This chapter gives a little into the relationship of Dex and Cassandra. It wasn't exactly necessary but I wanted to show a side of Dex you might not have expected. Maybe you did. Either way Enjoy! Oh and so sorry it took so long for me to post, I hit a road block and wasn't in the mood to write for a while. I forced myself out of it so if this chapter sucks that's why.

Chapter 7

'Friends'

"Because, I know what you are." Her lips broke into a huge smile.

"And how would you know." I asked.

"Cass told me." She was full of confidence, but there is no way she could know.

"And how would Cassandra know." I prodded.

"Because silly," She tapped my arm lightly. "Dex told her."

My mind started to spin out of control. So Dex had told her after all, how dare he break our laws of secrecy. I couldn't believe that he would put us all in danger. Especially since the human he chose to confide in had problems keeping a secret. I was getting so angry I could feel the venom puling through my body and filling my mouth. I had to calm down or I could hurt Aubrey.

Wait Aubrey, she knew. She knew I was a monster and she was still there standing in front of me smiling. I knew my face had contorted from playful, to angry, to bewildered in three seconds flat. I quickly fixed my face back to playful before she could notice. If she was still in front of me there was no way she knew.

"And what am I." I asked my voice calm but my emotions running wild.

She giggled; it was a sound I liked. "A model and I think it's ridiculous you wouldn't want to tell me."

"I am a private person." I said flatly. My anger and bewilderment were dispersing quickly. She did not know. It was a good thing but I also felt a little disappointed by that fact. On the other hand I was still going to wring Dex's neck for making up an occupation me and not telling me; especially when the occupation was a model.

"So what agency do you work for?" She leaned against her car curious.

"Elite." I said automatically. That was the only modeling agency I knew of and that was only because Stacy made me watch America's Next Top Model. Apparently Aubrey watched it too.

"Oh the one from ANTM, have you ever met Tyra?" Her eyes widened.

"No. I have seen her show though." More times than I would have liked to.

"Oh that's cool. I catch it when I can, but I am pretty busy with school and work." She shivered.

"Maybe you should head home before you freeze to death." I said laughing.

"Well how come you're not cold?" She asked eyeing me suspiciously.

"I am I just do not shiver like you do." I rubbed my hands over my arms for emphasis. I would have to work on being cold if I was going to hang out with Aubrey.

"Ok." She did not look convinced. "Good night Chris." She slipped into her driver's seat.

"Good night Aubrey, drive safe." I said backing away from her car. She nodded and shut her door.

A little while after I got home I called Dex hoping his date was over too.

"Hey man," Dex answered on the first ring. "How was your night?"

"Too short!" I admitted. "It ended around ten fifteen because she had an early class. And how was yours?"

"It ended earlier than I would have hoped." He chuckled. "I don't know if I told you this but she is a teacher."

"No I did not know that, I did not even know she was old enough for that."

"Yeah, she is twenty two. She graduated from high school early and took insane amounts of credits in college to get her masters as soon as possible. She is a very driven woman who couldn't wait to start her life." His enthusiasm over a woman, a human one at that, surprised me. Usually Dex only got worked up over sports and how the NFL should have vampires as defensive line men to make the game more interesting. I smiled to myself and decided that this was a good thing, Dex was actually caring about something, someone. He had come close with Stacy but ultimately fell short of her standards. "She teaches second grade."

"Wait I thought you said she worked at that hardware store." I pointed out confused.

"Yeah well the starting rate for teachers isn't what it should be, she has bills to pay. I can't even imagine having to work two jobs. It's like I said before man, she's driven. If she went for the job her parents wanted her to take she would never even think about having a second job. They wanted her to become a surgeon but her passion is in teaching and she decided to follow her heart."

"Wow Dex, you are really into this human." I said letting my surprise be known.

"Yeah I guess" he said immediately toning down his interest. "I only know all of this because she constantly talks about herself. You know women, they say a few things of importance but then it's all blah blah blah." He laughed, but I was not buying what he was selling.

