It was Saturday morning. Sergei had barely slept after that special night-out with his friend. He couldn't help thinking about Elvira. He closed his eyes and attempted to let the beautiful emotions carry him away in a sweet and dreamful sleep, though his longing to meet her again kept him wide awake. He just wriggled in bed all night. At some point, he took a look at the clock on the bedside table and it was already 6:56 am. "It's useless," he thought. He got up nervously and walked to the kitchen while messing up with his hair. The dawn would provide a smooth lighting in the apartment, escaping from the spaces of the partially closed window blinds. He opened the fridge door and grabbed the milk. Closing it, he noticed that Logan's room door was open, just as he left it when they went to the club. He was still at Alice's. "At least, one of us is not sleeping alone," he thought.

He opened the cupboard and his gaze fell upon Logan's favorite kinky-patterned mug. He smiled and took it. He filled it with milk and quickly put the bottle back in the fridge. He thought of Elvira's lips, as he was bringing the mug to his own. In his mind's scene, he closed in more and more on the perfect carmine colour that decorated that fleshy pair, which was about to welcome the closing cigarette that she held.

In a flash of memory, her lips formed a slight smile that revealed a small part of her perfect teeth, amongst them being a noticeably sharp one. In that moment, he spat the milk he had only just tasted. Its awful, expired-like taste seemed to have struck him the very moment he made that odd realization. He had leaned frontwards while doing so, and he remained still in that position, holding the dripping mug, and a shocked and estranged face took place for quite some seconds. Then, the wet sensation of cold milk on his naked feet shook him from his stun-like state. He looked at the mess and puffed out in irritation.

As he was cleaning up, he wondered about that flash that struck him. He was a fan of fantasy and supernatural stuff, but that went too far. In the end, he concluded that several factors as the alcohol consuming, the club's eccentric gothic style and the lack of sleep caused his mind to imagine things. Or maybe, Elvira had a special denture and he just exaggerated.

After taking care of everything, he thought of going back to bed, though he didn't really feel like sleeping. His body and brain were tired, though the tension that took over him before wouldn't let him relax. He laid down on the couch and turned on the TV in a low volume, hoping that he would eventually drift into at least a few hours of sleep.

He woke up to the sound (and the smell) of frying oil. As his senses came to him, he found that his naked torso had been sweating and protesting to the increased temperature in the room. The TV was playing a different channel. He unwillingly got up slowly and tasted his dry lips. An intensively annoying pulse was pounding in his head. Logan's cheerful voice rang like a disfunctional whistling tea kettle in his ears.

"Sleeping beauty's up! A miracle! Couldn't resist to my legendary snitchel, could ya?"

Sergei looked towards the kitchen with a tired face. It felt as if he had been asleep for half a century. He slowly headed to the kitchen, lightly rubbed his face and asked in a low tone: "What time is it?"

Logan replied mischievously: "Half past two! My early bird slept till noon! I am so proud of you...!" he said, then he patted Sergei hard on the back. Sergei froze for a moment, staring blankly at some random direction. Logan took a teasing troll face with a wide grin.

"You missed work, eh?"
"Yup." replied Sergei, still in that posture.
"Are you gonna call them?" asked Logan, with the same grin.
"Nope."
"Wanna help me with the fries?"
"Yup."

Logan chuckled as he went back to frying. After taking a short shower, Sergei helped his friend with preparing the food.

"So, how was last night?" asked the raven-haired man. Logan smirked.
"I'm gonna meet her again," responded the blond, following playful dancy moves.
"...that says it all," said Sergei as he grinned. "Well, can't say that my night was so pleasant."
"Did Her Vampireness give you a hard time?" asked Logan in a most mischievous tone, "...see what I did there?"
"Oh, shut up," said Sergei as he placed the fries on a large plate. Logan giggled, then continued. "Told ya, man. You should've given her your number. You could hope to see her tonight. Now you have to wait till Monday!"

Sergei rolled his eyes sarcastically, then wiped his hands with a towel and sat on the dining table. He leaned forward and placed his elbows on the surface, covering his forehead with his hands. "Well, you know me."

"Indeed I do," said Logan warmly, as he joined him at the table. "You're the best guy, man, I'll give you that. It's just that you always do things the hard way. But that's just you. I respect that." Sergei turned his gaze on his friend, meeting warm eyes. Then he smiled. Logan placed his hand on Sergei's shoulder. "And I promise to hold your hand when you cross the street." Sergei slapped the blond's nape as the latter burst in laughter.

As they took lunch, Logan asked: "So, what are you gonna do about the 'moving in' thing? Now that you left that job... isn't it gonna take some time?" He took a large bite of his snitchel.
"I suppose it can wait," replied Sergei with a low gaze, his fork exploring his food.
"Do you have a plan?" asked Logan, barely making sense as he chewed hard.
"We'll see. I haven't saved a lot of money but they should keep me going for a while, until I find a new job. I wasn't crazy about the previous one anyway." He stuffed his mouth with some fries.
"Why don't we form a band?" asked Logan as his eyes sparkled with excitement.
"A band? The two of us? It's one thing to jam together, but forming a band..."
"We'll find others! Well, just think about it. No pressure."
"Eh... we'll see."

