"Ow! Fuck!" I shout as my body slams onto the ground, Connor's pretend stakes hitting my chest.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I thought you were going kick my ass today?" He says innocently, pulling me back to my feet.
"Ugh, you heard that?" I groan, stretching my back out.
"Guardian remember? I hear everything." He says, handing me my towel and water bottle. I groan and take a sip, putting my towel onto my head, blocking my vision. "I'm honestly quite offended that you said I'm not that cute." My eyes widen and I drop the towel from my face and look at him. I keep my cool and just shrug it off.
"What can I say Johnson? Truth hurts." I say, throwing him my towel and water bottle, getting ready to continue sparring.
"You still want to spar? Fine, but don't get to bummed out when I kick your ass again." He taunts, both of us analysing each other. Sure enough I wasn't going to be able to beat him, his age and position says that but I at least want to drag the fight out so I don't get down easily, and I have to at least try. "Come on Rose. Try to beat me. Find my weak points. Pretend I'm a strigoi and I'm out to get Vasilisa." I aim for his face and he dodges it, kicking my feet so that I'm down. I jump back up and punch his chest, trying to 'stake' him but miss due to his fast reflexes. I grin at an idea I have, and my eyes glint with joy. I keep sparring with him, but when he kicks my feet again, making me fall, I don't get up this time. Instead I stay down and whimper. "Oh shit. Rose are you okay?" Johnson exclaims, getting down to my side and checking my head for a concussion. "Shit, I didn't mean to go too rough on you." He says, worry flashing in his eyes. Just as he was about to examine my head further, I flip us over and pin him to the ground, making him unable to escape us. I grin proudly and see him roll his eyes and grimace.
"1 point for Hathaway and 0 for Johnson." I say proudly, straddling and crossing my arms in front of my chest. He laughs and then out of nowhere, he manages to flip us over. pinning me on the ground and whispers in my ear.
"1 point for Hathaway and 1 point for Johnson. Nice try Rose. You're good, but I'm better." He whispers, pulling me back up onto my feet and going back to the benches, drinking his water and wiping the sweat from his face. Seeing him sweaty and out of breath just makes him look hotter, ugh snap out of it Rose. "Oh, Rose?" I hear Connor shout as I walk towards the exit. "I found this yesterday. It's addressed to a Roza?" He says as I my eyebrows shoot up. I walk back to him and sit next to him, curious. "I'm not sure who it's addressed to but I thought maybe you knew." He says, shrugging and giving me a white envelope. I thank him and bolt out of the gym and go straight to my room. I dropped my bags at the foot of my bed and jumped on my bed, eagerly ripping out the envelope to see what was inside. A letter was inside along side with a silver necklace with an rose pendant. I smiled and kissed it, craving for something that would connect me to Dimitri in a way. I opened the letter and start reading it.
My Roza,
I'm sorry I had to go and that our farewell didn't go as smoothly as I planned. I know you might have your doubts about me and my intentions with you but I can assure you, it is not what you think. I care about you Roza, so much more than you think. I love you more than life itself but that's just it. I love you so much that it has blinded me. It would be selfish of me to hold you back from achieving what you can do and from being Vasilisa's guardian. I thought that maybe with me being away, you can see things differently and improve your training and forget about me, about us. Not that I will. I will never forget about you Roza. I just need you to know that. I cherish every moment we have spent together, whether laughing, training together or fighting because I love you with all my heart. But please Roza, promise me one thing. Move on. I do not want to hold you back from your full potential. I'm sure your new mentor will be good and be even better than I am. But that is not what concerns me the most. Just please move on. Knowing you, that shouldn't be a problem. And no I'm not insulting you, it's just because you are so beautiful. Your dark brown eyes, beautiful brown hair and that sexy smirk you have when you say something witty. That and just the way you act, you are so full of life, so impulsive, so strong and so loveable. It's impossible not to fall in love with you. Just like it was impossible for me not to. Just for your information, I never slept with Tasha. And just like I said, I am not going to be her permanent guardian, I'll just be filling in whileI look for a replacement. I love you so much Roza, that my heart hurts and I will most certainly yearn for your touch every second that I am away from you. I just hope you don't hate me too much when I see you again. Everything we do has it's purposes. I love you Roza. I'll see you in a month.
