Thank you for the reviews! My apologies for the late update. I know I said I would update last weekend, but it turns out studying for my exams took up more time than I'd originally planned. Thank God they're over now.

Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Academy.

CHAPTER 14

DPOV

As I rang the doorbell and waited, I realized I'd never been this nervous before in my life. I hadn't even been this anxious on my first day in juvie. I wasn't sure why I was feeling like this, though, because Rose had told me she liked me. She wouldn't have decided all of a sudden that she didn't like me after all, right?

When the door finally opened, it wasn't Rose who stood in front of me but her father. Oh shit. Was he coming to tell me that Rose wasn't going anywhere with me? Did he finally hear about my past?

He gave me a polite nod. "Good evening, Dimitri."

"Good evening, Sir," I replied.

He cracked a smile. "I told you, you can call me Abe." He stepped aside and opened the door wider. "Come in, Rose will be right down."

I walked into the hallway, wringing my hands nervously. My palms were sweating and I was feeling very warm.

"So you're taking out my little girl, huh?" Abe said. "I hope you'll take good care of her. She's my only daughter, you see."

"I will," I promised, relieved that I didn't stammer.

Abe studied my face. "Good," he said at last.

A door slammed shut and a few seconds later Rose appeared at the top of the stair, smiling brightly at me. I gaped at her as she quickly made her way down the stairs. She was wearing a lace dress, the color soft pink, and her hair was pinned up in a braided bun. I was still staring at her, my mouth wide open, when she stopped before me.

"Hey comrade," she said.

I blinked at her and quickly closed my mouth. "Uh, hi," I stammered. I noticed she was a few inches taller thanks to the heels she was wearing. "Y-you look very beautiful tonight, Roza."

Her smile widened. "Thank you."

Abe cleared his throat. "Don't you think you're going to be cold in that dress? It's not summer anymore."

"No," she answered. "It's a dress for the fall."

"It's short," Abe replied.

"Dad," Rose groaned, scowling at him. "You promised."

"Alright, alright," he said, retreating. "Have a lovely night." Looking at me, he added, "Because it's a school night, I'd like you to bring her back before eleven o'clock."

I nodded. "I will."

When we were out the door, Rose said, "I'm sorry. My dad can be a little overprotective sometimes."

"It's okay," I said. I wondered once again what he'd do when he found out the truth about me. "I hope you don't mind it's just dinner and a movie tonight. It was kind of short notice and I couldn't come up with something different that quickly," I apologized, escorting her to the car. Mama let me borrow it for tonight.

"That's fine, comrade," Rose answered.

"Really? Because I would have taken you somewhere else if I'd had the time to figure out something. I just… I couldn't wait any longer," I admitted.

She smiled again. "Me neither."

I looked up at her and forgot how to respond properly. I just stared at her, mesmerized. She was just so breathtaking. Even when she was wearing my old hoodie, she was breathtaking. With or without makeup, she would be just as beautiful.

"When I take you out again, we'll do something special," I said at last, opening the car door for her.

"Our first date isn't even over yet and you're already thinking about taking me out again?" she responded.

"Yes?" It came out like a question.

She grinned at me. "I'd like that."

Thank God.

I had a hard time focusing on the road before me with Rose sitting next to me. I knew she didn't mean to, but she was distracting me. No matter what I tried, I didn't seem to be able to keep my eyes off of her for more than a few moments.

I took Rose to a nice and quiet Italian restaurant because I knew she liked pizza. I also knew she really liked the Pizza Hut, but so did most teens and I didn't want them to stare at us and bother Rose because she was with me.

Yesterday, Jesse Zeklos actually came up to me to ask about Rose. He was an arrogant and self-absorbed prick who slept with everything that moved; even Adrian Ivashkov wasn't that bad.

"Why does that new chick hang out with you so much?" he'd asked. "Her name is Rose, right?" When I hadn't responded, he'd continued, "So…what's the deal? Is she into aggressive guys? I've been trying to get her attention, but it's like she doesn't even notice."

