Heavy Lies The Crown (on hiatus)

CHAPTER 19 - How was that for a Zen lesson?

Heyyyyy guys! I know I was supposed to post yesterday, but I got in a little writing rut with one scene and I just couldn't figure it out in time, so hence the delay in update :)

---------------------------------------------------------------

Rose's POV

I wake up, surprisingly, at an early hour. It's still dark outside and Ivan is still sleeping, which means it's before 5 o'clock, as his alarm was set for that hour, and this means I have plenty of time to sleep until I have to face once more the reality of outside this room.

I turn to the other side, preferring this position better, and I know I shouldn't, but I get halfway up, to look at Dimitri. He is sleeping on his back, with his head tilted to the side, with one hand hooked above his head, and he looks... peaceful. Maybe the word I'm looking for is relaxed. Around me, he doesn't get the chance to be like that too often, but tonight I saw him let go of that self-imposed harshness of his. He even laughed a lot of times and even if I was just imagining it, the way he was looking at me, even if for a split second, made my chest ache in ways I never thought it could.

Even if I allowed myself this indulgence, I fist the sheet under me when the thought of reaching out and passing my fingers through his hair crosses my mind. God knows he'd wake up, and I have no explanation for that reckless gesture.

"If you're thinking of putting a pillow over his face, I don't recommend it," I hear Ivan's voice from behind me.

Startled that I've been caught, I want to turn around and try to excuse myself, but I don't get the chance. Instead, I feel my hand slipping off the edge of the bed, and from that to me landing on Dimitri, it's a matter of seconds.

The next thing I know is that Dimitri rips me off him and I'm flat on my back on the ground, with him on top of me.

"Easy there, Dimitri. It's just Rose," Ivan tries to stop his friend before he does something that might hurt.

"Rose?" he releases my wrists and helps me up to my butt. "What were you doing?"

"I um..."

"Are you hurt?" he tries to inspect my body in the little light in the room, probably concerned at the force with which he pushed me to the ground, but there's no way in hell I'll admit my shoulder blades hurt. My ego won't suffer from that too.

"No."

Ivan is the only one amused by this situation, as he explains to Dimitri how come I fell over him.

"You should be grateful I caught her in the act, otherwise you would have been in for a nightly suffocation session."

But the way Dimitri looks at me tells me he doesn't think this was my reason, and it's only thanks to Ivan that he doesn't make me elaborate on it.

Too embarrassed to add anything to Ivan's story, I crawl back in bed and pray I fall asleep fast, because unlike an endless hole appearing under my bed and swallowing me whole, it sounds like an achievable thing.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Besides that moment this morning which I won't forget soon, the first day of the year is slow and by my standards, rather uneventful. I sleep in late, for Dimitri's bed, despite the hard mattress, offers a different kind of comfort that makes me not want to leave it. Of course, I eventually need to accomplish my visit to Yana and eat, and after that, I move my stuff into Anton's room, since it was emptied when he and Ivan left and I know that I cannot bother Dimitri any longer. I know I cannot risk sharing a room only with him for that long.