still untitled
Feb. 12th, 2006 12:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
maderrI really do seem to suck for titles these days. Ah, well. Off to shop. Enjoy the story, cheezy as it is. Lata~
“You know Trent,” Lee spoke around the straw in his mouth as he sucked up the last of his cherry slushy. “Generally it’s those of us on the chubby side, the no life outside our computer’s type that can’t pick men worth shit. Don’t you watch the goddamn movies?”
“Shut up, Lee.”
Lee grinned and continued. “Seriously. Watch the movies more often and you’ll see you dress way too modern, don’t look nearly tragic enough – might try some long, deep sighing while you’re by that window. Plus you’re supposed to get all the hot chicks, who all like to dress both half-naked and in lots of leather. Weird how they always manage to do both at the same isn’t it?” He set down his empty cup and added another sentence to his Gender and Religion paper. “I think you could probably substitute hot guys for hot chicks, but the leather and half-naked rule applies. Why doesn’t anyone dress that way in real life?”
“Shut up, Lee,” Trent repeated, but this time he was fighting a smile. “All you’re doing is proving yet again that you never leave that chair. Even in fall, they all seem to walk around half naked. Or their clothes are so tight they may as well be half-naked. It’s kinda yuck.”
“Yes,” Lee pointed out somberly. “But do they wear lots of leather?”
“Only if they’re trying to sweat themselves from anorexic to skeleton.”
Lee laughed and typed out a few more sentences.
“Still arguing that the Pope should be female?”
“Nah, that was too easy. Anyway I think the Feminazi behind me is already doing that. I thought I’d do something about the hang-up on angels.”
“Hmm…” Trent said in vague acknowledgement as he turned to stare out the window again.
Lee lifted one brow and contemplated pitching something at his head. “Aren’t you going to be late for class, man? It’s almost eight thirty.”
“Prof’s out the rest of the week. All I’ve got is a couple of papers to write over break.” Trent grinned. “Easy as pie.”
“So what happened with this one?” Lee said, switching the subject to Trent’s newest ex.
Trent shrugged. “The usual.”
“You need to stop dating assholes, man.”
“If I’d known he was an asshole to start with.” Trent bit out. “I wouldn’t have started dating him.”
Though tempted, he refrained from reminding Trent that he’d warned him his latest attempt at dating reeked of Asshole. Sitting back down, he gave his roommate of four years a long look. Lee stood up and pulled a can of soda from the small fridge beside Trent’s desk. He could have gone into the kitchen of their ramshackle apartment, but their third roommate – another vampire – had warned them he had a girl coming over, and he wanted None of Their Monkey Business.
He just couldn’t appreciate the amusement factor of an indoor water-balloon fight at midnight.
Trent was handsome. If he kept his blonde hair long and lost the glasses that seemed to shield his blue eyes, he could probably do a pretty good imitation of a Hollywood vampire. A swimmer’s build, a grin that could charm a nun into being his dinner, Trent definitely had the whole hot vampire thing going on. Except for the fangs, which actually looked sort of cute.
Before he’d meant Trent, he had actually been into the whole dating thing. After Trent, no one else could quite measure up. And it wasn’t just looks. It was how snarky he was in the morning before he got blood, and the way he chewed on his lip when he was writing papers or doing physics problems. The way he laughed, and how he fussed and panicked and drank too much blood before every single date. How he snored very quietly and always managed to knock his blankets all over the floor, tossing and turning but not quite waking, settling down only when Lee put the blankets back.
“So what, you’re going to sit by the window and mope all night? Dude, at least compose some angsty poetry or something. Be a proper vampire.”
“Here I sit alone. Dumped by asshole number nine. A complete failure.”
“Your haiku sucks.”
“Blow me. I don’t see you shining up the English department.”
Lee bit back the urge to ask if he was serious and forced out a couple more sentences of his paper. Stupid homework.
Stupider roommate.
Freshman year, it had taken Lee a good three weeks to notice just how bizarre his cute roommate’s habits were. Of course, he’d spent the first week hurt because instead of the usual ‘hello, nice to meet you’ Trent had said ‘Damn it! I was supposed to have a single.’
