Ann wants to take an acid bath.
Her mother and sister are absolutely gushing, "You look so cute!"
From the living room her younger brother pipes up, "Yeah, cute enough for the corner."
When Ann asked her sister to make her hot, she meant like refined sexy. Sarah took that and interpreted it as white trash. She's got this too-tight, long sleeved shirt that shows more cleavage than shirt. Well, it would if she wasn't so flat chested. Then her sister squeezed her into this tiny little black skirt that she's certain if she tries to walk in her ass will fall out of.
"I look cheap," Ann informs them flatly.
Sarah rolls her eyes, "You're such a Plain Jane. This is what men like."
Ann thinks about Caius and his ridiculously fancy suits and his old fashioned tendencies and disagrees. However, the headlights coming through the window as a car pulls up their drive informs her it's too late to change now.
She's going to just have to live with this horrible outfit.
"Whatever," Ann says as she grabs her bag and heads out the front door.
Caius is standing outside the car already, waiting for her. He's examining the front of her house and what he can see of the dry lot to the west. When he turns to look at her, his face takes on this expression like he's just been shot.
Ann's face takes on the color of the stupid red heals she's wearing.
"My sister picked it out," she grumbles while stomping her way towards the car. Caius collects himself and quickly rushes to open the door for her.
Ann knows that she has to kill all witnesses to erase this outfit from collective memory.
…
Caius grips the steering wheel of the rental hard enough to leave dents. Next to him sits his scantily clad mate who's resolutely refusing to look in his general direction. Probably to maintain her pride, possibly because she can sense his arousal.
He's taking her to some bar in the next town over that's having live music and dancing. Demetri is already there waiting for them but Caius wonders if they're going to make it. A large part of him wants to pull this car over and make love to her.
However, this is only their second official date. It's far too early in the courting process for Caius to make such an advancement.
Instead he tries to make conversation, "What sort of music will be performed tonight?"
Caius is confident in his dancing abilities however he does feel a bit hesitant when Ann says, "Country music."
"Ah," he replies warily.
Ann must sense his discomfort and smiles over at him, "I'll take lead when we dance."
If he could breathe, Caius would have let out a relieved sigh.
He thinks tonight is going to be interesting to say the least.
…
The bar is crowded when they arrive and also rather rural. Caius parks the car in the first available space he finds (which is off the road) and he escorts his beautiful mate into the establishment.
Demetri wades through the crowd as soon as he sees them and he's dragging along some half drunk woman.
Ann smirks at the sight and leans in to tell Caius that she went to high school with that girl. There's definitely a story there but Demetri makes it over to them before he can hear it.
"Buona serata, Caius, Miss Ann," Demetri greets jovially and the girl on his arm let's out an obnoxious giggle that has Ann biting her lip to hold in a snide remark.
Caius greets him in return and then has to field an awkward introduction and hug from the girl, Christie.
Eager to let Demetri continue his, whatever it was that he was planning on doing with this woman, Caius excuses himself and Ann with the plan for them to get drinks. Out of the corner of his eye, Caius sees Demetri get led towards the bathrooms by the woman. Ann sees it too because she makes a gagging noise.
"She used to date my brother," Ann says, finally explaining how she knows Christie. The bartender chooses that moment to get their orders. Caius of course will only pretend to drink. It's something he practiced quite a few times on his way to the United States so that his mate would not catch on that he was not human.
While Ann is ordering for them, he takes a look at the dance floor. The music is lively, as is the dancing. He wonders if his Ann would enjoy ballroom dancing.
Ann pulls him from his musings by tapping his arm with the side of an outstretched beer bottle. He takes it from her hand and Ann leans in to continue her story, "Anyways, at some point Christie cheated on my brother and then gave him the clap."
Caius grimaces at the tale; Demetri is lucky that he cannot contract anything as a vampire.
The night passes quickly. Ann only wants to dance for a few songs and Caius feels as though he's floating on cloud nine for every second he has her in his arms. She's much shorter than him, even in her heels, and the crowded dance floor means that she has to be pressed close to his body. She fits against him perfectly and he is once again in awe of this stunning being that the Gods have blessed him with. He wishes he could dance forever with her, but all too soon she leads him away from the dance floor back to the bar.
Demetri and Christie make a few appearances as well only to return to the bathrooms every time for another romp. Ann looks entirely too entertained by this.
By the end of the night, Caius is leading his tipsy mate back to the rental, keeping a steadying arm around her waist as they tromp through the gravel and grass. The ride to her house is silent — Ann turned off the radio as soon as Caius started the car — and he is wondering what he should say. Before he can come to a decision, Ann speaks up.
"Pull over," Caius starts a bit at his mate's words and does as asked. When he's safely on the shoulder of the dirt road he turns the car off and turns to look at her fully. The only light is the soft glow of the moon and that's it and his eyes take in her image hungrily. She's beautiful no matter what lighting, situation, and outfit— it doesn't matter.
She stares at him seriously for a long time; her eyes tracking over what she can see of his face carefully. It's only after several minutes that she speaks, "What do you want with me?"
Caius finds himself confused by the question and before he can open his mouth to ask her what she means, Ann beats him to it.
"I mean, you're some rich, Italian stranger who's literally the hottest person I've ever seen and you suddenly take interest in a girl who works at Walmart," she says, her eyes narrow and her teeth bared, "What do you want from me?"
Caius wonders if until this moment anyone has taken an interest in her. The way she's acting, so guarded and flighty, would suggest no. Caius thinks they're all fools for not seeing the goddess amongst them.
To humans, the concept of true mates is beyond their comprehension. He's heard many unmated vampires and humans either scoff or cower at the idea. To those who are unmated, it would seem that any choice in their lives has been striped from them. Caius too thought like that once upon a time.
As he sits now, facing this woman who calls to a deeper, more ancient part of him, he realizes he was wrong. He doesn't feel like any choice has been taken from him at all.
Even now, he doesn't know if there are any words in any language to describe what he feels when he looks at her. To those that haven't found their mates, that prospect does seem frightening.
As Ann is now she cannot feel what Caius feels; she does not know deep in her being that he is hers and she is his.
"I just want to spend time with you," he tells her while reaching out and grabbing her hand, "You do not have to like me in return. Just let me be in your presence, that's all I ask."
He releases her hand and places his own back into his lap. From here on out it's up to her to decide what she wants from him.
Ann's face is still drawn with harsh suspicion but there's a light in her eyes that warms at what he says. Without any prompting, Ann reaches across the console and grabs his face, tugging him into a kiss.
It's a small, simple one. A peck of the lips really, but Caius feels like his whole existence has led to this single moment.
When they separate, Ann searches his face, looking for something that Caius doesn't understand. She must find what she's looking for because her lips quirk up into a small smile and she pushes him back into his seat.
"Take me home, cowboy," Ann says with a tinge of breathlessness and a bit of teasing to her tone, "If you bring me back too late, my daddy's gonna shoot you dead."
Caius does as requested and it isn't until he's back in his hotel room that his phone lights up with an alert. It's a message from Ann.
'You can pick what we do for the next date.'