Chapter 9

Comfortable

"Ok Chris." Aubrey said confused.

"Hello?" Stacy answered as if nothing was wrong.

"What-are-you-doing?" I asked trying to control the rage inside of me.

"Helping Aubrey make dinner for her parents. If you had listened to anything she said you would know that." She said with a giggle, I could not believe she was testing me.

"No, what are you doing with Aubrey. I told you that you could not meet her, remember?" I was counting backwards from ten in my head.

"Oh I remember what you said I just didn't feel like listening anymore." I could hear Aubrey laugh in the background.

"I cannot believe you disobeyed me!" I hissed through the receiver.

"Disobeyed you?" She covered the mouthpiece with her hand though that did not stop me from hearing her excuse herself from Aubrey's presence; thank goodness for that. "You are not my father; you do not get to give me orders. In fact if anyone one should be giving orders and making demands it should be me. I am older than you and I am the one who turned you, so don't you dare disrespect me." She spat through the phone.

"Ok fine." I said backing off just a fraction. "I still asked you not to meet her and you go behind my back. Seriously Stacy this is low." I was not going to let her off the hook, not after I explained my reasoning behind my decision.

"You were being a selfish ass. I knew you would never say yes so I took matters into my own hands. And I'm glad I did, she really is lovely." Stacy said, her voice softening at the mention of Aubrey.

"Oh no you do not. Make up some excuse and leave right now. I am not demanding, I am asking. Please for me, leave now."I was still angry but I knew it would be easier to argue face to face and Aubrey would not have a chance to hear the argument at all.

"I'm sorry Christopher, I can't do that. I'll tell Aubrey to call you later." She said quickly before disconnecting the line.

"Shit!" I muttered under my breath. I threw my phone at the wall and it made a nice size hole in the wall. I covered my face with my hands and slumped down on the couch. Why could Stacy not understand that this was not a game? Could she not see that I was looking out for everyone by keeping Stacy and Aubrey apart? I had to figure out a way to fix this.

Three hours later I was still sitting in the same spot and the same position when my wall vibrated. I ran over to it and retrieved my phone from the hole. I was surprised that it was still in one piece and answered.

"Hello?" I answered not looking to see who was calling.

"Hey Chris, sorry about earlier. Stacy said I should give you some time to calm down." Aubrey said quietly.

"Stacy was right." I mumbled just loud enough for her to hear.

"Chris?" She asked tentatively.

"Yes?"

"Why were you so upset? Didn't you want me to meet your sister?" She was being so cautious it made me feel bad.

"No." I replied honestly.

"Oh." She said and I could hear the hurt in her voice.

"Can I tell you why?" I asked. She remained quiet so I continued. "My sister has a way of jumping to conclusions. She will look at a strand of grass and see a meadow."

"I don't understand." She said.

"Well our friendship is like the strand of grass. When Stacy looks at our friendship she sees more than what is there." I explained.

"So you mean she thinks we are more…" She started.

"…More than friends." I finished happy that she understood.

"Oh I see." She said sounding disappointed again. She was not understanding.

"Well it is only a problem because… Well you see… the thing is…" How could I say this without saying too much? "The thing is I like the way things are now, and I would not want any pressure from my sister to change the way things are." As in I am already much invested in a human friendship that I will have to end one day and I do not want to complicate things by engaging in the type of relationship Stacy thinks I should have with Aubrey.

"Well Chris I like things the way they are now too, but like my professor says 'there is always room for improvement' and meeting Stacy is an improvement I like. It's nice to meet someone so close to you. I would love for you to meet my brother, and my parents." Aubrey said sounding a little brighter.

"That would be nice." I said knowing that meeting her family would be something I would avoid at all costs. I had no business meeting them, and I had no intention to either.

"Speaking of change…"Aubrey said.

"What else?" I asked not sure I wanted to know the answer.

"Well I was hoping that instead of going bowling…how about we go to that new club they opened two streets over from the bowling alley."She sounded excited. But a club? I had never been to a club. I would not know what to expect.

"Sure thing, we are celebrating you after all. Should we invite Dex and Cassandra?" I did not want to be the only vampire there. The one thing I did know about clubs was that they were crowded. I would need Dex to help restrain my thirst.

"Already done. I'll meet you there." She said happily.

