It was probably Leslie's influence that landed me here: in my closet, stressing over what outfit I should wear to the barbeque. I had never worried about clothing this much before. If it fit me and I liked it, I wore it. Now, I was starting to be aware of what I actually put on my body and how others would perceive it. In this instance, I was thinking about Gregor. I wanted him to think that I was attractive and I knew that clothing would help me do that.

I also didn't want to dress inappropriately for the event. Gregor had said that it was a casual, small event, but I also knew that his uncle was part of the upper, upper class of Amity Park society. Mother had given me a lecture on Vlad Masters – Gregor's uncle and current guardian – when she had found out where I was going this afternoon. She had told me that my first priority should be to impress this man. He was powerful, influential, and (apparently) my father was attempting to close a business deal with him.

I knew my father was trying to start up a new company now that the original family business was, more or less, running itself but I hadn't known he was trying to bring a business partner into it.

I sighed. Vlad Masters, whoever he was, wasn't the issue right now. The issue was my closet and the fact that I was left to my own devices, trying to choose an outfit.

This was ridiculous. I'm an eighteen year old girl. I can choose my own clothing.

I didn't want to wear a dress. Dresses were for less-casual events. Shorts and a nice top would have to do. I immediately grabbed my favourite pair of denim shorts – the cute ones with the white hearts bleached into my back pockets. Now, for the shirt. It was too hot for me to think about wearing black. In fact, it was too hot for me to even think about wearing a t-shirt. The idea of having my arms even partially covered had me sweating.

I opened the bags from my shopping trip with Mother yesterday. I'd been too tired when I got home to put the clothes away, but there might be something in there that I wanted to wear. I dug through shoe boxes, a few dresses, some nice t-shirts, a fall jacket for when I went to school and then some tank tops. Instantly, I remembered a cute purple tank top that I'd picked out yesterday and pulled on the fabric when I found it.

I fluffed the top out, displaying it across one of the little tables in my closet in order to judge it and make sure it was appropriate.

It was.

The tank top was a pale shade of purple; not quite lavender though. It wasn't a pastel colour. It had thick straps, which I loved. The fabric itself looked like there were multiple pieces stitched together, one going to the left and the other one going to the right. Except, high on my right ribs and low on my left ribs there was lace. It wasn't a cut out of lace – you couldn't see my skin underneath – but I liked that better. I found that lace cut outs began to feel itchy after a while of wearing the garment. With the silky material making up the entire shirt, I knew I was going to feel completely comfortable.

I ripped off the tags – with my teeth because I'm feral like that – and tugged the shirt on. It fitted better than it did in the dressing room yesterday (in my opinion). I followed with the shorts before shoving my feet into my favourite grey flip flops with the bling on the toe bands.

I felt ready. I felt confident.

Maybe this was why Leslie put such an emphasis on clothing.

Taking one last look in the mirror, I deemed myself ready. I picked up my purse and headed out, yelling that I was doing so as I passed the kitchen. I didn't want to give my mother a chance to lecture me on how nice I was to be to Vlad Masters again. It's not like I went out of my way to be mean to strangers – especially people who were my elders – to begin with.

Getting into my car required massive effort. It was burning in there. I cranked the air conditioner as far up as it would go and waited for the cold air to wash over my sweltering skin. Once I was at a more comfortable temperature, I pulled up a text from Gregor: the one with directions to Vlad Masters' house. It seemed simple enough to get there. I had made it from Amity to New Orleans (and then back again) with no troubles. Going outside of town would be a nice little drive.

And it was.

Vlad Masters' house wasn't hidden back in the woods but it was outside of town. It set high on a hill, like all extravagant mansions should be. I don't use the term extravagant lightly, but not even the Sanchez's had anything on this man. I was scared to even approach it, but I drove my car up the drive way where there was a valet waiting for me.

I mean, everyone uses valets at parties but this clearly wasn't a big party. Still, I handed the man my keys and walked up the front steps between columns (you head that right; columns) where Gregor was loitering by the front door.

"I was beginning to worry that you'd never show up," he admitted, reaching for my hand.

"I wouldn't stand you up," I assured him, squeezing his hand, which felt wonderful in mine.

"Oh, it wasn't that," Gregor explained as he lead me through the mansion. "I was worried that you might have gotten lost."

"Please," I guffawed. "I have a fabulous sense of direction."

"That's wonderful to hear," a deep, masculine voice purred.

The man approaching us was skinny and … well, odd looking if I'm going to be honest. He had to be Vlad Masters. Though I had never met him before, he just had this aura of power that I knew came from successful businessmen. He had white hair held back into a ponytail, along with a white goatee. His eyebrows, which were stark black, kept distracting me though, based on their colour. He had interesting blue eyes that I felt were judging me but there was one thing that ultimately had me 100% confused about Vlad Masters.

I was about 99% sure that he was wearing eyeliner.

"I'm Vlad Masters," he introduced himself, holding his hand out for me to shake.

"Hello, Mr. Masters. I'm Sam Manson. You may know my father, Jeremy," I added.

"Oh yes," he purred. "We know each other quite well. We're thinking of starting a company together."

"I hope the venture is successful. My father is very good with what he does."

"And he obviously raised his daughter the right way." Vlad laughed. "I have some other guests that I need to attend to. But, please, Samantha, make yourself at home. I want you to feel extremely comfortable here."

"Thank you," I said, because I knew it was the polite thing to do.

