by Amira Rain
I couldn’t help but smile. “I bet he did.”
“Yup. He gave me his ‘warning look,’ so I pretty quickly hightailed it up here with our food. Guess who didn’t give me any kind of a dirty look when I said my little comment, though?”
I asked her who, and she went to get the rest of our food, clearly fighting a smile, as if enjoying drawing out the suspense.
Finally, after bringing over all plates, napkins, and silverware, she had a seat next to me in bed and told me. “He’s this new vampire guy named David. He came here with his brother Sean, and I talked to them a little bit before the meeting. I’d just come downstairs from taking my shower, and my hair was still a little bit wet, but actually, a whole lot wet, because I just got a little too hyped up to come down and meet everyone, so I didn’t even bother drying my hair. And David came up to me, and he was just like, ‘Been swimming lately?’ And he laughed a little, but then right away, he stopped himself and turned red, and he was like, ‘Sorry, that was probably stupid.’ And I was like, ‘No, it honestly wasn’t, and I honestly think you might actually be a little bit psychic, because I actually have been swimming lately. I swam in a lake on my lunch break today.’ And then, long story short, David asked me if my name is Jen, proving his psychic ability even more, and then he proved it even more again when he asked me if I’m into different scientific statistics and things. I told him, yes, I actually am, and that a lot of times, I like to quote scientific statistics when I’m trying to prove something to someone. I told him that it doesn’t even matter if the statistics aren’t even real, because all that matters is just that they sound like they might be real, because that’s just how science works. And then David acted like he wanted to burst out with some laughter, and he was like, ‘That’s actually not how science works.’ And I said, ‘Well, how do you know?’ And he told me that before coming here today, he actually worked as a research scientist or something. And I said, ‘Well, this is an important moment. I’m finally meeting one of the scientists whose statistics I’ve been quoting all these years.’ And then we both laughed, and then we laughed some more about different things, and then, like I said, he didn’t give me a dirty look when I said my comment about the garlic on my way up the stairs. In fact, he kind of smiled a little, like maybe he thought what I said was funny.”
Pausing in twirling some spaghetti around my fork, I glanced over at Jen, smiling a little. “It sounds like maybe you and David made a connection.”
Picking up her fork, Jen drew in a deep breath, seeming to be fighting a grin. “Yeah. You could say that. You could probably even say that we made a pretty big connection. See, ninety-seven percent of scientists say that sometimes, the biggest connections happen when people least expect them to…so, that’s probably what happened with me and David. We just connected right up, because neither one of us was really expecting it.”
Jen and I soon got down to serious eating, watching a TV show while we did so. Jen took a break from eating to get some bottled water for us from her minifridge, and then took another break to help Wanted climb up on the bed to sit with us. His arthritis usually made climbing up entirely by himself impossible.
A while later, after feeding him a few carrot coins from her nearly-empty salad plate, and the last meatball left on her dinner plate, Jen leaned back against my headboard with her hands behind her head. “What a day. It started pretty unluckily with me nearly burning the house down by putting a muffin in the microwave for fifteen minutes, instead of fifteen seconds how I meant to; but it ended super luckily by me making a connection with a pretty handsome and pretty cool vampire named David.”
Capping my bottle of water, I smiled. “You turned your luck around.”
With a small, satisfied-looking sort of smile playing around the edges of her mouth, Jen said that she sure had, then shifted her gaze from the TV screen to me. “So, how about you? Do you like any of the new vampires that showed up today?”
Feeling a little funny about revealing my crush on Jake for some reason, I said that Mack and Liz seemed like a really nice couple. “They were both so apologetic for showing up late today because Liz wanted to stop to photograph some sandhill cranes. I kept telling them to not even worry about it, because—”
“Oh, no you don’t.”
“What?”