He always woke up at six PM, said ‘good morning’ and proceeded to grumble about things Lee could never quite make out. He only took night classes, and two the five were independent study courses that freshmen weren’t normally allowed to take. He always went to bed about seven AM, and the one time he’d stayed up ‘til eight Lee had thought he was sick and had nearly dragged him to the clinic.
A simple wisecrack about his roommate being a vampire had caused the man to look stricken and vanish for three days. When he’d come back, he’d been quiet and constantly buried in his books. Finally Lee had yanked away Trent’s mp3 player, which he barely stopped playing long enough to shower, thrown it out the window and demanded to know what the fuck he’d said.
Several hours later the world had gotten a lot more interesting and he’d learned Trent’s fangs were the cutest thing ever – and that the stuff he’d thought looked like blood really was blood.
Bit by bit he’d altered his own schedule to suit Trent’s. He didn’t think Trent had ever noticed, but Lee knew he enjoyed having someone around that kept his hours besides the handful of vampires on campus.
“Going to go feast on delectable virgins to soothe your deep anguish?”
Trent glared at him. “I think the problem here, Lee, is that you watch too many vampire movies.”
“And read too many vampire books.”
“Shut up.”
Lee grinned and added enough sentences to finish off page three of five. Now to figure out what else he could blather about before getting to the conclusion. Stupid papers. “Want to go see a movie?”
“Before lunch?” Trent asked.
“Do vampires really think of this as morning or is it just some grand joke on us poor humans?”
“I don’t know, really. Just sort of picked it up from my aunt. So it could be a joke, at that. Speaking of my aunt, do you want to come with me this time?”
Lee finished off the opening sentence of his new paragraph before responding. “Asking the back-up roommate to play buffer since you’re out of boyfriends?”
“Fuck you. No. I just thought you might enjoy it. I always mean to ask you; it just never works that way.” Trent frowned glumly at his comforter. “I think you’ll like my aunt, for all that she’s batshit fucking loco.”
“Sure, why not? I’d just sit here and get chubbier anyway. Maybe I’ll shed a few pounds laughing at you running screaming from this terrifying aunt of yours.”
“She’s thirty-five and wears lime green. Her favorite hobby is harassing the doctor across the street. She goes to weekly knitting circles with a ghost, a selkie, and two witches where they gossip lots and knit absolutely nothing.”
Lee laughed. “Yeah, but that’s normal for you right?”
“Nothing about my aunt is normal, trust me.”
“Yet you go to see her at least twice a year, every year, even if it means skipping a final exam.”
Trent rolled his eyes. “You’d skip your final too if you had Count Dracula for a teacher.”
“Isn’t it kind of dumb to be scared of him? You’re the vampire, remember?”
“I never felt the urge to bite someone until I met that man. And there’s no lust there, just an urge to hear him scream in fear and beg for his life.” Trent grimaced. “Honestly. I totally dig why the old ancestors were into the bite and suck thing. It’s a great way to get out frustration.”
Lee wanted to bang his head against his monitor. He hit save on the off-chance he gave into the urge. “You leave day after tomorrow, yeah? Sure she won’t mind my tagging along?”
“She’ll love you. You do like garlic, don’t you? And you make one crack, Lee, and I’ll tell her you’re into cute, giggling blonde girls.”
Wincing at the memory of the girls to whom Trent was referring, a small fiasco at the carnival they’d visited sophomore year, Lee obeyed and refrained from making a joke about vampires and garlic. “So what are you doing the rest of the night?” He made himself look at the computer as Trent stripped out of a ratty t-shirt and pulled on a dark blue polo that did wicked things to his eyes.
He swore sometimes the bastard was messing with his head. Wishful thinking. He was firmly entrenched in the Roommate and Friend Department.
“I thought you wanted to catch a flick,” Trent said, sitting down to lace up his shoes.
“You never said yes,” Lee pointed out and stood up to get dressed for going out, finding his brush on the floor and raking his dark red hair into some semblance of order before finding a clean t-shirt.
“Yes,” Trent said. “And if you so much as hint at going to see that new vampire flick, I’ll turn you into a soprano.”
“Oh, come on.”
“Were you always this into bad vampire movies, or was it only after you met me?”
