PREVIOUSLY:

Dimitri laughed. "You're pretty funny. Actually, pretty and funny," he added.

So, he thinks I'm pretty, Rose thought, feeling her stomach do and excited flip. This is good.

"You're pretty corny," she said, playing it cool and teasing him a little. "I like that in a guy."

"Good," Dimitri said with a friendly grin. "Hey, I didn't know you were from the island," he said, gesturing to the two stone pelicans hovering over the center of the bridge. "I've never been over there. Should we take the dogs that way?"

"I don't know." Rose hesitated for two reasons. 1) Everything was way nicer in Richfield than on Pelican Island, and 2) if her family saw her with Dimitri she'd surely have to answer a ton of questions about him. And it was kind of nice to have something all to herself for once - at least for a little while.

"The dog run in Richfield is so awesome," she hinted. "We don't even have one on Pelican. I usually take Rocky to this tiny run-down beach."

"The beach? Cool!" He seemed so excited about it.

"It's not an actual beach, per se. Only a little sand really," Rose said, hoping to discourage him, but it wasn't happening.

Dimitri was already walking toward her side of the bridge. He stopped to place Button on the ground and the dog immediately whined until she was picked up again.

Oh, well. Just go with it, Rose told herself and stepped beside him. "Your aunt's dog isn't much of a walker, is she?" she asked, glancing at the fluffy pup in his arms.

Dimitri smiled. "Not really. Button here spends most of her day hanging out in a pink tote bag." He scratched behind the dog's perky ears. "I would have brought it along, but it didn't go with my outfit."

Rose laughed and let Rocky run ahead of them but reined him in when they reached the edge of the bridge. She'd decided to take a different route to the beach so they wouldn't have to pass by the deli.

"I told you, it's not much," Rose said, when they'd arrived. Scattered driftwood and hollow horseshoe-crab shells dotted the dark pebbly sand. A couple of old rotted piers, minus their walkways, jutted into the sea. She un-clipped Rocky's leash and let him go for a run at the water's edge.

Dimitri set Button on her feet. She seemed afraid to move at first, but eventually trotted through the sand after Rocky with her head and tail held high.

Rose perched on a large piece of wood and watched the dogs play. "So, what do you think of my little island?" she asked just as the sea air blew a gust of fish scent up from the ocean.

"It's, um, fragrant," he admitted and sat next to her.

"Tell me about it." Rose wrinkled her nose. "There's a lot of fishing going around the island. See that?" She pointed up at a flock of four pelicans swirling above the water. the large grey-and-white birds circled one, two, three times before nose-diving into the water, then emerging one by one with fresh silver fish in their beaks.

"Wow, that's-" Dimitri said.

Rose raised a hand to stop him then pointed. "Wait for it..."

A moment later a half eaten fish suddenly plopped out of the sky and onto the wt sand just out of reach of the lapping sea. then, seemingly out of nowhere, ten to twenty tiny white birds scurried across the sand to peck on the leftovers.

"Whoa. It's, like, so Discovery Channel out here," Dimitri said, staring at the scene.

"Yeah," Rose agreed. "Who needs cable when you've got all this?" Feeling a bit more comfortable, she leaned back, propping her elbows in the sand letting her legs hang over the driftwood.

Rocky was now being chased ny a yapping Button and heading this way. "Rowwwwlf!" he barked, and jumped into Dimitri's arms, tackling hum into the sand.

"Hey!" Dimitri laughed, and petted the sandy and slobbering Rocky until the dog was satisfied, while Button continued to yap and yap.

"I think Rocky likes you." Rose tried hard not to giggle as Dimitri sat up, brushing sand from his head and shirt. When he was finished he leaned back next to Rose and Rocky trotted around to sit on her other side.

That's a boy, Rocky. Good work, she thought, ruffling the shaggy fur on her dog's head. Then she turned to Dimitri. With his body only inches from hers, she wondered if he could hear the thumping of her heart. She also wondered if maybe she shouldn't have passed on the gum after eating that egg-salad sandwich for lunch.

Dimitri rolled onto his side, facing her, and said, "I like being here with you, despite the stench."

"By stench you mean the fish, right?" she asked. tell me I didn't say that out loud, she silently prayed. Judging by Dimitri's amusement, however, she knew that she had.

"You're hilarious," he said, cracking up.

Rose decided to hold off on the jokes for a little while in the interest of information-gathering. "So what's your story?" she asked him. "What brings you to the lovely Richfield?"

Dimitri shrugged. "My parents are sailing around the world on their yacht and I'm staying with my aunt until school starts up again."

Rose doubled over in laughter. "No, seriously," she said, trying to stop herself.

"Seriously," Dimitri said. He didn't seem to be joking.

"Seriously?" she asked, just to be sure.

Dimitri nodded. "They've been, so far..." He looked up to the sky as if he were trying to remember. "Three and half months."

"So, they trust you enough to stay home alone?" she asked, barely able to comprehend it. Pretty much the only time Rose was alone was when she was in the bathroom, and even then it wasn't long before somebody was pounding on the door to get in.

"Not exactly," Dimitri responded. "I go to a military school in Parkchester, two towns away." He brushed his hands over his chest. "Haven't you noticed my sexy abs?"

"Uh-huh, very nice," Rose commented with a smile. She squinted, trying to visualize Dimitri looking totally cute in his dress blues. Suddenly a barrage of questions popped into her head, such as: Why was he going to military school? Did he miss his parents? Where did his aunt live? Did he want to go out on a date without the dogs? But she started with the basics. "Any brothers or sisters?" she asked.

"Nope. Just me," Dimitri said. "How about you? What's your family like?"

Rose let out an exasperated sigh. "I've got two older brothers. Twins. Eddie and Mason. them drive me crazy! My parents, you already know, own the Scallion, and we all work there. I'm the delivery girl extraordinaire."

"Sounds fun," Dimitri said.

"It's okay." Rose paused. "I was supposed to go to Bella Island for the summer but my plans changed at the last minute." She wasn't sure why she added that last little tidbit. Maybe it was because with parents who circled the world by sea, Dimitri clearly had a more interesting and glamorous life than she did.

Dimitri nodded knowingly. "Yeah. Aunt Belikov's been trying to get me to chill over there, make some friends, but it's not my scene, you know? Besides, who would keep my aunt and this little one company?"

Rose watched him gently stroke Button, who had now wedged herself into the crook of his arm and was snoring softly. "Awww. She's sweet."

Dimitri looked up, his eyes meeting Rose's, and she felt that familiar electricity gently prick her skin as it zinged between them. She tried to think of some funny and memorable thing to say but couldn't, so she gazed toward the sea instead.

"Rose, I'm really glad you didn't go to Bella Island," she heard Dimitri say after a while. "Otherwise we never would have met."

Rose felt her cheeks grow rosy, not because she was feeling weird or embarrassed or anything but because, at that very moment, she was thinking the exact same thing.

well.. there we go.. another chapter :) and another on the way! i will see you guys next week! :)