When I went inside, I found Landon's mentor helping him hobble into the kitchen and sit him down at the kitchen table. The look of pure pain on Landon's face made me frown. I followed them, completely concerned.
"What happened?" I asked, as I knelt down beside him.
"I was practicing, and I turned wrong on my ankle, and fell. I landed on it wrong." He told me. His ankle was already swollen. It didn't look like anything was broken, but it looked bad nonetheless. Guardian Young was filling a bag with ice for him to put on his ankle. I reached out for it when he was finished and looked up at Landon.
"Geez, klutz." I said. He narrowed his eyes at me slightly. "You ready?" He nodded once as I gently laid the bag of ice on his disgusting ankle.
"You're done for the day, Landon. Get some rest, and we'll see how you feel in the morning." He told him. Landon just nodded, but I could tell he wasn't happy about having to miss practice. "Do you want me to help you to your room?"
"I'll take care of him." I told him. He turned to me.
"You sure, I can do it." He said. I shook my head and smiled.
"Nahh. I've got it." I assured him. He nodded and smiled. I stood up wrapped an arm around Landon's waist, and helped him up. We hobbled down the hallway and into his room, where I had to all but throw him onto his bed. We laughed as I finally got him situated, because he'd pulled me down onto the bed with him. When I was able to stand up, I sighed. "That should not have been that difficult." I snapped, playing with him.
"I'm so sorry, Rose." He said. I giggled. I went into his bathroom and grabbed three towels. Two to prop his ankle up and one to wrap around the ice pack. Once I got him all set up, he smiled.
"Thank you for doing this, Rose. This was all unnessicary."
"You took care of me when I was drunk and needed you, so I owed you." I said.
"You didn't owe me. All I did was convince you to go to bed, and help you there." He said, shrugging. I laughed.
"I know. Regardless, it was still nice of you, and plus… You're my friend. I take care of my friends." I said, smirking at him. He smiled. "Now, I'm going to get a bag of chips and some soda's… okay?" He nodded.
"I'll be right back." I said, before I walked out of his room, and back into the kitchen. I grabbed one of the unopened bags of chips and a few sodas and carried them back to his room. I laid them all on his bed, and shut the door, locking it behind me. I walked back over to him, and crawling into bed beside him.
"This is nice of you, Rose. Thank you." He said.
"It's what friends are for." I said, simply. "So, if you're going to be here for the next two days, what are we going to do?"
"I have some movies in that box over there. I have a deck of cards somewhere… we could play strip poker." He said, wagging his eyebrows at me. I laughed.
"Nice try. What else do you have?"
"I think that's it. I've got some car magazines, a guitar, that's pretty much it." He said. I attempted to raise an eyebrow.
"You play guitar?"
"I used to. It's been awhile." He told me. I smiled. That was definitely unexpected. I didn't see Landon as the musical type. Finally, we just decided to watch some TV. He turned it on and flipped through the channels before finding some ridiculous sci-fi movie on, and leaving it. We laughed at how stupid it was, as we laid curled up in his bed. It was actually nice to be so relaxed with a friend. I had my head laid on his shoulder, as we shoved potato chips in our faces. We laughed and joked around and had a good time. After an hour or so, I ran downstairs to dump his melted ice bag, and filled it back up. As I started back for his room, Dimitri walked out.
"What's that?"
"Landon's ice pack. He rolled his ankle at practice?" I told him.
"You playing doctor?" He asked me, obviously amused, but there was something hidden, deep within his eyes that I couldn't quite decipher.
