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CHAPTER 25

RPOV

There was a soft knock on the door. Glancing up, I saw Mia standing in the doorway. Biting her lip, she asked, "Are you okay?"

I looked down, frowning. "He left," I said. "He just left."

"What were you guys fighting about?" she asked hesitantly.

Sighing, I nodded at the trashcan. She walked into my room and looked into the trashcan. When she looked up at me, she was frowning.

"I don't understand," she said. "I heard Jesse's name a few times. What does he have to do with this?"

"About a week ago some guy came to deliver me a box," I said. I hadn't realized there were tears on my cheeks until now. I quickly wiped them away. "There were rose petals and a picture in it. The picture was of me and there was a thorn pierced through it. I ripped it up and threw it all in the trash."

"And it's from Jesse?" Mia said, gasping.

"It has to be. Who else would do something like this?"

"You didn't tell Dimitri? Is that why he got so mad?" she asked.

I nodded. "But that's not why he left. At least, I don't think so," I added.

With a heavy sigh, I sat back down on my bed. Mia came to sit beside me.

"Then why did he leave?"

"Because I told him I'm done with it," I mumbled. "I told him I'm giving up."

"Why did you say that?" she gasped.

"Because I'm tired, Mia," I said, my voice thick with emotion. "I'm always looking over my shoulder. I can't even go out without being worried something's going to happen. I'm so tired of it."

I buried my face in my hands and sighed again. Mia put her arm around me in a comforting way.

"I'm sorry this is happening to you," she said softly.

"I sighed again and tears filled my eyes when I thought about Dimitri. "Now I've chased him away," I whispered.

"Hmm?"

"Dimitri. I chased him away," I said, wiping at my eyes again. "I hurt him by not telling him. He thinks I was never going to tell him. I swear I was going to, but I… I just kept stalling." I shook my head. "It's all ruined now."

"Don't say that," Mia said soothingly. "He'll come back. He's probably just cooling off. Don't worry, he'll be back. I'm sure of it."

But he didn't come back. I waited for hours in my room, hoping he'd come back, but he didn't. He'd told me to call him when I'd come to my senses, but I wasn't sure if I should do it just yet. Maybe he was still angry at me.

The next day I stayed home, lying in bed and doing nothing. I didn't feel like doing anything. I kept staring at my phone, hoping it'd ring, but it never did. I knew I should call him, but I was afraid he would ignore me.

I stuffed myself with food, hoping it would make me feel better. It didn't. When it was starting to get dark again, I started pacing the floor. At long last, I grabbed my phone and dialed Dimitri's number. I waited and waited, but he didn't pick up. I should've expected this, but for some reason I felt even sadder.

"Did he call yet?"

I looked up. Mia walked in and leaned against the wall, looking at the phone in my hands.

"No," I said sighing. "I tried calling him, but he's not answering. I guess he doesn't want to talk to me."

"Maybe he's busy with something," Mia suggested.

"Maybe," I said, though I didn't really believe that. I suddenly noticed Mia was all dressed up. She was wearing a beautiful pink cocktail dress and high heels. "You look beautiful," I said, giving her a small smile. "Are you going somewhere?"

"I was going to go to a party," she said, "but I don't know if I should leave you here on your own."

"Oh, don't worry about me," I said quickly. "I'll be fine. You go ahead and have fun."

"I don't know…" she said slowly. "I really shouldn't leave you here."

"I'm fine. I swear," I insisted.

She still looked unsure, but then, suddenly, she perked up. "I have an idea!" she said excitedly. "Why don't you come with me?"

"Oh… I don't know," I mumbled. "I'm not really in the mood to party."

"Come on, it'll be fun!" Mia said smiling. "It'll help you get your mind off things. That's what you want, isn't it? To forget about everything for a while."

"Yes," I admitted.

"Then you should come with me," she said, clapping her hands in excitement. "It will be fun. I promise."

I didn't want to disappoint Mia so I gave in. "Fine," I said. "I'll go with you."

Forty-five minutes later, we were on our way to the party. It was in some guy's house a few blocks away. Mia knew him from one of her classes. She told me he was a rich snob, but he threw the most amazing parties.

