Lily

by T M Linville

  Lily crouched behind the stairwell door of the building across from Shay’s. It was a home for the elderly and she often used the roof access to get to the New York rooftops when she didn’t want Eric to know where she was going. The rooftops had a much better view than the streets below and now, it had quite possibly the best view that Lily had ever seen. Since she never had to worry about being surprised by any visitors up here, she stayed hidden in the shadows and just watched.

  In her whole existence Lily had ‘fallen in love’ with three people. Two vampires and one human and they were all males. And although it was a vampire she had fallen in love with, well, thought she had fallen in love with, she had never connected like most vampires do. She had always heard the stories of vampires and their loves and how strong the bond was. When a vampire falls in love, it is eternal. It’s literally ‘until death do you part’. You never want to leave the one you’ve fallen in love with and that’s just the way it is. Lily had never felt that way, though. She thought that what she felt was love, but obviously it wasn’t. Maybe it was just the longing for companionship, or just a desire to have what others had; forever with the one they loved. It sounded cheesy and romantic at the same time and she had wished for a century and a half that she would find her soul mate. She had heard stories of vampires literally dying because they couldn’t be with the one they loved. Vampires that would have an elder end their lives because either their love had passed or something had permanently kept them apart.

  She was starting to realize that her past loves were all a joke, at least that’s what Vincent had thought, and now Lily understood why.

  She was turning all this over in her head as she watched this beautiful woman bobbing her head and to the rhythms coming from the tiny speakers in her ears as she forced the wheel on the bike to spin. Lily could hear the music. It was muffled slightly, but she recognized the song and singer. It was a song she liked, too.

  As the song came to an end, the new mystery woman slowed her peddling then stopped. The sun reflected off of her eyes and Lily’s heart skipped a beat. She had never in her one hundred and sixty two years seen eyes as incredible as hers. They were hazel, a rainbow of color against her tanned skin. Black on the outermost edge, then into dark blue, which faded through a lighter blue to a forest green and then a deep brown against the pupil. Lily was mesmerized. Then the woman hopped off of the bike and leaned against the railing as she looked around the rooftops and then the alleyway and street below. She looked in Lily’s direction and Lily froze. It was like she was looking directly at her, but there was no way she could see her in the shadows.

  She had dark brown hair, with hints of a deep, reddish brown at the tips and where the sun hit it. Her face was a perfect oval shape, her eyebrows perfectly arched on high brows. Her lips were full and pink and the top lip had a tiny upturn just under her perfect nose.

  She was a vision, as if a master painter had combined every perfect feature into one, breathtaking woman. She had to have been in her mid-thirties and Lily, at that moment, decided that she wanted her. But how? Lily was half vampire, this woman was human. Although vampires didn’t usually fall in love with humans, it did happen. Lily had thought she had fallen in love with a human before. A twenty-four year old guy that Lily had met on a ski trip. Vincent had actually thought at the time, that it may have been the real thing. That maybe it was a human that she needed. But the relationship fell apart in a matter of months. Luckily, Lily had not yet told Kyle that she was a vampire. Vincent was happy for that fact. Vampires were once forbidden from telling a human about what they were or where they came from, but if you’re truly in love with someone, eventually they’re going to know everything, especially if you planned on spending the rest of your lives together. They would eventually figure out that something just wasn’t right. I mean humans aren’t stupid, well, not that stupid. They would definitely notice little things and over time would put the pieces together. Vampires never age, rarely got sick or even got hurt and eventually a human would notice that eating out at restaurants wasn’t ever on the agenda. So, over time the rules changed.

  But how would Vincent react? Lily knew that he would doubt the connection and probably forbid Lily from seeing her. Lily shook her head and laughed at herself.

  “I don’t even know her name,” she said to herself.

  Question after question raced through her head. How will I approach her? How will she react? Would she think I was crazy? Probably. Does she even like women? Which was a very big if.

  The world had changed so much since Lily was born. Women with women and men with men was once completely forbidden, even among the vampires. She never understood why anyone would forbid anyone from loving someone else. What difference did it make? Wasn’t love still love no matter who it was with? She had never been with a woman but it didn’t matter, this woman before her was the one. The one person that she wanted to spend eternity with. It was her lips that she wanted to kiss forever. She just had to figure out how to make it happen.

  Lily watched her for weeks. She learned her routines, her habits and even her favorite songs. LaShay Black was her name and her father owned several television stations across the US and Britain and as near as she could tell, Shay was given an allowance from her father and spoke to him almost daily. Lily wasn’t sure about her mother as she had never heard Shay say anything about her. She still had to find out if she even stood a chance at all. Was she even gay? Was she dating anyone? Was she even interested in anyone? After a week she got her answer.

  Shay was standing on the balcony when a man joined her. They talked about their weekend plans and then he kissed her. After he left, Shay pulled her phone out of her pocket and made a call.

  “Hello, Shay,” said the voice on the other end.

  “Hey Shane,” she answered.

  “Did you do it?” he asked.

  “No, of course not,” Shay said. “I’m supposed to meet him at the bar on Lex at 8 o’clock.”

