You sat down on a bench at the park. This was supposed to be your meeting place, or at least he'd said so.
"[Name]? Um, if you get this message anytime soon, I need to talk to you. I know it's kind of late, but it's really important. Meet me at the park. Lo siento, chica..."
Toni's voicemail replayed itself in your mind. He sounded worried—more so than he would normally be, even if something was important.
You'd known Toni for a few years, meeting him back in the 10th grade. Since then, he'd grown closer and closer to you, so you were able to stay with him when you went off to college. His friends, Gil and Francis, often teased you two for having such a close friendship. Ever since Toni had given you a present for the first time—which happened to be a very pretty [favorite color] rose necklace—he and you had apparently been a couple, according to them.
You'd never really thought about your relationship with him as something like that, even when something like that ever happened. Friends gave each other gifts, right? You'd always thought that it would be possible to be friends with a guy while not necessarily having a boyfriend. Besides, nothing sexual or romantic ever really happened, and both of you seemed content with that. If anything, Toni was the one who'd pull away if something intimate (almost) happened. You were never sure why, but it was fine by you.
The wind kicked up, blowing [hair color] strands into your face. You shifted in your seat, wishing you'd bought a jacket. Your focus moved to the digitized face on your watch. 1:27 a.m. Where was Toni? You were used to him often coming late, but then again, he never really told you when or where exactly to come. When you'd received the message, you just grabbed your bag and ran down to the park to the bench you usually met up at.
Maybe he was just lost in the dark. You usually saw each other during the day anyway.
You turned around to look behind where you were sitting. No one else was really there except for a bum lighting his fifth cigarette since you'd arrived.
"[Name]?"
You jumped, at the unexpected voice coming from behind you. You looked back, and a wave of relief came over you. "Toni! Are you okay? I got your message and... and..." Taking as close a look possible in the dark, you sensed something wrong. Not just his face, but his energy as well. He seemed different. "Toni?"
Look, um, I'll explain this as well as I can." His normal Hispanic accent sounded rougher tonight, and his face looked worn out. The Spaniard sat down and looked at you from across the table. "Like I said," he continued, " this is important."
You nodded slowly and looked into his green eyes. He was shaking himself inhaling deeply. After a cycle of breathing in and out, he finally muttered,"I'm a vampire, [Name]. You know what those are?"
"A creature like Dracula that somehow evolved into a sparkly British dude?" mumbled (you knew the tone was serious, but a Twilight joke was inevitable).
The color of Antonio's eyes intensified and darkened to the extent of being nearly black. Although it was dark outside, you caught a glint of dark red in his irises. Panicked, he shut his eyes and reopened them, and they returned to their normal color. "Maybe. I don't know that much myself. All that I know is that I'm more powerful at night. And we don't take special blood tablets or feed off of rats to get blood. When we crave blood, only human blood can satisfy that. Usually, what happens is that..."
...the first victim is someone you care about the most... you completed on your own, no longer looking at his face and focusing on the dark space just over his shoulder. You weren't afraid of looking at him, you just thought it would be better for him if both of you didn't make direct eye contact.
"About three years ago, not much longer after I met you, Gil called, saying that he wanted me to come by his house later that night... that was when he told me about what he was, and he asked me if he wanted to be one just like him. I didn't want to at first, so I said no for the following months he asked. Finally, it turned out that Francis agreed to be a vampire six months later, and both of them convinced me to agree, and Gil changed me. I didn't know what I was in for, so I had all the fun I possibly could for my first year being a vampire. After that though, I caught up with the harder part of it all... it's just about tearing me up right now to be with you. I have no idea what would happen to you..."
You knew what was coming next, that he couldn't protect you from himself, and soon it would be obvious that the daytime-friendship thing wouldn't work anymore, and that the longer it went on, the more impossible things would become. After a while, you noticed the sudden silence of your friend. "...Why are you telling me this, Toni?"
"Because I wanted to let you know—"
"If you think I'm going to stop being there for you just because you're some damned vampire who thinks he's going to live a miserable life forever, you're wrong."
A surprised look came over Toni's face before he tried to defend himself. "B-but—"
"I'm not letting this vampire thing stop me either. I can still be your friend, even if you're—"
"I don't want to hurt you, [Name]! I only told you so you would be careful! I don't want you to get too confident, because you'd never know what would happen! I want to be there to protect you, but I can't do that if I'm the threat!" His face was slightly red, from nearly yelling at the end. He was panting, and you could see what he was going through in his eyes.
Your mouth opened quickly to respond, but the words wouldn't come out. You'd thought nothing had changed between you two, but suddenly everything hit you like a ton of bricks. You almost didn't need the words that came out of his mouth next to realize that.
"I love you, [Name]."
Toni held your chin to turn your head and face him in the eye. Suddenly, you were being kissed by the very attractive brown-haired Spaniard who happened to be your best friend. His kiss surprised you at first, and heat rose to your cheeks as you gave in and found yourself returning the kiss. You closed your eyes as his hands tangled into your [hair length] [hair color] locks. All of your emotions came out in that long, passionate moment. You opened your eyes again and realized that Toni's eyes had darkened again, but neither of you seemed to care at this point. He slipped his tongue over your lip, begging for entry, and again, you melted under pressure and gave in. You two moved in sync with each other, and then, with a glint in his eye, he let one of his two protruding fangs gently press down on your tongue. Blood was coming out, but you weren't in pain. Exhilaration swept through your body, leaving a warm, refreshing feeling throughout.
When the two of you stopped, both panting, no one spoke for a long time. You each knew what the other was thinking, allowing a goofy grin to creep over your face. "I told you I don't care if you're a vampire..."
Antonio smiled, eyes still darker than the original emerald-colored shade. "For the record, I think dark red eyes would look lovely on you." He must have noticed you looking.
You blushed at his remark, but you knew that was all you wanted right now. "Maybe we could, uh, stay over at my place..." you tried your best to sound suggestive," if you know what I mean."
Toni smirked in agreement. "Whatever you say, chica~"
A/N: I know, I should really be updating The Mystery Writer, but lately I've been busy and when I finally get an idea, it never works out with the story...
The idea for this story actually came to me during a game of dodgeball. Talk about inspiration, right? This story was harder to write than I thought though, due to me re-reading everything that I'd written in a super melodramatic voice in my head. Sorry if some parts weren't very good, as I have a microscopic amount of experience at writing reader inserts...
Review please?
