shuhaige
40
“It’s Friday, Friday! Gotta get down on Friday!” Kai sang, appearing out of nowhere as Vincent and I headed for the school’s back exit.
“Kai,” I said in surprise, coming to a dead halt.
His eyes flickered to Vincent, who also came to a stop. “I see your guard dog is with you again.”
Vincent scowled. “Ha ha.”
“You know, that’s probably why you don’t have any friends,” Kai responded thoughtfully, tapping his chin with a slim, tanned finger. “Maybe if you were actually
nice .”
“He is nice,” I protested.
“To you,” Kai corrected me. “You saw the other day when he totally cut me in line when you decided to go to a la carte.”
I bit my lip to keep myself from smiling. That was two days ago, when I tried to escape Vincent for at least a few seconds. He literally never left me alone. At first it was kind of heartwarming, but now it was getting kind of annoying. My friends (aside from Alli) were afraid to come near me whenever he was around. Every time they tried, he would glare at them. I never realized how anti-social he was. On top of that, he didn’t even try to be nice. Especially when it came to Kai.
“Go away, pup,” Vincent snapped, narrowing his eyes.
Kai laughed. “Clever one, Vivi.”
I sent Kai a warning look. It seemed like only those who annoyed Vincent the most called him Vivi.
“Where did you hear that?” Vincent demanded, taking a menacing step forward. “Was it from Joel?”
“Joel?” Kai repeated. “He calls you Vivi too? Huh. I always knew I liked that guy…”
“As does every other person in this school,” I muttered disdainfully. Joel and Fiona went from new kids, to god and goddess. The students here practically threw themselves at their feet. It didn’t help Joel flirted with everything that had a pair of legs. Including the teachers. Of both genders.
Kai cracked a grin. “Jealous? You want his attention? He seems to pay extra attention to you.”
I waved him off. “No he doesn’t.”
“Yes he does. So does Fiona. Were you guys best friends before she came here or something?”
Well, if you count living with her for about two weeks because I was kidnapped, then yes . I smiled at my thoughts. There was no way I could say that out loud. “Kind of,” I finally admitted. We were friends…
Kai frowned. “You three are awfully close. Even Vincent talks to them.”
“We, er… Well Fiona and Vincent are brother and sister,” I informed him, talking to slowly.
“Seriously?”
“Didn’t you know that?”
He shook his head. “No! Now that you mention it though, they do look a lot alike. Except Fiona’s actually good looking-”
“Do you want something or not?” Vincent said in an irritated tone. I bet that last comment was a hit to his ego.
“Not from you,” Kai retorted with a turn of his nose. “Emily, what are you doing tonight?”
I thought about it for a second. What was I doing tonight? “Nothing.” As the words came out of my mouth, I immediately felt like a loser. Kai was one of those people who always had something to do on weekend nights. Usually I was too, but under the circumstances…
.
.
“Perfect! Want to go see Fast Five?”
“She’s already seen it,” Vincent responded for me.
I frowned at him for a moment before turning back to Kai. “Yeah, sorry.”
“That’s fine!” he chirped. “We can see something else.”
“She’s not going out tonight.”
Kai raised an eyebrow while I whipped my head toward Vincent. “What?”
He gave me a flat look. “You need to stay home.”
“No I don’t?”
“Yes you do.”
I placed my hands on my hips. Now this whole protection thing was taking it too far. It’d been almost week and nothing had happened! What was wrong with going out to a movie with him? “I want to go out, Vincent.”
“No.”
“Why can’t she go out with her friends, guard dog?” Kai demanded.
“Because I said so,” he said in a low, dangerous voice.
Suddenly a playful smile crossed Kai’s face. “Ooh, I know. You don’t want her to go out with me because you’re jealous!”
“I’m not jealous,” Vincent denied, rolling his eyes.
“Yes you are.”
“Do you want to die?”
“Vincent,” I warned, giving him a shut-up look.
He crossed his arms. “Let’s go home.”
“Let’s?” Kai repeated. Realization crossed his face. “Wait, you two live together?”
