Diary of a Vampeen (9 page)

I was instantly relieved when we
arrived at our destination. I freed my hand and started browsing.
Mike headed towards the rock/punk section while Kellan and I
flipped through movie soundtracks.

"What kind of music do you like?" he
asked, breaking our silent streak.

"I listen to pretty much anything; it
depends on what mood I'm in as to what I listen to." I never
followed the mainstream music scene diligently.

"And what are you in the mood to
listen to now?" he probed casually.

"Hmm," I mumbled flipping through the
cases in front of me. "Ah-hah!" I stated holding up the West Side
Story soundtrack. He laughed shaking his head slightly.

"You’re in the mood to listen to Romeo
& Juliet sing?"

"Forget the lyrics, the musical
arrangements are genius. Bernstein and Sondheim are
gold."

"If you say so," he remarked with
disapproval.

"What kind of music do you like?" I
asked a bit sarcastically detesting his response to my
choice.

"Classic rock is my favorite but if
you're asking about soundtracks it’s 'A Hard Day's Night'. You
can't touch the Beatles," he replied in a strong assured
tone.

"I've never even heard of that
one."

"You're definitely missing out then,"
he advised with a heart breaking smile. I momentarily
melted.

"Hey Lex," Mike called as he loomed
toward us. "My mom just called and she's outside so I have to go,"
he announced. I picked up on my cue.

"Oh, ok. Well I'll walk you out," I
offered returning the disc to its rack.

"I'll come with you.” Kellan hurried
on my heels. We walked through the food court and out the exit. His
mom's van was parked at the curb.

"I had a good time babe. We should do
this again soon," he suggested purposefully excluding
Kellan.

"Sure," I replied in agreement. And
then it happened, the thing I was somewhat dreading. He gave me a
hug and leaned in to kiss me. Preconceiving this possibility, I was
prepared and gave his lips my left cheek. After one peck, I gently
pushed away careful not to hurt his feelings in the process. "I'll
talk to you later,” I smiled taking a giant step backwards to
create some distance between us.

"Umm, night babe," he said caught off
guard by my brush off. He turned and got into his mom's car. I
waved as she drove off. I released a sigh of pure embarrassment and
perhaps a bit of frustration was entwined too before turning back
to Kellan.

"I guess I should call my mom to come
get me."

"I can take you home," he offered.
"Plus, it’ll be nice to see your parents again."

"Are you sure?" I checked.

"Yea. Let's go.” He immediately
started walking around the mall back in the direction of the
theatre.

A chill ran through me as I felt the
night air for the first time though I'd been outside for five
minutes now. I shrugged deeper into my hoodie but received no
warmth or protection from the fall air. As we rounded the corner he
removed his zip-up hoodie and placed it over my
shoulders.

"Thanks," I replied to his gesture.
Inside I was screaming with excitement yet remained calm on the
surface. "You're not cold?" I glimpsed at his bare arms with their
blatant muscle definition gleaming off the moonlight.

"I'm okay," he smiled softly. The
twitch of his lips didn’t quite reveal his dimple, but I still
basked in it.

He again opened my door for me. I
pulled his jacket to the front of me, resting it like a blanket. He
turned on the heat as soon as the car was started. I shivered as he
began driving, still not feeling the heat quite yet.

"You would never survive Seattle
weather," he commented.

"Thanks for the warning." I rolled my
eyes sarcastically and gave him a smug smile. He just chuckled
quietly as my stomach growled.

"Hungry?" he queried with a raised
brow.

"Yea. Aren't you?" I scrunched my face
shyly realizing I hadn't eaten since this morning. I quickly
remembered he hadn't either that I’d observed.

"Not hungry, just thirsty," he smiled
a full, devious grin. "Want me to stop somewhere?"

"No. I'm okay. I'll just eat something
when I get home." I was already embarrassed that my stomach was
growling and his wasn’t. The last thing I wanted was to prolong
that sort of humiliation, even if it was for the purpose of
squashing it.

In half the time it should
have taken we were in front of my house. I stared at him with a
puzzled expression since I hadn't given him directions.
How did he know where I live?
He looked over at me and must have read my face.

"I know your parents,
remember?"

“Yea but you haven’t seen them since
Spain in August, right?” I both accused and checked.

Kellan grinned sarcastically, if
that’s even possible, and without skipping a beat was opening my
door. I unlocked the front door to the house and made no hesitation
in walking towards the family room when I heard the sound of the
television.

"Hey Mom, Hey Dad. Look who came to
visit," I announced whisking past them into the kitchen. They
turned and greeted Kellan. My father shot a warning look to him as
if he was a trouble-maker while saying hello. My mother, ever warm
and accepting, got up and gave him a hug.

"You hungry, Kellan?" I asked as I
pulled out the ingredients for a turkey sandwich.

"No thanks," he replied.

"What about a drink? I know you said
you were thirsty in the car," I offered. He looked at my parents;
they seemed to be communicating though no words were
spoken.

"I'm ok for now."

"Suit yourself," I shrugged taking a
bite of my freshly prepared sandwich. I put the assembly line of
ingredients away.

"How was the movie?" my mother
asked.

"Cheesy. The same blood and gore story
as all scary movies," I said as I closed the fridge.

"You screamed pretty often for such a
cheesy movie," Kellan teased.

"I screamed like twice and I wasn't
scared, just surprised," I explained in defense, brushing off his
absolutely dead on assumptions. Kellan rolled his eyes and laughed.
I wanted to melt into a puddle, even with my parents around,
feeling the flutters of giddiness in my stomach.

"How are you parents?" my mother asked
Kellan.

"They're good. Busy planning a trip to
Italy in February."

"We were thinking of attending as
well," she stated.

"What's in Italy in February?" I
interrupted.