"Maybe she notices, but just isn't interested," I'd answered flatly.

Jesse had snorted. "Every girl is interested in me," he'd retorted, incredulous. "Anyway, if bad boys are her type tell her that I can be bad too. Very bad."

The wolfish grin that had spread across his face then, had made my stomach turn and I'd wanted to knock some sense into him, but that wouldn't have done my reputation any good so I'd just walked away.

Rose's face lit up with a smile when she saw the restaurant, and I instantly knew I'd chosen the right place. I hesitated for a moment, but then took her hand in mine and led her inside. I had to admit that it felt good to hold her hand and I didn't want to let go, but I knew I would have to as soon as we reached our table.

"This is nice," Rose commented when we were seated, looking around the restaurant. "I didn't even know there's an Italian restaurant in town."

"I thought you might like it," I answered, giving her a small smile.

"You know me so well, comrade," she beamed.

After we'd ordered, there was a long but comfortable silence. I kind of wanted to ask her about Adrian, but wasn't sure if I should. It was none of my business, but…

Don't do it, Dimitri.

Yes. Do it. It's just a question.

Don't!

"So is everything alright with Ivashkov?" I asked in rushed voice. I bit the inside of my cheek, instantly regretting opening my mouth. "I mean…he seemed upset earlier today," I added.

"Oh, he's fine," Rose answered. "He just needed my help for something."

Like what? Do not ask, Dimitri. It's none of your business.

Rose must've noticed my internal struggle because she eyed me carefully and asked, "Are you okay, comrade?"

"I'm fine," I replied immediately.

Suddenly, she smiled teasingly. "Are you jealous, comrade?"

I started to shake my head. "No, I'm not." She didn't look like she believed me and the smile turned into a grin. "I might be," I told her reluctantly, not looking at her.

"There's no need to be jealous," she said. Carefully, I looked up at her. She smiled again. "Adrian needed my help because he's into this girl and he doesn't know how to talk to her. She's kind of…" She paused, thinking. "Let's say she's not like the girls Adrian usually dates."

I felt instantly relieved…and stupid. And a jackass. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have been jealous. I know you don't like him like that, but I thought he liked you… And I know he doesn't like you spending time with me." Though I had to say he'd never been as friendly to me as today.

"It's okay," Rose answered. "I have to admit that I kinda like that you were a little bit jealous," she added sheepishly. Clearing her throat, she continued, "And I don't think Adrian ever liked me like that. It was an act so no one would notice he had his eyes on someone else."

I nodded. "I'm sorry, though," I apologized again. "It wasn't any of my business."

"No worries, comrade. Even if Adrian had liked me, nothing would have changed. There's only one guy I like," she said, looking up into my eyes.

My heartbeat spiked and she reached out, placing her hand in mine on the table. I stared at her, amazed, and wanted to kiss her then and there. Honestly, I'd been wanting to kiss her again since that day in the forest when she had kissed me. But I'd been waiting for the right moment and, even though I wanted to kiss her so badly right now, I knew this wasn't the right moment either.

So instead, I squeezed her hand gently before lacing our fingers together and smiled warmly. Before I could respond, though, the waiter came back with our pizzas. Rose had ordered a Four Seasons and I had ordered a Hawaiian pizza.

"It smells delicious," Rose said before taking a bite. Her eyes widened and a smile formed on her face. "And it tastes so good."

I chuckled. I'd never seen anyone so excited and happy when eating a pizza. God, this girl was truly amazing. I was so grateful to have met her.

We chatted during dinner and I started to feel more and more relaxed. See, you didn't have to be nervous. It's going great.

Actually, we were so focused on each other that I completely lost track of time. When I finally did glance down at my watch, I knew we were going to be too late for the movie. We left in a hurry so we might make it, but we missed it anyway.

"I'm sorry," I told Rose when we stood in front of the movie theater. We were fifteen minutes late. "Maybe we can watch a different movie?"

