[Rosie] I Can See In Your Eyes

[Declan Maxwell O'Reilly]

Declan turned his neck to the side and let it pop before he opened his eyes and looked back down at the list of things that Mr.Madison had given to him. He was in his debt, for a lot of things actually, but he wouldn’t accept money. And he was doing something so personal for Declan’s family, that he sort of felt like however he paid him back should be a bit more personal than writing a check. So for the last couple of days he was working from before the sunrise until the sun had long set. It was sort of amusing to him.. after all of these years he’d met Rosie Madison. Ever since he was a kid he had heard it. ‘ That Rosie Madison, she sure is cute. She wants to be a vet.. their property is right next to ours, you should go over and introduce yourself.’ The timing never worked, ever. She had field hockey practice. He was gone to camp. They didn’t go to the same schools, he left to go to uni, she stayed in school. He left to do stage theater, she left for the states. He started taking film roles, and then the most important woman in his life got cancer. The most beautiful, caring, affectionate woman he had ever known, the one who had so desperately wanted him to meet Rosie Madison, was clinging to her cancer treatments. If she had seen how their meeting had gone, she probably would’ve slapped him upside the head. Surely that wasn’t how she had planned things. Rosie was so butthurt over that Ethan kid, it was a bit annoying. Since they didn’t really seem to hit it off, he never gave his last name. No need. But then his father had called about his mother, so he came back home to England. Spend a little time with his family… get to work on the Madison’s land to pay back their father… it would be good to get away from New York for a while, away from ‘the scene’, go back to being that English farmboy he was. And Rosie didn’t like him, he was just ‘another person’, so surely she’d be glad he was off of her continent.

Declan reached back, feeling the sweat against his shirt before he pulled his earphones out, slidng the wire out from being tucked under his shirt before he took the shirt off completely and threw it off to the side. After looking down at his iPhone, he quickly changed the song. He’d been listening to Flogging Molly all day, time to switch it up. If music was good, it didn’t matter who sang it. He slid the iphone into the back of his jeans, placing the earbuds back into place as he made his way out to one of the woodsheds out by the main barn. There was still so much hay to move, wood to chop, fencing to repair. He rubbed his hand against the side of his arm, his muscles were already starting to ache from the few days of work. He hadn’t realized how he was probably taking his anger out about his mother out on the poor wood falling apart in the fencing as he tried to repair it the last few days. But he had been working for a few hours, trying to fix a gate in the barn so that the horses couldn’t get out at night anymore instead of running free in the barn like they had been the last month or so. Once that was finished he put his hands on his knees and stood up slowly. Water was definitely something he wanted, considering how much he was sweating. But if he was going to go back to the house he didn’t want to do so empty handed. He could chop a bit of wood first since Mr.Madison wanted some to be placed next to the house. Save himself a trip… about a half hour later he piled some of the wood pile into a wheel barrow and made his way towards the house, shaking the sweat off of his hair. He narrowed his eyebrows as Libby came out onto the back porch, saying something excitedly, though for the life of him he couldn’t tell you what, considering the music was turned up all the way. He reached up, taking out one of the earphones, “ What was that, Libby?” he asked, but he had his answer soon enough. ‘ Rosie’s home!” she said excitedly again, before three bodies came out onto the porch. Meredith, Mr.Madison…..Rosie…. Declan lowered the wheel barrow, bringing his other hand up to take out his other earphone. ‘ Holllly shit they breed em good here’ Meredith said as she looked at his chest and then nudged Libby, giving her a look of approval. ‘ Declan, this is my daughter Rosie’ her father offered. Declan licked his lips, giving a small nod. “ I think I’ve seen her ad work, sir. Pleasure to meet you,” he said, bringing his eyes back up to Rosie, probably going through the same train of thought she was.

Song Listening To When Coming To The House

[Rose Elliot Madison]

Rosie didn't think she'd ever felt more like she was being attacked than she did when that guy Declan just decided to give all his opinions about her life. As if she'd asked for his opinion. And honestly, he hadn't really told her anything she didn't know already. As he had pointed out correctly, she knew she couldn't be a model the rest of her life. And to be fair, she had never wanted to be a model. She'd never grown up dreaming of wearing bikini's on far away beaches. She'd just gotten discovered, randomly when she was in London one weekend. She was fifteen. She wanted to go to university. She wanted to travel. She wanted to do something useful. She had wanted to be a veterinarian actually, though that was a long forgotten dream. The only thing in her way was money. Sure she grew up on a several hundred acre farm out in Essex, but that didn't mean they had money. They had enough money to get by and keep what they had. The farm had been inherited. Their dad had grown up there, and his dad before that. At age fifteen, Rosie knew if she wanted to go to college, she was going to have to find a way to do it herself. And that one weekend in London, when some model scout had found her, for a fifteen year old it had seemed like all the answers to her problems. She had been naive, but the promise of money had convinced her. Because as the modelling agency took her lanky, awkward, too tall self and turned her into a budding young model with all the promise in the world, all she could see was university getting that much closer. And modelling had never been all that bad. Sure she'd never really thought of herself of pretty until then, she was a tomboy, she played field hockey. But she'd grown to love herself more, it gave her more confidence. And she got to travel to more places than she had ever been able to before. And the best part, she had found another family. People like Declan could trash her career choices, but she would never trade it. Victoria's Secret had brought her her best friend Madeline, without whom she didn't know how she'd get by. It may have been a naive decision made by a fifteen year old trying to find the fastest route to affording university for herself and her sister, but she sure as hell would never regret it. She'd gotten too may good things out of it. Maybe modeling underwear wasn't the most decent of careers, but her life would have been so, so different otherwise, she couldn't even bear to think about it.

