Liar, Liar
I groaned and sat up from a hard surface. Turns out it was the floor—I had fallen out of Mateo’s bed. I stood and looked around, trying to figure out when it was. I knew where I was, just not which day or what point in time.
After searching for a bit, I spotted my phone and scooped it up.
Late in the day. It was very late in the day and my stuff was piled up beside Ari’s, right on the other side of the bed.
I rounded the comfy contraption and flipped my suitcase open.
I needed a very cute outfit to make up for the past two days.
Yesterday I’d been in boring clothes, and the day before that I was a bloody crying makeup-smeared mess. It was time to get sexy again.
I grabbed makeup and went to the bathroom, catching a glimpse of the living room along the way. But I didn’t stop to say hi. I had to get ready and there was way too much to do. Not to mention my vampire senses said everyone was playing video games and that was usually boring as shit.
About an hour later, I was showered and donned in gorgeous makeup and my usual jewelry. I pulled the bathroom door open and strode out.
“Are you finally up?” Ari called from afar.
“Clothes!”
“What?”
“I forgot clothes!” I shouted, running to Mateo’s room and slamming the door. I heard Ari sigh from the living room. “Don’t worry, nobody panic. The clothes are going on.” I changed into an outfit of my typical revealing fashion and zipped into my favorite boots before emerging once again.
“Are you dressed now?”
“Yes.” I skipped down the hall and tossed my phone aside. Nobody loved me anyway. I wouldn’t be getting any texts or calls anytime soon. “What’re you guys doing?”
Ari swiveled a laptop to show she was going over a syllabus for next month’s schoolwork.
Sean and Mateo were both engulfed in a video game and only grunted.
Dennis was the only one who glanced at me from his seat on the floor.
I went to the couch and sat behind him, putting a leg on either side of his shoulders.
I was in a skirt, but his head blocked the view well enough.
“What’re you doin’?” I asked, playing with his hair.
“What does it look like I’m doing?”
“Playing a game and killing zombies.” I ignored his sarcasm and turned to Sean. “When do we start work?”
“Soon, actually. We should leave in an hour.”
“What? No, I’m not ready!”
“You look fine,” Ari said. “I’m sure you’ll get lots of attention.”
“But how did this happen?” I wailed. “I don’t understand where all the time went.”
“You slept for seventeen hours.”
“Really?” I furrowed my brows when no one disagreed. “Huh. No wonder I feel so much better. Guess I slept off the bad mood.”
“Oh, good. You’re feeling better?” she asked. I nodded. “And you took your meds?”
“Happy pills! I actually remembered this time.” I’d already taken the new dosage. It would make me dizzy and confused for a day or two, probably starting any minute, but it happened with every adjustment. I was mentally prepared for the brain of mush to kick in.
“Can you stop distracting me?” Dennis asked as I ran my fingers through his hair. “I’m trying to focus.”
“Is that so?” I wrapped my arms around his shoulders, placing a small kiss on his neck.
I laughed at his immediate reaction; I could feel it loud and clear.
I kissed his neck again before running a nail along it.
He smelled lovely. Maybe I would fuck him later.
It was supposed to be a one time exception, but really, how could I not do it again? I mean, look at this man.
“You’re messing him up. Now we’re gonna die.” Mateo shot me a playful glare when Dennis shot a wall.
“I just want an armrest,” I cooed, playing with the black part of his hair. “Is that so bad?” I smirked as Dennis missed another shot. This was fun.
“I see you’re back to normal,” Ari said.
“Did ya’ miss me?” I raised my eyebrows and gave an ugly wink, making her giggle. “Speaking of, was I manic?”
“Were you manic?” Ari echoed before bursting into laughter. And then she realized I was serious. “You don’t remember? Not even talking about it yesterday?”
“Not really? I remember finding out Dennis killed Kiro but after that, it’s mostly snippets. I know someone hired me at the bar but I don’t remember the conversation. Just being excited about it. How long ago was that?”
“Kiro was three days ago and the bar was two days ago. And yes, you were manic as shit. You wanted to make a sport out of cartwheeling into pools.”
“Well, that’s ridiculous. I can barely even cartwheel.” I pouted as she laughed. “I’m glad you think it’s funny.”
“It’s not funny, but you were funny.” She smiled guiltily before adding, “I know I shouldn’t say this because it’s fucking horrible, but at least killing that girl snapped you out of the mania. Silver lining?”
