“When did he do that?” She squinted and rubbed her forearm. The writing didn’t budge.
“I think he likes you.”
“He doesn’t know anything about me.” She put her glasses on and frowned at the messy numbers. “His handwriting is awful.”
“He likes your glasses, that’s for sure.” I froze as my phone vibrated from somewhere in the room. It was coming from last night’s discarded outfit. I grabbed my shorts and fetched it from the pocket.
“Who is that? You don’t have any friends.” Ari peered over my shoulder at the text from an unknown number.
“Bar tonight,” I read aloud.“Who is this?”
“Ask them.”
I typed exactly that and hit send. A response came back almost immediately.“Dennis,” I relayed the message.“How’d he get my number?”
“Dunno.” Ari ruffled her hair and grimaced at the mirror.“How drunk was I last night?”
“Pretty drunk. Do you wanna go to the bar later? I guess Dennis is inviting us. I know he’s really weird, but I’m kinda starting to not mind him so much. We may as well, right?” I asked, wondering if she felt the same or if I was being absurd for going along with this. My thoughts strayed to the cheesecake incident last night and the way he’d gone from zero to unnerving in a second. He was clearly unhinged. Still, it wasn’t enough to offset my growing curiosity.
“Are you seriously okay with this?” Ari stopped judging her disheveled reflection to look at me. “I mean, we have no clue what his intentions are, or if he’s planning to hurt you.”
“He said he’s not. That’s one of the first things he said to me. He listed all the things he could do and then said he won’t do any of them ‘cause he’s not gonna harm me in any way.”
“And that makes you feel better? Him listing ways to hurt you and then saying he won’t? That’s such a red flag!”
“But he said he won’t,” I insisted. “So it’s more like an orange flag?”
“No. It’s bright fucking red. You seriously believe him about not hurting you?” She raised an eyebrow, then both when I nodded. She was probably right, but I was already kind of invested. “He’s literally stalking you.”
“But he’s really hot,” I said. “And he’s a vampire. That’s kinda cool, right? We just found out they exist and now three are hanging out with us.”
“Stalking us.”
“I dunno. I feel like we should see where this goes.”
She heaved a sigh before saying, “Fine. I guess if you insist, I’ll go along with it. If you get murdered, we’ll get murdered together.”
“Yay! I knew you’d have my back.”
“But if we get murdered I’m haunting your ghost.”
I laughed. “Fair enough. So you wanna go to the bar, or no?”
“Sure. I don’t have class ‘til late tomorrow so it should be fine. Do you think they’ll be carding?”
“I doubt it, but I got you a fake ID a couple months ago, so it’s fine.” I texted Dennis back before tossing my phone aside. Ari left to get cleaned up and we spent the next few hours playing games and eating snacks until it was time to go. “Can I drive today?” I asked, grabbing my keys as we passed the living room table.
“I guess. But only because I feel like crap.”
“Finally. Don’t get mad if we die.”
“Emy!”
“Relax, hun. I’m kidding. But not really.” I laughed at her panicked expression as we headed outside. The night air was brisk and refreshing.“Seriously. I’m kidding.”
“You better be. And no speeding.”
“Sure thing, mom.” I got inside Tuffy and ran a hand through my hair, careful not to get my rings or earrings caught in the process.