But still, she'd been thinking a lot lately of what the hell she was doing in her life, modeling underwear, not sure what she was studying at university, pining after a guy who didn't want her and would probably never want her. Rosie thought now perhaps that was why she had never actually confessed her feelings for Ethan; deep down she knew she would never be what he was looking for. He didn't want fame, he didn't want people in his private life... and Rosie was a household name whether she liked it or not. She could drop off the face of the earth and people would still know who she was. Ethan didn't want that, and she should have seen that earlier, before she fell so hard for him she was scraping herself up off the floor. Now she just felt like an idiot for naively thinking it would have worked between them, giving herself to him on a silver platter. That had been her lowest point. She promised herself she wouldn't do that again. She couldn't, simply because she wasn't sure she could handle being rejected again. She just hoped that Ethan didn't take too much of what Declan said to heart. They had been good friends, and now she feared that was ruined too. She should have never slept with him. Bad judgment on her part, and now she had to deal with the consequences. She could be so dumb sometimes. But then, she had to remind herself, people acted stupid when they let their feelings cloud their common sense. Stupid Ethan. Stupid her. She wanted to take a shower and wash the slut out of herself. Everything felt wrong and she hated who she was becoming. Desperate girl, unable to move forward in life, gets naked for a living, stupidly sleep with guys hoping they might feel something for you in return, but really all she got in return was half of herself. She'd never realized how reserved she acted around Ethan. Like acting like her bubbly self wasn't good for him. Stupid, stupid, stupid. She needed to go home.

Which was why she was now in front of her home, grabbing her single suitcase from the trunk and walked up to the front door. She had been more than happy to bring Meredith with her. Meredith had to be one of the least judgmental people she knew, and Meredith also saw first hand how Rosie's life had slowly taken a decline. Meredith understood the Ethan stuff, and the Declan thing, which was just annoying. She was glad to just be as far away as possible from that guy, thinking he could just get in her face and talk to her about her life, as if it was his business. If he was trying to be helpful he had a really fucking weird way of doing so. Rosie opened the front door, setting her bag down and shut eh door before heading down the hall a little ways, passing the little library completely before she heard, "Libby, I- Rose?" Rosie back tracked, peeking her head into the library, "Dad?" Her dad was in there sitting in his high backed chair n the corner, reading the paper. He was never in here during the day, he was usually outside doing yard work or tending to the animals. "Elliot!" her dad said in surprise, setting his paper down and stood up, shaking his head, "I swear Libby looks more like you every day, I thought you were your sister. Why didn't you say you were coming home?" Rosie hugged her dad, sighing, "It was sort of last minute. Dad, this is my very good friend Meredith, Meredith, this is my dad." Rosie's dad leaning down and hugged Meredith, telling her it was nice to meet her. Rosie turned around when she heard footsteps pounding down the stairs, just in time for Libby to fling herself at Rosie, "Rosie! We didn't know you were coming!" Rosie hugged her sister tightly, looking at her in disbelief, "Good lord, Lib, you're almost as tall as me? When did that happen?" There was a lot of hugging and introductions and then Libby went straight out the back door, yelling to someone that Rosie was indeed, home. "Who's she talking to?" "Farmhand, that boy over the way, the O'Reilly boy? He's been helping out around here." Rosie nodded and followed him out onto the back porch. That explained why he was inside relaxing.

It was funny though, as much as Rosie had heard about 'that O'Reilly boy', she'd never actually met him. Sure they were neighbors, but there were hundreds acres between them. it wasn't exactly a quick trip next door. They'd never gone to the same school, he'd been into other things, Rosie breathed field hockey when she was younger. However as Rosie looked out into the yard at the shirtless guy doing work for her father, Meredith making a comment about his attractiveness, Rosie felt her heart stop. What. The. Hell. Was this the punishment she got for being such a slut? Was the universe punishing her? She looked up at the clear blue sky, thinking to herself, Seriously? Clearly God was just sending some karma her way or something, was she combining religions right now? That stupid Declan was in her yard and things made more sense. Declan O'Reilly. She knew that. She'd just wanted to get as far from him and everything else in New York as possible, and here he was, in her yard shirtless, her sister grinning at him and her father looking at him like the son he never had. God hated her, that was so obvious to her now. She nodded, looking at him, "You too," and then looked away toward the barn. What were the frickin odds, huh? Libby spoke up, looking at Meredith, "Meredith, if you want I can show you where you can put your stuff," Rosie nodded, collecting her thoughts, trying to ignore Declan, "Oh, yeah, that would be nice Libby, you can show her to one of the spare rooms." "Cool. Come on Meredith," Rosie watched her sister go in the house, "I'll be in in a minute, I'll just be in the barn..." she shrugged. Her father nodded, "Sadie's waiting for you, I'm sure." Rosie headed down the steps and across the grass, not daring to look at Declan. She really didn't want to hear any more of his opinions about her life at the moment, maybe another day. She passed him, going into the barn and noticed his work. Well, at least he was useful to her father. Rosie spotted Sadie in her usual stall, her chestnut coat as shiny and pretty as ever. Rosie approached her slowly, their eyes meeting, like seeing an old friend again after a long time of being apart. Sadie recognized her, almost like Rosie hadn't been gone for months, and months before that. it was funny, as Rosie stroked Sadie's muzzle, she knew immediately why she never visited home often. She knew that if she came home she would never want to leave. She loved it too much, her horse, her dad, playing field hockey with Libby out in the pastures, swimming in the creek, sitting in her stupid tree that had always felt more like home than anything. And that stupid Declan was here, like the one thing that didn't fit.

