Disclaimer: See Chapter 1.

Vampire Love: The Worst Kind of Love

Chapter 2-Absent

To go to work or not go to work? That is the question. If I go to work, I'll see Dominic. If I don't go to work, I won't see Dominic. The trouble is that I don't know if seeing Dominic is a good thing or a bad thing.

It could be a good thing. Before he started acting all bizarre, I got along really well with him. Ever since he came to Ocean Bluff, he and I became friends real quickly. Out of all my co-workers, he is the one most like me.

On the other hand, since he started acting—differently—he hasn't exactly been the warmest person to me. I don't know what I did to upset him, but I must have done something because I get the distinct impression that he is angry with me for some unknown reason. I think it goes without saying that being at odds with someone you work with makes for a rather unpleasant work environment.

On the off chance that I decided against going to work, what would I occupy myself with? I checked my hamper and found that I didn't quite have enough dirty clothes to make a full load of laundry. I scanned my bookshelf of books for anything that I hadn't read yet. Upon coming to the conclusion that I've read all the books on my bookshelf, I decided to settle for looking for something that I hadn't read in awhile.

I gave up on that and just decided to go to work. After all, I was already wearing my Jungle Karma Pizza uniform complete with an obnoxiously orange baseball cap. I rushed downstairs to the kitchen. I opened up a package of Pop Tarts on my way out the door. All my indecision nearly made me late for my shift.

When I arrived at Jungle Karma Pizza, I found RJ was back. He was busy making sure that every table and booth had shakers of grated parmesan cheese and crushed red peppers. Aside from Dominic and pre-changed Lily, RJ was the only other co-worker that I was especially close to. He and I have a bit of history though not in the romantic sense. I just mean that we've known each other for awhile—longer than I've known Casey, Theo, Lily, or Dominic.

"Hey Fran," RJ greeted, giving me a warm smile.

Either there was something wrong with the lighting in the pizza parlor or RJ was looking just as pale as Dominic, Casey, Theo, and Lily looked yesterday. He too had purplish bags under his eyes just like the others. However, I refused to see that as anything more than just a coincidence. Maybe RJ hadn't been sleeping well lately either. He also looked absolutely gorgeous.

"Hi RJ. I missed you yesterday. Where were you?" I asked.

Maybe it was just my imagination, but it seemed like RJ took a little bit longer than was necessary to answer my question.

"I had some personal matters to take care of, but the good news is they're all taken care of now," he replied.

Right. That wasn't the least bit vague. Oh well. As much as I wanted to, I decided against prying. Besides, there was a much more pressing matter to worry about.

"Is Dom here yet?" I asked.

"No. In fact, I don't think he'll be back for another week," RJ answered.

I hadn't realized that I had been holding my breath in anticipation of RJ's response. Once I was conscious of this fact, I exhaled as subtly as I could manage.

"That's odd. It's also rather fortunate—for him. Last night I worked out in my head what I was going to say to him today. And here I was prepared to give him an earful," I said though I wasn't sure who I was trying to convince more—RJ or myself?

From the look on RJ's face, he saw right through my façade. He knows me better than that. The likelihood of winning the lottery, no getting struck by lightning, or better yet getting struck by lightning while winning the lottery is better than the odds of RJ believing that I would ever be able to give anyone an earful.

"Oh?" RJ asked curiously.

That's right. He wasn't there. He wasn't aware of what went down. The way Dom was so—I don't even know what the right word is, aloof perhaps—yesterday.

"Yeah, I don't know why, but Dom was a bit…moody around me yesterday. You don't think I'm the reason he's going to miss work for a week, do you?" I asked.

"Fran, don't be ridiculous!" RJ exclaimed immediately. "I mean to think that you were responsible for Dom missing work is a tad bit self-absorbed."

RJ was right. The idea that I was accountable for Dom's absence was ridiculous, or was it? I don't seem to recall Dom acting that way around Casey, Lily, or Theo. Then all of a sudden, he doesn't show up to work.

Maybe I was being a little self-absorbed. If Dom did leave because of me though, well I don't really know how to finish that train of thought. I just know that I don't want to be the reason he left.

