juice, putting them on my tray under the watchful eye of Christian who was serving himself next to me.

" Are you going to have bacon with toast and jam? " he asked.

" What's the problem? It's not like I put jelly on the bacon," I shrugged, picking up some kind of sizable loaf of bread. “What is it?”

" Blueberry bear paw," he explained, taking one for himself as well, "it's a sweet bread stuffed with... blueberries.”

" It looks promising. Here's enough food for a battalion," I joked, starting to walk away.

Christian took a small bottle of green tea before following me to where his parents had reserved a place for both of us.

He put a tray on the table, sitting down in front of his father, while I sat down in front of his mother, next to his sister.

" Mom, Dad. It's good to see you again," Christian commented before starting to eat.

I can't say that I didn't find this interaction strange. The relationship between them was so cold, even though they hadn't seen each other for so many months.

" You've already arrived making noise. Aren't you going to introduce us to your girl? " His father barely lifted his eyes from his plate.

" Rose Miller-Campbell," Christian pointed at me before pointing at his parents, "Clay and Grace Davis.”

" It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. and Mrs. Davis," I smiled.

" The pleasure is ours, dear " Grace was the one who answered, while her husband just gave a small nod of recognition.

Great, now I know who Christian pulled for.

I nibbled on a slice of bacon feeling Mr. Davis' gaze on me, until he decided to speak up after taking a sip from his cup.

" Do you study chemistry too, girl?”

" Ohh no, I study visual arts," I explained.

That information seemed to surprise everyone nearby, so I found myself once again at the center of attention that morning.

" An art student? You look tough for an art student," my father-in-law put his plate aside to stare at me.

" What can I say? My parents raised me to be tough," I shrugged with a small smile before taking another bite of bacon.

" And what about you? Haven't you thought about defending your girl? " his tone turned harsh as he turned to his son.

" I would have, if she needed defending," he shrugged, "but I know the girl I have by my side, it's easier for others to need protecting!”

I turned my face to him, not containing my smile when I knew he was serious. Christian always let me solve my own problems, but he never hesitated to get involved when he saw that I was really in trouble, as in Cutter's case.

" If you study to paint and you want to figure out how to make bombs, how did you end up together? "A man sitting a few chairs away caught our attention.

That question didn't take me by surprise, it was already expected to be asked, and Christian refused to invent a romantic version for our involvement, having forbidden me to create any story. That's when an idea flashed through my mind, making me smile, and from the expression on Christian's face when he saw my smile, he realized that I was up to something.

" This is an amazing story. I love to tell it, right, Davis? " I turned to him, receiving a warning look.

" I think we can give the short version, Rose. You know, the one where we belong to the same group of friends and end up getting involved in a party," he returned with a meaningful expression.

But I wouldn't miss that chance, he forbade me to make up any story, so I would tell exactly our story.

" Nonsense, how will they understand how a mad scientist ended up in the middle of a bunch of artists? " I broadened my smile.

" It sounds like an interesting story. " his mother encouraged.

" But…”

" Davis, just let the girl tell the story. Nothing will be as embarrassing for you as her threatening to kick the ass of a guy twice her size while you watched in silence," someone quipped, drawing laughter from everyone at the table.

Ignoring Christian's gaze on me, I turned to his parents, collecting the story in my mind, thinking of the most embarrassing points to highlight.

" Actually, Christian helped me one day when I was run over by a troglodyte playing soccer in the middle of campus," I began.

" Are you really going to tell them about the pizza? " Christian stared at me.

" I'm going to tell them about the pizza," my smile widened.

" What's on this pizza? " Clay Davis interrupted us.

Christian forced a smile, putting his arm around me, resting his hand on my waist, pulling my chair a little closer to him, pinching my skin in an attempt to shut me up, but I ignored him.

" Rose was run over by none other than Jax O'Donnel.”

A series of grunts of disgust followed that name making me realize that I wasn't the only one who hated the mere mention of that asshole.

" I hate that he was accepted into the same college as you," Grace grimaced, "after all the trouble he caused you.”

" He caused you trouble before? " I frowned.

" We'll talk about it later," he murmured.

I stared at him with a suspicious expression, wanting to know the details of that story. It was obvious that the two of them had a past, but he never mentioned it.

" The jerk not only ran her over, but also wanted to show off to the rest of the team, and hugged her, saying that he would pay more attention to her later, that's when I decided to interfere " Christian decided to play along " but when I got close, Rose had already threatened to cut his hand off if he didn't stop touching her.”

This outcome provoked laughter from everyone, including my father-in-law, who was staring at me with a small smile on his face.

" And what did that little rascal do?”

" Well, first he looked like he saw a ghost, then he took his hands off me and walked away saying he had another appointment," I added. “Then Chris picked up my cell phone that had fallen on the floor and offered me a slice of pizza, Since my lunch was ruined.”

Some people started to tease him, while others praised his attitude and congratulated him for getting a girlfriend like me. That's when I decided to strike the first blow.

" Then, because I took too long to eat the pizza, he took it back, ate it in front of me, and mocked my career choice, saying that I had gone to college to play at coloring " I stared at him with a satisfied expression on my face, while Christian took a deep breath, giving me a look that promised revenge for not having left the story as it was.

" Now you sound like my little brother," Amber laughed.

" And what did you do, girl? " Clay asked with a glint in his eye.

I prepared myself to reveal, but before I could answer, Christian took the lead.

" She hit me over the head with a cup of iced green tea while screaming in the middle of campus what an asshole I was.” He declared, looking into my eyes, making my smile widen.

I took a bite of his bear paw, my eyes widening at the explosion of flavors in my mouth.

" Wow, I love this. I've never eaten it before," I complimented the bread.

" Christian, get her another one," Clay ordered.

Christian didn't argue with his father, getting up to get another bear claw for me.

" If this was your first date, how did you end up together? " Christian's brother-in-law asked.

" This wasn't our first date, it was our first contact. A few weeks later I was at a frat party, and…”

" Jax O'Donnel started trying to mess with me. Since I promised you that I wouldn't get in trouble with the police again, I decided to leave," Christian returned to the table, sitting next to me and giving me a meaningful look.

He didn't want me to mention the situation with Allie, and I respected his decision.

" I saw what happened and decided to provoke that idiot, so I followed him and took advantage of the fact that he had walked over there and offered him a ride," I looked at him with a smile on my face as I remembered that day.

" That was nice of you," Grace approved of my attitude.

" Yes, but he wouldn't take it, and called me an insane bitch, so I tried to run him over and told him to get in the damn car.” I continued without looking away from him, who seemed amused by the way everything was going.

" Actually, I said that you weren't a completely insane bitch to run me over if I refused your ride, but you proved me wrong," he returned.

" So she tried to run you over and you accepted the ride? " a girl who looked about our age asked, perplexed.

" Exactly. That's how we both had an amazing date and I introduced him to my friends, who became his friends too, and we both…”

I shrugged my shoulders, as if I didn't need to say anything else, and I knew I didn't. The looks on Christian's parents' faces showed that I had done well with this little theater.

" You got yourself a good girl, Christian," his father confirmed.

He owes me a big one after all this. And I'll be sure to collect.