“If that’s the case, honey, then I don’t want to live here, either. I want you to feel welcome wherever I live, and clearly you’re uncomfortable.”
“I feel bad selling the house, though. Mom loved this house. She was so excited the day we moved in. I remember her eyes lighting up as she gave me a tour and told me everything that she had planned.”
“Okay. So maybe we keep it in the family, but rent it out until we’re ready to come back. No use letting it sit here uncared-for in the meantime, especially since that wait could be infinite.”
“That sounds good.” I turned to head towards the stairs but stopped short. “I know you haven’t been working lately, but I’d feel most comfortable buying a new house with you. Would you mind helping me?”
“Of course not, honey. I’d love to! I’ve been thinking about dusting off my license here anyway, so this is perfect timing. The only stipulation is that you’ll have to pay cash because of your age. No bank or mortgage company will approve a loan for anyone under the age of eighteen with unverifiable income.”
“That’s fine. I don’t want to spend a lot. I was thinking a condo would probably be best since I don’t know how often I’ll be home to mow the yard.”
“I think that’s smart.” She smiled approvingly. “You’re growing up so fast.” Her voice softened. “I knew this day would come, but I never imagined it’d be me walking you through it all. And in truth, half the time I don’t feel like I do enough for you. If you ever need anything, honey, you know you can call me day or night, regardless of where I am, right?”
I nodded. “I know. I just don’t like to bother you when there isn’t anything you could do to change it.”
“I’ll always try, though.”
“You would’ve made a good mother, Aunt Claire, but I’m not a typical child. My life, even for a vampeen, is very irregular. I think you’re doing the best you can… when I let you.”
“Sharon always said the same thing about you. She’d call me and tell me what new things you were doing regularly, but she’d always say that there was something irregular about you. You were so independent from an early age, and the things you’d say blew her away. She said about the only thing you let her do for you was cook, which is why she made sure to do it as often as she could.”
I felt the tug on my heart as warmth spread through my chest. “Thanks, Aunt Claire.”
She nodded. “I’ll start pulling some listings this afternoon. I’ll print them out and bring them to you at Mel’s later.”
“Thanks.” I hugged her. I’d forgotten what it felt like to be a kid; I’d forgotten how good it felt to be taken care of. She gave me tiny glimpses of that from time to time, which I was grateful for.
Chapter 8
Anxiety coursed through me as I knocked on Mel’s front door. Kellan had agreed to meet me here after he went hunting with his dad. He said he needed to take the edge off. I tried not to think about how he’d go about it. It was no secret that Kellan didn’t pull away, that he drained his victims. I knew I was a co-conspirator by turning a blind eye to it, but you can’t change people; you can only hope to inspire them to change.
I fidgeted with my hands as I stood waiting. Mel hadn’t answered her phone, but a quick call to Craig told me she was here with him.
“Hey, love,” Craig greeted me as he opened the front door.
“Hey.” I gave him a small smile. “Is she still pissed at me?”
“I’ll dollop on the fifth there.” He stepped back, allowing me to enter.
Mel sat in her pajamas, her knees tucked into her chest, on the corn-blue microfiber sofa in her living room. “I take it we’re not going to school today,” I stated.
“My dad said I didn’t have to,” she replied, but she didn’t look at me. She stared blankly ahead towards the stairs that led up to her and Kyle’s room.
“Does Kyle know what’s going on?”
“No. He’s at my aunt’s house.” Mel had never sounded so robotic.
“Is your dad home?”
“No. He’s coming later.” She turned her head away from my approach, staring into the dining room.
“Well, my girdle isn’t tight enough to squiddle in here with you, mates. I’ll just be bouncin’ bompits down the street.” Craig immediately walked out the door.
“What the heck are bompits?” I scrunched my forehead, shaking my head at his vocabulary.
Mel faced me, grimacing. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“How do you explain what you don’t understand?”
“The same way you did before, with examples. Do you know how shitty it feels to find out what’s going on with your best friend from your boyfriend?” She was hurt and disappointed. There was no greater guilt than to disappoint your best friend.
“Do you want to know the whole of it?”
“Of course I do, Lexi! I don’t throw out the title ‘best friend’ loosely. I guess your definition is just a tad different than mine, though. Last I checked, best friends didn’t keep massive secrets from each other about being able to light up half of Charleston!” She leapt up, her hands fisting as she moved them all around her. She paced the moderate living room space, her features twisting as she stared at the carpet.
“It’s no excuse, but I have a lot on my plate that I haven’t quite balanced yet. It’s not easy being a proclaimed savior of sorts to vamps while fighting off assassination attempts, rogue ninjas, dealing with being poisoned, sort of, and trying to maintain all things human and normal. I really don’t know how your mom pulled it off so well.”
She stopped mid-step and faced me. Her mouth lifted slightly in the corners. “She was really good.”
“I’ll give her that one for sure.”
“Listen, Lex. I’m not asking for anything that I haven’t willingly given you. I even told you every grueling detail of my first time for crying out loud. I don’t want to force you to tell me things. I want you to feel like you can tell me anything. I want you to want to tell me everything, not out of obligation, but because it’s great to share it with someone, no matter how stressful or embarrassing.”