"Ok see you in a few." I was glad that she was happy.

----CLUB----

"I don't know man, woman are crazy." Dex said as we stood outside of Obsessions waiting for Aubrey and Cassandra. I had just finished explaining the situation with Stacy when I saw Aubrey's Focus pull into the parking lot.

"Yeah, I am starting to understand that. They are here." I said as I pointed out Aubrey's car as she parked. We walked over to meet them.

"Hey Christopher, hey baby." Cassandra said as we reached the car, she got out first. I also respected Cassandra for the fact that she called me by my full name, even though I allowed Aubrey to call me Chris, Cassandra could see that I was more comfortable with Christopher. Dex pulled her into a hug, one that she probably thought was tight, and kissed her lightly on the lips. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Aubrey watching them with a look of…longing. I never hugged Aubrey, I never trusted myself to be careful enough; and I certainly never kissed her; that was one of those things I would avoid at all costs no matter how much my body longed for her.

"Hello sweetheart," Dex replied before looking up to Aubrey. "Hey kid." He said affectionately. Dex had taken to picking on Aubrey the way a brother would his younger sister, it was actually quite sweet.

"Hey Dex, you guys wanna tone down the PDA, I think that might scare some of us." She laughed and I think she was referring to me. Why could no one understand, well I guess Aubrey would never understand. But Stacy and Dex could and should understand the risks of a romantic relationship with a human were ones that I did not want to take.

I walked over to Aubrey and gave her hand a light squeeze. This was as much contact as I ever allowed between us.

"Hey you," I said. "Are we ok?" I wanted to be sure that she was alright with the earlier happenings of the day.

"Yeah, most definitely." Aubrey said halfheartedly, which to me meant 'no you have more explaining to do'. "Let's go inside." She said to all of us.

Inside the club was different than anyplace else I had gone with Aubrey or anyone else for that matter. The lights were off, the room was light by neon lights some that were stationary and others that jumped all over the place. There were no tables, which did not bother me, any since I knew I would not need to sit, though there were a few stools lining the bar, so if Aubrey or Cassandra needed to sit they could. There were also four platforms in the room. One held the DJ stand and some speakers, two had cages with bars inside, and the last one sat in the middle of the room and people were perched on the sides bobbing along to the music. The music that was very loud by the way. The atmosphere was filled with smoke, due to the smoke machines on the DJ platform. The room was also packed with people. I was not a place I would visit on my own accord but Aubrey wanted to come so I would make the night.

"Can you get me a drink please?" Cassandra asked and Dex nodded before disappearing into the crowd towards the bar. "Come on let's dance." She said as she dragged Aubrey toward an empty spot on the dance floor. The two of them matched, Aubrey and Cassandra. They were both wearing deep blue shirts with black Capri's and black heals. Though the shirts and heals were different styles they still looked like they coordinated their outfits. That made me chuckle. I stopped chuckling as soon I saw Aubrey start to dance. She was very good and I could not take my eyes off her. I did not even notice that Dex had reappeared by my side until he slapped me on the back.

"Breath man." He whispered to me.

"Oh sorry!" I said taking a deep breath, but keeping my eyes on Aubrey. She looked up and smiled and beckoned for me to join her.

"Come on Romeo." Dex said leading the way to the girls. He handed Cassandra her drink and then began to dance with her, leaving Aubrey to turn to me. I was so nervous; I had never danced this way before. Ask me to Waltz or Tango and I am your vampire, but hip hop and grinding…I was terrified.

"Come on." Aubrey said obviously reading my face. "It's easy just sway your hips like I am." She smiled at me and demonstrated. I had forgotten just how much of a man I was until then. The smooth swaying motion she made with her hips was arousing. All of a sudden the music changed to a much softer and slower beat.

"That's strange." I heard Cassandra say as she stepped closer to Dex and wrapped her arms around his neck as he placed his hands on her hips.

"Why is that strange?" I asked Aubrey.

"Because," She said stepping closer to me. "They don't usually play slow songs at night clubs…at least not the ones that we have been to." She looked at me hesitantly. "Shall we?"

I thought for a moment. I knew I would hurt her feelings if I said no, so I took a deep breath and laid my hands on her waist. "We shall." I said smiling as she shivered and placed her hands on my neck.

