by Zenia, Zara
And he’d encouraged me that it was completely fine to explore the subject before I settled on a more narrow discipline, that actually, it was what he advised. Settling too early could mean you missed out on something you would have liked more, or ended up doing something you got fed up of. He’d told me I was bright and motivated, and that he was sure I’d do well.
It was more than enough to make Professor Crane’s words vanish from my mind.
And the few tests and papers I’d done so far confirmed that he wasn’t just trying to make me feel better. I was scoring well. Best in the class, actually, a label that I had to try hard not to brag about just because I was so astonished by it. I wanted to say, “But I’m just a girl from a high school that refused to teach me any of this,” but it would seem like a humble brag and I kept my mouth shut unless someone mentioned my grades, and then I’d awkwardly laugh about it.
It hadn’t all been working and reading, though. Laurie, as it turned out, was infinitely more gregarious than I was and had a booming social life. I didn’t go with her to every party or get together that she spent her evenings at, but I’d been to plenty. We’d gone to a few dorm parties on campus— the dorms seemed incredibly lax about these kind of things, Maggie had been at the one I’d been to, and had definitely not been sober or ready to be responsible for anything —and a few activities in the town too.
There’d been a band playing in the town and I’d eagerly snatched up my invitation to that. Live music was something I’d longed to see for years, but never been able to because living in Fort Ann didn’t really give access to anything like that, except maybe going to see church choirs or brass bands performing. This, however, had been a local rock band playing a mix of original songs and covers.
It had been great, and I’d spent the entire time grinning.
Grinning even harder when Colin snaked his arms around me from behind and pressed a kiss to my neck. We’d walked home together and he’d kissed me for fifteen minutes against the wall of my dorm, his hand snaking under my shirt to run fingers against the bare skin of my stomach.
I was certain, that with the heat I was feeling toward him, that it wouldn’t be long before I couldn’t resist asking him to come up and into my bed for the night. I woke up many mornings feeling hot and bothered about the thoughts of Colin’s hands all over me.
And that was while I was still plagued by doubts about how interested in me he really was.
Laurie and I were laying on our beds, supposedly doing some reading but instead gossiping about our love lives.
“So you and Brian,” I said, “Is that casual?”
“Yeah, it is. We’re just messing around. He’s fun. And he’s a great kisser.”
I hummed. “So is Colin.”
“You sound like you wouldn’t mind if it was more than kissing.”
I flushed. “I mean, we kiss for twenty minutes and then he leaves me a turned on mess to go back to my bed alone. I can’t say I don’t wonder what it’d be like if I asked him to come and finish the job for me.”
Laurie laughed. “You really have come out of your shell. I told you dating was a great idea. And sex is nothing to be scared of.”
“That doesn’t stop me being scared of it.”
“When you’ve done it once you’ll realize. May as well just get it over and done with. Widen your horizons.”
“I don’t want to get it over and done with! I’d like it to mean something.”
“It does mean something. It means you’re not scared to go out and have fun anymore because you’ve got the virgin label hanging over your head, the expectations of a magical first time.”
“I’m not saying I want it to be magical,” I groaned, resting my forehead on my book as I tried to put my thoughts in order. “I’d like to not regret it.”
“You think you’d regret it with Colin?”
“I’m not sure how into me he is.”
“I’ve seen him. He’s into you.”
“More than Nala?”
Laurie shut her book. “Oh.”
“Yeah. Oh.”
“So you don’t think he’s over her?”
“Not even slightly. You should have seen him when we bumped into her last week. I thought he might shove me out of the way as if he was trying to hide the fact she’d just walked in on us kissing. He walked me to my dorm room door the other day, and I didn’t miss the look he gave her door. I mean, I don’t know. I know this is just casual, so why does it matter anyway? But, it’s still bit… I don’t know, insulting, when he’s with me and obviously not over her.”
“Yeah,” Laurie said. “Got to admit, that wouldn’t sit right with me either. Maybe you should talk to him about it.”
“I don’t know what the point would be. He’d probably just deny it.”
“So just keep things casual. Don’t do anything more than kissing. But don’t stop seeing him either, not if you’re enjoying yourself. If it starts not being fun, then stop seeing him. Dating is as simple as that.”
I nodded. “Yeah. I suppose that makes sense,” I said. “Just keep things simple.”
“Exactly.”
“So… how are things with you and Brian?” I hadn’t really spoken to her about it since I’d walked into the room to find them making out on the bed.
She grinned. “Things are definitely simple there, and I’m enjoying myself very much. I’m seeing him tomorrow night. I would tonight, but he’s got some homework to catch up on.”
I beamed at her. “I’m glad it’s going well.” My phone buzzed and I pulled it from my pocket. I was surprised to see Daniel’s name on the screen. We’d texted each other a few times, but it hadn’t been much. I’d seen him around school a couple of times, but he was in the year above and so none of our classes overlapped.
My heart leaped in my chest and I opened it.
Hey. Vlad and I wondered if you wanted to go see a movie tomorrow night. We can head into Kingston.