“Where have you been, Kai?” I asked, feeling my lips turn up into a smile. He really was slow. “The whole school knows now.”
“Really? That’s why you two are so close! I thought he just had some creepy crush on you.”
I stifled a giggle with my hand. It was rare to see someone insult Vincent so casually. Kai really had no sense of fear. “Yeah, he got into trouble in California so he’s leaving with my family now.”
“How’s Jake taking it?”
“Er…”
Kai laughed. “Not so well then?”
“Vincent and Jake get along about as well as you and Vincent.”
Vincent gave me a hard look. Impatience was written all over his face. “Are you done chatting now?”
Once again I found myself frowning at him. “No, I’m not. If you’re in such a rush, go home by yourself.”
“I can’t,” he said in a duh voice.
“And why not?” Kai questioned, crossing his arms. “I can take Emily home. I’m taking Alli home anyway. They live close.”
Vincent shook his head. “It’s none of your business.”
I chewed up my lip. Vincent’s responsibility
was really starting to irritate me now. It wasn’t that I didn’t understand why he had to do it. Even I knew Solomon would have his ass if he didn’t keep an eye on me. But if I wasn’t even allowed out, it wasn’t going to work. There’d been no vampire attacks so far. What was one night?
“Look, if you really have to, you can come out with us,” Kai said reluctantly. “That way you aren’t separated from your precious crush.”
Vincent gave him an unamused look. “I’m not interested.”
.
.
“Well I am,” I piped up, ignoring Vincent’s cool gaze. “Maybe not a movie, but something like…”
“Bowling?” Kai suggested with a grin.
“Did I hear the word bowling?”
Kai turned and I looked over his shoulder to see Alli heading toward us, a grin on her face. “Yes you did,” Kai told her.
“Are we going bowling tonight? Hey Vincent,” she added, seeing him sulking in the background.
“I want to,” I told her, looking to Kai. “Do you?”
“Definitely! We’ll get Alli and Jake to go too. Oh! And Fiona and Joel if they want to too!”
I laughed at his excitement. “I’ll ask them.” If they went, even if Vincent didn’t want to go, I could go. Joel and Fiona could handle watching me.
Alli nodded. “Okay. So do you all want to meet up at like 10?”
“Sounds good,” Kai and I agreed. Late night bowling was always the best.
“Then I seriously need to get home so I can shower before my work shift,” she continued, giving Kai a pointed look. “Ready?”
He gave her an affirmative answer. “I’ll see you later, Em,” he said, giving me a quick wave. “And you too, Vincent, if you stop being a hermit for five seconds.”
Vincent didn’t reply. His eyes were fixed to the exit.
“Bye, Emily!” Alli called as her and Kai headed through them.
I waved once before the door shut, leaving us in silence. “Ready to go-”
“Are you really going bowling tonight?” Vincent inquired.
“Yes,” I said defiantly. “I am. Why?”
He scowled. “Because of Kai?”
“Maybe Kai is right. Maybe you do have a creepy crush,” I commented in a teasing tone.
“It’s not creepy,” he snapped.
“Of course it’s…” I trailed off, my throat catching. Why didn’t he deny the crush part? What was that supposed to mean?
“Let’s go,” he commanded, moving toward the doors. “I’m driving.”
“Wait! What do you mean by it’s not creepy?” I had to jog to keep up with the brisk pace he’d taken on.
“What do you think, stupid?”
I glowered at his back. “Stop calling me that! How come you didn’t deny the crush part?”
He paused, causing me to run into him. After steadying me, he smirked. “I told you I was interested in you.”
“But that’s different than a crush!”
“No it’s not.”
“Yes it is!”
He rolled his eyes. “Why are you getting all strung up about this?”
“I-I’m not!” I denied, feeling embarrassment flooding my body. How could I not? It wasn’t every day life worked out in your favor and had your crush have a crush on you back. If we liked each other didn’t that mean we could… I shook my head. No, we couldn’t date. He was a vampire; I was a human. A human with Blue Blood, or whatever. If anything happened between us it’d probably put us both in danger.
