josh left later that day, and that's how most of their time together was spent. josh would come over, talk about anything on his mind, rosemary would listen, then josh would leave. until one day, when josh decided rosemary had heard enough about him. he was determined to learn about her. hell, he didn't even know her middle name.
he entered the apartment, as usual, going through the checklist of things he did. park his car in the spot he always parked in, lock it twice, say hello to mary - the woman who works at the front desk - and have her bring down the elevator, get in, and voila. except for this time when he entered the apartment, he wasn't met with rosemary on the couch like usual. he took off his shoes next to the elevator to avoid tracking any snow on her wood floors, then hanging his coat on one of the two hooks on the wall. there used to be one, but then josh's visits became more frequent.
"rosemary?" josh called through the house, adjusting the hat on his head. he peeked around corners to try to find the ever so mysterious girl but he was only met with ruby. ruby had become very fond of josh, for whatever reason.
josh's mission to hunt down rosemary was quite short lived, as the smell of hot chocolate coming from the kitchen was a dead giveaway. he smiled to himself and made his way to the kitchen, seeing rosemary stirring something around in a mug. she looked so at peace in her own little bubble, josh noticed. she sprinkles some miniature marshmallows on top of her hot cocoa, the steam coming from it visible.
"hello." josh spoke up. he expected rosemary to flinch at his sudden voice, or even react at all, but no. of course not. she just looked up and smiled. he walked to the counter and leaned his elbows on it across from her, his mouth watering at the scent of the drink. rosemary apparently noticed this, because she pushed the drink josh's way.
"oh, no, i can't." josh took his elbows from the counter, and stood up straight, but rosemary wasn't having it. She was already making herself another mug with the spare mug she had gotten to buying. josh sighed and picked up the mug, sipping from it. he moaned at the taste, then slapping a hand over his mouth out of embarrassment. rosemary looked back at him, a smile cracking at her lips. her shoulders shook as she laughed at the red-faced josh, him clearing his throat then joining in on her laughter.
"it's really good cocoa, okay?" josh justified, taking another sip. rosemary rolled her eyes playfully, putting some marshmallows on her own creation. rosemary carefully walked into the living room followed by josh, sipping her cocoa carefully. she reached for the journal she kept on the coffee table and the pencil next to it, flipping through to a blank page. she wrote the date at the top like always and wrote away. she refused to tell josh was the journal was originally used for, but he didn't mind. she looked at josh expectantly, waiting for him to begin talking. little did she know, he wouldn't be doing much other than asking questions that day.
"oh, i'm not gonna be the one sharing today." josh simply said, sitting back on the couch and sipping his cocoa as well. rosemary gave him a puzzled look, raising her eyebrow. "i'm gonna learn more about you since i know next to nothing. so uh, let's start off with something like, i dunno, what's your biggest fear?" josh decided he'd go straight for it because with rosemary he never felt like he had to sugar code anything. it was like she was impossible to offend, and he liked that.
rosemary looked taken aback by his question, taking a bit of time just staring at the paper. she'd write something, then she'd erase it. then she'd write something longer, then erase it again. it took her about fifteen minutes to even write down more than a few words, but josh didn't mind at all. he actually kind of regretted asking. was it too strong? she was patient with him warming up to her, so he should be the same.
finally, rosemary stopped writing. she scanned over the page and slowly put down her pencil, holding out the journal to josh before she could change anything. the single word on the page was barely ledgible with the smudge behind it, the neatly lined paper completely empty except for one small word.
"love?" josh read aloud and furrowed his eyebrows at her answer, but he tried not to be judgemental. maybe something happened to her. an ex, divorced parents, anything.
"mind telling me why?" josh questioned slowly, raising his eyebrows. "you don't have to, of course. i get it," he added quickly out of respect for her. if he went headfirst, she'd get uncomfortable and make him leave. that's the last thing he wanted.
rosemary took the journal from his hands and jotted down some more stuff, but this was shorter. it seemed she already had an answer to his question. that was josh's thought until she erased the whole thing, and started to write again. after repeating this for a bit, he finally seemed to come up with an answer. she stared at her response for a few minutes, looking from josh to the journal a few times. josh knew she was contemplating giving him her answer, and he'd be completely okay if she didn't. he had gotten her to at least tell him one thing personal, and that was enough for him to be happy. she hesitantly handed him the journal, he decided not to read it aloud.
'loving someone is trusting them enough to give them everything you can with the knowledge they can rip you to shreds in less than a minute.'
josh's jaw almost dropped, swallowing the lump in his throat and nodding a bit. he never took rosemary as the type to be afraid of anything. especially something so many people strived for.
"can i ask you more questions...? i just wanna get to know you because, y'know, i think you're really cool.." josh admitted, his shyness deciding to come into effect. when he looked back up from his lap, he saw rosemary's cheeks were a bit more pink than usual. and that famous closed lip smile he had become fond of had come back onto her features. she nodded her head finally, meeting eyes with josh for a few seconds. he never noticed how bright her eyes were until then.
"okay, cool, um... this one's a bit weird, but, how do you live here? it's so big and empty and cold, it's museum quality. it just seems like it would be really lonely, especially if you don't have a roommate." josh studied her facial expression to see if she'd look offended or anything, that was the last of what he wanted.
rosemary didn't look offended at all, to josh's relief, instead, she just began writing. the sound of a pencil against paper usually irritated josh, but this time, it was oddly peaceful. soon enough she was handing josh the journal again. he felt like a kid passing notes in class, but it wasn't so much of a bad feeling.
'i don't know. i deem the question too difficult answer without considering much.' her words dripped with intelligence, even though she didn't use that big of words. josh almost didn't understand her answer, if he was honest.
"oh. that's okay, you can think about it." josh smiled reassuringly, handing back the journal. then, another question popped into his head. it was a bit of an iffy one, but he decided he'd ask just in case she would answer.
"why were you at that cemetery on wednesday?" he asked casually, pulling his feet onto the couch and curling up as he awaited her response. her eyes went wide, and all the blood seemed to drain from her face. she looked down at her lap and shook her head, keeping her eyes off josh. though, he did catch a glimpse of her face. he noticed that the light reflected off the whites of her eyes in an unusual way, he could have sworn they looked glossier than usual.
"shoot, i'm sorry, don't answer that. that was stupid of me to ask. i- i just saw you in there on wednesday while i was running a- and i just wanted to know, i'm really sorry, i shouldn't have asked that-" josh rambled, scooting a bit closer to rosemary to try and comfort her. she flinched at his hand on her shoulder and picked her head up, looking away from him and towards the stairs. she held up a finger to excuse herself and got up, rushing up the stairs with her head down. josh sighed and threw his head back on the couch, his hands dragging down his face.
"joshua william dun, how stupid can you get?" he asked himself aloud. but, he was left to wonder; why did she get so upset?
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a/n: aloha, i have things i wanna implement and i dunno how. i have an idea though. so just a warning so nobody gets confused; no one else will be killed off in this story anytime soon.
