TEN
After everyone had placed their dinner orders, Jen and David got up to put some quarters in an antique jukebox across the restaurant. After a few moments of awkward silence between me and Sean at the table, with both of us awkwardly sipping our pop, he kind of hesitantly asked me if I had any hobbies.
Feeling a little bad for us both because of our strained interaction, I told him that I loved reading, and that I also really liked baking sometimes. Massaging the back of his neck with a hand, looking a little pained, he asked me what kind of things I liked to bake, and I said I really liked to bake Christmas cookies.
“And different pies and breads, too, year-round.”
Silently, I wondered if I could possibly sound any more boring.
Wanting to change the subject from the different boring things that I liked to bake, I asked Sean if he had any hobbies. He responded by saying that he was really into computers and robotics, both of which he’d been studying in college before being turned. Knowing next to nothing about computers and robotics, I simply said that they both sounded like very interesting subjects, then couldn’t think of anything else to say. After struggling for a few moments, I asked Sean how long he’d been into computers and robotics. Looking increasingly pained, he said pretty much his entire life, then fell silent.
Desperately wanting Jen and her boisterousness back at the table, and sure that Sean did, too, I glanced over at the jukebox, where David and Jen had put on some bouncy, up-tempo song from the fifties. They were now dancing by the jukebox, with David just kind of bobbing around and Jen doing some hip-hop moves, while a small crowd of restaurant patrons clapped and cheered for them nearby. Since Jen and David were clearly having a fabulous time, it didn’t look like they’d be coming back to the table anytime really soon.
Mentally sighing, I began glancing around for our food server, hoping he’d be coming out with our dinners soon, so that Sean and I could at least busy ourselves with eating to mask some of the awkwardness at the table. However, I suddenly remembered that only I would be eating food, since Sean, as a vampire, would only be toying with his for show. Besides, our food server was nowhere in sight, and he really hadn’t been gone that long anyway. Sean and I would probably have at least another ten minutes together, I figured.
Feeling just as bad for him as I did for myself, I tried to think of something else to ask him about himself, finally deciding that I’d ask him what university he’d attended back in Ohio. However, before I could, he suddenly blurted something out.
“So, Paul Miller knocked a guy out today, kind of in defense of you.”
Speechless and uncomprehending, I just looked at Sean for a moment or two. “You mean…Paul from the farm? Paul with the dark hair?”
I hadn’t yet caught Paul’s last name to know that it was Miller.
Sean nodded, saying that “Paul with the dark hair” was the Paul he was talking about. “He’s the one who knocked the other new guy out. The other guy’s name is Kevin Brownlee.”
Again, I just stared at Sean for a moment. “Well, what happened? And why did you say what you said about Paul doing what he did in my defense?”
Finally seeming to relax a little, Sean set aside a straw wrapper he’d been twisting into knots. “Well, it all started last night after the meeting, when a bunch of us single guys all moved into one of the empty houses on the property. The house David and I wound up in, it’s a five-bedroom, so it was me, David, Kevin, Paul, and a guy named Eric all unpacking our cars and moving in last night. Well, right away, we all start talking about what was said at the meeting and all that, and Kevin makes a comment about having met you briefly on his way into the house, and he says, and excuse me for this, Chrissy, but he says how you have a ‘sweet ass.’ I could see just by the look on Paul’s face that this didn’t really sit well with him, but he didn’t say anything, just went back out to his truck and got another moving box. But then, fast-forward to late this afternoon, around four. All of us who live in the house were home on a break from patrol, and we’re all sitting in the living room. Kevin again makes some comment about you having a, excuse me again, Chrissy, a ‘sweet ass,’ and he says he wants to try to ‘catch’ you in the berry fields or in the creamery someday soon.”
“With ‘catch’ meaning what, exactly?”