The rest of their day passed by with no special occurences. The evening, however, was quite interesting. The two friends went to their usual hangout spot, Eugi's. It was a bar with a cheap and friendly environment, it's woodly constructed and decorated style was that of an Irish pub. Along with the tables and couches, it contained a shuffleboard and a stand-up arcade cabinet. The bar counter was facing the entrance and, deeper in the room was a stage with instruments and a small dance floor before it. It was Saturday night, so several patrons would get to give their own musical performance, maybe trying to show up some skills. At some point, Sergei and Logan agreed to jam together, gradually "setting the place on fire". Sergei's piano skills could only be matched by Logan's magic fingers as he played the guitar. They played till the bar's closure, and the patrons seemed to enjoy every bit of it, along with quite some beer consumption of course. The owner of the bar was impressed that night, and now the two virtuosos had a new job. There would be organized musical events, held on certain evenings of each week and they would be the ones to perform during them.
They got home cheering as if they won the lottery.

Sunday passed by quietly. To Logan, it was a simple day with hints of fun, as he spent the night at Alice's again. To Sergei, every minute seemed like an hour. He just wanted to meet Elvira again. As he was getting closer to that time, he felt the weight of the world heavy on his shoulders. He read some book so that his mind would drift away from these thoughts but he couldn't really help it.

He woke up early on the next day. He couldn't really sleep any more. He dreamt of today's meeting with his muse of passion. After a while, he got up and decided to take a morning walk in the city, to breathe some air. Maybe that would help him relax a little. He grabbed a morning snack as he hurryingly dressed up, then got out of the building in quick steps. He got a coffee on the go. As he was getting into the deeper parts of the city, he fell onto larger crowds and louder noise. Most people walked in a hurry, probably going to work. It was Monday morning after all. The city wasn't that large in general, but it was for sure densely constructed. Despite living here for just a little longer than two months, Sergei was still not entirely used to that pace. For some reason, though, he found the energy of the city positively stimulating. He felt like exploring the city's old stores, so he made his way to a small passage which led to a somehow hidden area.

The ground was paved in that place, the buildings were older than the constructed majority of the city and they vented a special beauty. It was a little crowded but, for some reason, not loud. People apparently paid some kind of respect for what seemed to be a place untouched by the modern changes of the rest of the city. Sergei was walking slowly with his hands in the coat's pockets, observing the place and bearing hints of awe on his face.

At some point, he walked by a shop which its window caught his eye. He closed in to check on the merchandise better. It contained all kinds of old trinkets, jewelry, small decorative stuff, odds and ends etc. His gaze fell upon a specific piece. It was a brooch of gothic style. A very beautiful brooch. It had a stone of oval shape and black-and-ruby colour with small metallic patterns around it. A small black ribbon was tied on the back. The moment he saw it, he thought of Elvira. He immediately wanted to get it for her. Wait. He only met her once. Isn't it a little too soon for gifts? Yes it was, but it would be such a shame to avoid that beautiful piece. It would look great on her, it was as if someone made it especially for that woman. He decided to get it and then see if he eventually gave it to her. Someday, maybe. You can never know. He liked to think that things would work out between them. Surprisingly, it wasn't as expensive as he expected. It was put in a beautiful tiny box with a velvet wine-coloured surface. Sergei held it open for a while and looked at it with delight, as soon as he walked out of the shop.

The hours passed quickly. Returning home, he found Logan eating pizza on the couch, feet resting on the low table. There was also an open pizza box of medium size, most of it having been emptied. There was another one below it, sealed and warm. Logan turned to Sergei with a mouthful of the slice he was savagely devouring and nodded at him. Then, he turned his attention back on the TV, which seemed to play a silly comedy series. Sergei let out a "hey" and took off his coat, as he walked to his room. After a while, he returned casually dressed and sat on the couch, taking the other pizza box. "What do we have here?"
Logan struggled to swallow the large amount of food in his mouth, then replied.

"Sorry man, I ate all the fungi pizza. It's my favorite, after all." He grinned widely.
"No need to be," said Sergei as he opened the second box. "I'm not crazy about it anyway. Is this one a margherita?"
"Yep. All yours. I know what my pal likes to stuff his belly with." He let out a loud belch. Sergei looked at him with a "can't be helped" face, as the blond giggled. "Thanks for ordering for me too," said Sergei, then grabbed a slice.
"So... it's the big day, today," said Logan, mischievously moving his eyebrows up and down.
"Yup."
"Any plans for tonight?"
"Getting her number this time." Logan burst in a wave of laughter.
"I knew it! No more of that Romeo and Juliet crap!" Sergei grinned. Logan continued:
"So, what time are we gonna get there? She said she would arrive at eight but what if it gets too crowded?"
"We'll go sooner," responded Sergei, eyes fixed on the TV. "Are you going to bring Alice too?"
"Gee, I don't know," answered Logan, his voice lacking its usual energy. "Still not sure about our thing. I mean, I like her, but I only met her twice and we're having fun. Don't wanna get into the boyfriend/girlfriend stuff yet. We'll see."
"Suit yourself."
"Well, not everyone jumps into the relation-shit right away! Bet you're gonna bring flowers to that chick already!"
Sergei smiles as he looks at the TV. "I've got something on my mind..."