26

[Shopping]

A rush of sharp pain exploded and I let out a small shriek.

Dimitri released me suddenly, picking up all of his weight and moving next to me.

"What?" He begged.

"My shoulder…" I grit my teeth, trying to alleviate the pain in some way.

I felt him get up; he flicked the gym lights on and jogged back.

Dimitri moved apprehensively to his knees next to me and helped me to my feet. His chocolate brown eyes were cautious as they searched mine, his cheeks slightly pink.

"When I went to raise it, the pain was just really sharp," I said still clutching my shoulder with my hand.

"Well, maybe I was a little too rough," Dimitri said apologetically.

I grabbed the top of his track pants with my good arm, pulling him closer to me.

"Well, maybe I like it that way sometimes," I leaned on my toes and pulled his mouth to mine. Through the kiss, I felt him smile.

"I'll keep that in mind," he pulled away.

He grabbed my bag and said that he would walk me to the clinic.

The broken collarbone turned into just a sore arm after Lissa heard about it. She decided to heal me once she thought it might hurt our chances of going to the mall. She even told me to 'suck it up' when I said it was still sore. Apparently, Lissa's love for the mall was not something one should mess with.

Friday night finally came, which meant I had to get to sleep earlier so that we could be at the mall during part of the human day. This made a Strigoi attack much less likely and it meant that Alberta and Yuri could relax a little, letting Lissa and I talk.

The next morning I was sitting on the curb waiting for the van; I had forgotten how hard it was for everyone to get up so early. Even Alberta looked like she could use more sleep as she downed her large cup of coffee. Yuri pulled the van up looking equally as tired. I probably accumulated two hours of sleep as I rolled around uncomfortably during the night.

At least I would get new clothes out of this.

At the sound of approaching footsteps, I looked up.

"What is he doing here," I growled.

"Well good morning to you too, sunshine!" Adrian smiled as he and Lissa approached.

Lissa rolled her eyes at me, "Oh please, you always act like you can't stand him, but I know you don't actually care enough to be that mad".

"Plus," Adrian started. "I need to get something for the dance as well".

I frowned as Adrian smiled at me again. Lissa and Adrian jumped into the van, but Adrian peaked his head back out.

"Come on, stop sulking in the gutter," he said quickly ducking back in.

I stared ahead of me, trying my hardest not to take off my shoe and bean him with it.

Count to ten…

I took a deep breath as I got all the way down to 1.

"I was fine until you got here…" I said as I conceded. I got in the van and slid across the bench in front of them.

Missoula wasn't too far of a drive, but it was long enough for me to slink down in my seat and start to fall asleep.

"Rose, was Guardian Belikov mad yesterday about you being late? I'm sorry about that… I should have remembered…" Lissa's voice woke me out of my lulling, but I didn't move.

"Yes, and no" I replied, trying to remember what I actually did at practice besides make out with Dimitri. It was hard to block it out.

Adrian interrupted my thoughts, "I'm sure Guardian Belikov could never get mad at our little Rosemarie".

At this, I sat up and turned in my seat.

"Well, he was mad because I was actually later than I should have been… You know, since I stopped to talk to Alex along the way and everything…" I said smiling suggestively.

"Alex?" Adrian started.

Lissa's eyes widened, "Alexander Zeklos????"

I nodded.

"Shut up! Tell me everything he said!" Lissa sqeaked. What she had said was an oxymoron, but I knew that she was excited.

Adrian looked over at Lissa with a small glare, but she ignored him.

"Well, I was late to practice so I was running and we basically ran into each other…"

"…Habit of yours?" Adrian quipped.

"ANYWAY…" I continued. "He told me that he was trying to get away from some girls that were following him around campus, but get this," I paused, making Lissa lean forward in her seat.

"He said that he wouldn't have been running away if I had been the one following him around," I smiled widely again.

"He said that, did he?" Adrian rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, Alex is kind of amazing actually".

Lissa and I laughed. She didn't know about Dimitri and me, so playing up the Alex thing was likely a relief to her. Since I started getting into Dimitri, it probably seemed like I was a total social hermit. Pretending to like Alex was going to work to my benefit. Moreover, it didn't hurt that he was freaking gorgeous.

