I have no excuse...thank you to all the people who reviewed or messaged me to update!
Stop Being a Coward!
Chapter 20
Rose looked down at the phone in her hand in disgust. Adrian had refused to meet her. He had flat out said he was not at home and would not come over to any house that Lissa and Christian might be looking at. More than that, it was a lie! She was practically in his front yard and could see the light on and someone moving around in his upstairs room. He had told her that he wasn't even at home but had refused to say where he was.
It was so unlike Adrian to refuse Rose anything. Even more strange was how the mere mention of Abby's name had put him in a tizzy. He had almost hung up on her when the first thing she had mentioned the beautiful realtor. Only when she changed the subject and started talking about being in the neighborhood had Adrian agreed to stay on the phone with her for more than five minutes. He had listened to her plea but then abruptly turned down her offer to meet them and hung up on her.
Rose was not someone who got hung up on and this turn of events left her decidedly unhappy. She marched the few feet across the street to his front door and was about to ring the doorbell when the front door opened and Adrian walked out, bumping into her.
"Um hello?" Rose asked, reaching for Adrian to steady herself. She hadn't expected him to be running out the front door of his house.
"Sorry, I…." Adrian trailed off as he realized it was Rose standing in front of him. "What are you doing here?" He had been in a hurry to get out of his house before she showed up but he hadn't realized she was practically already there.
"Coming to see you. How could you hang up on me?"
"Geez Rose, where you standing in my front yard when you called? Stalk much?"
"I was across the street with Lissa and Christian." Rose pointed behind her to the house that was for sale that they had been looking at earlier.
"Oh. I didn't realize you were directly across the street."
"Um yeah, because you were too quick to hang up on me. That was rude Adrian." Rose narrowed her eyes at him, remembering her anger once again. "And you lied!"
"I didn't lie, I was about to leave. I have to go do some stuff."
"You said you weren't at home."
"Well I wouldn't have been in about two minutes!" Adrian retorted, getting frustrated as well.
"You could have said you were about to leave, you didn't have to lie to me."
"I'm sorry Rose, I just have to go. I have some stuff I have to do."
"Like what? And why are you being so sketchy about Abby? I know you use to know her."
"I'm not being sketchy Rose, I am just busy. Sorry, but I really have to go and no, it's none of your business where I am going." Adrian stepped past her. He felt a little bad for being so rude to Rose and lying to her. He was never one to lie to Rose but he just couldn't see Abby. It had been years since they were in school together but he still couldn't see her, he couldn't face her.
Rose began to follow him. "Adrian."
"No, Rose. Leave me alone. Don't push this, please." Adrian was pleading with her.
After all Adrian had done for Rose, she couldn't deny him this. "Fine, I will let you go for now, but don't think this is over just yet."
"Just drop it Rose."
"I can't."
Adrian sighed. He shook his head and then took off towards his car that was parked in the garage attached to his parent's home. He laughed at the thought. He still lived with his parents, even if it was temporary. One more reason he couldn't see Abby Badica.
Dimitri was woken up by the sound of someone going through his clothes. He had put most of his clothing away in the chest of drawers and the wardrobe but a few shirts were scattered around the room.
That was the one area where Dimitri was not as good as he could be. Something about cleaning a house was never something he cared to do. When he was younger, he helped his mom with going to the grocery store and things like that but he was never expected to clean as that was not a man's place in the home. His mother, grandmother and sisters had always taken care of everything around the home.
Being spoiled like that had carried over into his adult life and while he did do his own laundry, his cleaning skills definitely lacked. When he was home, his mother would always fuss over him. It was nice not having to wash clothes or clean his own dishes.
That was why he wasn't all that shocked to see his mother folding his clothes but he was confused as to why she was putting them back in his suitcase. He couldn't leave for a few days and thought packing this early was unusual. He would have to live out of his suitcase until he was to leave and he hated living out of a suitcase.
"Ma?" Dimitri's scratchy voice filled the air and startled his mother who had her back to him.
"Dimka, I was just about to wake you. You must get dressed. You are leaving for the airport in one hour. You must get back to Roza."
"But I couldn't get a flight." Dimitri replied, still fighting off the sleep that had captured him.
"I got you a flight. You must hurry. A car will be here to pick you up in one hour. You get ready while I finish packing up your things."
Dimitri was shocked for a moment. He really didn't know what to say. Somehow he mother always came through for him when he needed it and right now was one of those times she had gone above and beyond. He wasn't going to question how she had managed to do the impossible; he was just going to be happy about it.
Dimitri jumped out of bed. "Thank you mama." He kissed Olena's forehead and grabbed the clothes she had placed on the arm chair beside his bed then hurried down the hall to take a shower. He was going to see Rose and he couldn't wait.
He showered and shaved then pulled his wet hair into a ponytail at the nape of his neck. His hair always dried straight so he never bothered with a blow dryer.
