“The window,” Dennis said, like it was the most obvious answer in the world. “Are you not happy to see me?”
I put down my shirt and sighed. “I get it, you’re vampires, blah blah. I believe you. Can you go away now? I don’t get why you’re stalking me.”
“Because I own you.”
“For fuck’s sake. Ari!” I yelled, hoping she could get rid of them. A few seconds passed before she appeared in thedoorway.
“What is this?” she asked, frowning at the three guys. “Why’re you back again?”
“That’s what I said.” I placed both hands on my hips as Mateo sprawled across the bed.“Can you guys leave? We’re busy. And get off my bed.”
“Who’s this one?” Sean asked, staring at Ari.“She’s cute. How do you always find the prettiest ones?” He directed the question at Dennis, who shrugged.
“What can I say? They flock to me.”
“Excuse me?” I raised a defiant eyebrow before deciding it wasn’t worth my time. I didn’t feel like arguing. My main concern was choosing an outfit so Ari and I could get on with our night. “That’s my cousin, Aurelia,” I told Sean, only because he was still staring at her.
“That’s a pretty name,” Sean said.“I like your glasses.”
“Thanks? I go by Ari.” She pushed the large frames further up and glanced at me but I paid her no mind. The stalkers were here and there was apparently nothing we could do about it, so I was once again engulfed in my outfit search.
“What about this?” I held up a top that she made a face at, which meant it was perfect.
“Do you only own black?”Mateoasked, though he wasn’t looking at me or the closet. He was examining a bottle of pills from my nightstand.
“I have purple too. Can you toss me those? And the water.” I almost caught the water bottle but it fell to the floor instead, followed by the pill bottle that hit my foot.“Thanks.” I scooped everything up to put farther away. These were too important to let random strangers play with.
“What’re they for?” Sean asked.
“Happy pills. She’s mentally unstable.” Dennis pushed away from the wall and came to inspect my closet. He nudged me aside to take over.
“I’m not mentally unstable. Ihavebipolardisorder.” I bumped him away so I could resume my search.
“Close enough.” He nudged me aside again and I let out a frustrated growl. I was about to shove him as hard as I could when Ari grabbed my arm and dragged me away.
“We’ll be back.” She shoved me through the door and shut it before steering me down the hall to her room.“What are you doing?” she hissed the second we closed thatdoor, too.“Why are they in our house?”
“I didn’t do that. They just popped up. They’re like flies. They won’t go away.”
“This is ridiculous.” She thrust a hand toward the door.“How are we supposed to explain this to my dad? There are three maybe-vampires—”
“I’m pretty sure they are,” I interjected.
“Who keep breaking in and one thinks heownsyou. My dad’s gonna think we’re insane. He’ll send us to the loony bin.”
“Been there, done that. I don’t wanna do it again.”
“Yeah, no shit.”
“I guess it does sound crazy out loud,” I said, although I wasn’t so sure anymore. Yesterday I’d been positive it was insane—thatDenniswas insane—but now… I glanced at the door as a thought occurred.“Do you think they can hear us?”
“We can.”
We both jumped asDennis’laughter echoed down the hall.
“Do they have steak? I feel like eating.” Mateo’s voice floated through as he followed.
“I wonder if they play shooters.” Sean was the last to pass.
