"You need to get dressed," he told her, passing her the pile of clothes, and grabbing a t-shirt for himself to add to the bottoms he was already wearing.
"Why? Who is it?" Rose asked, quickly hopping out of the bed to do as she was told.
"My Mama," he told her. "And my Babushka."
It was the last thing either one of them were expecting… Dimitri's mother and grandmother, there on his doorstep. This usually wouldn't have been such a surprise or inconvenience for Dimitri – they were his family after all – but of course it had to be the morning after Rose had stayed the night!
Waking up next to Rose for the first time, Dimitri realised there were definitely some perks to having her sleep in his bed. When he woke up with her this morning, he had hoped to continue their antics from the night before, at least for a little while until he had to head to the studio later that morning. But his plans had been scarpered with the arrival of Olena and Yeva, meaning he and Rose unfortunately had to stop what they were doing and quickly get dressed.
Once Dimitri had pulled on a top, he quickly returned to the living room where his mother and grandmother were waiting, leaving Rose alone in his room to get ready herself. She felt a slight feeling of panic as she thought about meeting his family – if sleeping in his bed was against the 'rules' of their arrangement then meeting his family certainly was too! She wasn't his girlfriend, and they weren't in a relationship; meeting his family definitely felt like relationship level stuff!
Oh shit, she thought abruptly as she pulled on her yoga pants from the day before. She suddenly remembered that she hadn't showered after the night before, nor had she had anything with her to freshen up with! No toothbrush, no hairbrush... there was no way she was meeting Dimitri's mother like this!
With a quiet groan of frustration, she quickly scuttled into the en-suite to freshen herself up. She swiftly washed her face in the sink, before cleaning the top half of her body the best she could with a flannel she found in a cupboard. It certainly wasn't the same as using her own shower gel and taking as long as she wanted in her shower at home, but it would have to do. At least she wasn't as sweaty as she was before!
She hastily put on her bra, before remembering the only top she had to wear was the skimpy, cropped one she wore to yoga – something she definitely didn't feel comfortable wearing the first time she met his family. Hoping that Dimitri wouldn't mind, she quickly fished out a fresh t-shirt from his dresser just outside the bathroom door and pulled it on overhead before returning to the bathroom to tackle her morning breath. Lacking a toothbrush, and not wanting to push the boundaries so far enough to use Dimitri's, she squirted a small amount onto her index finger, doing the best she could to scrub her teeth. At least her breath was minty fresh!
Casting one final look at herself in the bathroom mirror, she took a deep breath to mentally prepare herself. Her hair was slightly messy, but it would have to do. At least she looked a bit more decent than she had five minutes ago!
When she returned to the bedroom, she could hear voices chattering in the living room. Rose being Rose, she probably would have stopped longer to secretly listen, only they were talking to each other in Russian, meaning she had absolutely no idea what they were saying! Having been with Dimitri for about a week, she had quickly picked up a few phrases here and there. Although they probably wouldn't be too useful considering they were mostly swear words Dimitri uttered while they were having sex!
"Почему ты не сообщил мне, что придешь сегодня утром? У меня есть... компания," she heard Dimitri say. It sounded like a question.
Why didn't you let me know you were coming over this morning? I've got... company.
A soft, warm voice spoke next. "Компания? Кто?"
Company? Who?
"Девушка."
A girl.
Rose recognised that this next voice was older, and she guessed that it came from Dimitri's grandmother.
She even sounds scary, Rose thought, remembering that was what she had thought when she saw her picture before.
Not wanting to linger any longer, she took a deep breath before stepping out into the living room to find Dimitri and his family. As she did so, three sets of eyes were instantly on her – Dimitri's looked slightly nervous, and Rose could tell that this was new territory for him. His mother's eyes were warm and welcoming, and she smiled widely at Rose as she entered the room. Rose knew that she liked her already. The third set of eyes – Dimitri's grandmother's – matched Rose's initial impression of her: scary. Yeva looked at her as if she was looking right through her, staring straight into her soul and reading her mind.
"Mama, Babushka, this is Rose," Dimitri introduced her once she joined them in the seating area of the living room. "Rose, this is my mother Olena, and my grandmother, Yeva."
"Oh, it's so lovely to meet you Roza!" Olena exclaimed. Dimitri had switched to English for Rose's benefit, prompting Olena to do the same. Her wide grin was still etched on her face and she had a bright twinkle in her brown eyes. It had been a while since she had seen her only son with a girl, and there was no hiding her excitement.
"Yeah, it's nice to meet you too," Rose replied politely, smiling respectfully at the two women in front of her. Yeva simply stared at her. It was a look that almost said - "I know. I know everything about you and this arrangement you have with my grandson."
"Dimitri, why on earth didn't you tell me you had a girlfriend?" Olena asked, furrowing her brows at him.
He shuffled awkwardly on the spot.
"Well, uh –"
"And one as pretty as this!" She continued before Dimitri could say anything, waving in Rose's direction. "How long have you been together? Where did you meet?"
"Mama –"
"Оставь мальчика в покое. Очевидно, есть причина, по которой вам не сказали," Yeva interrupted, her face stoic and unrevealing.
Leave the boy alone. There's obviously a reason why you weren't told.
"Я просто в восторге, с подружками Димки мы никогда не встречаемся!"
I'm just excited, we never meet Dimka's girlfriends!
Yeva shook her head, and Rose awkwardly played with the hem of Dimitri's top she was wearing. Where they talking about her?
"Просто скажи ему, почему мы здесь."
Just tell him why we're here.
Olena sighed, unhappy that she couldn't find out all the details about this sudden, mystery woman in Dimitri's life. Turning her attention to the matter at hand, she vowed to ask all her questions another time.
"We haven't seen you for a while, Dimka. We were just checking to see you were okay," Olena explained, her motherly concern clear in her tone of voice. It was clear that she loved her son dearly, and Rose knew that he spent a lot of time with her. Rose had obviously stolen him this past week!
"I'm fine Mama," he told her sincerely.
"We were also here to remind you about Sonja's baby shower tomorrow," she added.
"I haven't forgotten Mama."
The truth was, he had forgotten. With all this time he had been spending with Rose, it had slipped his mind. He was thankful that they came to remind him – he adored his sisters and wanted to be there for them as much as he could, especially being the only male in the family. He was looking forward to spending time with them the following day.
"Good," Olena smiled before turning her attention to Rose. "Will we see you tomorrow, Rose?"
"Oh uh –" Dimitri hesitated, running a hand through his hair to smooth it out of his face. What was he supposed to say to that? 'No sorry, she's not actually my girlfriend – we're just fucking 24/7?'
He didn't have long to think up an excuse before Yeva spoke for him.
"да." She stated firmly. Rose recognised this as 'yes'. "Она будет там" She'll be there.
Dimitri turned to look at Rose, an apologetic and slightly panicked look behind his eyes.
"Apparently, yes."
A slightly shorter chapter today, but I didn't want to leave you sitting with a cliffhanger for too long...
Apologies if the Russian isn't perfect - I used translate and we all know how unreliable that is!
Hope you enjoyed, please let me know what you think! What do you think will happen at the baby shower?