"You know what, let's forget about the movie," Rose said, linking her arm through mine. "I don't care about that. It doesn't matter what we do. I just want to be with you."

I nodded. "Okay."

"Let's go for a walk," she said, tugging me away from the movie theater. "Let's just talk."

I smiled. "I'd like that."

I'd rather look at Rose than watch a movie anyway. We started walking around town, picking up the conversation where we'd left off.

"Are you cold?" I asked after a while. Rose was only wearing a thin jacket over her dress. I was only wearing a pullover so it wouldn't help her much.

"No, I'm fine, thank you," she said, looking up at me with a smile. "Wanna sit down?" she asked, pointing at the bench across the street.

I nodded before crossing the empty street. We sat down on the bench. Even though neither of us was cold, we sat huddled together. When Rose leaned her head against my shoulder, I put my arm around her. Luckily she couldn't see my face in the dark because I was smiling like an idiot.

"Thanks for dinner, comrade," Rose said softly. "It was great. You didn't have to pay all of it, though. I could've paid my share."

I shook my head. "Roza, there's no way I would've let you pay your own meal."

Rose lifted her head to look at me. "I know, but you didn't have to. So thank you."

To my surprise, she leaned up and pressed her lips against my cheek. I turned my head and my eyes met hers. I'd been waiting for the right moment to kiss her and I knew that, if there even was a right moment, this was it.

Leaning forward, I captured her lips with mine. When she responded to the kiss, I pulled her closer and let my hand rest on the small of her back. We kissed slowly but passionately and I loved every second of it. At last, we pulled away from each other, both of us breathless. One of her hands was tangled in my hair and she grinned at me.

"I always wondered how soft your hair is," Rose murmured.

I laughed. "And?"

"It's very soft," she said, laughing as well. "I like it."

I leaned back in and pressed my lips against hers in a soft, gentle kiss. Pulling away, I said, "I should probably bring you home now. It's almost eleven and I don't want your dad to have a reason for not letting you go out with me again."

Rose snorted. "He wouldn't dare to stop me."

I stood up and reached out my hand. She grabbed it and I pulled her up before leading her back to the car, my arm wrapped around her waist. When I dropped her off at the front door ten minutes later, her dad was nowhere to be seen. Neither was her mom. All the lights were off in the house.

"They've probably already gone to bed," Rose said, fumbling for her keys. She unlocked the front door and turned around to look at me. "So… I guess I'll see you tomorrow at school." She gave me a hopeful smile. "Right?"

"Of course," I said. "I'll be waiting for you at your locker tomorrow morning."

She giggled. "Yeah right. You never do that."

"Because you always have people hanging around you, Miss Popular," I told her. People who didn't like me.

"I'm not that popular," she responded, grinning.

"Anyway, tomorrow morning I'm going to steal you away from your friends," I said, grinning back. I paused, unsure. "I mean, if that's okay with you."

"It's okay with me," she said, taking a step closer and wrapping her arms around my neck. We were almost the same height now that she was standing on the doorstep – with her heels on. If she'd worn flats she'd still be a few inches smaller. "You'd better be there," she warned. "I don't want you to get my hopes up and then be a no-show."

"I'll be there," I promised.

I was already happy she even wanted me to wait for her. I usually only saw her in class or during lunchtime. Sometimes we'd cross each other in the hallway and have small talk – at least when she was alone.

She smiled, her eyes twinkling. "Good."

Leaning in, she pressed a quick kiss to my lips before heading inside. I was reluctant to let her go, but I didn't want her dad to come outside either and tell me to leave.

"Night, comrade," Rose said softly before closing the door.

I sighed dreamily. "Good night, Roza."

Slowly, I walked back to my car, a stupid grin plastered across my face. As I drove home, I came to the realization that I didn't just like Rose Hathaway. I was madly in love with her.

So there you go, they had their first date! I think it went great, don't you agree? I hope you liked it! Please leave a review and let me know your thoughts on the chapter. Have a wonderful day/evening! :)