Her disappointment at not receiving the anticipated call from John had slowly morphed into anger overnight. Lacking sleep and an outlet for her anger, she rowed with her mother twice in the thirty minutes that their paths crossed while Rose dragged feet in getting ready for work that morning. She fumed over the arguments with her mother on the way to work and planned comebacks to continue the disagreements later. She strode into the Boots store wearing a dark look upon her face.

Rose slammed the cash drawer shut, dropped the change in the customer's hand, and shoved the bag towards the elderly man. The man huffed and he glanced around the store, his eyes finding a woman with shiny black hair in manager's attire. A satisfied smirk appeared on his face, and he strode away.

Confused because he wasn't heading towards the exit, she followed the man with her eyes and her heart sank as she realized he was about to complain about her service. Or lack thereof, rather. If she were being perfectly honest with herself, she had brought her black mood into work today instead of checking it at the door.

The man chatted animatedly with the manager, but Rose was unable to hear what he said. She felt that she hadn't been outright rude, but she knew that she had been disconnected and unfriendly. She steeled herself as the manager approached her and the elder man glared at her as he passed.

"Rose, can you call Gerard to take over for a little while and meet me in the office," Ms. Glendon asked.

Rose agreed and paged the perky teen and waited for him to show.

Gerard bounced up to her, "What do you need, Rose?"

"Ms. Glendon wants you to cover for me for a while."

"Sure!"

Rose greeted every customer on the way to the office, whether it was to prove to herself that her customer service wasn't that bad or to delay the inevitable was uncertain. She keyed in the door lock code and stepped into the locker room/hallway between the break room and manager's office.

She peeked around the corner and only Ms. Glendon was waiting for her. At least it was only the assistant manager and not the store manager. She coaxed Rose in with a wave of her hand and said, "Close the door and have a seat."

Closing the door couldn't be good - the door was never closed. Rose felt physically ill as she shut the door. She sat down, crossed her legs, and linked her hands together.

"Do you know why I called you in here," the manager asked.

"Yes, ma'am. I haven't had a good attitude today."

"This was actually the second complaint I've received about you today. I let the first one slide because that's not you. Normally you're friendly and helpful; that's what we hear from customers. What's behind this drastic change? Are you unhappy here?"

"No, I'm not unhappy here, I just, well I'm having a bad day. Not much sleep and I argued with my mum. I understand that's no excuse though and I need to leave my problems at home."

Ms. Glendon nodded and reflected for a moment. "I'm not going to give you a warning or send you home this time. I know this behavior is unusual for you, but I hope you can put it away and provide the best customer service possible."

"Yes, ma'am."

After checking her watch, Ms. Glendon began, "It's a little early, but I'm going to let you go on your break and I hope that when you come back, you will be ready to work at the same level we've come to expect from you. And if you need someone to talk to, I am here, even if it's personal. Okay?"

"Right, thank you. Really, I will be my old self when I get back," Rose promised.

"Call for a manager on line 2," Gerard's voice interrupted over the intercom.

"It never ends does it," Rose offered, smiling.

Ms. Glendon smiled, "It doesn't," she agreed as she picked up the phone receiver and pushed a button.

Rose left the office and went to her locker. She fiddled with the combination, doing it incorrectly once before it relented and let her in.

Her phone display lit up, indicating an incoming call from a number that wasn't in her contacts. "Bugger," she muttered to herself as the display changed to Missed Call. Deciding to wait until she was outside the store before she tried to call them back, she replied to the text messages from her mother and Macy on the way out. As she crossed the threshold, the voicemail icon popped up. She tapped the speed dial for voicemail and placed the phone to her ear.

"Hello… Rose," a voice croaked, It's John." The blood rushed to her ears and she plopped down on the bench outside, her knees mysteriously forgetting how to stand. "I was hoping to call you yesterday, but I've only just regained my ability to speak without significant pain." His voice did sound strained and he cleared his throat. "I wasn't sure if I should text yesterday, but I probably would have today if I still couldn't talk," he rambled. "Anyway, I… I hope we can still chat." He gave the number, but the caller ID had already seen to that. "Take care, Rose Tyler."

She ended the call to her voicemail box and navigated to her recent call log and hit dial without thinking. She punched the end call button repeatedly and groaned when she realized she had no idea what to say. Heart beating furiously, she redialed and took a deep breath. Eyes squeezed shut, she heard one ring, then he answered.

"Hello."

"Hi, it's- it's me, er Rose," she fumbled.

"Yes, I know," he said. She could hear the smile on his face through his voice.

They were both silent for a while, then Rose started, "So, I thought you weren't going to call after you saw me with my friend at the cafe and then you weren't in class," she blurted out, then cursed herself internally.

The line was quiet for a few seconds and then he said, "I'm sorry. There's no excuse for the cafe scene. I wasn't even feeling ill yet, so I can't blame it on that," he sighed.

