Vampire´s Secret

FRIENDS

“Dear diary I hate having friends…”

I never had friends before, for real, I am not trying to complain here, but I have always been shy, and after all went broke, I had to keep to myself and move as soon as something came up. And then now… no social media, no mail, no phone, no nothing, I can use a computer with restrictions. The first time I mentioned using it to do homework my mom went on a spiral. But after talking she gave in, she knows me too well, she understands I am aware and I would never put us in danger.

Day 5 of school. With an “I have nothing better to do” Will is picking me up to go to school, I know this is Lugo forcing him to take me, but my rational brain is telling me that, on the other side, my stomach always do a back flip when he extends the audio cable so I can show him more of my music. I have almost 1,900 songs on my iPod, I have not touched the playlist, and I don´t want to think when we reach the last song… but I calm myself knowing I have time (I hope).

“Question,” Will says entering the parking lot, I realize I have not stopped looking at him all the way and I blush “After this,” he said pointing at the building, “then what?”

“College?” My response was more of a question than a real answer. I was unable to think of having this life and being a university student. I knew maybe I was not going to be able to stay that long in one place. “And you?”

“Not college” he said with a smile, he parked the car and turned it off so he could completely turn to see me.

“Then, what?”

“You are being expected” he laughed at my eyeroll but he still went outside to open the door for me.

Alex is waiting for me at the entrance, patiently, holding Majo´s hand, a Majo that was shockingly smiling. I sighed and walked to them. We had today an out-of-campus trip, I played on my ipod while on the bus, Alex and Majo were making out, Alana was texting and, aside from the bus being a chaos I was calm.

I wanted to hear music so badly but did not want to mess up our playlist, so, in my tiny screen I played some candy crush while his question dig deeply in me. “After this… then what?”. When we arrived to the place I tried to enjoy, it was a simple greenhouse, the smell of wet dirt and fresh cut grass I made me feel at ease.

We were in the middle of explaining the self-sustainable house when I heard a soft notification sound. The vibration made it clear it came from my hoodie, I took out my tiny device and saw a i-message text.

“Languages… maybe”

I couldn't help the gigantic smile that took over my face, my stomach filled with butterflies and my body temperature went so high I was softly sweating.

“Why?” I replied.

“I want to see the world, I want to experiment it without subtitles”

“Makes sense” I said softly and Alex heard me, he gave me a questioning look that I answered showing him the text. “okaaaay” he murmured and said nothing more.

During lunch time I spend my time bitting small pieces of the sandwich and looking at the tiny photo ID from him. It was a photo of Will in black and white, he was all smiles playing the drums, he looked so handsome I could barely take my eyes off. I should be worried about him finding me on how he got my mail address, but I was mostly excited he wanted so bad to keep talking to me.

Majo and Alana went to the bathroom (I was not invited, not that I wanted to be, but I still felt not included) so Alex shook me out of my infatuation.

“So, are you dating?”

“No” I stutter, “He is the son of my mom´s best friend”

“So, not even your friend?” he laughed

“No” I was blushing and feeling uncomfortable “He is kinda stuck with me, he is in charge of driving me around” Another text made it to my screen, this time was a photo, it was a sunset pic, the mix of city buildings and some trees and forest was in perfect balance, he add to it “pictures that could be album covers” and I chuckle.

“You´re right” Alex said “That does not look like a friend message, that looks like something else”

Majo and Alana returned they were giggling and speaking in quick whispers, the teachers started to gather us to jump in the bus, I took a pic and sent it over to Will, it was a forced perspective of the side of the bus so the camera also capture the sundown light and the tree branches. “nice, see you in a bit” he replied and suddenly I couldn't wait to see him.

I saw the highway in a different light, for once I was not looking over my shoulder or focusing on the mirror to look at the other cars, I was inside my huge hoodie, warm and toasty I have my palm on my neck and I could feel the heartbeats in my skin. I was calm until I saw Majo´s eyes looking at me from the front seat.

“Soooooo Ruthy” she said with sweetness, it sounded fake, but her smile was honest, “Do you have your dress yet?”

“ummm…” I mumbled not knowing what she meant “I think I have a skirt”

“No silly” Alana replied sitting next to me, her voice was a bit nasal, and I realized at that moment I never listed to her before “The mid-year ball, we have two mayor events every year”

“1920´s Jazz ball” Majo said using her hands to highlight her words “We need a flapper outfit and some RED lipstick and new heels” she said with a maniac look on her “And you are coming with us”

“what?”

“You prob need an outfit too” Alana said holding a piece of my hair in her fingers “B-T-W are you inviting that handsome guy that comes for you, who is he?”

“Will” I reply feeling cornered, I felt protective of him without any reason, he was nothing to me

“Well, tell Will tomorrow, friday, we will go to the city, it is a quick 30 min drive from here”

I nodded, but I felt oddly uncomfortable. The bus stopped and as I went down the ladder I saw with relief the familiar car parked there in the corner, a, too handsome to be real, Will was sitting on the short end of a wall and made a soft smile directed to me. An arm grabbed mine on both sides of me, it was Alana and Majo, they smiled and walked me to him. Will loose his smirk as soon as he saw them coming to him.

“Will right?” Majo asked giving him the brightest and flirtiest smile ever, she extended a hand to him and jealousy filled my stomach when his hand landed on hers.

“I´m Alana” she stepped forward trying to give him a greeting kiss but he stepped back and extended a hand to her as well.

“Charmed… we need to go Ruth, is late” he said in a serious tone and extended his arm to me, my body betrayed me and I quickly jumped to grab his hand, he took it and pulled me close to him.

The girls gave me a quick dirty look that changed to a smile so quickly that I almost doubted I saw the first one. At that same moment, Alex joined them and hugged them both. He yelled a cheerful “bye,” and Will's soft hand guided me to the car.

He opened my door and let me in first, I missed the soft touch of his hand as soon as he took it out of mine, his cologne made his car my favorite place, I relaxed on the seat and watched as he entered the car. Will sighed and turned to look at me.

“I don´t like them,” he said almost in a growl

“I`m sorry” I swallow hard and look away from his hard gaze that made me tremble

“No, Ruth, sorry, please” he pleaded, he took my hand in his, I didn´t realize I tensed up in my place, my entire body was rigid, I held my breath and went completely still. “ruth?” he asked with the softest voice, it was almost a caress.

I closed my eyes and inhaled deeply before opening them to look at him, he was so close to me I could feel the soft air from his exhalations on my skin, “I´m sorry I scared you” he whispered and my heart beat so fast I felt my cheeks turning red. “I will do anything and everything to make sure I never hurt you” I saw his eyes go dark and I felt adrenaline in my veins, I felt in danger, but his hand in my hand made me feel secure, he kissed my hand and with a “let me take you home safe” he turned to start the car, he took the aux cable to gave it to me but quickly recover my hand.

I let him play with my fingers while driving and listening to next songs in my playlist, Alex Turner sang “do I wanna know?” and inside my head I answer “no Alex, we wont want to know”