When we arrived there, the party had already started. Music blared through loudspeakers and the house was so full of people dancing you could barely move without bumping into someone.

Mia went off, dancing with some guy she knew. I didn't feel like dancing so I made my way toward the kitchen. I pushed past the people and grabbed a beer bottle. Maybe I could drink my sorrows away.

"Hey Rose, I didn't know you'd be here."

I turned around and saw Josh leaning against the kitchen table, smirking. It was a miracle I'd heard him, because the music was deafening.

"Ugh, you're here too," I muttered.

"Aww, come on, Rose," he said, pushing himself away from the table. "You aren't still mad at me, are you? I told you I'm sorry about what I said."

"I'm sure you are," I said sarcastically, taking another sip of my beer. I frowned when I realized it was empty.

"Here," Josh said, thrusting a plastic cup in my hands.

"What's this?" I asked.

"Tequila," he replied.

I shrugged and downed the tequila, knowing full well how irresponsible I was being. But if I wanted to forget about everything for one night, I had to keep going.

"I knew you had it in you," he said grinning, refilling my cup. "So…where's the boyfriend? I'm surprised he let you have some fun."

I glared at him. "I don't want to talk about him."

"Ouch. Trouble in paradise?" Josh said.

"Don't make me repeat myself," I warned.

"Okay, okay. We'll talk about something else, then," he said hastily, holding up his hands in surrender.

We stayed in the kitchen, drinking and talking. I was starting to feel dizzy from all the alcohol and wanted to sit down for a while, but just then, my phone buzzed. I quickly took it out of my jeans pocket, almost dropping it to the floor, and answered the call.

"Hello?" I said, hiccupping.

"Roza?"

"Oh, it's you, comrade!" I exclaimed. "Hi!"

"Rose, what's going on? What's that noise?"

"What noise?" I asked dumbly.

"I hear music," he said.

"Really? I don't hear anything."

He didn't sound too happy when he asked, "Have you been drinking?"

"Maybe," I said slowly.

"Roza," he chastised. "Where are you?"

"Umm…"

"Rose," he said warningly.

"At a party," I said sighing. "I'm at a party."

"Which party?"

I reluctantly told him where I was – just because I didn't want to make him more angry than he already was. He hung up before I could say something else. Maybe he was too pissed to talk to me right now. I stopped thinking about it before I'd start to feel bad.

"Okay, where were we?" I said as I put my phone away.

Josh grinned and held out his hand. "We were just about to go to the dance floor."

I laughed. "I might be drunk, but I'm not stupid."

"Hmm. Maybe some more tequila will change your mind," he said, thrusting a new cup in my hands.

A few moments later, Mia walked into the kitchen. She saw me and waved before disappearing into the crowd again. I stayed in the kitchen and continued talking with Josh.

Suddenly, he stopped talking and his eyes widened. Frowning, I asked him what was wrong, but he just stared at something behind me. Curious, I turned around and was faced with Dimitri.

"What are you doing here?" I said, surprised.

"What do you think?" he said. He grabbed my hand and started to pull me away. "Come on, Rose."

"What are you doing?" I exclaimed, pulling away from him.

"Rose, stop," he said, clenching his jaw. "You are drunk. You need to go home before you do something stupid."

"No, I'm not!" I protested. "I'm just having fun."

"I see. Well, the fun is over," Dimitri said, grabbing my hand again.

"Stop it, Dimitri. You're making a scene," I said when I noticed several people watching us.

"Dude, you can't force her if she doesn't want to go," Josh cut in.

Dimitri glared at him. "I didn't ask for your opinion."

"She doesn't want to go, can't you see that?" Josh continued. "She-"

"Have you been giving her drinks all night?" Dimitri interrupted. "Are you trying to get her drunk so you can have your way with her?"

"Hey, that's not-"

"Stop it!" I yelled. "The both of you, just stop!"

"Rose, you know you shouldn't be out right now," Dimitri said. "Not when-"

"Don't start again," I interrupted. "Tonight was supposed to be fun."

"Fine then."

I thought he was going to leave, but then, suddenly, he bent and threw me over his shoulder. I cried out and banged my fists against his back.

"Put me down!" I exclaimed.

"No," he said firmly. "If you don't want to come with me willingly, I'll just have to carry you."

