"What do you want?" Zoe asked, trying not to show any irritation in her voice as she remained adamant to live up to her peace treaty. Connor decided, after minutes of anxiously pacing back and forth in front of Zoe's door, to stop being a wuss and enter his sister's room. His heart was racing and his palms were sweaty as he reached for her cold doorknob (which he didn't have, thanks Larry) and now stood awkwardly shifting as he tried to muster up the words. After a few moments of Connor not saying anything and just opening and closing his mouth, Zoe rolled her eyes and spoke up.
"Stop imitating a fish and come in, you're creating a draft with your mouth like that."
Connor clenched his jaw and sat as far away from her on her bed as possible before looking up to see her confused face staring at him.
"Hi." He said, lips pressed together forming a thin line.
"Can I help you?"
Connor sighed and repositioned himself an inch closer.
"Canyoubraidmyhairplease?" He managed to rush out without looking at his sister and clenching his fists.
"I'm sorry Connor I can't process the English language at that speed." Ugh was she really going to make him embarrass himself even more? Connor breathed out again, face becoming a new shade of crimson.
"Can. You. Braid. My. Hair. Please.?" He asked for the second time, and by the word "hair" Zoe started squealing and jumped up from her bed and rushed to her nearest hairbrush as Connor tried (and failed) to contain a groan and cover his face with his hands. See, after his orchard adventure with Evan, Connor had been playing around with some artwork he was working on and found the gift Zoe had offered him as a peace treaty. Although Zoe deserved more than him, they both secretly longed to mend their broken relationship and Connor owed it to her to try to make it work. So there he was, half an hour before school started, asking his sister to braid his hair, something she always wanted to do for him.
"So what's the occasion?" Zoe asked, carefully getting rid of the knots in his hair.
"Nothing special just wanted to try something new." He replied, adjusting the laces on his boots. A small part of him wanted to look better these days but he wasn't sure as to why. He had started ironing his clothes and wearing some other clothes he had found in the back of his wardrobe. Don't fret, still dark clothing of course. Zoe continued working on his hair, muttering peculiar things about fishtails, mermaids, and French people. Connor took this time to take in her room. Typically, when Connor went into Zoe's room it was only for a few seconds and involved arguing or stealing her nail polish so it had been a while since he had actually seen her room. Looking around, he saw her faded orange walls and shelves filled with photos of her friends. Her sheet music was piling up on top of her desk and her shining saxophone leaned against her dresser. She hadn't changed a bit.
"How's your jazz band club thing going?" Connor asked eloquently, motioning towards her saxophone.
"My jazz band club thing is going really well thanks for asking." She apparently had learned how to be sarcastic. "I have a concert coming up actually. Sorry if I'm too loud these days." She replied quietly.
"I'll come to watch you play." He said without thinking. It had been years since Connor had voluntarily gone to one of Zoe's concerts. "If that's ok with you, I mean." When Connor first stopped feeding he was the worst he'd ever been and that was when he had begun to shut out his sister. His parents couldn't get him to her concerts without him kicking and screaming.
"Oh. Sure-sure. I'd love that. Just feed after ok? I don't need you accidentally feeding off one of my bandmates." She joked, grabbing a hairband from a pile.
Connor stiffened. "That won't be a problem Zo, I'm still not feeding." He said trying to keep a light tone. He lifted his sleeve to show her and her eyes widened but she didn't say anything.
Zoe cleared her throat and turned her attention back to his hair. "All done. Take a look!"
Connor sat up and faced the mirror and couldn't help but smile at his sister's handiwork. His hair was braided on the sides of his head and the rest of his hair was swept up into a loose bun. It was a subtle look but looked great.
"Thanks. You did good, Zo."
"Anytime. Now get out I have to get ready for school." She smiled and ushered him out of her room., closing the door behind him.
10 minutes to go before he had to leave. That's good enough. Connor headed the bathroom and locked the door. He brought his hand to his mouth and pierced the flesh of his index finger on his fang before sucking the small amount of blood that dripped out. He swallowed the salty blood and braced himself for the disgust. When he looked in the mirror this time he saw the same tired look and dead eyes but he seemed brighter. The way his hair and clothes looked made him feel satisfied for once. Once his finger stopped bleeding, he placed a band-aid over the small hole and looked in the mirror one last time before leaving for school. Maybe it'd be ok today. Maybe just today.
To say that Jared was giving Evan a hard time about Connor was an understatement. The second Evan arrived at school, Jared was there, ready to bombard him with all sorts of inappropriate questions about Connor. The more Evan tried to deny his accusations, the worse it became.
"So who's paying who for the sex? I never thought you'd have the balls to do this Evan. I'm proud for once." Jared teased, patting Evan on the head. Evan tried to sputter out a response but he had lost all hope in redeeming himself now.
"It's not like that Jared."
"Ev, my man, it's ok. There is nothing wrong with the love one man feels for another." At that Evan's whole face was covered in a pink blush which did not go unnoticed by Jared.
"Holy shit. Wait, Evan. Don't tell me you actually like him? Wow, I didn't know you had a thing for bad boys." Jared couldn't stop laughing as Evan began talking.
"Wha-what Jared no. No, we're just friends please stop people are looking at us." Evan tried to shrink into himself as he felt the eyes of some classmates on them as they passed in the hallway. He barely wanted to confront his own crush on his best friend let alone admit it to Jared. He was hoping it would just go away as time passed. There was no use in actually wasting energy on any hope he could feel with this crush. Jared's eyes lit up as he saw something behind Evan.
