Scene Immortal Page 13

  I spent a ridiculous hour in front of my bedroom mirror, makeup, hair wax, and clothes sprawled and heaped around me like mountains of trying-too-hard. In the end, I settled on a tight basic black ensemble with a checkerish tie, basic foundation, and a pretty decent slathering of guyliner. I sprayed the cologne Josh gave me for my birthday on any place I could possibly conceive of as a pulsepoint, but did it lightly so as not to gag Jackie with my smell. I even cleared it with Shannon, who actually told me I had hit all the right places and was not overpowering at all. Of course, she said this while giggling at my nervousness in that cringe-worthy way that only a big sister can manage, but this didn't devalue her opinion of my scent.

  By seven-thirty I was full-on ready and pumped. I had decided on The Octagon, which was an Asian-Vegetarian-Restaurant-Bubble-Tea-and-Internet-Cafe, owned by a rich white family from San Dimas, naturally. I chose it because the food was of the utmost, the atmosphere was chill without being stuffy, and the place actually had an old school jukebox that they kept packed with punk and electronica and indie ranging from 1985 to the like right-up-to-the-minute. And the music, while always playing, was never cranked so loud that you had to strain for conversation. Jackie, being a style maven and a veggie like myself, would completely appreciate the place, and after we spent an hour or so there, I really wanted to do nothing else but drive to the park and hang. Everything low pressure. Everything smooth. Everything conducive to talking and being at chill with one another. And I had decided, for my own sanity, mostly, to not bring up the big subject of V tonight at all. To not even hint at it, or let the possibility of the night's conversations lead us in that direction.

  She perched on my porch at 7:45, looking in every direction a total knock-down drag-out petite swathe of hotness in the dark of the mild evening. Her jet black hair had subtle stripes of blue snaking its way through her sexy locks, her makeup was part porcelain doll/ part runway model goth goddess, and her outfit was tight, tasteful, and totally Jackie; just enough edge mixed with just enough class to form a combustible combination. Impeccably hot.

  "Hi doll,” I said when I opened the door, making sure there was no drool escaping either side of my mouth.

  "Hi Kyle." And there was that smile, leaking and jolting its way into my heart, and she hugged me, and everything felt ultimate.

  "Hi. God. I said that. Right. Oh shit, wait, I mean...damn, or...wait,” I said, stumbling on my words and almost on my feet as I ran like wet electricity back to my room, and then back to the door, as quick as supernature would let me.

  I presented a small bag to her. "Here, I got you this on Wednesday when I was out shopping with Josh."

  "Aw, look at you all thoughtful and grovel-ish." She let a few beats pass. "That was a joke, Kyle!"

  "Nice. Would you just, ya know, open it?"

  "Yes yes, God, calm down. Though you are kinda cute when you play desperate puppy."

  I had no argument for that; no doubt that was exactly how I appeared right now. Where was my vampiric bravado?

  She opened the small package and squealed."OH! An Alphatwyn Import of their one of two live shows in London! And, let's not forget it's a CD... so retro and cute."

  "Well, I kinda doubted the romanticism of emailing you an MP3, ya know?"

  "Kyle, I think it's darling. Really. I love it."

  "Good, we'll blast it on our way to The Octagon."

  "Yum, let's rock."

  The Octagon was packed. So on this night, anyway, the trendiness was canceling out some of the typical intimate charm of the place. But we were a hot couple, on a hot Friday night, and everything was at least partially right. I was with "my girl" again, I felt practically normal, and the only thing, right now, that was really out of whack was the fact that my girl had no idea I was a vampire.

  I could forget all the questions I still didn't have answered, I could forget the fact that my friend looked upon me with an embarrassing sense of awe, but I couldn't forget that I was keeping something huge from the love of my life.

  We were seated at a table mere feet from the Jukebox, and Jackie had me punch up her three favorite songs from the '80s, the '90s, and 2007, which made for quite an eclectic selection. Certainly enough to puzzle the mainly musically ignorant that I was sure were in attendance that night.

  The first song came on, and we held hands across the table, just like in every lame-ass teen flick you've ever seen, but it felt so rad and comfortable. Like a tailor-made skin-to-skin fit.

