by C M Thorne
Caleb fished out his phone out of his pocket and answered her, “Yes, actually. And I happen to be connected to the system.” He joined in on her joyful, soft laugh, “What do you want to listen to?” He opened up his music app, sorting through his recently listened to playlists and albums.
“Something fun!” Her eyes lit up as she answered and dumped the ice into the shaker. He put on one of their favorite artists, some random British singer with knockout vocals and strong, fun beats that Becca had introduced them all to years before. Becca screamed a little as she closed the shaker and started jumping around to the song that he put on.
He laughed at her, grooving around on his barstool. Becca stopped shaking the mojitos, setting the shaker down and adding a sprig of mint to each of the glasses before pouring the mixture on top through the strainer. Lastly, she uncapped the club soda and splashed it on top before stirring the drinks for a second with the mint sprigs. She deftly threw in two straws that he had failed to notice her getting out
“Here you are, Cal!” She cheerfully called out, thrusting the drink forward dangerously over the counter as she grabbed her own and took a deep gulp, forgoing use of the straw.
He chuckled at her, taking the drink and taking a long drink through the thin straw. It was cold and refreshing, but it warmed his stomach instantly from sheer amount of rum in the tall drink. It was strong. Stronger than any club would make and he worried that Becca was going to drink him under the table.
The song ended, switching to one of the artist’s less dance inspiring songs. It was one of Caleb’s favorites however and he sang along for a minute as Becca swayed and sipped her drink.
She came up next to him, raising her voice over the music. “Did you ever think that you would be living with a vampire?” She flipped her hair over her shoulder, eyes narrowing slightly as she looked at him despite the laugh fading on her lips. She was concerned with how he was doing of course. Always the protective, big sister.
“No way!” Caleb replied loudly, shaking his head in disbelief and taking another drink.
Becca arched out to his phone on the counter and turned the volume down just a bit. It was enough that she didn’t have to raise her voice any longer to keep talking. “This is really wild, Cal. Like, I know you are technically in danger, but I can’t stop thinking about this whole situation. Ever since Nico told me, it’s just been on my mind.”
“What do you mean?” Caleb asked, letting go of his straw. “This situation is happening because I am in danger and Rainer feels guilty about it.”
“Are you sure?” Becca asked skeptically, taking a long sip of her drink.
“How else would you explain it?” Caleb asked back.
Becca bugged her eyes out, saying nothing for a moment as she took a long drink, nearly polishing it off. “I am just saying there are plenty of ways he could keep you safe without moving you in, that’s all.” She flipped her hand out casually.
“He wants me close in case Henri tries another attack,” Caleb defended, looking down at his drink with a slight pout. “Especially if Henri’s threat as real,” he looked at Becca with concern furrowing his brow. “Rainer’s sire is awful, Becs. She would tear through me without a thought.”
She looked back at him, mouth pulled down as she wrapped an arm around him, pulling him closer. “Well, I’m glad that he’s keeping you safe,” she spoke softly, rubbing his back in her typical motherly way. “I just also think he totally wants to seduce you.”
Caleb sat back up, pushing his sister away. “Don’t joke about that! It isn’t funny!” He protested, scooting off the barstool and snatching his drink off of the counter. He finished it off as she walked around into the kitchen, gritting his teeth against the burn. “I need another one,” he sucked in a long breath, trying to banish the petulant grumpiness that was trying to take hold of him.
Becca walked up behind him. “Hold on,” she put a hand on his back, moving around to face him. “You really like him, huh?”
“Becs!” he grumbled, ears burning as he tried to turn away.
“Oh, no!” Becca snatched his arm, bending it back toward her and looking up into his face. He squirmed, but didn’t want to actually fight her off, giving up and looking her in the eye. “Oh, my god!” She exclaimed, letting go of his arm as her hand flew up to her mouth. “You totally do!”
“It doesn’t matter,” Caleb objected, shrugging it off. The alcohol was making his head fuzzy and he was feeling his emotional reactions through his whole body, making him turn away from his sister sharply in annoyance. His arms whipped around limply, a product of his growing tipsiness.
