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CHAPTER 19

CHRISTIAN POV

"See you later, Liss," I murmured, kissing her swiftly on the lips before leaving.

I'd just dropped her off at her class and was on my way to my own when I ran into Avery. I was just going to ignore her when she called out my name. I turned around with great reluctance.

"What?" I almost snapped.

"Long time no see," she said cheerfully.

Huh. This was weird. Avery hated me and now she was acting all happy to see me. Something was not right here.

"What do you want?"

"Nothing," she said, still giving me that fake smile. "I was just wondering if you've seen Rose today, that's all."

"Yes, I have," I said warily. "Why?"

She shrugged. "No reason. It's just… I don't see her as often anymore."

"And you care why?" I said, raising my eyebrow. As far as I knew, Avery wasn't fond of Rose either.

"Well, she's my roommate," Avery said with a small frown. Then she shrugged again. "But anyway, I guess she's too busy with Dimitri. They make a cute couple, don't you think?"

I stared at her, stunned. Rose and Dimitri a cute couple? I must have not heard it right. "What did you say?"

Her eyes widened. "Oh! You didn't know?"

"Didn't know what?" I said.

Avery bit her lip. "Well, about Rose and Dimitri… I thought they'd told you."

I was losing my patience. "Told me what?!"

"That they are together," she answered slowly.

My eyes almost bugged out. "You're lying!"

She smirked. "I'm not. They often meet in our dorm room. It's actually quite annoying. I never know when it's safe to go back to my room. Today he was there again and-"

"You're bullshitting me," I interrupted. "You don't even know Dimitri."

"Uh, yeah I do," she said. "He's that tall, handsome guy. Way too young and hot to already have children, if you ask me."

I gritted my teeth. "Rose isn't together with Dimitri. She's just babysitting his kids."

Avery smiled sweetly. "Sure. If that's what you want to believe."

She walked past me and left. I stood there for a couple of minutes, stunned, before I realized I should be in class right now. I quickly took off and after apologizing to my professor, I took my seat in class. Not that I was paying much attention. I kept thinking of what Avery had told me.

Was Rose really with Dimitri? That couldn't be true, right? Sure, she spent a lot of time with him and his kids, but there wasn't anything going on, was there? She would have told me if there was. And Dimitri was still grieving over my aunt. He loved my aunt. There was no possible way that he was together with Rose. Avery was just trying to sabotage my friendship with her. But I had no idea why.

The next day, it was still troubling me. I knew I should talk to Rose, but if it was true, she would probably deny it. And if it wasn't true… Well, I didn't want to accuse my best friend of something I wasn't even sure about.

That evening, I decided to drive by Dimitri's house and see for myself if there was something going on between him and Rose. I slowed down my car when I neared Dimitri's house. It was already dark outside, but a small light lit up the front porch. Just then, the door opened and Rose walked out, followed by Dimitri. They were talking about something and both had a small smile on their faces.

I decided to get out of the car and sneak towards them. I realized I must look ridiculous right now, sneaking behind trees and cars to get a closer look on them, but it was for a good cause. When I was closer, I could hear part of their conversation. They were saying their goodbyes.

"See you tomorrow?" I heard Dimitri ask.

"Sure, comrade," was Rose's reply.

I peered around the car I was hiding behind. They were standing close to each other, but there was nothing that made me think they were together. They were just friendly with each other. I sighed. I knew I shouldn't have believed Avery.

But then, Dimitri reached for Rose's hand. "Be careful," he murmured.

"Always am, comrade," Rose joked.

I frowned. Comrade? She'd called him that twice now. What kind of nickname was that?! And why did she even have a nickname for him?

Dimitri pulled Rose closer. "I mean it, Roza," he said. His tone was stern, but the look on his face was playful.

What the hell?

I moved closer to get an even better view, but I was so focused on what they were saying and how close they were standing to each other that I didn't see the curb. I tripped and fell face down on the sidewalk.

I heard a gasp and then Rose rushed towards me. "Christian?"

I groaned and sat up, rubbing my face.

"Are you okay?" she asked as she helped me up.

"Uh, yeah, I just tripped," I said, a little embarrassed. I glanced at Dimitri who walked over to us and gave him a tight smile before turning back to Rose.

"What are you doing here?" she asked.

"I'm here because, umm, I came to pick you up," I lied quickly. Clearing my throat, I asked, "You ready to go?"

She frowned a little. "Yeah. But… How did you know I was leaving now?"

I stared at Rose for a moment, not knowing what to say. Think. Think fast! "It's Thursday night and I know you stay here later than usual then," I said at last. "I was just driving back to campus and I thought I could come and pick you up. I mean, it's safer than walking home alone."

"Thanks, Christian," Dimitri suddenly said. "I'm glad you're here. I don't like her walking home alone either."

I nodded and looked over at Rose. "Shall we go then?"

"Yeah sure," she said. She smiled at Dimitri. "Good night, Dimitri."

"Good night, Rose," he responded.

No nicknames when I was around, huh?

I said my goodbyes to Dimitri and then Rose and I walked to my car in silence.

"Why'd you park your car over there?" Rose asked. "There was enough space in front of Dimitri's house."

"I wanted to walk for a bit," I lied.

As we drove back to campus, Rose was texting with someone. The big smile on her face indicated that she was texting with someone special. Like Dimitri.

"Who are you texting?" I asked.

"No one," she replied quickly.

"Then why are you smiling like that?" I said, a little annoyed.

She glanced over at me and raised her eyebrow. "Are you okay, Christian?"

I sighed. "Yeah, I'm fine. Sorry." After a few minutes of silence, I asked, "So, how's Dimitri?"

"Um, good, I guess," she answered.