"Hey Connor, loving the hair. Very pretty. It's nice that you dress up for Evan." Jared placed an arm around Evan and turned him to face Connor, whose face showed confusion with a pinch of irritation.
"Whatever Kleinman. Go eat a bath bomb or something." Connor spat back with a roll of his eyes.
Evan looked over at Connor and felt his heart flutter at the sight of him. His hair was done up today and he looked beautiful. He looked different, cleaner, fresher. Like a newer version of him. Evan's crush was growing no matter how much he tried to push it back down to the depths of his loneliness.
"M-morning." He managed to throw out to the taller boy before looking down. He picked at the end of his cast. Connor looked down at the boy, confused. Did he do something wrong already? Evan was avoiding his eyes.
"You ok, Hansen?"
"He's more than ok with you here, isn't that right Evan?" Jared chimed in, bumping shoulders with Evan. So it was his fault. It sounded like Evan didn't want him around for some reason. Connor couldn't remember doing anything to Evan but then again it seemed like his existence just pissed people off at times.
"Connor, my friend, it seems Evan here has something to tell you," Jared announced as he pushed Evan forward.
He was about to ask Evan what Jared meant when Evan shot out "I DON'T LIKE HIM JARED!".
The background noise of people shuffling through the hallway suddenly stopped at Evan's outburst. Connor felt the silence in his mind as well as he took in Evan's words. What. He knew it. It was all a lie. People are always the same. They just use you until they're bored.
"You hear that freak? He says he doesn't like you." Jared repeated for him with a smirk.
Connor's mood flipped like a switch and he was filled with betrayal and anger. Evan just stood there, unable to say anything as he focused on the people staring at him in the hallway. All of their eyes on him. All of them focusing on him. Him. Him. Him. This isn't what he wanted. He didn't mean to shout out that but Jared's teasing just kept repeating in his head. If Connor knew about his crush he'd probably think Evan was disgusting.
"WELL FUCK YOU!" Connor shouted back, shoving Evan hard into the lockers. Evan blinked for a minute, shocked at what had just happened before he wordlessly began turning away. His chest was empty and his arm stung from hitting the locker. He took off, walking at first but then running through the hallway, to the rooftop they shared.
Connor stood there fuming for a moment. Fuck. Evan looked scared. He didn't look like he hated Connor. Evan wasn't like that, Connor remembered. Evan was good. He didn't want to lose his only friend. They had become so close in so little time. Evan was worth it. Breathing slower and clenching his fists, Connor started heading to where he knew Evan would be, all the while ignoring his classmate's whispers and stares.
Evan couldn't control himself. His breaths came out all raggedy and his vision began to blur as tears came to his eyes. It felt like he was going to explode. His breathing was heavy and fast. He tried to make no noise but the sobs still escaped his mouth. Evan heard the door open but it sounded so far away. Everything was far away. It was just him suffocating. Alone. It was always like this. Jared wasn't ever there for him, his mother was never there for him, no one was. No one ever would be, especially now that he had just ruined things with Connor.
"Hey, hey, Evan breathe for me" A voice called out. Connor. Connor was there for him. Why was he there? Evan looked up with shiny eyes from the tears but continued hyperventilating. Connor sat next to him and cautiously wrapped his arms around him. Evan didn't respond so he removed his arms from Evan and took his hands in his own while trying to catch his eyes but nothing was working.
"Please, Evan I need you to breathe. In for five, out for six c'mon I know you can do it." Still nothing. Evan just looked up at him with tears flowing from his eyes. Shit shit shit Connor thought. He's going to pass out at this point. Evan's fingernails were digging into the skin on his arms again. Connor hesitated for a moment before quickly glancing around to make sure no one was around, placing his hands at Evan's waist and pulling him closer. He had to do it. It would calm him down. When he fed on people, he shared the euphoria he felt with them which also made them forget.
"I'm sorry for this, Evan," Connor whispered.
He placed one hand on Evan's waist and one at the base of his neck. He felt Evan tense up for a brief moment before he moved his own head forward, pausing just above the curve of his neck. Connor tightly closed his eyes as his fangs emerged with anticipation and he carefully dug them into Evan's soft skin. He heard Evan whimper slightly as his fangs pierced his skin so he began sucking up the blood and God was his blood sweet. The taste of his blood exploded on his tongue as he licked at the skin, mopping up every drop. Connor felt as if he had never really tasted anything worth feeding on before Evan's blood. He now understood why the sight of Evan's blood had affected him so much the other day. He'd never tasted anything so delicious. The drunk feeling surged through him with such a force he had never felt before. Connor continued sucking on Evan's neck until he heard a small noise come from the smaller boy and he remembered why he was doing this.
He pulled back to see Evan had stopped crying and was now breathing slowly with a peaceful look in his eyes. It was as if the storm had settled. Evan looked like an angel as Connor held him, with his pale skin and blond hair and light eyes and a trail of blood down his collarbone. He stared off into the sky, tears drying on his soft cheeks. Connor caught himself staring and focused himself on cleaning the blood off of himself and Evan and wrapping his hoodie around Evan. Evan would wake up with no memory of what happened whatsoever.
"I'm sorry Evan. It's all ok now."
The shame settled into Connor as he took one last look at Evan before leaving. He had done this to him. He had fed off his only friend.
