43
“It must be nice to be a human,” he remarked.
“It must be nice to be a vampire.”
He snorted. “That’s funny.”
“What’s so funny about it?”
His eyes returned to mine, an emotion I’ve never seen before in them. “You wouldn’t understand because you’re human.”
I stared back at him in surprise. He’d spoken in a soft voice, but the underlying tone was harsh. “Oh…” Vincent didn’t like being a vampire? Why was that? Wasn’t having keen hearing and eyesight useful? Wasn’t slow aging a good thing? Wasn’t having impossible strength handy too?
“You’d be surprised how many vampires wish they were humans,” he commented, he voice flat.
“Are you one of those?”
“Not really. There are some perks to being a human, but not nearly as much as to being a vampire. I think being a human would suck. They’re weak and annoying.”
I grimaced. “Thanks.”
He rolled his eyes. “You should know by now not to include yourself when I talk about humans as a whole. You’re different.”
“Because I’m a source of entertainment.”
“Exactly.”
“But now I know it’s also because you have a crush on me,” I said boldly, trying to keep the blush that was threatening my cheeks from my daring words off.
Vincent eyes slowly slid back to mine. “Well, yes.”
The corners of my mouth turned down slightly, forming a little frown. “Why aren’t you embarrassed by that?”
“Embarrassed by what?”
“The fact that I know you have a crush on me!”
He gave me an are-you-stupid look. “Why should I be?”
I stared back at him, unable to process his mind. If I was the one saying I had a crush on him, I’d be able to fry eggs on my face at this point. “Isn’t it natural?” I blurted.
“Maybe for an idiot like you.”
“Don’t call me an idiot!”
“Okay, Stupid.”
“You know for saying you have a crush on me, you act like such an asshole,” I snapped angrily.
A smirk crossed his face. “It’s been awhile since you called me an asshole to my face.”
I scowled at him. “That isn’t something to be amused by, Vincent! If you haven’t noticed, I’m not stupid.”
“I know you’re not stupid, Stupid.”
“Then why-”
“It’s my nickname for you,” he told me, rolling his eyes. “You’d think you would’ve figure that out by know.”
That was his idea of a nickname? That was stupid! “Why not just call me Em? Or Emmy?”
.
.
“Could you see me calling you either one of those?”
I tried to imagine it. I almost laughed. “No…”
“Exactly. Now,” he started, removing his head from my chest and his hold on my body. “I’m going back to bed.”
“Vincent-”
He quickly grabbed the fallen comforter off the floor and spread it out- over both of us. The heavy blanket covered my face. For a moment I lay still, my body not realizing its freedom. When it did, I sat up immediately, aiming to climb out from under the covers. Vincent easily pushed me back down. “Stay.”
“I… Why?” I asked, feeling incredibly self-conscious. Vincent’s arm was lying next to mine, or skin touching.
“You make it warmer,” he stated simply, drawing my body closer to his. “Vampires don’t have body heat.”
My body stiffened. “Vincent, don’t…”
“Embarrassed?” he guessed, his tone leaking amusement.
“Uncomfortable,” I muttered, trying to squirm away from him. “Yeah, okay, you confessed you like me. But I never said I liked you -”
“You never denied it when your brother mentioned it.”
I turned to face him- an action I regretted immediately. Our faces were only three inches away from each other now. “I
knew you were listening!”
He grinned. “I already figured you had a crush on me. So see? No need to feel uncomfortable.”
“Vincent, we haven’t even kissed. I don’t want to sleep in the same bed-”
“Kiss?”
“Yeah, as in lips touching,” I clarified, trying not to roll my eyes. “I’m sure you’ve kissed plenty of people in your life.”
He thought about it for a minute. “Well, yes.”
Of course.
“But never a human. A kiss from human huh…” His eyes pierced into mine. “Okay.”
“Okay what-”
My words were cut off as he brought his lips to mine. My eyes closed on instinct. At first they only gently brushed mine, like the way he’d brushed them against my neck earlier. Still, it immediately sent tingles ran down my spine. I didn’t even think of pulling away. The second time our lips met it was a real kiss. His lips were still incredibly soft and smooth, but more firm against mine. A thrill shot through my body. Everyone always talked about fireworks when they kissed, but to me it felt more like electric currents running through my body. Only one other kiss had caused reactions like that- my first boyfriend who I’d had a crush on for a year. The kiss only lasted a few brief seconds before he pulled away. My eyes shot back open as he did so. To my surprise, he looked thrown off guard. Perhaps he had experienced the electricity as well.
