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Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Academy.

CHAPTER 28

RPOV

"Good morning, Roza."

I felt Dimitri press his lips against my neck. I cracked one eye open and saw him looking down at me with a grin on his face.

"Ugh," I groaned, rolling onto my side, away from Dimitri. "I need more sleep."

Dimitri chuckled. Wrapping his arm around my waist, he pulled me against him and buried his face in my hair.

"Still tired?" he asked.

"Yeah!" I said, rolling back onto my other side so I could look at him. "Because of you. You kept me up most of the night."

He grinned again. "It was your birthday. And hey, I recall you saying you didn't mind at all."

I did say that. Not that I was going to admit it to him.

"In fact," Dimitri continued, "I remember you saying it was the best birthday-"

"Alright, alright," I interrupted.

He laughed and kissed me before getting up and getting dressed. "You can stay in bed if you want to. Get some more sleep," he said as he pulled on his shirt.

"No, it's fine," I mumbled, sitting up in bed. "I'm awake now anyway." I went in search for my clothes, which were scattered across the floor. "Where the hell is my bra?"

Dimitri bent down and retrieved something from under the bed. "Here it is," he said, handing it to me with a smirk.

I glared at him. "Next time, when you start tearing my clothes off, you might wanna throw it onto one pile. It would make it easier in the morning, you know, when I need to find my clothes."

Still smirking, he said, "Who says I want you to find your clothes? You look better without them."

I playfully punched his arm. "You are unbelievable." I pulled on my dress. "You know, I wish you'd tell me in advance when I'm staying over. Then I know if I need to take some spare clothes with me. Now I have to wear my dress again. And those goddamn heels."

"I'm sorry," Dimitri said, wrapping his arms around me. He pulled me in for a kiss. "Maybe I could make some room in my drawer so you can keep some clothes here for when you stay the night? That way, you'll always have some fresh clothes here."

I started declining. "I don't want to take up any space."

"It's okay," Dimitri said. "I don't have that much clothes anyway. There's space enough for your clothes, too."

I looked at him, uncertain. "Are you sure?"

He shrugged. "Yeah. Of course. It's easier for you that way."

That was true. It'd be a lot easier if I had some spare clothes here. Then I wouldn't have to go to campus so I could change and then walk back to Dimitri's house.

"Okay," I agreed at last. "If you don't mind."

Dimitri smiled and kissed me softly. "Of course I don't mind, Roza."

I helped Dimitri clean the mess from yesterday. Everyone had left late last night and Dimitri nor I had been in the mood to clean. Besides, we'd had other things to do.

Ivan stopped by and apologized for not being able to come to the party. He'd had some important dinner with his boss.

"If I could have, I would've ditched him to come to your party, but…" Ivan made a face. "Obviously, I couldn't."

Dimitri rolled his eyes. "You apologized about ten times now. You can quit the act now, Ivan," he said.

"I'm not acting!" Ivan said, pretending to be offended. "I really wanted to be here to celebrate the birthday of this marvelous young woman and-"

"Cut the crap," Dimitri interrupted.

Ivan smirked.

I shook my head, chuckling, and then turned to look at Ivan. "It's okay, Ivan. Really. Don't worry about it."

He smiled. "Good. Glad you're not mad at me."

Dimitri rolled his eyes again and muttered something in Russian. Ivan responded back in Russian with a grin on his face.

"Okay, I have no idea what you guys just said."

Ivan looked at me, still grinning. "It's nothing. I think Dimka is just a little jealous about the fact that you and I are such good friends," he said, slinging his arm around my shoulders. "And since I'm so popular with the ladies," he added, wiggling his eyebrows, "he's afraid you might exchange him for me."

Dimitri was glaring now.

I shrugged of Ivan's arm and walked over to Dimitri, wrapping my arms around him. "Nah. I don't think he's got anything to worry about," I said, kissing his cheek.

Dimitri suddenly looked very pleased.

