I don't know how I let Beth convince me to travel down to Louisiana to go to a freaking vampire bar. It was only a month after vampires came out of the coffin and my best friend grabbed me, packed up all of our stuff (after college let out for the summer), and ran for the Ohio boarder.
Beth wanted to go south to, what she claimed was, the most popular vampire bar in America. How could this be the most popular when vampires just came out? Nonetheless my curiosity peeked and we left Ohio and headed south.
"Ow, ow! Louisiana here we come!" Beth shouted out the window of my car as we drove down the highway. We were roughly half way to our destination and she still had the same level of excitement as when we left. After every overnight stop along the way, she always shouted out the window. Letting everyone nearby know exactly where we were going.
"Please don't do that, some of these cars are driving way to close for my comfort. You're going to loose your head," I pleaded with Beth. All the while hugging the inside shoulder to make sure Beth indeed, didn't loose her head.
"I can't wait to be down there! I mean how lucky is it for us that they come out of the coffin right before summer break starts?!" Beth exclaimed not even acknowledge my scolding.
"'Summer break'? You make it sound like we are in high school…"
"Yeah, yeah we're consenting college age women, who happen to be intelligent."
"Yeah, intelligent…We're driving a thousand miles to get to New Orleans to go to a vampire bar. That's intelligence."
"We're not heading to New Orleans! We're heading to some town called Shreveport!"
"Whatever, it's probably some hick town in Louisiana,"
Beth waved me off; she was use to my negativity. I can't help but feel like we are making a mistake driving south to go to a freaking vampire bar. Where we will most likely be drained of our blood and left in a ditch. That vampire woman on TV, what was her name? Nan…something said that everything about vampires was safe, that all the negative literature out there was incorrect, and that vampires just wanted to live along side humans. But I had an inkling that told me otherwise.
I wasn't watching TV the night that the news announced that vampires were real, like most people my age; I don't watch the news when I can be out having fun with Beth and our other friends. But I remember everyone's disbelief that they were real. That the news was just creating a big hoax to try and frighten their viewership with something new besides some deadly disease. I mean who wouldn't, vampires were things of fiction. I mean, my high school self always wanted to believe that vampires were real. I got my kicks off reading dirty paranormal romance novels that I kept under my bed like they were playboy bunny magazines for boys. I imagined that I would get swept off my feet by some charismatic ancient being that would offer me protections from the other forces.
I never thought that I would be heading south to try and find some. Like…like some fang banger. It's been four years since high school now; I'm not that same hormone fueled gooey eyed romantic. If vampires really existed, they wouldn't be like my romance novel. They were creatures of the night, with fangs and a thirst for human blood. Who knows if they have control over their urges.
"So where are we exactly?" Beth asked, breaking me out of my train of thought. She probably saw a worried look in my eyes, something that said I was over thinking again. Over thinking means that her trip would be shortened since I would turn the car back around and go home to the safety of my house.
"Ummm, you're the one with the map. Shouldn't you be keeping track?"
"Yeah, but you're the one driving!"
"I'm keeping an eye on the road, since we don't know where we are! I'm watching mile makers and exit signs!"
"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Give me a minute, I'll figure it out…"
We had been traveling for a few days together now; she and I have been squabbling constantly. This is why I didn't dorm with her beyond the first year in college, best friends shouldn't dorm together. We ended up bickering like an old married couple by the end of the first year. If I hadn't made the move to get my own dorm room, we wouldn't be friends now I think. I know it should've taken this long to get from Ohio to Louisiana, but we were making it into road trip. Might as well take advantage of the fact that this was the summer semester, we had 10 weeks off from school. But I had to be back in time for my interview to get into the pharmacy school of my choice. I really should be working and saving up for pharmacy school but you should have a little fun every now and again, right? Even though I didn't agree with where we were going. I had a sickening feeling that we wouldn't be heading back.
"We….are….somewhere in….the northern or middle part of Tennessee." Beth stated, but it sounded more like a question to me.
"We haven't passed Nashville yet right? I've always wanted to see that place!" This was the part of the trip I enjoyed, stopping in random places on our way to our destination. This part is what is going to make up the stories for our trip.
"No, were going to be passing right through it! We should definitely stop there for a few days! It would be nice to get a hotel instead of sleeping in those gross motel rooms. I feel like we should have a venereal disease from them by this point."
"I think most of them haven't been cleaned in weeks, if ever," I shivered remembering the last motel room we stayed in. I had no idea where we were but ugh…I'm pretty sure that a murder had taken place in our room.
"Okay, we will stop driving when we get to Nashville!" Beth exclaimed, pulling out the red pen and started marking off potential routes to take.
"Yes! Then you can take over for a while and I can keep track of where we are!" I felt my spirits lifting. Beth just rolled her eyes and looked back at the map.
We finally found a hotel to stay at that had a room for us. Unfortunately, it appeared to be a vampire hotel. Even though the vampires had only recently started coming out, hotels around the country began popping up that catered to those who were light sensitive. Unless…they were already there and were just now allowed to be public about it. The receptionist looked warily at us, as we tried to convince her that we needed a room. Apparently these hotels didn't let just anyone in. It felt like a hotel for celebrities as we walked into our room. (Which had explained her hesitance.) The room had a king sized bed, we didn't care if we had to share. We spent the last 8 hours in the car together, we were just glad to finally be able to lay down.