There was an awkward silence. Rose broke it, "You mentioned not being able to talk. Are you sick or was there a lot of shouting involved?"

"The morning of the last class I woke up with a sore throat, which ended up being strep throat instead of just a cold. I've finally been to the clinic and received antibiotics. Still hurts a bit."

"Well, if it still hurts, then maybe you shouldn't be talking right now," she offered.

"But I want to talk to you right now," he countered with a flirtatious tone.

"You hardly know anything about me," she noted. She almost added that she didn't know much about him, but reasoned that he didn't know much about himself either and bit back the comment.

"All the more reason for us to speak!" he exclaimed. "Let me think. Hobbies? What do you like? What do you do? Piano? Pets? Knitting?"

Rose smiled to herself. "No, none of that. Mostly I'm so busy working and trying to pass my courses that I don't have time for hobbies. I watch the telly with my mum and try to spend some time with my friends. What do you do when you're not looking up at the stars?"

"Hmm, I guess mostly same as you. Working for Dr. Conlon, working on my self-study course. I have a few mates I socialize with. Oh, and there's uh -" he hemmed, "nevermind."

"Oh go on! What else?"

"You'll think it's silly."

"Come off it. You can't start saying something, then not say it," she teased.

He sighed, "Okay, but promise you won't take the piss out?"

"I promise nothing," she returned.

"Of course not." He paused, "I have the most fantastic dreams, ever since I first remember. I started writing them down and... I was thinking I'd like to make a novel of them some day."

"Wow," she said. "That's actually kind of neat." She could hear the sigh of relief over the line.

Rose floated through the rest of her shift. They had a date scheduled next week, both to ensure that he felt better and was no longer contagious. Her mind focused on nothing else during her downtime except the conversation.

When she got off, she had a text message from John.

"Hi. Hope the rest of your shift went well. :)"

They texted back and forth while she rode the bus home. Upon entering the flat, Rose found her mother in the kitchen, assembling a casserole.

Jackie glanced up and began, "If you're about to start round two you'll have to take a rain check; I'm too tired."

She hugged her mother from behind, "What's for dinner?"

"Just a casserole from the leftover chicken from last night," she answered.

"Mum?"

"Hmm?"

"I'm sorry for being a brat this morning."

"I know, Love. Thanks," she said, patting Rose on her arms still linked around her.

A few days later, Rose was busy sorting through a few dozen lipsticks to stock them when someone called to her.

"Excuse me, miss? I need some help."

She turned to find John standing behind her, attempting to look serious. Playing along, she inquired, "What can I do for you?"

He held up two compacts. "Which rouge goes best with my skin tone? I like the 'Iced Cappuccino' because it's sounds yummy, but there's something about the 'Rock N Rose' that speaks to me."

"Neither, mate. I recommend the 'Pretty Peach.'" She laughed and he broke into a silly grin.

"I couldn't wait to see you again," he confided.

"You could have always asked me to send a picture," Rose suggested.

"Quite right, however, I think it would have made me even more anxious to see you."

"Not that I'm complaining, mind, but we're on for tomorrow night, aren't we?" she asked, worried that she'd gotten her days mixed up.

"Oh, yes, absolutely.

She shut the door of the flat and leaned back against it, face flushed. It had been a wonderful date, no doubt the best first date she's ever had and was quite possibly the best date she'd ever been on. She hadn't even told anyone she was going out with John, afraid of jinxing it, but now she wanted to share each and every detail.

"Rose? Is that you darling?"

Might as well get this part over with. Her mum would be full of questions, but then she would be free to dissect the details with Paula and perhaps Shareen.

"Yeah, Mum, I'm home."

"You've got a letter from your school here." Jackie passed the envelope to her, waiting expectantly.

"Thanks." She looked down at the envelope and its official school seal. She was suddenly afraid to read the contents, afraid that someone had found out that she kissed the TA of her astronomy class, afraid that her grade would be disputed. Realizing her mother was still there and that she no longer felt like talking about her date with John, she said, "Can I help you?"

"Open it, what does it say?"

She shoved the letter in per purse. "It's probably nothing. I already got my grades. That's what counts, right?"

"You look nice, have you been out with friends? On a date?" Jackie pried.

Trying to keep herself calm, Rose responded, "I had a little fun, yeah. I want to get changed, though." Jackie moved out of the way to allow her entry.

When she entered her room, instead of changing, she plopped down at her desk and took the crumpled letter out of her purse. Taking a deep breath, she tore the envelope open and unfolded the paper. She began to laugh.

"Mum!" She shouted, knowing her mother was probably hovering outside of her door.

The door opened and her mother came in. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, It's just a letter from Dr. Conlon, my astronomy professor, congratulating me for my improvement in the class."

"Isn't that the one you were worried about?"

"Yep. Thanks to J -" she caught herself, "thanks to my study group, I managed to bring my grade up from failing."