“I guess.” I sighed. At least she didn’t seem mad about it anymore. “I’m gonna steal someone’s food.” I went to the kitchen, then found a couple of waffles and set them to toast.
My violet nails tapped the counter while I waited. Vampires weren’t supposed to get hungry, but I was suddenly ravenous. My eyes strayed to Dennis. Maybe I was craving dick and getting the longings mixed up.
I caught both waffles when they popped up and grabbed a plate at the same time, then went back to the living room.
I slid to the floor beside Dennis and held out the plate.
“Want some?” He glanced over, then did a double take when his eyes found my low cut shirt.
He nodded. “I meant the waffles,” I said, giggling.
He’d clearly misunderstood the question.
“Oh. In that case, no.”
I grinned at his dumb assumption and disappointment. Like I would really offer sex right here in front of everyone. Maybe if it was different company—in different company I might have sex right here in front of everyone—but with these people it would just be awkward.
“See, Ari? This is why I got the bras. Pushups are a mandatory part of life.”
“Oh my god,” she looked up from the laptop, “do you have any kind of filter at all?”
“That’s a dumb question. Everyone knows I don’t.”
“Yeah, I know. That’s why you’re embarrassing.”
“Don’t care.” I forked a bite of waffles into my mouth.
A few minutes passed of Ari typing, me eating, and the guys killing zombies. Eventually, the game ended. Maybe. It was a confusing game because it seemed never-ending. The hoard of hideous zombies never really died. The entire thing seemed pointless.
“I’m going for blood.” Dennis set his controller down and stood. “Are you thirsty?”
“Yes, please. I’m glad it’s so late, otherwise we might melt today.
” I hastily cleaned my dishes, said goodbye to everyone, and ran to catch up since he’d left without warning.
I held onto the railing as I ran downstairs, feeling oddly off balance.
“So we do this every day?” I nearly fell at the bottom but caught myself in time.
“For now.”
“Hm.” I bounced for a few seconds because I was getting hyper and losing interest. So I gave him a hug.
He didn’t move to reciprocate. “Thanks for everything. Especially putting up with me.” I hugged tighter ‘til I was almost squishing him, just for funsies. “I usually scare people away by now, but you’re actually still here. It makes me happy.” I smiled before kissing him on the cheek, then hesitated for a second before kissing him fully.
I was gonna pull away but he responded before I could, kissing back as contently as I’d hoped. I wrapped my arms around his neck. It was different from before; less lust filled and actually kind of meaningful, which made it my cue to stop. I broke the kiss and stepped back.
“I thought you had a rule about—”
I shushed his face because I knew exactly where this was going: my rule about no sweet kissing because it led to emotional attachment and I don’t do that shit.
“I’m allowed to make exceptions,” I said. “Don’t think you’re special.”
“Speaking of, I’ve been thinking.”
“About what?” I glanced over as we started walking.
“About something you were thinking on Tuesday.”
It took a few seconds of focus for me to remember what happened Tuesday. “Get out of my head,” I groaned when it finally connected.
I didn’t wanna talk about Tuesday ever again. That was the day of my emotional breakdown, and it was the last thing I wanted to remember. Minus my childhood and my parents and all the other shit I didn’t wanna deal with.
“You thought something about how I’m the second most important, right after Ari. Is that true?”
“I plead the fifth.” I crossed my arms.
“You know what that is?” he asked seriously. “I mean, not that I’m calling you stupid or anything, but you always say you don’t read, so I assumed you’ve never read the Constitution.”
I laughed and uncrossed my arms. “Fair enough. I don’t read, but I’ve been read my rights a thousand times. I could recite them by now. We’re still not talking about it.”
“I wanna talk about it. Share your feelings?” He gave me an enticing smile.
“Nope.” I shook my head. “I refuse. Where were you Tuesday?” I asked, flipping the interrogation on him. “You never told me.”
“Nowhere important. Just figuring some things out.”
“What kinda things?” I asked, dodging a pole in our path. But something caught my eye. I backtracked to stare at a poster tacked to the pole. And then I started freaking out. “Dennis, what if they catch me? I can’t do this. We have to go away somewhere.”
“Act natural.” He caught my arm as I tried to push past. And then I saw why: a man was purposefully approaching with a stack of papers in hand.
“Hey, do you have a minute?” he asked breathlessly.
I put on a confused face. “My girlfriend is missing since a couple days ago. Police have been helpful, but I’m putting these up around town.
Have you seen her? Anywhere at all? Even for a second, anything helps.
” He held up a paper with the face of the girl I’d murdered.