Taking Chances – Chapter 9

A/N: I told you all I would be back *dances*. Okay, so that last scene I posted can take place...right before this. Right after that. Whatever, it doesn't really matter when it takes place, I just thought it would be more consistent and easier on all of us if I just posted everything in order. If I ever decide to write outside of this story, like scenes you wanted to see but I never actually put in this story, or back stories, or whatever, I will post it separately. This chapter is kind of short because I find I put too many POVs in one chapter, and I'm going to try and keep it to one or two, and Rose's life is going to mellow out...for like an hour. Whoops. This chapter isn't beta'd, and the few future chapters will not be beta'd, sorry about that. Because you all know I'm far too lazy to check for mistakes so there's probably tonnes in here.

RPOV

I felt like crap by the time the next morning came. I didn't exactly go to sleep in the best mood, not with the knowledge that Mia and I argued last night.

Cautiously, I stepped into the living room, not liking one bit the somber look on Mia's face.

"What about?" I asked slowly.

"Where did you go?" Mia asked accusingly.

I raised an eyebrow.

"I went to the casino." I said, innocently.

"Without telling me?" Mia cried.

I snorted.

"Excuse me? Since when were you my mother?" I said disbelievingly.

"That's not the point. You can go wherever the hell you want without telling me. But not this late. I was worried fucking sick. Do you know how long you've been gone? And not only that, but when I came here the place was in complete disarray! And how does that look? Since you usually tell me when you're going somewhere. You disappear, for almost an entire day, not answering any of my texts or calls and you leave half your hotel room a mess. C'mon, Rose, not cool."

I could see her point, but that didn't dim my annoyance much. She didn't have to be this worked up. But I was so tired. I was doing so much, all day, and so much had happened, that I wanted nothing more than to sleep.

"Alright, fine Mia, I get it, I won't do it again. I'm going to sleep now, okay?" I said wearily, and began to walk towards my bedroom. Mia stiffened.

"Wait, but – aren't you – " she stammered.

"What?" I turned my upper body towards her.

"N – nothing, never mind, just sleep." She said sadly.

Okay?

I waved my hand.

"You know what? I'm not even going to question it."

I continued my way and Mia did not pester me for the rest of the night.

When I first woke up, I was fine, but when I stood up I felt heavy, and I wanted nothing more to fall back into my bed but I could practically taste my morning breath and it wasn't sweet. It took a lot of effort to swing my legs over the edge, and when I tried to stand on them they felt numb. So numb, in fact, that I guess I forget how to walk because when I tried to step from my already shaky stance I fell over, and I was so heavy I didn't bother trying to make myself get up. I laid there for a while, quite content being useless on the floor until a snort from Mia made my heart jump.

"Alright, well, I was going to tell you to get your ass up because we're going for gelato, but I can see you're busy getting to know the floor. I'll come back later," she concluded and turned to leave the room.

"Oh, just shut up and help me," I tried to say with power, but I was too busy reaching over to slap my legs into alertness. Mia sighed and walked over to me, but instead of taking hold of my hands and hauling me up, she laid down beside me. She laid on her back and turned her head towards me, a gentle expression on her doll-like features.

"You know I love you, right?"

"If you really did you would help me get up."

"I'm being serious. I apologize for acting like I was your mother yesterday, but you have to understand that I care for you and I don't want anything to happen to you. From the day we met you looked out for me, we met because you looked out for me, you and Lissa, and I want to do the same. So, please, leave a note or something next time?"

I took a moment to consider what she was saying to me. Was it that big of a deal? One day, I was gone for one day, and I wasn't anywhere new, I was at the casino. Though I could understand her reaction. Mia had lost a few people close to her, and the fact that she was worried this much about me warmed my heart. I don't know what I would do without Mia and I guess she didn't know what she would do without me. Especially here, in this city that isn't familiar enough to her. Yes, she comes, but more often than not with me or Lissa, and she's become a big part of my life. Mia Rinaldi is daily and important and she won't be going anywhere. If she wanted to go to anywhere that I knew was much too dangerous for her, I'd tie her down and throw her in my closet. She could take care of herself, she wasn't a baby, but everyone had a match and Mia would not be facing hers without me. I guess I didn't stop to consider that it went two ways. That she was not only that important to me, but I was that important to her. Yeah, I guess if you look at it a certain way she overreacted, but it just shows she cares for me. She cares about what happens to me. Not many people ever care for me, not many people made me feel like there was something in me worth caring about. Next time, I would let her know where I was going, because I owe her that much. One thing neither of us needs is abandonment, and one off day where one of us loses track of the time or gets lost, that's what we could think. Flight, well, it's in our nature. It's the kind of people we are: flighty, impulsive, and reckless. We loved each other, we wouldn't leave forever, but small acts can seem like abandonment. If Mia went to a club without inviting me, I'd feel pretty neglected. There aren't many people I need in my life, but I need Mia Rinaldi, and I don't know what I'd do if she didn't need me back.

