A/N: What, she's early again? It's unbelievable! Yes, I am early again, my sister is coming home from Hawaii and I plan on spending all day Saturday with her so I'm putting this up now. I know I've said this about a lot of chapters but I think this is actually my favorite chapter. This chapter didn't go like how I planned it would but it still turned out good, at least I hope. My favorite part is Rose and Andre's talk. Although, I do feel bad about one of the parts, but it felt right to put it in there. I hope this chapter answers some of your questions. It won't answer all of them. Some will be answered in the later chapters. If you still have questions feel free to ask. This is a short author's note today. I'll let you lovely readers read. Don't forget to REVIEW!
Disclaimer: I don't own anything
RPOV
After I left Adrian's, I went to Abe's to see what hewanted. When I opened the door, I got attacked by two little girls covered in mud.
"Rose," they yelled running to hug me.
"We missed you! Why'd we have to stay here last night?" Scarlett asked jumping onto my back while Madi jump on the front of me. They were trying to get me on the ground so they could say they beat me at fighting.
"Well…" I trailed off not sure how to tell two six year old girls what everyone did last night.
Thank god my mom walked in when she did that way I don't have to finish. "Ah, Rose, it's so nice to see your smiling face. I presume you had a good night last night?" I could hear the double meaning in her voice; she knew. Damn Abe, why can't he keep his fucking mouth shut?
"It wasn't that bad. It was nice to hang out with the gang again." I smile an innocent smile. She doesn't fall for it.
"I bet." She smiles at me too, but I can see the knowing glint in her eyes that means we're going to have a talk later about something that has to do with last night. "Your father is in the bedroom."
"Alright, thanks Mom. Talk to you later. See ya, Munchkins." I hug the girls and start walking back to the bedroom.
"Bye Rose," the girls say.
On the other hand my mom says, "Yes, we'll talk later."
When I reach the bedroom the door is shut and I hesitate to answer it before opening it and walking in a fake smile plastered on my face trying not to show how nervous I am about what we're going to talk about. Although, my face probably looks more nervous than happy anyways.
"Rose, it's nice of you to finally show up." Great, this conversation is already going horrible. I wonder if he's going to bring up anything about last night.
"I'm sorry I was getting everyone out of my room, dealing with a bunch of shit, and taking care of my killer head ache. Oh, and it's good to see you too, Old Man. Now, what did you want? I still have a lot of stuff to straighten out." It wasn't a complete lie. I do need to sort out the Dimitri thing and I haven't been able to stop thinking about Andre since I saw him after leaving Adrian's. I had seen him on my way here and he looked at me and waved slightly with a sad expression on his face.
"I don't want to talk about much. Just some of the stuff we were going to talk about at our dinner that got postponed. Your mother is cleaning up Scarlett and Madilynn, but she'll be back when she's finished. Would you like to talk with us by yourself the first half or the second half?"
"What do you mean do I want to talk by myself the first half or the second half?" I looked at him confused.
"I still would like to talk to you and Adrian together. Would you like him to come over now or after your mother and I are done talking to you alone?" Oh, that's right! He wanted Adrian to come to dinner too but only for a little while. Well, if I wanted to get away from here faster to talk to Dimitri I should have him come over now rather than later.
"I'll call him now." Abe nods as I pull my phone out of the back pocket of my shorts.
""Hey, Little Dhampir! Aren't you supposed to be with your lovely dad?"
I don't even have time to really answer; I just opened my mouth when Abe takes the phone from my hand. "Adrian, it's so nice to hear you're back with my daughter." Adrian must have said something because Abe nods. "Yes, I see. You wouldn't mind coming over and having a little chat with me, Janine, and Rosemarie would you? Great, I'll see you in five."
Abe hung up and gave me back my phone. I grab it from his hand. "I could have done that on my own!"
"I know but we would be here for ten minutes before you actually told him to come over." I was a little mad because I had been planning on stalling the conversation and talking to Adrian for ten minutes was one of my plans.
Just then the door opens, my phone rings, and I swear I saw Andre in the corner. I look at the caller ID on my phone, Dimitri. "Damn it!"
