"Thanks for letting me skip school today," Elizabeth said to Katherine as they ate brunch in the kitchen. "I thought that after all I missed yesterday, I'd have to go today for sure. Didn't Dad object to this whole plan?"
"He was reluctant, yes," Katherine nodded. "Rambling on and on about how you couldn't afford to miss school or whatever. But what do they teach you in school that is both a. useful and b. unable to be taught in the real world, hmm?"
"You have a point," Elizabeth replied.
"Can I ask what happened with Charlie?" Katherine wanted to know. "You only had the marks on your neck, so obviously, he didn't hurt you worse."
"Well, when it got really bad, I punched him in the face and he let me go," Elizabeth replied. "Then when I got away, he chased after me, and when he caught up to me, I took that bottle of liquid vervain out of my purse and shot it straight into his black, veiny eyeballs! He just fell right down. I told you this last night, but you probably don't remember."
"You sprayed him immediately?" Katherine asked, eyebrow raised. "Knowing that it was Charlie in there, you didn't grab him and urge him to find the good in himself? I've known people who would do that."
Elizabeth scoffed. "What am I, an idiot? I knew it was Charlie, but if I hadn't sprayed him, he would've killed me, and better he get wounded and heal than I get wounded and die. I know I told you that before, I think. But I wanted to tell you again."
Katherine smirked. "That's my girl," she replied. "You're more like me than you know."
"I am?" Elizabeth asked.
"Yes, you are," Katherine replied. "Relieved?"
"I am," Elizabeth replied. "Thanks a lot." Then her phone rang, and after a few words to the person on the other end, Elizabeth put her phone back in her pocket and began shoveling her pancakes and eggs into her mouth and gulping down her orange juice."
"Eat slower!" Katherine cried. "You're gonna choke!"
"I'm fine," Elizabeth assured her mother. "I gotta go. Thanks for ordering breakfast!" She gave Katherine a kiss and without another word to her mother, went off to continue her day.
After brunch, the next thing Elizabeth did with her day off was run to the store and get a movie before heading to Edward and Laura's house. When her aunt opened the door, she expected to get a hostile reaction, based on what she'd done to Charlie and her mother's overly harsh phone call that involved her calling Charlie several unprintable things. But to her surprise, Laura just hugged her and pulled her inside.
"I'm so glad you're okay," she said. "When Charlie told me what happened to you, I was worried sick."
"You were worried about him too, right?" Elizabeth asked. "After all, I did spray vervain in his eyeballs."
"He was fine when I saw him," Laura replied. "And that's what your dad had Alistair make you that spray for in the first place."
"Do you think he'll want to talk to me?" Elizabeth asked.
"He's in bed," Laura replied. "Go see for yourself."
Elizabeth ran to Charlie's room but kept the door open. "I brought us a movie," she said to him. He was sitting up in bed and playing a video game. "If you're worried about yesterday, I'm fine."
Charlie turned. "I know yesterday was scary for you," he said. "But it doesn't always have to be. Part of why it's hard for me to control my feeding is that I don't always feed to ease hunger. Sometimes I do it cause..." He blushed. "Cause it gets me hot. Especially with you."
"Really?" Elizabeth asked. "Wow, I had no idea."
"I know this might be bad of me to ask," Charlie continued. "But...can I kiss you?"
"Yeah," Elizabeth nodded and went to embrace him as their lips met. "But," she said, after they pulled apart, "I'm not giving you blood, okay?"
Charlie made a noise and pulled her closer to himself, taking the movie out of her hands and tossing it to the floor where it bounced and then laid still as Charlie and Elizabeth kissed one another rather passionately while rolling around on the bed.
Finally, Elizabeth was the one that ended the kiss, putting hands to her warm face. "Maybe we should take a break for a bit," she proposed. "Wouldn't want anything bad to happen, do we? Why don't we just watch movies instead, huh?"
"All right," Charlie replied. "But can I put my arm around you?"
"Well, of course!" Elizabeth replied.
Charlie then picked the movie up off the floor and popped it into the DVD player in his room, then settled in next to Elizabeth to enjoy the show.
As night fell and Charlie and Elizabeth finished watching their third movie, they heard a ruckus downstairs.
"What the hell is that?" Elizabeth asked.
"I don't know," Charlie replied. "Let's go see." They headed downstairs and saw Katherine and Laura fighting while Edward was trying desperately to pull them apart and poor little Eli was helping, all in vain.
"What is going on?" Elizabeth asked. That, more than anything else, caused Katherine to let Laura go. She locked eyes with her daughter and said, "Are you okay? Did they hurt you?"
"No, they didn't hurt me!" Elizabeth cried. "Charlie and I were watching movies! I'm sorry I lost track of time and forgot to call, but that doesn't mean you had to come over here and beat up Aunt Laura." She and Charlie came downstairs and each took a firm grip on their respective mother. "You two have to stop fighting," Elizabeth said.
"Yeah," Charlie replied. "What good does it do? What does it accomplish?"
"Other than giving Daddy migraines and make him want to kill both of you?" Elizabeth finished.
"I think someone owes me an apology," Laura said between her teeth as she glared at Katherine, one hand over what Elizabeth assumed was a black eye.
Katherine looked at Elizabeth who nodded. "Go ahead," she said.
"With what?" Katherine asked.
"Saying you're sorry," Elizabeth replied and gave her mother a push toward her aunt. "You know Daddy would tell you the same thing."
Katherine then rolled her eyes. "I suppose it was unfair of me to come here and punch you in the face, pull your hair, and give you a black eye without knowing all the facts about what Elizabeth was doing here."
"That's it?" Laura asked. "That's your apology?"
"Take it, Mom," Charlie said tiredly. "It's all you're getting and no one wants you two to start fighting again."
"Fine, I accept it," Laura replied. "But I'm not not gonna hug her or anything." She stomped off and slammed her door and Edward and Eli scattered to the other parts of the house, leaving Charlie and Elizabeth alone with Katherine.
"Do you want me to come home?" Elizabeth finally asked her mother.
"No," Katherine shook her head. "I guess you can stay now that I know where you are and that you're okay."
"Are you sure you can handle it?" Elizabeth asked. "You're not gonna come storming over here again and start beating people up?"
"No," Katherine replied. "As long as you're home by midnight. I'll be up until then, watching the clock. And if you aren't home by midnight, then I will come looking for you. Is that a fair plan?"
"Yes," Elizabeth nodded. "It's a fair plan. But if I'm late, can you send Dad to pick me up instead?"
Katherine raised an eyebrow. "If you're late because of hanging out here with Charlie and losing track of time, do you honestly think your father would be the better choice to pick you up? You want a really tall guy who's nice most of the time, but silent and deadly when angered instead of a woman who's been through the 'shame' of being 'in trouble' because of a boy, and would be more understanding of your plight and would be more likely to accept whatever excuses you come up with? Fine, whatever you want. But don't say I didn't warn you."
"All right, all right!" Elizabeth replied. "I'll be home at midnight. I won't be late, but if something happens, you can come and check up on me."
"All right," Katherine nodded. "See you then. I hope." She left and then Elizabeth said to Charlie, "So we've got two and half hours. Any ideas about what to do?"
Charlie shrugged. "I don't know. But I bet we can think of something."
Elizabeth nodded. "But first, we have to put coffee on. We don't want to risk me falling asleep so I miss my curfew and Mom comes over here again, do we?"
"No," Charlie replied, picturing his mom and her black eye. "We certainly don't."