The Beauty of a Rose

Chapter 1

I was never really the centre of attention. At home, my parents' lives revolved around my younger sister. At school, I was more or less a wallflower.

Don't get me wrong, I understood why so much of my parents' focus was on Rose. Born two months premature she had quite a few health complications. And I loved her to pieces, but still I craved attention, acceptance, and love from my parents. My dad was always at the office. His job was very demanding, but we needed the money for all of Rose's appointments. Mom was always home, but whenever she wasn't looking after Rose she was cooking or cleaning. That's why I never thought I'd have to worry about them noticing when my life started to go downhill.

Let me bring you back a while. Junior year, second week of first semester. There was a new student in our class this year, and he quickly caught my eye. Quinten was everything I'd ever imagined in a guy, and then some. Apparently it didn't take long for me to catch his eye either.

My school threw a Christmas semi-formal every year. The gym would be decorated with all kinds of pretty lights and fake snow. It was magical. I'd always wanted to go, but all of my friends always had dates, and well, I didn't. Not until this year at least. Quinten and I had math and spare together. We didn't talk a whole lot, just a bit here and there, so when he asked me if I would go to the dance with him I was shocked. And even more shocking, I would've never imagined that a perfect night like that could lead to something so incredibly difficult just over a year later.

We had been going out for just over a year, and he always treated me like a princess. Opening doors for me, pulling out my chair. He was a gentleman. I loved him. One night, he had set up a special date night for us. We tried to do something special like that every month. Not anything crazy expensive, just something sweet and special. This month, Quinten wanted to plan the date, so I left it up to him, and was pleasantly surprised when he showed up at my door. He was clean, shaven and dressed like a prince. He opened the car door for me and then we were on our way. It was dark out, but the stars shone through beautifully. It was truly a perfect night. We pulled into the small parking lot near the old town centre. It used to be home to my favorite complex. The movie theatres and restaurants in here were the sweetest. As he pulled the car into a parking space, I noticed some small lights suspended above the lot over in the far corner. Quinten came around and opened the door for me. He took my hand and walked me towards the lights, which I could now see were set up above a small table, just large enough for two. On either side of the table were small folding chairs and in front of each of those a white serviette and a set of silverware. He pulled out my chair to invite me to sit, went around and took a seat himself, then pulled out a box of matches. He pulled one out and lit it on the side of the box and then proceeded to light two tall candles in the centre of the table. Out came his younger brother, dressed as a waiter and carrying a beautiful dinner on a plate for either of us.

The night was magical. We got back to my house late. There was a note left on the front door. Mom and Rose went to pick Dad up from work and were going to stop for ice cream on their way back. Quinten leaned in to kiss me good night. His lips were soft and warm. His hands slid around my waist and pulled me in closer. I fumbled with the doorknob behind my back and we ran inside. Neither of us were planning on doing anything, so we didn't have anything with us. We were sure we'd be fine, it was only once. Little did we know then once is all it takes.