Smiling, I rolled on top of Mia, knowing she hates that. She coughed and sputtered and tried to wriggle out of the sandwich she found herself in between me and the floor.

"Off! Off, Rose, you're such a cow." She spat, but I laughed and threw my arms around her and squeezed, 'cow' wasn't a new term coming from her.

"Next time, I won't leave a note, because you'll be coming with me," I said affectionately, letting her know that I was no longer upset, and I didn't want her to be upset with me.

She hugged me back then, even though her face was red. The girl was tiny and I, well, wasn't.

I rolled off of her, now on the opposite side of her, but I was still on the floor.

"Did you say 'gelato' earlier?" I inquired.

She rolled her eyes, "You're a loser, Rose. Now can you really not get up without my help?"

"I think I'm good now," I smiled, and I was. I don't know what was up with me, but I felt a lot better now.

"Then, why are we laying here?"
"I heard this is therapeutic, actually."
"Laying on the floor? Therapeutic for what?"

"Your back, obviously."

"Well, I care more about my hair, can we get up, get ready, and go? You have things to tell me, after all," she said, starting to stand.
"What things do I have to tell you?" I replied, standing. She stared at me like I was stupid.

"What you did last night, obviously."

What did I do last night? I drank, I gambled, I saw Adrian, and – oh.

"You what!?" Lissa exclaimed, causing my hand to fly to the phone's speaker. A few people around us shot us some dirty looks, because even though my hand over the phone's speaker turned down the volume a bit, Lissa was still yelling and talking and squealing and chastising. Mia choked on her cappuccino flavoured gelato, coughing and sputtering with the spoon still in her mouth. I rolled my eyes.

"Lissa, I'm going to hang up if you don't be quiet, you're on speaker in a public place," I hissed, and she gradually calmed down, and was soon silent. I turned to Mia, waiting for her reaction.

"I can't believe you made out with Adrian Ivashkov and you waited until the next day to tell me." She said seriously, and I could practically hear Lissa's head bounce in agreement.

"I didn't make out with him," I said in annoyance, "besides, it's not like it means anything. I was drunk. It was really weird, actually, because I didn't feel drunk the whole time. I was hyper aware of everything. I consider it an 'out-of-body' experience." I said sagely.

Mia's eyes looked like they were ready to shoot laser beams at me, and I swear I could feel Lissa's glare all the way from where she was.

"I agree with Mia," Lissa said. I had taken my hand off the speaker, but turned down the volume as a precaution for one of Lissa's outbursts.

"I can't believe you got drunk without me," Mia added, and I swear, she looked more angry at that than the first confession.

"I don't agree with Mia," Lissa added. I sighed.

"Look, guys, it doesn't really mean anything. Have any of you even heard of Adrian Ivashkov? The string of lovers, mistresses, women, whatever? The trail of broken hearts, and cigarettes and the things he gets away with, I don't want to get involved with someone like him. I never did, not last night, not tonight, not tomorrow night, not ever. I was caught up in the heat of the moment, I was drunk, and I don't plan on letting it happen again." I said with a note of finality.

"When I go down there, you're going to show me that sunset Rose," Lissa told me. I nodded my head even though she couldn't see it.

"Well, um," Mia's voice had grown shy, and the subject of the conversation was no longer me, because when was Mia ever shy? "Something also happened to me last night when you were gone."

I raised my eyebrows at her, and Lissa was listening intently.

"Well, Ivan came to the room yesterday –"

I jumped up in the middle of the gelato shop we were in not far from the Strip.

"Whoa, wait, stop right there. Ivan came to our room? Why? What did he want? Was Dimitri with him? Was Viktoria with him? Oh my God, he was alone wasn't he? Why? Why did he come? What did he want? Did you kiss him? Mia, did you kiss him?"

"Who's Ivan? Who's Ivan?" Lissa screamed into the phone, and I was thankful that the volume was turned down because I was too worked up to cover the speaker with my hand. We only met Ivan and Dimitri recently, they're practically strangers to us, but I'm only acting this way because of how shy Mia was acting with it. She wouldn't meet my eyes, and a blush was crawling up onto her face. Though we didn't know them for that long, there was an obvious attraction between the two of them, and if nothing happened Mia wouldn't be acting the way she was.

"I didn't kiss him. God Rose, we only just met Ivan and Dimitri. I'm not like you." She snapped. That last part hurt a little, not because of what she implied, because Mia knows me and she knows that I'm not like that. She must have been referring to how I kissed Adrian. It hurt mainly because she was like me. Mia has done things worse than me, so she shouldn't be talking like she was better than me.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean it."
"I know, it's alright." And it was, it was fine. Everyone has slip-ups.
"And Dimitri? There's two? You met two guys? Who's Ivan? Who's Dimitri? Who's Viktoria? Who are these people? Why is no one answering me?!" Lissa was freaking out, and even though the volume was turned down, people were still staring.

