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Antecedent

Page 15

by Susan Stumpf

"DAMMIT, EM!"

  I woke up falling onto the floor, what just happened? I looked around the room. There had been a blur as I was falling that I couldn't make out in the early light of morning. Oh, crap! It was morning! Bo was still here! The blur, it was him running to the closet. Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap, I said to myself with every step to the closet door.

  "Are you ok?" I asked.

  "Em, it would be best if you didn't speak to me at the moment because I'd very much like to kill you right now!"

  I didn't know if he meant literally or not, but I pulled my brown comforter off my bed and hung it over the double window in my room. It was probably a good thing I kept the blinds shut.

  I looked at my watch, it was 7:30! Wow, that was the best sleep I'd gotten in a long time. Wu would be at the shop by now. The store hours were nine to seven but Wu pretty much worked sun up to sun down. I called the shop.

  "Ah, Wu?we've got a problem."

  "Ya think!" I heard come from behind my closet door.

  "What's wrong, Em?" Wu asked.

  "Um, Bo is kind of stranded in my closet."

  "I'll be right there," Wu said and hung up.

  I got dressed. I was pretty much limited to jeans and a tank top since Bo was occupying my closet. Twenty minutes later Wu showed up and I met him at the front door.

  "Is he going to be alright?" I asked.

  "Yes, he'll be fine as long as he stays out of the sunlight. He must have drank from someone who had drugs or alcohol in their system. Bo is usually more careful than this. He's been a little reckless lately. I don't know what's gotten into him."

  Oh no, drugs or alcohol in their system? This was my fault? I thought. No wonder he cussed me when he woke up. I bet I was going to get an ear full when he got out of my closet. He'd asked me about my drinking last night. I lied and told him I only had a couple because I didn't want him to think the alcohol was affecting my decision. I hadn't thought about it being in my blood and what would happen when he drank it.

  "What do drugs and alcohol do to him, is that a really bad thing?"

  "No, it has no lasting effects if that's what you mean. Alcohol usually knocks him out cold. Drugs, depending on what they are, make him high, spacey, edgy, and unpredictable. What happened last night?"

  Oh, I really didn't want to answer that question. I didn't want to tell Wu I was lonely and desperate and threw myself at Bo and that we had sex. I didn't want to tell him any of that!

  "Was he acting strangely or did he just pass out?" he added.

  Oh ok, that I could answer.

  "He just passed out," I answered.

  "And you didn't think anything was wrong?"

  "No, he wasn't acting any different. I just thought he was tired."

  Wu had brought Thor and Loki, much to Bacon's dismay. He posted them in my bedroom to make Bo feel better.

  "Hey Bo, Em already blacked out the room, you should be ok there, just try to get comfortable. You've got about ten hours till sunset.

  "I'm?in?a CLOSET!" Bo didn't sound happy at all.

  "I'm so sorry, Bo," I said.

  "Emina you had better be far away come sunset," Bo growled.

  "Oh, come on, Bo," Wu said. "I know you've slept in worse places than this. Just hang out, you'll be fine."

  Bo said nothing else. Back downstairs I made Wu and I some breakfast. I'd been to a couple cooking classes now and I wasn't bad.

  "Don't worry, Em," Wu said while we were eating. "Bo really cares about you. I know he wouldn't hurt you. He's just mad he has to sleep in the closet all day."

  It was more my fault than Wu knew, though. I didn't think Bo would kill me, I wasn't afraid of that. I knew he was mad at me, though.

  Wu planned to stay here all day. I worked on the eBay stuff and he worked on his laptop also. After lunch Wu tried his hand at the games Bo and I played but didn't care for them much. He sat in my living room reading a book. The day drug on, and I wondered how much Bo did care about me. I got to thinking about what Wu said about Bo being reckless lately. He was talking about last night and about the hooker thing. Last night was completely my fault, but Bo joked about the hooker thing being my fault as well. He said he was so turned on by what transpired that night that he had to go get a hooker. Was I the reason he was acting so reckless lately? Bo said that vampires don't fall in love, but he also said they didn't get furious either. He sounded pretty furious up there in my closet this morning. I wonder if the 'we don't fall in love' thing was just part of his bad boy vampire persona.

  It was a good thing it was still winter and the days were so short. Had it been summertime Bo would've been stuck in my closet till 9 o'clock. Around 5:45 Wu and I heard a loud bang upstairs. We both went running up to my bedroom. Bo had kicked my door down off its hinges. Was that really necessary?

  I hadn't thought about it but Bo's clothes were still laying there beside the bed from last night. It got pretty cold on the top floor in the winter so Bo was standing there wearing my purple sparkly sweater and a long black skirt. I couldn't help it, I busted out laughing. I heard Wu behind me laughing a little as well.

  My laughter was chased away when Bo moved swiftly over to me. He had his hand out like he was going to grab me by the neck, but he just held his hand there in front of my face. He looked like he was trying to calm himself down.

  "Don't you ever lie to me again!" he yelled.

  "I'm sorry, Bo," I said sincerely.

  "Do you understand you could have killed me?!"

  I didn't say anything, I just hung my head. I felt awful! As usual, my mind drifted to the humor in the situation. I was being yelled at by a cross-dressed vampire in my bedroom. I never thought that would happen. I tried to fight a smirk, but Bo must have seen it.

  "You think that's funny?" he boomed.

  "No, not at all, it's just hard to take you seriously when you're dressed like that," I said.

  Bo grabbed his clothes in a blur and a few seconds later I heard the front door slam.

 

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