  Before our root beer floats could find their way between us, a voice brought me out of Jackieland.

  "Ryan! What the hell, man?! How are you?"

  I already knew who the voice belonged to, but I was still surprised to look up from my Jackie's eyes and see Blake Sellars with a cheerleader-hot girl standing next to him, both of them smiling down at me, and both, to be honest, looking at me with a bit of embarrassing admiration."Blake, oh my God man, what are you doing here? Don't tell me Mr. Athletic is a vegetarian? Some of your crew would be so disappointed!” I teased.

  "Actually, Kyle my friend, it's this hot little lady next to me who is a very strict vegetarian, so, what the hell? I'm giving it a chance." He turned to his date. "Babe, meet Kyle Ryan, one of the most unique freaks and all-around cool guys you'll ever get to know. Kyle, this is Sammie Richardson."

  I stood up to shake her hand, then she sorta chuckled at me.

  "Oh, I totally know who you are. Look, I'm not the biggest fan of violence or anything, but congrats on that smackdown you put on Hargraves. That guy is like, not even a tool, he's like an entire tool box! Ick. Anyway, nice to meet you."

  "The pleasure's all mine, seriously. And hey, I'd like for both of you to meet Jackie Dalton—"

  "Yeah, um, Jackie needs no introduction. Every girl wants to be her, and half the guys in the school wanna..." her tanned face turned a bit orange with a blush as she stopped herself. "I just mean, um, you're very pretty, and to be honest, my girlfriends and I all wish we had the balls to rock the fashion you do, but...ha, a lot of those girls couldn't pull it off."

  Jackie, in icy, but classy mode, stood up and said, "No need to worry. I'm not insulted by or worried about the masturbatory habits of mostly-feeble male population at West Ridge, and thanks for the rest of it. Sincerely. Fashions very important to me, and I was just telling my boy here, I was recently accepted into one of the best fashion institutes on the west coast, so, your compliment was well-timed. You guys look cute together, by the way,” she winked.

  Only Jackie could do that. She could stand and glare like a supermodel, but then her voice betrayed the exterior as she let all the warmth and sincerity you could stand flow out through her voice.

  It was only for me and Josh that she would let herself go all smiles and red cheeks, and be completely at ease. The fact that I was able to see that part of her was my absolute confirmation that she loved me. If that sounds stupid, I understand. But sometimes, being the only guy in a girl's life (who wasn't family) who saw all her sides, and not just the "hotness", was the only way that the phrase "I love you" carried any definite weight.

  "Oh,” I said, "I should clarify that I didn't really put a smackdown on Hargraves. It was pretty equal."

  "'Chyeah,” Blake said. "That's why his face and chest were torn up and you came away without even a nick. Nice modesty there, Ryan, but honestly, Jeff's scares shitless of you, as I'm thinkin' he should be. Anyway, you guys have a good night, Sammie and I are going to find a booth as I get acquainted with the wonders of fried tofu."

  We all said our goodbyes and Jackie and I settled back into our seats.

  She was glaring at me, and I knew why. Damn.

  "So, not a nick on you, huh?"

  "Aw, ya know, that was just...whatever, guy stuff, like I'm a big man now or something and...trust me, he got some good licks in."

  "Kyle Ryan, there was nothing but awe and sincerity in that guy's voice, and the girl was eyeing you like she wanted to do you right here in the middle of the
restaurant, so, sorry, I'm not believing you."

  Oh God.

  "Look, yeah, I may have fared better than Jeff did, but you can't believe I didn't even get a scrape on me."

  "The image I can't get out of my mind, Kyle, is you sitting on the floor with my brother, and your face smeared with blood. And I'm not pissed or anything, I just can't figure out why the hell you'd lie to me about being more bloodied-up than you were." She stopped. And just sat there. I could see the gears turning behind her eyes.

  "Nothing,” she said. "I got nothing. I just know there was blood on your face, and the more I think about it, no real evidence of any scratches or marks, so, while I'm inclined to believe Jocko's story—"

  "Blake. He's a good guy."

