"Where are we going?"
"Away from school, someplace important to me," he looked back at the road as he drove out of the parking lot and into the traffic. I wondered where we were going, but I didn't press him for any details since I knew he wouldn't budge. I looked out of the window as we drove past trees and deserted areas.
We were silent and I didn't mind. I suppose he didn't either as he made no attempt to speak. I liked the silence; I wanted time to think.
What am I doing? Ditching school and driving someplace with a complete stranger, and a boy on top of that. If my mum sees him drop me off, man am I going to get an earful!
But when I looked away from the trees and saw Ethan there driving, like it was the easiest thing in the world, I realised that I didn't want to be anywhere else.
Ethan
I
could feel her staring. I wanted to stare right back at her, but it was either stare back and crash the car or keep on looking at the road and concentrate on driving. I tightened my hold on the steering wheel, for both our sakes, making sure I wouldn't look at her. We neared our destination and I felt excited to share it with her.
I knew she was dying to know where we were going and I suspected she was having second thoughts about coming with me; I didn't want her to have second thoughts.
I took a chance and looked over at her. She was looking straight ahead, but her hands were knitted together tightly. I supressed a smile.
"Having second thoughts?" I asked, teasing, but I hoped she wasn't.
"It's not that … I'm just wondering what my mum will think when I get home," Tatiana looked at me for a few seconds before I had to look back at the road in front of me.
"Don't worry, you won't be home late. We're nearly there."
I made a turn and we were in a parking lot. We could see the water ahead of us. I parked across two spaces, knowing hardly anybody came here.
"Lake Michigan? This is where you took me?" she asked, confused.
"This place is special to me. My mum … she used to take me here to spend some time with me. I loved it here," I said trying to control my voice.
We walked over to the edge of the wharf. I sat down and my legs hung in the air. Tatiana soon followed and sat down beside me. The water was calm and, occasionally, I could see fish swim by.
It was deserted like it always was, especially in this area. Everyone forgot about this place, or avoided it, after all those people were attacked by vampires a few years ago. I hadn't forgotten … I couldn't. That was the first time I got bitten; the first time I found out that humans weren't alone in this world.
That day had been a nightmare; everyone had been screaming and running around like crazy animals. I was only six years old, vulnerable, scared, and they took me. Once they knew I was my father's son, they took me as bait. I remembered waking up in a cave, feeling cold and hungry. Vampires hissed and stared at me, occasionally licking their lips, telling me they wanted me. My father had been too busy fighting them when I was taken but never stopped looking for me, he gathered up as many hunters as he could. When he found me they nearly took down every vampire. The police thought there were sick psychopaths on the loose and searched for them to stop them from hurting me but of course they never found them, they only found me. They thought my family made up the whole story in order to get publicity.
My mum would come to the exact spot from where I was taken to think about what she had almost lost that day and how grateful she was to have me back in her arms. Then she started to bring me here as well. I would follow her and we would sit on the edge of the deck, hanging our legs in the air while she put her arms around me and hummed. I remembered the tune, still fresh in my mind. I looked into the distance.
Tatiana said, "What's she like?"
"She was patient, kind, and she was the most beautiful woman I knew."
"Was?" she asked, suddenly sad. It was as if she knew what I meant, but had to ask anyway.
"I lost her too. Well she left when she couldn't deal with my dad anymore," I said, avoiding eye contact. "I haven't seen or heard from her in nearly eight years."
She stared at me for a moment and then she looked back at the water, deep in thought. "I'm so sorry," she said. I could hear the sadness in her voice and I didn't want her to feel sad. I wanted her to feel happy around me. "At least you know she's out there," she said, now looking at me.
"At least your dad loved you. My mum doesn't seem to since she doesn't even bother to talk to me or call me on my birthday." My voice was harsher than I intended as tears threatened to fall. My throat tightened.
"I didn't mean it like that," she said. I could feel her staring; watching me closely.
"Sorry … I didn't …" I sighed, "Sorry."
