“I know, right? I’m so fast.” I giggled and plopped on the couch beside Ari, who greeted me with a hug.
“You’re finally back. I miss you.”
“I miss you, too! Being a vampire really cuts down on our hangout time. It’s so sad.”
“It’s awful.” Shescooted closerand we intertwined arms.
“You guys are weird.”Denniswas already on the other couch reading a new book.
“Kinda like your face? Mmph—!”I jerked back as Aricovered my mouth.
“Don’t insult him. Hemight kill us,”she hissed.
I knocked her hand away.“Stop being scared of him. He’s not gonna kill you.”I spoke at normal volume, disregarding her hushed tone. “If he tries to kill you, I’ll kill him.”
“I would never kill her,”Dennis agreed halfheartedly.“That’s against every moral I have.”
“You have morals?”
“No.”He looked up long enough to smile at her, cold and unfriendly, before going back to his book.
Something was behind Ari’s head.
“It’s so pretty.”I reached toward the small ball of light that was floating like a little magical snow globe.“What do you think it is?”
“What’re you talking about?”she asked.
“The ball of light by your head.”I pointed at it.“It’s right behind you.”
“There’s nothing there,”Sean said. He glanced at Ari, who was staring at me like I was losing my mind. I most definitely am not. She’s the one who can’t see the thing right next to her head.
“No one sees it?”I frowned when Mateo shook his head.“I promise it’s right there.”I leaned forward to poke it, but it vanished when I reached out.“Oh. Nope, never mind. It disappeared. Anyway, as I was saying. I’m bored.”
“You weren’t saying that,”Dennis said.“Are you sure you’re okay?”
“I am spiffy like a daffodil.”I grinned and started toying with my shirt. That’s a new saying. I should use that one more often. “Did I tell you I kinda drank on my own just now? Dennis was in the bar but I went out back alone with the guy. The guy! Holy fuck, lemme tell you,” I spun to face Ari, “this guy was such a dick. He bought me a drink which is like, yay cool, y’know? I love free alcohol so yes please. But then as I was drinking he grabbed my thigh. Wait, no, he grabbed it before. Yup! His name was Charles he came up and introduced himself and then grabbed my thigh and I pushed his hand off so he bought me a drink, got my thigh again so I told him to stop it and this dumb bitch tried to pretend nothing happened—”
“Emy, slow down.” Ari touched my leg to stop it from shaking.
“Sorry.” I laughed. “So. I told him off because he thought buying me a drink also bought the right to grope me so I told ‘em off and followed him out back when he left to smoke and then I drank from him! All by myself. Lil’ ol’ me, by my lonesome, just a vampire drinking her drink.” I’m doing an accent now for my own entertainment. What kind of accent, I don’t know. But it’s a fun one.
“Have you been this hyper all day?”
“No?”
“Off and on since yesterday,” Dennis said at the same time. “Not this bad, though.”
“I think you’re starting an episode.”Ari bit her lip, eyeing my bouncing leg. She placed a hand on it and I willed myself to stop, then started fidgeting with my hands instead.
“No.I’m not.”I hate when people think that. Everyone always assumes I’m having a happy episode when I get hyper and happy. And maybe I am but I might not be. Who knows. Actually Ari would but she’s being paranoid. So who knows.
“Are you sure?”She raised her eyebrows. I nodded. “You’ve had a lot of changes lately. A lot of things that could trigger you. You moved last month, met new people, turned into a vampire, got a new tattoo, we’ve been staying in a different place even after your move…” She was listing things and I was tuning out.
“Fucking shit I just realized something!I’m a vampire, guys! How awesome is that?”
There was a short silence before Mateo asked, “Did you barely notice?”
“It didn’t sink in until right now, but I’m a vampire. Like a legit one with fangs and everything! That means they’re actually real. Or I guess I should saywe’reactually real.”I poked one of my spectacular fangs.
