Chapter 7 And Then There Were Three
And Then There Were Three
“Emy,” Ari’s singsong voice floated through the hall.
“What’s up?” I hopped up and went to her room. It had been a full day since we’d discovered Dennis was telling the truth. So far, he hadn’t shown up again. The day had been largely uneventful.
“Wanna go out tonight? There’s a frat party.” She smiled brightly, ruffling the auburn fringe of bangs that fell across her forehead. “I think most of my classmates are going.”
“Your nerd friends actually party?”
“They’re not nerds.” She laughed as I made a doubtful face. They spent so much time studying for exams, I found that hard to believe. “I’m almost done studying and it’s only nine something. We have time to get ready. Wanna go?”
“Like that’s a real question.” I laughed at the absurdity of thinking I might say no. “You know I’m always down.”
“That’s true.” She tapped a pen against the thick book in her lap, surveying me. “Don’t embarrass me, though. Wear something that covers your entire bra and stomach at the same time. Preferably legs, too.”
My hands reflexively touched my bellybutton ring. “Right. Like I even own something that modest.” I ignored her responding complaints and left to get ready.
I took a quick shower, changed into a comfortable temporary outfit, and headed to my room to find a real outfit for the night. I was singing and moving hangers in search of something suitable when a noise came from behind.
“Are we invited to the party?”
I yelped and whirled to see not one, but two vampires in my room. Dennis was posted against a wall while Sean lounged on the window seat.
“No.” I turned back to the closet and held up a shirt, then put it back. It covered too much.
“I think we should crash it,” a third voice came.
Mateo emerged from the bathroom across the hall with a lotion in hand.
“This smells good. You should put some on.” He tossed it my way but I missed completely.
It clattered to the floor. “Never mind,” he sniffed the air as he passed me, “you already did.”
“Why are you here? How’d you even get inside?”
“The window,” Dennis said, like it was the most obvious answer in the world. “Are you not happy to see me?”
I put down my shirt and sighed. “I get it, you’re vampires, blah blah. I believe you. Can you go away now? I don’t get why you’re stalking me.”
“Because I own you.”
“For fuck’s sake. Ari!” I yelled, hoping she could get rid of them. A few seconds passed before she appeared in the doorway.
“What is this?” she asked, frowning at the three guys. “Why’re you back again?”
“That’s what I said.” I placed both hands on my hips as Mateo sprawled across the bed. “Can you guys leave? We’re busy. And get off my bed.”
“Who’s this one?” Sean asked, staring at Ari. “She’s cute. How do you always find the prettiest ones?” He directed the question at Dennis, who shrugged.
“What can I say? They flock to me.”
“Excuse me?” I raised a defiant eyebrow before deciding it wasn’t worth my time. I didn’t feel like arguing. My main concern was choosing an outfit so Ari and I could get on with our night. “That’s my cousin, Aurelia,” I told Sean, only because he was still staring at her.
“That’s a pretty name,” Sean said. “I like your glasses.”
“Thanks? I go by Ari.” She pushed the large frames further up and glanced at me but I paid her no mind. The stalkers were here and there was apparently nothing we could do about it, so I was once again engulfed in my outfit search.
“What about this?” I held up a top that she made a face at, which meant it was perfect.
“Do you only own black?” Mateo asked, though he wasn’t looking at me or the closet. He was examining a bottle of pills from my nightstand.
“I have purple too. Can you toss me those? And the water.” I almost caught the water bottle but it fell to the floor instead, followed by the pill bottle that hit my foot. “Thanks.” I scooped everything up to put farther away. These were too important to let random strangers play with.
“What’re they for?” Sean asked.
“Happy pills. She’s mentally unstable.” Dennis pushed away from the wall and came to inspect my closet. He nudged me aside to take over.
“I’m not mentally unstable. I have bipolar disorder.” I bumped him away so I could resume my search.
“Close enough.” He nudged me aside again and I let out a frustrated growl. I was about to shove him as hard as I could when Ari grabbed my arm and dragged me away.
“We’ll be back.” She shoved me through the door and shut it before steering me down the hall to her room. “What are you doing?” she hissed the second we closed that door, too. “Why are they in our house?”
“I didn’t do that. They just popped up. They’re like flies. They won’t go away.”
“This is ridiculous.” She thrust a hand toward the door. “How are we supposed to explain this to my dad? There are three maybe-vampires—”
“I’m pretty sure they are,” I interjected.