[Declan Maxwell O'Reilly]

Declan watched the look of realization across Rosie’s face and let a smirk spread across his lips slowly as he started to take his gloves off before throwing them onto the wood piled inside of the wheel barrow. He listened as Libby talked about taking Meredith to show her the room. He was vaguely aware of who she was, her name had been thrown around. Ethan seemed adamant on the fact that Dan should take what is offered to him. But the entire time he kept his eyes on Rosie, even when she took off for the barn. ‘ How is the barn looking?’ her father asked and Declan gave a quiet laugh, “ Probably better now, sir” he said, since Rosie was on her way out to it. ‘ She is a beautiful girl..’ her father agreed. “ Yes, sir..” he said, giving him a nod. There was a look in her dads eyes. He saw it in a lot of dads eyes, but he shook his head, “ Don’t worry, she’s not interested. No need to threaten to kill me if I hurt her,” he said as he started to wrap his earphones around his iphone. ‘ Have you two met before?” he questioned. “ Yeah we have some mutual friends in New York..” he started off before taking in a deep breath. He really was thirsty. “ She didn’t take on with me too well,” he said with an amused grin. ‘ What happened exactly?’ he questioned and Declan threw his hand down to the side as he spoke. “ That she was too smart to be taking her clothes off for a living and that it was meant for people who had nothing else to offer. That she shouldn’t chase after a boy who she flickers around instead of shining bright. “ he said honestly. He nodded as her father grunted, not really offering much of a response before Libby came out. ‘ Are you thirsty, D?” she said as she came bouncing out and Declan let out a sigh of relief. Water. The reason he had journeyed up here in the first place. “ I might be dying,” he said dryly before he came over to her and smiled, taking the bottle of water from her before he gave her a hug and ruffled her hair. “ We can cancel tonights dinner.. you need to spend time with your sister, and uh.. I could make dinner for my mum,” he said as he gave a slight nod. “ But we’re still on for horseback riding tomorrow,” he said as he took a drink from his bottle.
“ Speaking of the horses.. you mind going out and tending to the hay?” her father asked and Declan lowered the water bottle from his mouth. “ Absolutely,” he said before he finished the bottle of water as quickly as he could and then offered the empty bottle back to Libby. Declan took in a deep breath and made his way over to the barn, looking at the doors for a moment before he made his way inside. He picked up his shirt, shaking it out so that the hay came off of it and pulled it on over his shoulders before he smoothed it out over his stomach. He smiled as Sadie neighed at his presence and walked over to her. “ Top of the morning to you, Sade..” he said, bringing his hand to the hair on the back of her neck before he ran it back and forth. He leaned over, picking up some of the sugar cubes he had put it a pail nailed to the wall and held his hand out to her, letting her take them from his palm before he patted his hand gently against her cheek and walked away from her. He cast a sideways look at Rosie before he made his way over to the other side of the barn, focusing on the stack of hay. “Did I really get underneath your skin so bad that you had to come visit your family, angel?” he asked, picking up a stack of hay by the rope tied around it before he started to carry it over to the other side of the barn and set it down. “ You know.. it wouldn’t be so easy to get under your skin if so much of it wasn’t exposed all the time,…” he said teasingly with a grin before he picked up another stack of hay. He slowed down as he approached her, “ You do look nice today… shame you don’t give a shit about my opinion,” he said, turning away from her to drop some more hay.

[Rose Elliot Madison]