Love,
Your Comrade
I choked a laugh and smiled at the end, Dimitri hated it when I called him Comrade. Something wet trailed down my face and dripped from my chin and onto the letter, making it wet. Soon, the letter was soggy and the ink began to fade away. I was sobbing uncontrollably, locking my door to restrain anyone from walking in on me in this state. I slid down the wooden door and cried, curling myself into a ball. God I hate my fucking life. I missed him. So. Fucking. Much. I managed to ignore thinking about him and avoided any talk about him and Tasha. I have managed 2 weeks without seeing my sexy Russian God. Only to find myself slapped in the face with this letter. Why? What did I ever do to deserve this kind of pain? I crawled back to my bed, playing with the necklace Dimitri gave me. I flipped it over and saw "Comrade" engraved at the back, making me cry even more. That's it. Rose Hathaway has officially broke. I cried myself to sleep, holding onto the necklace as if it was my lifeline and dreamt of Dimitri, blocking my bond, not wanting to know anything involving the outside world.
It's been a week since I received the letter from Dimitri and I shut myself from the world. I did not go to any of the classes and did not talk to anyone despite the phone calls I have received from my friends and Connor. Adrian has been constantly bugging me, knocking on my door and sending texts, coaxing me to get out of the room. Honestly, if I didn't have a week's worth of food in my room, I would have probably got out of my room earlier. Or maybe I would just starve myself to death. Thankfully after 4 days he stopped and for some reason he was absent. What made me confused was that he never tried to go into my dreams like he had at the ski lodge. Maybe he's too tired to use energy or maybe the darkness was getting to him. But nonetheless, it made me smile. Knowing how much he cares about me. How much everyone does. Lissa. Adrian. Mason. Eddie. Connor, who had kept emailing me and knocking on my door. Hell, even Christian tried to call me.
"Rosie, please come out. It's killing me." Eddie says from behind the door, bringing me out of my thoughts. I stay quiet and slump behind the door, listening to what he has to say. "Please. Everyone's a mess. Please Rose. Lissa has been worried sick and Mason's just grumpy all the time. Hell even Christian's gotten quiet! Please Rose." I sigh and unlock the door, hearing a gasp emit from Eddie. He quickly pushes the door and crouches down to bring me into his embrace, shushing me and stroking my hair. "I missed you." He whispers, hugging me tighter.
"I didn't expect this coming from you." I whispered, snuggling into his chest, sighing from the stress that I have been facing.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Eddie asks, a little offended by what I said.
"I mean, I would have thought it would be Adrian. Where is he anyway?"
"I guess you haven't heard huh? He's locked himself in his room ever since you wouldn't come out. He used to stake out here outside your room and sleep to see if you would go out when we least expected it. But after 4 days, he gave up and just went to his room and locked himself in there." He says, brushing my hair off of my face. I stand up and get the keys to Adrian's room which he gave me the first week we got here. Quickly spraying perfume onto my clothes since I haven't showered. "Where do you think you are going?" He warns, standing up beside me to block me from leaving.
"I'm going to see Adrian. Don't tell anyone I'm out of my room. Don't tell Mason and definitely don't tell Lissa." I warn him.
"You're going to see Adrian first? Even before Lissa?" He says with a hint of disappointment in his voice. I just ignore it and shrug, not bothering to answer him. "Wow. That says a lot."
"Shut up. I'll see you later. Remember. Don't tell anyone." I warn him, furrowing my eyebrows at his uneasiness. I walk my way towards Adrian's room, successfully avoiding everyone. Thank God. I don't need to see anyone right now. As I arrive in front of his door, I started to feel nervous. Why the hell am I nervous? I don't have any reason to be. I mean, I haven't seen him for a week but nothing's changed. I guess. I hope. I unlock the door silently and turn the door knob slowly, making sure I don't make too much noise. Once the door is opened, a waft of alcohol invade my nostrils, causing me scrunch my nose in disgust. God, what has he been doing? I close the door behind me and walk my way around, seeing all the empty bottles of alcohol scattered around his room, even more than what I saw at the ski lodge. God, what has he done? "Adrian?" I whisper, not wanting to startle him. "Adrian." I said, a little bit louder. I went to his bedroom and saw him there, sitting on the bed taking a swig from his bottle of alcohol. Seeing him like that just made me want to punch someone. It hurt me so much, for some unknown reason. Yeah, I guess I should feel protective over him as a friend. But why am I this concerned? "Oh my god. Adrian!" I shouted, bolting to his side, taking the bottle away from his hand.
"Little dhampir?" I hear Adrian's rough, raw voice call out. He looked up and I saw his eyes, missing that mischievous glint that I secretly loved. "Little dhampir, is it really you? Or am I just imagining things again?" I nodded and brushed his hair off of his face, his hair still messy but does not look styled like it usually does. I tipped his jaw upwards, to bring his gaze onto my eyes instead of the cold floor. His eyes suddenly lit up and he pushed me onto the bed, peppering my face and neck with loving kisses, his eyes showed pure love and adoration which caused me to giggle. "Little dhampir," he said between kisses. "You have no idea how much I have missed you." I giggled and pushed him away, rolling my eyes at his childish behaviour.