  Lily didn’t need to hear the rest of conversation. She frowned to herself and let her back slide down the wall until she was sitting. Shay didn’t like girls. Wow, a huge weight had just landed on Lily’s shoulders. She didn’t stand a snowball’s chance… but she wasn’t just going to give up. Lily still had to talk to her. But how? Why? Was there even a point now?

  Lily shook her head and stood up in the shadows. Shay was still on the phone on the balcony.

  “I have to try,” Lily said out loud as she walked down the stairs.

  She walked the twelve blocks back to the coven. A seventy five story high rise in Manhattan. When she arrived, she went straight to the seventy second floor to see Erica. She knocked on the door, waited for Erica and then walked in, head down.

  “Ok, what’s wrong? You’ve been practically floating on air for the past week. What happened?” Erica asked as she followed Lily down the hall to the dining room.

  “Erica, what do you do if you’re love with someone that you know you can never have?” Lily asked as she sat down in one of the high backed chairs at the table.

  “So, you’re in love. Again,” Erica asked in a flat tone.

  “Nevermind,” Lily answered. She stood up from the table just as Erica sat down.

  “Lily, wait.”

  “I knew that I’d get shit from Vincent, but I thought you’d at least listen to me.”

  “Sit down,” Erica said, smiling. “I’m just giving you grief. So tell me about him. Where did you meet him?”

  Lily took a deep breath and exhaled slowly.

  “Her,” Lily said softly. “It’s a her, not a him.”

  “Oh! Her. So when did this happen?” Erica asked.

  “About a week ago,” Lily replied, slowly.

  “OK, so what’s wrong?”

  “Well, for one, she’s straight. Two, she’s seeing someone. Three, she’s human. And four… I haven’t even spoken to her.”

  “Hummm,” Erica said, trying not to laugh. “And you know you’r
e in love… How?”

  “I just know,” Lily huffed.

  Erica sat and just looked at Lily across the table. She could tell that Lily was really serious about this.

  “So, tell me about her,” Erica smiled and reached across the table for Lily’s hand.

  Lily took Erica’s hand and looked up..

  “Her name is LaShay and she lives across from the nursing home where I get roof access.”

  “I suppose you know her routine?” Erica asked.

  “Yeah, she works at NY26 as a graphics director. She usually leaves about 6:00 AM and is usually home by 4:30 PM Monday through Thursday.”

  “Well, since you know her routine, meet her at the grocery store one day or somewhere else public.”

  “Grocery store, huh?” Lily smiled at Erica.

  “You have to start somewhere,” she smiled back and brushed her fingers across Lily’s hand.

  “She’s supposed to meet her boyfriend at a bar on Lex tonight.”

  “Well, that’s as good a place as any to start. But what about the whole ‘she’s straight’ part?” Erica asked.

  Lily just shrugged her shoulders. “I have to at least meet her. Maybe we could be friends at some point.”

  “What about the love part?”

  Lily shrugged her shoulders again.

  “Haven’t thought this through very much, have you?” Erica joked.

  “Uh, not really,” Lily said, smiling weakly.

  “Well, go play a few games of pool, or something. Maybe you’ll find out it wasn’t love after all,” Erica said.

  Lily Meets Shay

  Lily knew that she wanted to meet Shay. Regardless. So she went home, put on some make up, a pair of jeans without holes in them and headed over to Baldwin’s on Lex. She had never been there but apparently Erica had, because there were indeed pool tables. Lily arrived at about 7:30, ordered a shot from the bar, drank it down then went to the pool tables. A few guys came over from the bar and offered to play. Lily agreed politely and she went to rerack the pool balls. She was glad she had learned to play pool so many years ago and was happy that it hadn’t changed at all. Except for the tables which were now made of a man-made stone and not natural slate.

  Lily broke and called ‘stripes’. They had each taken a few shots and none of them were doing very well. Soon they were all laughing at themselves at the easy shots they were missing. One of the guys, Derek, took a shot and the que ball went flying off the table. Lily ran after it, laughing. She bent down to pick up the ball and when she stood up she bumped into someone.

  “Sorry,” Lily laughed, reaching out an arm to steady the person she had bumped.

  When Lily stood up she was looking directly into those beautiful hazel eyes that she had been dreaming about all week. Lily was going over all the scenarios in her head when she literally bumped onto Shay. She looked down at her hand, trying to think of something to say but nothing came.

  Shay put her hand on Lily’s arm, steadying herself even more. Then she looked into Lily’s crystal blue eyes. She let out an auditable gasp when their eyes met.

  “So sorry,” Lily mumbled.

  Lily wondered if she had scared Shay, because she didn't say a word. She just stared at her. Lily squeezed her arm slightly to get Shay’s attention.

  "Are you ok?" Lily asked.

  "Uh, yeah," she finally answered after a few seconds. "Yeah, I'm sorry, I wasn't watching where I was going."

  There was a big smile on her face now and Lily couldn't help but smile back.

  "Me either," Lily said. "Maybe, next time we should plan on bumping into each other."

  Lily wondered to herself if that was too much of a hint.

  "Ha, maybe," Shay answered with a blank stare.

  No, she didn't get it. Or did she?

