Chapter 21
21
Ashley
A shley felt a familiar tightening in her skin as she watched her mom switch off the kitchen light for the small one over the stove and disappear down the hall to her parents’ bedroom. Her mom’s busybody tendencies, her dad’s aloof dadness. Every memory was another final memory. But these memories deserved only happiness. So, she watched her mom until she turned out of sight and told herself she wasn’t sad. Not yet. Because this was a good memory and she still had tomorrow to make another. She’d bottle up whatever sadness she might feel and save that for…well, for the end.
“I like your parents.” Esther’s comment interrupted Ashley’s musing. “Your whole house, actually. How your room is still a shrine to you. There’s a lot of love here.”
“You like them, huh?” Ashley turned to the woman next to her, tucking her leg under her and dropping her arm from Esther’s shoulder to the back of the patio couch.
The night sucked the color from them and dramatized the contrasts. Esther’s hair cascaded over her shoulders in a dark waterfall over pale cheeks, and Ashley’s fingers itched to touch the silky ripples. The fire sparkled in Esther’s eyes, drawing Ashley in like a beacon. But she held back. They were just friends, and making a move—again—when Esther was already doing her a massive favor, would be a dickish move on Ashley’s part. The arm over Esther’s shoulder had been pushing the generous boundaries Esther allowed. And there was no need to put on a show now that her parents were gone.
“What are your Christmases like?” Ashley asked. “Please tell me everyone’s parents are in their kid’s business like mine.”
Esther huffed a quick laugh. “Hardly. I still tend to get a phone call on the big holidays. Christmas, Thanksgiving, and birthdays. Easter from Mom if she’s at port.”
“I just realized I don’t know much about your parents.”
“Well, Mom is a chef now for Mediterranean Cruise Line, and my dad raises Shetland ponies as well as a new baby with Marjorie in Nova Scotia.”
“A new baby?” She looked Esther up and down. “Shouldn’t your dad be getting kind of old by now?”
Esther shrugged. “He married younger, and I’m not sure the baby was planned.” She shifted, looking uncomfortable. “Enough about me. What about you?”
“What about me?”
“Well, you’re a vampire. Let’s start there.” There was a playful sparkle in Esther’s eye that Ashley was loving.
“You’re just cool with it? You know what comes with being a vampire, right?”
“I am familiar with the lore.” Esther tucked her legs under her like a kid anxious for a story. “Would you tell me what comes with it?”
“I have a list!” A bubble of excitement filled Ashley at the realization. Esther was interested in her. Maybe not in the way she’d hoped, but she’d take the attention where it came. Plus, she never missed a chance to brag about her lists. She pulled her Lisa Frank notepad out of her coat pocket.
“What is that?” Esther flipped to the cover as Ashley tried to find the page. “Is this actual vintage Lisa Frank?”
Ashley pulled it back from her. “The nineties is hardly vintage.” She continued to find her list, embarrassed she’d kept the notepad so long. Oh god, it’s older than Esther .
“Wait.” Esther stuck her finger in the way as Ashley flipped to the next page. “Was that my name?”
“No, definitely not.” Ashley ripped the page from the notebook and stuffed it in her mouth.
Esther watched her chew with a look somewhere between disappointment and laughter. “Oh,” she deadpanned as Ashley struggled to swallow. “I am definitely convinced now.”
“Yes, yes, I’m a believable person. That’s what vampires are known for. Their trustworthiness. Anyway, ooh look! A list of vampire things that Ashley wants to be able to do.”
“Are we talking in third person now?”
“Sometimes we do that. Please, be distracted by this list of cool vampire things I can do.”
Esther laughed and, thank everything holy, looked at the list. “You can change into a bat? That’s a thing?”
“Okay, yes, it is a thing, but no, I haven’t quite gotten that one yet. The closest I got was changing my arms.”
Esther’s eyes grew wide, and she sucked her lips into her mouth.
“Are you trying to not laugh at me?”
Esther’s eyes watered.
“I am an intimidating vampire.”
Esther held her arms to her sides, bending them so her hands were by her shoulders, and fluttered them. “With little bat wings?”
The question was barely out before she burst out laughing. And then they were both laughing, grabbing their sides and in danger of falling off the couch.
In a flash, Ashley grabbed Esther’s chin and held her so they were inches away. “Okay. Enough of what I can’t do. Time for the Twilight montage of cool and intimidating vampire stuff that I can do. You ready, spider monkey?”
“Yes, and please don’t call me that.”