“How was that?” Vincent asked, breaking the awkward silence that had settled him. He seemed to be over the shock, a smug expression now taking over his face.
My surprise from the kiss wasn’t gone yet. I was thinking fast for a reply, which was hard to do. My mind kept wandering back to the softness of his lips. “You’re inexperienced,” I finally blurted. It took all I had to keep my expression straight after that.
.
.
The bewilderment on his face nearly sent me over the edge. It almost literally hurt to hold in my laughter and try not to smile at his expression. “Inexperienced? I’ve probably kissed more people than you’re whole generation!” he said eventually, his eyes narrowing.
“More vampires ,” I corrected him, making a face. “You can’t kiss humans the same way you kiss vampires.” Honestly, he could kiss anyway he wanted. He was a good kisser. In fact he was probably better than any human at kissing just because he was a vampire.
“What was different than a human kiss?” he growled, frustrated.
Now it was my turn to smirk at him. “Oh? You don’t like not being able to kiss?”
“I kiss fine!”
“Apparently not.”
“I’ll try again,” he stated, closing his face in on mine.
I turned my head quickly. My heart couldn’t handle kissing him again at the moment. It was a good thing it hadn’t calmed down from the anger earlier otherwise Vincent would have noticed the increase of pace. “I can’t go through that again, Vincent.”
“You have to be kidding me!”
“However, I do feel sorry for you, so I’ll be your bed warmer.”
He muttered something I didn’t quite catch under his breath. “I’ll show you I can kiss,” he promised fervently.ConTEent bel0ngs to Nôv(e)lD/rama(.)Org .
I swallowed nervously. “If you’re going to get more sleep, do it. Because in an hour you’re waking up to cook me breakfast.”
“I’m not-”
“Yes you are. Sebastian is coming today so you have to get up anyway.”
“I don’t care about seeing Sebastian.”
I turned to frown at him. “Too bad. You’re getting up. One hour. Whether you like it or not.”
He set his jaw. “No.”
“Should I change that to half an hour? And I will leave you with your cold sheets again.”
He growled softly before turning his back to me. “Fine. Whatever.”
A pleased smile crossed my face. Being the one with the upper hand for a change was nice. Vincent obeying me was nice as well… Maybe I should threaten him more often. Maybe I should let him kiss me more often and then tell him he sucks…
What thought hit my mind next had the smile off my face in a split-second. I was the first human Vincent had kissed. I’d kissed a vampire. Not just any vampire… a royal vampire. How could I have done that? I wasn’t supposed to be kissing vampires! It wasn’t right! But even though it wasn’t right, I couldn’t help but to think it
felt right… And wasn’t that all that mattered? My brain was thrust into turmoil. Vampires wouldn’t bring anything good to a human. Vincent and I had silly crushes on each other; it wouldn’t lead to anything else. It would be okay to kiss each other. It wasn’t like we were in some serious relationship. Besides, if he was the one kissing me there was no reason to say no to it. It was fine.
And yet I still couldn’t force away the tightness that had appeared in my stomach.
Vincent moved his arm so that it lay on my side. The coolness of it made goosebumps appear on my skin. The act calmed my nerves. I couldn’t predict the future. Neither could he. Nor could anyone. I didn’t know what was going to happen in the future so there was no point in worrying about it. I had to focus on the present. And if the present included kissing Vincent, I was going to do it and not worry about the future consequences. Those would come later and I could deal with them then. For now, I was going to enjoy living my life as a person, like Vincent. I wasn’t going to think of vampire or human.
“I can kiss,” Vincent suddenly said.
I cracked a smile. “Just go to sleep, Vincent.”
“I can!” he protested.
“You can try again later.” The words were out of my mouth before I could stop them. However, I didn’t regret them at all.
Vincent seemed satisfied with my response because he didn’t say anything more. Instead he settled into a more comfortable position, one of his pajama clad legs resting against mine. I relaxed as well, closing my eyes and trying to relinquish all the thoughts racing in my mind. It was a pretty easy task. Soon my eyes were drooping and I found it hard to stay awake. Vincent’s breath was smooth and regular, revealing to me that he had fallen back asleep. I found myself joining him. Within seconds, I fell asleep as well.
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