Stella was shipped off to a boarding school for troubled kids after her foster parents died. For the next seven years, that is where she's been, but she's back, and things are not the same as they were before.
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We were home, and the moment we got inside, Dimitri told me to sit at the barstole near the kitchen. And against my better judgment, I did. He then handed me camamel tea. then sits next to me a seat apart. As I begin to drink my tea, I glance over at him, seeing that he's on his phone. As I look down at the tea, a translucent gold, I call his name.
"Dimitri?" He looks over at me.
"Yeah," he said, putting his phone face down on the counter and giving me his full attention.
"How do you know how to do that?" I said, referring to how he always knows how to calm me down during my episodes. He looks at me for a moment and contemplates whether to tell me or not.
"During high school... I had them a lot."
"What?" I was stunned. I would have never thought that Dimitri had panic attacks. "But you were always on top of everything."
"Yeah, debate, football, soccer. It all became too much for me to juggle.
"Then why didn't you just quit?" Dimitri let out a sigh.
"I wanted mom and dad to see me as capable." I didn't know what to say; honestly, before today, I was completely convinced that the man didn't even have feelings during that time that Scott and I came to live with the Presleys, but come to find out I was not only wrong, but he was also struggling, and nobody knew.
I tried to keep the look of surprise off my face, but it was useless because he saw it anyway. He let out a chuckle, a sad one.
"Did they.... did they ever stop?" I asked, looking down at my tea, not just for my sake but for his too. There was a long pause, so I looked up at him, seeing him looking at me with an unreadable expression on his face.
After a few seconds, he answered, "Yeah, they did... around the time I graduated, he said, looking away. I paused; I could be mistaken, but around that time was the car accident, a.k.a around that time his parents died. I instantly felt guilty, as if that would absolve me of the part I had to play in there deaths.
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We sat on the floor; the soft, fluffy rug cushioned us as we sat, and our backs against the couches.
"You're lying." I said, trying not to break into laughter. Dimitri let out of sigh
"it's true." Dimitri and I, or should I say Dimitrius, were sitting on the cushions talking when he let it slip that his full name is Dimitrius.
"How did I not know this?" I said, a grin spreading on my face
"Because I forbade anyone from calling me that," he said, giving my smiling face an annoyed look. I let out some giggles; it was inevitable. I won't lie, it's not a bad name, but it's not amazing, which makes me want to laugh at it more.
"So, Dimitrius," I said, stretching out the name, "You've been hanging around here a lot lately, but aren't you like a workaholic or something? Or are you just that desperate for my attention?" Dimitrius rolled his eyes.
