Diary of a Vampeen (16 page)

She sighed dramatically. “So back to
the party plans.”

“Do we really have to do this here?” I
complained. “Plus, that is so your venue. I’m creative but I don’t
dabble in the whole social exploitation thing like you. Can’t I
just give you a wad of cash and free reign to do what you
want?”

“You can’t buy me Lex! I can see that
your attitude over this event hasn’t changed though so don’t worry
about it. I’ll just plan it all with your mom,” she grumbled
clearly upset over my view of it all.

“Sorry Mel. It’s just not my thing,
but you should be happy. This means I totally trust
you.”

She lightened up a bit. “Yea, you’re
right. I know you trust me with everything, that’s why our
friendship works. I just want you to have fun and enjoy yourself.
If I do it all without your input, you may not like it.”

“Mel, you know me better than anyone,
probably better than I even know myself. I know I’ll love
it!”

“You better if you know what’s good
for you!” she said sternly with a pointed finger. We broke into
laughter. I love Mel for her overly animated character. She knows
how to make me laugh; she makes me forget about my worries with one
line. Of course she also over dramatizes most situations
simultaneously. She’s the best friend I could ask for though. She’s
never betrayed me. We have our spats, but have never stopped
speaking for one day, which again had me sinking into a deep
depression.

We’d never gone a full day without
talking yet somehow I had to avoid my best friend for two weeks. I
was required to flat out lie to her for the first time. This gut
wrenching guilt was already settling in. I was being forced to
deceive and abandon my friends, even if just for a short time.
Knowing I could never share the truth with them was depressing.
Well, no use crying over milk that wasn’t spilled yet, even if it
was inevitable.

“So my mom is dating again,” Mel
announced nonchalantly.

“Are you serious? Who? What do you
think about it?”

“Some random guy she claims to have
known for five years. I don’t buy it, but who cares. As long as she
is happy and the bastard doesn’t drain her bank account, I’m ok
with it.”

Mel’s mom had done well since her
divorce. She received a huge monthly child support check from Mel’s
estranged attorney father, but made over six figures a year on her
own selling insurance. She’s a brilliant business woman, but an
overbearing mother since the divorce.

“Wow. I can’t believe she’s dating
again. Have you met the guy yet?”

“No. We’re supposed to do a family
lunch on Saturday,” she shrugged seeming uncomfortable despite her
earlier claim.

“You are definitely obligated to
dish.”

“Yea,” she whispered, lowering her
head in a sulking manner.

Attempting to distract her, I whittled
out more details of my night with Kellan. “So Kellan held my hand
on the walk back to the car at the beach.”

“What?! You held out on me? Hello,
dish! What else are you keeping from me?!”

“Nothing. I just couldn’t say this
before because Mike was around. It’s nothing serious though. It was
dark and the sand isn’t easy to walk through; plus you know how
clumsy I can be sometimes. So Kellan held my hand to make sure I
didn’t fall.”

“O.M.G.!” Mel squealed. “Look at you
Lex, going from zero to two guys in less than two months. I told
you it would happen eventually. Meanwhile I can’t seem to lock down
even one date.”

“You could if you made yourself
available.”

“I’m available!” she
defended.

“Brandon?” I prompted. “He asked you
out religiously for two months and you always told him you were
busy.”

“Well, I had to watch Kyle… and I
didn’t want to cancel on you a few times…”

“Ok, Dillon? He was all over you for
six months after Ben. You completely blew him off and literally
killed his ego.”

“That was right after Ben. I was still
mourning…”

“For six months?! Ok, fine. How about
Caleb? You two have been passing notes since the start of school
and nothing. He’s obviously into you. When a guy says ‘I dig you’,
it’s pretty much a done deal. And you said he’s definitely your
type, so what gives?” I pressed.

“I don’t know Lex,” she whined. “I
don’t know what’s up with me. I guess I’m just afraid of another
Ben or ending up like my parents.”

“If you ever want to find the right
guy, find true love, you’re going to have to take a chance. Yes,
you’ll run the risk of getting hurt, but you also stand a chance at
romantic bliss,” I consoled.

“I know. It’s just hard,” she admitted
sadly. She lowered her head and began picking at her second
taco.

“Tell me about it.” I took a bite of
my now cold enchilada. “Hey. You think your mom would let you stay
over tonight?” I asked, wanting to cheer up my suddenly depressed
friend.

“It doesn’t hurt to ask,” she perked
up.

Surprisingly Mel’s mom agreed. Maybe
this new guy was good for her. We finished our dinner and ordered
two slices of tres leches to go; a midnight snack never killed
anyone. My dad picked us up announcing that my mom had a last
minute offer to put together for some VIP client. We dropped by
Mel’s on the way home for her to grab some clothes.

“So what do you want to do tonight?”
Mel couldn’t contain her excitement upon returning to my dad’s
SUV.

“I don’t know. I’m still shocked that
your mom is actually letting you stay over.”

“I know; so unlike her. But don’t
question the hand that feeds you. I’m just going with
it.”

“We could always attempt an
all-nighter like in the old days.”

“Sounds good, but I know when I’m
going to lose a battle. I’m an expert and I’m so not winning the
zombie thing tonight,” she chuckled.

“We’re not ancient you know. We still
have it in us.”

She smiled. “We can do movies,
veg-out, talk boys. Oh! I’m so excited Lex! This is just what I’ve
been needing!”

“What we both have.”

“And what boys will you be
discussing?” my dad chimed in.

“Dad! That’s private,” I
droned.

“Just make sure none of these boys pay
a house visit tonight. I will be ready to run them off,” he
warned.

“Dad, be nice! And you should know
better. Mel and I aren’t like that.”