“I can’t just let you off the hook from honestly answering my question, Chrissy. I’m your aunt, and also pretty much your best friend. So, basically, I have the right to not be put off from hearing the truth. So, I’ll ask you again. Do you like any of the new vampires that showed up today? And keep in mind, when I say ‘like,’ I don’t mean who do you think is nice, or who do you think takes cool pictures of cranes or whatever other construction equipment. I mean, do you like like any of the new vampires.”
Feeling weirdly self-conscious but knowing that Jen wasn’t going to let me off the hook, I hesitated in responding. “I guess there’s this guy Jake that I kind of like. He’s the really good-looking guy with dark blond hair and blue eyes, and he drives the blue mustang parked out in the driveway, if you’ve seen it.”
“I saw it out the kitchen window. Can’t say I’m a fan. The paint is just…too shiny or something. I just didn’t like it.”
“Well, Jake’s car isn’t the reason that I like him anyway. I like the way he smiles, and I like how he’s friendly, and I like how he’s into books just like I am. If I’m being completely honest, I really like the way he looks, too, but…I don’t just like that. I just like the complete package of him…no matter how shiny his car is or isn’t.”
With her gaze on the TV, Jen shrugged. “It was too shiny. It just didn’t strike me the right way.”
Thinking that maybe her dislike of Jake’s car was possibly more of a dislike of him, I asked her if she’d met him yet.
With her gaze still on the TV, she said yes. “I talked to him for a second, and I talked to that other really hot new guy who looks like he’s in his early twenties, too. The one with the really dark hair and gray eyes…Paul, I guess he said his name was. And here’s my verdict about both of them.” Uncharacteristically stony-faced, Jen finally shifted her gaze from the TV to me. “I don’t like either of them for you.”
“Well, don’t worry about Paul, because I definitely don’t like him for me, either. He called me a bookworm, and a whole bunch of other really rude things. But, just out of curiosity, what’s your reasoning for not liking him or Paul for me?”
Turning her gaze back to the TV, Jen shrugged. “They’re both just a little weird. They’re both liars.”
“What do you mean by ‘liars?’ What do you think they’re both lying about?”
Again, Jen shrugged. “They’re both just hiding something. I can just tell when people are. Have your parents ever told you the story of that Carla chick who moved here to the farm once?”
“Yes.”
“Well, then, you probably heard how I never liked her from the start. I just had a feeling she was bad somehow, or that she was hiding something…and I turned out to be right.”
“Well, what do you think Jake and Paul could be hiding?”
Jen shrugged yet again. “No clue…but the fact that they both are just makes me not like them. No guy who’s hiding something should be anywhere near my niece, no matter how good-looking. Period. That’s just a recipe for trouble, and I don’t want you getting hurt.”
“But…you really think Jake could be ‘hiding something?’ I mean, he seems pretty friendly and open, so—”
“Oh, it doesn’t matter how people seem. It just matters what kind of a gut feeling you get from them. And mine about Jake, and Paul, isn’t a good kind of gut feeling. It’s the kind of feeling that makes me want to keep you away from them.”
“Well, even my dad was saying that everyone here on the farm should give all the newcomers a chance.”
“Yeah, I gave both Jake and Paul a chance. I gave them both the chance to make a good first impression on me. They both failed. Espe
cially now since you told me that Paul was calling you names…even though calling you a bookworm is pretty accurate.”
I snorted. “Well, it was really more the way he said it…just, all under his breath and everything when he’d nearly passed me.”
“Well, would you rather that he said it loudly and right to your face?”
Fighting an eye roll, I sighed. “No. I wish that he just hadn’t said it to me at all. But, actually, on second thought, I’m glad he did.”
“Why?”
“Because then I was able to see right off the bat that he’s a jerk. I didn’t even have to waste any time trying to figure out if I like him or Jake more.”
With some funny little gleam in her big blue eyes, Jen shifted her gaze from the TV to me. “Well, how about if you don’t like either of them. How about if you like someone else…a different new guy.”
“And who would that be?”
