A/N: ALL HUMAN! DIMITRI'S POV. I DO NOT OWN VA!
Chapter 1
I walked into the train station and sat next to a girl about my age, maybe a year or two younger. She was wearing leather pants and a matching jacket with a red tank top underneath. She had red Nike high tops and was wearing one of those gold necklaces that look like there are loads, but actually, there's only one. She was wearing all matching bracelets and rings. She was listening to her iPod, and when she changed the song, I saw it change from Rihanna to Eminem.
She had long, dark hair, almost black, and it fell to her waist nearly. She had a dark, natural tan, and she looked up as I sat by her. Her eyes were equally dark as her hair, and she was beautiful.
"Hey," she said, removing one of her ear buds.
"Hey," I silently cursed myself as my Russian accent came out stronger than usual—I hate it when that happens—but she didn't seem to mind. Actually, she seemed to like it.
"You're not from around here, are you?" she asked with a smile.
"No. I've only lived here the last four years. You?"
"I live in Brooklyn." She crossed her arms across her chest as a train left the station, and she caught a breeze of the chilly Montana air.
"Are you cold? Do you want my jacket?" I asked; I didn't want her to be cold—Mama always told me to be nice to girls, even if they were strangers.
"I'm fine." She said curtly; I got the impression she didn't like to be taken care of.
"Okay." I said awkwardly. Then to break the silence between us: "Why are you here? Are you visiting a friend or something?"
"I was helping out at my old school teaching P.E. There was a robbery there last semester, and so a lot of teachers left, saying it wasn't safe there anymore; it happened when I was a student and then every year since then. No one wanted their possessions being stolen, so they left and I was roped in for P.E. They say they found another teacher, so I don't need to stick around anymore. It was only about a month or so."
"What school?" I asked. I couldn't stop myself; it was just so weird that I was starting a job teaching P.E. at the same time this girl was leaving one.
"St. Vladimir's." she said.
"Seriously?" I asked.
"I said that, didn't i?" she looked at my face and I couldn't hide a smile. "What?"
"I'm the one taking over that job. I was going to go visit an old friend in New York before I started the job next week."
"Really? That's so strange."
"I know, isn't it." Then she looked up at me again, and she suddenly didn't seem as old as I'd originally pegged her at. "How old are you, anyways? You look like you should still be in school."
"I am still in school, technically. I'm at the Brooklyn college with my friend Lissa. I didn't really want to go, but I didn't want to be separated from her either. She's like my sister, and she said she'd pay for it…so I said 'why not.' I'm twenty one, by the way. I took a gap year."
"Right."
"How old are you? You can't be that much older than me." So I was about right.
"I'm twenty four."
Just then, the New York train pulled into the station. We both stood up at the same time, but she somehow got lost in the crowd. I didn't even find out her name. Hopefully, I'd be able to find her somehow in the next week or so in New York.
As I boarded the train, I didn't see her anywhere. I wonder if I'll ever see her again.
I heard the announcer say: "Next stop Brooklyn." And I knew this is where she would be getting off, and I might never see her again.
"She was covered in leather and gold," I explained to Tasha as I sat down on her couch. I'd been here five minutes, and I was already babbling about the girl I met today at the train station. "Twenty one years old. I lost her in the cold. It's unfair, she's out there somewhere. In Brooklyn."
"I know some people in Brooklyn. Maybe I know her."
"I don't know."
"Come on, Dimka. What does she look like?"
"Beautiful. She's got perfect tan skin and hair and eyes nearly black. Little Miss Perfect, sitting at the train stop. Red Nike high tops. Listening to hip hop. While we were waiting, we started conversation. But before I got her name, along came the train. I don't know why, but I want to see her. I mean, like I said, I don't even know her name!"
"Sounds like love at first sight to me." Tasha said, sipping her coffee as she curled up on the couch next to me. "I say, you should just go to the University and ask some people there if they know her from the description you gave me."
"I could try it. But it's a big university, there could be ten girls with a description the same as that."
"Well it's worth it if you ask me."
I considered it for a moment. Tasha was usually right about things like this.
"I'll give it a go." I sighed. Tomorrow I would go out and find her.
In the morning, I got up and showered, more eagerly than I ever had done before. I managed to be up and out the house by ten a.m. Tasha was just waking up as I left.
"Dimka?" she asked, groggily.
"Yes?"
