Haven

Chapter 10

Mila's POV:

"Mila... I li-"

                         *Alarm playing September by Earth, Wind, and Fire*

Damn it. My alarm always wakes me up before things are finished. I wonder what dream Emma was going to say. I love these dreams; they seem so real. I somehow managed to pry myself out of my bed's arms and got ready.

Walking down the stairs, I actually kind of wanted Emma to be downstairs when I went down, but she wasn't. I ate breakfast and made my way to school. The next few days flew by, and it was finally Friday! I had already been going to the school newspaper every day after school. Chloe and I started to become very close. She is so cool and funny. Emma and I weren't getting as close as Chloe and I were, but we still made small talk and waved. She would constantly catch me looking at her and smile as I blushed.

During the fourth period, she started sitting closer and closer to me. She would always meet me at my locker, and she would always find a way to touch me. Either leaning in close to have our shoulders touch, even to pushing a hair out of my face. I was nervous about tomorrow because she was coming over and we would start our project.

Saturday morning came, and she was already downstairs with my mom helping her cook breakfast. I stopped and just took the sight in. She was making my mom laugh and smile... I've never seen her this carefree. Wow... Emma is amazing.

"Good morning Mila." I snapped out of my daze. How did she know I was there. They both had their backs turned.

"Oh. Good morning Mija. How did you sleep?" I immediately flashed back to the dream I had of Emma. She's been in my dreams ever since I've met her... This time we were just swimming and talking. Her body... damn. I snapped out of it again, blushing as I made eye contact with her, and she just had a sly smile on her face.

"I slept well, Mami. Breakfast smells good. Nice to see you so early, Emma.." I looked over at Emma to find her smiling.

"Sorry for being here super early. I just wanted to help your mom with breakfast." What an odd thing to want to do with a person she just met.

"She's so sweet, Mija! So beautiful too. What are you?"

"Mom... You can't just ask people what they are." I assumed she was white by the way she looked.

"No, it's fine. I'm actually full-blooded Italian." I was in disbelief that she was anything other than a basic white chick ethnicity.

"No way... Shit.. sorry for assuming you were just some basic white chick." I felt my eyes go a little wide, and I immediately turned toward my mom. "And sorry for swearing, Mami." So that's the accent I was picking up on when she talked.

"No, it's fine. Most people think blonde hair and blue eyes have to be some type of German or England ethnicity. Many people don't know that Italians can have blonde hair and blue eyes." I was completely taken back. I just assumed.

"Do you know Italian, dear?" my mom asked.

"Yes, I'm fluent. I'm actually fluent in many languages." Wow, beautiful and completely smart.

"That's amazing, dear we will have to have a discussion in my native tongue sometime then."

"Sounds good to me, Anita." We ate breakfast and had some small talk. We asked about her parents, but you could tell she was uncomfortable about the subject.

"I'm sorry you don't have to answer." She sighed

"No, it's fine. I lost my parents a long time ago... They died in a car accident due to a drunk driver. I've lived with my brother and his wife since then." I felt so bad for her. I can't believe she went through such a tragedy. I put my hand over hers and lightly squeezed.

"I'm so sorry, Emma." I could see the pain in her eyes.. she just slightly smiled

"It's fine. Both of you don't look so down. It was so long ago. Come on, Mila, we need to get started on our project. Thank you, Anita, for this wonderful breakfast."

We went up to my room so I could grab my camera.

"Wow, your room is so big," Emma commented as she looked all around my room.

"Yeah, I don't know why a room really needs to be this big ever. This isn't my house, though; it is my Tia's house." I dropped my bag on the floor and looked back to Emma, still scanning the room. 

"So you just moved here. Explains why the room doesn't seem like you." This comment made me perk up.

"What do you mean?" How would she know what seemed like me?

"Well, it just doesn't fit your personality, is all I'm saying." I quirked my eyebrow up at her statement.

"Oh, you think after knowing me like a week, you know everything about me, huh?" I replied slyly, smirking at her.

"No... Not everything, but I have a good idea. Why do you only have one bag?" I didn't really think before I responded. 

"It's all I had time to grab." s**t, why did I say that out loud... She snapped towards me. I could see the concern in her eyes. I immediately started to backpedal and stammer.

"Umm... Well, our house caught on fire... there wasn't much time to grab stuff. So instead of starting over there, we decided to move in with my Tia." Damn, I don't know how I managed to come up with that lie. I don't know if she bought it or not, but she didn't question me.