"Watch your language, Rosemarie." I turn to see my mother standing in the door way.
"Hold that thought." I hold my finger indicating for her to stop talking while I answer my phone. "What?"
"We need to talk. Like now!" He sounds urgent and I think he maybe sounded a little nervous. I wonder what for.
"I can't right now. I'm with my loving father and oh so caring mother right now. We can talk when I'm done here. Okay?"
"But Rose, it's—"I cut him off.
"Later Dimitri!" I hung up on him.
"What did he want?" Abe asks looking over my shoulder at what I think is my mother.
"He just wanted to talk. That's all." Abe nods with…understanding on his face?
"Who wants to talk to you?" I turn when I hear his sweet voice. He smiles at me and I smile my man eater smile back.
"No one, just Dimitri." His smile instantly faded. Great, what did I do now?
"About what?"
"I don't know. He just said he wanted to talk. I told him I'd talk to him later." Adrian looked pissed. "Adrian, he just wants to talk. It's probably about last night or this morning. It's not like anything is going to happen. I promise." I walk over to him. When I reach him I rub my hand over his stomach, rubbing my way up to his neck so I can kiss him. Before I kiss him though I whisper, "I love you," against his lips.
Right before we kiss he whispers, "Promise?"
"One hundred percent." Then I kiss him again, longer this time.
Abe cleared his throat. "What happened last night, other than what I already know, and this morning?"
Adrian and I look at each other, me with a small smile on my lips and him with a scowl. "Nothing, nothing at all."
"Rosemarie, don't lie to your father." Wow, I have never heard Abe say that to anyone. I feel like a four year old when he says this.
"I don't want to talk about it. Like I said when I first got here; can you hurry it up I've got things to go straighten out. One of those things including Dimitri." I gave him my signature scowl.
He sighed. "Adrian, it's nice to see you again. And just for the record I like you more than I like Belikov. Why I wanted you here with us is so we can talk about you and Rose and the society we live in." This is gonna be a long conversation. Sighing I leaned back to listen to what my mother and father had to say, somewhat considering slipping into Lissa's head to get out of this torture but when I feel her emotions and I feel she's with Christian, I decide against that torture.
Like I said, it was a long conversation. Mom and Abe went over everything Adrian and I already know like how people will judge, how some might shun us, and how Adrian's parents probably won't agree with it. Everything we already knew. Adrian started to nod off somewhere in the middle of the whole thing and every time I would elbow him and he would jump and pay attention for another ten minutes. I don't blame him I almost nodded off a few times too. Something that caught my attention and Adrian's is something they said about themselves. They said they know how it feels to have this sort of pressure. They know how it feels to feel in love with someone you're not allowed to be with. They did say they're going to support Adrian and me a hundred percent and be there for us when things get too tough since they know how it feels. It was kind of touching to know we had their support.
After that my parents wanted to talk to Adrian alone. I went out to the living room to play with Madi and Scar. I absolutely love those two to death. I know I hardly know Scarlett but I feel like she's my own daughter. Sometimes when I tuck her and Madi in for bed, she calls me Mommy. It's comforting to know someone loves me that much. I know Adrian does but still. I've been thinking the last couple of days of maybe adopting her but I'm not sure. I mean I'm only 18, do I really want a six year old. That's one of the few things I have to sort out later, but I'm planning on sorting it out with Lissa.
The living room was empty and so was the rest of the house, except the room my mother, father, and boyfriend are occupying. I walked back to the room everyone was in except me. I pushed the door open and what I saw kind of freaked me out and scared me a little. Adrian sat on the bed his face red and in his hands, I think he's crying. My mom sat beside him arms wrapped around him, comforting him. Abe was kneeling in front of him talking quietly. So quiet I couldn't even hear.
My mom must have heard the door open because she looked up. When she sees me, she says whispers something to Adrian. He nods his head slightly and my mom stands up walking out of the room pulling me behind her. She pulled me down the hall back into the living room.
"What do you want Rose?" She sounded annoyed.