“I get it. Because you’re not in this world yet, though, I don’t know how much is too much for you.”
“Nothing is too much when it comes to you, Lex. Remember when you showed up at Barnes & Noble looking completely different after only a week? I think I handled that pretty well after the initial shock.”
“You did, and you’re right. I’ve underestimated you. I’m sorry.”
“Wow! I finally dragged the apology out of you.” She smirked, sarcasm in her tone despite the truth of her words.
I smiled. “Do you have time to hear everything?”
“Eek! Of course I do.” She ran over to the sofa and bounced into place beside me, a big grin on her face. Her blue eyes sparkled with enthusiasm as she waited with anticipation. “Start dishing!”
I laughed. I hated not having a best friend. You always need at least one person who you can share everything with who doesn’t live with you. And as hesitant as I was before to openly share every aspect of my journey with Mel, I found it freeing to do so. There was no more weight on my shoulders, no more watching what I said, what I did, around her. She took everything in stride. And at the end of it all, she didn’t look at me with judgment in her eyes — she looked at me in amazement; a new respect blossomed between us then.
“So, you know what I did my last day as a human, now how do you want to spend yours?”
“I want Mexican food!”
“We are so sisters at heart.” I beamed, remembering the Mexican dish Kellan brought me the day of my transformation.
“Ooh! Do you think I’ll finally grow some boobs tonight?” She looked so hopeful.
“Um, I’m really not sure. I know my mom said that the transformation is really your body getting rid of anything that could slow you down. It removes all the toxins, balances all of your hormones, and melts away and expels any excess fat until you r
each your ideal BMI. It’s about health, though, not beauty really. It’s funny because humans could be exactly like us, minus the whole blood thing, if they did everything right for their bodies with no cheats, or at least that’s what Dr. H. said.”
“I guess I could see that. I mean look at Olympic athletes. They’re crazy fast and ultra fit.” She pursed her lips, thinking about the subject. “But what about the senses?”
“He said there are vitamins and herbs they could take that would naturally enhance them.” I shrugged. “It doesn’t really matter. No human alive will ever do that from birth ’til death to test the theory, and even if they did, it wouldn’t impact us.”
“True.”
“Now, what else do you want to do today?”
“Oh, Lex! I’m so excited, but nervous. I mean, how did you deal with it all? On one hand, I can’t wait to finally be a part of the group, but on the other, I see what you’re going through and am scared shitless.” She gnawed at her lip, her hands fiddling in her lap as she peered at me expectantly.
“I’m not really dealing with it. I’d like to think I am, I tell myself I am, but really I’m just existing right now, just rolling with the punches, so to speak. Honestly, after my talk with Felipe, I’m really considering dropping out of high school and just getting my GED.”
“You know my dad gave me the same option?”
“What? When?” My eyes widened as I watched her. Her cheeks took on a pinkish color.
“Last night. He said he remembered his transformation and how hard it was to balance everything. When he got the invite to join the vamp army, he quit school. It took him a couple years before he had time to get his GED, but he said he didn’t regret it. He said this world is different.”
“Well, I definitely agree with that last part. The thing that kills me is that it would be easier to drop out and get my GED, but what would I be sacrificing memory-wise to do it? We wouldn’t have any goofy prom pictures to look back on, no graduation caps to frame as an homage to the Cullen house.” I chuckled.
She laughed, her face lighting up. “From what you, Craig, and my dad have told me, memories become merely a pinpoint on your timeline. After so many years, like photos, they fade. Just because you live forever doesn’t mean you can remember forever. If we were humans, it’d be different. I’d have a hissy fit if you tried to drop out and get your GED, because when we’re on our deathbeds, high school will have been sixty years ago, long enough to miss it, but short enough to recall it all.”
“This is why you’re my best friend.”
Mel was goofy at times, but brilliant at others. She had a good grasp on an open perspective. I was overly analytical with a narrow viewpoint at times, and while she considered the details of things, she didn’t let it muck up the realistic picture. She didn’t nitpick; she didn’t peel away every layer in hopes of finding something great at the bottom. She looked at situations for what they were. She was rational about everything, despite being dramatic at times, which was along the lines of being irrational.
“I’ve never asked. What does your dad eat or drink?”
“Blood.” She cringed. “No offense,” she quickly added.
“None taken. Drinking blood is nothing like drinking a Frappuccino, but you do what you have to.”
“Craig eats food, though most of it is nearly raw and absolutely disgusting. He knows how I feel about it, though, and doesn’t eat around me.”
“We should probably go grocery shopping, then. I’m guessing Kyle isn’t eating massive medium-rare steaks with runny eggs on a regular basis.”
“Heck, no. I can’t even force a pink hamburger from the grill down his throat. Everything has to be brown and burnt for it to touch his lips ever since his science teacher made his class watch a video on E-coli.”
“We so need to document this in case he eats food when he turns.”
“I know, right?” She stood up, nearly bouncing in place. “Okay. So let’s go pick out my outfit for the day. I have to look fabulous on my last human day. Then we can go grab some Mexican food.”