He hurried from the bathroom and was greeted by the smell of bacon and other breakfast delights wafting through the air, waking the few people who still slumbered. Viktoria came out of her room at the end of the hall pajama pants and a pink tank top. The flannel pants rode up to one of her knees, exposing a Minnie Mouse sock that she wore beneath and the palm of her hands were rubbing her still closed eyes.
"What time is it?" Her voice was husky, obviously still suffering from the effects of sleep.
"Early, it's not even six yet." Dimitri responded, briskly walking towards the stairs in an attempt to make sure everything was ready to go. The excitement of getting back to the states was getting to him.
Viktoria shuttered, "then why is everyone up making such noise?"
"I'm leaving today, come down and eat breakfast with me." Dimitri didn't want for her response and descended the stairs towards the awaking feast.
"What do you mean you're leaving?" Viktoria asked, walking after him. He obviously didn't hear her because he failed to respond. It was too early to yell, even for her. She looked back towards the comfort over her bedroom but then shrugged, if Dimitri really was leaving, she wanted to spend a little more time with him. She had just gotten him back after all and he was her only brother.
Viktoria greeted the small group of people sitting around the table. Olena, Yeva, Sonya, Karolina, and Dimitri were all in their usual spots. The scene looked strange to her and it took her a moment to realize it was quiet with the nosy chatter or crying of the children.
"Wow, its quiet down here." Viktoria said, her voice finally reaching its normal level.
"Yes, the children are still asleep." Karolina looked happy and relaxed at not having to constantly watch Zoya. Paul on the other hand was a different story, he wouldn't be up for at least two hours and would probably go straight to the cartoon channel, not bothering anyone until he got hungry a few hours later.
Even Sonya looked happy that she didn't have her newborn daughter hanging off of her arm for a moment. Both women glanced at the baby monitors sitting on the kitchen cabinet, hoping they didn't jinx the situation and wake up their children.
"It's always quiet this early in the morning. I am surprised to see you up Viktoria." Olena said as she sat a plate of food down in front of her youngest child.
"Dimka said he was leaving. Is that true?" Viktoria asked her brother who was sitting across the table from where she had sat down.
"Yes, I am going home." Dimitri smiled, still on cloud nine that he was getting back to Rose.
"I never thought I would see the day that you considered somewhere else home Dimka. I mean I knew you wouldn't be here very often after you became a guardian but I didn't think you would prefer to be somewhere else." Sonya said, a little hurt coming through in her voice.
"This will always be a home to me. You all know that right? But my home is now with Rose." Dimitri said in a uncharacteristic show of romanticism.
Karolina laughed, "and I never thought I'd see the day that my baby brother fell in love." She smiled when a light blush covered Dimitri's cheeks. Very few things could make the man turn red like that and his mother and sisters teasing him just happened to be one of them.
The other women at the table smirked at Dimitri but none of them commented. "You will have to come back with Rose soon Dimitri. We miss her too." Olena responded and everyone seemed to agree. The way his family has already accepted Rose as part of them warmed his heart once more.
"We will as soon as I find a place to live and a job. Once we get settled, I'm sure Rose would love coming back too."
"You will come to visit us again in time. I await the surprise." Yeva finally spoke up. She had been watching her family correspond but had not said anything until that moment.
"What surprise?" Dimitri asked, curious as to what was going to happen now. His grandmother and her freaky way of knowing things always made him weary. At least this time, she made it sound as though something good was on the way.
"I do not know. I cannot see everything. I just know you will come back to us different than how you are now. Exactly what the change is, I am not sure but I know it is a blessing." Yeva nodded at her grandson and began eating again.
The girls began chatting away about what the changes could be. Dimitri heard wedding and babies both mentioned in their chatter but disregarded both ideas. Rose couldn't have his child as they were both dhampirs and he had already decided he was going to wait till she was older to ask her to marry him. He didn't get to give the subject much thought when the door bell rang.
"Ahh, that will be your ride Dimka. You must hurry to make it to the airport."
"I almost forgot, what about the rental car? I should have just driven it back to the airport. I need to return it."
"It's all been taken care of. You must hurry though." Olena pulled Dimitri into a final hug after the others had each had their turn at goodbye. While tears were fresh in their eyes, no one let them fall for fear of making everyone cry.
A bittersweet feeling washed over Dimitri as he said his goodbyes. He was going to miss his family so much but at least he would get to see Rose. Dimitri grabbed his bags that his mother had finished packing and hurried out the door.
A limo sat at the curb of the street. It was just a plain Lincoln Town Car, not a stretch limo or anything fancy but Dimitri paused for a moment, wondering who on earth his mother knew that would send a limo to pick him up. He waived off the thought as the driver picked up his bags and placed them in the trunk.
"We must hurry sir. The flight is already being delayed for your arrival and I'm not sure how much longer they will wait. We have quite a drive ahead of us as well." Dimitri shook his head and climbed in the back door that the gentleman was holding open for him.
No one was seated inside the car as he sat back and watched the scenery fly by outside the doors. Dimitri knew that this trip just might be the longest of his life.
I promise I won't take as long to update this time! Please review!