“Yes, it does!” Becca laughed and moved to face him again. “Cal, you live with him!”
“It really doesn’t though!” Caleb quipped, turning away again and moving to grab the rum off the counter.
“And why not?” Becca laughed as the song changed into a powerful, upbeat song. “You like your quasi guardian, host, or whatever! That is amazing! Look at the situation!”
“Why is it amazing that I love him?!” Caleb shouted, setting the run back down. HIs face flushed with heat as his stomach felt like it hollowed out or fell out of his body completely.
Becca came up to him with a shocked expression. “Little brother,” her voice was soft, understanding as she put one slender hand on his cheek and turned him to face her. “You love him?” She asked hushed.
“I think I do,” Caleb relented, voice breaking a little. “How could I not, right?” He laughed without conviction, pushing air out his nose.
“Honey, that is a beautiful thing to realize,” Becca answered, letting go of his face. “Don’t feel bad about that. First love is great.”
“I do though,” Caleb responded. He took a step back. “There’s no way Rainer feels the same way.”
“How do you know?” Becca asked, preparing another round of mojitos in the shaker as if it was second nature. “It’s not like you’ve talked about it with him, right?”
“No,” Caleb answered, sounding a little petulant.
“Well,” Becca continued, closing the shaker and shaking it up, “I actually think he feels the same way, Cal.” She poured the drinks and went to finish them off.
He took his drink from her and took a sip before responding. This one was strong, but not like the first. That, or the first one was affecting him more than he thought and he couldn’t taste the rum as well anymore. “Why do you think that?”
“Why else would he being going through all this?” Becca set her drink down, motioning around the condo and laughing a little. “I mean, Cal, he is out grocery shopping for you! He’s a vampire for heaven’s sake! That is so not a normal thing. That’s a love thing!”
“I guess,” Cal said indignantly.
Becca put her hand on her hip, popping it out and giving him a look. “Are you seriously telling me that nothing has happened that indicates something more? What about that eye contact earlier?”
Cal shrugged, drinking deeply through the straw. “I guess.” He set his drink down on the counter. “I mean,” he took a breath and looked at the floor, feeling pleasantly warm and buzzed, “he did say he felt a connection.”
“What?!” Becca shrieked happily, setting her drink down and grabbing both of Cal’s arms. She grinned wildly and asked, “When did that happen? How did that happen?!”
“I asked him why he was doing all of this a couple weeks ago,” Cal answered, head down, blushing, and trying to not look at his sister’s exuberant expression.
“Oh, my god, Cal!” Becca let go and playfully slapped his arm. “How can you think there’s nothing there after that?! That sounds like seriously romantic moment!”
“It wasn’t really,” he objected softly.
“It probably was!” Becca laughed and grabbed her drink, padding off into the living room. She plopped down on the couch. “Anything else?”
“There has been a moment or two, I guess.” He confessed, moving to the living room, but not tak
ing a seat.
“A moment?” She asked amused, wiggling her brows.
He groaned, “I guess. At least, they felt like moments, or almost moments. Nothing happened though, not really.”
“What happened exactly?”
He groaned again, taking a long drink and sighing as he leaned against the back of a chair and leveled his gaze with his sister’s. “Two days after moving in,” he started, trying to think about why it had felt like there had been something between them, “we were talking in the kitchen and he was blaming himself for everything. I, uh,” he hesitated, looking away, “I just like instinctively reached out and barely touched his back and he nearly exploded.” He laughed a little, “He was so angry and he was looking at me like, I don’t know, like he was-”
His sister cut him off, tone amused, “Hungry?”
“Yeah,” he sighed and looked up at the devilish look on her face. “And then, there was this moment last week in his office,” he trailed off. “I don’t know. He just was acting really strange. Then he looked at me almost, uh, I guess expectantly, but I ruined it.” He shook his head and ran his free hand through his hair. “Then there’s been little things, but it isn’t the same.”
