STOOOOOOOOOPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP PPPP! IF YOU READ THE LAST CHAPTER BEFORE I FIXED IT, PLEASE READ IT AGAIN, A BUNCH OF IT GOT CUT OUT SOMEHOW AND YOU MIGHT BE CONFUSED IF YOU READ THIS CHAPTER BEFORE YOU READ THE LAST ONE AGAIN NOW THAT ITS FIXED! OH AND PLEASE REVIEW! :)
**Claire**
I walk down the stairs, nervously smoothing down my shirt. I was wearing a sparkly blue tank top type shirt with a short jean skirt, silver strappy sandals and I had a small flower shaped clip to pull back my hair. I'd even put on some makeup. I hoped it wasn't too much, or not enough. I honestly didn't know, I had never been on a date before aside from with Shane and he never officially asked me, it just sort of…happened.
"Where are you going?" Eve asks from the couch where she is lazily flipping through the channels. She turns towards me and her eyebrows rise. "Claire do you have a date?"
"You don't have to sound so surprised," I say a little harsher than I mean to. "Sorry, I'm just nervous. Do I look okay?"
"Yeah you look great. It's just…" Eve seems to think twice about what she was going to say and stops.
"Shane I know," I say doing my best to sound calm. "But I'm tired of being a zombie Eve. If he comes back, he comes back. I'll always love him and miss him, but I need to move on with my life. I can't just spend it waiting for him." I take myself by surprise, until that moment, I hadn't realized it, but that was true. I did need to move on. I was tired of my life revolving around finding Shane. It was his fault not mine. I wanted to be happy. I deserved to be happy.
"Okaaay," Eve says eyes wide. "So who's this guy that changed your mind?" I take a deep breath, knowing that she's not going to take this well.
"Myrnin." I say deciding not to sugar coat it. Eve's jaw drops.
"What?!" Eve shrieks. "Myrnin?! Seriously Claire? He's crazy!"
"Yes he is. But he cares about me Eve, he would never hurt me. He's not sick anymore."
"No you're sick!" Eve squeals. "He'll hurt you Claire! I know you're upset about Shane but this is insane!"
"Eve," I say, trying to remain calm. "It's my life. I'm able to make my own decisions. I know that you're trying to look out for me and I appreciate it, but you need to let me do what I want. It's just a date; we're not getting married or anything. So just chill."
"Chill?" Eve says blinking at me in surprise. "Did you really just say chill Claire?"
"Yes," I say exasperated with this conversation. I hear a knock on the front door. "I've gotta go Eve. Now chill," I say when she opens her mouth in protest. "I'll be fine." I say grabbing a cute little purse that matches my shoes perfectly.
I open the door to see Myrnin who is dressed surprisingly normal in dark jeans, boots, and a black T-shirt, the only odd thing is the bright red vest that totally doesn't match and is probably a hundred years old. But, hey, it was Myrnin, at least he wasn't wearing the bunny slippers. Although I wouldn't have been surprised.
"Good evening Claire," Myrnin says a little stiffly. "I hope that I'm dressed appropriately."
"You look fine Myrnin." I say giving him a reassuring smile. He looks relieved.
"Good, I'm never sure about these things," He says relaxing immediately. "You look lovely." He says with a smile.
"Thanks." I say, blushing. He then proceeds to hold out his arm like someone would do in an old movie, I Iace my arm through his. He leads me to a limo and he opens the door for me. I scoot in and he sits beside me, closing the door.
"When you said you'd have a driver, I thought you meant you'd get someone to drive your car for you," I say looking around the huge car. "There's only two of us, you really didn't have to do this."
"You don't like it?" He asks anxiously. "I could ask the driver to get my car for us; we do have him for the night."
"No, no Myrnin, its fine," I assure him giving him a smile. "So what movie are we seeing?"
"Some ridiculous vampire movie. It looks hilarious." I stare at him.
"That's supposed to be a scary movie Myrnin. Like the scariest one of the year."
"Really Claire?" He asks quietly. "After all you've seen an idiotic movie will scare you?" I look at him, surprised, but he was completely right. I had seen way too much to be scared of things like movies.
We get to the theater and sit down with our drinks and popcorn to watch the movie. He was right, it was completely ridiculous how they exaggerated the vampire's features and the actor's screams and looks of horror looked faked when I had recently been the one doing the running and screaming.