"Why are you awake so early? It's not natural."
"I'm going out today, remember?"
"Ah, yes. Brooklyn girl."
"She's from Montana, remember? She only lives in Brooklyn."
"Yes, I know that, but I've been awake about two minutes, and I'm already trying to think. That usually doesn't work out so well."
I laughed. "I know. Goodbye, Tasha."
"Bye."
The truth is, I wanted to get the first train to Brooklyn, so I got up super early to catch the ten-thirty. I managed to be there for ten-fifteen, and I was the only one in the train station. It was absolutely deserted.
I double-checked my watch, and then I realised that I was still on Montana time. It was actually eight-fifteen here. I checked the board to see if there was another train sooner than ten-thirty, and, luckily, there was one for eight-forty-five.
Thirty minutes later, I was getting excited. I was going to go to Brooklyn and—hopefully—find her. I boarded the train and sat down. I noticed a couple of girls looking at me. They looked about her age, so I decided to go and ask them.
"Hey, I'm looking for someone I met the other day. I don't know her name, but I thought you might know her. She was about your age."
"Sure. What did she look like?" the tall blond answered.
"She was about this tall," I motioned her height with my hand; she was only up to about my shoulder, "she had brown-black hair almost to her waist, dark eyes and tan skin."
"Sounds like Rose, Lissa." The smaller blond said.
"Yeah, it does, actually." The tall girl—Lissa—replied. "How did you meet her?"
"We were both waiting for the train yesterday. I'm taking over the job she's been covering the last month or so."
"Yeah, she told me about you. I think she's actually gone out looking for you today."
"That's really strange."
"Yeah, it is. I'm Lissa, by the way. This is Mia." I shook the hand she offered me. "We were looking at you because we thought you might be the guy Rose told us about the other day. We're not, like, creepy stalker chicks." I laughed at her explanation. Oh, and school's out this week. Rose could be anywhere during the day. She doesn't tend to hang around when she has no classes. Even I don't know where she could be, and we've been like sisters since kindergarten."
"I know. She told me about you and how you bribed her into going to college."
"It wasn't exactly bribery, but she did need some talking into it."
"Next stop Brooklyn." Rang out through the speakers just then.
"Well, I guess this is where I get off."
"Us, too." The train pulled up in the station and we got off.
"How come you're on the train to Brooklyn if you were in Brooklyn last night?"
"We weren't. Rose called us last night to tell us about you. We'd gone away for a couple nights. But how come you're in New York if you live in Montana?"
"I was visiting a friend. She was the one who convinced me to come here today." We approached two guys. They were both tall, but one had dark blond hair and a tan, but the other had black hair and blue eyes and was considerably paler. This was Christian Ozera, Tasha's nephew.
"Oh, hey, you're Tasha's friend, Dimitri…Belikov, right? I've seen pictures of you." He added when I nodded.
"You're Christian, right?"
"Yup. How come you're in Brooklyn? Tasha said you stayed with her last night."
"He's looking for Rose." Lissa said, wrapping her arms around his waist. She was just a couple inches taller than Mia, who was about two inches taller than Rose. "I really wish we could help you, but we have to go now." She gave me an apologetic smile.
"Oh, don't worry about it. I'm sure I can find her myself."
"Are you sure? I can call Adrian and ask if he can help you. He has an uncanny ability to find Rose."
"What do you mean ability? He doesn't need to find her; he's stalking her." Mia laughed. "He always knows where she is because he's always with her." I suddenly felt jealous. I didn't even know the guy and I didn't like him. I suppose I don't know Rose, either, but I felt a strange pull towards her, one I didn't understand. I wanted to be with her before I'd even learnt her name.
"It's okay. I'll go and find her myself. I'm sure I can do it. It can't be too hard, can it?"
"Well, it is Rose." Christian pointed out. Lissa smacked his chest.
"You'll do fine. I'll tell her you're here looking for her, and she'll find you, eventually."
"Thank you." And then I left them to find her.
"It's Rose Hathaway, by the way." I heard Lissa call behind me.
I eventually found myself in the center of Brooklyn, kicking rocks, circling the same block, checking every corner shop. I eventually gave up looking and started asking people if they know her.
"She's about this tall, brown-black hair and eyes, dark tan skin, pretty, curvy? Name's Rose?"
"Nope. Sorry, dude. Got no idea."
