A Moment in the Cabin

Frustration

Rose keeps moving her gaze between me and the door, and she nibbles at her lip nervously. "Do you think it's about us?" she asks, running her fingers through her hair. I frown and move closer to her, brushing my fingers across her cheek.

"I don't know Roza, but we can't linger any longer. Alberta is waiting for us," I say softly, and she frowns. She bends over to pick up the mat, and I lift the other side, helping her move it back to the equipment room. I don't need her to speak to know what is going on in that pretty head, and I move in front of her when she turns to walk back to the gym. Rose stops and looks up at me and reaches for me at the same time that I wrap my arms around her waist, pressing a kiss to her lips.

I kiss her longer than I should – considering we are in the gym still – but I need to give her a little reassurance as well as comfort myself. "It's going to be ok," I say softly, and Rose gives me a weak smile.

I let her go so she can change, and I do the same, meeting her outside the gym, drinking in the last few rays of sunlight. "You look like a girl in a Tampex commercial," Rose laughs, and I look over at her with a raised brow. She controls her laughter long enough to stand with her feet apart, head tilted up to the sun with a whimsical smile on her face. I roll my eyes at her but laugh with her as we walk towards Alberta's office. I brush my hand against Rose's as I raise mine to knock on the office door.

Alberta calls to us from inside the office and I open the door and gesture for Rose to go in before me. Alberta looks at the two of us and points to the chairs in front of her desk. I sit down and link my hands together in my lap and watch Rose try not to fidget in her chair.

Alberta sighs deeply and scrubs her hands over her face. "Someone filed a complaint with Kirova about the two of you. They were anonymous, but they mentioned concerns that there more going on between the two of you. They provided a photo of the two of you hugging, but I think you could explain it off as something else. You need to figure out how to explain what happened at the cave, and you need to do it fast. You only have an hour," Alberta explains with an exasperated sigh.

Rose snaps her head towards me and then back to Alberta. "When did this happen?" she asks, twisting her fingers in her lap. Alberta pursed her lips and pulled a file out from her desk and sat it on the table, sliding towards us. I pick it up and open it, looking at the few photos that lay inside. The images alone seem innocent enough. They simply showed the two of us embracing in the woods by the gates. "That is from the night of the attack," Rose says as she points to the one in my hand, and I nod in agreeance. The other two were in the church after Rose confessed that the ghosts terrified her, and one is after returning from Spokane.

"So, they have photos of us hugging and all three instances you can clearly see that I am upset," Rose exclaims, dropping the photo back into the folder. Alberta frowns and takes it back from us. "I'm just telling you what I know. Now I can keep what I know to myself, but you will have to figure something out," she says.

"We can say that exactly, you were looking for comfort. You had been abducted, trying to work out why you were seeing ghosts and fought in a battle. Any normal person would look for some form of comfort in those times," I say gently, reaching my hand over and resting it on Rose's. Rose moves her gaze to me and smiles meekly. Alberta sighs and pulls our attention back to her.

"Sorry," Rose says, pulling her hand away from mine. Alberta lets a small chuckle slip through her lips, and she stands up, opening the door. "Don't be. But you two need to be careful. You'll be called upon in an hour."

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Three weeks after the meeting with Kirova, and I am over all of this. Rose and I convinced Kirova that everything that has been going on between us was platonic, but Kirova insisted that a Guardian supervise our practices. Thankfully, Alberta volunteered to do it, but my shifts have been upped so that I cannot see Rose after my shifts. I get to see her briefly during her classes and around the corridors of the campus, but I never get one on one time with her.