We smirk and analyze the movie, earning glares from people sitting nearby. I totally predict the ending, the hero and heroine stand kissing in the sunset after having eradicated the town of vampires before walking away hand in hand. A couple months ago, that couple could have been me and Shane. That puts me down a bit and Myrnin seems to realize that I don't want to talk, because he just quietly opens my door again and we ride to the restaurant in silence.
It's a pretty nice place and I feel a bit underdressed actually, but I sit down and just get water when the waiter comes by. As I stare at the menu without really seeing it, I can feel Myrnin looking at me. But I ignore it.
"Claire," He finally says quietly. "Is something wrong? Was it-was it something I did?"
"What? Oh no, you didn't do anything!" I say trying to give him a smile that I hope is reassuring. "I didn't mean to ruin the night."
"You didn't," He says and after another minute, "Is it Shane?" When I don't answer, he knows.
"If it's too soon for you to—go on a date with someone I understand." Myrnin says averting his eyes, but not before I see the hurt in them.
"No Myrnin, it's not that. I was just—thinking of some things. I'm sorry. I'll forget about it. I promise."
"Would you like to tell me about it?"
"I—I'm not sure if you'll like to hear it." I say not expecting this.
"Try me." He says resting his chin on folded hands, elbows propped on top of the table.
"Well you know how at the end the two main characters are standing together?" He nods, dark eyes wide, seeming to see everything. "I was just thinking how Shane used to always say that that would be us, leaving Morganville together. But—"I stop, eyes welling up with tears that I quickly wipe away. "But now I know that neither us will be able to leave, ever. It just hit me, you know? I mean I knew, but seeing it in the movie…." I trail off. "But let's not talk about that. I'm sorry; I really didn't mean to ruin the night."
"You didn't," Myrnin says again giving me a small smile with a strange look in his eyes that quickly disappears. "You can tell me anything, I don't mind. How is school going?"
"Good," I say, glad at the change of topic. "It's hard to believe that I'm almost done with it. I have no clue what I'm going to do after it."
"Well, what have you been thinking of?"
"I suppose I could continue school online, but I don't see much of a point. It's not like I need a ton of school to get a job around Morganville."
"Are you going to continue working for me?" Myrnin asks quietly.
"I guess," I say with a shrug. "I've never really thought of it honestly. I don't see why I wouldn't, but I guess I'd also like a more ah secure job."
"You mean one that doesn't put your life on the line?" Myrnin asks with an amused smile. "That seems reasonable."
"Yeah, I just have no clue what job I would want here. Speaking of work, have you figured out anything for the computers yet?"
He launches into some insane theory he has for the next twenty minutes. We debate back and forth over the pros and cons. It still wasn't perfect, but it was better than what we'd had before.
We eat dinner and he takes me home, the entire ride, we keep throwing ideas back and forth. When we pull up to the house, conversation stops. We stare at each other, neither of us sure what to do.
"I'll walk you to the door." He says finally. I reach for the handle, but he's out of the car and opening it for me before I can.
"Thank you." I say smiling. We walk side by side to the door in silence. Then, we just stand on the porch looking at each other, his dark eyes boring into my own.
"I had a wonderful time." Myrnin says quietly.
"So did I. We should do this again sometime," I say realizing that I really would like to. "I mean if you want to." I say blushing.
"Of course." Myrnin says grinning. I look back at him and the smile falls, leaving him looking intense and serious.
"Myrnin—" I say, but he cuts me off as he swoops down and his lips meet mine. I kiss him back, wrapping my arms around his neck as he wraps his around my waist, pulling me to him. It's sweet and slow, and the world disappears. Finally, he pulls away.
"Goodnight Claire." He says quietly, and he leans down to give me another light kiss on the cheek.
"Goodnight." I say softly smiling and watching him get into the car before I go inside. The second I close the door, Eve is right in my face, with Michael behind her. They both look equally worried and mad.
"Are you okay?" Eve asks urgently, her eyes scanning me, looking for possible injuries.
"Yes!" I say irritated. "The date went fine by the way."
"You do realize how dangerous he is, don't you?" Michael asks quietly.
"Not any more dangerous than you!" I snap and I see him flinch. I'm too mad to care much though. "Seriously guys, I know that you're just looking out for me, but stay out of my business. It's my life. I can do what I want. And Myrnin won't hurt me. He cares about me."
"But—"Eve protests as I head up the stairs to my room.
"Eve, just let it go." Michael says, and I can feel him looking at me the whole time.