"Krissy, it's really awesome to see you again."
"It's so good to see you too!" Krissy sat down at the small table beside me, her straight black hair hanging low on her slim figure. "I heated up the miso for you and put the vegetable stir fry in the fridge for dinner, OK? Do you want me to come back later to help you out?"
"Geez Krissy, you make it sound like I'm dying," I joked through my sore throat. She smiled one of her model, flour white smiles at me and laughed. "Thanks for coming to check on me, I really appreciate it. Maybe once I'm not drowning in my own snot we can go see a movie together."
She made a face at me and chuckled. "Ewww that's so gross!" Her perfectly tanned skin practically lit up the trailer kitchen we sat in, absorbing the sunlight coming from the window. "But we definitely neet to get together again. It's been a while-"
An hour and an earful of gossip later, I was tucked contentedly into my bed situated at the far end of the trailer, a steaming bowl of miso soup mixed with stir fry in my lap and used tissues overflowing from the trash can beside the bed. It was good to see Krissy again. We had sort of a fallout, because she signed with this modeling company and was always busy. The last time we saw each other was four months ago. I knew that we wouldn't hang out for another long while. But there, in that bed and the pleasurable silence with hot food in me and conversation still hanging in the air... it felt nice to think so.
Knock knock
Wow, two in one day. The only other person it could possibly be is Kaoru.
"You're right," the familiar voice chuckled as he climbed through the door. His hair was blindingly orange in such a small space, and his eyes- somewhat excitedly?- ran over the whole room as he walked through tables and shoes to get to my bed. He was still in his uniform and held his bag over his shoulder. His golden yellow eyes flitted up to mine a little worriedly when he saw the tissues. "You sick?" he asked, his loud voice toned down to almost a whisper. I think it's the silence that's weighing down on him, making him realize how loud his voice is.
Um, no, just felt like wasting one of my school sick days so that I could be anti-green and throw away all these tissues for no reason-
"Alright alright, I get it!" he interrupted, laughing as he shifted on the bed. "It was a silly question. I guess I meant, is it something serious?"
I pulled out another tissue to blow my nose. Nope, just a cold, sore throat, and some stomach issues, no big deal. How is Tangent doing?
He rearranged the covers around me busily. My gosh, you're like a mother. He chuckled at my thoughts. "Yeah, sorry, just worried about you. Tangent's pretty cool, he gets along well with the other cats, especially the four his age. Most of the time he just finds a sunny spot and lies there for hours on end, until he's hungry."
I guess it hurts him to move around too much with his arthritis. I fiddled with my spoon, picking at the worn quilt blanket. I wanna come see him soon.
"Well you know you can come as often as you like," he said as he lay back at the end of the bed by my feet. "I think my family loves you."
I smirked at his weird way of putting things so bluntly. Glad to hear it. I was really nervous the whole time though. I think your dad would've really had me freaking out though. Just too many vampires in one place.
It feels so weird to say that word. Like, that's a word for stories around a campfire or for fantasy romance books about hot vampires thinking your blood tastes amazing or whatever. And here I am, using the word to apply to a whole bunch of real people. To you, a guy who attends school and has orange hair and walks in the sun, yet who can read my mind and sucks blood for sustenance.
"Yeah... that's how I saw it at first, too. But after a while it's really easy to just forget about," he mumbled contentedly. "And that whole thing about the romance fantasy book, hate to break it to you but some of that is actually true."
...You guys are all like Edward?
He burst into laughter, curling in a ball at the edge of my bed. I smiled at him chuckling a little through my nasal congestion. Guess not then, huh?
"No!" he managed between laughs. "No, I was talking about the 'blood tastes real good' part." He sat up to face me, a broad, pointy-toothed smile on his face. "The only time that's true is if the blood is that of the vampire's mate. Otherwise it's just metallic. But I wouldn't know because I've not had my mate's blood yet."
Hmm... interesting. I shifted my position in the bed, setting my miso down on the floor. Have you found your mate?
He blushed a light shade of red and played with the sleeve of his uniform. "Well, every vampire has one," he said, his voice much quieter now. "It's just a matter of finding them. Sometimes depending on their career, though, they can't be together. That happened to Lucretia's mate."
Oh. That sounds really horrible. The fact that Kaoru had refrained from answering my question flew from my mind. I'm really sorry.
"He just... he met her when he was studying to be a priest," he continued, looking back at me now. "And she told him everything about her being a vampire. Of course he had trouble understanding it at first, but after he did, he told her that he had to enter the priesthood, so that he could save both of their souls. He feared that otherwise she wouldn't be with him in Heaven."
That's probably the saddest and most beautiful thing I've heard.
He looked out the window through the kitchen, the setting sun's light reflecting off his paper-white face. "She doesn't think so."
Several hours later we were half way through our spontaneous LOTR marathon, laying side by side in my bed with more stir fry/miso combination and a bowl of popcorn. Usually I avidly stayed awake to finish all three movies (extended edition), but insomnia or no, this cold was getting to me. I was leaning on Kaoru, resting my congested head on his shoulder. Just so tired...
"You can go to sleep," he whispered. I felt him peck my forehead through my hair, and realized this was the first time I'd ever heard him sound so protective of something. Just the way he talked to me in that moment... "Don't worry."
So I didn't.