I looked back at her, feeling worse than I had before. She was still staring at me and I felt this pull tugging at me. I wanted to lean into her, kiss her, and hold her. I wanted to caress her face with my hands and feel those delicious lips of hers against my own. I wanted to run my hands through her hair and get my hands tangled in it. I wanted all of those things in that moment. Our eyes locked, trancelike we stared, unmoving.
I hardly know Tatiana. What am I doing? I thought as I leaned in slowly. I never looked away from her, silently asking for her permission. She didn't blink either as she leaned in too.
Beep! Beep!
A distant car horn sounded. We both jumped, now completely embarrassed. My cheeks felt warm and I saw Tatiana's face turn pink. She looked beautiful.
"So …"
"So … how old is your brother?" she asked, changing the subject.
I was grateful for the change in subject, but I didn't want to talk about my brother. I sighed. Of course she liked my brother, I had always heard how he was way better looking than me.
"He's twenty-two. If you want to ask him out I'm not asking for you," I said abruptly. I roughly wiped my eyes with the tips of my fingers. "Sorry."
"I guess you're used to people asking you that, but no, that's not why I asked," she said quietly.
"Oh," I said, smiling like an idiot. Finally, a girl that didn't like my brother in that way.
"You and he don't look like brothers other than the slight resemblance in your faces. He is cute, but he isn't the brother with the better looks," she said, biting her lip nervously.
I felt like kissing her again. When she saw me staring at her in amusement, she turned a shade of pink. "Finally, a girl that doesn't fall for my brother's charm!" I said, smiling.
"Well not that brother anyway," she whispered.
I wasn't sure if she wanted me to hear it so I chose to pretend I didn't. I looked at my phone to see that two hours had passed and school would finish soon.
"Thanks for sharing this place with me. I like it here, it's so peaceful," Tatiana said.
"Whenever you wanna come here, just let me know."
"Hey man, where've you been?" Steven asked me when I walked onto the basketball court.
He was wearing low shorts with a loose singlet on and so was everyone else. When I didn't answer Steven threw the ball at me, missing my face by inches. Anger flared inside me.
"None of your fucking business," I said with venom in my voice as I walked over to him, slamming the ball hard into his chest making him grunt in response.
I walked over to Daniel and Nate and they greeted me with a one-armed hug. We started playing, two on two. Daniel and I against Steven and Nate. After a few minutes, I was drenched in sweat. I called out to Daniel to pass me the ball. It flew into my hands and I dribbled the ball and aimed to shoot, occasionally dodging Nate's defending skills. The ball shot up to the hoop, spinning around before finally making it inside. I quickly hi-fived Daniel. Walking over to the tap, I drank a few sips of water, appreciating the coolness.
Daniel asked, "Where were you bro?"
"I was with Tatiana," I said, shrugging like it was no big deal. But I smiled to myself and instantly regretted it when they saw me do it … shit.
"Shut it," I warned him.
"Who doesn't?" Steven from behind me asked, waggling his eyebrows. "Did she get the D?" he asked.
I felt like punching him, more than once.
"Piss off, she's not like that," I hissed, my eyes narrowing in anger. Steven shook his head and that only made me want to hit him more and more.
"All girls are the same, they just don't show their true colours until later," Steven smiled, but not with friendliness. "Something tells me that Tatiana's a slut."
I didn't hear anything else Steven said because the next thing I knew I was tackling him to the cement. We slid across the court. I pinned Steven down. He tried to get free but I wouldn't let him go. It was only Tatiana's first day of school and she was being called names. I wouldn't have that. My right fist slammed into his face. I heard something crunch, but I hit him once more.
Looking him in the eye, I said, "You ever say that to my face or spread that around I will fucking kill you, got it?" I lowered my voice, but it sounded menacing even to my own ears.
Steven nodded hysterically and I let go of him, walking away from him and the basketball court.