After pushing his glasses up a little higher on his nose, Sean shrugged. “None of us exactly knew how to take that. Of course, Kevin might have meant it just like, ‘I hope to catch her around sometime,’ but just how he said it…well, it just came off as somehow weird or almost threatening-sounding. So, then, Paul asks Kevin, ‘What the hell do you mean by catch?’ And Kevin just says, and I quote, ‘Use your brain, man. What do you think I mean when I say I want to catch a piece of sweet ass?’ So then, Paul gets up from the couch, and he’s looking a little mad, and he basically tells Kevin not to talk about you in a vulgar way anymore. Then Kevin says, ‘Oh, what, do you think you own that chick or something? If I want to say she has a sweet ass, I’m going to say it.’ Then Paul just looks at him, and all he says is just, ‘One more time, Kevin. I’m warning you.’ Well, long story short, but Kevin didn’t take the warning, and he starts talking about you again, and…well, another long story short….”
With his hand going to massage the back of his neck again, Sean paused, looking uncomfortable for the first time since we’d really started talking. I asked him what the second “long story short” was, and after another moment or two massaging the back of his neck some more, he finally continued.
“Well, basically, Kevin starts talking about you in a really vulgar way again, and then he mentioned a, um…a sexual act that he’d like to do to you without your consent, saying that he would, um…enjoy it more that way. And that was when Paul just kind of charged him, and knocked him all the way across the room, which left a huge, Kevin-sized dent in the wall. Then Paul starts punching him, like, really pummeling him, calling him a ‘sick freak,’ although all that didn’t really last for long.”
“And why not?”
“Well, because maybe a dozen or so punches in, Kevin was knocked out cold, and Paul finally got off him.”
Just trying to digest this crazy story, I asked Sean what had happened next, and he said, “pretty much nothing.”
“Nothing as dramatic as what had just happened, anyway. Being that Kevin is a vampire, he was only knocked out for about a minute, and when he came around, a few cuts on his mouth and face were already healing. It seemed like Paul had beaten some sense into him, though, because he then got up and came over to Paul all sorry, and he was basically just like, ‘It was all just a prank. I never meant any of that stuff I said about Chrissy.’ Paul wasn’t really having it, though, so then Kevin starts trying harder, like, ‘Dude, I lived in a frat house for four years during college, and saying sick stuff about girls is just how I learned to communicate with other dudes. I was just trying to be tough, and I would never actually hurt a girl.’ Well, basically, Paul just tells him to get out of his face, and then Paul leaves the house not long after. Then, just a little while after that, David and I left to come get you and Jen at the house.”
“So, my dad doesn’t know about any of this yet?”
Sean said no. “I bet he will soon, though. Before David and I left, Eric said something about how he was going to find your dad when he got back from Sweetwater and tell him everything that had happened. Eric was a police officer for six years before he became a vampire, and whether or not Kevin really meant his comments as just some kind of a sick joke, Eric doesn’t think he should be a part of this Watcher community. And when your dad finds out everything that Kevin said, I’m sure he’ll agree. I’m sure he’ll like Paul even more than he already does, too, just for Paul knocking Kevin’s lights out.”
“My dad likes Paul?”
Leaning forward his forearms on the table, Sean said it seemed that way. “This morning, after your dad got done explaining to all us newbies about how guard patrols are run in Watcher communities, he asked Paul to be on ‘lead patrol’ with him and several others. Then, a few hours later, when we all met back up with your dad, I overheard him telling someone that Paul is an ‘incredible tracker,’ and he told Paul that he’ll probably want him to join lead patrol on a permanent basis sometime in the future. So, yeah, I’d say your dad likes Paul.”
Thinking about all this, and thinking about my interaction with Paul earlier that day, I wondered if I liked Paul. Feeling strangely conflicted, I wasn’t quite sure. I definitely wasn’t a hundred percent over his “bookworm” comment yet. Although maybe I was getting there. After all, Paul had just knocked a guy’s lights out pretty much on my behalf. The more I thought things over, I was actually starting to feel horribly petty for getting so angry that Paul had said what he had to me upon first meeting me. However, I couldn’t control what I felt, like I was a robot or something, and what I’d felt the day before had been anger so hot that I felt like I might need a few more days to fully cool off.
There was also the matter of Jake. Unlike with Paul, I didn’t even need to think about whether or not I liked Jake; I definitely did, and had from the very first moment I’d set eyes on him. Compared to Paul, Jake was just easy. I just liked him, plain and simple, and now that he’d made it very clear that he liked me, too, my feeling of liking him was only growing stronger.
