The Bodyguard

17

I groaned as I walked to the door, not even having the energy to shush Bear as I went. I looked through the peephole and groaned quietly again. Why did I stay up so late with the girls and drink as much as I did?

I unlocked and opened the door, resting my head against it.

"Why are you here so early?" I moaned.

"It's nine-thirty," Dimitri retorted, holding a large box and a tray with two coffee cups in it.

"It's still too early," I moaned as I left the door, flopping down onto the couch. Dimitri laughed and came in, closing the door behind him. He came over to the couch and held out the box to me.

"I know you aren't a flowers kind of woman, but happy graduation day, Roza," he said with a smile. I smiled tiredly at him and sat up, taking the box from him and opening it. I bit my lip as I looked in the box, moaning in excitement.

"You didn't skimp out either!" I squealed, looking over the gourmet donuts in the box. I patted the spot beside me for him, but Bear jumped up instead. I rolled my eyes and shifted on the couch, making room for Dimitri to sit down. Dimitri did and extended the coffee cup to me and I took it eagerly, taking a long drink before setting it on the coffee table.

I opened the box again and wiggled my fingers as I made my decision on which one I wanted.

"Don't take the purple one," I said as I took a large bite of mine, holding the box out to Dimitri. He rolled his eyes and took one that looked like chocolate and took a bite. We both ate our donuts in silence, aside from the grunts of appreciation.

"These are so good!" I mumbled. Dimitri snorted and nodded his head as he licked the chocolate off his thumb.

"Those were worth it," he said and smiled at me.

"They were. Thank you!" I said, kissing his cheek. Dimitri smiled at me and took a long drink of his coffee. Bear pawed at my leg, whining as he looked at me with his eyes. I looked at the box and picked up a donut that didn't have any chocolate on it and broke a piece off, feeding it to Bear.

"It's crazy. I'm finally graduating today," I sighed and rested my head on Dimitri's shoulder.

"You are. You made it. I'm proud of you," he said. I grinned up at him and rested my head against his shoulder again, closing my eyes. Dimitri shifted to get comfortable on the couch, his fingers running circles on my hand.

"Your mom's pretty," I said quietly.

"You met my mom?" he asked confused.

"Yeah, she approached me when I was at the coffee shop one day. A few days before your niece was in the hospital."

Dimitri nodded slowly. "Right. She was oddly chirpy when she came back that day, but my sister was tight-lipped about it. My babushka, on the other hand, smacked me in the head and called me tupitsa," he said as he sipped his coffee.

"Tupitsa?" I asked as I picked up my coffee.

"Dumb ass," he deadpanned. I snorted and giggled into my coffee.

"I love her already," I snickered as I stretched my legs out, resting my heels on the coffee table. Dimitri chuckled and got more comfortable on the couch, breaking a donut in half and extending the other half to me. I took it and grinned at him, eating it happily as the coffee started to offset the pounding in my head.

"What time are you coming?"

Dimitri hummed. "Pardon?"

"To the ceremony?" I asked with a raised brow, "I asked you last night."