  "Shay, come on, there are seats at the bar," Josh said from behind Shay.

  Lily watched as Shay walked away then Shay turned around and caught Lily staring. Lily smiled and Shay smiled back before disappearing into the crowd.

  At the bar, Shay looked toward the pool tables but couldn’t see it.

  “Did you see her eyes?” Shay asked Josh.

  "Who’s eyes?” Josh asked before throwing back a shot.

  "Her eyes..." Shay began but was interrupted by Josh asking the bartender for another round of drinks.

  Every chance Lily got, she looked toward the bar. She searched every face for Shay’s and when she finally saw her, their eyes locked.

  It was only a split second but they had seen each other.

  “Your shot, blue eyes,” Derek said to Lily from across the pool table.

  Lily turned around and took her shot. When she looked back to where Shay was sitting, Josh and Shay were gone.

  Lily raced out of the bar and hurried back to the nursing home across from Shay's. They were just getting out of the cab when Lily peeked over the edge of the roof. Josh and Shay kissed and then he got back into the cab. Lily waited as Shay rode the elevator up to the twelfth floor. She heard her remotes drop on the kitchen counter and then she heard Shane’s voice. He had apparently gotten there earlier and let himself in.

  “So did you break up with him?” Shane asked as soon as Shay walked back into the living room.

  “No,” Shay said quietly.

  “Why not?” he asked.

  “Just didn’t seem like the right time.”

  “The right time? He’s a drunk, Shay.”

  “But if I break up with him, my dad will be on my case again about being single and I’d rather just keep seeing Josh for the time being than to deal with my Dad.”

  “Why are you so worried about what your father thinks? He’s not the one kissing these losers.”

  “He’s not a loser! He’s a senior partner at his law firm and he’s handsome at that.”

  “But you don’t love him,” Shane pleaded.

  “Well… Maybe I do…” Shay began.

  “Well? Is the sex that good?” Shane laughed.

  “Very funny,” LaShay said.

  “Well, you are sleeping with him, right? I know you are, so don’t lie.”

  “I saw this girl at the bar,” Shay said, abruptly changing the subject. “She had the most amazing blue eyes.”

  “Humph,” Shane snorted.

  "You're right. But you should have seen her eyes," Shay said.

  Lily decided that she’d be at the bar every Saturday night from now on and was hoping Shay would be, too.

  The week seemed to pass so slowly. By the time Saturday came around again, Lily was aching to see Shay again. She had stayed away from her apartment all week and was really missing seeing her, if only in passing.

  Lily was hoping Shay would be at the bar again so much so, that Lily went to the bar to play pool three times during the week. Shay never showed, but Lily made a couple of new friends. When Saturday finally arrived, Lily was playing pool with her friends, Derek and his girlfriend, Ann, when Lily caught a glimpse of LaShay through the heavy crowd. Lily leaned her pool stick against the table and told her friends that she’d be right back.

  She walked over to Shay slowly, turning over in her head what she was going to say.

  "I was hoping you'd be here," Lily said before Shay could speak.

  Lily wondered if she should play it cool and act like she wasn't there for Shay, or totally cave and confess that she was.

  "So now that I'm here, what are..." Lily was interrupted by Shane stepping in front of Shay like he was Shay's bodyguard.

  Shane had shaggy brown hair, brown eyes, was a lanky five foot ten and weighed all of one hundred and thirty pounds soaking wet.

  Lily was too focused on Shay to see him at first. She stopped and gave him a quick up and down glance before returning her attention to the absolutely gorgeous woman behind him.

  But instead of being polite and moving aside, Shane stopped right in front of Lily. She was just going to step around him but he blocked her path, again. Now, Lily was getting angry. The
woman that she was madly in love with was less than three feet away and her friend decides he wants to play keep away.

  Lily’s first inkling was to push his protective ass out of the way, but that may reflect badly on her so early in the courting game. So she decided to play nice.

  "Uh, excuse me," Lily said with as little sarcasm as possible. "You're really cute and all, but I would really like to talk to your friend."

  "Well, she's taken," he said rudely.

  "By you?" Lily asked, still keeping her temper in check, but knowing the answer.

  She looked around him at Shay and the look on her face was priceless. It was a mix of astonished disbelief and curiosity. Shay was thinking, What in the world does he think he’s doing? What is he going to say?

  "Maybe," he said, flustered.

  Lily crossed her arms and took a step back. This should be good. She knew he was gay and she knew Shay was seeing someone else, so what could he possibly say?

  "Not me," he said, trying to make it up on the fly. "But she's with someone else."

  "Really?" Lily and Shay said in unison.

  Lily grinned at Shay's expression and returned her attention to the one digging himself deeper by the minute.

  "So what is this person like?" Lily asked Shane. "The one that she's with?”

  "Rich," he said suddenly.

  Lily nodded.

  "And?" she prodded.

  "Dark hair," he added.

  At this point, Shay had had about all she was going to take of this.

  "Shane," she said as she put her hand on his shoulder. "What are you doing?"

  "What would Josh think?" Shane added. “You came here to see her?”

  "Maybe!" Shay snapped. "But if you don't shut up..." She gave him an angry look as she pushed him to the side.