Drabble:113
One fine day during lunch in Lehigh, while Lissa was digging through her salad for nonexistent mushrooms (let's just say Christian's last experiment with mushrooms made her shudder even at the mention of the M word), Rose was digging through Lissa's wallet for nonexistent quarters (parenthetically, it should be mentioned that the moroi queen never carried anything less than a $5 bill). And though Rose was disappointed at not being able to find her desired quarters, she found something else that arrested her attention and took her mind off vending-machine-candies (which, you know, rarely happened).
In Lissa's wallet, prominently displayed were 4 photos. The first one featured the Dragomirs-Eric, Rhea, Andre and Lissa-dressed elegantly and posing artfully in their living room, a photo Rose thought had been captured following Lissa's 12th birthday celebrations. The second one showed Rose and Lissa, hugging each other outside a movie theatre in Chicago, which Rose remembered had been captured to commemorate the first time they'd viewed a movie in public. The third was of Christian and Lissa, sitting in the academy attic, a photo that Rose herself had taken with Lissa's iPhone on their last day at school. The last one-a selfie-featured the gang-Rose, Lissa, Christian, Adrian, Eddie, Jill and Mia-squeezed onto one couch in Adrian's room back in St. Vlad's. It was taken a month before their graduation when Mia had come over for a surprise visit.
All the photos were poignantly beautiful, but they made Rose realize that while Lissa carried her happy memories with her all the time, Rose….didn't. Rose's wallet-handmade by Vika as a Christmas gift-didn't contain any photos except that on her official guardian ID (hidden in a secret pocket, out of sight of their human friends) and her driving license (proudly displayed on the cover), and those she refused to count as significant.
So, she resolved to remedy the situation as soon as was humanly (or rather, dhampir-ically) possible. And so began a project….
She began by immediately snapping a shot of herself with Lissa, which came out a little less touching than she hoped for. Lissa was staring murderously at a mushroom sliver pronged in her fork while Rose was grinning demonically at the camera, a 'milkshake moustache' gracing her mouth. Christian's picture featured him glaring at her while brandishing a knife, taken when Rose had thrown a carrot at his head and disturbed him in the process of filleting salmon. The one with Dimitri was snapped by Mia from behind a bush when Rose had leapt onto his back and ambushed him during one of his patrols. (It should be noted that Dimitri was smiling in the photo-and not maniacally like Rose-his hands covering hers around his neck; apparently he'd gotten a whiff of Rose's perfume before she'd jumped him).
The one with Mia and Jill was snapped while the two friends were frowning, busy comparing nail-polish shades. Adrian and Eddie's one was taken in Palm Springs. Rose had stood between the boys as the trio brandished their slurpee-stained tongues at the camera. Sydney's portrait showed her smiling smugly as she won her chess match against a perplexed Abe. Janine and Alberta featured in the same frame, along with a few other guardians, while they discussed security measures for a Royal event. The one of the Belikovs was snapped by Vika while they assembled for breakfast in Olena's kitchen. Vika's featured her striking a kung-fu pose with Paul. An old photo of her, Eddie and Mason was sent over by Alberta, showing the trio during one of their epic-food-eating-challenges, a photo that almost moved her to tears.
More photos featured all her loved ones in eclectic situations and different combinations-posed, candid, elegant, over-the-top, funny, somber, etc. By the time Rose's project reached fruition, she couldn't fit them all in her wallet, so she chose to display just one. It was a picture snapped by Dimitri, which showed her posing between the photo-frames (of her collected snapshots) in their home, raising an amused brow at her beau and wearing her guardian uniform. And that captured it all.
Thank you for reading.
You have a choice for the next drabble-either I write about a few Romitri photos that didn't quite make it either here (or onto their wall) or I do a scene featuring Rose, Dimitri and a king-size bed (trust me, it's not what you think).
Do review! Cheers!