“Who keep breaking in and one thinks he owns you. My dad’s gonna think we’re insane. He’ll send us to the loony bin.”
“Been there, done that. I don’t wanna do it again.”
“Yeah, no shit.”
“I guess it does sound crazy out loud,” I said, although I wasn’t so sure anymore. Yesterday I’d been positive it was insane—that Dennis was insane—but now… I glanced at the door as a thought occurred. “Do you think they can hear us?”
“We can.”
We both jumped as Dennis’ laughter echoed down the hall.
“Do they have steak? I feel like eating.” Mateo’s voice floated through as he followed.
“I wonder if they play shooters.” Sean was the last to pass.
“I’m kicking them out.” Ari wrenched the door open and stormed downstairs with me trailing behind.
We came to an abrupt stop in the living room. The guys were acting way too at home. Dennis was flipping through one of Ari’s textbooks, Sean was scrolling my downloaded games, and Mateo must’ve been exploring because he wasn’t even in the room.
“Why don’t they have any good food?” Mateo asked, coming in at the same time Dennis set Ari’s book on the table.
“This book is boring,” he said.
“And these games suck.” Sean gave up on my collection and moved to Ari’s books instead.
“Oh my god. Go away!” She stalked over to snatch one from his hand.
“Oh hey, when’d you guys get here?” Mateo asked.
I started laughing while Ari barely stayed calm.
“Let’s try this again,” she said. “If you people don’t go home, I’m not gonna finish studying and we’re not going to the party that you invited yourselves to. You can come if you want. I don’t even care anymore, but you need to get out.”
That was motivation enough for me. “Time to go.” I took Mateo’s arm and ushered him out the front door. “You guys can’t just move in. Get out.”
“You don’t want us to move in with you?” Sean asked, smiling cutely as Ari practically shoved him past me. He stood beside Mateo on the porch.
“No.” She moved to Dennis next but he shot her a warning look, then laughed when she shrank back in fright.
“Stop picking on her.” I did what Ari was too scared to do and steered him outside. I slammed the door on all three and locked it. Not that it would do anything; they seemed to pop up whenever they felt like it with no regard for locked doors or windows.
“You need to get rid of Dennis,” Ari said as we climbed the stairs.
“I don’t know. It’s kinda flattering. And it gives me something to do while you’re in class all the time. Plus, he’s not delusional, so that’s good.”
“Yeah, but he’s probably insane.” She stopped at her bedroom door.
“Yeah, well,” I shrugged and walked past, “what can ya’ do? I’m gonna finish getting ready.”
I continued to my room but before I reached the closet, something caught my eye. It seemed Dennis had chosen an outfit and laid it on the bed. I looked it over. It actually wasn’t bad. As a matter of fact, I would wear it.
* * *
“I can’t believe those losers never showed up,” I said, flinging Ari’s car door shut.
“Do you really care?” She hit the alarm before handing me her keys.
“Not really.” I wedged a nail between the key ring and fastened it to a belt loop on my shorts. I honestly didn’t. It was more the principle of inviting themselves and then not bothering to follow through. “Gimme your license.” I held a hand out.
“Why?”
“So you won’t lose it when you get trashed. You always lose things and forget who everyone is.” I took it from her and slid it into my mini wallet beside my own. I was in the middle of adjusting my cleavage when both hands were slapped away.
“Stop it. Your boobs are out enough.”
“What a dumb sentence. There’s no such thing.” I fought away as she tried to pull my jacket shut. “Murderer!” I smacked her face and took off running down the street, laughing as she chased after me. I stopped at a red light and stumbled forward when she collided with my back.
“If this were a movie, you’d be dead.” She spun me around and tugged at my top in an attempt to cover my stomach, but it backfired; now my stomach was mostly covered but I had twice the cleavage as before. She groaned and dropped her arms. “I give up.”
“As you should,” I sang, skipping into the street.
She caught up and latched onto my arm. “It’s that house right there.” She pointed to one that was overflowing with people. “I don’t care if you go off with someone but let me know first, okay? And promise you’ll come back when you’re done.”
“I promise.” I turned to her as we reached the front steps. “And you don’t wander off this time?”
“I won’t, promise.”
We linked pinkies before kissing the other side. I held onto hers as we squeezed inside. We stopped in the middle of the room, taking a second to adjust to the noise and dim lighting. The room was even more crowded than outside. Beer pong, dancing, drunken conversations, people making out.
“I see my friends.” Ari nodded toward the beer pong table, where a girl was waving her over.