Chapter Eight

   We were just inside my house when I let my defence down. I started up the stairs when I realised he hadn’t followed. I turned around and looked down at him.

   ‘Aren’t you coming up?’

   He shuffled his weight on his feet before answering. ‘Tiffany, that isn’t a good idea.’

   ‘Then why did you come in?’

   ‘Look; I shouldn’t have. Me coming in is enough to get me in trouble.’

   ‘In trouble for what?’

   ‘Like you can’t figure it out,’ he said as I made my way back down. I stopped on the bottom step.

   ‘Well I can’t so you’ll have to tell me.’

   ‘Uh, we both know exactly what’s happening between us.’ I was so confused, and I just showed it by my expression. ‘Tif, don’t tell me you haven’t noticed.’

   ‘Noticed what?’ I managed to ask.

   ‘Do I have to spell it out for you?’ he asked rhetorically. I didn’t speak. ‘Clearly,’ he answered himself.

   He came closer. I tried pulling my head back but was restricted. I closed my eyes. And...

   It was the most passionate moment I had ever experienced.

   He pulled away with a worried looked on his face. I stood there completely mesmerised, so much so that I had to shake my whole body to come out of the trance.

   ‘Now I didn’t see that coming,’ I admitted.

   ‘That’s why.’

   ‘So you’re worried of coming up because you like me?’ I reasoned aloud.

   ‘Yes,’ he said with a hushed voice while looking down.

   ‘Michael, honestly. It’s not the worst thing you could do.’

   ‘Stop there. Sorry,’ he added. ‘It’s just; I don’t want to spoil it.’

   ‘You won’t,’ I reassured him as I took his hand. I quickly returned his gesture. After pulling away, I smiled softly and then he smiled back similarly. Surprisingly, he then stepped onto the same step as me. Unfortunately, that forced me to take a step up or I would have been pressed against the wall behind me (the stairs weren’t very wide).

   Somehow (I couldn’t quite remember), we ended up in my room after all. My hair was soaked and my coat was dripping. I went to get a towel and put my coat on a radiator. When I returned to my room, I found him sat on my bed. I sat beside him while I ringed out most of the water from my hair.

   ‘So, what is it like here?’ he asked.

   ‘Pretty boring, and school is really weird. How they expect me to understand it is beyond me. I mean, I just can’t get my head round it.’

   ‘Then just give it up.’

I quickly thought about it. ‘No one will notice me not being there,’ I pondered aloud.

   ‘There you go then. It means you can spend more time on your other, problematic side.’ I smiled hintingly. ‘Why is that reason to smile? Before you didn’t want anything to do with it.’

   ‘I thought you had volunteered to help me?’

   ‘Yes, I did, but...... oh.’ Finally, he understood what I was getting at. ‘Wait, I’m not sure if I quite get what you meant.’

I rolled my eyes and sighed. ‘You’re so typical, Mike; but I’m so used to it, I don’t care,’ I said as I put my arms round his chest.

   ‘I can live with that. Still, what did you mean exactly?’ he asked again as his arms wrapped around me.

   ‘Well, if you want exact... If I’m not going to be busy anymore and I still need help to deal with me. Then I get to spend more time with you.’

   Looking around as he thought, his lips pouted out to the side. ‘I like that plan...... but could you live with my awful blood?’

   ‘I had almost forgotten about that until you mentioned it,’ I stated.

   ‘Aww, I’m sorry; it’s just; I always have yours on my mind and it’s very... different.’

   ‘Well it would be.’

   ‘No, I don’t mean different to anyone else’s. It seems to change.’

   ‘In what way?’ I was curious about what secrets he held of me.

   ‘The smell changes sometimes. I first noticed it when I met you on the bridge.’ I quietly listened to him. We still had our arms around the other. So far it had been a comfortable few minutes and that wasn’t about to change. ‘How you make it change, I don’t know and probably couldn’t guess.’

   ‘I didn’t know it changed. Yours doesn’t; it just always smells awful.’

   ‘What of?’ My last memory of it had long since faded, so I leaned closer to renew my senses. ‘You’re keen,’ he quickly blurted.

   ‘What?’ I blankly asked. He raised an eyebrow. Then I realised what he was referring to. ‘I needed to smell you again if I was going to answer your question.’

   ‘Ah,’ he merely replied. There was a brief silence before he re-asked his previous question. ‘So what do I smell of?’

I breathed in deeply through my nose which was softly pressed to his neck. ‘I can’t compare it to anything. All I can say is that it’s absolutely disgusting.’

Surprisingly, he smiled. ‘Hah, so do you when you’re behaving normally.’

   ‘And what do I smell of when I’m not normal?’

   ‘I can’t remember. You smell of vampire at the moment.’

   ‘I think I might be able to change it, with some help from you.’

   ‘That’s what I’m here for. How can I help?’ he asked, though his eyes told me he already knew the answer. I kissed him on the cheek for one very short second. As I did so, he tightened his grip around me so that when I faced him, our noses were an inch apart. A soft, thin smile spread across my lips, as did his. Then he softly pressed his against mine for another brief second. He repeated it over and over until he just kept his lips permanently on mine. He parted his lips, as did I.

   A searing pain ran through my lower lip. Something sharp had pierced the skin. The feeling was so strong my head was flung back from his but his arms kept me close.

   ‘What the...?’ I began, but at the same time someone else had said the exact same words. I quickly looked at my door, only to see my dad stood there with a horrified look on his face. The image disappeared after barely a second. The burning pain returned; only this time it was twice the heat from the first. All I could remember of it was that it was in my neck and it throbbed. Then everything blanked out.