  "Yeah yeah, Blake. While I believe him, I know I saw blood that afternoon, so... I dunno, something feels odd to me. And I know you and Josh would never fight like that, that wouldn't make any sense, so I know my brother didn't do that to you."

  "No, you're right, your brother didn't do anything to me."

  In fact, dear Jackie, would you believe I've been doing things to him? Using him as a blood donor, to be precise.

  "Whatever, Kyle, it's just...It's as simple as this: I don't want secrets between us, I don't want weirdness, I don't want dishonesty. Basically, I want this to work this time. And God knows I'm just as much responsible for that as you are, maybe more, but I for sure have to be with a guy who is totally straight up with me, about everything. Like I said, no secrets, okay?"

  The mixture of tension about the secret I was keeping, and the anger at her bit of audacity made me quietly erupt.

  "Kinda like when you secretly were nailing Arthur while we were still dating?” I whisper-hissed at her.

  Her face clouded over, and reddened. I saw her eyes well up and felt like a total shitbag.

  "Oh babe...God, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. You know that's all in the past and I just have about a billion things on my mind and I just felt like you were coming down on me. Please don't cry, babe."

  "No, ya know what?” she was speaking between sniffles, and it broke my heart. "I totally deserved that. That was like, the most whorish thing I've done in my entire life, and stupidly enough, I did it to the greatest guy I've ever known. Look, again, I'm so, so sorry for doing that, and I know I can never make it up to you, but... you've said your piece about it, and I've apologized as much as I can, in my own way, so please, baby, can we put it to rest?"

  Looking in her eyes, I would've forgiven her for murder.

  "Of course, babe."

  And it was then that I knew the night wouldn't pass without my telling her my dark secret.

  ~ * ~

  After we ate, I talked her into going to the park to hang, instead of something all distracting, like a movie or something, without much argument. We both wanted as much quietish alone time together as we could get, and while The Ocatgon had been cool, and the food unstoppable as usual, we'd somehow lost the intimacy we'd started before Blake and Sammie had seen their way into our couple-dom. So, going to a park to sit in the dark and chat and just sort of be, under the stars and in that just-right California night air, was something we could both agree upon without hesitation.

  The park was old, a product of the '70s, with what passed for playground equipment all turned to mainly rusty constructs of odd shapes. There was one wobbly wooden footbridge thing you could walk across, while trying to keep your balance, but that got old pretty fast, even for the little kids, because sometime in the mid-'80s they'd put two guard rails along the side of the stupid thing, which stood a menacing two feet off the ground. I knew all of this, not 'coz I'm like some freak who Googles random info about worn-down suburban parks, but rather because of my Dad, the Civil Engineer. This was one of the parks he'd planned and helped design.

  "Doesn't it ever make you sad to come here?,” Jackie asked, as we walked hand-in-hand to the very back of the park, the part furthest away from the street, where the woods began.

  "Nah, 'coz like, it makes me feel close to Dad, ya know? Cheesy as hell, right? But, this feels like something tangible he's left behind on earth so that I can remember him and still sense his presence. 'Beats the hell out of a lame-ass tombstone, dont'cha think?"

  "So you don't visit the grave?"

  "I have. Once. I don't like it. That's not how I wanna remember them. They're still alive to me, just... somewhere else."

  "I love that idea, actually. And no, I don't think your feelings about this park are cheesy. I get it completely." She stopped walking, and put her arms around my waist. "I get you completely."

  And then she kissed me.

  And I responded, letting my taut muscles loosen into her frame, and my lips form to hers, as we kissed in perfect synchronicity. If our kisses had been hot and temperature-raising before, now they were total energetic eruptions, timed perfectly, ebbing and flowing as we moved our bodies and mouths together.

  But then, something really messed up happened.

  I started to get rough. But not because I was into that kinda thing. I was just hungry. I wanted Jackie's blood as much as I wanted her body and mind, as much as I wanted her love. Even if we ended up doing it right here in the middle of this park, it wouldn't fully satisfy me. I'd have to have some blood, too. Because I would actually be able to take in part of my Jackie. How much closer could a guy and girl be, right?