"I'm just taken care of him, and being there for him." I said, shrugging. "It's get awfully boring all by yourself, and not being able to get out of bed." I looked towards the window to see the light breaking the horizon. It was later than I thought. I smiled and said my goodbyes to Dimitri before walking back to Landon. When I walked in, he was passed out asleep. I smirked at how adorable he looked as he slept. I walked over to his bed, and propped his leg carefully back up without waking him. As I slid the icepack underneath it, he whimpered slightly, but didn't wake. I kissed his forehead, and started for the door when he mumbled my name. I turned around to find him still sleeping. I smirked to myself as I realized he was dreaming about me. I smiled as I watched him shift slightly, and smile. He was still completely out of it, but it was quite entertaining to watch. Finally, he quieted so I shut his door, and walked back to my room. When I got inside, I showered and laid down in my bed. As I closed my eyes, and fell asleep, I felt someone's presence, like they were there with me. It was then that a dream world was created around me. I was in awe, as I realized I was standing on a beautiful beach. I looked up to see Adrian walking towards me.
"Adrian?"
"Hey there." He said, simply.
"Where are we?" I asked.
"You're dreams."
"You are most definitely not in my dreams. Sorry to disappoint you Ivashkov." He laughed.
"I'm in your dreams more than you think." He said.
"What?" He smirked that annoyingly smart ass smirk of his.
"Nothing. I just thought I'd show you what else I can do with spirit."
"You… You're doing this?" I asked him, looking around. He nodded.
"It's called Dream-walking." He said.
"Like Freddy Kruger?"
"Yes, like that, except if I killed you here, it wouldn't do anything to you." He said. He looked down. "Atleast, I don't think it would. I've never actually tried." I just nodded. I wasn't about to be his experiment.
"So, you do this to people often?" I asked.
"No…Not really." He said, shrugging.
"To have Adrian Ivashkov dream-creep on me must be a prestigious honor then, huh?" He narrowed his eyes.
"You make it sound gross."
"Well, it kinda is." I teased, smirking. He rolled his eyes. It was easy to see that Adrian had met his match in the sarcasm department when he came here.
"Whatever, Hathaway. I'll leave now." He said. I giggled.
"Goodnight, Adrian." I called as the dream world faded from sight, and I woke up back in my bed. I laid there for a second, staring at the ceiling. Finally, I fell back into unconsciousness. When I woke up the next morning, it was about thirty minutes before my alarm would normally go off. I was going to go check on Landon before I went down to practice. I got dressed, and did a little make-up, before heading to Landon's room. I knocked before I heard him call to come in. When I opened the door, he was at the threshold of the bathroom, leaning against the wall.
"What are you doing out of bed?"
"Trying to get ready for practice?" He tried.
"You can't practice with a rolled ankle, Landon."
"I can try." He told me. I shook my head and walked over to him.
"You need to get back in bed. You're not going to practice on a rolled ankle. You can't even walk, how do you plan to fight?" I asked, helping him back to the bed. He sat down and sighed.
"I'm going to be going crazy in here. I'll be sitting here, doing nothing… all day? How am I supposed to handle that?"
"Come to practice with me?" I asked.
"And do what?"
"Just sit and watch. Learn how a real novice practices." I teased. He narrowed his eyes. I laughed. "I'm teasing, but I was being serious about coming with me. It'll give you something to do. Or I can help you to the gym to watch the other novices."
"I'd rather go with you." He told me. He hobbled around the room, and changed his clothes, before hobbling out to me. I wrapped an arm around his waist, and helped him to the back door and outside. Dimitri looked up when we started towards the track. He raised an eyebrow, as I helped Landon sit on the sidewalk.
"What are you doing?"
"I didn't want him to sit in his room bored all day, so I told him he could come watch us train. Of course, if that's okay with you?" I said, looking at him. He looked down at Landon, and back to me. I saw something pass through his eyes quickly, but it faded when his guardian mask filled his features.
"He can stay, as long as he doesn't distract you." He told me.
"He won't." I assured him. I smiled down at Landon before sitting down on the mat to stretch. Landon talked to me, while Dimitri stretched on the fence.
"You aren't ever scared to train with him?" He asked me. I smirked.
"He's not as bad as he looks." I told him, shrugging. Dimitri turned to me, and narrowed his eyes. I winked at him when Landon wasn't looking, causing Dimitri to smirk and shake his head at me. I loved the reactions I brought out in him. They made working with him quite amusing. When we were done stretching, he walked back over to the mat.