Everyone was looking at us as he carried me to the front door. I cursed at him, still beating on his back, but he just ignored threw me into the backseat of his car and closed the car door. By then, I was too tired from screaming at him to let me go so instead of getting out, I slumped back against the seat. I wasn't feeling too well. My head was pounding and I was feeling nauseous.

Dimitri got in and sped away. I groaned and clutched my stomach when we made a turn. With great effort, I sat up and leaned forward, gripping the seat in front of me.

"Can you please drive a little slower?" I moaned.

He didn't say anything, but slowed down. It was still not slow enough for me, though. As soon as we arrived at my apartment, I stumbled out of the car. I knew I wouldn't make it to the bathroom in time so I bent over and threw up on the grass.

Dimitri was at my side in an instant, holding back my hair. Even though he was mad at me, he was still here to take care of me. Before I knew it, I was crying silently. Tears trickled down my cheeks as I tried to catch a breath.

"Are you going to be okay?" Dimitri asked softly, rubbing my back.

I nodded, not able to say something. My mouth tasted foul. All I wanted right now was to brush my teeth over and over again until I couldn't taste the alcohol on my tongue anymore.

Dimitri helped me up and wrapped his arm around me, walking me to the front door. I immediately went to the bathroom to clean myself up. My legs were still shaking, but I was able to stand on my own feet without Dimitri's support.

"Come in," I said when there was a soft knock on the door. Dimitri opened the door and walked in with my PJs. "Thanks," I mumbled as he handed them to me.

Without a word, he turned and left. It made me feel even more miserable. Sighing, I jumped into the shower and then changed into my PJs. The shower had been refreshing and I felt a little bit better afterwards. Walking back to my bedroom, I was surprised to see Dimitri sitting on my bed. I thought he'd left.

He looked up at me and got off the bed. I glanced at him before crawling into bed. He pulled the covers over me and sat back down on the edge of the bed.

"How are you feeling?" he asked.

"Awful," I admitted. "I feel so bad for yelling at you. You were just trying to help me and I've behaved like a child. I'm sorry, Dimitri. I should've just tried to call you again, but instead I went out and thought drinking would make everything better, but…" I realized I was rambling and quickly shut my mouth. "I'm sorry," I said again.

"I actually meant, how's your stomach feeling?" he said, the corner of his mouth turning up in a half smile.

"Oh," I said, embarrassed. "Better." I averted my eyes, biting my lip. "Why didn't you answer my call?" I asked quietly, looking up at him again.

"I was in the shower," Dimitri responded. "I didn't notice until hours later. As soon as I saw you'd called, I called you back." He sighed. "I'm sorry, too," he said. "For dragging you away from the party like the way I did, for…yesterday. I shouldn't have been so hard on you. I should've been more supportive. " He stroked my cheek gently. "I'm sorry, Roza."

"Don't be," I whispered hoarsely. "You were right. I can't give up. If I do that…" I shook my head and sighed. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner. I really am."

"It's okay," he said softly. "Just…don't do it again, please. I really want to help you and be here for you, but if you don't tell me what's going on-"

"I know," I interrupted gently. "I know, Dimitri. Next time I'll tell you immediately. I promise."

He nodded and leaned in, pressing his lips against my forehead. "Scoot up," he said when he pulled away.

I scooted up as he shrugged off his duster and kicked of his shoes before crawling in beside me.

"Don't you have to work tomorrow?" I asked as he wrapped his arms around me, pulling me closer.

"Yes," he said.

"Shouldn't you go home then? It's already past midnight."

"I know, but I'm not leaving." He laced our fingers together and lifted my hand, kissing it softly. "I'm going to stay here tonight."

"But-"

"Don't worry about it. If I don't make it back in time, I'll just call in sick," he said.

I moved closer to him, burying my face in his chest, and closed my eyes. "Thank you," I whispered.

Dimitri kissed the top of my head and tightened his arms around me. "I love you."

I sighed in contentment, glad to be in his arms again after this horrible day.

Aww, they made up! Next chapter we'll see an old "friend" back. Can you guess who? :P

Hope you enjoyed the chapter. Let me know what you think of it and have a nice day/evening! ;)