Mine

Chapter Thirty Six

"Dirk and I are together." Rose's eyebrows furrow. Her purple eyes stare into my red ones trying to figure out what I mean.

"What do you mean by together?" She asks slowly making sure to fully pronounce her words so I won't mistake anything.

"I mean Dirk and I dated."

"For how long?"

"A few weeks before I left to direct." Rose sits back and her eyes go up to the ceiling as she thinks. Then she nods.

"That's about the time you started acting different. You stopped talking to us. But dating Dirk, he's your brother." Rose doesn't sound disgusted by it.

"Yeah Rose I know. That's why it was a secret." I sigh and lean back into the couch closing my eyes.

"You both wanted to right?"

"Yes Rose."

"And it's over now?"

"For now."

"Wait you still want to be with him?" I nod and turn my head toward Rose.

"I know it's not right, but Dirk is like perfect."

"Yeah I've heard that enough from Roxy. What is it with you Striders that everyone finds so attractive?"

"I don't know, I guess it's just a Strider thing." Rose rolls her eyes.

"See you're already acting a little bit more normal now."

"But it wasn't a secret. Somebody else knew." I'm thinking of Gamzee. I wonder how him and his brother are doing.

"Were you able to regularly talk to them about you and Dirk? Or did the subject only come up a few times? Have you talked to them in the time you've been in Hollywood?"

"No, kinda, and no."

"Then for the most part it was a secret. I don't know why, but keeping secrets stresses you out. It could be because you never had to keep any. You always had someone to talk to whether it was Dirk or I. Since Dirk is part of this it's not like you can go to him for advice, and because of the nature of this secret you didn't want to come to me. But now you know you can."

"I don't know why your so chill about this." Rose shrugs and crosses her legs. She pulls her skirt down some and pats it into place before speaking again.

"You're one of my best friends Dave. It's going to take a lot more than that to change it. Now when you need to talk about this talk to me. I-"

"You'll be busy and won't have time."

"If you let me finish I was going to say I'll make time for this."

"But you couldn't last time?"

"You just wanted someone to talk to because you couldn't sleep. I was too busy that night."

"Fine. I guess I forgive you then, I'm glad you made time for me to come out here."

"Of course Dave." I'm not even going to ask how she got in the room. She has her ways I guess. I feel better now, maybe Rose was right. I can talk to her at any time about Dirk. It's like a weight has been lifted off of me.

"How long are you staying?"

"Until you need me to go."

"Wait... you want me to talk about Dirk and I now?" I sit up to stare at her in disbelief, but she completely ignores my look.

"I've missed a lot, so I need some catching up."

"Well what do you want me to tell you?" I feel my cheeks starting to burn up. She's too calm and it feels awkward talking about Dirk to someone who is sane and actually wants to listen.