"You know it is ok to care about someone." I reminded him.

"Whatever man, spill on your date." He huffed changing the subject.

"We went to play pool, nothing too exciting." I said not letting him know how much of a good time I had had. I realize now that it is easier to dole out advice than it is to actually follow it. "Oh and by the way, thanks for letting me know I'm a model." I used my angry voice and Dex broke out laughing.

"Man I'm sorry. I couldn't think of anything else when Cass asked me." He admitted with a chuckle.

"And that was the first thing that came to your mind?" I was actually starting to get angry.

"Well it was either that or plumber, and I don't think either one of them would have bought plumber." He had a point, but that did not calm me down.

"Ugh Dex, you should have told me. I was totally blind sighted when Aubrey brought it up. Not to mention the way she decided to tell me. I almost thought" I stopped short. Dex did not need to know what I thought. He would think I was being silly; or get angry himself by my obvious lack of trust with him and our secret.

"What did you think?" His voice was still playful.

"It does not matter. What matters is that she caught me off guard and you should not have put me in that position." My anger was real and I was being serious but Dex was still laughing.

"Man calm down." He said laughing again. "It's not that big a deal."

"I assure you it is, if I had not made her tell me exactly what she was talking about I would have…" I stopped myself again. I knew I was really angry now but letting Dex know what I had thought would have only made things worse.

"What is it you're not telling me?" He asked getting serious.

"It really does not matter; I would appreciate it very much if you never put me in that situation again." I replied.

"Sure thing, but I want to know what you thought." He pressed on.

"You do not need to know." There was no way I was going to tell him.

"But I want to know." His voice was getting stern.

"So I am still not going to tell you, no matter how many times you ask me." My mood was becoming lighter. I would not say I enjoyed upsetting my best friend, but I did find his frustration amusing.

"FINE." He said reluctantly before the line went dead.

"What no good bye?" I muttered to myself.

A few minutes later my phone rang, I suspected it was Dex so I answered without looking at the caller ID.

"That was a little childish." I said with a chuckle.

"Hello?" Aubrey's sweet voice floated through the phone and rested on my ears.

"Oh hello Aubrey how are you?" I looked at the clock. It was about half past twelve, she was supposed to be asleep.

"I'm ok, what was that noise?" She asked referring to the statement I made when I answered the phone. I had spoken too fast for human ears, not needing to limit myself with Dex.

"Oh I was washing my hands." I said quickly hoping that I was close to explaining the noise. "Are you sure you are ok, I thought you were going to get some sleep."

"I can't sleep." She said simply.

"Did you try counting sheep?" I laughed at my own joke and she joined in.

Then it seemed like she hesitated before saying, " I can't stop thinking about you long enough to fall asleep."

WHAT! My head seemed to be spinning. I had accepted that I had a crush on Aubrey but I had not even thought that there was a possibility that she thought of me in that way, or in anyway.

"Really?" I asked.

"Yeah," she giggled. "It's just the past two nights I had a lot of fun with you. I don't know why but you're kind of stuck on my mind."

"I see." I said quietly. What was I supposed to say, that I too thought of her often. If you could call twenty-three out of twenty-four hours a day often. "I enjoy spending time with you too."

"I'm glad to hear that, I think you and I will become very good friends Chris." She said through a yawn.

Friends?Yes friends was a safe way to go, she could not get hurt if she were merely my friend. But something about that word dampened my spirits. Of course I would be selfish enough to want Aubrey as more than my friend, much more than my friend. At least one of us had a good head on their shoulders.

"I think so too. I'm very glad I met you Aubrey." I said honestly.

"Me too." She said through an even deeper yawn.

"How about you try and get some sleep. I will call you on Tuesday."

"Ok," She said sleepily. "Good night Chris."

"Sweet dreams Aubrey." I said wishing that I could enjoy a sweet dream about Aubrey.