Lawrence (Okay, lovelies, don't be angry. They're apart, and it's gonna take a few chapters to arrange their reunion. Also I'm introducing expletives... for the purpose of the story, not just cause I like them. :] )
She hated to do it. To pull away from his embrace and leave. But she wouldn't stay another night. Biting back a sob, she placed a kiss on Josef's forehead.
She ran so fast, she practically flew to her car. Violent sobs wracked her body the entire way to her apartment. Letting herself in, she went straight to the bathroom, and began to fill the tub, turning the dial all the way toward cold as far as it would go.
Collapsing into the water, her sobs subsided, becoming tears, which became hiccups, which became the worst day's sleep she would ever have.
She woke that night, stepping out of the now cool water, and dried off. After dressing, she went to get her bags out of the car. She cleaned every surface of the apartment, did more schoolwork than necessary, and played guitar for hours. Basically anything that would keep her hands busy. Until she heard her cell phone playing "She's so California." Beth's song. She let it ring for half the chorus, before deciding, to answer it. "Hey Beth," Charlie said flatly.
"Oh god, what happened?" Beth asked immediately.
"Nothing. I got there and opened his door and saw him with another woman. I froze, Beth. I just fucking froze."
"With another woman how?" Beth asked quietly.
"Really? You really want a post mortem?" Charlie asked incredulous.
"No, I wanna know if he was with her or feeding off of her," Beth replied.
"Yeah there was blood, but there was also no reason that her shirt was practically off," Charlie said dripping with sarcasm.
"What are you gonna do now?" Beth asked. "You know you could stay with me if you need a place."
Charlie was touched, and her voice cracked as she said, "No I'm all right, but thanks Beth. Right now, I'm just sorry I can't eat a half gallon of ice cream. Not with any success anyway," Charlie chuckled darkly.
"Yeah, well, if you want I'll bring over a bottle of Jack, Jim, or Jose," Beth offered.
"Thanks but no. I think I'll just relax here, but when I'm ready for booze, I'll give you a call, and Beth, thanks," Charlie said hanging up the phone.
Charlie had gone back to playing the guitar, when she heard someone knocking on the door like she owed them money.
If that's someone selling vacuum cleaners I will drain them dry, Charlie thought wrathfully.
She opened the door and glared expectantly at perhaps the most handsome human she had ever seen.
"Charlie I presume," he said showing off a lone dimple in his right cheek. "May I come in?" he asked in a pleasant tenor voice.
She just backed up wordlessly.
He made a show of putting his finger over his mouth, as if to say 'quiet,' and shutting the door.
She just nervously grinned. Okay, no clue as to why he's here, but he is amusing, she thought.
He sat down on the couch, and looked at her expectantly.
Confused at his easy demeanor in a stranger's house, Charlie asked, "Do I know you?"
"No, of course not. They tell me names and places, and I go," he said levelly.
She almost choked, "Are you a... a... gigolo?"
He threw his head back in a deep, throaty laugh, "Not really, no. Mostly you girls are more interested in my blood than my body. More's the pity."
It was then that Charlie put 2 and 2 together. "You're a donor? But who..." she struggled for an appropriate word, "who ordered you for me?"
"Wait, I'm a surprise? I've never been a surprise before," he said thoughtfully.
"Yeah, maybe next time you should jump out of a cake," Charlie said sarcastically.
"Haha," he replied. "So where do you want to... ahem?" he asked huskily.
She shifted uncomfortably, "I've never actually done this before."
He looked at her sympathetically before saying, "I can walk you through it. It's mostly instinct. You just have to be careful not to take too much."
She nodded mutely, still standing in front of him.
He smiled and tugged her down next to him on the couch.
"What's your name?" Charlie asked furtively.
"Marshall, Marshall Harlan. But we don't have to make pleasantries if you don't want to."
"Well Marshall, do you make out with girls whose name you don't know?" she asked smiling wryly.
"Only once, and there was a lot of tequila involved," he winked.
She laughed in spite of herself, "Do you have any... ah... appointments after me?"
"No you can only do this once every couple of days," he replied.
"Do you have any plans or can we just chill while I work up to this?" Charlie asked.
He smiled again, "I've got all night."
She sighed in relief and relaxed against the couch. "So how does one get into your line of work?"
"I actually don't know," he replied. "They contacted me. But it pays the bills and my tuition."
"What are you going for?" she asked.
"I'm pre med," he said sheepishly.
"Lit," she replied. "Just one more year."
"Argh. Three years of med school and my residency," he groaned.
"So what do you do for fun Marshall Harlan?" Charlie asked.
"Fun? Fun? What is this 'fun' you speak of?" he replied comically.
"Haha," she said deadpan.
"What about you? Obviously a new vamp. What do you do for fun?"
"Music mostly, I play guitar, and I like to read," Charlie replied after a moment's consideration.
"Really? You should play me something," he suggested.
"Really? I should, huh?" she smirked. "I thought you were the one entertaining me."
"Well, that's true, but this hasn't been a normal call for me, and at this point you're probably thinking to yourself what a great guy I am and how much you'd like to have my number so we can hang out again."
If she'd been a human, she would have blushed at his attention. Then again, had she been a human they would never have met.
As it was she just smiled and tossed him her cell.
He put his number in and pressed call until he heard his phone ring. "Now where's this guitar?"
She ended up playing a few songs for him before he pulled the guitar away and surprised her by playing Europa by Carlos Santana. He put the guitar aside, and turned to Charlie quietly.
Looking in her eyes, he said, "Now for your lesson." He shoved his sleeve back and held his wrist out to her.
She blinked and when she opened her eyes again, they were an unnatural white.
"I trust you," Marshall said.
She scraped her fangs against his arm, never taking her eyes off his. She noticed how his eyes rolled back for a moment. She took a couple mouthfuls but when she saw him pale, her fangs retracted, and he leaned back against the couch.
"You're really good at that," He remarked passively. "Play me something while I catch my breath."
"How about something ironic?" she asked licking the corner of her mouth. She began strumming and singing lowly.
(Lessons Learned by Tracy Lawrence)
Lessons learned and they sure run deep
They don't go away and they don't come cheap
No there's no way around it as this world turns
On lessons learned
She switched immediately to another song
(Texas Tornado by Tracy Lawrence)
My Texas tornado
Blowing me away again
I swore it wouldn't happen again
But I looked at you and then
I'm like a tumbleweed
In a wild west Texas wind
You're blowing me away
Again
"You've been holding out on me," Marshall remarked.
"What?"
"You didn't sing till I offered blood, and also, where did that accent come from," he smirked.
"Yeah, Texas and, I figured you were too weak to protest," Charlie smirked.
"Never. I should go. But call me sometime. You don't have to be hungry to call me," he said quietly.
Charlie walked him to the door, and before he walked out, he smoothed the hair off her face and kissed her cheek.
After shutting and locking the door behind him, Charlie sat down to gather her thoughts.
Said thoughts were that it was nice to have another person to just chill with... up to the kissing part.
She figured from now on, she'd just stick with bottled blood... it didn't try to kiss you afterwards. Nope, a bottle didn't have an angle. Haha, bad joke.
That said, if she could convince him to forget about the kissing stuff, she would call him again. He was fun.
(And because both songs Charlie sang were by Tracy Lawrence, the Cross Canadian song I'm using is called Lawrence)
December
It's usually a little colder
That's something that I learn
As I get older