Disclaimer: See Chapter 1.

A/N: Thanks to Amanda and Larissa for beta-ing this chapter.

Vampire Love: The Worst Kind of Love

Chapter 4-You Can't Explain the Unexplainable

I woke up to the annoyingly loud pitter patter of rain drops on my rooftop. I inwardly groaned. Ocean Bluff, California generally had nice weather all year long; it's like there is practically only one season here. However, I hate the rain. No, hate isn't a strong enough word to describe my dislike for the irritating precipitation that was rain. I loathe rain.

I walked over to my bedroom window, and sure enough, myriad droplets of rain were cascading down my window pane. The downpour nearly made me not want to go to work, yet I felt compelled to go to work. Upon further consideration, it was all too obvious why I had such a strong desire to go to work today—Dominic.

It was irrational, to say the least, that I'd want to go to Jungle Karma Pizza today all because of a guy, but this wasn't just any ordinary guy—this was Dominic. I seemed to grow more and more attached to him by the day; it was even to the point where I dreaded the agonizingly long hours we would be apart.

With that thought in mind, I scrambled to get ready for work. By now, I had done this routine so often that it seemed like I was on auto-pilot. I watched with amazement as my limbs went through the motions as if they had a mind of their own.

I found my house to be empty. Both of my parents' cars weren't in the driveway. A normal teenager would be elated to have as much freedom, as much independence as I have from my parents. However, I was only disheartened by the amount of solitude I had when at home.

As soon as I stepped foot out the front door, I opened my umbrella. If ever there was a time where I regretted not having my own car, now was that time. I took but only a few steps, and already I was mercilessly bombarded by downpour. It wasn't drizzling. It wasn't sprinkling. It was pouring. The rain practically came down in sheets, drastically affecting the visibility.

One thing I detest about rain, particularly here in California was that your average Californian driver cannot drive in the rain. They drive nearly as fast, nearly as recklessly as though there wasn't any rain to begin with. They pay no heed to the slick roads or the reduction in visibility. Basically, when a typical Californian drives in the rain, it's an accident waiting to happen.

Miraculously enough, I made it to Jungle Karma Pizza in one piece, which was an accomplishment in itself. Unfortunately, I didn't make it there entirely unscathed. On my way to work, a car drove straight through a gargantuan puddle. As luck would have it, I happened to be just to the right of said puddle, and was drenched from head to toe as a result of being splashed by the lunatic driver.

Now, as I stood in the Jungle Karma Pizza parking lot, I was soaking wet and shivering uncontrollably. There was nothing like being cold, wet, and miserable.

Off in the distance, I could see him. He was casually leaning against the side of the pizza parlor out on the patio. He was talking to Casey, Theo, and Lily. At least they were on speaking terms with him; that was more than I could say about me.

He looked over at me, and in that moment that our eyes locked, I felt a surge of excitement course through my body that was unlike anything I had ever experienced before. I couldn't do anything but grin back at him. I probably looked like an idiot fawning over him the way I was.

I started to make my way over to him. My mind was in a greater rush to get to him than my body was, and the end result was that I tripped over my own foot, spilling the contents of my purse to the asphalt beneath me. I was able to catch myself before full out falling to the ground though.

My cheeks flushed red, but not because I was blushing—well not entirely at least; but because I was embarrassed in a mortifying, I-can't-believe-that-just-happened sort of way.

As I crouched down to put the contents of my purse back in their rightful place, that's when I heard an unmistakable sound; the high pitched sound that could only come from someone slamming on their brakes.

I heard the van before I saw it, and afterwards I realized it was because the headlights happened to be broken. Contrary to popular belief, the event didn't proceed in slow motion although it seemed from the way my body reacted like I was moving in slow motion.

Several things happened at once: I inhaled sharply, unconsciously scooted backwards, turned my head away, brought up my hands to shield my face, and felt something cold shove me out of the way—coming between me and the oncoming vehicle. My head collided with the asphalt, but due to the adrenaline, I felt no pain.

Instead, curiosity got the better of me, and I saw that it was none other than Dominic himself. He held out ten long, white fingers. The sickening sound of crunching metal rang in my ears.

I saw something happen that you wouldn't believe unless you saw it for yourself. I saw it for myself, and even then, it was still pretty unbelievable. While the passenger side of the car contoured around Dominic, the driver side of the car rose at least a few feet up off the ground before gravity brought it back down.