“You’re just too oblivious, ya giant dork!” Becca broke out into a cackling laugh.
“Oh, great!” Cal moved and sat down in the chair next to his sister. “Now I’m a dork, huh?”
Becca huffed, “Some people find it endearing!” She took another drink and grinned, “Like a certain vampire you happen to live with!” She broke out laughing after winking at Caleb’s horrified face.
“You’re crazy, Becs,” Caleb protested.
“You only say that because you know I’m right,” Becca reached over and playfully slapped his arm again.
“Maybe,” he answered resentfully, taking another drink as a loud, upbeat song came on and Becca hopped up to dance with her drink in hand.
Caleb shook his head, taking another drink before setting it on a stone coaster on the coffee table. Becca set her drink down and grabbed Cal’s hands. “Come on! Dance!” Becca laughed pulling him to his feet.
He laughed as he was pulled onto his feet. Caleb danced a little and moved over to the counter to grab his phone and turn up the music. Becca and Caleb danced around the living room for several songs. At one point, Becca grabbed their drinks and they finished them off. She took the glasses to the sink and danced her way back to Caleb as he continued dancing. The song changed over and Caleb stopped dancing, looking over to where he had put his phone down on the counter again.
Nico and Rainer were standing on the other side of the condo, arms laden with paper bags from a local grocery store. Nico grinned, “Having fun, my love?” Becca nodded as she pranced up to him and planted a kiss on his cheek.
Caleb’s ears burned hot as he met Rainer’s gaze, feeling embarrassed. Or, at least he did, until he saw the full smile on the vampire’s face as his warm eyes looked at Caleb happily. He felt his heart flutter and a shiver run up his back. Caleb wanted nothing more in that moment than to do exactly as his sister had with her fiancé, and run up to Rainer and kiss him. Instead, Cal ran a hand through his hair and smiled back at the handsome vampire.
CHAPTER 11
A few days later, Caleb was laying on the massive bed in the master bedroom, looking up at the ceiling wistfully. He couldn’t stop thinking about his feelings for Rainer and the genuine, uncontrolled smile the vampire had given him after finding him dancing around the condo tipsy with his sister. He still felt like his romantic chances with him were low, but that smile and Becca’s assurances were building his confidence. Caleb really wanted to get closer to Rainer and see if anything could happen.
It helped that the past few days had been great. The two of them talked about their likes and dislikes, the vampire opening up after asking Caleb a host of questions, watching him as if he was fascinated by his answers, and then giving his answers to his own questions without prompting. Rainer was surprisingly modern in his tastes. It was probably due to the old movies, but Caleb had expected the four hundred and sixty-five-year old vampire to be out of touch with the modern age. If anything, Rainer knew more about today than Caleb, and he definitely had a host of experience in nearly everything. Rainer had practically lived in or, at the very least, visited every country on the planet. Cal was jealous of the vampire, but could not help the feeling that Rainer was actually interested in Caleb’s very human experiences and interests.
Rainer had also eaten every meal with Caleb since the other day, trying everything Caleb cooked. He was nervous about it the first night, when Rainer came up next to him after he finished making a stir fry that Dinah used to make and asked to try it. Rainer said he really liked it and even sat down with him and ate more. Caleb’s nerves barely allowed his to eat his own food, but he had calmed as the night had worn on, Rainer acting more normal. Almost human. Since then, they had every meal together. It certainly felt like they were together in some way or another, other than the fact that Caleb was the vampire’s strange houseguest. Or ward? That felt like a weird word to use, but he hadn’t exactly been invited without the intention of protecting him. That wasn’t how relationships started. Were they? What would he know though? He had never had a boyfriend.
Maybe he should just go for it at dinner tonight. Caleb thought about the garlic lemon chicken pasta he was going to make. His mother watered at the thought of it and then he froze. What was he thinking?! Was garlic an offensive thing to put in a meal with a vampire? Cal was pretty sure that the whole thing about garlic being bad or poisonous was a myth. He hadn’t thought to bring it up with Rainer, however. Maybe this was all a mistake. He should go for something more simple and less offensive. Caleb realized he was perseverating on the wrong details. He was worried about talking to Rainer, not about what he was cooking. Though admittedly, it was a much easier thing to focus on and critique.
