Hello, I'm back again with the sequel to Better With You! I really hope you're going to like this! :D
Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Academy.
CHAPTER 1
RPOV
When I heard a knock on the door, I checked myself one last time in the mirror. I had to admit I looked really nice tonight in my red cocktail dress and high heels, but then again… I'd made some effort. I'd straightened my hair , put on makeup – but not too much – and to finish it I'd put on red lipstick. I normally didn't use lipstick, but I wanted to make an effort to look good for my date. There was another knock so I quickly crossed the narrow hallway and opened the front door, offering Luke a radiant smile.
"Wow, you look hot," he said, whistling as he gave me a once-over.
I'd been aiming for 'beautiful', but I guess being called hot was close enough. My smile wavered slightly, but I thanked him for the compliment anyway.
Luke was wearing dark jeans and a light blue shirt that complimented his eyes. They were an icy blue, just like Christian's – which gave Lissa a reason to tease me mercilessly – but his tousled hair was dirty blond unlike Christian's black hair. So I really didn't see the need to compare the both of them, but Lissa couldn't help herself each time Luke's name came up. I didn't even know why she was making such a big deal about him anyway because we'd only been out on a couple of dates. It wasn't like I was going to marry the guy – or any guy for that matter.
Luke offered his arm to me and asked, "Shall we go?"
We left my apartment and rode the elevator, stepping out on the ground floor. The restaurant Luke was taking me was only a few blocks away so we decided to walk there. Even though it was so close to home, I'd never been here before. It was small, but it looked nice and cozy. While the food was great, the company wasn't much so. Luke seemed preoccupied with his phone all night. He was an accountant and apparently one of his clients was in desperate need for his advice. I didn't understand why the guy didn't just contact him during office hours or why Luke didn't tell him to contact him tomorrow.
I'd already finished my delicious spaghetti when Luke finally got off the phone. "I'm so sorry about that, Rose," he apologized, his face contrite. "I would've ignored the call, but this is one of the most important clients we have so I couldn't just turn him away."
"It's okay," I lied, taking a sip of my wine, avoiding eye contact.
But why was I so annoyed that he'd taken the call? I mean, I didn't really like him and I didn't see a future for us so why did I even care? But the sex was good – even I had to admit that. Maybe I'd just wanted him to pay more attention to me tonight because I'd spent a lot of time prepping myself in the bathroom tonight. Maybe I'd just wanted to be looked at the way a certain person used to look at me. Okay, don't go there now, Rose. You're out on a date!
I was about to speak when the phone started ringing again, but to my surprise, it wasn't his this time. It was mine. When I noticed the caller's ID, I let out a sigh and picked up without so much as an apologize to Luke.
"What happened?" I asked, almost rolling my eyes.
"You have to get over here," Adrian shouted over the noise on his side of the line. He sounded annoyed. "She's out of control. You're the only one who can calm her down."
I suppressed another sigh. "I'm actually on a date, Adrian. Try Andre's cell."
"I already tried. He's probably still at work," Adrian answered. "He's always so busy engineering he forgets he has a life outside of his job and a girlfriend to take care of."
Andre was an engineer and it was true that he worked a lot so that meant he barely had any time for his other commitments in life. I admired his work ethic, but still... He should know work isn't everything.
"Please, Rose, she's dancing on my bar right now and smashing all my expensive glasses," Adrian complained. As a matter of fact, I heard something shatter in the background. "You have to come and get her right now!"
"Alright, I'm on my way," I told him before disconnecting. I looked up at Luke, who stared at me with a frown. Oh boy, he sure wasn't going to like this… I leaned forward and reached out for his hand. "I'm so sorry," I started, giving him an apologetic look, "but I have to go. There's a friend who needs me right now."
Luke pulled his hand away. "Do you mean Adrian?"
I paused. "Well…not exactly. I just have to drag another friend out of his bar. She's making a commotion over there."
He was still scowling. "Why do you have to do it?"
"Because I'm the only one she listens to," I answered. Sort of. "Let's do this another time, okay?" I started to get up and gathered my things. Taking out some cash, I put it on the table. "I'm sorry, Luke. I'll call you later."
Luke sighed. "Fine. I guess I'll meet up with this client then."
I faked a smile. I bet he wasn't even that upset that I had to leave; he was probably giddy on the inside that he could get back to his work. "Good night," I called over my shoulder as I hurried over to the door.