“Yeah Mr. Jackson, we’re definitely
not those girls,” Mel reiterated.

“I certainly hope not.”

“I’ll put the desserts in the fridge
and grab a coke for us if you want to go up,” I offered as we
pulled in the driveway.

“Sure. I want to change into my PJs
asap anyways.”

“Try to get to bed at a reasonable
time Alexa,” my dad stated as I was exiting the kitchen.

“We will dad,” I replied robotically.
“Night,” I called on my way up the stairs.

“Night,” he said entering his
room.

“My dad is being so weird,” I
announced as I handed Mel her soda. She was already changed and
sitting comfortably on my bed waiting.

“How so?”

“You know, it was weird because he
loved Mike, but glared at Kellan whose supposed to be a family
friend. Like tonight, he knows I’ve never snuck around with boys,
yet still gave us the warning. Then just now he was telling me to
get to bed at a decent time and he even called me Alexa; he never
calls me Alexa. It’s just not like him to interfere so much; he
usually leaves that to my mom…”

“Huh. You think he’s weirding out over
his daughter dating? Or just you getting older?”

“I have no clue.”

“Well until he goes psycho-delic like
my mom, let’s just forget about it.”

I chuckled. “I think I can try to do
that.”

“So what movie do we want to
watch?”

“Hmm. Let’s see what’s on demand,” I
stated flipping through the menu on the TV. At seeing the movie
‘Eclipse,’ we immediately selected it.

I changed into my pajamas and settled
next to Mel on my bed. The next couple hours we were engrossed in
the world of love, werewolves and vampires only as it happens in
books and movies, at least from Mel’s point of view anyways. The
similarities to my own world were uncanny in some places. To think,
just as quickly I was being submerged into this mythical world. In
forty-eight hours I would be preparing for my own transformation
into one of them; and my best friend beside me wasn’t a werewolf
nor a witch or any other creature of sorts to warrant my disclosure
of truth to her. I hoped I didn’t have to abandon her as Jacob did
with Bella until she figured out the reality. Bella was allowed to
discover the truth; Mel never could for her own safety. I hadn’t
been clued in on the repercussions of exposure yet, but I could
only imagine that a royal vampeen army existed somewhere to rule
our kind.

Sadly, this would probably be my last
great human memory with my best friend. I was glad we had this
opportunity; this was the best way to conclude my human life. I
couldn’t hold on to it forever…

“Are you seriously crying Lex?!” Mel
interrupted my compelling evaluation at the end of the
movie.

I ran my fingers under my eyes and was
surprised to feel the water running down my face. “Umm… I guess
so,” I stuttered bewildered by my sudden, intense down
pour.

Why was I crying? Was I
that upset over the changes coming to my sisterhood with
Mel?
What am I saying? Of course I
am!
Mel was my favorite person to be
around and no matter how things panned out over the next couple
weeks, even if I did reveal the truth to her, things would never be
the same between us. Our solid friendship realistically ended here,
for I would always have to maintain some sort of distance between
us to protect my true identity and involvement in a new world. I
wasn’t a good enough actress to do otherwise; Mel knew me too
well.

“What do you want to do next?” Mel
asked attempting to distract me from further collapse.

“Umm,” I sniffed trying to pull myself
together, “I don’t know. What sounds good?”

“I’m thinking tres leches,” she
beamed.

“Sounds perfect. Let’s go!” I hopped
down off my bed in unison with Mel. We retrieved our desserts from
the fridge just as my mom returned home.

“So did the sellers accept the offer?”
I asked my mother as she entered the kitchen.

“I’ll know in the morning,” she
replied.

“Was it a solid offer?”

“I think so but you never
know.”

“Good luck,” Mel offered.

“Thank you,” she smiled. “Make sure
you get to bed soon, it’s almost midnight.”

I looked at the clock in disbelief.
“Oh my gosh. It is. Time has flown by.”

“Definitely,” agreed Mel.

“I’ll drop you two off in the morning
to give you a few extra minutes of sleep. Good night girls,” she
said as she walked towards her bedroom.

“Night Mom,” I called.

“Night Mrs. Jackson,” Mel
added.

“I guess we should try to get some
sleep.” I savored the final bite of my treat.

“Yea. Thanks for tonight Lex. I really
did need a mini-vacay from the insanity at home.”

“Are you trying to make me cry
again?”

“No. Let’s not,” she
laughed.

“Let’s go to bed.”

The moment I crawled into bed under
the warm covers, exhaustion sunk in. It was easy to fall asleep
with such heavy lids, a physical sign of my heavy
thoughts.

Chapter 10

Something disturbed me in the dead of
night. Mel slept soundly through it. The wind was blowing harshly
outside forcing branches to slap the house. It didn’t sound like it
was raining though I heard something close to sand being thrown at
my window.

“Ugh, I definitely can’t sleep through
this,” I spoke aloud as I often did to myself. I might as well go
downstairs. Surely my mother was awake if her hearing was as
sensitive as she claimed. I slid out of bed and put on my hoodie
and slippers before creeping down the stairs. Before hitting the
final step, I paused due to a humming noise. I stood frozen
attempting to distinguish the sound.

“Lexi,” I heard my mother
call.

“Are you down here, Mom?” I whispered
creeping down the final step.

“Yes, in the family room.”

I walked towards the sofa to realize
the humming wasn’t an object, it was whispering. Four people sat on
the sectional with my mother.

“Umm…hi,” I stuttered unsure. It was
dark and I knew others were sitting with my mother but could only
make out figures, not details since the darkness overcast the
inaptitude of my eyes.

“Hey Lexi,” the familiar voice
greeted.

“Sweetie, why don’t you turn on the
kitchen light and I’ll introduce you to everyone,” my mother
instructed.