Never in a million years did I expect this. Never. Or want it. How did I get myself into this again? Oh right, Claire. I made the mistake of telling her that I'd do anything for her, and what did it land me? This. I told her I didn't go on dates with men, vampire men at that, yet here I sat, flanked by a redhead and a blond, both vampires. I tried telling her that she shouldn't expect me back in one piece, but she insisted.

I glanced at my phone wistfully, staring at the text that clearly read:

Have fun! Love you! (And be nice!)

11:30 PM From: Claire

I cursed in my head and sighed heavily. Have fun. Be nice. Sam and Mike knew I wasn't happy; they could probably tell from my body language. They were trying to be "civil", as civil as two bloodsuckers could be in Morganville. I guess they weren't as bad as say, Oliver or Brandon, but the mere fact that they were vampires was bad enough in my book. I was trying though. Tired of hearing how much like my father I was being, I finally let them take me out to dinner to smooth things out a bit. You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink.

"So, Shane, how is the job search going?" Sam asked as he sipped at a steaming cup of coffee. Really? He was really going to do that whole spiel? That made him sound so…old…and adult…It was awkward.

"Um, okay I guess. Slow going. You know how it is in Morganville."

"So you aren't doing any searching."

"In other words, no."

Michael nearly spew his soup across the table. He put his hand to his mouth to keep it contained and finally swallowed properly, coughing a little to right what had gotten lodged incorrectly. He took a swig of water before risking a word. "You really think Shane would do it voluntarily? Come on, Sam. It's Shane we're talking about."

"Well he does have Claire now. He seems like he'd do anything that she asked him to."

I felt my cheeks burn and crossed my arms firmly. "I don't just do what Claire says. I have a mind of my own, thank you very much."

"Not when it comes to Claire, I've seen."

"Shut up, both of you," I muttered, slumping down further in my chair and burying what I could of my face in the collar of my shirt to hide the blush. They'd probably start sucking my cheeks if I let them.

Sam smiled and let the comment slide by. Of course he did. Sam always let everything that concerned him slide by. Though I guess that's what they call choosing your battles, something at which I kind of sucked at. "How about a better topic? How are you and Claire doing?"

As miffed as I was that he dared to speak Claire's name, I couldn't help but open up the shell a little to brag. "She's great. You know how Amelie put her in those advanced classes?" I waited for his nod. "Acing all of them. She's at the top of her class, as usual. She's getting scholarships and everything. Pretty freaking proud of her."

"And the two of you?"

"We're great. She makes me really happy."

"Have you…" Okay, now he seemed young again. The real interests come out.

"We've made out. Passionately. But that's about it. We'd both like to further, it's pretty obvious. But whenever either one of us tries for more, the other one puts a stop to it. It kind of sucks that we can't be on the same page…"

He smiled warmly and nodded. "You two are a really good couple. Very sweet. How are you and Eve, Michael?"

As the two of them chatted, I pulled out my phone under the table again. I flipped it open and my fingers flew over the keys as I sent a message to Claire.

Miss u so much. Wish u were hr.

I miss you too, Shane. How are things going?

OK, I guess. Kind of the typical small talk questions. U know, how's the job search, how are u and Claire, that sort of stuff. U know, the awkward stuff.

Just be nice, ok? They're trying to be nice and include u.

What if I don't wanna be included

Shane…

I heaved a sigh and rolled my eyes. Getting reprimanded through a text. It never ended, did it?

Fine. Ill be nice. I guess. For u.

Thanks. Does Michael look hot?

It was my turn to choke on my dinner. It must have been Eve. I hate when girls read each other's texts. Apparently a guy and girl can't have a private conversation anymore.

Im not gay, eve. Im not going to answer that. Sry

Whatever, jerk.

Give the phone back to Claire.

That was Claire.

I snapped the phone shut with a sigh. If Eve was going to butt in then it wasn't worth it to even try to distract myself with texting. I glanced back up to see where the conversation before me had headed.

"Everything alright, Shane?" Sam asked, gazing down where my phone was hidden under the table. At least I hoped that was what he was trying to look at.

"What? Oh, yeah. It's totally cool. She was just bored and wanted to talk."

Michael gave me a sharp, stern look. He knew me well enough to know that when I said that Claire was bored, I meant that I was bored. He didn't seem to appreciate me being bored with or lying to his grandfather.

"Sorry," I muttered. At least they got that—that was big for me when it came to vampires.

Sam smiled good naturedly at me in his typical, laid back way. "Of course. How is your dinner?"

I glanced down at the untouched plate in front of me. This place was known for having killer food, but seeing as I was trapped here with two bloodsuckers, I wasn't actually in the mood to eat anything. "Um…alright, I guess. I ate before I got…" I trailed off into a silence when I realized that neither of them was paying attention to what I was saying. They both had their heads cocked a little—looking almost like twins—and were listening to something that I obviously couldn't hear. "What?"

Sam silenced me with a small wave of his hand, his eyes meeting Michael's. "Do you…"

"Yeah."

The last thing I saw was their eyes flash red before I was bowled over and landed flat on my back, something heavy pressing down on my chest.