"What are we doing comrade?" I asked.
"Well, I figured we could just fight today, and see how you put what I taught you yesterday to use." He said. If I was being honest, all I could really recall from yesterday mostly, were his hands on my body as he showed me all the new moves he wanted me to try. Regardless, I nodded. I stepped onto the mat as he did the same. I crouched down and turned to Landon.
"Watch and learn." I said, before turning back to Dimitri. He nodded at me once, and we circled twice before he went for the attack. I dodged, throwing a kick that he easily deflected. He lunged for me, but I jumped out of the way, throwing a kick to the back of his knees, causing him to stumble. I tried to kick his legs out from under him, but he saw that coming. I faked left, and tried one of the moves he'd taught me, but he grabbed me and threw me to the mat, placing his hands over my heart. You've got to be kidding.
"What the hell?" I asked.
"What?" He asked, eyes locked on mine.
"Nothing… lets go again." I said, standing up. He nodded and we circled again. We exchanged more blows this time, a lot more of them landing than last time. I could feel Landon's eyes intent on my back. I wasn't losing this one. It just wasn't going to happen… not again. I could tell we were wearing each other out. We were both going a little heavier than normal. I faked left again, and started to use another one of the moves he taught me, when he once again took me to the mat, hands over my chest.
"God damn it. What am I doing wrong?" I asked, slamming my fist against the mat. He sat up on his knees.
"What do you mean?"
"I'm doing those moves exactly like you taught me. Why can't I take you down?" I demanded. Dimitri chuckled. The sound wrapped around me like a blanket. I growled. "What's funny?"
"I taught you those moves, Rose. Those are my own moves. You really think I'd let you take me down with my own moves? Come on." He said. He smirked. "A good fighter knows all the counters to every one of their moves." I growled.
"Of course." I muttered. He chuckled. "Am I doing something wrong?" I finally asked. He shook his head.
"No, you're doing them perfectly. I'm just not going to let you take me down with something I taught you." I rolled my eyes. Landon was chuckling behind me. I turned to him and narrowed my eyes.
"Shut it, gimp." I said. His jaw dropped, causing both Dimitri and I to laugh. "Just kidding."
"Yeah, right. You're lucky I'm injured Hathaway, or I'd have to kick your ass."
"Come on, gimp. Let's see what you've got." I said, smirking at him. He tried to get up off the sidewalk, but couldn't. I giggled. "I was kidding. Calm yourself."
"Come on, Rose." Dimitri said, pulling my attention back to him. I turned to him, and nodded. I crouched down again, and waited. We went back and forth forever, but neither of us could get the upper hand. We went round and around for what seemed like ever, before I finally faked him out, and kicked his legs out from under him. I went to take him to the mat, when he grabbed me, pinning me. I tried to roll us, protecting my chest at the same time, but I couldn't roll. I reached up, and pushed him hard, giving me the upper hand for a second, enough to punch him dead in the chest. I knocked the wind out of him, giving me the chance to roll us. I did, and pressed my hands to his chest. I was out of breath, staring down into his beautiful brown eyes. It was in this moment, that everything around us disappeared, and it was just me and him. Both of us were breathing hard, trying to pull out of our locked gazes. It was then I realized Landon was here.
"I did it." I said, trying to recover. "I took you down." Dimitri smiled up at me.
"You did." The smile that came over me, made my face hurt.
"I did it." I said, jumping up. Landon laughed.
"Congrats." Landon said. Dimitri sat up.
"It won't happen again." He said, simply. He smirked at me, as he stood up. "You're done for the day."
"Thanks." I said. I walked over to Landon, and helped him up, taking him inside. The moment I got Landon inside, and glanced behind me, Dimitri was looking at me. The moment I caught him, he looked away. I took a deep breath, and kept walking, resisting every urge to go back to him. There wasn't any denying it. The glint in his eye that I'd seen was definitely jealousy.