"I've missed you too. A lot." I said before throwing myself at him, causing us to fall onto the bed with me on top of him. For a Moroi, Adrian's pretty fit. He has strong muscles and even has a six-pack. Nothing compared to … him, but still hot. He didn't seem to be disturbed by my weight on his body so I didn't bother to move, instead snuggling into his chest. He kissed my hair and brought me up so that my face would be align to his and kissed my nose. I smiled and kissed his cheek, sighing at how safe I felt in Adrian's arms. Weird. I got up and looked around, furrowing my eyebrows and frowning at him, disappointed with the state of the room. "What is the meaning of this? Why are there so many bottles of alcohol laying around?" I said angrily, glaring at him. He chuckled and played with a strand of my dark brown hair, still laying down with his head on my lap now.
"You left. What was I supposed to do? That and the darkness got to me." He said, shrugging as if it wasn't a big deal. I huffed and glared at him even more.
"What were you supposed to do? Adrian, just because I left doesn't mean you don't have a life to live, friends to hang out with, duties to attend to. You shouldn't be wasting your life on alcohol. Sure, I get drunk but it's only on certain occasions. Not like you! What were you thinking!" I shouted, sighing in frustration. Adrian will be the end of me.
"Look," he started, sitting up and brushing the loose strands of hair behind my ear. "I'm sorry. I guess I wasn't thinking straight with you gone." He says, cupping my face. "But that's just it little dhampir. Don't you get it? I'm lost whenever you're gone. Sure, I have Lissa, Mason, Eddie and Flame boy. But none of them matter because they're not you." He says lovingly, stroking my cheek with his thumb. I bit my lip and sighed, looking at him and getting lost in his beautiful emerald eyes. His eyes were so filled with love, concern, adoration despite how hazy it looked.
"Ugh, screw you and your sweet talk. I hate you, you know that?" I said, dropping my upper half onto the bed once again. I looked at him, really looked at him, observing his features from his messy brown hair to the stubble on his chin.
"I love you too, my little dhampir." He says, laying down next to me and stroking my hair and gazing deeply into my eyes, causing me to blush and look away. God Rose, what is happening! You cannot be attracted to Lord Ivashkov. Just because he's hot and all doesn't mean… Oh my god! I did not just say he's hot. God, why must my life be so complicated. I shook my head and snapped out of my thoughts and looked at Adrian to discuss an important matter. "Hey, where's Lissa? Isn't she supposed to be hear to steal you from me?" He said protectively, pulling me closer to him and throwing his arm around my waist protectively. I laughed and rolled my eyes, playfully slapping his shoulder.
"I'm not sure. I haven't seen her, or everyone else." I tell him quietly, watching a big cheesy grin appear on his face.
"Does this mean you came to see me first?" He asked eagerly, which I just stayed quiet to. I do not want him to assume things. "Ah, well I guess you really did miss me a lot after all. I can't believe you went to see me before Lissa, Mason or Eddie first!" He beamed, taking my silence as a yes.
"Well, technically I saw Eddie first but that's just because he was the one who got me out of my room and told me where you were." I told him, he suddenly stopped and frowned disappointedly.
"I see. So he was the one who got you out of your room?" He muttered, jealousy obvious in his voice.
"Yes, but I asked him where you were the first minute I got out." I told him honestly, he smiled fondly and kissed my temple. "But what if I didn't? You jealous?" I taunted, giggling.
"No. Kinda. Maybe. Yes. Incredibly." He muttered sheepishly. I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms in front of my chest, even though I was still in his arms.
"You do know that you don't have any right to be jealous right? It's not as if you're my boyfriend or anything." I tell him, rolling my eyes, but secretly loving how cute he looked when he's jealous. He sighs and I resist the urge to laugh my ass off.
"I know little dhampir. But that doesn't mean I don't want to be your boyfriend and to be your one and only. And yes, I know you need your space after Big Russian Guy but I'll be waiting, hoping, praying that you'll see and even consider me." He says, kissing my hair lovingly. I sighed and look up at him. Should I say it? No. God. I feel obligated to say this. Why? Cause it's your feelings Rose. God, I'm such a reckless bitch.