At that moment, the door to the kitchen opened, and Casey, Lily, and Theo emerged fully clad in their work uniforms. While Casey and Lily were a little too fascinated by the wall decorations, Theo's eyes were on me. His gaze, not unlike Dom's yesterday, was intense. Only the reason behind the intensity seemed to be different. Dom's gaze had me a bit flustered and resulted in me ceasing to breathe. Conversely, Theo's gaze gave me the creeps.

A shiver traversed the length of my spine. Try as I may, I couldn't break eye contact with Theo. There was something about the way he was looking at me. I couldn't quite put my finger on it though. The only thing I could come up with was that he was staring at me like I was something to eat—something he hungered for.

Then, just as quickly, he broke eye contact with me. I couldn't be gladder. I wasn't even sure what had made him stop staring at me, but whomever or whatever was responsible I couldn't be more grateful for.

"Fran, I think you and I will go ahead and work in the kitchen. I'm sure Casey, Lily, and Theo can handle everything out here," RJ suggested.

Unless I was mistaken, I thought I heard RJ put extra emphasis on Theo's name when he was giving us our instructions. Maybe then it was RJ that caused Theo to break eye contact with me earlier.

As the shift progressed, I tried so hard not to mention Theo's unusual behavior earlier to RJ. The smart thing to do would be to just let it go.

"What was with Theo earlier?" I asked, feeling like I could breathe now that I finally asked what I wanted to ask.

"I'm not sure I understand what you mean," RJ answered.

"I know this sounds crazy, but it's as though he were looking at me like I was something he wanted to eat."

In much fewer strides than I thought it would take RJ to close the distance between us, he was standing directly in front of me. He put the back of his hand to my forehead, I assume to check to see if I had a fever. As soon as his hand touched my skin, I jumped backwards.

"What's wrong? What did I do?" RJ asked.

"RJ, maybe I should be asking if you're okay," I said, concerned.

"I don't follow."

"Your hand is freezing cold!"

"Or maybe you just have a fever."

I wasn't imagining things. Even if RJ had a cold or the flu, his hand shouldn't feel that cold on my skin. It definitely wasn't normal. Besides, I didn't have a fever. I felt fine.

"Do you feel okay, RJ?" I asked.

"I'm fine," he responded.

"Are you sure?"

"Absolutely. If anyone should be concerned about anybody, I should be concerned about you. Here you are thinking that you drove Dom away and that Theo wants to eat you."

I inwardly cringed. Thanks to the weird things that had happened so far today, I hadn't thought once about Dominic. Just the mere mentioning of his name by RJ though caused me to lose any progress that I was making on that front.

"You really do feel cold though, RJ," I stated.

"I'm sure it's nothing. If anything, it just means that I need to adjust the thermostat in here," RJ said chuckling to himself and giving me a goofy grin.

So I did what I should have done with the whole Theo issue, and dropped it. Besides, now that RJ had mentioned Dominic's name, he was the only thing I could think about.

If Dom did leave because of me, then I couldn't figure out for the life of me how someone could hate me so much that they would miss a whole week of work just so they could avoid me. After all, that's what he was doing, wasn't he? Avoiding me.

I would be lying to myself if I said that the sole reason why I decided to come to work today in the first place wasn't because I was hoping to see Dominic. Ultimately, I came to the conclusion that there were more pros than cons when it came to seeing Dominic at work today. The sheer thought of seeing him at work today excited me. Now though, I wasn't excited. Just numb. It was going to be a long week.

To Be Continued…

A/N: I'm so sorry that I haven't updated in awhile. I'm guessing that most of you that are reading this have read my Author's Note I included in Chapter 47 of "The Tiger and the Cheetah" so you have an idea what accounted for my absence. However, for those of you who don't read "The Tiger and the Cheetah" basically a) I'm somewhat neurotic and b) I've been down in the dumps emotionally a lot lately. Also, I have decided what two people I would like to be my betas. I just thought it would be wiser to update first rather than have people wait even longer for an update.