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Disclaimer: I do not own VA
DPOV
I smiled as I watched Rose get chased around by Paul in living room. Tonight was New Year's Eve and Viktoria invited Rose and all her friends to mama's house for our party. I was surprised at how quickly Vika, Lissa, and Rose became friends. Since Christmas Eve they've been practically inseparable, and Vika was even transferring schools to see themmore.
"I thought it was social suicide to go to the same school with your teacher brother?" I had teased her when she told me the news.
"Well, everyone seems to love you, so I think I'll be alright." Vika smiled. "Besides, I'll have Rose and Lissa."
"You guys have certainly become great friends haven't you?" I said.
"Well yeah. I mean Lissa's really nice and sweet and Rose is crazy and hilarious." Vika said.
"Yes, yes she is." I mused.
"You two certainly are friendly with each other, also. Is there something you're not telling me, Dimka?" She wiggled her eyebrows.
I looked away. "No Viktoria. She is my student, and that kind of talk is unacceptable." I scolded.
"Alright. If that's what you want to believe. But I'm not the only one who thinks so. Mama sees it too. You look at her like she's the brightest star in the sky." She said.
Well, she is, I thought. "No Vika. Now go get your shoes we're going to the store for groceries for the party."
"Oh, speaking of the party, Rose is coming." She said, and ran out the door. I sighed. This would be interesting.
Now here we are. Paul chasing Rose, Lissa and all their plus some of Vika's friends from school playing pool in the game room, and mama, Karolina, and I were cooking in the kitchen. "Paul has really taken a liking to Rose." Mama said, starting the oven.
"Yes. It seems he has." I said chopping onions, not making eye contact. I figured that was always safest when it came to Rose.
"Everyone in this family has taken a liking to Rose," Karo said, looking at me, though I wouldn't look up. "and their friends." she added, for my sake I'm guessing.
"I like Rose. She's a very beautiful young girl and took my Vika under her wing and is treating her like one of their own. Plus, she's tutoring her on her spare time. She is an amazing young woman." Mama said with adoration in her eyes. Just then Rose came in breathing heavily.
"Paul is a little ball of energy. Well, not little considering he's taller than me. And he's seven. That's just sad." she said plopping down in a chair.
Mama chuckled. "Yes, he is. He's quite the firecracker." she handed Rose a glass of water and she guzzled it, and slammed it on the table.
"Thank you Mrs. Belikov." she smiled.
"Please, call me Olena, Rose. You are welcome in this family now." Mama smiled, her eyes crinkling with age around the edges. I smiled to myself. Rose was already welcome in the family, sad thing is it wasn't with her by my side.
"Thank you.. Olena." Rose grinned and ran to the game room to find her friends.
"Dimka, are the onions done for the piroshky?" mama asked.
"Yes, here." I gave her the cutting board.
"Thank you dear. Now will you please start on the dough?" she asked. I sifted the flour with the baking powder and sugar and other ingredients until it was ready to sit in the fridge for an hour. We were making a selection of items since we didn't know how everyone else would like our Russian foods, so we were also making pizza. Once we finished with all the food a few hours later we called everyone in for dinner. I sat across from Rose, and watched as she took a bite of piroshky, borscht, and some pelmeni. She seemed to like all of it, so mama was pleased. As we ate and laughed I caught her eye a couple times and she would smile at me. Vika wiggled her eyebrows at me and I looked down.
"Mama, tell them all the story of little cowboy Dimka." Vika said.
"Viktoria!" I scolded.
Mama clapped her hands. "Oh my favorite story."
"Mama, please no." I groaned.
"Oh hush. I'm sure they want to hear it, correct?" everyone nodded. "Perfect! Dimitri has loved cowboys since he was young. One day I was ironing when little five year old Dimka comes into the living room in his tidy whities and cowboy boots his father bought for him and his cowboy hat holding a banana for a gun and says to me, "'scuse me ma'am, but I'm 'fraid I'm gonna have to take you into the county for questioning." And it was so cute with his hair falling in his eyes. Of course he said it in Russian so it was even funnier." She laughed, and everyone busted up laughing. I blushed and hid my face in my hands.