Ivan just shrugged. "You don't know what you're missing," he said, winking at me. Glancing down at his watch, he said with a sigh, "Well, I need to go. See you guys later."

After saying goodbye to the kids, Ivan left.

"You want to stay for dinner?" Dimitri asked.

"Yeah sure. I'll be right back," I said when my phone started ringing. I dug it out of my pocket and walked into the hallway. "Hello?"

"Hello Rosemarie."

My eyes widened in surprise. "Mom?"

"I wanted to wish you a happy birthday," she said curtly. "I know it was yesterday, but my battery died so I couldn't call. I'm borrowing a friend's phone right now."

"Oh. Thanks?" It came out more like a question. "For calling," I added quickly.

I wasn't feeling so grateful, though. Couldn't she have borrowed this friend's phone yesterday? I didn't feel like arguing with her, though, so I didn't say anything.

Like always, the phone call was short – just a confirmation that everything was alright. She promised she would visit soon, but usually her promises meant nothing so I wasn't too worried about her visiting anytime soon.

"Are you okay?" Dimitri asked, looking at me with worry when I reentered the living room.

"Um, yeah," I said. "That was my mom. On the phone."

"What'd she say?" he asked, walking over to me.

"Just wished me a happy birthday," I responded shrugging. "Said she would visit me soon, but I doubt it." Dimitri gave me a sympathetic smile. Before he could say something, I said, "It's okay. I don't want her to come anyway."

"Come here," Dimitri said, tugging at my hand. I sighed and he pulled me to him, wrapping his arms around me. I felt his lips in my hair as he murmured, "I think you should talk to your mother. Tell her what's bothering you."

"I don't know," I muttered. "I've been without her for so long. She's never been there for me. And now, I don't really need her anymore. So what's the point?"

"You'll feel better about it," Dimitri said softly.

I let out another sigh. "I feel just fine." And before Dimitri could respond, I moved out of his arms and to the door. "I'm going back to campus and change into some fresh clothes. I'll be back in an hour."

IPOV

"Inna, I'm bored." My little sister stood in the doorway, looking at me pleadingly. "Can I hang out here with you?"

I sighed and closed my textbook. I guess I could finish my homework later. "Alright."

She walked in and plumped down on my bed. I stayed in my chair.

"What do you want to do, then?" I asked.

"Can we play a game?" Alisa asked. "Like the story game or something? I could get Liam. I'm sure he'd want to play too."

"Okay," I agreed. "You ask Liam and I'll get us some snacks."

I went downstairs and crept past the living room, where Dad and Rose were sitting on the couch. Dad was laughing about something Rose had said. I hadn't realized I'd stopped walking as I looked at them. Luckily, they couldn't see me. Their backs were to me. I don't think they would've even noticed me if I'd stood right in front of them.

Rose said something else then and Dad smiled again. He slung his arm over Rose's shoulder and pulled her against him. I realized I was staring at them so I turned and snuck into the kitchen. I opened the cabinets as quiet as possible and took some snacks with me upstairs. I thought it'd be tricky to pass Dad and Rose again, but they were still in their own little world.

Liam and Alisa were sitting on my bed when I came back, waiting for me. We started playing the story game, but in the end, we were more busy eating the snacks than actually playing the game. I didn't mind. I wasn't so fond of the story game anyway. I guess I lacked imagination.

When Liam and Alisa went to do their own things, I returned to my chair and my homework. It was math and I totally sucked at it. Letting out a frustrated sigh, I closed my notebook again.

Suddenly, there was a knock on my door. I jumped up and looked at the doorway, where Rose was standing.

"Hey," she said, giving me a small smile. "You need help with that?" she asked, looking at my notebook.

"It's math," I said, remembering she wasn't so good at math either.

"Oh," she said frowning. Then she brightened. "Well, I could try?"

I looked at her, a little unsure. I didn't really feel like spending time with her, but I'd promised Dad I would be nice to her and try to accept her.