"I already do consider you Adrian." I whisper to him, causing him to break into a grin. I sigh and snuggle into the crook of his neck, inhaling his scent that was now incorporated with the smell of the alcohol that he had been drinking before. Bringing me back to reality. "Adrian, can you do me a favour?" I ask him nicely, giving him my puppy dog eyes.
"You know I would do anything for you, if it's in my power. If you wanted the moon then I will try until my very last breath to take you there and just do that."
"Can you please stop drinking?" I ask him sheepishly, afraid of his answer. Hey, it's better to try then not do anything at all right? I wanted to ask him to stop smoking but baby steps Rose. Slowly but surely. I hear him sigh and I slowly open my eyes and look at him, still uncertain of his reaction.
"Little dhampir, you know how much the darkness can take a poll on me. But then again, I have you now. And it seems like the darkness can't get to me when I'm in your presence or even just thinking of you. But you have to understand that sometimes I drink for certain reasons, not just to have fun." He says looking down at me, brushing my hair from my face. I sigh and pout, pulling myself up so that my face would be closer to his.
"I know, but since you said I keep the darkness away, that means you don't have to drink as much right? And you can still smoke those cancer sticks you love so much, even though I hate them and wished you would stop. Please Adrian. Stop drinking and if you can, smoking too. For me." I whispered, nuzzling into his cheek, causing him to chuckle lowly.
"God, little dhampir. You're a little minx! Ugh, you know I can't say no to you. I'll stop drinking for you. And smoking if I can. For you." He said, making me smile. I kiss his cheek, causing him to grin and inhale my scent. God, I bet I smell so bad right now! I haven't even taken a shower! Oh, wait I sprayed perfume before I left. Oh thank god I remembered.
"Thanks. I don't think I hate you as much now." I tell him, causing him to chuckle.
"That's good." He said, burying his nose in my hair, causing me to giggle a bit. God, the world is coming to an end. I, Rose Hathaway, is giggling. God help me.
"Yeah. Oh and Adrian?" I ask him as I felt his chin brush against my soft skin.
"Yes, my little dhampir?" He says, peppering my face and neck with kisses once again.
"You should shave. Like, right now." I tell him sternly, pushing his face away so that he would stop spreading kisses on my face.
"But I want to stay in bed with the beautiful dhampir next to me." He says, pouting at me and crossing his arms in front of his chest . I groaned and pushed him of the bed, making a thud noise as his ass hits the ground.
"Well this beautiful dhampir will go away if you don't shave." I tell him, pointing at me and winking.
"God, I love it when you're dominant." He says, growling. I groan and roll my eyes, pushing his ass towards the bathroom with my foot.
"Just shave, lover boy." I call out, getting under the covers again. Being with Adrian was nice, he distracted me from my pain and my problems. He made me forget about Dimitri and my shit life. I'm still not over Dimitri but I'm slowly getting there. I mean, just because me and Adrian shared kisses that doesn't mean we're a couple, even Adrian knows that. And it certainly doesn't mean I like him, even though I kinda do- No. I cannot like Adrian. I mean there's Mason, he's been there for me. Maybe I can give him a shot, or Eddie? I don't know. I'll just let time decide. I felt the bed shift as Adrian snuggled under the covers and grabbed me, pulling me closer to his chest, heat radiating off of him. I sighed and traced his jaw, pleased to find his chin smooth.
"So, are you going to tell me why you imprisoned yourself in your room all this time?" He asked, twirling a strand of my hair. I sighed and looked up to see his eyes full of concern and wonder. Might as well tell him. Why bother escaping the inevitable?
"It's about Dimitri…" I trailed off, hoping to God that I don't break into tears. I feel Adrian's fists clench and his jaw tighten, his lips now pressed into a firm line. "He sent me a letter and I just snapped. I just miss him, so much. I dreaded everyday that I had to train without him and but I was moving on. I was ignoring that little piece of me that was missing and living my life. But just reading that letter… It just made all that I had avoided come back." I explained, my voice breaking at the end. I sniffled and smiled softly at Adrian, rubbing circles on his cheek to make his frown go away. "But hey, I'm already out now so no need to worry about it."
"Fine. I'll let this one go." I smiled and got up out of the bed, stretching my limbs. "Hey, where are you going?" He protested, pulling me back into bed.
"Well I was going to go see Lissa." I said, trying to break free from his tight grip on my waist.
"But you said if I shaved that you wouldn't leave." He begged, pouting and kissing my shoulder. I groaned and leaned back to see his face.
"You're impossible, you know that?" I said, snuggling back into his chest.
"Anything that'll make you stay, little dhampir." He muttered, pulling me close and drifting asleep with me.