Rosie grabbed a brush off the hook on the wall, gently stroking Sadie's coat. She knew every curve of her limbs, her muscles, all the ways her mane hung, all straight and shiny. She loved this horse. She'd forgotten how much she loved this horse. Forgot how much this horse loved her, which came rushing back, as Sadie nuzzled back against her. Rosie dropped the brush back on its hook, wrapping her arms around Sadie and closed her eyes. To be a kid again, doing this exact same thing, with this exact same horse. Rosie looked up when she saw someone come in. Declan of course. It was like she just couldn't escape the guy. Maybe she wasn't supposed to. Maybe the universe really was telling her something, or just punishing the shit out of her. She moved away from Sadie when Declan came over, offering her a sugar cube. At least he'd put a shirt on, it was really annoying that he was attractive, as much as she despised admitting it. She didn't have anything to say to him, at least not at the moment. What she didn't understand was why he felt so inclined to give her his opinion about her life. Like why did he care. he'd gone across the room to move hay, and Rosie had gone over to where there were some bridles hanging, hearing him make a comment about her coming home. She shrugged, saying in his direction, "I was due for a visit anyways." Rosie moved over to Sadie, fitting the bridle over her head, making it comfortable, because spinning around, hands on her hips. She didn't even know what make it come up in her mind, like suddenly she just remembered, "Well you WOULD know, wouldn't you, having used to be a stripper and all." she smirked, scrunching her nose. She ignored his comment about looking nice today, glancing at him and looked away, grabbing the reigns from where they hung and fastened them to Sadie's bridle, "We do seem to have more in common than I remember..." she added quietly, laughing slightly. What the hell. She wanted to hate him, but her family loved the guy and she'd be an idiot not to admit this was hilarious in a lot of stupid ways. They'd definitely gotten off on the wrong foot, that was for sure. Maybe if he hadn't caught her so off guard she'd have taken to him better. The funny thing was, he hadn't told her a single thing she didn't already know, but she'd definitely been going down the wrong road for too long. He was a weird person to just barge into her world like that, but it was a little push back on the right track. A push no one else had sent her way. Most people just told her her work was great, and how pretty she was, made it all acceptable and okay. She'd forgotten the one person who hadn't ever been "okay" with it all was herself. Maybe it was because Rosie had trouble disliking people, or because judging people wasn't in he nature, since she was one easily judged anyways, but if her family liked this guy, she could give him the benefit of the doubt. Like maybe a starting over was in order. Rosie climbed up in the stall door, looking over at him, "Do you ride?" Stupid question, everyone out here did, mostly. Rosie swung her legs up and over Sadie, getting comfortable and situated. Rosie nodded her head in the direction of the other horses, raising her eyebrows. he could take a break from that hay, it wasn't going anywhere soon.

[Declan Maxwell O'Reilly]

Declan gave a short laugh as she brought up his history as a stripper as he carried over some more hay and dropped it. “ Don’t worry, angel. I wouldn’t dish it if I couldn’t take it,” he said with a grin before giving her a wink. He walked past her, ignoring her as she started to saddle up and kept working on the haystack so that her dad wouldn’t have to worry about it being done. He just finished dropping another load of hay when he heard her ask him whether or not he rode and he looked up at her, wiping his forearm against his forehead. “ Is that an invite?” he asked, laughing quietly to himself about the innuendo. He took in a deep breath, looking over his shoulder at the hay that still needed to be carried over. The sooner he got that done, the sooner he could probably get home to his mom. He brought his gaze back to Rosie, perched up on her horse and gave a slight nod. “ Sure,” he said, walking over to get his own saddle off of the wall before he made his way over to a different horse. After pulling himself up, he pulled on the reins and brought himself over to where Rosie was, “If your father asks questions about the hay… it’s your fault,” he said before kicking the side of his foot so the horse would take off.

Maybe he stated his opinion too much. Maybe he had no business telling Rosie what he thought. But he loved understanding people, he loved getting in there and just sort of figuring things out, walking away, leaving it at that. People amazed him. And maybe Rosie was slightly attractive when she was frustrated, and who wouldn’t take the opportunity to tick the girl off when she was being so cute when she was mad? So that had certainly fueled his motivation. She was half to blame here. Declan rode for a few miles before he slowed the horse down and sat still, looking out at the sun and the way it fell across their shared families land. He looked over at Rosie. She was running away from a lot of things… whatever he said to her, that alone wouldn’t have been enough to make her hop on a plane. She had said it herself, he was just a person. His opinion meant nothing. He looked away from her and back at the landscape before he licked his lips, “ Being out here sort of makes you feel like… none of it matters..” he said quietly, thinking back to his mom before he brought his hand up to the side of his face and scratched his jaw. He had come home to England too, but even then he was escaping his mothers problems by working on someone else’s land. She was right, they had a lot more in common than she remembered. That didn’t mean he was going to start sugar coating things, and it sure as hell didn’t mean she was going to join his fan club.

[Rose Elliot Madison]

Rosie waited while he decided whether to leave his work and go with her or stay. She honestly wouldn't have been offended either way, but she couldn't shale the feeling that leaving things on the wrong foot was a bad idea. She couldn't understand why someone who had frustrated her so much could be that fascinating at the same time, but she knew why. It was perhaps the fact that she'd been so used to Ethan, not saying much, and Declan being so different in the aspect that he had no problem apparently talking about whatever he fancied at the moment. If that happened to be life and her problems, that was also apparently not of limits to him. She wanted to hate him and tell him it was none of his business but... compared to Ethan, Declan was a breath of fresh air. Rosie had a feeling she wouldn't ever have to spend much time guessing what was on Declan's mind. Rosie rolled her eyes when he asked if that was an invite, "Did you want it to be?" she questioned, raising an eyebrow. No, stop it, she thought, could she seriously not turn off her flirting manner for five minutes? Rosie waited whilst Declan grabbed a saddle and another horse, looking down at Sadie whom she was riding bareback. She'd been so eager to get out of here and away from Declan she hadn't bothered to saddle her up, yet here she was, offering to go ride horses with him. Sadie would be okay for a short ride, she supposed. Rosie liked riding bareback better anyways. Rosie followed him out of the stable, letting Sadie match his pace before she passed him by a small amount. Well Sadie knew where she was going, and Rosie had no arguments. They'd rode this same path so many times before. Over the hills, through the tall grass, blowing across the land in waves. Rosie couldn't see Declan next to them, having gotten ahead a little bit. But for a minute or two she forgot about all the stuff she had to deal with recently, wind whipping her hair behind her and she let go of the reins, holding her arms out to the sides and let out a whoop. She held on with her legs. balancing herself naturally, like riding a bike. Like she hadn't gone months with out riding a horse. They reached the crest of a hill that looked out over the property, and she slowed down, bringing Sadie to a stop. Rosie laid down across Sadie's body wrapping her arms around her neck for a moment, hearing Declan speaking. "Yeah." That was for sure. Being out here made her forget she was a household name. Like being out here made her unknown for a moment. "Every time I come here, I never want to leave."

