Two weeks later.
"You could at least try looking a bit happier, Rose," Lissa scolded, frowning in the direction of her best friend, who was sat cross legged in the centre of Adrian's art studio.
"Oh, I'm sorry, is the moody, self-loathing look not in style right now?" She questioned sarcastically, rolling her eyes at the blonde.
"Oh no, it's exactly what I wanted," Adrian cut in enthusiastically, his gaze manoeuvring between Rose and the canvas in front of him. Standing just behind him, Lissa watched intently as he translated what his eyes could see into his art.
Lissa frowned harder, her face twisting into a look of disdain. "Really?" She asked, clearly confused by Adrian's tastes.
"It's perfect. Lift your head up a little more," he instructed - Rose had moved position slightly in her bickering with Lissa.
"Why are you even painting me anyway?" She asked, after correcting her posture.
"Because you're just so pretty," Adrian teased, pretending to toss his imaginary long hair over his shoulders and batting his eyelashes.
"Ha. Ha."
"You act like I'm joking," he laughed. "But seriously, I wanted to experiment with some dark, ominous lighting and your brooding face is perfect for that. Plus you needed to get out of the house."
Rose couldn't help but laugh.
"Ah, see Liss - my depressing broodiness is good for something," she mocked. "Hey, I should call Dimitri, let him know that breaking my heart was worth it, all for Adrian's art!"
Adrian snorted, amused. Lissa simply sighed at her friend, crossing her arms in a way that told Rose she wasn't impressed.
"I don't know why you didn't just give him another chance. You so clearly want to," she admonished.
"I don't."
"You bring him up in conversation all the time. Every time someone walks into the diner your eyes light up in case it's him. Every time we drive by the yoga studio you look in to see if he's there. You think we don't notice, but it's obvious. You want him back."
"No, I don't."
"Yes, you do," Adrian chimed in, fed up with hearing Rose deny her feelings over and over again.
Adrian couldn't deny the fact that he'd been ecstatic when he'd first heard the news that Rose had ended things with Dimitri. But when he saw her, saw how truly devastated she was, he knew immediately that he stood no chance. This thing between the two of them, whatever it was, was the real deal.
Rose had fallen in love with the guy.
"No, I don't," she protested, adamant in denying her feelings. Never mind the fact that she'd replayed their last conversation in her head over and over again, wondering if she should have said something different. Whether she should have agreed to try things with him one more time.
I want to be with you, Roza. I want you to be mine.
It had been two weeks since then, even longer since they ended things, yet she still loved him all the same. Even if she had spent the last few weeks trying to convince herself that she didn't.
"Stop lying to yourself, Rose." Lissa groaned. "It's obvious you still love Dimitri, and it's clear to anyone that you're kicking yourself for not accepting his apology."
"But-"
"So why don't you just go and see him? Tell him that you miss him and you're willing to give him another chance."
Adrian groaned.
"Can it wait until I'm done with my painting?" He asked. "Gooey happiness isn't what I'm after right now."
Rose rolled her eyes and flipped him off, before quickly moving back into position, turning her attention back to Lissa.
"Because, Liss, he's a dickhead."
"A dickhead you're in love with."
"A dickhead who made me fall in love with him, then ripped my heart out and crushed it into tiny pieces, all the while making me feel like a complete idiot for even falling for him in the first place. A dickhead who essentially called me a whore, then came crawling back to me and expected me to forgive him because all of a sudden, 'he's changed.' Why should I give him another chance?"
"Because we men are idiots," Adrian reasoned, placing his brush into the water pot and turning his attention solely to Rose.
"Ain't that the truth," she scoffed.
"Love makes us do crazy things."
Rose huffed and folded her arms, no longer fussed about keeping still for Adrian's painting. The more she talked about the situation with Dimitri, the more annoyed she got. "That's no excuse for treating me like shit."
"That's true," Adrian acknowledged with a small shrug. "But it sounds to me like he fell for you just as hard as you fell for him. He got scared and fucked it all up because he needed an excuse to get rid of his feelings before they consumed him."
