So, yeah. You probably thought I was dead. Or want to kill me. Either of those I accept and acknowledge whole-heartily.

Now, I'm not going to bore you with all the excuses, because you've probably got the gist of it now, but I do have a promise.

I promise that I will finish this story by the year 3000. Probably. Maybe.

Rose: Aw, she's back :(

Me: DON'T LIE! YOU LOVE ME!

Rose: I just thank God that Richelle Mead owns me, and not you.

Me: WHY DO YOU HURT ME SO?!

Rose. You. Are. So. Weird.

Me: I'm not weird. Just special.

Previously...

He looked outraged at my demand.

"No! It's not my problem! I just want to stay here and relax."

"Please! Please, please!"

I pouted at him, giving him my best puppy dog look, and as expected he fell for it.

"Fine. But can I sleep in the bed with you?"

I gave a fake look of wonder, gesturing to the bathroom where a blanket and pillow were lying in the bathtub. "Why? You have your own private room!"

"If you don't hurry the hell up, I'm not going to be in such a good mood." I muttered, racing along the path in my heels. Dimitri tagged along ever so slowly, taking his time just to torment me- I'm sure.

"Oh, so this is you in a good mood?" He grumbled, but sped up anyway. I can't believe I dressed up for this guy. I'd put on my favourite black dress and rose pendant necklace, not to mention I curled my hair.

Asshole.

I clutched my bag tighter and slowed down to Dimitri's pace. Usually he was always ahead of me, because of his long legs, but he seemed grumpy that I pulled him away from the prospect of a blissful night with his girlfriend.

I grunted, speeding up again. I needed to stop putting myself in a bad mood.

After what seemed like long hours of torturous walking- which was really only two minutes, at most- we arrived at the foyer, where Mia and her husband, Aaron, were waiting. They were seated at one of the lounges, a little too close for comfort. Talk about PDA.

I leaned closer to Dimitri, getting on to the tips of my toes so I could reach his ear. He froze momentarily, and I let out a tiny breath of air. I watched in satisfaction as the small hairs on the back of his neck rose to attention.

"Remember, sweetheart, we are married. Screw this up for me and I swear to god you and Tasha will not be having little Belikovs running around anytime soon." I whispered, quite sexily if I may say so myself.

He blinked and turned his head slightly to nod at me. I smiled with satisfaction, but couldn't help the pain of knowing that he was only doing this because he felt sorry for me, and not because he cared.

He faced back to the lounge, gripping my hand and walking forward. His rough skin rubbed against my own, and I couldn't stop the spark of electricity from the contact. It sent shivers along my arm, beautiful shivers that reminded me of his girlfriend and the love he has for her. Not me.

I went to pull my hand from his, but he held on tighter, jerking his head to Mia and Aaron. They were looking in our direction now, and Mia didn't have a very good expression. She scowled at Dimitri's hand gripping my own, before grabbing Aaron's hand.

Ha.

I smiled- evilly, I must say- and laughed to myself. This should be fun.

We finally arrived at the couple, and I pushed myself closer to Dimitri for good measure (or maybe just because I wanted to. Maybe).

"Finally! We were wondering when you two would arrive! But it's okay, because of my forgiving nature I will let your tardiness go." Mia exclaimed, running over to give me a hug. Her blonde curls bounced wildly, bringing me back to our school years when I thought she was a ten year old. But at least she had matured since then. I can now gladly say that she resembled an eleven year old.

"How kind of you, your majesty," I whispered to myself with the utmost boredom, but Dimitri heard it. He snickered to himself, squeezing my hand like a warning.

Mia looked confused by our silent conversation, but her partner couldn't care less. He looked like he'd rather be swimming in a pool of sharks than here- I guess we got something in common.

"Don't pour over me! Don't pour over me! I'll bring my glass to you."

The poor waitress looked like she was about to shit herself, all her features completely frightened. Aaron raised his glass to the wine bottle, gesturing for her to pour it. Mia smiled lovingly at him, patting his other hand, which was resting on the table.

I glanced at Dimitri, who was about to burst out laughing, but was hiding it very well. I giggled to myself, looking back at Mia who was lovingly staring at her husband, while his eyes trailed the path of a waiter walking past the table.

"So, Rose! How have you been?" Mia exclaimed suddenly, causing me to choke on the champagne I'd been drinking. Dimitri gently patted my back as I recovered. Mia's stared at me with her Lady Gaga Poker Face, resting her elbows on the table and face on her hands. She was completely serious, and that surprised me.

"I've...I've been good," She didn't say anything, which was very shocking, because I could not recall one time that she had ever asked how I was and then actually listened, "Well, actually earlier today my son got into a bit of trouble and-"

I was interrupted by Mia waving to a waitress that was walking past, "Oh, excuse me! We're ready to order!"

I found Dimitri's hand under the table, and gripped it so tightly that I felt my nails digging into his skin. Oh well, he can suck it up. I was fuming at the moment and wondering why I was putting myself through this pain.