In response to what Sean had said about my dad liking Paul, I said that Jen sure didn’t. “She thinks he’s hiding something. Jake, too.”
Sean snorted. “Well, I don’t know about Jake, but Paul was sure hiding one mean right hook. Your dad’s really going to want to put him on lead patrol full-time once he finds out how strong he is, and what a good fighter he is to have taken out Kevin like that so quickly. Eric told me that he heard that your dad specifically recruited Kevin because Kevin singlehandedly took out three Warren vampires that were terrorizing some small town in Utah; so, we know that Kevin isn’t exactly a weakling. A lot of other vampires probably wouldn’t have been able to kick his ass like Paul did.”
Thinking about Paul’s ass-kicking abilities, I found that I was maybe starting to like him a little more, if I did really like him like him, anyway, which I was still trying to figure out. At any rate, I knew one thing for sure, which was that I definitely found him physically attractive, to the point that merely thinking about his face and body could make my own face feel a little hot. Not wanting to think about him too much longer right then, I was relieved when the food server interrupted Sean’s and my conversation to deliver our food before he could say anything else about Paul.
For a little while after the food arrived, Sean and I were quiet again, although this was a much more comfortable silence than the silence that had hung between us earlier. I began eating the chicken fingers I’d ordered while Sean began an elaborate production of pretending to eat, first cutting his cheeseburger into fourths, and then moving fries and coleslaw around on his plate.
After a minute or two, he abandoned the charade, setting his fork down while giving me a little smile. “Like, what’s the worst that could happen if some random restaurant server or patron sees me just sitting here not eating? I don’t think ‘vampire’ is the very first thing that would pop into most people’s minds.”
Smiling, I agreed.
Watching Jen and David dancing across the restaurant, Sean went quiet again briefly, but then suddenly shifted his gaze back to me, clearing his throat. “So, a bunch of single girls moved into one of the other empty houses, and one of them, a girl named Milly, is into computers and robotics like I am. We kind of had a really nice talk about what we’re both into after she asked me to help her move a couple of boxes into her house today…which seemed a little funny to me at first…the needing help with moving boxes part…just because, as a vampire, Milly is much stronger than the average young woman, and the boxes only contained socks and towels.”
Dipping a chicken finger in a little cup of ranch sauce, I glanced up from my plate, smiling. “Do you think maybe Milly just saw you and liked you?”
Sean cracked a smile in return. “Maybe.”
“And do you like her?”
Reddening slightly, Sean smiled again. “Maybe. The next time we see each other, she’s going to show me an ancient computer she’s rebuilding, just for fun.”
I said that sounded really nice, then paused with my chicken finger halfway to my mouth, fighting another smile, before speaking again. “Do you want to officially just be friends with me, Sean?”
Smiling, he breathed a sigh of apparent relief. “Yes. You’re beautiful and everything, Chrissy, and you seem like a really great girl; but, to be honest, I was a little pressured into this date. I had no way of knowing what Jen was liable to do if I said no.”
I laughed. “Well, you probably made a wise choice. If you’d said no, you might have found yourself at the bottom of a duck pool in my backyard with cement weights tied to your ankles.”
Sean laughed. “Which probably would have come after she attempted to knock my lights out, like with Jake today.”
Now enjoying the friendliness and warmth that had been missing from our interactions when we’d been under pressure to become romantically involved, Sean and I continued laughing and joking, and soon, David and Jen joined us at the table.
Having clearly witnessed our jovial banter, which was ongoing, Jen kept glancing from me to Sean while she quickly ate the cheeseburger she’d ordered. Once finished, she scarfed down a few fries, took a drink of her pop, and then began looking from me to Sean and then back again in a way that was so anticipatory and curious it was almost comical.
“So….” she finally said. “Are you two having a nice date?”
Our response was to simultaneously burst into laughter.
Recovering first, I told Jen that Sean and I had something to tell her. “We’re official. We’ve officially decided to be just friends.”
With her nostrils flaring, Jen threw a fry she’d been holding on her plate, then silently held her head in her hands, just staring into her uneaten pile of macaroni and cheese.
Watching her, I had to work hard to fight more laughter. “You tried Jen…and Sean and I appreciate the effort. But he and I are never going to be anything other than just friends…and that’s the final verdict.”