Rosie swung her legs over and gently let her self onto the ground. She hopped in front of Sadie, trying to get her to play. It wasn't hard, Sadie always ran with her, Rosie used to say when she was younger that she and Sadie played tag. At this point she didn't even really care if Declan thought she was a psycho, he was going to think what he wanted anyways. She spent a minute, running across the hillside chasing Sadie before Sadie turned and chased her back. She couldn't remember the last time she had smiled this big. Silly horse, they made for good life long friends. Rosie let out a breath and so did Sadie, who laid down in the tall grass, itching her belly before rolling onto her side. "Oh, you're just going to sun bathe now?" Rosie laughed, shaking her head. Rosie sat down in the grass facing the hills, leaning back on her hands, "Do you always just come at people like that, take them by surprise?" She glanced at him sideways before looking away. Probably he was just one of those people who loved to tell people what he thought about everything. Or something.

[Declan Maxwell O'Reilly]

Declan looked out over the land, still feeling tired from the work and he knew he was sweating. All he really wanted was to take his shirt off and cool off, but that wasn’t really an option right now. Plus, Rosie would come up with some stripper remark. He had watched her for a bit, the way she played with Sadie before he lowered himself from his own horse and went over to a small creek of water where he placed his hands in it and then ran it over his forearms and the back of his neck. He looked over at her as she spoke to him, wondering if he always ‘came at people like that’. “ I don’t come at people,” he said, drying his hands off on the back of his jeans. “ ‘ Coming at them’ would suggest I’m judging them negatively, which I’m not. Everything I said about you was true,” he said with a slight shrug of his shoulder. “ People in general fascinate me. What better topic to discuss than what makes someones wheels turn. If it pisses them off, they won’t be around long. If they stick around and are friends, then we eventually would have had that talk anyways,” he said matter of factly in his irish accent before he walked over to where she was sitting and laid down himself so that his feet were near her head and his own head was near her feet. “ I like for people to question who they are…what their choices are..” he said finally as he looked over at her.

“ I think that um.. a lot of the stuff I say, people already know,” he offered, shrugging his shoulder. “ I like for people to better themselves. If a better version of them is .. quitting being a lingerie model and going to school for what they always dreamed of being, awesome. I am glad that they do that. If a better version of them is just… realizing how happy they are doing that, and just decide to own it, then great. That’s good too. I don’t care if people hate me for it. I just like knowing that they put thought into things, that there has been a push for them… a push that either makes them decide to shake things up. Or a push that makes them realize just how happy they really are,..least they forget..” he said before he gave a small smirk and looked down at the grass between his fingers. “Your non-boyfriend boyfriend..” he said, bringing up Ethan as he looked over at Rosie, “ You don’t shine around him. And I’m not saying that you’re the kind of light I’d like to be around. I’m just saying you’re more of a nightlight on the way to the loo then you are a shining beacon guiding the lost when you’re around him,” He watched her carefully before he continued, “ It’s none of my business… have you ever questioned why you liked him. Because I think it’s the mere fact that he was the first guy who didn’t go straight into the palm of your hand and give you everything you wanted. I don’t think you were actually attracted to him, apart from the physical perhaps.” he said, adding that on for her benefit. What the hell did he know about whether or not girls found Ethan attractive. “But girls always do fall for the wrong guys,… go on for years about love and the downfalls. When the fact of the matter it is it really isn’t that damn difficult. You lot just make it seem it is,” he said before he sat up and placed his hands on his knees before he stood back up and made his way over to the horses again.

[Rose Elliot Madison]

Rosie shook her head. If he just liked getting to know people and understand them, he had a funny way of doing it. But she supposed that wasn't a horrible thing, to want to know people. Wasn't that the point of becoming friends with people, having relationships, to get to know them? And if getting to know them and understanding them was difficult, then what kind of relationship did you have anyways? Not a very good one. Rosie couldn't argue much against his point that women tended to over think everything and make a big fuss about it, but she did know one thing. If she was going to find a guy to spend her life with, Declan was at least right about knowing and understanding them. Understanding that one person should come easily. You shouldn't have to struggle to stay on the same page as them. She thought about her past relationships and, well now she could add to her list, her lack of relationship. How many had she had to fight for and how many had come easily? Where was the balance between fighting for someone and things just falling into place? Rosie shook her head once more, not even wanting to discuss it, "Oh he is not my boyfriend, or my non-boyfriend boyfriend. We are not anything." She paused, not anything? Was that what it had come to? She had not wanted that. "Well... we're friends, I suppose." Yes, friends. If anything, they had been friends all this time, and she was the one being weird. They could stay friends. Ethan wouldn't understand if they didn't. Then she'd have to tell him why they couldn't be friends. And then it would be awkward. And then they couldn't be friends. Ethan was better off being in the dark regarding all of her stupid feelings. Rosie watched him get up, pondering what he had said. She'd noticed that. It had taken her a long time, but she noticed. About not being herself fully around him. She wondered if it was because she knew she was just too crazy for him, too attention drawing. Trying to mold herself into what he wanted, which was ridiculous. What was more ridiculous was the fact that even as she sat thinking about how much she wasn't what he wanted, she was still so hung up on him. Okay, she needed to just stop thinking about him.