I asked dozens of people, and not one of them knew her. I suppose that it's not that big a surprise in a city this big, but I was still disappointed.
I left to go back to the train and back to Tasha's house.
"You didn't find her, then?" she asked as she saw the look on my face.
"Nope, but I did meet some of her friends. And Christian."
"As in my nephew Christian?"
"Yeah, him. He knows her. But they said they didn't know where she could be. Her name's Rose."
"Oh, yeah, I think he mentioned her once or twice. How is he? Is he still with Lissa? I never met Rose. She tends to do her own thing."
"Yeah, they said that. He is good, and, yes, he is still with Lissa. And Adrian is still a stalker and Eddie and Mia are together before you bombard me with questions."
"Oh, they are? That's so cute. And I think I had heard of Adrian's stalking tendencies."
"It's late. I think I'll just go to bed. And adjust my watch to New York time. I didn't realise how early I was up this morning."
"Good. You realise you woke me up this morning with all your bashing and banging around."
"Sorry about that. Well, really, I do need to go to bed. See you in the morning, Tasha."
"Night, Dimka."
The next three days were exactly the same. I went to Brooklyn, walked around, looking in corner shops, café's, you name it. I asked everybody I saw if they know her, or if they'd seen her. No one had. I was getting more and more depressed.
On the fourth day, I had to leave. I was kind of upset that I hadn't spent any time with Tasha, but she said she didn't mind. She said she's rather I found someone I loved than have her hog all my time. I wanted to spend one more day, but I knew I couldn't as the job started tomorrow, and tonight I had to move onto campus.
It was pretty depressing knowing that I hadn't achieved what I wanted to do, but if I wanted this job, I knew I had to. I'd move on and forget her.
The train pulled into the station, and I contemplated going to Brooklyn one last time and looking for her, but I knew it was no use. I got on the train and wondered if I'd ever see her again.
"Next stop Missoula," came through the intercom, waking me from a very light sleep. There was no dreams as I wasn't in a deep enough sleep for that. I stood up and sighed, wondering if I should just stay on the train till it went back to Brooklyn, but I got off and watched as the train sped out of the station.
I just stood there as the crowd dispersed, drowning in my misery, but the, a flash of gold caught my eye. I turned and saw her. She was dressed in the same outfit as she'd been wearing when I met her. Leather jacket and pants, red tank top and Nike high tops. Gold necklace and matching rings. She was beautiful. And she was walking towards me.
"Hi. I'm Rose." She held out her hand for me to shake.
"I know. I'm Dimitri." I shook her hand.
"I know." We both smiled at each other for a moment, and then she did something that shocked me even more than I already was. She kissed me.
"I couldn't let you go back without seeing you one last time, but now…I don't think I can leave you." I kissed her again. "I know this sounds crazy, but I think I'm in love with you."
"It is crazy, but the craziest thing is, I think I love you, too."
"I love you, Dimitri Belikov."
"I love you too, Roza." I whispered her name in Russian and she smiled so widely it looked like it would hurt. She kissed me with a passion that felt like flames, and I knew it was true.
I was in love with Rose Hathaway.
Bruno Mars—Somewhere in Brooklyn Lyrics
she was covered in leather and gold, 21 years old
i lost her in the cold
it's unfair, she's out there
somewhere, somewhere, somewhere in Brooklyn
she's somewhere, somewhere, somewhere in Brooklyn
little miss perfect sitting at the train stop
red Nike high tops listening to hip-hop
while we were waiting started conversating
before i got her name along came a train
...next stop Brooklyn
now I'm lookin'
she was covered in leather and gold, 21 years old
i lost her in the cold
it's unfair, she's out there
somewhere, somewhere, somewhere in Brooklyn
she's somewhere, somewhere, somewhere in Brooklyn
on the street kickin' rocks circling the same block
green farm Flatbush checking every corner shop
tappin' people's shoulders askin if they know her
every day's the same back to the train
she was covered in leather and gold, 21 years old
i lost her in the cold
it's unfair, she's out there
somewhere, somewhere, somewhere in Brooklyn
she's somewhere, somewhere, somewhere in Brooklyn
Ohhh Ohh Oh Oh Ohhh
i wonder will we ever meet again
Ohhh Ohh Oh Oh Ohhh
i wonder will we ever meet again
yeah...i wonder if we'll ever meet again
i hope we do somewhere in Brooklyn