Jen suddenly whipped her face up. “But don’t you think if you guys just gave it a little more time, like, maybe if you—”
“I don’t think so, Jen.” Looking like he was fighting more laughter himself, Sean shook his head. “Sorry.”
With her nostrils flaring again, Jen just looked at him for a long moment before grabbing his plate of uneaten food. “Give me this.”
Quietly, she plowed through all the food on his plate and then finished her macaroni and cheese before moving on to David’s uneaten grilled chicken sandwich, with her mood seeming to improve little by little the more she ate, if her expression was any indication, anyway.
By the time she was through with David’s plate, finishing all but maybe a quarter of his sandwich and a handful of his fries, she actually even had a small, contented sort of smile on her face. Sitting back in her chair, she gave her somehow-still-flat-as-a-board stomach a few contented little pats. “All my eating is catching up with me lately, dudes. I weighed myself yesterday and found out that I hit ninety-two pounds sometime in the past year. Which means that I might have to start swimming around in the pool with Johnathan a little bit unless I want to have to hit up Kid’s Palace to buy a whole new wardrobe.”
Although Jen was fairly curvy for a person so petite, with a nearly B-cup chest and well-rounded hips that gave her something of an hourglass sort of figure, her all-around general tininess made it so that she often had to shop at stores for kids and tweens when she couldn’t find clothes small enough at clothing stores for women. For a brief time when I’d been maybe eleven or twelve, we’d shared closets, although that hadn’t lasted long. At thirteen, when my height had maxed out at five-foot-five, I was three inches taller than Jen, and probably a good fifteen or twenty pounds heavier. In the present, even though I wasn’t overweight, I doubted I’d be able to fit both my legs in her jeans, let alone button them.
After a few minutes of casual conversation around the table, Jen sat up a little straighter in her chair and looked at David. “Well…you wanna dance a little more? You know, forty-three percent of scientists agree that dancing after a big meal helps settle food by twenty-nine percent.”
Grinning, David said that he was a bit dubious about those statistics but that he’d love to dance a little more. “Because you know, one hundred and ten percent of scientists agree that dancing makes ninety percent of people fifty-eight percent happier.”
Soon watching him and Jen head over to the jukebox, I suddenly developed a very strong feeling that the two of them were going to get married someday.
A while later, after they’d danced their way through three songs, to loud cheering and applause of restaurant patrons and staff, our double date group left to go back to the farm. Jen had actually wanted to stay in Sweetwater longer, maybe going to see a movie, but Sean had begged off, saying that he still had more unpacking to do at home. This might have been true, although I had to wonder if maybe he was eager to get home because he wanted the chance to run into Milly and possibly get to spend some time with her. I couldn’t blame him at all, because he knew that starting Monday, he and his fellow new Watcher recruits would be on a pretty strict training schedule and wouldn’t have much time to socialize until the following weekend.
As for myself, I was pretty eager to get back to the farm to see if Jake or Paul might be around. I also wanted to find out if Eric had told my dad about what had happened with Kevin, and if so, what my dad was going to do about it. Like Sean, I had the feeling that my dad was going to send Kevin back to wherever he’d come from, no questions asked. Even then, I figured Kevin would probably be lucky to leave the farm without an ass-kicking part two from my dad because of what he’d “joked” about doing to me. Something just told me that my dad was not going to find a single shred of humor in it.
When our double date group arrived back at the farm, it was just starting to get really dark out, and the sky was a velvety dark blue studded with stars. Since the dirt road that ran in front of their house was the first turn off the main road, David dropped Sean off in their driveway, intending to pull back out onto the main road and then take the next turn to deliver Jen and me to our house before heading back home himself. However, before he could pull out of the driveway, Jen asked him if he wanted to just park the car so that they could take a little walk around the farm to look at the stars.
David said that sounded great. “But what about Chrissy? We don’t want to make her walk home, too, if she doesn’t want to. Maybe we can drop her off first, and then take a walk.”
Piping up from the back seat, I said I didn’t mind walking home at all, which was the truth. David and Jen said okay; we all got out of the car; and after saying goodnight to them, I began walking toward the house. With my mind on Jake and Paul, I hadn’t walked very far at all before disaster struck.