"Oh man that's golden!" Christian howled banging his fist on the table. I looked at Rose, to see her laughing so hard she was crying. This was awfully embarrassing. When the chaos was finally over, Karolina made Paul go to bed and then went to bed herself. Mama stayed up to clean, and I helped while everyone else hung out in the game room. When I was done helping mama it was 11:00, and everyone else was watching the ball get ready to drop. I took this an opportunity to speak to Rose alone. Luckily she was by the door.
"Rose." I whispered.
"Hey Comrade." She smiled and stepped out of the room.
"Get a jacket and meet me in the backyard I said. She nodded and went back into the game room to get her coat.
RPOV
I walked back to the game room to get my coat, and when Lissa looked at me questioningly, I gave her a look and nodded knowingly. Vika smirked, and I looked down and headed outside. Does she know something I don't? I opened the door and looked around for Dimitri, but saw something. I walked onto the snow, it crunching under my feet, and saw a big wooden wall blocking the view from the house. "Dimitri?" I whispered.
He peeked his head around the wall. "Up here." I climbed up and laid down next to him.
"Nice tree house." I laughed.
"Thanks. I started it for Paul and Zoya and never got around to finishing it." he said.
"Well why don't you now?" I asked.
"I'm always so busy. I don't have time to." He said. I laughed. We laid in silence for a while, just looking at the stars. I thought of the story his mother told us and curiosity
"So.. I heard something inside that I've been wanting to ask you about." I said nervously.
"What's that?" he asked.
"Well, inside your mom mentioned your father, but you've never talked about him and I've never seen him." He froze beside me and I knew that it was forbidden territory. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked that. It's none of my business." I said guiltily.
"No, no it's alright." He cleared his throat. "I haven't seen or talked to my father in many years. The last time I saw him, I beat him so bad he was sent to the hospital." I gasped. "He used to beat my mother all the time. I walked in on it one night and lost it. I beat him until he was unconscious. He arrived at the hospital and the police came back to question me. I told them what happened and he has a permanent restraining order." He said quietly.
"How old were you?" I asked. He hadn't looked at me the whole conversation, just stared ahead, but I studied his face and knew this was a touchy subject.
He swallowed and closed his eyes. "Thirteen." My eyes widened. I reached over and grabbed his hand. He stiffened at first, but then laced his fingers in mine.
"I'm so sorry. That must have been awful." I said quietly. I felt extreme sadness for him and his family.
"It's alright. We've been better without him. He doesn't deserve to see how well we are now." He said.
"Hey." I whispered, and he finally turned his head to look at me, his brown eyes full of sadness and regret. "You did the right thing to protect your family." He gave me a smile and we looked back up at the stars, for the next forty minutes talking about anything and everything. It was really nice being out here with him. "It's almost midnight. We have to go watch the ball drop." I said and he chuckled. He climbed down the ladder and reached his arms up for me to help me down. When I got to the last step my foot got caught and I fell into him. Our faces were inches apart and I could hear the countdown from everyone in the neighborhood.
10..
9..
8..
7..
6..
5..
4..
3..
2..
1..
I looked at Dimitri. "Happy New Year's, Roza." He whispered and crushed his lips to mine. I wrapped my hand in his hair and he lifted me and held me against the tree. We broke apart and he smiled, and pressed his forehead against mine. "You don't know how long I've been wanting to do that." I grinned, and suddenly fireworks went off, illuminating the backyard with a soft glow, and he kissed me again, tenderly. "You're so beautiful." He said, and kissed my cheek. "Come on, let's get back to the house." He grabbed my hand and pulled me with him. I was still in a daze once we got back to our friends. Good thing I was staying at Lissa's because I had a lot of venting to do. Before we left I caught Dimitri's eye and he smiled, and ducked up the stairs. I walked to the car, still in Cloud 9, and wondered how I got so lucky.
First kiss whaaaaat?:D was it amazing?! I hope you liked! Please review and tell me what you think! :)