Rosie watched Declan get up, checking out the view. And she wasn't looking at the land. That made her get her mind off of Ethan for half of a second. Declan had said, "I’m not saying that you’re the kind of light I’d like to be around." She wanted to know what on earth he meant by that. Perhaps she was far too wild for any guy. Maybe she was a handful. Guys didn't want to deal with her, especially because of her job and even though it was fine when she was single, no guy wanted his girlfriend flaunting around like that. Unless they were weird. But a normal guy would want that to himself. Now that she thought about it, who on earth would ever want to date her? She probably sucked to have as a girlfriend, find just to look at on your wall. Nothing to commit to. That was depressing. She knew she couldn't be an angel forever, she just didn't think it was going to make things this difficult for her. And was he right about Ethan? Did she ever really like him, or was it just the chase that she loved? She didn't know now. It had felt so real... but Declan had her second guessing everything. She didn't know anything any more. All she knew was, "You talk a lot." Rosie stood up, shrugging. Well, he did. He had so much to say. And she was left with so much to think about, that she hardly had anything to say at all. Rosie headed back over by Sadie, who had stood back up, scratching at the ground. "If we all fall for the wrong guys, then what is the right guy? I'm curious to know, it seems you have it all figured out," she said seriously. She wasn't mocking him, he just seriously seemed like he'd already put so much thought into it, she was curious as to what his insights were about Mr. Right. What would he know?

[Declan Maxwell O'Reilly]

Declan scrunched his nose, looking out at some of the land as he considered a few of his options. He really should get back to work, but Rosie Madison from their little small town still seemed to have a lot on her mind. It was easy to tell she was hung up on this Ethan guy, even still. He looked over his shoulder, smirking as she told him that he talked a lot before he made his way over to a few trees that provided shade on a small amount of land. Sadie and the other horse could cool off for a bit. Once he reached them he looked straight up at the branches, judging how tall it was before he bent down at his knees and jumped up high enough to grab onto it. He winced slightly, pulling his body up onto the branch before he swung his legs over and took a seated position. “ Why are women always searching?” he asked with genuine curiosity as he looked down at her after she questioned him about mr.right. He gestured for her to come up there with him and rested against the tree with his legs stretched out across the branch. It genuinely fascinated him how women could just search and search for the one perfect man to fix everything. Why not fix it for yourself?

Though it was sort of a sticky subject to have this conversation with Rosie. He was half crazy about her, and yet she was in love with the idea of someone else. And he wasn’t going to confuse her anymore by telling her how he felt. She would think he was insane. Love at first sight? That just didn’t exist… He looked away from her, looking up at the sky before he took in a deep breath and sighed. “ Why don’t you learn to love yourself before you ask that someone else does…. Cause let me tell ya.. it’ll be a hard task to find a man to be by your side,” he said, resting his head as well against the tree. That Rosie.. she had a lot going on in her mind in regards to relationships. The last thing he wanted to do was muck it up some more. “ I don’t know about men.. but for me personally? I think the right woman will challenge me. People always say that it’s unhealthy to fight in relationships..” he said, making a slight face. “ I think it’s important to fight and be challenged. I just think it’s also important to know that love is more powerful than anger. Fights end. I guess when I find someone I just… I don’t know. I want her to fight with me,” he said, giving a slight shrug of his shoulder. “ When you stop telling someone your feelings, it’s because you’ve given up on them,”

[Rose Elliot Madison]

Rosie shrugged, following Declan to the tree and placed her hands on her hips, watching him climb into it. “I don’t know…” she thought for a moment. Possibly it was because people were social creatures and it was human nature to need companionship. “But it does seem people find each other when they aren’t looking.” Rosie looked up at the branch, jumping up to grab it and pulled herself up, wrapping her legs around it before she was pulling herself to a sitting position. She brought her feet up onto the branch, listening as he spoke and found her balance while she cautiously stood up, finding the branch above her. She held onto it as she stood, looking down at him, frowning, “You know you really aren’t reassuring me at all, I’m beginning to feel as if I won’t ever find a man. Unless bringing that to my attention was your intention, then well done.” she sighed, “But that is the boat I have put myself in, isn’t it?” Sure was. That was the conclusion she was coming to, her career choices seemed to scare men off. Sure they all wanted to look at her in a picture, but no one wanted to commit to her. And this really sucked because she couldn’t help it that she was possibly one of the most affectionate people on the planet. She didn’t want to be alone… no one did. It was quite possible that she should consider getting a cat right about now. Rosie nodded. Sure, there had to be such a thing as healthy arguments. If you spent the time arguing, you must care. “And besides, if you fight with someone, you are getting each other to understand your thoughts. Or at least trying to, anyways.” She was quiet for a second mulling it over before she came to a decision. She would just not date anyone for a while. Her life had been all fine and dandy until she went and complicated things with men, so she would go back to the uncomplicated life of not trying to figure out what she wanted in a man. Eventually, she might get lucky and one may come along. Rosie stopped for a moment, glancing at him, “I think I could listen to you talk all day.”