"It's another family reunion," my
mother advised. The unwary feeling returned in that moment. They
were definitely hiding something, but I was clueless as to what it
could be. The Bancrofts weren’t family yet my parents were
attending their reunions?

"Oh. So soon? Are you and Dad planning
to go?" I hoped she would elaborate but knew better. Since they
hadn’t said anything prior, chances were against them to pick that
time in front of Kellan to initiate the discussion of our family
secrets.

"We're not sure yet. I'll be sure to
tell you if we decide," she promised. I was right. The subject was
closed.

"Well, I better get going," Kellan
stated.

"Oh, okay." I was a little perplexed.
He'd been in my house all of two minutes and was rushing out
immediately. I really wished he would stay, but I couldn’t ask him
to, especially in front of my dad after his initial
reaction.

"Have a good night," he waved to my
parents.

"It was nice seeing you again," my
mother incited.

"I'll walk you out," I offered. I
grabbed his hoodie off the stairwell and handed it to him. "Thanks
for letting me use your jacket."

"No problem. I had a good time tonight
Lexi," he added laying the jacket over his arm.

"So did I." I tried to smile but
couldn’t. I was a little upset that he was leaving so abruptly and
couldn’t understand why. I didn’t do anything that I knew of and
neither had my parents.

"See you Monday?" he
verified.

"I'll be there."

"’night" he said as he opened the
door. I shrugged internally. I found myself becoming more and more
agitated and easily exasperated. I waved as he stepped out on the
porch. I stood there and watched him go to his car.

My heart was pounding. I didn't want
him to leave. I just wanted him to hold me all night, to hypnotize
me with his beautiful eyes while embracing me. Mike was dying to do
that with me, but I was slowly realizing that he wasn’t who I
wanted.

What was it about Kellan? I’d never
felt this way before. He fascinated me. He's like a mysterious
beauty. He's open with me yet so reserved, obviously hiding beneath
his exterior. He seemed so in control of himself while I felt so
out of control dreaming, longing for just one intimate moment with
this dark attractive creature.

Hearing the rev of his engine as he
sped off, I returned to the kitchen to finish my sandwich. Still
hungry, I grabbed a slice of cold pizza and a coke from the
fridge.

"I'm going to call Mel," I announced
already heading towards the stairs.

"Ok sweetie. Good night," my mother
called after me.

I dialed Mel and revisited the events
of the night with her leaving out Kellan’s bookstore secret. She
reveled in every element despite the negative outlook I now held
over my relationship with Mike. Amidst her commenting though, her
mom walked in the door.

"Got to go for tonight Lex. My mom
just got home. I'll talk to you tomorrow," she promised. I could
tell by her tone that she was upset about missing the outing. Mel
had a complicated living situation with her mom and brother. I was
the only person she was allowed to spend unlimited time with, but
even that had its restrictions.

"'kay, night," I replied.

By the time my conversation ended with
Mel it was 11:30pm. I laid back on my bed. Although things were
awkward at points, overall it was a good night. I still couldn’t
get a handle on my attraction for Kellan; we had some strange
connection I couldn’t describe beyond the physical. With one look
into his eyes I desired more; my self-control went out the window
and I was clay in his hands. But emotionally, mentally, I was drawn
into him, lost in him as if he were a stimulating piece of
literature.

Then there was Mike. He was a
good-looking guy. While he was annoying at times, I was pretty sure
his intentions were pure. Consequently, there was so much to
consider, especially when you added in the secret Kellan almost
shared. I was exhausted just entertaining my mind with it all, and
quickly fell into a light sleep. I began to dream of Kellan, but
just knowing I could do everything I desired with him in my dreams,
I allowed myself to slip deeper into sleep.

Chapter 6

I woke up in a daze, again questioning
the events of the night before. I glanced at my bedside clock,
surprised when it read 12:32pm. I must have been exhausted; I never
slept more than eight hours so it definitely was not like me to
sleep twelve.

I felt my phone buzzing beside me,
still attached to the charger. I unplugged it and was immediately
bombarded with alerts. I had two missed calls from Mel, a text from
Mel, a text from Kellan, a missed call from Mike and two text
messages from Mike. I checked Mel’s text first – ‘Call me ASAP!
Mike is on his way over!’ Kellan wrote ‘Text me when you’re up.’
Mike’s first message read ‘Good morning’, and the next asked ‘Got
any plans today?’

I text Kellan back quickly, ‘I’m
up.’

Then I text Mike, ‘no plans so far,
but then again I just got up.’

Before I could even dial Mel’s number
my phone was buzzing; it was her.

“Hello?”

“O.M.G. Lex! Where the heck have you
been?!” she yelled.

“I just woke up. What’s going on? What
happened?” I immediately panicked at her tone despite being groggy
still.

“Mike is what happened,” she stated
firmly.

“I don’t get it. What’s going
on?”

“Lex, open your bedroom door and
listen downstairs,” she instructed.

“NO! He isn’t!”

“Lex, I’ve been trying to warn you. I
talked to Rando earlier. Apparently Mike was talking a lot of crap
last night and this morning since you gave him the brush off in
front of Kellan. The scary part is he sounds obsessive Rando said.
It’s like he’s hell bent on marking his territory. He wasn’t like
this before, I swear. I didn’t even know this side of him existed.
Rando said it was like he snapped. Oh my gosh, I would never have
encouraged you to have a relationship with a potentially abusive
stalker. I’m so sorry Lex. Please say you forgive me,” she pleaded
amidst explanation.

“I haven’t even been awake for five
minutes and already my day is upside down,” I whined. I sighed,
debating what to do. What could I do really? He was downstairs,
which meant inevitably he was talking to my parents. “What am I
doing? I’ve got to get down there! I’ll call you later Mel,” I
exclaimed and closed the phone before she could answer.