Rose was a rotund ball.

Or at least, that's how she felt. There was almost nothing left of the picnic food, and a decent chunk of the apples they had picked were missing too. Rose's wineglass had spilled on the blanket, around which time Sebastian had snuck the almost empty bottle away from her.

It wasn't her fault. It was delicious.

"Do you know," Rose started, stretching her feet out across the blanket and onto the grass. "The last whole month, mother cut off all my food? It was horrible, I really like eating," she lamented. "You should know that. I really really like eating."

"Yeah?" Sebastian raised an eyebrow, an amused smile dancing on his lips. Rose nodded earnestly.

"I 'had to fit into the dress', apparently. I don't get it. What's the point of money if you can't just alter the dress? To fit me?"

"Truly. Unfair."

"Good. You agree. Come let's pick some more apples," she said as she stood up, only to promptly stumble and collapse back down. "Huh," she looked at the ground, surprised.

"Feet not cooperating?" Sebastian asked, poorly masked laughter in his voice.

"No," Rose frowned, but quickly brightened up, distracted by yet another thought. "Seb," she started, pondering on the newly given nickname for a second, before continuing. "Seb, Seb. Question. Do you have a bleb–" she stopped, frowning. "Belub," she tried again. "Beloved!" Rose finally managed, looking joyous "Yes. Do you? Are they sad? Are you?"

Sebastian chuckled. "Nope. No bleb-belub-beloved here," he said, grinning wider as Rose frowned, taking multiple seconds to realise he was making fun of her.

"I did," she started conspirationally, but Sebastian immediately cut in.

"Oh, no no. Nope. You are not telling me anything that sober Rose would not want leaked."

"Boo," Rose complained. "I want to talk."

"Is that so?" Sebastian asked as he meticulously packed everything back into the baskets. "You can talk about..." Seb looked around. "Bunnies. That seems safe."

"I think we should take some bunnies home," Rose mumbled, her eyes following the path of a fat little brown rabbit who had hopped too close. Before Sebastian could interfere, Rose leaped forward, arms outstretched. The alarmed rabbit immediately hopped away in a flurry, leaving Rose with her face in the grass.

"Oh, Jesus," Seb muttered, dashing forward. "Shit. Are you hurt?"

He gently lifted her up, swinging an arm under her for support. Rose didn't look too scuffed up, save for the bits of grass stuck to her forehead, and the extremely upset expression plastered across her face.

"He's gone," she sighed, looking up at Sebastian.

Sebastian carefully removed the grass from her face. "The bunny?" he asked. "I'll get you one, if you want."

Rose looked at him silently for a while, and then nodded. "A blue one," she demanded, before trying to walk off again.

"Nope," Sebastian immediately stepped in, holding her around the shoulder. "This way," he said, steering her towards the exit. Rose walked alongside, albeit somewhat unwillingly. Her sulkiness grew greater still when she noticed the car.

"I don't want to go back!"

"Come on, my house isn't that bad," Sebastian complained. Keeping her steady with one hand, he opened the door on her side. "Come. It'll get dark soon."

"But it's so nice here," Rose mumbled, the corners of her lips turning down. With her knit brows, messed up hair and watery eyes, she was quite the portrait of dejection.

"We'll come here again," Sebastian said, and then quickly added, "Pinky promise."

Rose's pinky twirled around his, grasping it tight. "And you'll get me a bunny."

Sebastian laughed. "And I'll get you a bunny."

-🥀-

The music was loud, thrumming against the walls of the club so hard, Rose was sure the building was shaking. The writhing, sweaty bodies were illuminated only partly by the strobing lights overhead, and, paired with the copious amounts of alcohol and hormones, they created quite the dizzying scene.

Rose didn't feel dizzy at all, though. She felt anxious. She felt nervous. She felt excited. But most importantly, she felt alive.

Awake.

The last entire year had felt like a trance. A hazy, tired, repetitive trance that she couldn't break out of. The same monotony, day in, day out, that had rendered even the sting of alcohol and the thrill of nameless hookups stale.

Until tonight.

Until him.

Rose had never seen someone so beautiful.