“After I met you.” Lee grinned and shrugged into his jacket, stifling a sigh that at this rate he’d have to get a larger one soon. Whatever. “Shit was never funny until I knew what real vampires were like.”
Trent bared his fangs. “Don’t make me add you to my ‘People I Want to Bite and Leave For Dead’ list.”
“You’re really cute when you do that, you know. Like a pissed off kitten.”
“Shut the fuck up, asshole.” Trent shook his head as he shrugged into a brown corduroy jacket. “It figures that instead of a roommate who freaks about me being a vampire, I get stuck with one who’s so goddamn smartass about it.”
Lee grinned and locked the door behind them. “I’m sorry, who chose to stay with me years two, three, and four?”
“Too much trouble to train someone new. You driving or me?”
“You. I need to get gas, and I don’t’ get paid ‘til Friday.”
“’Kay. Want to grab a bite first or eat at the theater?”
Lee thought for a moment. Real food. Theater crap. As much as he loved popcorn…. “The diner?”
“Cool,” Trent said by way of agreement, sliding into a beat up black sports car that nevertheless ran as if it was new.
“Did you remember stuff for your lunch?” Lee asked.
Trent patted the front pocket of his jacket, double checking. “Yep. All set.”
“Cool. Let’s go then.”
“You’re serious. It’s really called Midsummer’s Night.”
Trent shrugged. “Don’t ask me, man. Maybe the founders were rabid fans of Shakespeare or something.”
“So where’s this aunt of yours?”
“Look for the hippie with fangs,” Trent said as they elbowed their way through the mass of people at baggage claim, waiting with seeming nonchalance, hoping it wasn’t their bags that had been mistakenly sent to Timbuktu.
Lee let out a sigh of relief when he saw his oversized, dark purple duffle, shortly followed by Trent’s black and yellow bag.
“Trent!” A woman shouted, and the next thing Lee knew his friend was being tackled by a short, slender figure decked out in a rainbow of neon. “You’re here – why was your flight delayed? Was it good otherwise? Hungry? Want to grab a snack before the drive?” She paused to breathe, and noticed Lee.
He tried really hard not to stare at her hair, which was a mess of braids, beads and he thought he saw chopsticks in there somewhere.
“You must be Lee,” the woman said with a bright smile. That more than anything else made it obvious she was related to Trent. “I’m Sally, it’s nice to meet you.” She surged forward in a wave of pink, green, yellow and orange to give him a hug as enthusiastic as the one she’d given Trent. “I’ve heard so much about you, it’s nice to finally have a real face to put to your name.” She winked at him, then motioned for them to follow. “Come on, let’s get out of here. It’s an hour drive back to Midsummer, Lee, so if you’d like a snack before we leave just let me know. I almost forgot to leave the blood out of the stew.” She smiled. “You’d think as often as I drag Petey and Low to dinner that I’d remember to adjust meals to non-vampires.”
Lee shot Trent a dazed look as Sally chattered and rambled on. Trent grinned back, and mouthed ‘Told you So’ as they stepped outside and began trekking through an enormous parking garage.
The house, Lee decided, was very cute. Very small town and country, a nice change from their massive, overstuffed city campus spanning twenty million blocks. A man came out onto the porch as they approached. He looked like a scholar, eyes still heavy with sleep and dark hair rumpled like he’d been dozing on the couch or something.
“This is Jordan,” Sally said, latching onto him. “He’s very nice, I promise.”
“Yeah,” Jordan agree and gave his wife a peck on the cheek. “She’s the scary one. But you probably already figured that out.” He moved down the steps to help with their bags. “Let me get those. How was your flight?”
“Over,” Trent said. “There are days I wish we really could turn into bats.”
“Hey!” Lee protested. “You told me no bad vampire jokes.”
Trent pushed up his glasses, which were forever slipping down his nose, and smirked. “That’s because yours are lame.”
“Go to hell.”
“Don’t have to, at least for another week.”
Sally laughed at them both and led the way into the house. “We set up a second bed upstairs – borrowed it from the Mad Scientist.”
“Mad Scientist?” Lee echoed as they carried their stuff up the stairs.
