I woke up when I heard the doorbell ring. I was asleep beside Tori on the futon, so I slipped out of the bed as quietly as I possibly could. The doorbell rang again. How impatient is this person? I opened the door and had to rub my eyes. It was Simon. What the hell?
"How did you find us?" I asked, looking him in the eye. Ignoring my question, he stepped inside and hugged me. It was nice, friendly. I hugged him back. For the first time in days I started to cry. I leaned against him, my body shaking. My sobs consumed me. And Simon just held me. Held me, rubbed my back, and told me it was going to be okay. I knew it wasn't but his simple, sweet words comforted me. I pulled away and told him I'd be right back. He nodded, shut the front door, and went to the living room. I ran down the hallway and into the bathroom.
"Holy crap." I whispered to myself. I looked like crap, with my insanely messy hair, old make-up marks, and of course my red rimmed eyes from crying. I hopped into the shower quickly, and did the best hair wash I could do in five minutes. I towel dried my hair and brushed through it, finally deciding on a ponytail. I sneaked to my room, and picked out a cute, yet casual outfit that I had bought yesterday- jeans, and I white t-shirt, with a dark blue sweater. I left the sweater unzipped and looked into the mirror I had brought from the motel. I looked nice. Woah- wait! Why did I suddenly care how Simon thought about me, how I looked? My mind clouded with thoughts, I went back to where Simon was looking out the window.
"Hey." He said quietly.
"Hey." I whispered back. For some reason it was very funny. We both started to laugh, doubling over in fits. When we had finally regained control of ourselves, I looked at him.
"So, did Derek tell you anything?" I said. Simon looked at me, and nodded.
"Well after you called him an 'inconsiderate bastard'," He laughed when he said it, "He said that you were never meant to be with him." Simon finished quickly. I shrugged. We had had problems in the past, which ended up being the end of our relationship. I smiled. Simon would never have said any of that stuff to me. Ever. But Derek had. What kind of father would he have been to Kayla? Changing all the time…. I don't think we wouldn't have lasted any longer together, if we hadn't even had the argument.
"So why did you come anyway?" I asked. He made a funny face then went outside. I watched him out the front window, and dissolved into hysterics. Simon was retrieving his suitcase from one of the hedges in the front yard. When he came back inside and saw me laughing, he started laughing too.
"Well I didn't know if you were still in the 'I want to kick Simon's ass mode'." He said. I looked around. There was actually the perfect space for the computer we were going to get from Aunt Lauren's in the living room. His room could be in the office.
"I'll show you your room." I said, gesturing for him to follow. When we got to the door, I told him to wait because Tori was asleep. I opened to door and tiptoed over to her.
"Tori. Simon's here. Tori." I said, making her bolt up on the futon.
"Why?" She asked sleepily.
"He sorta came to live with us…." I said, making her turn to glare at me.
"What?" She asked, not so sleepy anymore. Simon came through the door.
"And your in my room sleeping on my bed." He said looking at her with a smirk on his face. I rolled my eyes and laughed, nodding when Tori gave me an 'are you kidding me' look. She flung herself out of the bed, making sure to punch Simon's shoulder on the way out. He laughed.
"Okay so this is it I guess," I said, pointing around the room, "there is your bed, dresser, desk, and chair." I said, making him laugh. I opened the closet door.
"Here are your nice blue, sheets, pillowcases, and comforter." I said, tossing everything to him. I grabbed a few pillows from some shopping bags I hadn't unpacked yesterday, and started putting the pillowcases on. Simon put the sheets and comforter on the futon, he took the pillows from me to add the finishing touch.
"Love it." He said walking around the room.
"Good." I said. I walked out so Simon could put his clothes away and whatnot then went to wake up Kayla.
"Morning!" She said brightly, giving me a big hug. I helped her pick out clothes for the day, and we went to get some breakfast. Tori turned to us when we walked in, her face white. She quickly scrambled to turn off the TV, but not before I saw that a policeman walked out of a house and threw up over the railing of the porch.
"Tori get Simon." I said, and then told Kayla to go play in her room. She gave me a questioning look then got one of her new dolls from the living room. When I heard her door shut, I turned the TV back on. Simon and Tori walked in at that moment. Another policeman walked over towards a news reporter, and was immediately bombarded with questions. Finally, he just started to talk about what was happening.
"We got a call from one of the neighbors here last night. She said she had heard blood curdling screams. When we came to check it out, the door was busted open, and the house reeked of blood. When we called back up and crime scene investigators, we went inside the home. We found one woman and her two twin children both who were four years of age. The victims had bites on their wrists and neck, completely drained of blood. We believe this is the work of the suspects who killed two nights ago. We will update to the press if we find more evidence."
Then the policeman went back into the house. I couldn't move. I couldn't speak. A single mother and her four year old twins were killed by Vampires. Tori was bawling her eyes out. Simon face was hard, and he closed his eyes as if replaying what we had just seen on the television. I turned it off. Tori had calmed down, and was taking bread out of the pantry for toast. Simon took my hand and led me towards Kayla's room.
"Tell her I'm here." He said. I could tell he was trying to get my mind off what we had just seen on the news. I opened Kayla's door.
"Hi sweetie, guess who came to live with us?" I said, and her eyes lit up with excitement.