Rosie stood carefully on the branch, standing on one foot and dangling the other off the branch, looking at him. “Funny how we never met until now. But you knew exactly who I was in New York.” She said pointedly, “Unfair. I’ll bet you just loved that, telling me all about my life and had me thinking you were just some jerk, when you knew exactly who I was all along.” She sighed, “Story of my life. I really can’t accuse anyone of not knowing me, what’s not to know. I can’t go to the grocery store without being recognized…” she shrugged. “What are you doing here anyways?”

[Declan Maxwell O'Reilly]

“ People find everything when they aren’t looking,” he said underneath his breath. He smiled sarcastically at her as she responded to him and shook his head, “ On the contraire, I’m sure you’ll find plenty of suitors,” he said carelessly before he yawned. “ I’m sure you’ve turned away plenty of men that were potentially better for you during your pursuit for the evasive Fox,” he said before he clicked his tongue disapprovingly in a joking manner. He looked up at her, smiling to himself for a moment at just how beautiful she truly was, out here. Happy. Sure, she looked amazing when she was dressed up , or down, as an Angel. But she didn’t look like herself, and she sure as hell didn’t smile like that. He cleared his throat, looking away from her before he looked back at the land. “ Angel, I had no idea who you were because of your lingerie gig. I knew the name Rosie Madison because that’s all my mother talked about since the first time she saw you with little ribbons in your hair. I didn’t pay attention enough to your face on the billboards to be able to point you out in a crowd,” he said before he licked his lips, “ But let’s be honest. You didn’t recognize me either. Never even seen a movie of mine I’m guessing,” he said, smirking to himself as he looked down at his hands in his lap. What are the chances that the little girl with ribbons in her hair and the farmhand boy that helped out on her fathers farm would grow up to make it in ‘the business’. Both from their small town, both living next to each other, never met.

“ It’s interesting you thought that I was an asshole,” he said musically as he stood up and climbed up onto the branch that she was on. “ You already knew everything that I said… everyone else in your life just lied to you. Yet I’m the asshole?” he questioned, tilting his head towards her slightly. “ I don’t care what people think about me, genuinely. I state my opinion because I think it is amusing to figure out the inner workings of people because… it’s easier than it looks. Everyone thinks they’re misunderstood. They’re not. “ he said with a slight smile. “ But you? You’re a little bit more fun to frustrate than the others,” he said as he slid closer to her on the branch. “ Maybe it’s because you come wrapped up in a pretty little package.. maybe it’s because I can’t help but picture you in the little ribbons that my mom used to talk about. Maybe it’s because when I look at you I can see in your eyes the little girl that wanted so badly to go out into the world and make a difference, yet when you come home is when you feel the happiest. You intrigue me because you’re smarter than you appear. That’s a strength, you know,” he said as he scanned her features quickly before giving her his own smile. “ What am I doing here? Why don’t you try figuring it out.. give it a shot. Try being an asshole like me, angel. What in the hell would a farmboy from England who went to America and became a famous actor be doing back in England, throwing hay around for some pretty little princess’s father?”

[Rose Elliot Madison]

Rosie shrugged, holding loosely to the branch above her. He made it sound like no one really ever recognized her. Well, that was just him. She couldn’t go out her front door in New York without getting looks. Not that she thought it was a good or bad thing, just a fact. Maybe he couldn’t point her out in a crowd, but plenty of people across the world could. To be fair though, she wouldn’t have recognized him either. Maybe it was because celebrities never really paid close attention to each other. And why would they, they got that they were all just people. It was your average Joe’s that looked at celebrities like unattainable gods. Rosie rolled her eyes, perhaps a lot of people in her life had lied to her, but she had not said that. “I did not say you were an asshole.” She said matter of factly, “I called you a jerk…” For some reason in her head there was a difference between the two. “Well I’m glad you enjoy frustrating me.” She added, furrowing her eyebrows. He had a lot of nice things to say, but then he said things that still made him a jerk. She was the last thing from being a ‘princess’. It was like he had her completely pegged but then sometimes he was so far off she thought he must only be saying stuff like that to irritate her. But he said she should try figuring out the answer to her own question on her own. Well, she’d just asked, what made him think she knew the answer? If she knew, she wouldn’t have asked…

“Okay fine…” she said, thinking. Why was he here? Well there were a lot of answers to that. There was why he was in England. But she knew that. Even if she hadn’t really put two and two together, she’d talked to her father on the phone, she still knew what was going on back home. “You’re in England because your mother is sick, you’re on my farm because my father’s been taking her to her appointments, you’re out here because I asked you and you figured, why the hell not, you’re in this tree because climbing trees is as appealing to you as it is me, you are on this branch because we are having a conversation.” Rosie paused, thinking, “It’s hot and you’re dying to take your shirt off, but you know I’ll remark about your being a stripper.” She laughed slightly, “But I still don’t feel like I answered my own question. I could be dead wrong.”

