"Listen, give me a ride, will you? I'm late!" Rose ran down the steps, her hair bounded up in a bobbing bun, her eyes erratic.
"Okay, okay. Sheesh. Hold your bloody horses." Dimitri shrugged into his jacket and turned around to get his sister.
"Leaving in two minutes! With or without you Cinderella! Prince Charming'll die of old age by the time you actually leave the house!"
Rose chuckled behind Dimitri. She pulled her gloves onto her hands.
"I finish around 1".
"Same," Dimitri smiled. She smiled back.
"Yeah? Cool. We'll go home together." There were so many ways he could go with that, but he stopped himself. With a woollen hat enveloped around her brunette hair and a smile that would have poisoned any man's heart, he would have kissed her right then and there, and he would have died a happy, happy man.
Until, of course,Viktoria ran past in a blur and broke the space between them.
"Come on! What happened to this talk of old age?" Viktoria turned and asked.
"….so even years after the assassination of JFK, rumours of conspiracy and mystery surrounded his death. CIA? Mafia? The Cubans? The Russians?"
An indignant snort followed the last one.
Dimitri smiled at the red head in the front and tapped the board. "I know, right? But anyway. Your assignment is to discuss who you think assassinated JFK. I need evidence, people. If you don't have that, expect an F."
"Threatening students Belikov? And I thought you couldn't sink any lower."
If it had been a student, Dimitri would have flipped. But the voice had come from the doorway. Where Rose stood. Her arms crossed and a wry smile on her face.
Dimitri tapped the stick on his board and turned. "Funny Hathaway. I seem to remember a little incident last…Wednesday? Where you squealed with laughter the rest of your class when the principal tripped over her heels and split her skirt?"
Dimitri nodded his head with faint bemusement as he walked forward. "I don't know whether you remember, but my memory's clear as crystal".
Her smile dropped a little and she stepped into the class. Turning to the wider audience, she grinned at them.
"I don't know about you guys, but how about we do something fun today? Skip history for a day?"
A murmur of agreement resounded through the class.
Dimitri stepped forward with crossed arms, emanating a hard, guarded stance.
"Absolutely not. I cannot condone it. No hijacking my class, Hathaway." Dimitri shook his head. "That's where I draw the line."
She stepped closer and poked Dimitri in the side. He succumbed and smiled.
"Like you could ever be serious."
"Why bothering my class Hathaway? Your own ditch you?" Dimitri threw a piece of chalk at her skirt.
She deflected it and made a face.
"My class is actually outside".
Dimitri frowned. "Doing what?" he asked suspiciously.
"Waiting for yours". She smiled and then chuckled.
"Come on class!" She waved them all forward and a collective yell broke out.
Trying for a quick fist pump, Rose turned quickly, grabbed the chalk and scribbled, "Dimitri cries while he has sex" in big letters on the board.
"Now that's some funny stuff!"
Then tore out of the classroom after the galloping class, leaving a gape-mouthed Dimitri behind in dismay.
"What the hell are you doing? You call this class Hathaway?"
Rose turned in the rain squinted.
"It's called freeing the mind. Something my insane art teacher taught me!" She twirled and yelled.
"Yeah, I guess that explains your insanity." Dimitri paused with a disapproving frown. "Come in!" Dimitri waved for her to come in, but she shook her head.
"Come on! Don't be responsible for once in your life! Let your hair down!"
"It is down!" Dimitri yelled back. She shook her head and ran forward with an impatient look. Dripping wet and shivering, she grabbed his hands between her clammy, wet ones.
He got drenched after just a minute in the pouring rain. The rest of the class had retired to the gym to dry off, but Rose had stayed out here. She was the last crazy he had left to reel back in.
"Look up!" Rose yelled over the drumming rain. She pulled on his hands.
Dimitri shook his head and pulled back. "What? Are you insane? Let's go!"
She tugged him back and fell into his arms. And started moving.
"Wai…what are you doing?" Even with the question, he automatically put his arms around her.
She pulled back and looked at him like he was idiot. "Dancing, you idjit. Come on. I know you Russians know how to play it." Damn straight.
"There's no music," he spoke soundlessly, and gestured upwards.
Rose frowned.
Dimitri chuckled and without so much as a warning, twirled her around in a splash of water.
When she fell back into his arms, dripping wet and smiling, though he knew her teeth chattered, she met his eyes. And looked at him, through messy tangles of hair and dripping articles of clothing.
Warmth spread from his heart and down through to his fingertips. His body lit up as her body moulded itself to his. Uncertainly, but almost just as certain too, she touched his wet chest with her hands and he felt that warmth spread through her. Here it was.
The precipice.
The breaking point.
The moment he had waited for weeks for and knew had been coming.
And she knew it too. She looked up at him through wet eyelashes and upturned reddened, damp lips. Smiling. He reached down, shivering and with shaking hands and cupped her face.
Without breaking eye contact, she leaned into his hand and kissed his palm. Rose's eyes glinted shyly and happily. A moment. Freeze framed in time.
Until.
Until.
It hit.
The threat nobody had seen coming.
The end of all goods things.
One moment.
One. Her eyes, those beautiful doe-like eyes, dulled, and turned back into her head. And she collapsed. In a heap, a broken mess, she fell in her lover-to-be's arms.
The soldier that had been beaten by the bullet she hadn't seen.
Hey guys! Late, late update. But finally finished! Sorry for the wait! For all those who were hoping this would be a fluff story, sorry! It's hard yards all the way in from here. And sorry for the short chapter. But at least it's something right? Hope you enjoyed it.
And if anybody was wondering, the bullet was metaphorical. She was not literally shot. She just fainted. WHY? You'll have to wait for the next chapter to find out!
Review! And I'll write soon!
Much love,
.Therisa.