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࣪𓏲ּ ֶָ ✩◿@𝓮𝓬𝓵𝓲𝓹𝓼𝓮𝓵𝓪𝓼𝔂◸ 🂱 ࣪𓏲ּ ֶָ
CHAPTER NINE—
the afterglow of a thunderstorm

Lasys dad was not coming to parents day, meaning she didn't have to leave her room as she laid next to her phone and stayed curled up in the ball she had been for the part twenty-four hours. Lasy didn't have a roommate, Principal Weems didn't think it was a smart idea incase they happened to cut their finger. She was alone in there, she hadn't eaten so her fangs were out and her eyes glossed with a dark red tint, the little black lines running from her eyes to her cheekbones.

"Lasy?" a knock echoed on the door. "Look, the least you could do is let me in. We're the only ones without parents here."

Xavier, of course his Dad wasn't coming either. Lasy inhaled as she rolled over, standing up to open the door. He looked at her with an insane look. "Jesus, you look horrible. When was the last time you ate?"

"I'm not hungry." she mumbled. "You can come in."

He did as she shut the door and crawled back into her bed. Xavier sat with her. "What happened at the Rave'N?"

She ignored him.

"You've been ignoring all of us for two whole days and haven't left your room." he listed on and looked at the back of her as she stayed curled up. "Did someone say something to you? Was it those normie assholes that did the paint?"

"I'm just having a bad day." she lied to him, grasping her phone as it went off. It was just a notification that was reminding her to study, she dropped her phone with an exhale.

"Bianca's Mom showed up." he rose his eyebrows to change the subject, Lasy looked back some with an odd look. "Yeah, I know. I was shocked too, she definitely was. Ajax's Mom and Granny are here, too. They said they wanna see us, you know? It's been a while."

Lasy shook her head as she curled up back in a ball. Xavier sighed as he stood up. "Well, i'm gonna go say hi. Bet there's a bunch of blood bags just laying around Princable Weems' office right now. Just waiting for a vampire to find them."

She still ignored him as Xavier sighed. "Fine, i'll go. But, when Parents day is over, you're gonna have to talk to all of us."

"Okay." Lasy mumbled. Xavier went to close the door before he noticed her laptop open and unlocked. He hesitated, looking at her to make sure her back still stayed turned to him as she stared at the wall. He leaned down and clicked on her most recently opened tab, seeing the messages pop up.

eclipselasy: i'm so sorry. i really am.

eclipselasy: i can explain everything if you just give me the chance to.

eclipselasy: i really like you. i didn't mean to hurt you like that.

Xavier tried to click to see who they were to, but Lasy shifted like she was gonna turn over so he shut the laptop and left the room quickly. Her eyes glanced back at the sudden slam, frowning her eyebrows with a huff. "Drama queen."

She sat up and popped her back, gripping her bed sheets and leaning against her knees as she hugged them to her chest. Her eyes looked to the coffee cups on her night stand, the ones that she kept after Tyler had wrote little things on the lids. She reached over and grabbed the wonderful day one, holding it in her palms as she rubbed her finger over the rim.

She then looked at the photos on her nightstand, staring at the one of her Mom.

"Come here, Lasy Girl." she spoke, holding her arms out so she'd crawl into the hospital bed with her, holding her close to her dying body. "Can you promise me something? Just one thing?"

Lasy nodded as her Mom held her, kissing her on the head as she was right in her ear. "No matter how small, or how big, you'll always fight for what you want. You have so much power in you, Lasy Girl. You just have to find certain things worth showing it for."

Lasy dropped the cup and got out of bed immediately.

Tyler was in the process of pouring a refill when Weathervane doors flew open, Lasy came running in as he paused and looked. "What-"

"I do spell Lasy with an S." she swallowed hard, talking infront of the two booths and one table that were there that day. "I am a Nevermore students and i've lived in Jericho my entire life. I'm not from Massachusetts, i've never even been to Massachusetts. I don't even know the capital of Massachusetts! My Mom isn't a freelance surgeon, she was an underpaid nurse that did die when I was thirteen. My Dad and I aren't close, he doesn't even know how to golf and if he did, he'd never let me win. We never ate dinner together, even before because we all have different diets. That day we went to Jericho Jewelers, I was suppose to go visit her grave but I didn't want you to piece anything together and figure out who I was. This isn't my aunts seventh wedding, it's her seven-hundredth wedding because she's over a thousand years old."

She inhaled deeply after getting all that out, the seven people in the coffee shop all staring wr her. "That's it. That's everything i've lied to you about, the rest is true. Everything except where I live in our messages...it was true. Most of the things I told you in real life were a lie."

"Y-" Tyler began, but she'd cut him off.

"And I actually do suck at Biology. It's suppose to be the easiest science but it's the hardest for me. I don't dance in public, but I did at the Rave'N and it made me want to curl up and die. I can't talk to people for too long or I start to overthinking things and my heart beats really fast before I just can't breath, so being quiet helps me a lot." she still went on, over doing it but wasn't able to stop. "And it happens sometimes with you, when I see you in person, but not nearly as bad. I don't feel so worried around you, my heart only beats really fast because I think you're so insanely gorgeous and I love talking to you. I don't get scared with you, I just get really tired because I feel like you know everything about me and there's nothing to overthink and cause my nerves to keep me awake."

Now, she was done. Tyler made sure of it before he set the coffee down and faced her interlay. "Boston."

