Chapter Two
First Date
Abby and Caroline got into my car and we drove away. They always road with me before and after school. Abby's car wasn't running and Caroline just wanted a ride. It was nice to hang out after school and gossip, but today I already knew what the subject was going to be. My date. My first date in one hundred years.
As we pulled into the driveway, they began the torture. So many questions came at me. They were like a raging forest fire. It seemed as if there would be no end to their madness! One question after another, after another, after another. The worst part was we weren't even inside yet! I was drowning in the never-ending whirlpool once again and there was no way to get out of it. They were on the first date express and I missed the train. All I could think was who the crap cares? They did. They just did.
"So where do you think he's taking you?" Abby asked as we walk through the big arch leading to living room. "The movies, out to dinner, maybe a romantic walk in the park…"
"The beach." I said stiffly. "He's taking me to the boardwalk on the beach. You know Wild Wood. He told me at lunch, remember?"
"That's prefect!" Caroline said. "Come upstairs with us. We need to help you pick out your clothes for your date. This is a big deal for everyone in our school!"
This wasn't making any scenes. "What are you talking about? The school doesn't care! No one should care! This is all just plain stupid! So what if it's Logan Williams? I might like him. I might not. Let's go pick out my clothes now. You guys are impossible."
"It's what we do." Abby said
"You'll thank us later. I know you will." Caroline smiled.
Yep. Totally and completely impossible. They knew me so well. "I hate you guys."
"Love you too. Dibs on hair." Abby replied back and we went upstairs to my room.
"This is perfect." Abby said examining me as she walked around in circles. They had curled my red tinted hair slightly and let it fall down my back. They had taken a long time to find me something to wear but they finally found me a blue halter top and a skirt with matching flip flops. They made sure that my make-up matched my outfit. It was agony. They insisted that I should take off the purple crystal necklace and wear a heart necklace instead, but I couldn't.
That crystal necklace was the key to my family's existence and I had to have it with me at all times. I also brought along an old little necklace used to hold perfume samples, but tonight it would hold blood. Just enough to keep me under control and to just focus on the date. It all really did seem like a miracle. I was going on a date and I had a good grip on myself. The girls had pretty much set it all up and it was simple. Totally and completely simple. It was as if all seemed right with me and the world today. We were one.
That thought changed quickly. Nothing would ever be right with me again. I had been broken and dyeing and now I was frozen and cursed. I would live forever and there was nothing to live for. Maybe Abby already knew about me, she was smart.
"Look in the mirror!" Caroline taunted.
"No! Why should I?"
"Because, you look great!"
"Not goanna happen. Now give it up."
"Fine, fine."
"You really do look great." Abby told me smiling. "When is he getting here again?"
"Around eight." I told them. "It's seven forty five. You guys should leave before he gets here…"
"No way," said Abby. "I want to see the look on his face when he sees you. It's going to be funny. And we can't go home. You're the one who drove us here."
"Look, you guys are amazing friends and I can't believe you would do this for me, but let's face the facts here girls, you're big flirts. I have my own date tonight and he's the only one here who's not officially taken. You're going home."
"No we're not!" Abby looked almost amused but slightly angry.
"Want to bet?" I looked at them and I yelled down the stairs, "Kevvviiinnnn!" Kevin was in my room in a flash and I gave him a look for that. He ignored me and walked a little too gracefully into my room.
"You yelled?" He looked at me as if I were an idiot. "Amanda and I were in the middle of something."
"I need you to drive Caroline and Abby home. Now."
"Why can't you do it?"
"I have plans and they just happen to be in ten minutes!"
"What, big date tonight?"
"What's it to you?"
"Oh, my little sister's all grown up. Look at how dressed up you got for your big…"
"It's not that big!"
"Whatever, I don't care. I'll drive your friends' home."
"Thank you."
"Oh, save it." He nodded at Abby and Caroline and they followed him out of my room. I could feel guilty later. Right now all that mattered was me and Logan hanging out on the boardwalk. Ah, Wild Wood, my favorite beach.
Just then the door bell rang. I already knew who it was. I automatically ran down stairs to answer the door before anyone else got to it. I made it.
"Hey." Logan said smiling at me. "Are you ready to go?"
"Yeah, I'm ready. I'm so happy we're going to Wild Wood. Nothing fancy or restaurants that people have to get dressed up for."
"Yeah, I like to keep things simple. Wild Wood is nothing but fun." We walked down to his car. I liked it. He had a BMW. I was enjoying myself already.
"Everyone always tries to outdo themselves." I said as I got into the passenger's side. "There's no point in doing anything fancy like that. I like simple fun. Life's better that way."