Trent rolled his eyes “I told you – Aunt Sally’s favorite hobby is harassing the doctor across the street.” He let his stuff drop to the floor with a thud and fell back on an old, beat up day bed. “He’s a sort of doctor for nonhumans, though he treats humans too.”
Sally nodded and went about arranging their bags instead of leaving them in a haphazard pile. “Midsummer is a unique town – the humans are aware of the nonhumans, and we all get along pretty well. Though, saying that, Trent remind me to tell you all about the mayor’s daughter over dinner. You won’t believe what my sister said she did yesterday…” she ushered them out of the room and downstairs to where Jordan had begun serving up dinner. “Do you like pasta, Lee?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Ack! None of that!” Sally made a face. “I’m Sally, he’s Jordan. None of this sir and ma’am stuff; I won’t tolerate it.”
Lee grinned and sat down. “It looks wonderful.” He didn’t stop grinning as the other three at the table added blood from a gravy bowl to their own plates of spaghetti. It should have been a lot weirder or creepier than it was, but too many mornings of Jordan and Kurt, their third roommate, bitching and groaning before their morning fix had rendered it simply amusingly normal.
“So Trent mentioned you were a computer science major. Any job prospects lined up?” Jordan asked, biting into a meatball.
“Wine?” Sally interrupted cheerfully.
“Um, sure,” Lee said, then switched back to Jordan’s question. “No prospects, but I haven’t really looked.” He shrugged. “My sister keeps yelling at me to start.”
“Yeah, no kidding. That last message was a doozy.” Trent grinned at his aunt and uncle. “His sister is his caretaker, and I would swear they’ve got banshee in their blood. Regular demonness, that woman.” He shuddered. “Luckily she never deigns to visit, just leaves Voice Messages of Doom.” He wolfed down a forkful of spaghetti. “Didn’t she threaten to emasculate you this time?”
Lee shrugged. “Probably. I don’t listen to them anymore.” He frowned at his food, displeased to have thoughts of his sister resurrected. Miss Executive who was too elite, too powerful, too beautiful to waste time on the brother ten years her junior and with all the ambition of a housecat. But damn, just reading the emails – which he’d never told Trent about – from her depressed him. How was her life something he was supposed to want.
“Sorry, man,” Trent said, breaking into his thoughts.
“Huh?” Lee looked up and blinked. “Oh, sorry. I didn’t mean to zone.” He smiled apologetically at Sally and Jordan. “I tend to do that when the subject of my sister comes up. We’re not on the best of terms.”
“You don’t have parents?” Sally asked, ignoring the look her husband was sending her.
Lee shook his head. “No, they died in a car accident when I was just a kid. My sister raised me, sort of.” He shrugged. “She’s always been really busy. Right now she’s kind of mad that I’m not using my ‘genius’ to make it big.” He screwed his face up. “How the hell did we get on the subject of my family? Surely there are better things to discuss than that.”
Everyone laughed, and Sally switched to catching everyone up on the latest gossip in town, elaborating on much of it for Lee’s sake. She didn’t stop until the clock chimed four AM. “Oh! Look at the time! Jordan, you should have stopped me.”
“But I was enjoying the story, my dear.” Jordan sipped his wine. “Who would have thought that could be done in a gas station?”
Sally rolled her eyes. “I know. It’s disgraceful.” She beamed at Lee. “Do you like chocolate cake?”
Trent laughed, and didn’t stop until it turned into a groan of pain. “Did you have to kick me in the knee?”
“Yes,” Lee said. He smiled at Sally. “Chocolate cake is one of my favorites.”
Sally clapped her hands and stood up. “Wonderful. I made it myself this morning. Trent, come help me get it.” Together aunt and nephew gathered up the dishes and carried them off; the sound of running water and clinking plates drowning out Sally’s chatter.
“I think it only fair to warn you,” Jordan said, playing with the stem of his wineglass, eyeing Lee over the top of his glasses, “that my wife has decided the two of you need a matchmaker.”
Lee choked. “What?”
“It’s a thing with her.” Jordan shook his head. “Love her as I do, my wife is a horrible schemer. So be on the lookout.”
“Thanks for the warning.” Lee wondered if he could convince Jordan to take him to the airport while the other two were still in the kitchen. “She’s wasting her time.”
