Chapter 12:
Hope you are still enjoying this story!
Just after 3pm I manage to wipe the last of the tears from my face and the hole aching in my chest from the memories of my change day still raw. I look at my reflection and quickly apply some concealer to hide the red raw marks under my eyes from the unstoppable crying of the past 2 hours. I absolutely hate Oliver at the moment because if he hadn't have done this to me, I wouldn't be feeling all this guilt and remorse for what happened. No feelings other than hate, at the minute, are flowing through my veins and I have to focus on breathing slowly, deeply, to dispell it. Finally I manage to get rid of the hatred (it is so hard being a vampire to keep emotionally balanced as all the extra head space means you get hooked on things easier) and brush my hair through. Then I walk over to the door at less than human speed and begin to slowly descend downstairs to where I hear Michael's guitar playing a sweet lullaby.
...Oh yes because love really does go that far, because love is jumping a bullet for your true love...
I hear these beautiful lyrics crooned softly by Michael over the perfectly tuned notes. They sound great, but as I reach the bottom of the stairs, he stops playing and looks up at me. He grins as I walk to stand just in front of him and I jump up and down in excitement at his lyrics: my mood is pretty good now!
"Michael, if the rest of the song is as good as those lyrics, well that song is going to be number 1 in the country, in the world, for the next year!" I enthuse and he grins widely as he reaches up to give me a huge bear hug (probably too tight but I don't care, it doesn't hurt me because of my growing vampire strength). He whispers in my ear:
"Thank you Claire!" he says it with such happiness, I can't help but smile widely.
"I'm serious, it's an absolute cracker! But one thing, how long is it until Sam comes over?" I ask as we both sit down on the sofa and Michael puts his guitar carefully on the floor, careful with it because it's acoustic.
"He said 4 but I'm guessing it could be a bit earlier because it's not as if he's got anything to do because Amelie and Myrnin are having a major talk about something today," he explains and I nod because I know about this talk - it's my mask for the... Oh, I'm not even GOING there!
"Oh right, well want to play tennis on Wii sports?" I ask and he laughs loudly before nodding and turning the console on. He hands me the 2nd remote as we both stand up and wait for the game to load: honestly, how long does it take?
Soon it loads up, but it's not fair: Michael has been practising this game loads so soon takes the first game. I fight back to take game two but the third game is tied in deuce for what feels like ever, until a voice behind us startles us both:
"Wow and I thought I was bad at this game - you two are appalling!" Sam jokes as we both are jumping ridiculously high. "Whoah guys, chill, it's just me!"
He then sits down on the sofa, clutching a folder and pen, acting as if he owns the place. Then Oliver appears through the portal Sam left open, looking completely blase and bored. When he emerges (and stays standing, too posh to sit on our sofas!) Sam says:
"Well now that we're all here, let's start: I want to set up a party for Amelie to show my love for her, so anyone got any ideas?" Sam asks, opening up the (figurative) table for discussion and ideas whilst literally opening his notebook and clicking his pen on.
"How about traditional and classy?" Michael suggests.
"Or hip and modern?" I say jokingly.
"No need for that Claire. Sam, what about a normal party?" Oliver says, studying his fingernails as if he has nothing better to do.
"Michael, not a bad idea, Claire, that's not really fitting and Oliver what's the definition of normal?" Sam says but writes mine and Michael's ideas down anyway.
"How abouts we find everything that she likes, her favourites of all the party items then it's a personalised party and more lovey?" I try to explain and Sam looks really interested.
"You know what Claire, that's a really great. Idea. So, anyone else got any ideas or do we just want to confirm we're going with Claire's?" Sam says excitedly, scrawling (incredibly neatly) my idea on a new piece of paper.
"I vote we go with Claire's idea," Michael says, smiling over at me.
"I suppose if there are no other ideas, we can go with this idea," Oliver says.
"That's agreed then: we're going on a recon mission for the next 2 months... Find every single favourite thing, ok? So we're sorting out who takes on what next meeting because I need to get back given Amelie thinks I'm in the house still," Sam summarises before standing up. He gives Michael and I both a hug before leaving through the portal. Oliver gives us a look (that I can't read) before walking through the portal.
"So Miss Claire Danvers, what can't you do?" Michael teases me before continuing, "Well apart from tennis on Wii sports!"
oh, it is SOOOO on!
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Vicky xx