"Well, you should know," I said, trying to appear casual. "You talk to him more than I do."

"Yeah. Where is Lissa? I thought you'd be with her tonight," Rose said, quickly changing the subject.

"She's meeting her study group," I answered.

"Oh."

I didn't know why, but she seemed a little bit nervous – and eager to leave. After thanking me for picking her up, she practically ran to her dorm when we'd arrived at campus.

I had a feeling she was hiding something from me. Maybe Avery was right after all. Maybe Rose really was with Dimitri and maybe that was what she was trying to hide from me. I honestly hoped it wasn't, but what I'd seen tonight had raised my suspicions and I would definitely be paying more attention to them in the future.

RPOV

"So have you talked to Avery yet?"

I looked up at Dimitri. "You mean after our huge fight?"

When Avery had come back to our room that day she'd caught me and Dimitri in a compromising position I'd tried talking to her in a civilized way. But she'd taunted me and had made snide comments about Dimitri and me and what Christian would say about us. She'd also let me know she'd run into Christian and that she might have slipped up. That's when I'd stopped trying to be civilized and, well, you can guess what happened then. We hadn't spoken since our fight.

"No," I said sighing, "I haven't. She's ignoring me and I'm ignoring her."

Even though Avery had claimed she'd slipped up and told Christian, I didn't believe her. If she really had, Christian would've come to me already, demanding an explanation. He'd been acting a little weird lately, though, but there wasn't anything that made me think he knew about Dimitri and me.

"You should try and talk to her," Dimitri said.

"It's not my fault we're fighting," I huffed. "It's hers. I didn't do anything wrong. I think she should take the first step."

"I know it's not your fault, Roza," he said softly, "but you should try, though. I mean, you're going to have to live with her until the end of the school year."

"I guess," I grumbled.

Dimitri kissed my forehead and smiled. "It'll be alright, Roza," he murmured, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear.

I leaned into his touch and gave him a small smile as I looked up at him. "I know."

He was about to say something else, but then Liam came barging into the kitchen and Dimitri quickly took a step back.

"Can I have dessert?" Liam asked.

"You just had dinner," Dimitri said with a frown.

"I know. That's why I'm asking for dessert," Liam said.

Dimitri looked at me. "Sometimes I think you're a bad influence on my kids," he said, glaring at me playfully.

"There's nothing bad about asking for dessert," I said grinning.

Dimitri rolled his eyes at me, but smiled reluctantly. "Fine," he said at last. "You can have dessert. I think we still got some ice in the fridge."

Liam cheered as he opened the fridge and I winked at him.

"You want to watch cartoons with me?" he asked.

"I'll join you after I've helped your father with the dishes," I said.

He nodded and went back to the living room. Then he turned back around and said, "Daddy, don't forget to call Toby's mom for Friday night!"

"I won't!" Dimitri promised.

"Is he going to Toby this Friday?" I asked when Liam had left.

Dimitri nodded. "Yeah, Inna and Alisa are both having sleepovers with some of their friends. Liam felt a little left out and wanted to go with them."

I laughed. "I don't think Inna and Alisa would like that."

He smiled. "No. So now Liam's going to stay at Toby's for the weekend. I still got to call Toby's mom, though, to arrange it."

"Oh," I said. "So you'll be all alone this weekend? Must be nice. To have finally some time for your own."

He nodded. "But…well, I was kind of hoping we could go do something together," he said, looking up at me with a hopeful glint in his eyes. "We could go somewhere for the weekend. If you're up for it, I mean," he added quickly.

"Sure. I'd love to get out of town for a while." I smiled. "And where would you be taking me?"

He grinned. "I'm not going to tell you that. You're going to have to wait until the weekend."

"I bet you don't even know yourself where we're going," I scoffed.

"Maybe. Maybe not," Dimitri teased.

I stuck out my tongue at him and he laughed before pulling me closer to him. I was about to tell him the kids might walk in on us, but he cut me off as his lips met mine in a passionate kiss.

"Rose! Are you coming?" I heard Liam yell from the living room.

I pulled away from Dimitri and grinned. "Sorry, comrade, but I've got to go. Seems like you're going to have to do the dishes all by yourself tonight."

He narrowed his eyes at me playfully. "Well, if I were you I'd leave quickly. Before I change my mind about letting you go."

I smiled and pecked his cheek before hurrying away to join Liam, who was still calling for me. After a while, Dimitri joined us. He sat down next to me and moved his hand over mine on the couch. I glanced at Liam, but he was too preoccupied to notice. Glancing back at Dimitri, I smiled. He smiled back and laced our fingers together.

A few minutes later, Alisa walked in and Dimitri quickly pulled his hand away from mine. Not long after that I decided to go home. I wished the kids goodnight before making my way to the front door. Dimitri followed me.

"I've thought about where I'm going to take you this weekend," he said, a teasing glint in his eyes.

I raised my eyebrows. "Oh? I thought you said you already knew where you'd be taking me."

"Yeah, but I wasn't sure yet. Now I am," he said smiling.

"I suppose you won't tell me where you're taking me?" I said, giving him a winning smile.

Dimitri shook his head. "I'm afraid not." I pouted and he laughed. "That's not going to help, Roza. You're going to have to wait until Friday."

"I'm already looking forward to it," I said.

He smiled. "Good night, Roza."

"Night, comrade," I murmured, kissing him on the cheek before heading home.

So Avery told Christian after all! What did you think of Christian's spying mission? Wasn't much of a success, huh? ;)
And where will Dimitri and Rose go for the weekend? Also, is anyone interested in a lemon next chapter? :P

Hope you enjoyed the chapter. Have a nice day/evening! :)