“Should I use fake fangs instead?” he asked her, smirking and maintaining his grip on her.
“They look very real,” Adrienne returned his smirk with a grin. “They feel real too.”
Twitching his lips and smiling wider, Xavier pulled his fangs back into his gums before letting go of his hold on his fiancé. His fiancée, the woman he was destined to marry, yet until now, they had no intimate relationship with one another. They held hands and hugged each other, but everyone in high school did that and was accustomed to such actions. It was only a friendly thing, and it confused him since they were fiancés but didn't treat each other as such.
“So, what do you think of my costume?” Adrienne asked, twirling around in her monkey suit and looking quite like a joke.
Xavier couldn't help but laugh and think that Adrienne was truly different from the rest. She was probably the most popular girl in the Day Class yet she didn't care about the caste system Constance High School had. She was whirling around in her Halloween get-up which was the antithesis of provocative. The only skin that was exposed was the flesh on her wrists. All the rest were covered in brown clothing.
“Eccentric?”
Xavier looked hesitant. “Err, yeah.”
“Unusual in a good way, right?” she returned.
He grinned at her, a grin that totally made her heart melt, and since he was wearing all black, his smile seemed to illuminate his face all the more.
“Would you hit me if I thought otherwise?”
“Would you like to test that?”
He laughed for the second time since they met. She was the only one that could do this to him. He never laughed. Never found humor in anything. He walked over and stood at her side. He then reached for her hand and intertwined his fingers with hers. She looked uncertainly at him before she tightened her grip.
“Are you still sure you don't want to bring a date?” He wasn't looking at her, and Adrienne couldn't help but grin. Xavier was nervous. “I would love to be your date. I am your fiancé after all.”
She shook her head at him before she slowly and carefully pulled her hand away from his. “I need to make sure nothing goes awry with both the Day and the Night classes.” She made sure not to make eye contact with him. “I'll lose my concentration if I'm with you through the whole night.”
Adrienne heard Xavier chuckle heartily, and she couldn't help but purse her lips at the thought that he was laughing at her, not because of her costume but because of some other reason. He really was a smartass, was born like that, and would always be that, and she was supposedly destined to be with him forever.
“So I guess my charm's enough to distract you, huh?”
“You wish, Xavier.”
“But that's exactly what you just said.”
Behind the protection of her contacts, Adrienne's eyes glimmered red. “I'm a girl. Naturally, any guy will be able to distract me.”
Xavier's smirk brightened up all the more as he tried to make her face him.
“I'd like to test and prove that theory,” he said, mischief coating his words, as he leaned his head closer to hers. He hooked a finger under Adrienne's chin and lifted her head so that they could look at each other.
She gazed obstinately at him while he had deviltry stamped all over his face.
“There's no reason to prove anything here,” she answered, returning his wicked look with one of her own. “It's tested and approved. I'd say it's already a law even.”
Feeling courageous and human for once in his lifetime, he bent his head closer to Adrienne's and leaned in to kiss her. The attempt remained an attempt since the sound of the doorbell ringing brought them back to reality.
“Did you really just try to kiss me?” Adrienne asked, confused. She held a finger against her tingling lips.
Abashed, Xavier turned around, away from Adrienne, and started walking. Looking straight ahead, he left his fiancé with an, “I'm your fiancé. I think I can do that.”
“But that doesn't mean you like me!” she called out to him.
Unbeknownst to the female vampire, her mate already had intimate feelings for her even before she first met him at her debut. He had, after all, taken care of her for many of the last few centuries when she’d been a toddler. He just felt especially brave tonight to have enough courage to try and kiss her. He should have paid for it at the kissing booth, it would have been easier.
“Happy Halloween, Adrienne,” he said, ignoring her last statement.