"You're always so cold." She giggled.

"Sorry" I said sheepishly.

"No it's ok, that just means I'll have to warm you up." As she spoke she brought her body closer to mine so that our chests were now touching. "There." She said looking up at me. "This isn't so bad right?"

"No, not bad at all." I said not sure what she was getting at.

"So change can be good, right?" She smiled widely and batted her eyes a little; I could tell she was trying hard to win me over. If only she knew she had done that five months ago.

"Right." I said playing along. Her scent was engulfing me. I had never been this close to her, or any human, before. Surprisingly enough it was not the blood lust that was getting to me. The plain old lust was driving me crazy. In my hands I held a beautiful, fragile, willing woman. I knew if I gave her the choice we would have the same type of relationship that Dex and Cassandra had. But I cared for her too much to put her at risk. Aubrey knew the song and was singing it to me:

You wont let me
You upset me girl
And then you kiss my lips
All of a sudden I forgive (that I was upset)
Can't remember what you did
But I hate…
You know exactly what to do
So that I cant stay mad at you
For too long thats wrong
But I hate…
You know exactly how to touch
So that I dont want to fuss.. and fight no more
Said I despise that i adore you
And i hate how much i love you boy (yeah…)
I cant stand how much I need you (I need you…)
And I hate how much I love you boy (oooh whoa..)
But I just cant let you go
And I hate that I love you so (oooh..)
You completely know the power that you have
The only one makes me laugh

Said its not fair
How you take advantage of the fact
That I..will be under reason why
And it just aint right

As we swayed to the music I fell into kind of a trance. There was nothing but the music, no one but Aubrey and for a second I felt that I could make it work between us. I felt that all of the crap would not matter because I would have her. It was in that moment that she stood on her tip toes and laid her lips to mine. Gently at first but then she pushed harder and I felt the warmth of her lips scorching mine. She tightened her hold on my neck and her tongue touched my lips seeking entry inside. It was then that my brain began to work again and I pushed her away.

"Aubrey no." I said sternly. I could feel the venom collecting in my mouth, but the blood lust was minimal compared to my anger, at myself. How could I let this get so far? What happened to the boundaries I set in place to avoid this?

"Chris what?" She looked confused and tried to wrap her arms around me again. Dex and Cassandra looked over to us to see what was wrong. Thankfully everyone else ignored us.

"Aubrey I cannot do this, this was a mistake, I have to go." I could see the bewilderment on her face as I looked for the nearest exit. I maneuvered through the sea of people, more quickly than I should have, and exited out of the side door. I began walking back to my car as I sent Dex a text message: 'So sorry buddy I have to disappear for a while-CL'. I heard the door close behind me and then footsteps running toward me but I did not stop.

"Christopher Lagavis you stop right this instant and come back here!" Aubrey yelled after me stomping her foot in rage. We were alone on the back street behind the club. I turned to her, though not out of obedience, I merely wondered why I should spend my time with her. She would never understand and I could not explain it to her without putting her in danger.

"And why should I?" I spoke quietly, knowing my words would just reach her ears.

"Because," She said as she walked toward me, her voice softened but her features remained angry. "We need to talk about," I Closed the gap between us in three quick strides.

"We need to talk about NOTHING!" My voice was still quiet though I had taken on some of her anger. I could feel it rising from the pit of my stomach, I had to control myself. I took a deep breath and spoke through my teeth. "You were a mistake. Get that through your head and get out of my life." Under the dim lighting of the lone street lamp I could see tears forming in her eyes. But I didn't care I was protecting her.

"Oh sweetie," her voice and features both completely calm, "that was not a mistake, it was beautiful. You and I both know that." She reached out to touch my arm but I pulled away.

"You are Delusional." I spat at her knowing this would cause her tears to spill over. I pivoted on my feet and was at my car in two seconds flat. As I put the car into drive I saw her fall to her knees sobbing.

I felt horrible but I knew I had to do this, I had to push her away. I would go straight home and pack my things. I would have to leave town for a while. Get my head straight. And I knew exactly the place to go.

________________________________________A~N_____________________________________

Well what did you think???? Please let me know! The next chapter you will see some familiar faces, I'm excited to write the next chapter too, but it may take me a while so bear with me and please please please review!

______________________________________TASHA____________________________________