My feelings of elation dissipated. It would have been better for me to not know Vincent’s feelings… but it was only a crush. I’ve had a crush on a countless amount of guys that I would have probably never dated. It didn’t always mean something. I was just a source of entertainment… This wouldn’t make things awkward between us. Besides, he wasn’t acting like it was a big deal. I shouldn’t either.
.
.
“Are you coming or what?”
I snapped myself from my thoughts to see Vincent standing a good ten yards away, already at my car. “I’m coming!”
“I’m going bowling tonight,” he told me as soon as I was sitting in the passenger seat. “I don’t trust Joel and Fiona.”
“You don’t have to go. I’m sure nothing is going to happen.”
“You’re naïve.”
I set my jaw. “No, I’m not. But I don’t want you coming along if you’re going to be a stick in the mud.”
“I liked you better when you were afraid of me.”
“I like you better when you’re not a jerk to my friends… Oh wait, that’s never.”
He snorted. “Why should I be nice to them?”
“Give me a reason why you shouldn’t!”
“I’m not their friend.”
Unable to think of a clever response, I shut my lips and crossed my arms. “Whatever, Vincent. If you’re coming along tonight, you’re going to act at least a little bit civil.”
“Maybe.”
“That means no bashing on Kai.”
“I’m not making any promises.”
“He didn’t even do anything to you!”
“I just don’t like him.”
I rolled my eyes. “You just don’t like the fact I have guys friends.”
Vincent shot me a look of disbelief. “They’re humans. They can’t compare to me.”
“You’re jealous of a human?”
“I’m not jealous.”
I looked out the window so he couldn’t see my smirk. “I can see why you would be. I mean, you do have a crush on me…” The words felt foreign in my mouth. I’d only had five boyfriends in my life, and I’d never been able to say they had a crush on me because I never got the upper hand like that.
“I don’t see how that goes with jealousy.”
“Because…”
“It’s a crush. Not love. You’re a human.”
Surprisingly, his words hurt, even though I was saying the same thing in my mind. It couldn’t work between us and I knew that. But couldn’t Vincent at least have a little bit of hope? I winced. Wasn’t I being a hypocrite? For some reason I couldn’t see Vincent and I as a couple… I couldn’t see myself with a vampire… Could I? If Vincent was here in the human world, it would be like he was a human, not a vampire. But then there was the problem of his slow aging and my normal one. Someone would think it was weird if our crushes became something else and it looked like I was a forty year old dating a twenty year old.
I banished the thought from my head. I didn’t even want to think about it. When this whole Blue Blood thing was over, I’d probably never see the Rutherfords again. That thought almost made me laugh. Who was I kidding? Nothing could stop me from seeing them again.
“Maybe if you were a vampire I would-”
“Erg, don’t even say that,” I interjected, shuddering. “No offense, Vincent, but I just couldn’t see myself as one of you. I’m human. I’ve been human my whole life. I want to be human my whole life.”
He chuckled. “I said maybe. Not, ‘Emily, you should become a vampire so I can love you!'”
I laughed sarcastically. “Real funny, Vince.”
.
.
“I’m not capable of love,” he said in a serious tone.
I sobered up, my eyes widening. “Wait, what?”
After a moment of silence passed, a smirk appeared on Vincent’s face. Then he laughed. “You should have seen the expression on your face! Totally blank!”
“You’re a jerk,” I muttered, crossing my arms. “Haven’t you loved someone before?”
“No, have you?”
“No,” I admitted. “Close to it, but not it, you know?”Original content from NôvelDrama.Org.
Vincent shrugged. “Not really. My longest relationship was four months.”
“Mine was a year,” I told him. “Freshman year… Yeah, not something I like to remember. It was more like a middle school relationship. And we all know how those work.”
“Except me, since I never went to a human middle school…”
“Right,” I replied, letting my headrest against the window. “I think I’m going to take a nap before we go bowling.” My mind was already starting to hurt. When Kai had mentioned it, it didn’t seem like a bad idea, but now that I was thinking about it, having him, Vincent, Joel, Jake, Alli, Leah, and Fiona all in the same place would be hectic. There would probably be a brawl going down.
I held in a groan. At least I could hope it turned out well…