So I did. I spent the whole day with Adrian, working out my self-hatred through a variety of alcohol and had to open a window so the smell of drug enhanced smoke didn't stink up the house.

But even under the influence I couldn't shake the memory of Dimitri. His visit had only succeeded in opening up five year old wounds, making them bleed pity and hatred. A part of me wanted to him to hurt as bad as I had been forced to hurt- wanted him to feel the hate and loss I've been feeling the last five years. The kind of pain that made a person want to die.

The next morning Adrian was gone. I looked around my bedroom, thinking he's show up, but he didn't. Probably out with some Moroi whore, I figured.

I looked over at my alarm clock. It was already one in the afternoon. Then I checked my cell phone. A missed call from Aaron, my Moroi. The one I protected. The handsy one. There was also three missed calls from Lissa and a text message from Adrian; "I went home," it read. Well no shit, Sherlock. Like I didn't have eyes.

First thing I called Lissa back. I cared a hell of a lot more about what she had to say than what Aaron did. Lissa answered on the first ring. "Hey Sleepy Head, did you just wake up?" Her cheery voice rang around in my head, making my already aching head hurt a lot more. Blue danced in my vision. I tried to keep the wince out of my voice when I spoke.

"Yeah. It was a late night." On the end of the phone Lissa was silent, probably debating over whether or not she wanted to delve into that topic.

Apparently she decided not to. "I'm having a little get together tonight. You're going to come right?" She said instead. There was a hint of nervousness in her voice.

"Well duh," I replied. "Why wouldn't I?" I always came over when she had parties. Only working part-time left me pretty bored a majority of the time. I could put on a front for a couple of hours and act decent.

"Well," She started. I could almost hear her biting her lip. She was silent for a few seconds. "Dimitri's coming. I'm sorry." She was talking almost to fast for me to follow. But I did. Dimitri would be there. I had to go. I couldn't look weak. He wasn't allowed to know how much he affected me. I would go, and I would go with Adrian.

"It's fine, Lissa. I'll be there." I tried to play it of nonchalantly "Did you invite Adrian?" I asked.

"Not yet," she replied, question in her voice. "Well, I'll tell him if you're too busy. I've got to go, though. I'll call you later. Love ya, Liss."

"Love you too, Rose. Everyone should be there by six. Dress nice- it's important."

"Will do," I said. With that I hung up the phone. Next up was to call Aaron. But I didn't really want to- so I didn't. It was my day off, so he could fend for himself. Instead, I dialed Adrian's number. After a few rings he answered. "Hello?" In the background I could hear a girl giggle.

"I hope not interrupting you or anything, but I needed a favor from you." The giggling grew louder and I could tell it was coming from more than one person. Sicko, I thought. "Shut up!," he yelled away from the phone. The girls complied.

"I can only assume this favor has something to do with your visitor yesterday," He said, an amused glint in his voice.

"Possible,' I said smiling. "Lissa's having a little get-together tonight and He's going to be there. I was wondering if maybe you could be my stand-in boyfriend." I was unsure if he would go for it or not, but finally he laughed.

"Ahhh, Little Dhampir, playing the jealousy card, are we? What's in it for me?"

"A date with me." I mean, sure, it was a staged date- but he'd been asking for it for years. Adrian laughed again. In the background I heard his front door slam shut. "Sounds good enough, I suppose." He replied. "What time should I pick you up."

"Well, it starts at six so get here by five-forty. And dress nice." Adrian agreed and we hung up. I hoped Dimitri was happy. No- actually, I hoped he was very, very unhappy.

There a knock at my front door before it opened. "I'm here," Adrian called from below. I took one final glace in the mirror, admiring the reflection.

Over the years I hadn't lost my figure. The alcohol and other stuff hadn't done any damage. I was still tall and curvy with a lot of cleavage, and on that was a black, cocktail dress that fell just above my knees. It was plain, no decorations. A scoop neck showed just enough cleavage to get the imagination going. The dress was fitted. Not skin tight, but it clung to my skin in places.