* * * * *
Thanks to the Student Council's exemplary talent in planning a party, the gym at Constance was looked both glamorous and spooky. Black textiles draped from each end of the ceiling to another while eerie audio effects blasted from the school's state-of-the art sound system. Everything was going smoothly and as planned. The only thing that seemed off was that Adrienne's table was situated right next to Xavier's. The female vampire pursed her lips. Whoever planned the seating arrangements and hadn’t passed them on to her was obviously oblivious to the drama this kind of conflict would elicit.
“Adrienne!” Ethan shouted in a loud voice even though they were quite near each other. “Do you think we deserve to be seated right beside these nerds?”
Ethan threw a hateful look at Xavier's table, and in return, he received death glares from the alpha women of the Night Class. Yvonne, Tatiana, and Valerie were equally frightening. Their eyes held a very suspicious glint. If looks could kill, they’d all be dead
“Whatever, E,” Adrienne answered, not wanting to start the dramatics. “Get over yourself already. I’ll bet they don’t even notice you.”
He groaned in irritation.
“Screw Brianna.” He was eyeing the room for Bree now. “She probably paid someone to place her beside her boyfriend a.k.a. the virgin.”
With that, Yvonne stood up from her seat only to be pulled back down by Xavier. Eyes trailing down, Adrienne noticed the tight grip her fiancé had on the blonde vampire, and she couldn't help but clench her fists. After realizing what she had been doing, feeling jealous, she relaxed and glared at Ethan.
“Drop it, Ethan.” She was certainly not in the mood to joke. “If you don't want to sit at the table beside them, then go sit somewhere else. Or better yet, go find Charlotte and ask her to distract you.”
“And not stay at the center table?” He scoffed. “Hell no, and Charlotte's coming to the party late. She's still with her posse.”
“Then if you want to sit with us, don't act like a bastard,” Tristan inserted.
With a sour look on his face, Ethan let out an irritated growl before he sat down on his seat. The rest of Adrienne's group of friends, Brianna excluded, took their places a short while after. Brianna, on the other hand, decided to infuriate Ethan further by going over to Aidan's table to greet her boyfriend.
“Seriously, what does she see in him?” Ethan couldn't help but ask acidly. “He's a dweeb!”
“Are you seriously asking that question?” Sabrina smirked. “Aidan's hot, and he's certainly not dweeb if he was able to land Bree.”
“You think he's hot?” Max asked, pulling her to sit on his lap. They were looking at each other mischievously and lustfully, as if they were the only two people in the gym.
“And you're hotter.”Sabrina certainly knew the way to get around the male ego, especially when it came to her boyfriend. Before anyone could guess Max's reply to that, he had crushed his lips against her, inviting her informally to engage in a game called tonsil hockey. No one was surprised to see the two make-out like there was no tomorrow. They were high school students. That kind of thing was just normal.
“Looks like the party just started,” Tristan said smiling, and looking around, he caught a glimpse of a few of their teachers. “Stupid adult supervision.”
Adrienne laughed in return.
“Chill, Tryst.” She was also eyeing her surroundings. “They know that whatever they tell us, we're not going to listen to, so it's useless for them to even bother trying.”
The two guys high-fived each other, while Adrienne shook her head. She was the main organizer of this Halloween dance, the President of the Student Council, and whatever might happen, good or bad, would be blamed on her for sure. She just couldn't agree to the plan even if she wanted to do it with the guys.
“I'm going to get blamed, guys, sorry,” she said, rubbing her arms with both hands.
As expected, Ethan jeered at her, even telling her, “You're no fun anymore.”
Adrienne knew anymore meant, since they broke up. Tristan, on the other hand, had enough humility and understanding to say, “No problem. There's still the senior prank.”
The three of them looked at each other suspiciously, but before they could plan for that one, a familiar figure made her presence known to her friends.
“Senior prank, huh?” a voice interjected itself into the conversation. “So what evil plan have you people brewed up?”
All heads turned, and standing before Max, Sabrina, Tristan, Ethan, and Adrienne was Brianna. She was sandwiched between Aidan and Xavier. Everyone around the table exchanged greetings with the new arrivals, except for Ethan. The guy was still infuriated with having to deal with the fact that his table was right beside the geeks.