"I see it the same way." He started up the engine and we were off to the beach.
"So how many boyfriends have you had?" He asked about half way there.
"Honestly, only one. It feels like it's been a hundred years sense I've seen him. We don't talk anymore."
"Oh. I'm sorry. That must be hard." I shook my head. I couldn't see him.
"So are we going anywhere to eat?"
"If you want to. It's all up to you tonight." He pulled up to the parking lot and turned to look at me. He had a better smile than Kevin's. It was so beautiful.
We got out of the car and walked up the ramp. We held hands as we went. We talked and laughed and everything seemed to be right with the world. I excused myself to the restroom to take a sip of blood so I wouldn't cave under the pressure.
We laughed, we talked, and for once in about ninety years, I didn't give a crap what Danny, Josephine, Kevin, Amanda, or anyone else thought. It was the first time in a century I truly felt happy. And the weirdest thing was that the reason I was happy was because I was with Logan. It felt like I was staring into the face of a lover I'd known in another life, another world, another universe….
"So, we've been out for a few hours, it's almost midnight, and you're not begging me to take you home yet. Don't you have a curfew?"
"No. Danny doesn't care when I get home. I'm always sort of late whenever I go out." I stared at him. "Wait, don't you have a curfew?"
"No. And it's Friday. No one has a cure curfew on Friday." He looked at me and saw that I was almost amused. "Hey, don't give me that look."
"Hey balloon darts." Said Logan happily.
"How good's your aim?"
"Fair enough." He said picking up five darts and hitting a balloon with each of them.
"Best of the day" Said the man behind the counter. "Pick a prize."
Logan picked a gorgeous heart-shaped silver necklace with a K on it encrusted with diamonds. He picked it up and put it around my neck and whispered something in my ear that sounded like "Forever."
We walked past a book shop with a window display of vampire books and paused to look at it.
"Do you like vampires?" He asked.
"Yeah, I guess. They can get really annoying."
"You know a vampire?"
"No, but I imagine that they would be like that. They're kind of freaky."
"I thought it mostly girls that liked them."
"I said they freaked me out. I didn't say they weren't cool."
We continued down the boardwalk until we wandered back into the parking lot. Why on Earth had I been so scared of this? I was always under control at school so why would be any different now? Was I actually afraid of falling in love with a human? Was I actually perfectly fine with a boyfriend?
"Do you really want to go home? I was hoping I could take you for a walk on the beach."
"I so don't want to go home." I said thinking of the embarrassing yet completely true comments Kevin would make when I got there. I was having the time of my immortal life and I was not about to just go home and let Kevin ruin it. No. I was not going home.
So we walk around the board walk this time and on to the beach. He took my hand as we walked. We didn't talk much. Around one thirty he was still wide awake. I let him push me into the ocean and I chased him around the beach. He fell in, taking me down with him. We splashed each other and just ran through the water.
Soon we were both completely soaked from head to toe with salty ocean spray. We laid down on the sand staring at the stars and laughing. I never wanted to go home. I wanted to never leave his side again. I'd felt this feeling before. I hadn't in so long. Last time it had taken two years, but this time it had only taken one night. I was in love with Logan!
"That's Saturn." He said pointing to a brightly shining planet. "Wow. You know, it's shining almost as bright as your eyes."
"So charming yet so smart. Aren't I lucky? So um…" I had no idea how to ask him, "Does this mean we're together?"
"I don't know. Do you want to be?"
"I don't know. I guess I do. So then we're a couple?"
Logan leaned over to me. He pulled my hair away from my face and tucked it behind my ear. Then he whispered the words very quietly to me "I guess we are." He leaned in just a little farther. He took my face in his hands. I did not struggle or pull away. This was it. I was ready.
The kiss was almost perfect. No, it was perfect. It was like we had a gravitational pull toward each other. It was like we were magnets. He didn't want to let go and I definitely didn't want to. It ended eventually. "We should probably start walking back to the car. It's going to take long enough for us to dry and look normal again."
"Right. I won't want to wake anyone up."
So we walked back to the car. We grabbed towels from the back seat to dry of. It didn't take too long for us to get home. I wasn't surprised that the lights were still on, but it seemed like Logan was.
"I don't think you'll have to worry about waking anyone up."
"Probably not." I said with a hint of a smile.
"I'll see you later, Kristen. That was great."
"I love you."
"What?"
"Nothing."
Of course I would say something like that. Now Kevin would have even more material to use. Great. Just what I needed, the world being put back in balance and the only way for that to happen would be Kevin messing up my inner world which, at the moment, revolved completely and totally around Logan.
