Building the Tension | ✔ | 18+

Chapter 11 - I Want You to Want Me

As Lissa and I entered the cafeteria, I saw Adrian standing by the door. I was still all sweaty from my running and wearing my workout clothes, but I ran out of time to shower and change. When he saw us, he walked over and circled an arm around my waist. It seemed odd, since I hadn't even given him an answer yet about dating, but a voice inside me kept telling me that I was starting to have feelings for him and that I should give him a shot. Queen Tatiana's worries about us, however, were a different matter.

"You look so sexy when you're all sweaty like that, little dhampir," he said, "It's a good look for you."

"Adrian," I whispered under my breath, "thanks, but do you think it's a good idea to be so publicly affectionate with me with the queen wanting me to stay away from you?"

"Little dhampir, you worry too much," he said. Though I didn't smell the cloves hanging around him anymore, I could tell that he'd been back to his usual heavy drinking. "If I tell Aunt Tatiana that I want to be with you, then I will be with you. Have you given any more thought to my offer about going out with me?"

I'd barely had time to think about anything except training that day, but that voice in my head kept telling me Give Adrian a shot. He's not such a bad guy. You're starting to have feelings for him. I told him, "I haven't had time yet, but I think I maybe could go out with you. If we do, I'd like to take it slow, though. And, if it's okay with you, can we keep it a secret, for now? Just until we're sure this isn't going to cause problems with Tatiana?"

"Do you really want a hidden, secret relationship, little dhampir?" asked Adrian.

I nodded. "For now, at least," I said.

Adrian tapped my nose with my finger and winked, pulling his arm away from me. "If that is what you want, then clandestine we will be. Maybe the forbidden fruit will make it all the sweeter," The comment was not entirely lucid, but not the craziest thing I'd ever heard. I wondered if I should be worried about spirit craziness getting to him. "Meet me out by the picnic table we were at earlier after your weight-lifting tonight?"

"Okay," I said, "but not for too long."

-=o0&0o=-

By the time I got to my evening weight-lifting, I was really starting to feel tired. Many of the other novices and guardians were still transitioning back to a night schedule and were already sleeping, so the gym was still very vacant, except for the two of us. A couple of stragglers had drifted in to the weight room earlier on, but they were long-since gone. "I don't suppose you'll let me off easy this evening, since my sleep schedule's all fucked up from the time change, huh, Comrade?" I asked Dimitri after the first half hour, not thinking twice about our usual banter until after the words were out of me.

"Not likely," he replied, "seeing as that I already let you off easy this morning. You need all of the training you can get if you want to be the best in your class. I want to see you get three sets of twelve reps of deadlifts at a hundred fifty pounds - now. Show me how well you can do this, and I will consider letting you get done a little early."

I went over to the rack, loaded up the bar, and began to lift the weight. My body was tired, my brain felt fried, and I was really struggling. All I wanted to do was curl up in bed. I was really starting to regret the fact that I had agreed I would be meeting up with Adrian later, too, but I was too busy with what I was doing to think about that.

"You're slipping, Rose. You can do better than this," he told me, as I finished counting out my twelfth repetition of my third set, "You're barely keeping your spine straight. Keep this up and you'll be dealing with a back injury."