He turned to face me, grabbing me by the shoulders. "Are you okay?" he asked, his voice chock full of genuine concern.

Not trusting my voice at the moment, I gave an affirmative nod in its stead. I immediately regretted doing so as I was now a bit woozy.

"Easy now," he said as I worked on getting the world around me to stop spinning. "In case you hit your head."

As if on cue, in addition to my dizziness, there was a searing, pulsating pain coming from my left temple. "Ouch!" I exclaimed. My adrenaline must've worn off; I could feel the pain now.

"Of course." Unless my ears were deceiving me, there was a hint of amusement in his voice.

"Where did you…" I trailed off, trying to shake out the cobwebs in my head. "Weren't you just at the patio?"

"No, I was right here talking to you, Fran." Dominic replied.

With his help, I was now in a seated position. He knelt beside me, but too far away for me to reach out and touch. I could almost feel the concern radiating off of him in waves. As I gazed into his topaz-colored eyes, I suddenly forgot what it was I had been saying.

A short time later, I was being strapped into a stretcher. The EMTs took every precaution necessary, including putting a stupid neck brace on me. Benedict Arnold told them I might have a concussion. So as they loaded me into the back of an ambulance, he got to ride in the front, stretcher-free and all. It was infuriating.

They wheeled me into the emergency room. A nurse stuck a thermometer under my tongue and a pressure cuff on my arm. After seeing that there was nothing wrong with my vitals, she left to report to the doctor.

The sound of approaching footsteps alerted me that hospital personnel were bringing in another patient. It was the van's driver. I recognized him as one of Jungle Karma Pizza's regular customers. He looked to be a whole lot worse than me. He had several bandages wrapped around his head, soaked in blood.

"Can you forgive me?"

"There's nothing to forgive. Besides, you look way worse than me, so if anything, I should be asking you how you are."

As we conversed, nurses came in and started unwinding his bandages revealing numerous cuts on his forehead and the left side of his face. My eyes rolled to the back of my head a little bit, and I started to feel a little faint. I hate the smell of blood, let alone the sight of it.

"I was so afraid I was going to crash into you. I wasn't prepared for the roads being so slick…" he trailed off.

"Yeah, but you didn't crash into me. That's what matters."

"How did I manage to not crash into you? Did I stop my van in time, or…"

"Yeah…Dominic saved me."

Shock was etched on his face. "Dominic was there?"

"Yep. Luckily for me, he and I were talking at the time." I put so much effort into not making this sound like a lie; maybe too much effort.

"Really? How's he doing?"

"As far as I know, he's fine. At least he didn't have to come in here in a stretcher," I said bitterly.

If the driver didn't see Dominic either, then I wasn't imagining things. It was reassuring to know that I wasn't going insane after all. There was still the matter of how Dominic got to me so fast though. I racked my brain in an attempt to come up with a logical explanation for that, but I had nothing.

Some hospital personnel took me to get my head X-rayed. I told them over and over that nothing was wrong with my head, but they insisted that I get an X-ray anyways as a precaution. When the results came up normal, I fought back an urge to say, "I told you so" to the hospital personnel.

I had only been in the ER for a few minutes when he came in to see me. I hurriedly closed my eyes, hoping I wasn't squeezing them shut too tightly.

"Are you awake?" the most beautiful voice in the world asked.

"Nope," I replied all the while stifling a laugh.

I felt him sit on the foot of my bed. I could feel my heart start to beat faster. I was grateful I wasn't hooked up to a machine that measures heart rate or else Dominic would know the effect he has on my heart beat as well.

"Perhaps I'll come back at another time then," Dominic stated as I felt him rise from my bed.

I instantly sat up. "Don't go!"

He stood there at the side of my hospital bed, with his arms casually folded over his chest, smirking at me. I scowled at him.

"So…how bad is your concussion?" he asked, winking at me.

"I…" I literally had to stop to catch my breath. My cheeks flushed with embarrassment. "I don't have a concussion! I never did! But someone had to tell the EMTs otherwise!" I exclaimed, futilely trying to put as much venom in my voice as possible.

Dominic chuckled in response. After I narrowed my eyes at him, he started to whistle innocently.

My doctor came in to tell me that I was free to go, and that my parents were waiting for me in the waiting room. I inwardly groaned. My parents.

"Do you have a second? There's something we need to talk about," I said to Dominic. His expression turned serious.