"Lissa, calm down. Dimitri and Ivan are these two guys we met earlier this week, and we will tell you the story, but first I want to hear about what happened when Ivan came to our room." I looked at Mia expectantly. She took a deep breath, and told us about how Viktoria had forgotten her phone in our room and made him go back for it. She had just discovered I was gone, and had worked herself into such a worried frenzy she had begun to seriously freak out. She hadn't heard Ivan knocking, so he decided to come in. Him finding her in that state caused Mia to break down, but he had held her and comforted her and assured her that I was okay. She told us about how he was gentle, she told us about how he backed off when he needed to and knew that he didn't need to be too gentle. She told us things that she didn't need to, how his eyes were a darker blue than a deep sea and she told us these things in a way that also told us she wasn't really with us, but deep within herself. She told us things that he told her, things that made her think and wonder and made her thankful that he was there for her, when I wasn't. And, in telling us those things, she unknowingly told me that even though we had just met Ivan, it was clear that they had a mutual liking to each other and if she chose to pursue it, it would bloom into something beautiful. When she was finished, Lissa was silent on the other line, mulling over the story.

I stared at her and asked in a completely serious manner, "So when are you going to ask him out?" Mia looked shocked.

"Rose, I'm not going t – to –"

"If I didn't like a girl, I wouldn't hold her and stroke her hair and assure her that everything would be alright, I would ask her if she needed a glass of water and that's it. Then I'd get my best friend's sister's cellphone and be on my merry way," I said.

"Yeah, but that's because you're an asshole," Mia raised an eyebrow at me.

"Rose, you'd probably want to do something about it but you aren't the most gentle person," Lissa laughed softly.

"Oh, shut up, the both of you," I laughed, "but really Mia, you aren't going to do anything about it?"
"I don't think she should rush into things Rose, you haven't known this guy very long," Lissa said.

Mia nodded, "And that's why we keep Lissa around, so she can tell you how stupid you can be sometimes. Really, Rose? A week? Too little time. That's what we need, time, and maybe something will happen."
"Not if you don't do something about it," I argued.

"I will do something about it, but I don't want to throw myself at him, y'know?" She countered.

I sighed. "Fine. So you two only talked about you? You didn't get to know him a bit more?"

She shook her head no, "I asked him a bit about himself, and Dimitri, and Viktoria, and Rose, did you know about the gang activity happening?"

"What gang activity?" I knit my eyebrows together in confusion.

"Well, I asked about where Dimitri worked, and he's a cop, he lives in Pennsylvania. He told me that right now Dimitri's pretty stressed because there's a lot of gang violence that's spreading throughout the States, and he doesn't know why. More people are involved, and apparently he's hating that, the fact that it got so out of hand that forces from other States are starting to try and bring it down. I don't know, since we're here a lot, Ivan asked me to keep tabs on anyone who seems suspicious. You can't tell Dimitri though, apparently he doesn't want the help, and the authorities are trying to keep this on the down low. I guess because that's what gangs want, recognition. Sucks, too, he's supposed to be on vacation. Lissa, you listen to. I just thought I'd pass it on, and there was this name we're supposed to listen out for but Ivan couldn't remember what it was, which isn't much help. Can you believe it, Rose? Gang activity. Gangs are so stupid, with robbing and killing and abusing, for what purpose? Mobs, I guess I'd kind of understand, because at least that's a system. It's organized, complex, worthy of such worry. Gangs? I'm surprised a group so violent and sloppy can hold itself together. It's so pointless. I hope they take it down soon, I don't want anyone to be in danger."

My gelato was fully melted by now, and I was no longer hungry any way. I was hung on what Mia had said, hung on the little information I had on Dimitri and what I learned about this piece of news. Gangs are capable of a lot of damage.

"Lissa? Are you still with us?" I spoke into the phone.

"Yeah – just – planning – Christian! Have you seen my green dress?!"

"Liss, what are you planning?" I asked.

"If it works out, I'll let you know. I have to go for now, alright? I love you both, and I'll talk to you both later."

Mia and I said our goodbyes, paid for our gelato, and went back to our hotel to just hang out for the rest of the day, because we decided that tonight we're going out.

A/N: So what's cooking, good looking? Hopefully something, because I can't cook to save my life. Anyway, I want to change the title for this story. I hate doing that, I really do, but I don't like Taking Chances and I have a few titles in my head but I wanted to know if you guys would mind. I mean, I know it doesn't matter because it's my story and I can change the title if I want to but a good title and summary is what makes someone read the story. I might not change it but if I decide to will that confuse people, or? A big big big thanks to Sporty, Rose Melissa Ivashkov, and Ello for their reviews. A big thanks to everyone, really, I just said those reviewers because they were the ones for chapter nine, but honestly? I appreciate every single one of them. I usually find myself not wanting to write, but then I come back to the reviews and they light my fingers on fire because it's nice knowing that I have people to please. If you actually read this A/N, the whole thing, congrats, and if you read this story and don't review, then I probably can't love you forever. Sorry.