Truly, the topic was uncomfortable altogether. The food would be fine. It didn’t really matter what he made, right? Garlic lemon chicken pasta was just as good as any other meal. At least, Cal hoped it was. Was that a weird meal to confess your feelings to someone over? Was there a better meal? How did people usually do this? He knew some meals were considered more romantic than others. But, what if tonight’s confession didn’t lead to a romantic rest of the evening? He laughed at himself in exasperation. The meal didn’t matter, he decided.
What did matter was that he was hungry now. He rolled to his side and grabbed his phone from the bedside table. He didn’t have any messages and it was nearly five. Rainer had said he would be back after six thirty when he left to run errands earlier that day. Cal decided it wasn’t totally unreasonable to have a snack now. It wouldn’t ruin his appetite for dinner later, theoretically. He pushed himself to his feet and set himself on the path to the kitchen.
He was wearing his comfortable, faded jeans and his stone grey v-neck, which almost matched the shade of his eyes. Caleb’s bare feet slapped on the hardwood floors as he walked down the hall. It wasn’t his cutest outfit, but he gave up days ago worrying how he looked to Rainer. He actually thought that the vampire did not really care. He had never made a comment about it, in fact. Caleb shook his head as he reached the kitchen. He was the only one overthinking everything so much.
He pulled his phone out and put on one of his favorite ambient playlists. Erik Satie’s gymnopédies number one started twinkling through the speakers of the condo. He opened up the fridge and started hunting for a snack. Everything was pretty well stocked after Rainer and Nico’s trip the other day, but nothing was jumping out to Caleb. Maybe he should just wait for dinner. He would need to start cooking in less than an hour anyway. He looked in the small pantry despite half convincing himself to forego a snack, thoughts drifting to tonight’s dinner with Rainer.
Caleb’s stomach clenched at the thought of telling Rainer his true feelings. Two scenes flashed through his head. In one, Rainer politely told him he did not feel
that way about him and he excused himself to his room. In the other, Rainer sat there for a moment before flashing forward and lifting Caleb up into his arms. Rainer began ravenously kissing him and swept the table clear to lay him down on and climb on top of, pressing himself closer.
He shook his head and closed the pantry. He turned and looked at the dining room table through the open double doors to the room. His body responded, thinking of his fantasy again, chills running up his arms and back. He sighed heavily, “Oh gosh.” Caleb raked both hands through his hair and walked out of the kitchen. What could he do to distract himself? His mind kept floating back to the idea of making love to Rainer on the dining room table.
Caleb walked past the velvet couch and his mind imagined them there. Backing up into the room kissing, Caleb pushing the vampire onto the couch and straddling his legs. He thought about running his hands under his shirt and across the cool skin of the vampire’s chest. Caleb had stopped walking and was just standing there in the middle of the living room, staring at the couch longingly. His fantasies were definitely out of hand. He shook his head suddenly and rushed to the master bathroom, bounding down the hallway and through the door, taking the shortest route through the massive closet.
He stopped at the first sink and splashed his face with cold water. He was being ridiculous. If Rainer did feel something for him, Caleb doubted that would transpire immediately after. He looked up at himself in the mirror and shook his head. “You need to stop thinking about that,” he told his reflection, staring intently into his own eyes.
He pushed himself back away from the sink and turned around, thinking of what to do. He wished he still had school work to throw himself into. Caleb laughed at the fact that for the first time in his life, he wanted homework and had none. It would’ve been a great distraction. “Oh gosh, Caleb,” he spoke aloud as he grabbed his hair with both hands and pulled at it lightly, looking back towards the closet. “Maybe I can sort my clothes,” Caleb told himself, still talking out loud to himself like some kind of spaz.