"I guess," I mumbled at last.

Rose smiled and walked in. "Great." She pulled up another chair and sat down next to me. "Let's see if I'm still as bad in math as I used to be."

It was quiet for a while as Rose studied the exercises in my notebook. I peeked at her from the corner of my eye, contemplating if I should say something. At last, I made my decision and said, "Rose?"

"Hmm?" she said, still looking at my notebook.

"Why are you here?" I asked. She looked confused. "I mean, why are you here in my room?"

"Oh." She suddenly looked nervous. "Well, I was kind of hoping we could talk," she admitted.

"About what?" I asked hesitantly. My homework was forgotten.

"About us," she said.

"Why do we need to talk about us?" I said frowning.

She gave me a knowing look and I sighed. Silence fell and it seemed to go on and on until Rose finally spoke again.

"Look, I understand you have a hard time with me being here," she said, taking a deep breath, "and I don't mean here in your room but here in your house."

"How could you understand?" It came out harsher than I'd intended.

Her eyes met mine. "My mom came home with a new boyfriend…not long after my father had passed away."

My eyes widened in surprise. Was that true?

"I was angry at her for betraying my father like that. I mean, how could she? He'd just passed away." She shook her head and sighed. "But, then, I learned to accept it. It took a while, though. I started noticing some things that made me change my mind about her boyfriend… For example, Mom would smile more often. I could see she was happy when he was around."

I thought back to earlier, when Dad was laughing when Rose had said something. He was happier when Rose was around, too. I don't think Dad ever had laughed so much when Mom was around. I couldn't remember.

"So I do understand where you are coming from," Rose said. "But…you should try to overcome those feelings. I'm not saying you have to do that now," she added hastily. "But in time. And maybe it'll be easier next time."

"Next time?"

"Yeah. When your dad has a new girlfriend."

My heart nearly stopped. "Wait – what? Are you going to break up with my dad?!"

"No," she said, "but you never know what could happen. Maybe it won't work out for us and then he'll move on. Maybe with someone else. My mom has a new boyfriend now, too."

I frowned. I didn't want my dad to move on with someone else. Even though I'd been acting like a bitch towards Rose these past few months, I actually liked her. She'd always been kind to me and my siblings, she'd always taken care of us. If my dad had to be with someone other than my mom, it should be Rose, I realized.

"Was your mom happy with your dad before…before he died?" I asked hesitantly.

"I'd like to believe that she was," she responded.

I looked down. "I don't think Dad was so happy with Mom," I whispered.

"Why do you think that?"

I shrugged. "I've never seen Dad smile so much when Mom was around. He smiles and laughs a lot more when you are around. He never held hands with Mom. He holds hands with you, though."

Rose was quiet for a while. "I'm sure they've had their happy times," she said at last. "Maybe you just can't remember them?"

"I don't know," I mumbled. There were tears in my eyes now. "They were fighting a lot. Especially during the last few months before Mom died."

Rose gave me a sympathetic smile. "Maybe you should talk to your father about it? I'm sure he wants to explain."

I nodded. Suddenly, the tears were spilling over and before I knew it, Rose was hugging me. I buried my face in her neck and cried. Tightening my arms around her, I said in a muffled voice, "I'm sorry."

I hoped she knew I wasn't talking about this, about me crying, but about the way I'd behaved.

She did.

"It's okay, Inna," she murmured, hugging me tighter. I sniffled as she stroked my hair. "There's nothing to be sorry for."

You think Inna is going to ask Dimitri for the truth? Will she get along with Rose again? For the people worrying if there's going to be more drama, I'll tell you now: Yes, there will be more drama. It's not over yet ;)

P.S.: I've had this asked a few times before, if Rose and Dimitri are using protection. Yes, they are using protection. They're both responsible adults. I just failed to mention it in the story the first time. I'm sorry!

Please leave a review and have a nice day/evening! :)