Chapter 33

**Rose**

Like the good friend he was, Ry was constantly trying to cheer me up since the break-up. And like the good friend I was, I agreed. Ryan was a very sensitive person, and I didn’t want to hurt his feelings. It seemed as if he’d put quite some though into this, so I decided to go along with it. I’d been forced to dress up and meet him at the park.

So here I was: on time, dressed up, waiting patiently for Ryan to turn up. I decided to go all out and wear my pretty pink, strapless dress. It couldn’t hurt to try, right?

Thirty minutes passed, and Ryan still hadn’t shown up. It wasn’t like him to be so late. As the time went on I began to get worried, and I decided to text him.

*Rose: Are you okay, Ry? Where are you?*

It took him five minutes to answer- again, it’s not like him.

*Ryan: What are you talking about? I’m fine… Where are you?*

My eyebrows furrowed in confusion, and I looked around for him. He wasn’t here, so what the hell was he talking about?

*Rose: I’m at the park, waiting for you!*

My feet were killing me, and I was beginning to get irritable. I’d (stupidly) decided to walk to the park since it wasn’t too far from my house. But let me tell you, it felt one hell of a lot longer in heels.

*Ryan: I’m at your house.

Rose: Why?

Ryan: I thought we were meeting at your house?

Rose: No, you said the park.

Ryan: Are you coming to your house or what?

Rose: Sure, but can you pick me up? My feet are killing me.

Ryan: Nope.

Rose: What the hell, Ryan! Why not?

Ryan: I don’t feel like it, now hurry up!

Rose: I swear to god, Ry. I’ll kill you when I get back. On my way now.*

I was so going to give him a piece of my mind once I was close enough to lay my hands on him. I finally came to the conclusion that I couldn’t kill him at the park and started to walk all the way home again.

Pointless.

******

I unlocked the front door and walked inside my house, angrily kicking off my shoes as I did so. It was time to kill Ryan by throwing a piece of my mind at him- hard.

All I needed to do was find the sneaky bastard.

“Ryan?” I called out in my sweetest voice.

He didn’t answer, smart boy. But it didn’t even seem like he was in the house at all; every single light was turned off.

I shouted his name again, this time a little louder. There was still no reply, and the house hung in definite silence.

Until the piano started playing, and the person doing the playing knew what they were doing. It wasn’t Ryan in the house; he couldn’t play a piano if his life depended on it. It also wasn’t Trent, who got the piano along with every other instrument ever invented when he wanted to be a musician. Let me tell you, he found out he had no musical talent pretty damn fast- hadn’t set a toe in the music room since.

So curiosity got the best of me, and I walked towards the music room to discover that it did actually have the lights on. I pushed open the door and my eyes widened at the sight before me.

“Grant?” My voice barely made a sound, his name coming out as a whisper rather than my usual volume. He still heard me, though; I could tell because his head snapped up. But he carried on playing, and after a moment he began to sing.

*Watch my life,

Pass me by,

In the rear view mirror

Pictures frozen in time

Are becoming clearer

I don't wanna waste another day

Stuck in the shadow of my mistakes*

When he finished my eyes were watering like a leaky tap. I wiped my cheeks with the back of my hand as he got up from the stool and came over to me. With a red rose in his hand, Grant knelt down in front of me and stared up into my eyes, catching my gaze.

“I know that I hurt you, Rose. And I know that, if I was you, I’d hate me too. But you have to know… You have to know that I’m so, so sorry, and I will never cheat on you ever again.”

“Grant—“

“Hey,” he interrupted me, “if I do then I give you full permission to castrate me. I actually mean that.” Despite myself a small smile made its way onto my face. “So what do you say?”

Grant held the rose out to me and waited for me to answer.

I opened my mouth to speak but nothing came out. What was I supposed to say?

Should I take him back?