"The room is sound proof, light tight; not that you two seem to need that," The bell boy explained to us, "We didn't stock your fridge with TruBlood. I hope you don't mind."
"Oh, that's okay we are human!" Beth exclaimed with a bright smile.
"The light tight will be nice so we can get some rest. We've been on the road for a while now. I'm exhausted," I stated hoping he would leave quickly.
"You two just be careful okay? This isn't a place where you want to stay to long if you are like you are," The bell boy stated, shifting from one foot to the other.
"What is that supposed to mean?" Beth questioned.
"You two look very green to this, don't be stupid," He said, then he turned and left. Closing the door behind him, leaving before we could tip him.
"Well that was odd! What do you suppose he means?" Beth asked as she turned to face me.
"Exactly like he said, 'don't be stupid'. I think he knows better than us, that we have no experience with vampires and this is a vampire hotel. He was warning us to be careful," Taking in the warning with ease. I wasn't planning on talking or seeking out a vampire tonight, I just wanted to crawl into the bed and pass out.
"Well then let's go explore!" Beth exclaimed.
I just looked at her, it was night time now. They would be all over this hotel, I really didn't want to converse with one tonight.
"Can we just go to bed please?"
"Oh come on, Adriane! This was the whole reason we came down from Cleveland! That freaking city is soooooo boring! There is nothing to do there!"
"There is one vampire bar there, why didn't we just go to that one? We would've gone seen how it looked, turned around and gone home."
"But this is different, we're having and adventure. You of all people should be jumping up and down and the thought of meeting a vampire."
"That was in high school, I'm just being cautious. These things are real now, not some fictional story that takes place back in the 1800's."
"Where's your sense of adventure?"
"Exhausted, we drove all day. Can we please sleep tonight? We can do bar hoping tomorrow night. When I'm more awake and have the energy to chase off the guys that are chasing you," I wandered over to the bed and fell face first into the pillow. It felt like heaven. Thank you, classy expensive vampire hotel.
"Fine, but I expect you to go all out tomorrow night, makeup on and everything!"
"Have you ever known me to go out without makeup on?"
"The last few days, I haven't seen an ounce of makeup on,"
"That's because we are driving," I yelled.
"Fine cranky, go to bed, I need you bright eyed and bushy tailed tomorrow night!"
"Freaking Beth and her freaking vampires," I grumbled into the pillow as I let the darkness encase me.
"Adriane? Can you help me with my hair?" Beth called from the bathroom.
I sighed as I got up from the bed, I really needed to go pee but Beth insisted that she was almost done. That was a half an hour ago.
"Beth, I really have to pee,"
"I'm almost done, I just can't get my hair to do what I want it to do," Beth pouted.
I sighed and took the bobby pin from her and started to manipulate her hair. I ended up pulling all of her hair into a side bun. Something that didn't scream "come and get me boys, I'm easy", but still looked nice enough for a girls' night out.
"Now can I pee?" I pleaded.
"Your good with these up do things, yep! It's all yours!" She exclaimed and scrambled out of the restroom.
I sighed and looked myself over in the mirror. I wasn't planning on going home with anyone tonight. I hoped Beth had the same agenda, I would hate to come back to the hotel alone. Or worse be kicked out and have to sleep in the lobby…
I found myself wearing a simple one shoulder crop top with a black tank underneath and a pair of skinny jeans. It was my simple bar outfit, I wore my glasses and pulled my hair back into a tight ponytail tonight, trying to send the message of not interested. I really just wanted to stay in for the night. I hated going clubbing like Beth had planned for us. I'd much rather spend a night at a quiet middle age bar. Where the dads were too scared to hit on us since we were at the age of their daughters and their wives were around. Of course there were the exceptions but those were easy to scare off with the right vibe. In my experience, forty something's were easier to send away then twenty something's, they knew when they weren't getting any and would go off quietly to find easier conquests. Twenty something's were out with their friends and needed something to prove.
I ended up leaving the restroom a few minutes later. Satisfied with the way I looked. Beth looked me up and down, nodded like that she was content with my outfit. With Beth's approval we left the room and headed towards the elevator.
"Okay, where are we going?" I asked, crossing my fingers mentally and hoping it wasn't a club.
"Actually, there's a bar here at the hotel. I was thinking we could go there?"
I wasn't really ready to go and converse with vampires just yet, "I was thinking about that too, but I thought that we should make that vampire bar in Louisiana our first vampire bar, since we haven't been to any yet," I hoped she agreed with me.
"Fangtasia," Beth corrected me.
"Huh?"
"I think that calling it by its proper name would be better then calling it 'that vampire bar'. Fangtasia," Beth stated.
"Oh, sure. We should make Fangtasia our first vampire bar." Brushing off her comment.
Beth sat on it for a minute as we waited for the elevator to come, contemplating, "Okay, we should do that! We haven't been to one yet. Let's keep our vampire bar virginity!"
I sighed internally, I wasn't ready to face a vampire. I don't know if I was being racist or just being a scaredy cat. I never thought of myself as racist but the way I was reacting every time I heard about the vampire bar I was starting to think I was; or what it me just being cautious?