Chapter 14
After her awkward and personal conversation with Ekaterina, Ana gave Raivis's phone back to him and looked at the man, who was jotting down her ideas.
"You told me that you knew what I didn't like about myself." She asked but Raivis didn't turn his head, instead, he looked straight at the TV.
"Oh. I think that you don't like your outer appearance because people act before they think. They think beauty is the only thing that shows intelligence."
He then turned his whole body towards the girl and took her hands into his.
"You may not think you're pretty on the outside, but it is obvious that you're the most beautiful on the inside." Raivis said, he loved using his romantic words to woo his girlfriend.
Ana smiled and jumped onto the man. They embraced before Raivis built up the courage to ask his question.
"Is it… um… that time… again?" He asked as he blushed heavily and breaking the eye contact.
"Uh…what?"
"You know… it happens every… month." He said the last part while he was scribbling on the paper in front of him.
"It ended a few days back."
"I thought that your insecurity was kind of connected-"
"Oh no, I've had this ever since I was 12." Ana smiled even though it even hurt to think back to those days.
"12? But you said you were 15 for nearly 200 years."
"Do the math."
Raivis shook his head as he pulled the girl closer so her head was resting on his shoulder. He typed some things into the search engine.
"Wedding dresses? But isn't it a bit early?" Ana asked as she got a closer look at the monitor.
"Let's look at the online catalogue, then later we'll go and look at the store."
The two spent half of the night looking through catalogues, thinking of a colour palette, and thinking of a venue to go to. The other half was full of Ana trying to make human food, Raivis failing at dancing, and the two trying to calm down each other and failing miserably. This went on until, at 4 am, Ana proposed an idea that could change Raivis's life.
"I need to get this out, Raivis."
"Yes?"
"If we get married, I'm going to stay 22 even if you're 40, and that's just weird…"
"What are you trying to say?"
"I'm a vampire, and… If you would like, I can turned you into one also. Then we can be young forever." Ana said as she ran her hand down his cheek.
"Wow, this… is very sudden…" Raivis said as he scratched his neck and looked down. Ana was very nervous now, because turning a human into a vampire was usually a very intimate and awkward experience.
"If you want to."
"Just wondering, what if I don't want to be changed?"
"I'll stay young while you grow old." Ana said while Raivis held his head with his hand under his chin. After a long silence, Raivis decided to throw another question at the girl.
"Does it hurt?"
"N-not really, feels like two pinches on your neck." Ana said as she pinched Raivis's neck twice on one side to give him a simulation.
"Sorry, but I have to think about this a bit more."
"That's fine by me, but…"
"What?"
"You have until our first night." She admitted as she looked downwards again.
"Why is the time so short?" Raivis said as his eyes widened.
"Because, I have a culture too." Ana uttered a bit awkwardly, maybe it came out wrong.
"What do you do?"
Ana waved him off before adding.
"You know what? Whatever, we'll talk about this when the day comes."
Raivis nodded nervously, he had to choose between living and the living dead. Soon, Raivis fell asleep while Ana stayed up and thought things through. Ana thought and thought until her head hurt, later, she got up and made breakfast for Raivis. She actually made pretty good food for him, Ana walked over and gently shook him.
"Wake up Raivis, I made you breakfast."
"Huh? Oh, thank you." The man said as he stretched and got up lazily, he had slept for only 3 hours. It was 8 am and their next class was together, but Ana, being a bit disciplined, still had to go down to her room and get changed and cleaned up. She left after they exchanged their goodbyes and Raivis headed to the smell in the kitchen.
…
Ana opened her door and stepped in, the light suddenly turned on.
"Where were you last night?" Lili asked as if she was Ana's mother. But Ana knew she was saying this jokingly.
"With Raivis, why do you ask?"
"Ooh, night with your boyfriend?"
"No." Ana said as she went to her room to change.
"Well, aren't you a bit grumpy today?"
"I didn't sleep for the whole night."
"Brings me back to my point."
"We were making wedding arrangements." She said and watched Lili's mouth drop open and scream. She jumped and half-tackled-half-hugged Ana.
"When is it?"
"We're thinking about June-"
"Oh my god! We should go shopping together!" Lili said as she took out her phone.
"I should call Elizaveta!"
"Who?"
"Elizaveta was a top model for Victoria's Secret but now she has her own clothing line." She said happily and winked at Ana. She didn't get it.
Ana got dressed for her next class and headed toward it. She still didn't get why Lili winked at her. Maybe she had something in her eye.
…