From the Bad Boy with Love

First Encounter

The first time she met him was in very awkward circumstances for both of them.

Rosa pulled her coat over her shoulders and slammed the front door shut before walking out into the setting sun. It was just her bad luck that her father had forgotten to replenish his supply of minced garlic and she was the one sent out to buy it from the nearest grocery store.

Her father was deep into dinner preparations and her older brother was apparently deep into his homework which left her to take an early evening walk to the neighbourhood grocery store. 

At least it was a pretty walk with the orange and yellow rays from the sun shining an attractive light on the horizon. After two months in the US, she knew the route to most things nearby and was getting used to the different culture and currency.

When she emerged from the grocery store and walked down the street she was disappointed to see that the sun had nearly set. She carried on down the street until she heard a strange noise.

It sounded like a cat.

She looked around to see if she could see the source of the sound. There was no one else around and she certainly couldn’t see any cats.

The mewling noise came again and she looked upwards this time. There was a ginger cat stuck in a tree across the road. Rosa looked around again to see if there was someone else she could ask for assistance.

It was a quiet neighbourhood so she wasn’t surprised to see no one else out. The price of their house had been astronomical mainly due to the privacy of the area.

Rosa crossed the road and analysed the situation. She could see possible footholds in the tree and the lower branches looked strong enough to hold her weight. The ginger cat at closer inspection also looked a lot like the one she had been forced to give up for adoption when they had moved from Italy.

That cemented her desire to climb up the tree and rescue the cat. Rosa rolled up her sleeves, jammed the minced garlic pot into her pocket and navigated her way up the tree quickly. She knew the more she hesitated, the more like she was to fall.

The cat meowed hopefully as she approached and she slipped one hand under the cat carefully and yanked the branches out of the way. The cat immediately bounded away and dropped off the end of the branch. Rosa watched as it landed on its feet and ran away. Now she just had to get down.

She moved her leg and was rewarded with the unmistakable sound of a branch cracking. It was the branch she was on. Rosa scuttled back as gently as she could and heard more cracking sounds. Her mind went into panic mode and she tried to move back down the tree as fast as possible.

One moment she was still in the tree and the next she was falling through the air. As she fell Rosa knew she wouldn’t die, she hadn’t been that high up. There were bound to be some broken bones though and maybe some head trauma.

The expected bone splintering crash didn’t happen and she realised that there was something warm around her. She focused her eyes and realised she was in someone’s arms. It was someone wearing a black hoodie.

“...You can let me down now,” she said once she had recovered her breath.

She was placed adroitly onto her feet and she was able to see who had saved her. It was a boy who looked to be around her age with most of his face hidden by the shadows from his hood. He had a pale face, that was all she could really tell.

“Thank you for saving me,” she added when he didn’t respond.

“...It’s fine. I wouldn’t be a human being if I ignored someone about to fall,” he replied.

He had a very nice deep voice. Rosa was momentarily distracted by its attractiveness. She realised it would be best if she explained why she was in the tree. She didn’t want the mysterious boy to think it was a hobby of hers.

“Thank you again. I only went up there to rescue a cat that was stuck,” she explained. “I owe you a favour now.”

He held up his hand to stop her speaking and she noticed a silver ring on one of his fingers.

“We’re even. I was just being a human being. I’ll go now,” he said and turned away.

Rosa was left staring at his back as he walked away from her. He was certainly a curious person. Maybe they would meet again.

She didn’t know she would meet him again the very next day.