Chapter 4: Night at the Movies
Alex stopped in front of the old theater and looked up at the sign,"Frankenstein".
"Yup, I think we are going to get a great turn out with this one" she said to the air around her.
Alex had been left the old movie theater when her mom died, which was left to her after Alex's grandfather died. The theater was one of the focal points of the town back in the day when Alex's grandpa was little and he always dreamt of restoring it. He had spent every dollar he had to buy the place, but the he had gone to war and the theater just sat there and wasted away.
Alex however would not let it go to waste now that it was hers. To keep herself from going mad with grief she took some of the money her mom left her and fixed the place up a bit. "Give it a face lift" Alex would say.
She made the theater shine from head to toe, but nothing could replace the hole in her heart. It wasn't for a while that Alex started to heal.
Night after night she would replace flooring, hang curtains, polish the metal staircase, and slowly, while the old place started to come alive again, so did Alex.
Opening up the doors that afternoon, the smell of lemon and wood polish hung in the entry way.
"This won't last long after I start making popcorn"
Ok so she was defiantly going crazy with the talking to herself. Alex's hated doing that, but she was trying to fill the silence and not think about that dream she had had three days ago.
"The one where you almost sexed up the Vampire Alex!"
Yup she was going crazy. Too bad there wasn't a shrink in town. Maybe someone could tell her why she had to urge to confront Victor. Alex felt like she needed to see him again. She didn't know why but Alex felt a connection to him the night she dreamt of him. She wasn't too sure if she felt it the first time Alex saw him but it was more apparent now that she hadn't had any contact with since that night at his house. Ok yeah he was a Vampire and blood thirsty but there hasn't been a case of any Vamp taking a human in this town for more than a hundred years.
"Ok Alex, stop thinking about it! If you see him again you're not going to wuss out, your going to confront him, for now just work"
She tried to push it far from her mind and get into the mechanical motions of running the theater. Unfortunately Rebecca, her helper, had gone to Florida for a month so Alex had to run the place every weekend instead of trading off with Becca, but Alex liked the sanctuary of it; the quiet before and after everyone came to see the movie for the night
The rush of people at eight o'clock was maddening and Alex was struggling to keep up with charging admission and handing out popcorn. After the movie started playing, there was some peace and Alex could do some paper work; even though it was mostly all Greek to her.
After the movie had finished and everyone had left for the night Alex was alone and dreading the next part of the night, cleaning; God she hated this part but she did it anyways.
"You might as well just get it over with, there's not that much anyway Alex…" she said to herself.
Tonight though, as to stop her own thoughts from wandering, she would blast some music on the PA system to get her focused so she could get home quick.
While rocking out to "Girls just wanna have fun", she was cleaning the refreshment stand; she made mental notes what to restock on. After fishing up there she got the broom out and entered the seating area to sweep up.
She instantly froze. Someone was sitting at the very front of the theater. A dark shadow of a person stood up and turned toward Alex. Just as she was reaching for the lights the figure started moving towards her with such grace she knew exactly who would be there when she turned on the lights. When he was almost ten feet away from Alex he stopped and waited.
Waited for what?
Ok Alex, this is your chance. Maybe a "fancy meeting you here" would work or she would ignore him and continue cleaning until he said something.
What was he waiting for?
It dawned on Alex that he was waiting for her to make the first move. When curiosity took over her fear she reached for the light switches and flicked each of them on, waiting for the florescence to light the room.
As they did each one of his features struck her anew. The hair, the chin, the lips and the eyes. Those eyes, his eyes.
The music had stopped, which was odd timing but, they stared at each other. To Alex it seemed like she would need forever to go over all of his features but then something hit her. This guy saved her life, she had had an almost sex dream about him and now she was gawking at him; maybe he deserved some normal conversation.
"Hi" Alex squeaked.
"Hello" Victor boomed at her.
Suddenly it was all too much. Alex's body thrummed, she wanted him to be closer, wanted him to touch her like in her dream. Alex's heart was beating out of her ears and she was sure that Victor could hear it. She felt like she was going to faint and didn't want that to happen again.
"I think I need a drink" she said suddenly. Wow that sounded like she was a desperate drunk. Alex needed to get away before she threw herself at him.
Alex pulled her gaze away from Victor and walked into the lobby and around the counter to pull out a bottle of rum. She grabbed the two glasses that sat beside the bottle and poured into the first glass. Alex would share a glass with Becca before they left for the night; it seemed right for Alex to carry on the tradition especially in the current circumstances.
"Do you drink?" Alex asked as she poured the liquid into the second glass
"When the occasion calls for it" his smooth reply and slow smile almost melted Alex's heart.
Ok ok ok, keep calm, play it cool Alex.
"Believe me, the occasion calls for it…."
Ugh ok, not so smooth Alex!
Alex took her glass as Victor took his, he held up his in cheers and Alex downed it in one gulp. The familiar burn afterwards was soothing, when she looked at Victor, his glass was empty and he was staring at Alex intently.