Tatiana
I
didn't know what happened back at Lake Michigan. One second I was feeling sorry for him and the next I was leaning into him, about to kiss him. I shook my head as I sat on my bed. Jamie was sitting in my lap and my legs were going numb.
"Jamie, I can't feel my legs," I laughed a little.
"Sorry," he said sweetly as he crawled off of my legs. He sat down on my bed facing me. "How was school?" he asked as he drew with crayons on a big piece of paper.
"It was okay, I made some new friends so it wasn't that bad," I said shrugging, but I couldn't stop myself from smiling as I thought of Ethan. Jamie didn't notice as he was concentrating on his artwork, but I wished he did. I wanted to tell him about how I felt around Ethan. I'd never felt this way with anyone, not even Brad. I shook my head as I thought of Brad meeting Ethan.
I'm in trouble, I thought.
I knew mum saw me getting dropped off by Ethan, but she didn't ask me any questions about it. In a way I was relieved. But a part of me still wanted her to worry, to protect me from guys like Ethan. I usually envied Jamie; he could just stay home and be innocent. Unlike Chicago, there were no schools here in Michigan for vampires. So Jamie had to stay home and learn how to blend in with humans. He hadn't been exposed to the real world, where vampires killed humans and hunters killed vampires. Stalkers and serial killers were nothing compared to vampires. I looked at the time and found that it was only nine o'clock at night. I sighed and told Jamie I was going downstairs, but he stayed there and kept on drawing.
I walked downstairs slowly, looking around for the first time. Carpet hugged the wooden stairs and there were no pictures on the walls like in Chicago. I suddenly felt sad; the overwhelming feeling of the loss of my dad dawned on me again. I heard my mum cooking in the kitchen.
"Hey," I said as I sat down on one of the stools along the kitchen bench.
She smiled in response and said, "Get Jamie down here, dinner is ready."
I looked at the oven and smelt the familiar smell of ravioli; my dad's favourite. On cue, Jamie stomped down the stairs, making his presence known. I rolled my eyes as Jamie came running into the kitchen, waving his drawing in the air with a huge smile on his face.
"Look at my drawing Tati! It's of mummy, you, me, and daddy up in the sky."
He pointed to each person in the drawing. We were all smiling with tears rolling down our cheeks as we looked up at our dad. He was looking down at us with a smile. He looked happy. Free. I wished that was how I felt right now.
Tears blurred my vision and I pulled Jamie into my lap and hugged him, "I love it."
Jamie's face brightened and he wiped a tear that had escaped. Jamie and I sat down at the dinner table and mum served our food onto our plates as we waited. The candles were lit and I smelt vanilla in the air.
"Who was the boy bringing you home today?" my mum asked as she placed some ravioli in her mouth. I tried to swallow the ravioli in my mouth but it wouldn't budge, so I waited. "What did you think I didn't notice?" mum asked, taking my silence as shock.
"He's a new friend. He offered me a lift and I said yes," I said cautiously.
"You need to be careful … you never know who's a hunter."
"Mum … I know."
"Good."
"Mummy, do you like my drawing?" Jamie asked, smiling so innocently.
Mum didn't look up from her plate as he waited and she nodded, "Yes I like it, darling."
Jamie pouted, "But you haven't even looked at it yet."
Mum looked up, but avoided eye contact. I knew she was going to lose it. She wanted to be strong for us, but it wasn't bad to be emotional in front of your children. "Excuse me," mum said. She stood up abruptly, her chair making a loud groaning noise. She cleared her throat and ran out of the kitchen and up the stairs, slamming her bedroom door a few seconds later.
"What did I do? Doesn't she like my drawing?" Jamie asked, his eyes were sad as his bottom lip trembled.
My heart broke as I looked at him. I patted my lap telling him to sit there and he slowly climbed up, wrapping his arms around my neck. "She loves your drawing Jamie … she's just very upset about daddy," I said, trying to sooth him as I ran my fingers through his soft hair. "Come on … let's go to bed."
I got up and lifted him up higher, positioning him so he could rest his head on my shoulder as I walked up the stairs.