"Come in stranger!" I sang, and Simon walked in on cue waving at Kayla. Kayla jumped up and squealed.
"Simon!" Kayla screamed and jumped into his arms. He laughed and gave her a quick hug.
"Would you like to come and play tea party Simon?" Kayla said hopefully.
"Actually Simon had to come with me to meet the furniture people, so we can bring furniture here." I said, making her look very disappointed.
"Then can Auntie Tori come play with me?" She asked.
"Of course she can!" I replied and gave her a hug. Simon and I walked together down the hall to tell Tori she had tea party business to attend to. I giggled. I tried to picture the old Tori playing with tea cups. When we walked into the kitchen, Tori had just finished making two plates worth of toast and jam.
"I know, I know, my little niece needs me." She said smiling. I grabbed the van's keys and locked the front door. We went and got coffee to go at a cute diner, and we were on the road to meet the furniture movers.
"So… how are you?" Simon said. I smiled.
"I'm good. I wish there were no Vampires but other than that, I'm, good." I said truthfully. He chuckled softly. Simon has always been here for me. Even though he acted like a jerk sometimes, I knew he wanted to hide his hurt. He didn't have to be hurt anymore. Simon could be a father to Kayla. No Werewolf change at any moment. He didn't have a good grasp on his powers yet, but that didn't mean they couldn't be kick ass one day. I slipped my fingers through his, shocking him. There had always been something at the back of my mind telling me Derek wasn't the one. The one, who was meant to be with me, was sitting beside me. I laughed at the look on his face. He smiled as if knowing I had come to my senses. I was happy of the choice I made. I had listened to my heart and my head.
"By the way, you and Tori are brother and sister." I stated. Simon spit his coffee all over the dash board. I had to pull over to keep from swerving. I laughed until I cried, watching him look at me with wide eyes.
"Don't joke like that again!" He said, and started to wipe off the coffee with napkins. I turned to look at Simon seriously.
"Simon I'm not joking. You and Tori are brother and sister!" I said, and his jaw dropped. This time he knew I was serious.
"How!" He cried, shaking his head.
"Your dad and Mrs. Enright had a fling, I guess." I said, trying not to laugh.
"Dear God, why is this happening to me…." He moaned.
"I call dibbs on telling Tori." I said. Simon laughed weakly.
"You can try to tell her." He said, and intertwined his fingers with mine.
When we actually got to Aunt Lauren's house we were very late. I forgot how long it took to get away from here. The movers looked pissed but I didn't care. We had to be quick. We got to work telling the movers what we need, and what to be careful with. As I walked to get some bathroom supplies, I saw a picture of my mother, father and I. I walked away quickly before I could burst into tears. Five long hours later we were ready to leave. I used the spare key I've had for years to lock the front door.
"We're followin' ya Ma'm." said the mover that drove the large truck. I nodded and peeled onto the street with the truck behind me. Simon and I talked the entire time.
"Kayla is so cute. When we were at the motel she always asked me to eat 'cheese puffs' with her and watch cartoons. I did. Every day she was there." He laughed, making me beam at him. When we finally arrived back home, Simon and I got out helping them bring all the furniture inside. Tori opened the door and slipped on her shoes, and trotted to help out as well. Kayla watched, and pointed at all the things we brought inside. She was most excited with the fancy computer Aunt Lauren had owned. When the movers had left with the whopping six hundred we had to pay, we began arranging the furniture. In the living room we had a nice leather brown sectional, with dark wood end tables on each side. We had bought lamps yesterday so we hooked them up. Simon moved the coffee table near the front of the couch while Tori and I set up the flat screen to the wall. Kayla came in and squealed, throwing herself onto the couch. Just at that moment we got the television going and put cartoons on for Kayla. Off to the kitchen. Simon helped Tori set up the kitchen table and chairs, while I hooked up our phone. When we had finished unpacking all the dishes and we had a wonderful kitchen. Tori said she had to go and complete her room, and left leaving Simon and I alone.
"Thank you." I said, smiling.
"What you think I'm going to live here and not help?" He said, pretending to look offended, making me giggle.
"I need to tuck Kayla in, and then finish my room." I said.
"Alright see you in the morning." Simon said, as he gave me a tight hug. I went to go get Kayla, but she had fallen asleep. I tucked our crème colored throw blanket around her, turned off the television, and closed the curtains. I went into the kitchen and found the lock I had hidden in the drawer. After I installed it onto the front door, I sighed with relief. I went and checked to make sure all the windows were locked before I went to go say good night to Tori. She was reading the latest gossip magazine on her bed. Her room was finished, complete with nearly pink everything. I shuddered.
"Good night Auntie Tori." I laughed as she hugged me. She laughed too but pulled away and said,
"That name is reserved for Kayla and Kayla only." I laughed some more and left shutting the door behind me. As I past Simon's room, I peeked inside. He was asleep so I tiptoed into his room to turn out the light, but saw more of his pictures already splattered on his desk. I looked down and gasped. It was a beautiful picture of me, Simon, and Kayla under the stars. I smiled and turned out the litght. I headed towards my unfinished room. Too lazy to put even the sheets on my bed, I fell onto the mattress. Within minutes I was dreaming that Simon, Kayla and I were dancing happily under the midnight starts.