Map: Part II

The park was a sort of landmark in the small town of Linestead. It was a surprisingly big portion of the town, and the majority of it remained untouched by humans. This resulted in a “forest preserve” which Aaron was convinced meant “excuse to not cut back any plants”. Nonetheless, Aaron quite enjoyed the area’s overgrown state, and liked to sit in the unfound nooks and crannies away from the main pathways.

Today, however, he was sitting on a bench in the middle of the park, waiting. It was still before eleven, he assumed, so Rosie wasn’t late, but he did regret that he never brought a watch anywhere.

With him he had The Deadly Princess, which had his map tucked away between the pages. He resisted the urge to look at the map again. He really didn’t need to see it; he’d looked at it so much it was a wonder it hadn’t disintegrated under his gaze.

Instead, he stared at the trees, which had just begun to change colors. It made fall break actually feel like fall.

x x x

Many minutes passed before he heard footsteps.

Aaron remained on the bench, where he had laid down in an attempt to get more comfortable. (Unfortunately, it had only resulted in cramped legs; the bench was much too short for him.) He turned his head to watch her sideways figure walk towards him.

Rosie was wearing what Rosie normally wore: ripped jeans and an oversize black hoodie. Nothing fancy, nothing even particularly badass, just plain Rosie clothes. The kids at school couldn’t even call her goth. She wasn’t a nerd, she wasn’t a cheerleader, she had no category. She was just Rosie.

She stopped in front of the bench, arms folded. She tucked her dark hair behind her ear to better glare at him.

“You know why I’m here,” she said.

“For the book?” he asked, pulling it out from beneath his head. (Update: books make awful pillows.) He held it up, using it to shield the sun as he looked at her.

“Shut up and move over.”

Groaning, Aaron sat up, and she sat down.

“I feel like I’m being used,” she sighed, throwing her head back and closing her eyes. She reminded him of a sunflower facing itself towards the sun.

He shifted, unwilling to talk about her personal life. She never really talked about it, not anymore. He opened his mouth to say something remarkable and empathetic...

She looked over at him. “By you.”

Aaron shut his stupidly gaping, grasping-for-words mouth and squinted at her.

She rolled her head back towards the sky. “You know I have nowhere to be.”

“That’s not why I wanted you here,” he said. He thought about her father, but let the thought flit by.

“Just tell me what your stupid adventure is. Your stupid map.”

He was both angry at her for calling the map stupid and convinced that he was stupid for asking her here. He decided to focus on the anger ignore the stupidness.

“The map is not stupid, thank you. Listen to this...” and he launched into The Story of the Map in his most overdramatic voice, wanting to see her smile.

Read part I: https://theprose.com/post/243841/map

Read part III: https://theprose.com/post/244551/map-part-iii