Jen fought a smile. “Sean…David’s brother. He’s close to your age, you know. He only just turned twenty right before he was turned, and he wasn’t turned very long ago. So—”
“Well, now all this makes perfect sense. You just said all that about Jake and Paul both ‘hiding’ something just because you’d rather I date Sean instead, just so that…well, what? Just so we can both marry brothers and have a double wedding or something?”
Jen said no. “That wasn’t my first thought, anyway, but now that you mention it…a double wedding would be pretty awesome. But, no. I just want you to date Sean because I can already tell that he’s a really nice guy who isn’t hiding anything. He’s pretty much an open book, just like David. I started to trust them both right away, like, within fifteen seconds of talking to them. That’s why I want you to date Sean. Because I trust him and I don’t think he’d hurt you. And as far as him being the reason why I said what I said about Jake and Paul hiding something…that’s just not true. I said what I said about them because they both are hiding something. And, also…I just don’t like either of them. Why would I? Unless the thing that they’re both hiding is suitcases full of candy in their move-in stuff, what they’re hiding can’t be any good.”
I made a noise between a chuckle and a snort. “Well, being that they’re vampires and don’t eat food, I’d say the possibility of them bringing suitcases full of candy onto the farm is pretty slim.”
“I bet David might bring me a suitcase full of candy if I asked him to. Just judging by a few of the little looks he gave me earlier, I think he likes me that much already.”
I told Jen I was really glad she met him, and she said she was, too, then paused for a moment or two, glancing at the TV, before speaking again.
“A double wedding really wasn’t my first thought, but wouldn’t it be so cool for us to date brothers? I mean, just think about it. We could go out on double dates all the time…to the movies, out to eat, maybe even ice skating in the winter.”
“Why couldn’t we go out on double dates with you and David, and me and Jake?”
Making a little harrumph, Jen turned her focus back to the TV again. “This has pretty much been my entire life. I get feelings about people, and no one ever listens to me…not until it’s too late, anyway. Not until Carla gives your mom some poison dagger or something, telling her to kill your dad with it or whatever.”
I told Jen to give me a little credit. “I’m not going to take a poison dagger from anyone…and I’m definitely not going to try to kill anyone. I just want to get to know Jake a little better, maybe. First of all, I just want to make sure he’s single, and make sure that he doesn’t have a girlfriend back in Indiana or something.”
“He doesn’t. Or, at least, he claims not to. You never can tell, though, with people who are hiding something.”
“Well, how do you know he claims to not have a girlfriend? Did you just come right out and ask him?”
“I asked everyone. I wanted to just ask David, specifically, but the idea of asking him only just felt super weird and personal somehow, since we’d just met. So, instead, when there was a break in our conversation, I told everyone in the dining room to quiet down, and then I said I was taking a quick poll. ‘Please raise your hand if you’re married or in any kind of a relationship,’ I said. ‘And just sit like normal with your hand down if you’re single.’ And then I looked around the room and noticed who all had their hands raised, and who didn’t. And when I saw that David had both hands down, I gave him a little smile, and then later, I told him I thought it was pretty cool that he hadn’t raised his hand. He thought it was pretty cool that I hadn’t raised my hand, either.”
“So, you saw that Paul didn’t have a hand raised?”
Jen whipped her gaze from the TV to me, frowning. “I thought Jake is the one you like.”
“Yeah, that’s who I just said. I said Jake.”
“You said Paul.”
Thinking, I realized that maybe I had, which kind of alarmed and disturbed me for some reason.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Embarrassed, I tried to explain to Jen why I might have said Paul instead of Jake. “See, subconsciously, I probably just wanted to know if he’s single or not because I just can’t imagine who would date him. I was just curious to know if there’s some poor girl out there who has to suffer through his name-calling all the time.”
Jen burst out with a sharp, short peal of laughter. “Oh, that’s the only reason that you said his name. Just because ‘subconsciously’ you wanted to find out if he’s single or not, just because ‘subconsciously,’ you’re worried about some ‘poor girl’ having to date him. Nice one. Nice try.”