Adrian shook his head and made a scoffing noise at us, but Lissa and I went back to talking about what our future kids would look like and what awesome guardians they would make.

Plus, making Adrian jealous was hilarious.

At the mall, Alberta, Yuri, and I separated into positions to let Lissa and Adrian walk together. The plan was to make it seem like they were a couple on a date. The guardians usually try to blend in with the scenery; however, since I was still, technically, a novice, I was allowed to walk a little closer to Lissa.

"Rose, I'm going to try on dresses here. Are you going to try anything on?" Lissa asked, throwing a few pastel garments over her arm.

"No, I can't," I shook my head as we passed a few I would actually have tried on, if I weren't on duty.

"Well, then I'll buy you a few in your size. Easy peasy!" Lissa said heading to the dressing room. Lissa wasn't short on money and always seemed to find things that I would like. I trusted her fashion judgment.

She came in and out of the little room several times, showing off the dresses; some with sparkles, some with floral print, some with a dreamy layer of chiffon. They all looked great against her opalescent skin, which made me a little jealous. My skin would never look that great in those colors.

She finally chose an off-white cocktail dress and went back into the dressing room to change, and that's when Adrian broke his silence.

"You aren't going to the dance with him."

"Who the hell put you in charge?" I demanded.

"Sorry no, I meant that as a question…"

I eyed him with confusion.

Adrian scooted closer to me on the fuzzy neon couch.

"Alexander is …charming on the surface and"

"-dead sexy?" I cut him off.

Adrian glared, but continued.

"Alexander projects a very good image of himself, but I don't think he is someone you should get cozy with. He plays head games and he knows exactly what he is doing, everything is super calculated."

"Sounds like someone else I know," I interjected again.

Lissa came out of the dressing room, carrying her dress and a few others that I assumed were for me.

"I can pay and then we can go," she said walking toward the register.

Adrian and I followed Lissa to the register and when she was done paying, we stopped off at the food court, mostly for me.

Lissa and Adrian started talking about using spirit, which meant I was out of the loop for the next twenty minutes. Looking around the food court it was strange to think that everyone else was probably human and just enjoying a leisure Saturday, wandering around stores and eating soft pretzels and ice cream; something I would never get to do. Any leisure time would be in the walls of the academy, which would not be much longer.

Besides, being Lissa's guardian was engrained into my mind. Anywhere she went, I was there and I was thinking about her safety.

I sighed when I thought about the fact that I might never feel at ease in public spaces, especially at night. I knew much more than most would ever know in their lifetime.

Suddenly, everything around me seemed to go blurry. I blinked, trying to clear the picture but it only got worse when my head started to pound.

"Rose…"

Lissa's cool hand pressed onto mine.

"Rose?"

I shook my head, still a little fuzzy.

"…you look really pale, do you want to get some air?" Lissa's voice was calm, but I could detect the small amount of urgency in her voice.

"- or we could just leave," Adrian said, studying my face.

I inhaled deeply; my head was throbbing.

"Yeah … I feel like I'm getting a migraine or something…"

Lissa told Alberta and Yuri that we were ready to go and they gladly followed us out.

Once inside the vans, Yuri and Alberta immediately turned to face us in the back.

"I think this is the shortest trip to the mall I have ever been on, from the Academy," Yuri smiled.

"Are you sure you got everything, we aren't coming back before the dance next weekend," Alberta said starting the car.

We all nodded, my head already feeling ten times better. As soon as I breathed the fresh air from outside the mall I knew it was going away.

"WAIT! No !" I shouted. Alberta hadn't even put the car in 'drive' yet, but she turned back.

"Adrian didn't get to pick up anything," I looked at him apologetically.

"Nope, I'm all good. We can go," he said without hesitation. Alberta took that as her cue to leave before anything else came up.

I turned back to Adrian, lowering my voice.

"You didn't get anything for the dance, what do you mean you're 'all good'?" I said suspiciously.

He leaned forward so only Lissa and I could hear him.

"I didn't actually need to buy anything. I can have things shipped to me… if you recall."

I did remember. On the ski trip, he had a box of 100 bottles of perfumes shipped and sent to my room within the first few days of meeting me. I doubted he would have trouble getting clothes that fast now that I thought about it.