Outside, I called a cab. I knew Adrian's bar wasn't that far, but my feet were killing me – these heels weren't such a great idea after all – and I wanted some peace and quiet so I could try to call Andre myself. He didn't pick up, of course.
"Great," I muttered.
Ten minutes later, I stepped out in front of Adrian's bar that was simply named 'Adrian's bar' and took a deep breath. Just like me, Adrian never went to college. He just decided to wing it and open a bar up in the capital city of Montana, Helena. I moved here as well after I'd finally graduated from high school – a year later than my friends. I'd no longer wanted to live in that miserable town I once called home, which my parents understood.
This was my real home. I'd been raised here as a kid so it was only normal that I'd returned here. Now, it had been my home again for nearly five years. Most of my friends had found their way here as well so there was nothing really that tied me to Columbia Falls, except for my parents. They still lived in the house by the woods. I rarely visited; they usually came here because they knew how much I disliked the town.
There were a lot of smokers huddled together outside the building. Some I recognized – they were regulars – so I gave them a nod before entering the building. No one would've ever guessed Adrian's bar would do so well, but even Sydney had had to give in at last. She'd been really upset at the beginning because she was scared Adrian was only going to start drinking more, but the opposite had happened – mainly because he just didn't have the time anymore to get wasted himself. Yes, Adrian had finally grown up.
I pushed my way through the thick crowd. Even from here, I could see the girl dancing on top of the bar, her hips swaying while a distraught Adrian tried to get her down. When I finally managed to get there, I looked up at the girl with a scowl.
"Viktoria, you have to come down from the bar!" I shouted, hands on my hips.
Viktoria didn't stop; she was completely lost to the rhythm of the music. Heaving a sigh, I climbed on top of the bar as well, ignoring Adrian's protests. Finally, Viktoria looked up.
"Oh hey, Rose," she said, grinning. Her voice was slurring. "Are you going to join me?"
"No," I said firmly, grabbing hold of her arm. "Now come on. You're embarrassing yourself."
"Don't be such a killjoy," she said cheerfully, twirling around.
"Stop, Viktoria," I exclaimed, getting impatient as I watched her teeter on the edge of the bar. "You're drunk. You're going to break your neck if you don't watch out."
Viktoria stopped moving and looked at me, bored. "God, Rose…exaggerate much."
"Okay, I've had enough of this," I muttered. I grabbed her arm again and forcefully dragged her off the bar. She protested, but she was so drunk she couldn't keep her balance. She fell on top of me and we almost dropped to the ground, but Adrian caught us just in time. Together, we helped Viktoria back on her feet.
Viktoria was cackling. "Whew, that was close!"
As I looked a little more closely at her, I feared that she hadn't just been drinking. I gave Adrian a knowing look and he shrugged helplessly.
"I don't know what she's been up to," he shouted over the music. "I was behind the bar all night. About an hour ago, she starting hanging out here, which is fine, but when she took it a little bit too far I called you."
I gave him a curt nod and pulled Viktoria along with me to the bathroom, anger boiling inside of me. There were two girls in the ladies' room, fixing their makeup.
"Out!" I yelled.
They looked at me, offended.
"Don't make me repeat myself," I growled, staring them down.
Quickly, they scurried out, the door slamming shut behind them. Viktoria was still giggling like a little school girl; she didn't realize how furious I was right now. Well, she was about to find out. I pushed her into the light and she blinked rapidly, turning her head away from the bright lights. Grabbing her chin, I pushed her face upward so I could study her properly. I smiled grimly when I saw her pupils were dilated. There were traces of white powder on her nose.
"What the hell?" Viktoria exclaimed, shoving me off of her.
"Have you been snorting coke again?" I shouted angrily. This was the third time I'd busted her. Each time she told me it wouldn't happen again, but those were all lies. I wondered how many times she'd snorted coke without me finding out. "Fucking hell, Viktoria! You can't keep doing this to yourself!"
"You can't tell me what to do," she snapped, scowling at me.
"The hell I can't!" I returned, glaring at her. "Don't you realize that you're going to ruin your life if you keep doing drugs?" She said nothing. "Drugs don't solve your problems!"
"I don't need them to solve my problems," she snarled. "I just need them to have fun."
"You're not using them to have fun," I argued. "You're just using them to forget all about your past." Taking a deep breath, I tried to calm myself down. "I know you're hurting and I know you miss your brother, but this is not the way, Vika. This isn't going to help you." I refused to say his name out loud – I hadn't said it in six years so why start now? Even though years had passed, I was only now starting to heal from the pain he'd caused. "Please find the help you need. Go back to therapy or talk to Andre-"
She snorted. "He's too busy with work."