"What?" Lasy caught her breath.

A little smile fought at Tyler's lips as he took a single step closer to her. "The capital of Massachusetts. It's Boston."

Lasys eyes seemed so sad but it was only because she was absolutely happy, smiling at him as he smiled back.

"You didn't have to do that." Lasy spoke as Tyler got into the car with a bag of blood on his hand.

"It's fine. The nurses looked at me pretty weird when I asked to keep my own blood when I said that I was too attached to donate." he opened one of the to go coffee cups and poured it in. "So, is this what happens when you don't have it a while?"

"Yeah." she unbuckled her seat belt and turned to face him, looking at the way one of his sleeves was rolled up where his bandaid was. "Is it gonna...creep you out if I do it infront of you?"

"Oh, no." Tyler shook his head and handed her the cup when he secured the lid on. "Go ahead."

Lasy gave him a small smile as she took a sip of the drink. Tyler leaned his head back on the chair. "So, start from the beginning."

"Oh what?" she asked between sips, glad she had a straw so she wouldn't have to keep tossing her head back.

"Of the vampire thing." he nodded as her eyes weren't glossed with red and the dark lines began to fade. "Were you bitten or does it run in your family?"

"It runs in the family. My Mom was one, my dad was just a normie." she explained as Tyler smiled slightly. "What?"

"Nothing." he shook his head. "So, does that make you just, like, half a vampire? Or, how does that work?"

"Technically, yes." Lasy crossed her legs as she got comfortable in the seat. "But, there's not much of a difference. There's not really a certain look we have, full blooded or not. Just a few cousins who think they're better then me."

"So, can you see yourself in pictures?" he rose his eyebrows as she nodded. "Mirrors?"

"Everything, that's just a lie someone came up with to profit off our species." Lasy took another long gulp. Tyler's blood was the best she'd ever had, truly. But, she didn't want to scare him in obsessing over it right infront of him.

"Okay." he chuckled just slightly. "Can you run really fast?"

"Nah, I got asthma." she hummed.

He laughed again. "Sure, of course. What about the whole garlic thing?"

"Not a fan of garlic breath, no." her comment made him smile, which made her smile back. "That doesn't bother us either."

"Stack to the heart?" he rose an eyebrow.

"I think stack to the heart might kill anyone." Lasy sucked in her lips and shrugged slightly. "For the most part, we're a lot like everyone else. Just our apatites are different."

"Are you deed?" he scanned her over.

"Not at all." she grabbed his hand and put it on her heart. "See. I have a pulse too."

"Is it always that fast?" he glanced down at his hand on her heart, his comment made it go faster as he rose an eyebrow.

"Usually." she flushed. "Sometimes."

"What about biting people?" Tyler eyes her slightly as he dropped his hand, the way his blood stein her lips as she finished off the drink and popped it in the cup holder. "Or are you a blood drive only type of girl?"

Lasy hesitated. She didn't want to scare him, but she didn't want to lie either. "Um, usually i'm okay."

"Usually?" he hummed.

"I don't get the urge to bite anyone unless they start bleeding and I smell it." she swallowed as he nodded slowly. "But, when I do...I just...it's hard to stop."

Tyler nodded his head. "I understand."

"It's never happened before though. There's always someone to pull me away, so I haven't killed anyone." she promised him as Tyler nodded. "You scared?"

"No." he smiled and touched her hand with the back of his. "I just want to understand it all. All the truth."

"My family is different." Lasy explained to him. "They don't care, they take it from people and bury their bodies at their houses. My Mom was the first one to not do that, it's how she met my Dad."

"She tried to kill him?" Tyler frowned his eyebrows.

"Yes, but she stopped. She was the first one that was ever able to stop, because she didn't want to kill him. After that, it took a while, but they just fell in love and she ran from the family habits." she explained as Tyler fell fascinated. "When she had me, we just did the blood drive thing in hopes of every generation from now on being the same."

Tyler hesitated, his arm rubbed with hers again. "Can I ask you something about your Mom?"

Lasy nodded her head. "How'd cancer get her if vampires are suppose to live forever?"

"We can live forever." Lasy explained as she nodded her head. "But, our bodies aren't much different. There are still things that will kill us just as they would humans. Without a cure...she didn't have any hope."

Tyler laced his hand with hers, Lasys heartbeat hit her hard in the chest as she felt like she was gonna pass out or start crying. Maybe both. Tyler took his eyes off their hands to look her in the eye. "When do you stop aging?"

"Thirty-two." she nodded as he nodded back. "I don't think I wanna live forever though."

"No?" he frowned his eyebrows.

"The people I have now, my friends, I love them all so much." the topic clearly made her upset by the way she looked at him. "Thinking about each of them dying, while i'm just here for the rest of eternity without ever seeing them again, just making new friends and having it happen all over again. I don't know, that's just not the way i'd want to live. My family was able to because they all had each other, i'm just not close to them like that."

"I understand." Tyler hummed as his thumb rubbed across her knuckles, looking at the way her chest heaved. "Are you okay?"

She nodded her head. "Yes."

"You sure?" he questioned due to how breathy her single word sounded.

Lasy nodded her head. "You just...this happens when I get overwhelmed."

"I'm overwhelming you?" Tyler's eyes fell some.

"Yes." Lasy said honestly as her hand tightened with his. "In a good way."

•

kylie speaks

i felt like i owed you guys
this after last chapter