[Declan Maxwell O'Reilly]

Declan let out a small laugh as she tried to evaluate him. He nodded slowly as she finished, “ The only thing I’m actually impressed by is the fact that I am actually hot, and I am actually not taking my shirt off because of your remarks,” he said, before he licked his lips and shook his head. “ You uh.. look a little deeper,” he said, turning his head from side to side as he tried to think of how to explain it. “My mother is sick, so I’m here.. and I’m in a tree because you asked me.. that’s all surface stuff. You just sort of look beneath it to get good at it. For instance,.. there are hundreds of trees on your land. I like climbing trees just as much as you, I could climb any of them. But you’re in this one. Um.. yeah, my mother is sick. Which is why I became an actor.” he said, looking down at the tree as he pulled some bark away from it. “ It’s easier to deal with my mom being sick, when for a certain amount of time out of the day I can pretend to be someone else,” he offered. “ And as far as your father goes.. I feel like I’m in his debt,” he said simply as he shrugged his shoulder.

Declan looked down at his hands, thinking about how in depth they were going into talking about things. He knew women. He knew how their minds worked. ‘ Hey my mom is sick and it scares me’ is basically an invitation to fall in love with him, take care of him. He looked back up at Rosie, the girl who had enough going on in her head. She needed to figure things out for herself. She needed to not get too close to him and get her mind all murky. So it was decided. He placed his hands on the trunk and swung himself down. “ Though, you could just be an angel because you think you’re above everyone else.” he said , pulling it anything out of his ass that might sound like he was a complete and utter jackass. “ Looks fade, gorgeous” he said, scratching his thumb over his eyebrow as he turned to walk away from her. He could be an ass, he could make her hate him. What she didn’t need was to like him. And he didn’t need to inadvertently make her feel that way.

[Rose Elliot Madison]

Rosie listened to Declan. Sure she might have been able to figure that out. See, now he was being completely normal. He was being nice. He was easy to like. She was beginning to think she could give him the benefit of the doubt and say they had just gotten off on the wrong foot, maybe they could count this as a starting over. That would be okay. But then he was like, maybe you just think you're above everyone else, looks fade. "Looks... fade?" she said, bewildered, "Are you kidding me?" She swung down out of the tree, following him. "What on earth is the matter with you?" She had caught up with him matching his pace, "Do you think it is hilarious to act like that? You can't just.. be nice, and then act like a complete jack ass! I'm getting whiplash over here the way you change your mind!" God he was infuriating. What was he trying to do, piss her off on purpose? Because he was doing a really awesome job. It was like, she would totally like him as a person if he didn't make offhanded comments that didn't even seem to suit him. Like, how hypocritical of him! He must find this hilarious. He must, she was sure of it. He must just love pissing her off, he'd said so himself. Rosie poked him in the arm, trying to get his attention. "Is that what you want, are you trying on purpose to make me not like you? Why on earth would you do that? You know that doesn't make any sense, to be a completely reasonable being and then say things just so I won't like you. What is your deal? You said yourself, you find it entertaining to make me frustrated well congratulations, I am annoyed." She stopped next to him, shaking her head. "You don't want me to like you. Why?" He was right, she was smarter than she appeared, she could put two and two together if she wanted to badly enough. It was becoming quite clear that he was purposely pushing her away. Here they were, actually having a normal conversation, one might even say they were bonding, but no. He had to go and screw it up. It would be beneficial to everyone if they were at least cordial, not to mention friends, but he was being far too difficult for that to happen.

[Declan Maxwell O'Reilly]

“ They fade, angel” he confirmed as he kept walking away from her. But to his surprise she came with him. He took in a deep breath and sighed, walking over to get his horse ready so that he could take it back to the barn. Why in the hell did they have to start this fight out when they were so far from the house. Not to mention the fact that it looked like it was about to start raining. “ Bloody hell,” he said outloud as the first few raindrops came down against him. He stared down at her harshly after she had finished speaking. What was it? Maybe it was the fact that since the moment he saw her in New York the only thing he could think of was being with her, protecting her, caring for her. And she was sprung on some other guy. Now she was standing here saying how he didn’t want her to like him, which was what he was trying to accomplish after all, right? Don’t let her know you like her. Don’t confuse her. Don’t make this harder on her than it needs to be. Let her hate you until she is strong on her own and knows what she wants. All of that logically made sense. But for the next ten seconds all he could think of was … fuck logic. Declan moved closer to her, pushing the wet hair from her face before he pressed his lips against hers and towered over her so that the rain didn’t fall over her anymore. It was sort of ridiculous how intoxicating she was in this moment, the softness of her lips, the way they still tasted sweet from whatever she had last eaten or maybe it was some lip gloss- girls were weird. Plus the rain on her hair was making it smell like she had just stepped out of the shower. And then his eyes opened, okay.
Logic back in, this was the exact opposite of what he was supposed to be doing. Declan pulled away from her, looking at her as though that was her fault before he climbed onto his horse and kicked it to get it to take off towards the barn.Once he put the horse back in the barn he was already heading back to the house quickly, but Rosie was pretty much right on his heels. He looked over his shoulder before turning around to face her. “ Why do you have to be so god damn annoying anyways?” he screamed at her through the rain before he walked away from her again. “ Make me the bad guy. Make me the asshole. Make me the complicated one. It is not my fault that you’re confused,” he continued to scream as he walked up the land to their home. “ Mr. Madison I have to come back in the morning,” he said as he walked through their home soaked, giving a small nod to Libby as he passed her. He looked over at the floors before looking at Libby, “ I am sorry,” he said, pulling his jacket on real quick before he grabbed his truck keys and darted out the front door.