“What’s that?” Laurie asked. “You look surprised.”
I showed her the message.
“Both of them?”
“Yeah. I wonder if Vlad is planning on bringing a date. Maybe it isn’t even a date.”
“Only one way to find out?”
“Yeah, I guess I’ll ask.”
Laurie laughed. “I was thinking more along the lines of just accepting.”
“Oh.” My fingers hovered over my phone’s screen. Going on a date with Daniel when I was fretting about my relationship with Colin already. It probably wasn’t a good idea.
But things with Colin were casual. We weren’t exclusive. And I’d been unable to stop thinking about Daniel since I first met him. It had been several times that I’d opened my messages and considered texting him.
“Okay,” I said. “Yeah, I’m gonna go.”
I replied to the message with the same sentiment, and received a Great! in response, along with a time that he’d pick me up from my dorm.
Butterflies fluttered in my stomach.
I couldn’t wait to see the gorgeous vampire again.
12
Marina
I fluffed my hair in the mirror and then tucked it behind my ears in an automatic, nervous gesture.
“You look great,” Laurie said from where she was lounging on her bed and reading her textbook, as I should have been doing. “He’s going to go wild.”
“I’m not sure I want him too wild.”
“Aren’t you?”
I resisted the urge to throw my hairbrush at her, but the truth was that a part of me definitely did want him to go wild. I wanted to be pushed against a wall and kissed so deeply I couldn’t breathe, to drag him to my bed and take care of this aching frustration I’d been feeling since I started dating Colin.
“It might not even be a date,” I said. I’d never clarified with him whether Vlad was bringing a date, or if it was a group thing, or what.
“It’s definitely a date.”
I couldn’t think why h
e would have invited me and not Laurie if it wasn’t. “Yeah. You’re probably right.” I checked my phone for the time. “Okay, I’m going to go and wait by the door for Daniel. Have a good night.”
The sun had just about disappeared from the sky, but it would still be enough to make Daniel uncomfortable if he stood in it for too long.
My thoughts were confirmed when Vlad was the one who walked toward me, wide grin on his face. “Hey,” he said.
“Hi.” I beamed back.
“I’m parked a few minutes away. The sun is still a bit much for Daniel, so he thought he’d better wait in the car just in case.” We started heading toward where the car was parked. “Didn’t want to start the evening off by him bursting into flames.”
I winced. “Yeah. Definitely not what I had in mind.”
We chatted about the movie we were going to see, the latest action flick that I wasn’t sure any of us were actually bothered about watching, until we got to the car.
It was an expensive, new SUV with tinted black windows, presumably so that it could carry Daniel, or other vampires, without them being affected by the sun. I doubted it would work in broad daylight, but in this low sun, he’d be fine inside the car.
Vlad opened the door at the back of the passenger seat for me and I slid in.
I was surprised that it was only Daniel inside the car, and he was sitting in the back behind Vlad’s driving seat. He’d get much less sunlight exposure in the back of the car.
“Hey,” he said.
Vlad settled into his seat and started the engine. From where I was sitting I could see both of them.
And no second woman.
I really hadn’t thought it would just be the three of us, and resisted the urge to ask them about it.
“I’ve never been to Kingston,” I said as we pulled out of the college campus and started on the road up toward Sleepy Hollow. “It’s the closest place with a theater?”
“There are a couple within about the same distance, but Kingston is the best one. It’s a bit of a bigger place.”
“I thought you were from New York State,” Vlad said, looking at me in the rearview mirror.
“I am, but I never really got out much. I mean, I’ve only been to NYC three times in my life.”
“Wow, really?” Daniel asked. “We should go some time. It’s not that far away really, and it’s my hometown.”
“No kidding,” I said. “I’d love to go back. As much as I already love Sleepy Hollow, going to the city is something I’d love to do. If I hadn’t been so set on Sleepy Hollow as a college I’d have been looking at somewhere in the city.” Being in a city could be so anonymizing, and after spending my entire life feeling like I stuck out like a sore thumb, that appealed to me.
Thankfully, being on campus was just as good. I’d never felt like I stood out there. Everyone was supernatural pretty much. If people noticed me, it was to smile and have a quick chat, not to look at me as if I didn’t belong there.
“I considered staying in the city for college too,” Daniel agreed. “My family are police in the city. It’s a long tradition. I’m planning to go back and follow the same path after college.”
“Really?” I was surprised. Vampires weren’t a common thing on the force. I wasn’t sure there even was a vampire in the entire NYPD. “That’s cool.”
He laughed. “That’s not the response I normally get.”
“People are too stuck in their ways.”
His smile made me think that I’d said something incredibly meaningful to him, and my stomach flipped.
“Yeah,” he said softly. “They are. I’d like to be the first vampire on the force in New York. People don’t trust vampires and vampires don’t trust people and it’s all backward and unnecessary. Maybe if I can get on the force, be a good officer, people will realize and start to change their opinions at least a little bit. And I know it’d make my family proud.”
“Yeah, that’d be amazing.”