"I'm sorry you lost your home, Mila." I just scoffed at that word.

"Yeah, I wouldn't really call it a home." It will never be a home if it includes that piece of s**t.

"What-" I cut her off. I didn't want to talk about this...

"Can we just start our project now? The computer is in the other room; we can do some research on Vampires, then go take pictures of stuff that make us think about them and their characteristics." She sighed. I could tell she wanted to continue questioning me, but I'm glad she dropped it.

"Alright, let's do this." I lead her to the open office area.

"What's it saying about Vampirism?" she plopped down beside me

"Regular stuff cold, pale, can't be in the sun, drinks blood, fast, strong... literally we could just site these web pages and just binge-watch vampire movies and learn more, but in a more interesting way." She laughed at this.. god, that laugh. I smiled.

"Besides, some pages say different things like they can be in the sun only if they have a daylight ring or are just annoyed by it. Some say they have unique abilities. Some say garlic is poisonous others say it's not. Literally, the only consensus is that they are very charming, fast, strong, eyes change colors, feed off the blood of animals or humans, immortal, heal quickly, and very cold to the touch. Better watch out there, Emma; you are very cold to the touch, and your eyes change colors.. maybe you're becoming a vampire." I winked at her and lightly chuckled at what I was saying because there is no way that's true. She seemed tense when I said that but quickly let out a laugh, but it didn't sound like her usual laugh.

"Alright, I think that's enough research... Let's go take some pictures." I said with a huge smile.

"You've got an infectious smile, Mila." She said as she started to smile as well. I began to blush. The effect she has on me is just crazy.

We walked around the beach, making small talk while deciding what stuff to take pictures of. The first one I took was directed straight at the sun. After taking photos of a few things, we decided to relax. It was almost like Deja Vu since every night this week, I've dreamed of being on the beach with Emma. We found a place on the beach we wanted to sit down out. As I put my hand down in the sand to lower myself down, I felt a strong sense of pain from my hand. I immediately brought It back, and sure enough, there was now glass in my hand.

"Fuck.." I pulled the piece of glass out, and blood started pouring out. "That's definitely not good.." at this moment, Emma had backed away from and was facing away from me.

"I'm sorry, Emma. I forgot you aren't good with blood." She didn't say anything. I took off my jacket and wrapped it around my hand and arm to start applying pressure. I began to walk towards Emma to comfort her.

"Don't come any closer, Mila.." She barely choked out the words. It was like she was in pain trying to talk.

"Emma, I'm sorry. I wrapped it up. You can't see the blood anymore... See?" She was still facing away from me.

"I can smell it, though... I've got to go, Mila... You're going to need stitches." I closed my eyes in frustration and looked down, but when I looked back up, she wasn't there; she wasn't anywhere in sight. I hurried back to my house.

"Mami, I cut myself. I need stitches." I casually said to my mom.

"Oh, Mija, okay. Let's go to the doctor!" She rushed around me to grab the keys and hurried me out the door.

On our way there, I just couldn't help but think how this was all weird. First, she's there, and then in the blink of an eye, she isn't. I know she's athletic, but there's no way she's that fast. My head started to reel. What is going on with her? Finally, we got to the hospital. I was waiting in my room when Emma's brother walked in.

"Hello Mila, back again, I see?" with a charming smile.

"Yes. Stupid beach... There was a piece of glass out there, and it went through my hand."

"Let me have a look at it." I unwrapped my hand as he inspected it.

"Nothing, a few stitches won't help." He was very charming. I swear my mom was swooning over him. Disgusting...

"Is Emma okay?" he never lost his focus.

"Yes, why wouldn't she be?" So, I guess she hasn't spoken to him. 

"Well, she was out there with me when it happened. She seemed really freaked out. First, she wouldn't even look at me, and then the next moment, she was gone saying she had to go." He quirked his eyebrows a bit but again didn't really give anything away.

"Hmm... She's never been this squeamish around blood. I'll make sure she's okay, and you, Mila are all set. Nothing too strenuous for the next week. They'll be ready to come out then." He smiled at both my mom and me.

"Have a good rest of your night." He exited the room. My mom and I left. I told her that that was Emma's brother and that his name is Lance.

"Their last name is Ambrogio." My mom hummed. 

"That's a pretty last name. It is definitely Italian. It means something I just can't remember." My mom seemed to be straining to recollect the meaning of that name.

"It means something?" This piqued my interest. 

"Well yeah, Mija, all names have a meaning." I don't know why, but I couldn't wait to do some research.