"What's wrong? Why is Adrian crying?" I gave her a hard stare hoping she'll tell me the truth.
"Rose, we told you we needed to talk to Adrian alone. What did you want?" Something is wrong, I can feel it. She's not answering my question which is making things worse.
I can feel myself starting to break. "Tell me what's wrong."
"Rose, let Adrian tell you. I think it's for the better." Why won't she tell me what's wrong?
Suddenly a thought crosses my mind, and it's not a good one. "Oh, no! Mom is he going to break up with me? I don't think I'll be able to handle it if he does. I thought you guys were going to stand by us. Not try to break us up." My voice started getting softer. It was on the verge of braking, and I had silent tears running down my face.
"Oh, Sweetheart, it's not that. He's not going to break up with you." This is turning into one of those rare mother daughter moments me and my mother share.
"Then why won't you tell me why he's crying? Adrian never cries." My voice finally broke. I could barely talk anymore. I could feel the sobs that make your whole body shake and you can't breathe forming at the bottom of my throat.
"Rose, there's no need to cry. Why don't you go get something to drink and sit down and watch some TV." She was trying to wipe all the tears off my face, but they just kept flowing out of my eyes.
"Will you tell me why he's crying?"
"Honey, I would, but I can't. It's nothing bad, I promise." She was hugging me. Sometime while we were talking I had leaned up against the wall and slid down it so I was sitting on the floor. My mom sat beside me. I had my head on her shoulder and she was rubbing reassuring circles on my back.
I pulled away and looked at her. "Promise?"
"I promise. Now go get something to drink. I need to get back." She stood up pulling me with her. When we were standing she hugged me again.
Still hugging her I said, "Thanks Mom."
"You're welcome. So are you going to tell me why you came back to the room now?" She was standing arms length away, hands on my shoulders.
"I just wanted to know if you knew where Scar and Madi are." I wiped at the tears that were still on my face.
"Oh, Lissa, Jill, and Mia stopped by to take Scarlett to pack her things since we're leaving in two days. You can go too if you want. I can have Abe call when we're done talking to Adrian."
I shook my head. "Nah, I'll just stay here. It'll give me time to think. Thanks again Mom." I hugged her again.
"Anytime, Sweetheart, anytime." She smiled and I started to walk away. "Rose wait." I turned around to look at her, raising my eyebrows. "I love you."
"I love you too Mom." Then I turned around grabbing a blanket and headed out the door.
There's this tree in front of my mom's apartment and it always looks so peaceful. I took my blanket and laid it on the ground under the tree. The blanket was half way under the tree and half way under the stars. I lay so my feet were under the tree and my head under the stars. I shut my eyes and started to think. The only two things I could think about though are Adrian and Andre. I decided to think about Andre since every time I think of Adrian I see him with his head in his hands crying.
I heard rustling in the leaves above the tree and my eyes flew open searching for whatever it could be. There was nothing there so I shut my eyes again.
"Adrian's alright ya know." My eyes flew open again but instead of looking in the tree I looked to my right and laying beside me is Andre.
"Why do you always show up when I'm worried about Adrian?" Seeing him sitting there brought back our conversation from earlier. "Never mind, don't answer that."
All I can think about is how I wish he was still alive, and how I much I miss talking to him secretly late at night at Lissa's, or sneaking into his dorm during school. All these thoughts brought a sad smile to my face.