We made less heavy conversation after that, chatting about how classes were going so far, and TV shows and what kind of movies we actually liked. It turned out that all of us liked Sci-Fi movies more than anything, and when we looked at the theater in Kingston they had something we’d all have rather watched.
We got a large bag of popcorn and I sat in the middle with it on my lap. Both men were constantly pressing into my side as they reached in for popcorn, and I tried to push away the heat that was tingling over my skin.
I’d obviously misunderstood the situation when Daniel had text me. I’d assumed it was a date, but who brought a third wheel to a date? Not that I had any issue with Vlad being there. The opposite. We got along well, and he was just as hot.
It was just a strange situation.
They must have just wanted to hang out and I’d misread it all.
So I munched on popcorn and drank my soda and watched the movie and buried the urge to lean into either one of their sides and get an arm around my shoulders.
When the movie finished, we all stood up and stretched. I put my empty soda into the now empty popcorn bucket, ready to carry out and throw in the trash. I picked up my coat with one hand and attempted to stick my arm in it. From behind, Daniel took the coat and from the front, Vlad took the bucket from my hands.
I shimmied into my coat as Daniel held it and his fingers brushed against my arms as I pulled it close. I wanted him to wrap those arms around me and press kisses to my neck.
“Ready?” Vlad asked.
I nodded, not trusting myself to speak. This sexual frustration was going to kill me. I felt ready to explode.
“Well, that movie was garbage,” Daniel said as we exited the theater. “I mean, probably still more enjoyable than the action one would have been. But damn. Not good.”
I laughed. “Yeah, it was pretty terrible. I mean, the main character was so dumb. None of their decisions made any sense at all.”
“Ready to head back?” Vlad asked. “Or did you want to grab some food?”
“Food would be good, as long as you don’t mind. I didn’t have dinner. I can eat in the car if you wanted to head back though.”
“We can get dinner. Diner?”
“Good for me.”
We walked to a nearby diner that was still open and relatively busy. That was normally a good sign. “I’ve been here before,” Vlad said. “It’s not bad.”
I got a cheeseburger and chips, and the others both got the same.
The conversation was natural, but I couldn’t help the growing nagging feeling that I needed to define what tonight had been. Maybe I should have waited and just asked Daniel. After all, he was the one that had been flirting with me outrageously at the party, and he was the one who’d asked me out tonight.
I chewed slowly on my food and tried to remember if I’d missed any hints. Neither had really touched me that much, I didn’t think. They’d both flirted a little, but it had mostly been natural conversation between the three of us. Vlad hadn’t been making any effort to give Daniel and I any alone time.
“Are you okay?” Daniel asked.
I swallowed my mouthful too quickly and gave a little cough. “Oh, yeah, fine.”
“You look like you’re thinking hard,” Vlad said, slurping his soda through his straw. “What’s on your mind?”
“I… I was just wondering what tonight was. I mean, a date? I don’t know.” I knew my cheeks were scarlet. “Sorry.”
Daniel set down the burger he’d been about to have a bite of. “Well, we kind of wanted to talk to you about that.”
“Right,” Vlad agreed. “And obviously we’re just throwing this out there, so tell us if we’re making you uncomfortable.”
My stomach turned, and I wasn’t sure if it was excitement or nerves at what I thought they were about to say. “Okay,” I said.
“Well,” Daniel said, clearing his throat. “We both like you. I mean, we both think you’re incredible and gorgeous.”
“We like you,” Vlad agre
ed. “Really like you. So… we both wanted to date you.”
“Both of you?” It was definitely excitement pooling in my stomach now. A flutter of desire and nerves and need. Both of them? I couldn’t deny that I liked them both too.
But going from never having dated anyone at all to dating two people? Two friends? And then there was Colin.
“You’d… you’d both be okay with that?” I asked carefully.
“We’ve talked about it, and yeah, we’d be okay with it. I mean, we’re just talking about something casual here,” Vlad said. “If things changed, things changed and we’d talk about it again. All of us. But right now? We’d just like to see how things go. Have some fun.”
I glanced at Daniel, who was nodding. I couldn’t see an ounce of jealousy or doubt on either of their faces. “Can I think about it?”
Daniel laughed. “Of course you can think about it. It’s not on a deadline. Just, tell us whatever you think. We’re happy with anything, whether that’s just friends or dating one of us or both. Whatever you’re comfortable with.”
Something like peace settled on me. Now that I knew, I wasn’t worked up about trying to figure it out.
Now that I knew, I was worked up about imagining kissing both of them, having both of their hands on me.
“I do like you both,” I said, unable to help myself. I already knew what I was going to do deep down, I just needed to convince myself it was the right decision first. “I just need to decide if this is something I can do.”
“That’s okay,” Vlad said. “No pressure.”
And, surprisingly, there wasn’t. We drove the ninety minute drive back to Sleepy Hollow. This time Daniel drove, now that the sun was down completely. We chatted and it wasn’t awkward or uncomfortable. Dating both of them probably would work. They seemed completely fine with each other and the situation.
