Sunshine (Take Two Sequel)

Chapter 29: Winter

Rose was staying with me this weekend and I couldn't be more excited. I needed some time alone with her. I loved my friends, but there was too much going on right now. Lilly was almost five months pregnant, Freddie and Jim just got married, and we never saw John and Veronica anymore. They were so focused on their son. I hope Lilly's not like that when she has the twins. Venus will never stay in business if our lead singer is too focused on her children.

I was about to leave to pick Rose up at the airport, but when I opened the door, she was already standing there.

"Surprise!" She said happily. I smiled and hugged her.

"How did you get here?" I asked her.

"I took an Uber," she said. "My flight got in early and I didn't feel like waiting because I missed you."

"That's so sweet," I said. "But you could have called me."

"Yeah I thought about that," she said. "But I thought it would be more fun to surprise you!" I gave her a kiss and helped her with her bags.

"So what do you want to do?" I asked her.

"We haven't seen each other in two months," she said. "I think you know what I want to do." She picked up a candle and lit it, seductively. I laughed softly.

"That does sound like fun," I said. "But can we eat first? I was kind of waiting for you to get dinner and I'm starving." Rose chuckled.

"Sounds good," she said. We headed out to my favorite Italian restaurant: Valentina's.

"This place is great," Rose said. "How did you find it?"

"My guitarist parents own it," I said. "They actually have a few around the country and a few bakeries too."

"Rory's parents own this place?" Rose exclaimed. "That's amazing! I wonder why Lilly never told me that."

"Have you talked to her lately?" I asked her. Rose sighed.

"You know we're not that close," she said. "Besides, she supports us, but you know she stills feels a little weird about our whole situation."

"Right," I said. "Well, at least your dad is ok with us, right?" Rose cleared her throat and looked away. "Right?" I urged her to answer.

"I haven't actually told him about us," she said. "I just told him I wasn't going to law school, I couldn't tell him about us on top of that! He doesn't even know I like women and honestly... he's not your biggest fan."

"What?" I snapped. "He doesn't even know me!"

"No," Rose said. "But he knows you're in a band with Lilly and that's enough for him. He doesn't like you, Ella or Rory. He thinks you turned Lilly towards music when he wanted her to do something more practical." I sighed.

"So what does he think you're doing here?" I asked her.

"He doesn't know I'm here," Rose said. "I'm in college, he doesn't know where I go on the weekends."

"Your semester is over," I said.

"He doesn't know that," Rose said. "He thinks I'm done next Friday. After this, I'm going to Malibu with my friend for a week." I sighed again and shook my head. "I will tell him about us eventually," Rose continued. "I promise. Do we really need to talk about this? I don't want anything to spoil this weekend." She reached over and stroked my hand. I grabbed her hand and she smiled at me.

"Don't worry," I said. "Nothing will ruin it." I smiled back at her as we continued eating.

After dinner, we started heading back to my house. We had to stop when two firetrucks zoomed by us. As we drove further down the road we realized we were following them.

"Those trucks have been in front of us for a long time," Rose said.

"Yeah," I said. "That's not a good thing. I hope they're not going to my street."

"I doubt it," Rose said. "I wouldn't worry about-" She stopped talking when we pulled up to my house. We both looked at it in shock. My entire house was up in flames.

"Oh my God!" I yelled as we both got out of the car. We started running up to the house, but one of the firemen stopped us.

"Ladies, you can't go near there!" He yelled.

"That's my house!" I yelled back. "How did this happen?"

"It started in the living room," he said. "Something ignited the curtains and it spread throughout the house."

"The candle," I heard Rose mumble under her breath. I looked over at her and narrowed my eyes.

"You didn't blow it out before we left?" I snapped.

"I-I don't remember," she said nervously. "I'm sorry Winter, I'm so so sorry!"

"Oh you're sorry?" I yelled at her. "You burned my house down, and you're sorry? Well, great, that makes everything better then!"

"Winnie it was an accident," she said.

"Yeah an accident that left me homeless," I yelled again. "Where the hell am I gonna sleep tonight?"

"We can get a hotel," Rose said.

"You can get a hotel," I snapped. "I'm going to Lilly and Roger's." I started walking back towards my car."

"Winter wait-"

"Don't follow me!" I snapped. I got in my car and drove towards Lilly and Roger's house without another word.