“I'm glad you weren't clingy when we were still together, Adie,” Ethan said smugly, poking fun at the people who just entered the scene. “Some people just get too attached, and they that think the first guy they date will be the last and the only one for them.”
Brianna winced at Ethan's offensive jibe.
Adrienne took the second-long silence as her opportunity to strike at her ex. “I can't say the same thing for you, E,” Adrienne said, stepping up to her best friend's defense. “You were trying to rape me the day we broke up.”
“Now, that's clingy,” Tristan couldn't help but remark.
“Shut your trap, asshole.” Ethan's temper was certainly rising, and no one was brave enough or willing to tone him down. “At least I'm not the one who's pining for someone who'll never return your feelings.”
That shut everyone up. Everyone knew Ethan was referring to Tristan. It was embarrassing enough that Ethan was telling the truth that said girl would never like him the way he liked her. What was worse though and more embarrassing was when Tristan locked eyes with Adrienne, who wanted so badly to defend Tristan but couldn't because it was the truth.
“That's a low blow, dude,” Tristan answered, his voice muted.
“It's the truth, and really Adrienne, it's hard to take you seriously when you're a monkey,” Ethan snarled.
Adrienne couldn't help it now. Ethan had already crossed his boundaries when he humiliated Tristan in front of his friends, Xavier and Aidan included. She didn't know what to say to her ex though, so she did the only thing she could think of that would hurt as much as Ethan's words did.
Slowly and very carefully Adrienne released the hold on her vampire instincts and brought her psychic powers to the fore. After a few seconds, Ethan shut up, and slumped in his seat. He complained that his head had started to hurt.
“Pride can really get you into trouble, E.” She was smirking. “And I like myself as a monkey.”
Only Brianna, Aidan, and Xavier understood the true meaning of Adrienne's words. The rest were busy eyeing Ethan who was desperately hanging on to a chair and trying to support himself. After a while, Ethan grew tired of the attention he was getting from his group of friends, so he left the table and headed to the back of the room to greet the newcomers, Charlotte and the other cheerleaders. Just as Adrienne guessed, these girls were wearing next-to-nothing.
“Have we told you that that monkey costume doesn't compliment your curves at all? And Ethan was right,” That was Brianna, laughing and giggling at Aidan's side. “I also wouldn't take you seriously when you’re wearing that costume.”
“You guys told me a while ago it made me look funny,” she returned, holding and playing with her brown tail. “Xavier said I look eccentric.”
“And you're listening to a guy who put no effort at all into his costume?”
Sabrina pulled away from Max for a second before she came to Xavier's defense and said, “There's effort there,” Sabrina looked up at Xavier’s mouth. “Those fangs look so, so real.”
Adrienne, Brianna, and Aidan all snickered at Sabrina.
Adrienne eyed her fiancé, and he looked back at her. “What can I say?” That was Xavier, pointing his fingers to himself. “There's no room for mediocrity in this body.”
Adrienne feigned a gagging face before she punched him lightly. “What he meant to say was always expect the worse from him.”
“Ha-ha, Adrienne, seriously,” interjected her fiancé, looking at her quite intently. “Can anybody expect the worst from this?”
He pointed at himself again, and Adrienne could only snicker. Xavier was acting slightly unusual tonight, she realized. He was more talkative, probably because Ethan was nowhere near, and he was joking with her, playing with her. The point was he was teasing around, so growing even more curious, she asked, “You're awfully hyper today, Xavier.” Adrienne stared back at him. “Any special reason for that?”
He pursed his lips, probably contemplating what his answer was going to be, and after a while, he crossed his arms over his chest and broke their staring match. He looked around and frowned when Ethan crossed his line of view. Adrienne assumed he wasn't going to answer.
“Well?” She started the toe-tapping. “I'm waiting,”
“You know,” he started.
Of course Adrienne didn't know. She was still anxiously waiting for a reply from him.
