Richelle Mead owns a majority of the characters. I only own the plot.

(:


"Liss," I said, as I gently untangled myself from Adrian's heavy limbs, "c'mon. It's for a good cause!"

"You don't even know what a 'good cause' is, Rose."

Cradling the phone in the curve of my neck, I shoved myself off of the ground with a huff.

"Please? Two weeks. I'll pop your back zits and eat the peas on your plate and illegally download Grey's Anatomy-"

"I'm twenty-one, now. I own Proactiv, cook my own meals- sans peas and pirate my own favourite drama series, Grey's Anatomy not being one of which."

"Liss!"

"Rose! I mean it! You can't stay with me; God knows I've already got enough to deal with, without worrying about you costing me another job or jail sentence."

I pouted at Adrian, and bent down to retrieve my end of the rope.

"I'm grown up, though," I reasoned. "All the bad crap was years ago. C'mon, please. You're my best friend!"

I was whining, and partly begging, and it didn't even matter. Lissa had worn my snot and worn my vomit. She'd stolen my illnesses and picked at my leftovers. We even used to share gum. So whining and begging weren't so important, in the grand scheme of things.

Lissa sighed, the echo a harsh hiss through the line. I flinched away from the phone and worked on wrapping the rope around my wrist.

"I don't think-"

"Don't think. It makes life much easier."

"What kind of mature person says that? I thought you were grown up, now?"

I smirked. "I'm working on it."

With another loud sigh, and then a groan, Liss caved.

"Two weeks," she growled, and then I was met with the dial-tone. I wasn't deterred by her lousy goodbye. She just needed to see me in person for all the friendly, lovey emotions to thaw out her Christian-ised heart.

With a squeal of delight, I pocketed my phone and skated over to where Adrian now stood, tugging at the rope around his waist.

"She said yes!" I exclaimed, dropping a kiss on the pink tip of his nose.

"I'm glad," he said, with a smile as genuine as my stepmother's boobs. It was disappointing, my excitement having been not quite as infectious as I would've liked. "Everything's working in your favour."

I pulled my helmet on, and clipped in under my chin.

"Don't speak too soon," I teased with a grin, a half-truth behind my words. I allowed myself to roll backward, holding tight to the rope attached to him. "A lot can happen in two weeks. Especially with Lissa in close proximity."

Adrian sighed a closing sigh, a smile still tugging at his lips.

"Ready to go?" He asked, giving one final test tug on the rope. I leaned forward on my skates, giving him a thumbs up from my perch eight feet behind him.

"Onwards and upwards, Pinocchio!"