"Then go back to therapy!" I exclaimed, throwing my hands up in frustration. "It helped you before so why not now? Trust me, all this drinking and doing coke…it's not going to do you any good in the long run. You're going to get addicted. Do you want that?"
She just stared at me, her lips pursed together.
I clenched my jaw. "Does Andre even know about the coke?"
She grinned. "What do you think?"
"How long has this been going on?" I demanded.
"A little over a year," she answered with a shrug.
"Well, you're getting careless, Vika! This is, like, the third time I caught you in only a couple of weeks!"
"I'll be more careful next time," she taunted.
"That's not what I mean!" I shrieked, almost losing it completely. "You have to stop this! I'm not going to catch you every time you fall! You just ruined sex night for me!" Viktoria raised a surprised eyebrow at me and I let out a heavy sigh. "I'm tired of this. I shouldn't be taking care of you."
"I didn't ask you to," she said in a clipped voice. "You're not my sister."
"I'm well aware of that," I snapped. Keep your cool, Rose. She's just broken and lonely. Don't make it worse for her. "But you're my friend," I added in a much gentler voice. "And I want you to be okay."
"Except I'm not okay!" she shouted, her eyes wild, before she pushed past me.
"Viktoria!" I called after her as she disappeared back into the crowd.
I cursed and pulled out my cellphone, dialing Andre's number. When he finally picked up, I told him to get over to Adrian's bar immediately so he could take his drunk girlfriend home. Thankfully, I didn't need to search long to find Viktoria. Adrian had caught her on her way out. I mumbled a thank you to him before leaving the bar with Viktoria.
Andre arrived thirty minutes later. It had been a struggle to keep Viktoria in the same spot – she'd kept wanting to leave. She probably didn't want to face Andre when she was drunk and high. Andre escorted Viktoria to his car. When she was safely inside, he turned around and walked back to me.
"Thank you so much," he said, out of breath. "I know I should've been here, but-"
"Yeah, you should have," I cut him off, crossing my arms. "Viktoria is your responsibility now."
He looked away guiltily. His eyes drifted to Viktoria in the car, then back to me. "I'm sorry, Rose."
"It's fine," I said dismissively, suppressing what must be the hundredth sigh tonight. "But you should take better care of her. I know you have a lot of work, but she's not doing well, Andre."
"I know," he said, hanging his head in shame. "I'm trying, but I honestly don't know what to do. If I tell her to stop drinking, she only drinks more."
"It's not just that," I told him with a shake of my head. He looked at me, clearly confused. I hesitated, but then decided he needed to know the truth. If that made Viktoria angry at me, then so be it. "She's been doing coke."
"What?" Andre gasped, his eyes wide in shock.
"It's been going on for over a year according to her," I said grimly. "But I think she's doing it more and more. This is the third time I caught her."
"Oh my God." Andre leaned back against the wall for support, an anguished look crossing his face. "How could I have not known this?"
I put my hand on his shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze. "I'm sorry, Andre."
He was nearly in tears. "What am I supposed to do now? Do I send her to rehab?" He buried his face in his hands. "She's never going to forgive me if I do that to her."
"Well, maybe you could convince her to see her therapist again," I suggested. "Or if she could open up to you..."
"I've already tried that," he said, desperate. "Every time I try to talk to her, she shuts down. I… I can't help her."
"Then you need to find her some help," I told him. "I know this isn't easy, but it's the only way."
He nodded, taking a few deep breaths. I actually felt really bad for him and wished there was a way I could help him out, but even I no longer had any influence on Viktoria.
"I'm sorry," I said again, feeling awkward.
Andre straightened up and took a step back towards the car. "Thanks, Rose," he said, giving me a sad smile. "I owe you one."
I watched him climb inside the car and waved when they drove off. I glanced down at my watch; it was already getting late and I desperately wanted to go home, but I didn't feel like waiting on a cab. With a heavy sigh, I slid off my heels and held them in my hand as I started walking back to my apartment.
There you go, the first chapter of Surrender! A lot has changed over the years, but it seems like it's not all for the best! What do you guys think so far? I figure you were all hoping for Dimitri to make an appearance. Don't worry, he'll make his introduction next chapter ;)
Please leave a review and let me know your thoughts on the chapter! Have a great day/evening :)