“I'm flattered you've been studying my every action. Any special reason for that?” The vampire even had the audacity to wink in front Brianna, Aidan, Sabrina, Max, and Tristan for that matter.
The guys, in turn, hollered to give support to their fellow male while Sabrina and Brianna eyed him suspiciously, assuming a few things Adrienne was sure she didn't want to hear about.
“You live in my house,” answered the one in a monkey suit. “I'd be a snob if I didn't notice you or the things you do. Besides,” She was playing with him, turning on her sarcasm button. “I really think that being a snob is much worse than being attentive and on the lookout for someone, don't you think?”
Xavier smirked and nodded. He had no choice but to agree, but still, it made him very uneasy that they were playing the run-and-hide game. They were almost drowning in all the veiled messages. Each wanted the other to say something, do something, and make some sort of a revelation. But both were proud, so they didn't give in. Xavier had a reason for being exceptionally talkative and enthusiastic tonight. He felt brave, Adrienne, on the other hand, really to skip over and ignore the more significant things in life. She wanted to keep her feelings buried. But he was getting tired of the game that he and Adrienne participated in. Xavier swallowed the lump of air in his throat and put his courage to good use.
“Dance with me,” he said smirking.
Sabrina, Max, and Tristan excused themselves to go to one of the tables lined with food and drinks.
“We're feeling aggressive tonight, aren't we?” Brianna teased, rising up her eyebrows suggestively.
“It's about time Xavier grew some balls,” added Aidan, and with that, Adrienne and Xavier couldn't help but guffaw at the other vampire.
“Dude, you're telling me that I finally grew some confidence?” Xavier was hanging on to Adrienne's shoulder to steady himself. “Look who's talking.”
It was Adrienne's turn to embarrass the cute but shy couple whose faces were both beet red. “No offense, Aidan.” Xavier and Adrienne, unbeknownst to both of them, looked like they were whispering sweet nothings to one another with the way they hung on to each other. “But Xavier here always had bigger balls than you, and still has.”
�
��Eww, Adie, gross!” That was Brianna, even shivering in disgust to prove her point.
“I'm not even going to comment on that,” said Aidan, abashed.
“How would you even know?” Xavier asked, trying to unnerve his fiancé with the awkwardness of the topic. “Or would you like to know?”
Adrienne, pursing her lips and shaking her head, muttered, “And here I thought vampires take sex and all that comes with it seriously.”
“Ah, but babe. I’m with you, and sex between us will always be serious.”
Adrienne opened her eyes wide, shocked at his blatant comment to her.
He back pedaled a bit. “I'm just high on energy,” he told her.
“And what would be the reason for that?”
“Dance with me,” Xavier said instead, and Adrienne was now sure that he was avoiding answering the question.
“Tell me first why you're feeling, so full of yourself tonight.”
Xavier rolled his eyes. “Wow, Adrienne.” His tone was sarcastic. “Way to make a man out of me.”
“Real men tell the truth, Xavier,” she answered, also using his name, and in return, he stared at her coolly.
“It's what you call avoiding, not lying.”
“Smartass.”
“And we're not getting involved in this. Give the guy a break, Adie. Way to ruin a good mood,” said Brianna. “Come on, babe.” That was for Aidan. “We'll see you guys later! We'll be on the dance floor!”
The lights of the gym started to dim, signaling the beginning of a slow song. Almost immediately, heaps of students, more from the Day Class than the Night, started to saunter over to the middle of the room. Bodies swaying, vampires and humans alike let the song carry them away.
“So are you going to dance with me?” asked Xavier, digging one of his hands into his pants pocket while the other reached out to grab hold of Adrienne's own hand. “Or will I have to force you?”
Adrienne shook her head. “What we need to do is to talk.”
She heard a sigh from him. “How about we have fun tonight, and once we get home, I'll tell you what's going on in my mind?”
“How about we talk and dance at the same time?”
Bleeding Love Page 14