“Okay, good.” Ashley placed the notepad in Esther’s lap, jumped to her feet, and rested her hands on her hips in a hero stance. “I’m ready. Call them out.”
“Well, we can check off ‘look hot,’” Esther mumbled.
“Oh my gosh, stop.” Ashley pulled her scarf up to cover her cheeks and turned in an embarrassed half curtsy.
Esther blushed. “And super hearing?”
“Oh, that was nothing. Wait here.” The next second Ashley was across the yard and pulling out her phone.
Ashley
whisper something and I’ll answer.
“That white sweater you had on today was super sexy.”
Holy fuck. Was Esther flirting with her? Did she just call her sexy? No. No, that was just the sweater. Esther had good taste. That was all. But she also called her super-hot just before that. That obviously meant something. Unless it was just a friend complimenting a friend? Female friends called each other sexy all the time. What was straight and what was gay anymore?
“I’m thinking of the number four,” Esther added, a little bit louder. She must have assumed her first comment was too quiet. How long had she been standing there struck senseless?
Ashley texted back the number with no other comment.
“I checked off running really fast, for obvious reasons.” Esther spoke at a normal volume despite still being across the yard. “Next on the list is lifting heavy things and…ooh! Mesmerizing.”
Ashley ran back to Esther’s side instead of texting an answer. “There isn’t anything impressive for me to lift around here.” She scanned the grass and miles of empty cornfield, lit only by the moon. “I could bring the car over.”
“Nah. Maybe tomorrow,” Esther replied, as though someone carrying a car with their bare hands was a boring feat. “Let’s try this mesmerizing thing.” She scooted over and patted the seat next to her.
“We don’t have anyone to mesmerize.” Ashley ignored her signal to sit. She didn’t like where this was headed.
“You can try it on me. Just don’t make me do anything too embarrassing.”
“You?” Ashley saw this coming, but the words still took her off guard. “I can’t try it on you.”
“Why not? I trust you.”
Esther trusted her with her free will? Ashley didn’t know what to say. After the incident on the plane, she wasn’t sure if it was trust or Esther was just reckless. “Not to sound like a cliché hero, or basically any vampire romance, but you shouldn’t. This is too much trust for one person to handle.”
Esther took Ashley’s hand, and Ashley let herself be pulled down into the seat next to Esther, as though this was something they did. Casually touching each other. “Really, Ashley. It’s all right.”
“I mean, I’ve never gotten this one to work before either. I’ve had better luck turning into a bat.”
“Start small then.” Hands on her knees, Esther faced Ashley. “Have me lift a hand or something.”
Ashley took a deep breath. She could do this. Surely nothing bad would happen. This was Vampire 101. She just needed to clear her mind and force her consciousness into Esther. Oh god, it sounded violent already. She closed her eyes and tried to concentrate, but even with her eyes closed, all she saw was Esther’s trusting eyes. This was too risky. Who knew what would happen?
“Hey.” A hand fit into Ashley’s, and she opened her eyes. “Let’s take a minute. I don’t want to force you to do anything you don’t want to do.”
Ashley gave a halfhearted laugh. “That’s exactly what I’m struggling with.”
“If you don’t mind me asking, why did you become a vampire? Was it a choice?” Esther’s hand was still in hers, rubbing her thumb along Ashley’s knuckles, almost absentmindedly. Did she know she was still holding Ashley’s hand? Ashley wasn’t about to point it out.
“It was my decision. I mean, how often do you get offered immortality?”
“Probably not often,” said Esther. “I’ve never been asked.”
Ashley tried to meet her eyes, but Esther was still looking down at their hands as she continued to draw circles. “What would you say? If you were offered.”
Esther’s nail drew a small circle around the freckle near Ashley’s thumb. “It depends on who asked.”
Ashley freed her hands and brought them to Esther’s face. Resting her fingertips lightly along Esther’s jaw, she used only enough touch to guide, not force her gaze up. Esther’s lashes lifted. She met Ashley’s gaze like a magnet snapping into place. Concentrating, Ashley willed her mental bubble to expand and encase Esther. “Lift your left hand and touch your nose.”
They waited, but Esther’s hand remained on her knee.
Ashley tried again, concentrating harder. “Lift a finger.”
Still nothing.
Her thumbs grazed along Esther’s cheekbones. “Are you straight?”
They sat in silence. The last log on the fire crumbled into the embers, and a snowflake landed on Esther’s cheek before melting into a drop of water.
Ashley wiped it away.
“I don’t know.”