“You do realize it’s only eight in the morning, right?”
“Okay, so we grab breakfast at Perkins, then do a little mall shopping, grab Mexican for lunch, and finish off the afternoon by going grocery shopping. Afterward we can come back here, put the stuff away, and watch vampire movies the rest of the evening with whoever wants to join us because I’m amused by the idea of becoming something like what’s on the big screen.”
“Breathe much?” I chuckled. She made a show of taking a big, deep breath and letting it out. “Oh, stop. Let’s go get you dressed.”
Chapter 9
Who knew dressing a person for their last human day could be so grueling? Mel changed at least a hundred times before deciding on gray-washed skinny jeans and a violet oversized sweater that fell off one shoulder; it looked great against her lightly tanned skin and beautiful blonde hair. She paired the ensemble with bright blue ballet flats, threw on a long thin necklace with a decent-sized bird charm on it and chose a pair of pearl earrings, then grabbed a massive purse with a geometric pattern of gray, teal, and pale purple triangles. She looked nineties hip.
“Alright, I’m ready,” she announced.
We were just about to walk out the door when someone knocked. I couldn’t hear anything beyond the door, so I motioned for Mel to stay put. I stood on my tiptoes and peered through the peephole, but saw no one. I gripped the door handle and slowly turned the knob. Abruptly the door flew open. My instincts kicked in and I had the vamp in a headlock in a split second.
“Hell-the-freak-oh! It’s me, Lex!” Gabi yelped.
I immediately let her go. “Sorry.” I felt myself flush.
“Someone’s a little edgy today.” Her brows were near her hairline, as if to emphasize her words with an expression.
“I have a right to be after what happened.”
“True. So what are we doing today?” Gabi did a little dance in place.
“Wait, how did you even know where to go?” I asked, as we walked out the door together.
“I stopped by your place and talked to your aunt.”
“Oh.” That made sense.
“I love how we totally didn’t plan it, but we’re all in matching outfits,” Mel gushed.
I looked at Gabi, dressed in black skinny jeans and an oversized fuchsia and grey striped sweater. Stripes didn’t usually work for plus-size women, but it worked on her. She wore gold ballet flats and a gold necklace with a heart pendant.
Gabi bypassed my car and walked down to the black Corvette parked along the street. The passenger window rolled down, and I saw Jack tilt himself and wave in our direction. I was still a bit uneasy about him, but my friend truly did seem to be in love. She radiated at the sight of him. I waved back but slid into my car so as not to eavesdrop on their heavy flirtation.
“She seems happy.” Mel sounded surprised.
“Yeah.”
“Who would have thought? I mean if I lost Craig because of some a-hole playing games with lives, I can’t say I would turn around and marry him.”
“She’s having a hard time accepting it, but you can’t change your heart. We don’t have a choice in who we love, unfortunately.”
“I guess you’re right.” She nodded, sliding into the back seat.
The next couple hours were filled with lots of laughter and many trips down memory lane. We particularly fell into a fit of laughter when the guys not so discreetly came into the Mexican restaurant shortly after us. We’d suspected they were following us but wanted to see how long they could keep it up. In the end we all filed in together at the grocery store.
“Okay, we need lots of steak and eggs,” I stated, grabbing the cart and heading that way.
We passed multiple aisles of goodness along the way, which resulted in a few detours.
“Chocolate!” Mel yelled. “I definitely need some of every variety.” She proceeded to toss one of every candy bar into the
cart, along with a bag of Hershey kisses.
“You’re going to get sick from all that candy.” I scrunched my nose. Chocolate didn’t hold the same appeal it once did for me.
“Yes, Mother,” Mel droned.
“She’s right, love. Your bumper will be a brute Salisbury after all that.”
“I don’t care. It’s my last day and I want to gorge myself.” Mel stuck her chin out defiantly and walked ahead of us.
“Oh! Lex, you have to, have to please, please, please make your Christmas treats again! I’ve been describing them to Jack and he’s dying to try them. Plus, I can’t bake worth a darn and have been craving them.” Gabi stuck out her bottom lip to properly plead her case.
I chuckled. “Were they that good?”
“If they’re anything like Gabi says, I will pay you to bake them regularly,” Jack said.
“They were a chockle of delimptious heaven.” Craig shook his head in agreement.
I was taken aback by their sudden enthusiasm. I knew I had no treats left over that night, but I didn’t think anything of it.
“They were amazing, babe. I could go for a batch myself.” Kellan came behind me, pressing his front to my rear, and put his hands on the outside of mine on the cart rail. He turned the buggy down the aisle to the baking supplies. “Grab whatever you need and I’ll pay for it.”
“Really, guys?” I thought back over the recipes I’d invented.
“Yes, really. I want some of everything. Those cupcakes were heaven on earth, so you have to make those again, and the cookies, too. Oh! I want you to try to make a cake. I’m thinking it could be layered, but you can do what you want there.” Gabi’s eyes lit up as she grabbed two of the largest bags of flour available, twenty pounds, before tossing another two into the cart right behind them.
“Um, that’s a lot of flour.”
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