Dimitri brought our hands up from under the table and to his lips, kissing the back of my hand in a gentlemanly act.

Mia frowned and I smirked. Oh yeah, that's why.

"But enough about me," I said, smiling- fake- kindly at her, mimicking her action of resting my elbows on the table and head in my hands, "What about you? How have you been?"

She grinned at me, and leaned forward eagerly. "Well, I'm glad you asked! Actually I've been-"

"Excuse me?" I interrupted Mia, now turning my attention to the waitress that was standing at the table, waiting for our orders, "But do you serve tacos? Oh! And what is your dessert menu? Please tell me you have donuts! "

The poor waitress looked at me in horror. She would be no older than nineteen, and was probably having the worst night. She has already been abused by a strange man who was criticising the way she poured wine, and now she had to deal with a crazy woman asking if they served tacos and donuts in a Hawaiian restaurant; poor girl.

Dimitri burst out laughing at my question, and my heart swelled at the pure beauty of his laughter. It was a deep manly laugh, and I got complete pleasure from his humour.

"Uh...um, n-no sorry, ma'am we don't, but-"

"Relax sweetie, I'll just go for the lobster and salad," I felt bad for pulling her into my tricks, so I decided to let her go. She sighed in relief and quickly took the orders of the other table occupants.

I don't think I'd ever seen Mia so furious, and I swelled with pride at the fact that I made her so angry. Maybe it was possible to make the High School queen crack.

After we had all given our orders to the waitress and she left, Aaron's phone rang. It was some weird mix between the iPhone alarm sound, and a screeching cat. He reached into his back pocket to answer the screaming phone, brushing a strand of blonde hair from his eyes. He spoke for about a minute before he hung up and put his phone back in his pocket.

He turned to Mia, and she instantly turned to him. They stared deeply into each other's eyes for a few seconds, before he finally spoke, "I love your curls, your strength and your feisty attitude,"

Mia sighed lovingly before she responded, "I love your blue eyes, your intelligence and sexy legs,"

Sorry, but what intelligence?

Dimitri and I spared a quick glance, as Mia and Aaron started-literally- rubbing their faces against each other. I suppose they meant for it to be adorable, but really it made me want to throw up.

I had another sip from my drink, just as my phone went off. I picked up my phone from the table and read the message, just as I took another sip.

'I hope their noses are clean. You know how much Mia loves her drugs.' I choked on my wine, spitting it back into the glass. Not very lady-like, but at that moment I was way too busy laughing to care. Dimitri chuckled beside me as well.

Our laughter seemed to have caught the couples attention, because they stopped their- what are they doing?

"Oh sorry, Rose! We just get so lost in each other's eyes that we forgot about you two. How rude of us. Apologies."

Rolling my eyes I took another drink from my glass, trying to ignore the murderous thoughts that were crossing my mind at that moment.

"Hey you know what?! You guys should try it!" She exclaimed as Aaron left the table, yelling into his phone.

It was Dimitri's turn to choke, and I have to say, it was quite amusing. Because God forbid he put his face anywhere near mine, let alone say anything he likes about me.

Cue eye roll.

"Oh no, that's ok! We'll do it later." Dimitri said lamely, wiping his mouth with the napkin.

I snickered humourlessly. It's getting easier to hide my emotions, and I have to say I'm doing a pretty damn good job, but when you're openly rejected by the guy you think you might like it hurts.

"Yeah, we're fine Mia, really." I mumbled, gesturing for more wine from another waiter. Dimitri gave me a suspicious look, but I avoided eye contact.

Mia smirked at me, "That's ok, not everyone can do it," She giggled to herself.

I don't what happened to me, but at that moment all the jealousy, hatred and anger that I had bottle up must have just exploded. I narrowed my eyes at her, at the same time that Dimitri's eye widened. He knew exactly what I was thinking, and in some ways that excited me, but it mostly just depressed me that he was the only guy that knew me as well as he does, and he has rejected me. I was being childish, but it was fun to see him get squeamish.

"We'll do it now!" I exclaimed, turning to face Dimitri. He unwillingly- and uncomfortably- mimicked me.

Mia seemed annoyed that I had agreed to do it, but hid it well. "Okay, so you just look each other in the eyes and say what you love most about the other. You can even hold hands if you want,"

Dimitri one again squirmed in his seat, quite uncomfortable with this situation. "We can't just say it? We really have to look each other in the eyes?"

I glared at him quite angrily, hoping that Mia didn't notice. "Is there a problem?" I asked, when he finally made eye contact.

He must have seen the silent challenge I was sending out to him, and accepted it. He finally made eye contact, and faced me strait on.

"Go on, get closer, don't be shy," Mia urged us on. I don't know whether she was doing it out of kindness, or just the hope that our attempt might crash and burn.

I blinked as I saw Dimitri pull his chair closer to mine, and even lean in a bit. He was smirking, and I could see he was waiting for me to go first.

"Uh..." I trailed off, never thinking that something so simple could be that hard.