"That's still no excuse for treating me like shit."
"Again, true. But like I said, we men are idiots."
Lissa chimed in again, eager to find a way to convince her friend of her feelings. "What exactly did he say to you?"
"That it was all a game, I looked easy, I didn't mean anything to him..." Rose scowled.
"No, I know all that. I meant what did he say to you when he came to apologise?"
Rose sighed, replaying the conversation in her head for what felt like the hundredth time.
"He said that the last thing he wanted to do was hurt me. That he does care for me and everything he said was a lie to push me away. He said that he had wanted to convince me that he didn't care for me so that I would leave," she explained, relaying what the Dimitri in her memory was saying to her.
As she remembered his words, she felt a warmth in her stomach, as though a group of butterflies were swarming her belly.
"Then he told me I was the best thing in his life, and he doesn't want to let me go."
"See?" Lissa grinned.
"See what?
"Rose, the smile on your face when you just said that last bit clearly means that you still love him. You're happy about what he said to you."
"I'm not smiling."
"Yes, you are – stop it," Adrian frowned. "I need moody if we're going to finish this painting."
Rose simply ignored him.
"Okay, fine. Maybe I do still care for him," she caved. "But that doesn't mean I can just forgive him."
"Agreed, he still needs to make it up to you. But you owe it to yourself to at least give him another chance. You clearly miss him, and neither of you are exactly doing great without each other," Lissa urged, recalling the fact that whenever she saw Dimitri, he still looked as heartbroken as the day he and Rose broke up. "Listen to your heart for once, and not your stubborn mind."
"I don't know..."
"Rose, stop torturing yourself," she scolded. "You love him."
Rose thought back on everything that had happened between them. All the flirting, the laughing, the stolen looks when each thought the other wasn't looking, the sex, the conversations... the heartbreak, the harsh words, the tears... Despite the bad points, she still wanted him. She still needed him.
"Yes," Rose admitted. "I do."
Lissa grinned, pleased that her friend had finally given in. Although she was certainly not impressed with the way Dimitri had treated her best friend, it was more than obvious that the pair of them loved each other more than they cared to admit. Rose was spiralling into a depression faster than Lissa could pull her out of it, and Dimitri was just the same. Each time she saw him he looked worse than before. It was clear that the pair had formed a connection that they hadn't expected, but one that was certainly needed. They belonged together. Now, all Lissa needed to do was convince Rose to tell Dimitri she still loved him and get back together with him!
"So go and tell him that," she urged.
"But I have to sit for Adrian's painting."
Adrian sighed, not wanting to fight a loosing battle.
"No, you go," he urged, starting to pack his supplies away. "You've lost the moodiness now anyway. We'll finish it another time."
"Are you sure?" Rose asked with a grin, suddenly giddy at the prospect of seeing Dimitri again.
"Yes, you're far too happy. Go."
Rose hadn't needed telling twice. She all but sprinted out of Adrian's studio and all the way to Dimitri's apartment building, already feeling as though a weight had been lifted off her shoulders. She should have made this decision a while ago! Rose thought that, deep down, perhaps a little part of her always knew that things between the two of them weren't fully over, but the stubborn part of her had needed to make him stew for a while, to make him realise the severity of his actions. He hurt her, but she loved him even so. Of course, it would be a while before she could forgive him, but at least their being apart had opened Dimitri's eyes to his true feelings. Perhaps now they could be together – truly together.
Once she reached his front door, she took a breath in an effort to calm herself down. She couldn't let him know she was too keen, could she! Hoping he was home, she knocked, then stepped back in anticipation. Her heart thumped heavily in her chest as she waited for the door to open.
Only, when it opened to reveal someone other than Dimitri, it felt as though her heart had stopped beating altogether.
"Oh," Rose uttered, her brows pulled together in confusion. "Hello?"
