Page 6 of Hungry for the Vampire

"You got a ride?"

"No."

I waited, again, for him to elaborate. Again, he didn't elaborate. I licked my lips.

"Do you...need a ride home? I can drive you." I made a show of looking him up and down. "I'm pretty sure you'll fit in my car."

"Sure. That would be kind of you, Jared." Roman nodded, and put a hand like a cinderblock on my shoulder. "We'll walk through the woods again. I will keep you safe from the wolves."

I chuckled, my cheeks going a little pink. "Yeah, I'll need you. Uh, just in case."

A moment of silence lingered between us before Roman took his hand off my shoulder. "You know which way we are going?"

"Yeah. Yeah. I got it this time." I remembered checking the map on my phone when I'd parked, and I knew my car was due east of the cabin. I pointed in that direction, and we got a move on, filtering into the woods. There were a few trails that most of the other people were taking, but my dumb ass hadn't parked accordingly. If I went any way but a straight line, I wasn't fully confident I'd get back to my car. And I didn't want to be embarrassed in front of Roman again, lost in the woods and starting to freak out.

We walked silently. The sounds of the other people dissipated fast, and it wasn't long before it felt like we were the only two people in the entire forest. Roman looked alert, his eyes sweeping around. He really must have been looking for the wolves. I doubted they'd be around with so much commotion as the party left the cabin, but what the hell did I know? I hadn't expected them to be there in the first place, either.

"Agh. One second." Roman sounded frustrated, and I watched him tug his vampire cape off a branch. He undid the tie at the front and swept it off, rolling it up under his arm. He had undone a button at the top of his shirt too, or maybe the collar of his cloak had hidden it before. But I saw a glimpse of his chest, the beginnings of his collar bones, where the shirt was more open toward the top. I looked away when he turned his eyes to me.

"I was careful on the way to the party," Roman said, shrugging as we started walking again. "Didn't want to have to re-tie it. Now...eh. I don't think I will wear it after this."

I bit back the reflex to tell him how good he looked in the vampire costume again. At a certain point, it was just me telling him he should walk around in costume all the time.

"We should be almost there," I said. "No wolves this time."

"No," Roman agreed. "They have wised up. For now."

I thought I would be better at talking to him. It had been nice on the couch, just for a little while, even if I'd gotten my own feelings mixed up. I was hoping I'd be better company on this walk, but every time I thought of something to say, it just seemed stupid. Where are you from? How are you liking the college? What class is your favorite? These were the best things I could come up with?

So I just kept my mouth shut for the most part, and we made it back to my car without incident. My little sedan, small enough that Roman could probably flip it over without breaking a sweat. I had been joking about him fitting inside, but now I was actually curious.

"You can put the cape in the back." I unlocked it and opened the rear door, tossing my hat and pirate sword in. "Jeez. Feels nice to have that out of my pants."

"Hm?" Roman looked at me across the car.

"Oh, the sword, I...never mind." I shut the rear door and climbed into the driver's seat.

Roman got into the car easily enough. I grinned a little to myself—I had pictured him practically folded in half, like a guy stuffed into a clown car. But it was just a little snug for him, and he didn't seem to mind.

"Where do you live?" I asked him, pulling out my phone to punch in his address. He gave it to me, and I got the map going.

"Not far from me," I said, turning and driving us out of the big gravel lot and onto the main road. "I'm over on Willow, those student apartments. The place with that weird fountain in the front."

"I've seen that fountain. The sculpture is meant to be...some sort of plant?"

"Either that or a vagina," I said, snorting. "I was never that good at interpreting art."

We were about twenty minutes from Roman's place, from there only a few to mine. And I decided I didn't want to spend the whole drive making stupid small talk like we were strangers on a bus. But before I could say something good, something real, Roman beat me to it.

"I...appreciate you spending time with me, Jared," Roman said. The words came slowly, like maybe he was fighting with them a bit. I glanced over at him and was surprised to see that he was chewing on the inside of his cheek. "I do not talk to many people at the university. Todd—my roommate. He was insistent that I come out to the party. That I was doing something wrong by not going to parties at school. I didn't know what to expect from tonight."

His big shoulders shrugged. "This was better than I had hoped."

I blinked. As far as I could tell, he had stood around most of the night, brushed off one of the hottest chicks there, and just...watched me. And he was telling me that he'd had a good time?

"It was cool," I said, and I finally let myself be honest. "You're cool, Roman. If I had to do it over again, I'd still choose to...to get attacked by those wolves so that you could come and save me."

I couldn't believe I'd said that. I just stared straight ahead, gripping the steering wheel, trying to stop my face from going red and failing miserably.