"Another?" Alex asked
Yup she was defiantly coming off as a drunk.
"Please…" Victor smiled and nodded at her.
She poured, they drank.
Alex was feeling relaxed already and let a question slip out.
"So does alcohol affect you like it does humans?"
She instantly regretted it, but he answered before she could apologize.
"I don't get drunk, just slightly lightheaded. It passes through my system too quickly to affect me"
Alex was surprised. He answered the question without hesitation like he knew she knew he was a vamp already.
"Wow…I didn't know anything affected…um…vampires"
Ok that sounded weird.
"Yes, some things do affect us; we are not impervious to everything, even though some like to think we are."
"Wow, honesty. I like that"
Seriously, she sounded slutty. The thought made Alex about burst into giggles. Ok this is absolutely the rum talking.
Alex gestured to Victor's glass and held up the rum bottle.
"More?"
He placed the glass back down and nodded.
She poured, they drank.
"I will always be honest with you Alex"
His sincerity surprised her. He said "always" and that seemed to comfort Alex.
"Well…thank you, I haven't had a lot of honesty in a while"
And she hadn't actually. Everyone in town said Alex's mom would get better, even all those doctors at the hospital in the city. They never told her the truth; that the inevitable would happen.
"You can always count on my honesty"
Alex hadn't noticed but Victor had placed his hand over her that had left her glass and was flat on the counter. She felt the cool of his skin and the smoothness of his palm.
He looking into her yes,"I'm glad you didn't run from me. I've wanted to see you again. "
Alex should have been frightened but being this close to Victor, having confronted him before and almost fainted, she realized now that he wasn't that scared. He was amazing; strong and handsome. He held himself with such grace and he was staring intently at her. If the counter wasn't in between them, Alex would have wanted to taste those lips for real.
Now she had had too much to drink. She was light headed and needed to get home.
"Um I should go. Its late and I should get home"
"May I walk you home?"Victor sound eager to stay with her.
"Sure..."
She could feel the heat pool in her belly and when he looked at Alex like she was the only thing in the world, that heat would drop right between her legs. What she would like to do with that body…
"Okey Dokey let's get out of here. Just give me a sec while I switch off the lights and get my coat"
She had definitely had too much to drink. Alex couldn't believe her dirty mind.
"Ugh you don't even know him" she muttered to herself while she got busy turning off lights.
She grabbed her coat and headed to the front door where he was intently waiting for her.
"It started to snow, make sure you are warm," he sounded all business now.
"I'll be fine" she grinned.
It always liked to snow at random times in Kings Valley.
Alex stepped outside, locked door behind them and they started off towards home.
By this time, everyone was asleep so the only lights that were on were the street lights, illuminating their way home. Snow had already blanketed the ground so everything looked like a winter wonderland and the only sounds were their boots crunching against the snow.
Alex was just thinking how romantic everything looked when her foot slipped and twisted and she fell back. Before her butt fell ungracefully to the ground, strong arms were instantly there pulling her up effortlessly.
Strong grey eyes were looking at her "Are you ok?"
"Um…I"
"Is anything broken?"
Wow he was definitely a "getting to the point" kind of guy.
"OK…just give me a sec…and could you put me down?"
The look of surprise on his face made Alex giggle. Obviously he didn't know he was holding her a foot off the ground.
He placed her back on her feet, but picked her right back up again when Alex face twisted with pain.
"You're hurt", he didn't ask it as a question but Alex nodded.
"It's my ankle. I think I twisted it."
"You must put some ice on it before it swells."
The look on his face changed to grim determination
"I'm going to carry you home, but I move very fast so just remember to breathe"
Unsure of what was about to happened Alex tried to protest. "Wait a minute, so you're going to do that Vamp thing where you run really fast?"
"Yes" he said simply.
Well that was an honest answer and before she knew it Victor scooped his arm under her legs and pulled her up into his chest. Alex couldn't help but giggle with girlish glee and through her arms around his neck.
Yup, too much to drink, for sure.
"Ready?" he asked with a smile.
She didn't even begin to said ok when he whisked her off into the night.
...
Alex awoke in her bed with sunlight streaming through her window.
Her little two bedroom bungalow was not much but it was home.
She tried to recall the events of last night.
Alex remembered that Victor had all but took a rocket ship back to her house and helped her to the front door. She protested when he offered to come in and put ice on her ankle.
Maybe it was because Alex was a little drunk but she had let him in.
Not only did he put ice on her ankle and help her into bed, Alex had realized that he even left a tray of breakfast food on her nightstand next her bed.
It smelt so good; Alex started watering at the mouth. Steaming pancakes, eggs and bacon with a cup of tea lay beside her ready to be devoured.
"It's still warm" she whispered to herself. "He must have just put it here."
Just as she completed her thought, she heard her washing machine chime informing that the load was done.
Panic raced through her mind. He must still be in her house.
She heard the dryer door open and the sound of wet clothes being thrown in.
"O God! He's doing my laundry!"