A woman stood before her, tall and slim with dark black hair and piercing blue eyes. Eyes that stared intently into hers, their gaze causing a shiver to trickle down her spine.
"Can I help you?" The woman asked, looking Rose up and down, folding her arms across her chest in clear distaste.
Rose, taken aback by the unexpected woman in front of her, couldn't find her words.
"Uh..."
The woman huffed.
"Rose, yes?"
"Yes?"
"I know," the woman nodded. "I'm Tasha."
What. The. Fuck?
Rose could feel her heart in her throat. This was Tasha? The Tasha? What on earth was she doing here?
"Tasha?" Rose questioned, knowing she already knew the answer. "As in-"
"As in, Dimitri's Fiancée, yes," Tasha interrupted, her tone of voice showing her clear annoyance.
As if her words weren't enough, she lifted her left hand and all but thrust it into Rose's face.
There, on the fourth digit of her left hand, sat a ring. A diamond ring.
Rose felt sick.
"His... Fiancée?"
"The one and only."
Rose shook her head in disbelief.
"What the actual fuck are you doing here?" She questioned, standing straighter in an effort to hide her quickly shattering heart.
"I could ask you the same question."
"I came to see Dimitri," she explained.
"Hmm no, that's not going to happen."
Bitch.
"Okay, I've officially lost my mind," Rose laughed in disbelief, brushing the hair back from her face. "What the hell is going on?"
"Dimitri enjoyed his little fling with you while it lasted, I'm sure. But he needs a woman, not a whore. A woman like me, who can show him exactly what he wants – what he needs," Tasha practically spat, scrunching her nose in disgust as she continued to look Rose up and down. "He and I are finally back on track."
Was this actually happening? Rose couldn't quite believe what she was hearing, yet here Tasha stood, in the entryway to Dimitri's apartment, ring on her hand.
"You cheated on him," Rose stated, steadying her shaky, angry breaths. "You broke his heart."
"And still he chose me over you," Tasha shrugged, a sickly-sweet smile now plastered on her face. "Too bad you weren't good enough to make him to forget about me," she purred. "But you can bet I'll be good enough to make him forget he was ever with you, though."
This had to be some sick joke, surely. Dimitri would never have let Tasha back into his life, not after what she had done to him. Not if he had any ounce of self-respect.
"Is he here?"
"No."
"Where can I find him?"
"Oh, I don't know, in your dreams?"
Tasha laughed before continuing.
"I promise you this, Roza," she began, mocking Dimitri's pet name for her. "You're out of Dimka's life for good."
Rose narrowed her eyes, her anger boiling within her.
"What?"
"You heard me. You and Dimitri are finished."
Rose shook her head, choosing not to engage in Tasha's clear baiting. It was obvious to her that Tasha was looking for an argument, and she certainly wasn't going to find it in Rose. "Look, I have no idea what's going on, but I know for a fact that Dimitri would never take you back in a million years. The things you did to him... only the worst sort of person could do that."
"You best believe it, Sweetie," Tasha held up her hand as she spoke, flashing the ring again. "Dimitri and I are destined to be together."
Rose couldn't help but snort at her words, even with the rising nausea she was feeling at the sight of the ring.
"I know all about you, Roza- I've been watching you. So I know that whatever 'arrangement' you and Dimitri had, is over. You fell in love with him, did you? Pathetic. Dimitri can't ever love because his heart belongs to me. So," she took a step closer, so that she was towering over Rose's petite frame. "If I ever see you with him again, or if your name so much as falls from his lips, you're done," her eyes narrowed as she spoke, her menacing look echoing the threats in her words. "You'll regret ever squirming your slutty little way into his life."
First of all, I'm SO sorry for the long wait for this. Life is hectic. Thank you all for being so patient with me. I've not forgotten this story, my time for writing is just veryyy limited at the minute!
Thank you to those of you that have reviewed so far! Keep them coming! I love hearing your thoughts.
What do you think is going on with Tasha and Dimitri? What is Rose going to do next?