"Another time. You should go see your parents," he said through clenched teeth.

I don't know where all this confidence was coming from. Usually I preferred to stay at least a mile away from any confrontation. However, I wanted—no, I needed—some answers, and I wasn't backing down until I got them.

"This can't wait," I replied.

He turned his back and strode away from me. I had to all but run just to keep up with him. As soon as we were completely alone, he spun around.

"So what exactly couldn't wait?" he asked, clearly irritated.

"You need to tell me what happened back there," I said with less conviction that I had intended.

"There's nothing to tell, so I don't see how I need to do anything."

I cringed at the resentment in his voice. I could feel my resolve already start to fade. I looked at him expectantly; prodding him with my eyes.

He glared in response. "What's with the look, Fran?"

"You know what I want," I replied. "I want to know what really happened back there."

"You and I were talking. That van was about to crush you. I saved you. End of story!" he retorted.

I was quickly losing my patience with Dom.

"That is not the end of the story and you know it! What I seem to remember is seeing you on the patio with Casey, Theo, and Lily. Therefore, there was no possible way for you to have gotten over to me in time to save me from the van. However, somehow, you did. Somehow, not only did you stop the van from colliding into me with your bare hands, but you managed to walk away from the accident without the tiniest scratch on you!"

He was staring at me in disbelief. However, the rest of his face told another story.

"Do you have any idea how ridiculous that sounds?" The way he said it made me sound like I deserved to be locked up in a mental ward, but that just made me more suspicious that I was right.

"Why won't you tell me the truth?"

"I have! You just don't want to listen!" He remarked, his voice acidic.

"That wasn't the truth!" I tried my best to control my temper.

"You're a piece of work, Fran. I save your life, and I don't even get a 'thank you' for doing so."

"Thank you." It was a knee-jerk response. I think it was the first time I think I even thanked him for saving my life.

"I saved your life. That's all that matters. So, can we forget about the 'how I saved you' part?"

"No."

"Well, if that's all you want to talk about, then I guess you and I won't be talking much anymore."

We silently scowled at one another. I was the first to break the silence. I tried my best to stay focused—a task made all the more difficult by his flawless face.

"Why did you do it? Why did you save me?" I asked.

He didn't answer immediately. A silence hung over us as I awaited his answer. In that moment, there was a change in his facial expression. I couldn't quite put my finger on what expression his face now wore. Vulnerability perhaps?

"I wish I knew," he whispered. It was so soft that I wasn't even sure he had said anything at all.

The next thing I knew, he turned his back on me, and walked away.

I was left alone, just standing there, seething with anger. I wanted answers. I wanted an explanation. All I got were confusing responses, and even more questions. When I finally regained control over my body, I sauntered off to the waiting room. This was another confrontation I was not looking forward to.

As I entered the waiting room, I didn't dare look at my parents' faces. I did however notice that my father was pacing back and forth. My father pacing could only mean one thing—he was angry. Three guesses who he was angry at.

"I don't believe this! I had to take off work for this?! You're not even hurt!" my mother exclaimed. I was thoroughly confused. Did she want me hurt?

"You know, you need to start being more careful, little girl!" my father boomed. I hated when he did that. I'm not a little girl! I'm a teenager for crying out loud!

I wordlessly followed them out of the hospital. After getting in my dad's car, I slammed the door shut a bit harder than necessary. They didn't notice, or at least they didn't say anything.

I don't know why, but I guess I was expecting my parents to show the slightest bit of concern over my well-being. I should've known better. It was foolish of me to expect anything of my parents. It was obvious their having to get me from the hospital was a huge inconvenience for them.

That night, I couldn't stop thinking about the accident, and I kept replaying my conversation with Dominic at the hospital over and over in my head trying to make sense of it. I guess I was more tired than I thought because I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.

That was the first night I dreamed of Dominic.

To Be Continued…

A/N: I'm so sorry I haven't updated this in awhile, but hey, I'm updating, right? That's what matters. So most of you who are reading this, probably read my RPM stories, particularly "Reversing Her Polarity," and so you know what accounted for my absence. Just to reassure you, no matter how it looks, I have absolutely NO intentions of leaving this unfinished. I'm the type of guy who finishes what I start, so I am asking you to please bear with me. If my lack of updates lost me some fans, I completely understand. If you choose to stick with me though, thank you so very much! I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and I'd love to hear what you thought of it! Thanks for reading!