But then I thought back to the first time we met, the first day I started working for him, and every good day up until now. I thought about his smile, his hair, his laugh and oh god those eyes! The eyes that I get lost in, and struggle to look away from every time I do. Returning to the present I found myself getting lost in his eyes once again. They were just so perfect, and like many times before they caused a whirlwind in my stomach, butterflies in my chest and impossibly fast chills along my skin.

"I...I love your cowboy obsession," I thought that might be a safe thing to start off with, while I still had control of my body. But then he had to go and laugh and I lost complete control, finding myself leaning closer. "I love your smile, especially the one you save for me, because it always does strange things to my stomach,"

God damn it Rose! Take control!

Oh shit. He just did the smile. "And I love your jokes, because they're so rare, so uncommon, but never fail to make me laugh. But most of all I love that beneath your hard exterior you're a guy that is kind, and funny, and completely loveable."

I glanced down to find that his hand was now resting on my knee, and my breath got caught in my throat.

"Uh...yeah..." I wasn't sure what else to say, and Dimitri seemed to like that. He turned back to Mia.

"Well that was fun!" He exclaimed trying to play off like it wasn't his turn.

I took another sip from my freshly refilled glass, trying to calm my emotions. They were going wild at the moment, and a little alcohol would surely calm them down.

Mia tusked at him, "No, it's your turn now Dimitri!" She giggled again, leaning back in her chair, arms crossed.

I grinned. Ha.

Dimitri turned back to me, and smiled nervously. A lot of other people may not have been able to tell that he was nervous, but I could.

"Well, um...I really like...really love your smile," He glanced down at his hands as I took a deep breath and took them in my own hands. "And I love your hair because it's so soft and..." He trailed of, as he reached up to wrap a strand around his finger. From there his hand reached up to cup my cheek, and I sighed. I was in a trance, just by his skin against mine. He continued, "I love the way you always put the people you love before yourself, and never look for gratitude, you just do it because that's the person you are. You're so, so kind and I can trust you with...I can trust you with everything."

I leaned into his touch. He started rubbing his thumb over my cheek so softly, and I couldn't help closing my eyes and revelling in the feeling.

"And I think- no, I know that you're the only person I've never lied to. I can trust you with everything, and you know all my secrets. You are such an important part of my life and I-"

"Aaron! You're back!" Mia cried loudly. My eyes shot open to see Dimitri was only centimetres away from me, his eyes also closed. It took everything in my not to press my lips against his. Everything. I could feel his breath against mine, so warm, gentle. I visibly gulped and pulled away, watching as he remained perfectly still. He took a deep breath before also opening his eyes and tr=urning back to face the table.

I was avoiding eye contact with everyone, but from the corner of my eye I could see Mia fuming, her fist literally clenched. I would normally delight in her anger, but now I was just confused and to put it plainly; tired.

It was silent amongst the table, and it seemed we were all lost in ou own thoughts. Our silence was interrupted, however, by music playing, and a man in a Hawaiian shirt walking on to the stage at the front of the large room. Luckily, our table was pretty close, so we had a good view. Everyone else seemed as interested as I did as to why there was a man on stage.

"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen!" The man announced in to his microphone, as the small band behind continued to play music. "Tonight marks the restaurant's fifteenth anniversary, so to celebrate we'll be having our legendary Hula Competition!"

"Legendary? Never heard of it!" Mia shouted before she started laughing at her own joke. I rolled my eyes, which I seemed to be doing a lot lately.

As it turns out, the guy on stage was good with comebacks, "Legendary like the day you were once sober," Mia shut up at that.

Dimitri started chuckling which made me laugh too.

"So, who wants to come up here and show everyone what you've got?"

I instantly knew that Mia would want to go up there, just to 'prove' that she was as good at everything as she thinks she is. Or she'll do it just to show me up. Just as I thought, she eagerly volunteered.

"I'll do it!" She stood up like she thought the room would break into applause. Her and Aaron did that weird nose rubbing thing, before she walked in the direction of the stage.

Aaron turned to me, "Come on, Rose! You should too!"

I shook my head vigorously, "No thank you-"

Aaron cut me off, "Don't feel intimidated, Rose. I know a lot of people are around Mia, but really, you shouldn't."

I narrowed my eyes at him, "Oh I'm not the one that should feel intimidated," I finished off my drink and stood up, patting down the skirt of my dress. I smirked at Aaron, before strutting off towards the stage. I looked back at Dimitri, who was following my hips with his eyes, to see him wink, which gave me all the confidence I need.

I will leave on a rant.

OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOM GOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMG.

I CAN'T BELIEVE THE MOVIE IS ALMOST FINISHED AND THEY ARE LETTING US SEE THE TRAILERS AND IM JUST OVERWHELMED AND I CANT DEAL WITH THESE FEELS AND I JUST CAN'T. DSFHWSJGNDSKJHGJSBSJHGKJSGH

Sorry about that, but if you're half as excited about the VA movie as I am, you understand! Did you guys like the trailer?

And did you like this chapter? Let me know!