  At first, she was kinda into it, responding to my mild roughness by sliding and pulling up harder against me, but when I bit at her tongue, I'd found her boundary.

  "Kyle, ouch! " she said, pushing me away, but still holding on. She gave me this look like I'm totally into this, so why are you trying to ruin it by hurting me?

  "Baby, I'm sorry. I just... I got carried away. It's been so long."

  "I know, and it feels so good to be with you, but, watch yourself there, Dracula!"

  I went cold. And I was thrown for a second, but I managed a quick recovery.

  "Hey,” I tried to chuckle, "Dracula doesn't bite tongues, he goes straight for the throat!

  "Anyway. Just take it down a notch." She was smiling, but I could tell I'd scared her. A little. I was too caught up in the passion and the complete hotness of just being able to be this intimate with her again. The person I belonged to. Who belonged to me. My Jackie... whose blood I wanted very badly, along with the rest of her.

  "Oh Kyle, come here,” she whispered, and pressed into me again, opening her mouth onto mine.

  I started to salivate uncontrollably, making deep kissing a bit of a messy excursion, and I kept having to slurp-gulp in between lip-pressings. Suddenly things tumbled past messy and headed straight toward awkward as my hunger grew along with my lust.

  And I started to shake.

  Jackie pulled back.

  "Oh, sweetie, you're shaking! That's... well, I was going to say it was sweet, but it's also...completely not like you. Are you alright?"

  "I'm just really, really happy to be here, back in your arms." Okay, no, that was not a lie, but yeah-yeah, it wasn't the whole truth either. "Jackie, I just want you so badly." Okay, that was closer to the real deal. Crap, how long could I stall this confession?

  A cramp hit me. Great, I thought. But hadn't I known it would escalate to this level, if I already knew I wanted Jackie in every way possible, including the worst?

  I doubled over, backing away from Jackie, leaving her with mouth open and arms empty.

  I tilted my head up, trying to look her in the eye without breaking. A wave of pissed-off flashed across her beautiful face before completely concerned took its place. Inside my head, lust and hunger were screaming at me, and I looked up at my beautiful Jackie, and was overcome with an incredibly strong sadness. This was beyond suck. My love for her was co-mingling with a sorrow that knew that I'd never be able to love her again without wanting to take blood from her perfect body. At that moment, I wanted Andrew Vandridge in front of me right now, not so I could punch the shit out of him, or scream at him for w
hat he did to me, but only so I could beg him, down on my knees, what to do about this situation.

  Jackie was looking into my eyes, and again two emotions flashed across her face, this time a bit of horror, that in seconds melted into complete loving sorrow. It was like she understood everything that was wrong with me, except for the exact details that would be so hard to tell her.

  "Kyle. Baby. What's wrong with you?"

  I knew what all she must have seen, with me kneeling there, in pain, the moon shining on me like a perfect-but-unwavering spotlight. I knew why she was horrified before anything else. Why it took a bit for her loving instincts to override any feelings of disgust, or fear. I had started to tear up, and I knew the tears were made of blood.

  I ran into her arms, and was wracked with sobs as I held her close to me, trying to cry over her shoulder and not stain her perfectly fit clothes.

  She grabbed my shoulders and forced me to look at her.

  "My God. I wasn't seeing things. And that's why your face was covered in blood the other day."

  She was doing such a good job keeping her fear and confusion in check.

  "Do I need to take you to a doctor? What's happening? What's wrong? Please tell me you don't have some kind of disease or something. I mean, really, I finally come to my senses enough to come back to the love of my life, only to realize he's dying of something horrible and exotic, and—"

  "Oh, Jackie, babe, just please shut up for a second,” I chuckled. "I just need you to listen to me. To really hear me out. Open your mind and your ears, and just... I dunno, you don't have to make me any promises, but just let me say what I have to say, and then we'll have a... I dunno, a jumping-off point."

  She looked at me, my confident, beautiful, rad Jackie, pulled her shit together, grabbed my hands, sat up perfectly straight, and said, "Talk to me, tell me everything. I'm right here, I'm not going anywhere, and I promise to hear you out."