I couldn’t deny that my reasoning had sounded pretty lame, even to my own ears. Just wanting to forget all about it and change the subject, I asked Jen if Jake, not Paul, had indeed not raised a hand when she’d asked for everyone in a relationship to do so.
Giving me a faint eye roll, she said that that was correct. “Jake did not raise a hand at all, and, in fact, he didn’t even raise the hint of a hand, or even a little finger. Meaning, that he claims to be single. As for some ‘poor girl’ having to suffer through being in a relationship with Paul, don’t worry. He didn’t raise a hand or even a single finger, either, meaning that he, too, claims to be single. Like I said before, though, you really can’t tell with two guys who are both hiding something. They could be in a relationship with each other for all we know.”
Since they’d arrived separately, I didn’t think that was very likely, and I told Jen that.
She shrugged. “Yeah, well, maybe. You know who’s a guy who’s for sure not in a relationship with another guy, though?”
Leaning back against my headboard, I gave my eyes a slight roll. “Oh, let me guess? Sean?”
Jen smiled. “Yup. You’re a good guesser. Now, let’s talk a little bit more about him. Do you like the way he looks and everything?”
Like David, Sean was fairly handsome and generally attractive in a “nerdy chic” sort of way. Also, not that I’d had much interaction with him at all, but he seemed nice enough. However, I didn’t feel any kind of a connection with him at all, and I just simply didn’t feel very attracted to him. I told Jen this, and she heaved a sigh.
“Look. You say that now, but let’s just try to go out on a double date or something with David and Sean. Let’s just see if we can try to get to know them a little better. After that, something tells me that you might be singing a different tune. You might be singing a tune called, ‘Now I changed my mind, and I’m actually crushing on Sean pretty hard.’ And the chorus might go something like, ‘Thank you so much, Aunt Jen. You always know what’s best for me in my life.’”
“Well, I don’t know about that, and besides, I want to go out on a date with Paul, not Sean.” Immediately, I realized what I’d said, and I corrected myself. “Jake. I want to go out on a date with Jake, not Sean. I want to go out with Jake.”
Jen snorted. “I’m starting to think you don’t know what you want.”
Funnily enough, I w
as starting to feel like that, too.
Not wanting to talk about guys anymore, I changed the subject to the show that was on TV, asking Jen if she liked it. Fortunately, it was a new favorite of hers, so she didn’t resist the subject change.
Once the show was over, she piled all our dishes back on the tray and began heading back downstairs with it, saying that she was going to try to “mingle” a little bit if the meeting was over. “I might see if I can set up a double date for us, too.”
“All right. Great. Just make sure that my partner in the double date is Jake, Jen.”
Already out of my room and walking down the hallway, she probably didn’t even hear me.
A short while later, while I was snuggling in bed with Wanted, watching another TV show, I received a text from Jen. You want a Sunday with sum of that blubbery ice creem you brot hom?
Perplexed, I read the text twice, only realizing on the second reading that Jen surely meant blueberry ice cream, not blubbery. Stifling a little laughter, I texted her back that a single-scoop sundae sounded amazing.
Twenty-some minutes later, when Jen hadn’t shown up with my sundae, I figured that she might have gotten sidetracked talking to David or something. Starting to really get tired and wanting to go to sleep, I began typing a text, telling her to never mind about my sundae, because I was about to hit the hay. However, before I could send the text, Jen came in my room bearing two ice cream sundaes in big clear glass sundae dishes. One of the sundaes was much larger than the other, with a base that looked to be composed of multiple scoops of blueberry ice cream, as well as chocolate and vanilla. On top of the ice cream was a banana drizzled with what appeared to be melted peanut butter, with a handful of peanuts and some crushed pretzel pieces on top of that. Sickeningly, at least to me, several nacho cheese-flavored tortilla chips were wedged between the dish and a scoop of ice cream.