I left my hair down and applied my makeup. Smokey eyes and red lips. I looked good. Really good. This was confirmed when I walked downstairs. Adrian was sitting on the couch. When he heard me coming down the stairs he turned his head to look. "Damn," he said, eyes widening. "You look amazing." I smiled.

"You don't look too bad yourself," I told him smiling. He was rocking his usual 'just rolled out of bed' hairstyle and a nice, green silk shirt that brought out his eyes. He looked pretty good. What looked even better, though, was the little bit of a plastic bag I spotted sticking out of the pocket of his black dress pants.

"What do you got there?," I asked, nodding my head at his pocket. Adrian grinned and reached in, pulling out the baggie filled with white. "A treat for when we get home," he said, walking up to me and wrapping his hands around my waist. I wasn't going to resist and risk losing my shot at sweet release.

"Put it in that cabinet under the TV," I whispered in his ear. "Just in case." Adrian did as I said then we got into his fancy, black car and drove to Lissa and Christian's.

There were a few cars in the drive way when we pulled up at 6:07. Lights spewed from the windows, and I could see multiple forms moving around inside the large, white house. Adrian and I exited the car, hand-in-hand and walked up to the front porch.

Before we could even knock, a cute little platinum blond haired haired girl with glacier blue eyes opened the door. "Aunt Rosie!," Mary cried, throwing her arms around me. I smiled down at Lissa and Christian's daughter. She was cuter than I ever imagined anything that came from Pyro could be. I have no idea why Lissa trusted me enough to be the god-mother.

Once she released me, Mary smiled up at Adrian and hugged him too. Even at five, she had a crush on the great Lady Killer, himself.

We all went inside. Instantly, from the corner of my eyes I spotted Dimitri. Adrian must have too, because I felt his arm tense up around me. Dimitri looked over, catching my eyes. I turned away and looked at Adrian instead. He smiled down at me, then leaned down and kissed me. "Good job," I whispered.

"I know, I'm a great kisser." He smiled back at me and I rolled my eyes. "I wonder if Lissa has anything to drink here," he said. I knew what he meant and I couldn't help but wonder the same thing. "I'm going to go look," he said and walked off, leaving me alone. Such a great fake boyfriend.

Luckily, Lissa walked up before anyone else could. "You and Adrian are dating?," she asked, a worried look in her eyes. It was like she did trust me to behave while dating him. While it's not like a actually behave when I'm not dating him, I didn't blame her. Adrian was a bad influence. It was a good thing she didn't know the truth about our relationship.

"Um... yeah. Sort of." Lissa raised an eyebrow when I said this, but didn't ask me to explain. Instead she gave me the once-over. "You look really great tonight. You and Adrian actually do make a pretty cute couple."

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes and deny any relationship with him like I would have done a few years ago. "Yeah," I said awkwardly. The smile I gave wouldn't have convinced a blind person. "So," I said trying to change the subject, "what was the reason for this party tonight?," I asked.

Lissa smiled. "I really want to tell you Rose, but I promised Christian I wouldn't." I put my hand over my heart and pretended to be hurt. "That hurts, Lissa. It hurts bad."

She laughed at me. Then Mary came up and threw her arms around her. "Mommy," she said. "I'm hungry." Lissa turned her attention to the little girl. "It'll be ready in half an hour," she told her. Mary crossed her arms.

"But my belly's getting sad!" she cried. "It's yelling at me." I laughed and turned away, walking to find Adrian. Hopefully he had found something to get me through the night.

Unfortunately, as I turned the corner that would take me to the kitchen, I ran straight into a large mass. The mass was roughly six foot seven and had chin length brown hair and chocolate eyes that peered straight into my own and he grabbed my arm to help me keep my balance.

Oh Dimitri. Fuck you.