“Do I still scare you? I thought you’d be over that by now.”
I squirmed, trying to speak even though it was useless. Dennis dropped his hand, letting it graze my stomach along the way.
“Why are you like this?” I demanded, pushing his hand away.
“Why are you always screaming?”
“I can’t help it,” I smiled and leaned forward, “I’m a screamer. Now back up.” He stepped back. I picked up my brush to continue, then froze. “Holy shit…” I turned to see him watching from behind, then turned back to the mirror.“You really don’t show in the mirror? I thought you were lying.” I waved him closer and poked a sleeve, then rubbed along his chest. The dark fabric of his shirt was distinct against my hand, but in the mirror I was fondling air.
Suddenly the blank eyes were back. I balked and darted from the mirror.
“Whathappened?”
“Nothing.” I sat on the edge of my bed, Frankie in one hand and a lock of hair twisted in the other. “Why’re you here? I thought you left.”
“I can tell when you’re upset, even if I can’t hear it. I came back to check on you. What’s wrong?” He picked up the brush and I scooted over to make room for him.
“I don’t wanna talk about it.”
“It has nothing to do with the body at the bar?” he asked. I stiffened at his words. “Ah. So it does.”
“Why do you even care?”
“I’m curious. You intrigue me.” He reached out to stop me from tugging my hair.
“And why is that?”
“Answer mine and I’ll answer yours.” His lip ring glinted as he smiled.
“Fine.” I started playing with Frankie’s ears instead. “My mom overdosed on something when I was twelve. Meth or heroine. Maybe both, I don’t know. But I found her seizing on the floor and had to call an ambulance. I thought she was dead.”
“Was she?”
“No. Paramedics saved her. And I wound up going to foster care until I was seventeen. Anyway, the dead guy’s eyes reminded me of hers that night. Very blank. And empty. And now I can’t get the image of her eyes while she was overdosing out of my head.” My fingers traced Frankie’s fur while the room filled with a heavy silence.
“I don’t know what to say,” Dennis eventually spoke.
I laughed. Genuinely. At least he was honest. “It’s okay. The flashbacks happen sometimes. Then it passes and I don’t think about it for a while.” I bit my lip, waiting. He didn’t respond. “Will you answer my question now?”
“You actually remembered. I didn’t think you would with your attention span.” He chuckled as I hit him with a pillow.
“Just answer the question, asshole. Why do I intrigue you?Whoa.” I cocked my head and leaned closer, staring into his eyes. They’d flashed dark for a second. “What was that?” I asked, no longer caring about the first question.
“What?”
“Your eyes turned super dark. Almost black like Sean’s.”
“It happens sometimes.”
“It’s creepy. What does it mean?”
“It’s a vampire thing.”
“Yeah, about that…” I watched my black toenails shimmer in the light.
“We can talk about it tomorrow,” he said.
“Why not tonight? I wanna be a vampire. I need to start mental preparation if we’re doing it soon.”