"So, you just like following me around?" I shot.

Adrian smiled, "You must think pretty highly of yourself to think that the only reason I would want to go off-campus is to stalk you… maybe I just wanted to get away for the day and you two presented me with an adequate opportunity…"

"Doubtful," I shook my head as I turned back to face the front.

"…Besides, I was hoping you would try on a dress or something sexy, but much to my displeasure, you were all-responsible and boring," he said humorously.

"Are you scolding Ms. Hathaway for doing her job, Mr. Ivashkov? Next time we can assign you to someone else. Maybe Mr. Castille would like to accompany you to the mall…" Alberta jibed.

Adrian didn't answer.

Point: Petrov.

Back at the Academy it was dark, which meant plenty of Dhampir and Moroi were around campus enjoying their Saturday night. I, on the other hand, was looking forward to catching up on my sleep.

I assured Adrian and Lissa that my headache was gone, and that it was likely due to being up so early. Lissa said that she would come and check on me the next day.

I was finally in my room and it was pitch black for once. Usually when I was falling asleep the sun was starting to come up, which made it difficult to sleep at times.

I skirted the books and clothes in the middle of the floor, discarded my clothes and grabbed boxers and an extra large t-shirt. I was feeling pure bliss as I hit my pillow and shoved my legs under the covers. I was out like a light.

"Oh c'mon Adrian… I seriously just want to let my brain sit on the dream lazy river while I sleep tonight," I begged. Adrian was sitting on a bench staring straight at me with those thoughtful eyes, but then his expression changed and he was just … gone. He disappeared without a single argument.

I looked around and I was finally alone in my dream.

"Well, that was easy…" I said aloud.

Sighing, I went and sat on the bench where Adrian had been sitting. It was surrounded by tall-grass and shaded by a large tree.

I lay down, taking in the warmth of the day but still enjoying the slight breeze toying with small wisps of my hair.

A crisp crunching noise made me squint an eye open. Adrian had walked through a large patch of grass and was now standing where I had been only minutes ago. He looked over at me.

I sat up. "I don't know why you are here… I don't want to have a conversation about the dance, your strange Alex jealousy, or whatever you came to talk about… just let me sleep, please? If it makes you feel any better, I probably won't ever see him again…" I said sitting up.

I didn't really know how this dream walking thing worked. Like, if I walk away, does it matter? If he is in my dream can't I lock him out or something?

Suddenly, Adrian's face changed drastically. At first it was just a small smile, but then the grin began to race higher on his cheeks. Now I knew what the stories meant when they said someone was 'grinning from ear-to-ear'.

Adrian looked like his face could rip in half; his smile was so big.

Then it did. The line where Adrian's mouth was, split apart and his jaw unhinged with a terrible low hum. His eyes focused menacingly on me.

Those eyes.

I couldn't stop staring at those eyes. The eyes that had once been Adrian's were suddenly red, ringed with blood.

My heart stopped. My body numbed. My breathing stopped.

I couldn't do anything as the crazed figure in front of me began to charge at me, laughing, like gravel rumbling low in his chest.

I couldn't make my legs move, all I could do was stare in pure horror at the monster about to eviscerate me. Then I screamed.

The sound of my own sharp scream pulled me out of my nightmare and back into my bed.

My head was pounding again. This time the dizziness was overwhelming.

Sweaty and shaking I threw off my covers and tumbled onto the floor, crawling away from my bed as if it were the source of my fear.

I breathlessly rolled onto my back trying to slow my heart.

In my life, I have had a million bad dreams. Most of the time it was me fighting Strigoi or trying to hide Lissa; however, this dream was different.

A nightmare so lucid that I spent the rest of the night trying to stay awake while lying in the middle of my floor. Every time my eyelids dared to close I would spring them open. I tried several times to crawl toward the bathroom, hoping for a glass of water; however, I only made it a few feet before giving up.

Sometime around noon, the pain radiating through my head evaporated and my exhaustion took over. That is why I spent the better part of Sunday sleeping, sprawled face down across my floor.

Luckily, my traffic counter is working again. I was worried for a few days that no one was reading my story at all; however, you guys gave me some good reviews, so thank you !

There will be more steaminess between R & D, don't worry !

besos !