Andre had a smile that I bet matched the one I was wearing, but I don't understand why, until he starts talking. "You know I can hear your thoughts. By the way, I miss all those things too ya know. I miss how when I made you smile your eyes lit up like fireworks on the fourth of July. I miss how when you use to sneak into my room you always made some big entrance so I would laugh. Like that time you jumped into my room, rolled on the floor, and stood up at the end of my bed before you jumped on it attacking me with kisses and then all of a sudden you would start tickling me. I miss watching girly movies with you just to make you happy. The thing I miss the most though, is the one chance I had to tell you I love you, when we were going to meet in my room, I was going to tell you but I never got the chance. I remember being in the car and then all the smashing and turning. I can remember looking at you, your beautiful eyes wide and scared, your sexy long dark hair a tangled mess, and your perfect lips were open like you wanted to scream but nothing was coming out. I can remember thinking to myself, when I saw you like that, I never got the chance to tell you I love you and that was one of the biggest mistakes of my life. I reached over and grabbed your hand. Your scared eyes looked at me, your face turned calm and all my fear vanished. I knew in that moment that all my problems would vanished the instant I saw your eyes. I leaned in and kissed you. I kissed you with all the emotions I was feeling; passion, hate, fear, secure, calmness, and recklessness, but most of all love. When we pulled apart, right before we hit the tree that killed my life, I said those three words, and when you said them back I knew I was the luckiest man to ever live on the earth. Rosemarie Hathaway loved me. That was the last thought I had before I blacked out and never woke up again."
By the time he was done talking I was curled up next to him on the blanket my head on his chest, crying for the second time today. I was crying for what I had lost, for what I missed, for what I felt, and for what I don't remember.
Andre laid there with me letting me cry, but we never sat in silence. He was always talking about the things he missed, things he wanted to do over, and things he wished he had done.
After about thirty minutes I stopped crying. I was still lying on Andre's chest. I looked up at him and he looked down at me. "Do you know what makes me mad?" He shook his head rubbing my back. "That I can't remember anything from the night you died except for everything bad that happened. I can remember the smell of something burning but I can't remember the smelling the scent of you like I always do. I remember everything the paramedics said to me but I remember anything you said to me. I don't remember every saying I love you or you saying it to me. That's what makes me mad. I don't remember anything I should! What also makes me mad is that I never even got the chance to say good-bye!"
Andre's hand reached up to wipe more tears that had fallen from my eyes. He leaned down slowly. My breath hitched every second he got closer. His lips were just centimeters away from mine when he whispered, "There's no need to say good-bye." Then his lips were on mine.
It felt so real and it was broken only when we heard a door close. "Rose, are you out here?" It was Adrian.
I looked for Andre, who a moment ago was laying on top of me, but now he anywhere beside me anymore. My hands fell to my sides as I lay on the blanket by myself. I sat up and looked around to see if I could see him anywhere. I spotted him over by the edge of a building. When he saw me looking at me he smiled and raised his hand waving good-bye.
I turned to where Adrian was standing. "Over here."
Adrian looked over to where I was and started walking over. "Hey, we're done in there. Abe wants to talk to you now." I nodded but didn't move. "Rose, I'm sorry about getting mad about Dimitri calling you earlier. I didn't mean it." I nodded again.
Seeing Adrian standing in front of me made me feel guilty about kissing Andre, if you can call kissing a ghost a kiss. Either way I felt bad about it. I couldn't even make eye contact with him.
"Little Dhampir, what's wrong?" Adrian stuck two fingers under my chin making me look at him.
"Nothing. I've just been thinking about a lot of stuff." I could tell by his face he didn't believe me but knowing him he was gonna give me time.
"Fine, I'll give you time. You can tell me what's wrong when you're ready to talk about it. Okay?" I nodded. "You better get going before Abe gets mad."
"Alright, I'll see ya later." He leans down to give me a kiss but I turn my head so he kisses my cheek. He looks a little confused but he doesn't say anything. When I walk away I remember my talk with my mom. "Adrian?"
He looks at me a small concerned smile on his face. "Yeah?"
"Why we're you crying? My mom wouldn't tell me and I'm super worried about you." I walked back over to him.
"We'll talk later alright. It's nothing you need to worry about, if that's why you seem so distant."
"Okay, see ya later. I'll be over after I talk to Dimitri."
He leans down and kisses my forehead. "I love you Little Dhampir, don't forget that."
I hug him before I turn to walk away. "I love you too." I smile a small smile and walk back to Abe's to go through another agonizingly long conversation about god knows what.
A/N: So, let me know what you think of this chapter. Let me know what you think of Andre. If you could choose would you pick Adrian or Andre for Rose? There's a poll on my profile. Check it out. Don't forget to review! I love you all.