6. Brody
Brody
Her hand is cool in mine. But I feel a spark jolt through me and for a second I’m frozen in place.
She pulls back from me. “Sorry,” she mumbles under her breath and puts her hand in her pocket.
“What are you sorry for?”
“From the look on your face, you haven’t touched a lot of vampires.” She sounds almost embarrassed, like she’s broken some kind of social etiquette.
How do I tell her it wasn’t that I haven’t touched a lot of vampires; I’ve just never touched a vampire like her.
Let’s just say that Matt does not give me that kind of frisson up my spine.
I realise I’ve been silent just a little too long and I’m making it all very awkward, so I turn and point to Matt, whose drinking with her friend at the other end of the bar. “Matt and I grew up together.”
“He’s…?”
“Vampire, yeah. But he’s also genuinely twenty-nine.”
She squints a little as she stares at him. “Yeah, he looks like a baby. You can see he’s a newbie.” She doesn’t make it sound like a compliment.
“Ouch.” I’m offended on Matt’s behalf.
“Sorry.” She flashes the briefest smile that turns into this adorable grimace. “I just mean…” she trails off. “Newbies have a certain look. Like they’ve—”
“Had botox,” I interrupt her.
“Yes! That’s exactly what I was going to say.
” She runs her tongue across her lips and I try not to notice.
“Although when I was a newbie, we called it wax face.” She must spot the moment of confusion on my face because she clarifies.
“We didn’t have botox back then. Or electricity. Lots of candles though.” She laughs.
It’s infectious and I can’t help but join in.
“I wasn’t trying to be mean,” she says. “About your friend.”
I lean in a little, just so she knows there’s no hard feelings. “Matt’s heard a lot worse. Trust me.”
“How long have you two been friends?”
“Since the day we were born,” I reply. “Our mums were in the same NCT group. Matt’s mum was on her own and so mine kind of took her under her wing.”
“Is she…?” The question sounds half-finished but I know what she’s asking.
I shake my head. “No. She’s a normie. No one had any idea Matt wasn’t too…
not until…” I trail off, smiling at the memory.
“We went on a school trip to France. It was awful, over ten hours on a coach, all of us squished together and a teacher who thought blasting the soundtrack to Frozen would be fun for a whole class of teenagers in the middle of a summer heatwave. Anyway, Matt fell asleep with his head resting on the window and woke up with the most horrendous sun burn. He’d been wearing sunglasses and it looked like he was wearing goggles.
He was mortified. He had this mega crush on this guy and had to spend the entire trip hiding from him so he wouldn’t see the walking beetroot he’d become. ”
“Ouch,” Ari replies.
“It was kind of funny. And Matt laughs about it now,” I add quickly so she doesn’t think I’m being cruel. “And then his teeth started coming in and he began ordering his steak super rare and we put two and two together.”
“But his mum must have known his dad was—”
“She said she didn’t.” I cut her off. I know this is such a tricky topic for Matt and I feel bad.
Like I’m gossiping about him behind his back.
He doesn’t know who his father is. He says he’s OK with it, that he doesn’t need to know.
That if his dad didn’t want to be part of his life then he doesn’t want to be part of his in return.
I respect that. At least for now. But he’s getting older, and he’s starting to spend more time with other vampires; it’s only a matter of time before the question comes bubbling back up to the surface.
There aren’t that many vampires. Eventually he’s going to come face to face with his dad and I’m worried he’s not going to be ready for it.
Ari steers us to more neutral territory. “I’ve never been here before,” she says, looking around the bar. It’s nothing special really, just your average bog standard place with booth seating and a curved bar with a display of brightly coloured spirits behind it.
“Matt and I are regulars,” I tell her. “We live just down the road.”
Ari nods and then downs the last dregs of her drink. “Well, I guess I should leave you to your evening. I’ll be in touch, OK?”
I’m not feeling particularly confident about my chances.
Matt tries to convince me to stop by the kebab house on the way home.
“You’re forgetting I have no job and therefore no money,” I tell him.
“You smashed that interview,” he says and links his arm through mine. It’s part gesture of solidarity and part requirement to keep himself upright – he’s pulled this move many times before.
“She doesn’t want a normie.”
“Pfff,” he says and flaps a hand dismissively. “You’re perfect for the job and you know it.”
“It’s a vampire only dating site.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah.”
“Well… I mean, you could still totally smash that.” He doesn’t sound 100% convinced.
“Oh, and I’d help you. You know, with the actual vampire specific stuff.
” His animation grows. “Yeah, I can be like a consultant, and feed you everything you need to know about vampire dating. It’ll be fine.
Actually, scrap that. It’ll be fabulous.
” He’s practically dancing down the street now and a few people turn to watch him.
I don’t remind him that he has about as much knowledge of the vampire dating scene as I do – which is basically zero – but I don’t want to burst his bubble as he seems so happy this evening. So instead I say, “She isn’t going to offer me the job.”
“Don’t be so negative. She will. I have it on good authority that you’re the only person who applied and she’s a little desperate.”
“Did her friend say that?”
“Clara? Yeah. She has like zero filter.”
“What else did she say?” I ask.
“About the job? Or about Ari?” He does this little shimmy thing and twerks his eyebrows.
“I don’t know what you mean.”
“Oh no. I take it you also didn’t notice she’s exactly your type.”
“She isn’t,” But even I can hear the defensiveness in my tone.
“Knew it!” Matt punches the air.
“She’s a vampire.”
“Pfft.”
“She’s a vampire who is making a vampire only dating app.” I keep my tone level, even Matt can’t help but follow the logic here.
But he doesn’t. Or at least he pretends not to. “So?”
“So? So, she’s hardly out dating normies, is she?”
“Clara says she doesn’t date vampires either.”
“Well then. Case closed I guess. If she doesn’t date vampires, she definitely doesn’t date normies.”
“You like her though.” He says it like it’s a statement of fact.
“I don’t.”
We both know I’m lying. She’s beautiful and smart and funny and she has this cute dimple when she smiles.
I mean, she’s absolutely terrifyingly out of my league and I wouldn’t have a chance with a woman like her in a million years, even if she wasn’t a vampire.
That’s just the final nail in the coffin.