"Can I sleep with you? I don't want to sleep alone," Jamie pleaded.
I couldn't say no to him, especially now. Instead of answering him I went straight to my room and laid him on my bed after I pulled back the covers. I walked into my bathroom and changed into my pyjamas. When I got into bed, Jamie snuggled closer to me.
I hugged him to me when he said, "I love you Tati."
"I love you to the stars," I whispered back and we both fell into darkness.
Mum was still in her room by the time I woke up. I didn't want to wake her, so I made breakfast for Jamie then got ready for school.
School. Ugh.
Jamie sat at the table drinking from his blood bag and then shoved some eggs into his mouth. I shook my head.
What a pig, I thought teasingly.
"Why can't I come to school with you?" Jamie pouted.
I laughed, "I wish you could, but you know why you can't."
I cleaned up the dishes as he got dressed, though I didn't know what the point was since he was staying home all day. I chose to wear denim jeans and a blue long-sleeved shirt, hoping it wouldn't be that cold today. I could hear mum moving around in her room, so I quickly kissed Jamie on the forehead and told him to lock the door.
I walked to school, not minding the silence. Cars drove past me a couple of times, but other than that the streets were quite deserted. So I was well aware as a car stopped just behind me. I was ready to bolt. My heart was beating faster and my hands were balled into fists.
"Tatiana, hey."
I turned around and smiled in relief. It was Ethan.
"Hey. You scared me!" I said.
"Sorry," he laughed, his cheeks turning a little pink. "Want a ride?"
I nodded, not trusting my voice, and he leaned over to open the door for me. I climbed in and closed the door behind me.
"Did you know where…?" I didn't finish the rest of the sentence knowing that he understood. I looked at him waiting for him to answer me. He glanced back at me for a couple of seconds, before pulling away from the curb and onto the road. I noticed that he was nervous.
"I … uh, I wasn't following you. I just live, like, two blocks away from you and this is the way I drive to school."
I laughed, punching his shoulder lightly. "Lighten up, I wasn't accusing you of stalking me."
He joined in, lightly tapping his palm again
st the steering wheel as the song Thrift Shop by Macklemore played.
"Are you gonna hang with us today?" Ethan asked as he turned right and drove into the parking lot of the school.
Students beeped their horns as they all competed for parking spots.
"If I'm welcome, then yeah," I shrugged like it was no big deal.
But it was. I wanted to be with Ethan. I looked over at him and noticed that his jaw was tensed and his knuckles white as he gripped the steering wheel tighter. "You're welcome, trust me." His grip loosened when he saw me smile. "If I like you, they'll like you too."
"I'm glad to hear that then," I said feeling overwhelmed about what he had just said – He liked me! Okay, get a hold of yourself! He just meant that as a friend not a crush! Ugh.
He parked his car and we walked together to our lockers. People stared when they saw me get out of his car. I rolled my eyes. Now there were definitely going to be rumours spreading around about me. I wouldn't be surprised if they had already started. I grabbed the books I needed for the day and walked into the cafeteria as we waited for school to start. Ethan sat with me and we talked about everything, except vampires.
He told me about his mum and I told him about my dad; we laughed at a few memories. A little while later Nate and Daniel and some girls that I didn't know sat at our table. I could see one of the girls was staring dreamily at Ethan, but he didn't seem to take any notice of her because he was staring at me. My hands were starting to sweat and my heart rate increased.
I heard someone pull back a chair and sit far away from us. It was Steven. Ethan glared across at him. Steven's face was bruised, he had a bandage over his nose and a huge cut across his cheek. As I stared at Steven I could tell he was avoiding my gaze. He looked over at one of the girls and smiled.
"What happened to your face Stevie?" I heard one of the girls say. She batted her eyelashes at him.
I couldn't believe girls actually did that. I nearly laughed when I saw Steven's face brighten. He leaned over, whispering something into her ear and making her giggle. I covered my mouth, so I didn't laugh.
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