He was absolutely breathtaking, and she hadn't been able to pull her eyes off him all evening. Dark, thick hair pulled back into a small ponytail, with some locks of hair framing his face, he looked like someone had hewn him out of stone. She could picture him being dug out of ancient roman ruins, with his strong nose and sharp jaw untouchable, even by time itself.

But no. Not stone. No stone could capture the soft, swirling magic of his eyes.

Thats what drew her to him. Those glorious, cursed eyes.

She wanted, needed, to be closer. If for nothing else, then to just look. That would be enough. He was absolutely beautiful, and she just had to look at him. Closer.

It should have been difficult, getting to him in that mess of people. She should have had to fight through a thicket of sticky limbs and damp clothes. But it wasn't. Inspite of the collective alcohol induced daze everybody seemed to be in, they parted around her. Like they knew. This was it. This was the beginning of the end. She was a curse walking, and nobody wanted to be in her path.

Maybe she could have stopped. Maybe he could have walked away.

"Hi," she breathed, inches from the blue eyed boy.

He smiled down at her, a sharp and gorgeous lopsided tug of his lips across the chiseled planes of his face. "Hey, stalker."

Rose's face flushed red, but she wouldn't let that stop her.

"That's quite the accusation," she said, leaning against the same wall as him, the stem of her drink held precariously between two fingers.

"What other word would you use, then?"

"Just," she took a step forward, face tilted up to meet his eyes. "A person who can appreciate pretty things."

"Oh, a pretty thing, am I?" his smirk gave way to full grin.

"You?" Rose raised an eyebrow. "Now when did I ever say that?"

She straightened up, going up on her tiptoes. Reaching out with her free hand, she grasped the cold metal straw of his elaborately decorated green drink, and leaned forward to catch it between her lips.

"Tastes pretty, too," she smirked, going back to her wall, the sharpness of the drink still fresh on her tongue.

The boy looked slightly taken aback, but only for a second. "You know," he started conspirationally. "I myself haven't tasted it yet."

Catching his drift, Rose wrapped her fingers around his glass. "And I tend to get really clumsy when I'm drunk," she muttered, before flicking her wrist, sending the entire contents of the glass hurtling towards the floor.

"What a shame," the boy whispered, taking a step forward.

"Guess there's just one way to taste–"

Rose had barely finished her sentence, before his lips were on hers.

She wasn't sure who had initiated it. But it didn't really matter. All that did, was the feel of his soft lips against hers, and the hint of alcohol she could taste off his lips.

"You're right," he mumbled, breaking apart for a second. "Tastes pretty."

His lips were back on hers, kissing her in a frenzy. Her back hit the wall, and she barely even noticed her own drink shattering against the floor as her hands came up to grasp his shirt, pulling him closer. His hand went up to grab her hair, fingers entwining in her wild red curls as his teeth caught her bottom lip between them. She moaned, softly, as she pushed her tongue against his, a feeling much more potent than any alcohol coursing through her veins. It was electric, every single touch, every moan, every drunken whisper.

And then, it was hot.

Too hot.

Rose's eyes flew open, and her mouth opened in a silent scream as flames danced across the club, turning everything around it to ashes in seconds.

"No, please, no," she whispered, but she knew. It was hopeless.

The blue eyed boy was blissfully unaware, pressing kisses against her collarbone, even as flames rose up all around him. Hot tears streamed down her face as she grabbed at him, trying to pull him closer, trying to keep the flames away. But to no avail. She knew, by now, how the flames worked. She had to know.

They wouldn't touch her.

They would consume him.

He looked up, for a second, his eyes meeting hers in the middle of the inferno. An unbearable amount of emotions swam in them, filled with words and memories and pain.

And then he was gone, leaving her behind in an empty room, with ashes falling on her like soft snow.

—🥀—

A/N: Hello hello! First chapter of 2025! Thoughts?

I have recently been wondering if I should start an Instagram account. I'm usually DYING between updates to tell you all more about the story, so that could be an outlet for me to give you guys little snippets! And deleted chapters, because there are many of those already. Frankly, it's a little concerning.

Let me know if you're all on insta, and if you'd be interested in following me and Rose's story on there!

Have a good week (and year!) ahead, see you all next Tuesday <3