But, as he walked away, a chill came over me. There was something in the way he looked at me, or maybe it was the way he called me Samantha even though I introduced myself differently, that made me wary of him. It could, of course, be attributed to how Tucker talked about Vlad – something that both Jazz and Fenton corroborated. Maybe I was just being paranoid and letting them get to me.

Yep … probably just paranoid.

"Are you hungry?" Gregor asked me. "They just put veggie burgers on the grill. It shouldn't be too much longer."

"Veggie burgers sound great," I said with a smile, trailing after Gregor.

There was no use making trouble where it wasn't due.

(-.-)

"I'm sorry, but this is one of the dumbest movies I've ever seen," I laughed, while gently hitting Gregor with one of the decorative throw cushions that were littered around us.

"The Naked Gun: From The Files of Police Squad is a hilarious movie," Gregor explained to me. "What have you got against it?"

"It's dumb," I said again, having no other way to describe the film.

"Well, let's talk so you can be distracted from how dumb the movie is," Gregor proposed.

I shifted on his basement couch so that our shoulders were nearly touching. "All right. What would you like to talk about?"

He shrugged, his shoulder bumping mine. "Ask me a question."

I thought for a moment. "Why are you with your uncle instead of your parents?"

"Oh, my parents like me to experience different cultures. Last summer, I was with my sister who lives in Australia. It was just Uncle Vlad's turn on the rotation. I like him though. He's very relaxed about what I do."

"That's nice … Your turn to ask me a question."

I quieted the voice in my head that reminded me of when I had played the questions game with Phantom.

"All right. Why are you in Amity Park this August?"

"I'm going to New York for school in the fall. I'm going to be studying interior design. My parents wanted to spend some time with me before I went. Previously, I was living in New Orleans."

"Is it nice there? I've never been."

"I like it. It's really different from Amity, though. I'm sure you've been to a lot of really awesome places though. You might not find it that interesting."

"On the contrary," Gregor argued. "Every place is interesting. Especially if it produces people like you."

I couldn't help from blushing. Gregor was so sweet all of the time. It was hard not to crush on him.

"Thanks …" I took a breath, wondering if a compliment would sound awkward coming from me, but I said it anyway. He deserved it. "Hungary must be one of the best places in the entire world, then."

Gregor grinned at me, and then tucked his arm around my shoulders. I relaxed my head back onto his forearm, feeling completely comfortable with the new position.

"I think you'd love it there," Gregor admitted.

"I'd love to go someday. I want to see everywhere. I just don't like the feeling that I'm missing out on something, you know? I just want travel and experience."

"Travelling is wonderful," Gregor told me. "My family loves to take vacations and to send me off to random relatives around the world. I've never lost my appreciation for the beauty of other places – there's so much to know about every new area I venture into. That being said, all of the travelling really makes you appreciate how wonderful home is when you truly do go back."

"I can connect with that. I mean, I know the distance isn't quite as big but I never truly loved New Orleans until I left and had the opportunity to go back."

"I think you understand exactly."

I look up into his soft green eyes and I feel as though he really did understand me. There's a lot that I have left to learn about Gregor, and there's a lot that he has to learn about me, but I feel like we're both excited to learn those things. I want to know about his parents and where he comes from. I want to know what he likes and dislikes. I want to know the little things that make up his heart.

"Sam?" Gregor asked, breaking me from my slightly poetic thoughts.

"Yes?"

"May I kiss you now?"

"Yes," I repeated, my heart pounding my chest.

This was the second person I was going to kiss in my entire life. My stomach was doing flips and I thought butterflies were literally going to come spewing out of my mouth. I closed my eyes as Gregor leaned forward to kiss me.

His kiss was warm and soft. It was gentle and exploratory. I wrapped my arms around his neck and he tugged me a little closer, his arms wrapping around my waist. When he went to lift his head and break the kiss, I didn't let him. I kept him where he was with a hand on the back of his neck.

He was a wonderful kisser.

By the time the movie was actually over, I was so completely distracted by making out with Gregor that I had forgotten how dumb I had found it. I was actually thinking that I was one of the best movies ever made as Gregor walked me out to my car.

As we were passing one of the sitting rooms, Vlad called out to us.

"Leaving already, Samantha?"

"Yes," I answered, pausing as he left the sitting room to come and talk to us. "Thank you so much for inviting me to your barbeque. It was lovely."

"It was grand to have you. I've a feeling we'll be seeing more of each other as your father and I go into business with one another."

"That'll be great," I said, not knowing what else to say.

"It will," Vlad purred.

He then leaned forward and I realized that he was going to hug me. In a moment of panic, I stayed absolutely rigid as he gently placed his arms around me. The chill that was present earlier appeared again tenfold, much to my distaste. As soon as Vlad released me, Gregor and I escaped to the front porch, both equally aware of the awkward moment that had just occurred.

"I know my goodnight gesture won't be nearly as great as my uncle's, but I'd still like to give you a kiss," Gregor joked.

I giggled and kissed him goodnight, prancing out to my car.

It wasn't until I was on my way home that a realization hit me. The chill that had been coming from Vlad, the one that I had chalked up to how strange he acted and how awkward he made me feel wasn't just from that. The chill was familiar to me. It was the same kind of feeling that had radiated off Phantom: not quite glacial but not quite human either.

I suddenly knew that I was going to have to grill Tucker.

I don't own anything recognizable. Thanks to my betas: Forever Sky!

~TLL~