by VJ Erickson
***
"So, how's your brother doing?" Tom asked Joseph, his mouth full of cereal.
"He's uh... okay. Little bit of a headache, I guess," said Joseph, who was feeling like he wasn't sounding very convincing.
"That's good. I have to say, though, that I've never seen a drunk vampire before."
Joseph dropped his spoon and it hit the floor with a clatter. He quickly picked it up again, trying to act nonchalant about it.
"How did you...?"Joseph began.
"Hold on, hold on, please don't try to enthrall me," insisted Tom, waving his hands defensively. "I'm not going to tell anyone. I just don't like lying and well... I think we both know he wasn't drunk."
"I guess we do," said Joseph slowly.
His impulse was to immediately seize control of the situation using his abilities, but he also felt an immediate sense of relief to have the air clear. Joseph didn't like having to lie either.
"Look, I don't need to know what happened. I just wanted to know that you guys were okay. Genuinely."
"We are," said Joseph, relaxing further. "So how did you...?"
"Know? I've been doing this RA thing for a couple years now, and I see you guys all the time. You may not believe it, but I'm a perceptive guy. It's hard not to have your job be to babysit others and not start to notice your students'... idiosyncrasies."
"So, you just kind of... picked up on it?"
"I know what you're thinking, but you can see from my eyes that I'm not a vampire, right?"
Joseph looked closely. Tom's eyes were as green as Joseph's were blue, but Tom was clearly not cheating. Tom had been blessed with two of the most beautiful green eyes he had ever seen, thought Joseph. Suddenly self-conscious that he was staring, he turned away slightly.
"See? I'm not a threat to you. And I've got your back. I can tell you're a nice guy, and whatever happened to your brother, it's good to see that he's got someone besides his RA to look over him. Because God knows, you guys can be a handful," Tom said, shoveling another heaping spoonful of cereal into his mouth. "No offense."
"None taken," replied Joseph. "Because I really can't disagree with you."
"Good. Because I'm in charge of your floor and disagreeing is not allowed," Tom said with a wink.
Joseph felt his heart race at this gesture and made a point of looking very intently at his food as he ate. Joseph wondered if Tom was perceptive enough to see the effect he was having on him, but when Joseph looked up, Tom was happily digging away at his cereal, probably not noticing his reactions at all. It was nice not having to hide from humans for a change, and Joseph was grateful.
He was beginning to relax and might have even forgotten the stresses of the last few days for a moment if Eric's appearance at the entrance of the cafeteria didn't bring him back to reality. Joseph stifled a sigh as he watched his brother approach them.
"Anyone sitting here?" Eric asked, gesturing to the seat beside Tom.
"Naw, man. Go right ahead," said Tom.
"Thanks."
"Were you going to get anything to eat?" asked Joseph.
"Already ate," replied Eric. "I was looking for you."
"I have a phone, you know."
"So?"
"So what's up?" asked Joseph.
"We need to talk. Can you... you know?" Eric said while waving his hands at Tom.
"Enthrall me?" Tom suggested.
"Wait, what? But you're... you're not..." Eric stammered.
"A vampire? No. And neither are you, which is strange, because I could've sworn..."
"Joseph," Eric interrupted, "please, can you do something about this... this... RA person? We need to talk."
"I can still hear you, you know," said Tom.
"Yeah, Eric. You don't have to be such a jerk. And unlike you, I don't go around enthralling everyone all the time."
"Oh great. Now I get another sermon from Saint Joseph of Vampiria. If you want me to leave you so that you can make googly eyes at your new boyfriend, have at it. I'll just go take my life crisis elsewhere."
"Dammit, Eric," Joseph said, slamming his fist on the table. "You know he's not my boyfriend. You're just trying to embarrass me."
"And it's not working. You have nothing to be embarrassed about," said Tom. "If you guys want to have a vampire heart to heart, I don't mind. Er... or a vampire to... not vampire?"
"I used to be one," said Eric. "You weren't imagining things. And now I am not one, and it's kind of a stressful situation for me and no offense, Tom, but I'd kind of like to talk to my brother privately about it."
"Oh NOW you mean no offense," said Joseph, with a scowl.
"Hey hey, guys. No offense taken. I can imagine whatever happened to make you an... ex-vampire must have been pretty traumatic. Wait, what happened, exactly? I've never heard of an ex-vampire."
"It's a long story," replied Eric.
"Ah, say no more. I'm not trying to pry. I'll give you guys some privacy," Tom said, picking up his food and wandering off to another table.
"Thanks, jerkface," Joseph said once Tom was out of earshot.
"What? Was he really your boyfriend? Go get him, Tiger!"
"No. And it's not likely to happen with you chasing him off like that."
"So you're interested?"
"I didn't say that."
"It would explain why you're blabbing our secrets to him. Why did you tell him that we are... er... and were vampires?"
"I didn't. He figured it out."
"But he's not...?"
"No, he's not. But he's been an RA before, and he's had vampire freshmen before, and he's smart, so he figured it out."
"Smart, huh? You sound interested to me."
"Shut up."
"Right. Well, setting your romantic life aside for a moment, I need to talk about me."
"Don't you always?"
"Of course. So, I think I'm going to drop out."
"Drop out? We haven't even started yet."
"Yeah, well, the whole plan was to chill, game the system, meet some hotties..."
"That was your plan," interrupted Joseph. "I thought I might actually learn something."
"Of course you did. We are talking about me, though, remember? I just... This changes everything. You know that."
"I do know that. But where does that leave me?"
"You can still do the learning thing. You're still a vampire. You have everything you need to get by. Me, on the other hand..."
"I don't have everything. I need you. You owe it to me at the very least. My whole life got turned upside down because of you, and now we're all each other has."
"Don't be so melodramatic," said Eric.
"Me, melodramatic? You're the one giving up on everything after one minor setback."
"Minor setback? It's my life that just got turned upside down. And I'm not giving up on everything, just school."
"Okay, fair. You've just had a big life-changer. But I'm still here for you, right? Maybe we won't always need each other, but for now we do. You're not going anywhere."
"Oh, so that's it, then?"
"Yup," said Joseph. "Come on, you have not even gone to a single class, yet. At least try it."
"Okay fine. I'll try one class. But only for you."
"The whole semester."
"Nuh uh. One class. That's all you're getting from me."
"We'll see."