Jordan snorted into his wine. “You go ahead and tell her that. See how far it gets you.”
Whatever Lee might have said was prevented as Sally and Trent returned with a three layer chocolate cake. With, Lee could tell, fudge icing. His absolute favorite. He narrowed his eyes at Trent, who shrugged and flapped his hands at Sally. His usual sign for ‘she’s a woman’ as if that explained everything.
Translating, Lee figured Sally must have asked Trent about him. What surprised him was that Trent knew his favorite kind of cake right down to the frosting. This was the same roommate he had to retell his usual pizza order – which hadn’t changed in years – every single time they ordered.
“Thanks,” he said, beaming. Ignoring the voice in his head that reminded him he was supposed to be losing weight, not putting more on. But it was chocolate cake. With fudge frosting.
Sally smiled back. “You’re welcome. It’s seldom I get to do this sort of cooking and have someone appreciate it.”
“She’s a liar,” Jordan said with a grin. “The werewolf does nothing but admire her cooking. The rest of us don’t because otherwise she’d be impossible to live with.”
“So you’ll be sleeping on the porch tonight, darling?” Sally smiled sweetly.
Jordan shook his head. “Never, sweetie. Just think of the mess my ashes would make. I’d hate for you to have to clean all that up.”
“Nonsense. I’d make Trent do it.”
“Fall break,” Trent said as he swallowed a bite of cake. “I don’t do ashes over break. Or cleaning.” He grinned at the look Sally gave him. “Except, you know, the usual ones.”
Sally nodded. “Seconds, anyone?”
Lee made himself refuse. He really needed to cut back on his sweets and junk food. Which was a pity, because Sally knew how to cook.
He started to get up to help with the rest of the dishes, but Sally shooed him back into his seat and made Trent help her. She winked. “You can start helping tomorrow. For now, you still get special treatment.”
“Enjoy it while it lasts!” Trent called over his shoulder, yelping from the kitchen as Sally did something.
Jordan chuckled. “Why not go settle in? I’m sure you two are about ready to fall over. I’m surprised – you seem well adjusted to what must be strange hours for you.”
“Trent and I have been roomies since freshman year. I sort of just picked up his schedule; seemed easier.” It had actually been a huge pain in the ass, since most of his classes were only held during the day. But he’d made it work eventually, and now that he was a senior he only had a handful of independent study and one senior lecture course and everyone was all but dead-asleep in that anyway. Even the professor.
“Well, go settle in.” Jordan stood up. “I’m going to go hide away in my office for a bit. I’m working on building a database for the local libraries – including the schools. You should take a look at it tomorrow, tell me what you think.”
“Sure,” Lee said, excited even if Jordan was just being nice to his nephew’s guest. He started to ask more about it, but was caught unawares by a yawn. Conceding defeat as Jordan laughed, he headed upstairs and started sorting out their things, by habit knowing where Trent would probably want his stuff, putting his own where he could get it without tripping about everywhere.
He’d changed into sweats and a t-shirt when Trent came tromping upstairs, looking horribly confused. “What’s wrong?”
“Huh?” Trent looked at him, stared a moment, then shook his head and looked around the room as if he’d never seen it before. “Nothing. Tired.” And in typical Trent fashion, he stripped down to his boxers and fell into bed, burying himself in blankets. Asleep in seconds, or at least close enough that he wouldn’t move even if daylight abruptly flooded the room.
What the hell? Lee shrugged, turned out the lights, and stubbed his toe before finally climbing into his own bed. It was old, kind of squeaky, but comfortable and smelled like detergent and flower-scented fabric softener.
A few hours later he woke up, a habit so ingrained he’d forgotten what it had been like not to wake up sometime around noon, pick up the blankets on the floor and gently cover Trent back up, brushing strands of hair from Trent’s cheek before climbing back into his own bed.
“This is a really cute town.” Lee looked around at all the little shops, the old houses, the cafes with their tables and bright umbrellas. “Like something out of a book. And you said it’s a mix of night creatures and humans?”
“Yep,” Trent said, looking out across Main Street as he spoke. “Like you and me, only lots more people and less smartass. Most people don’t even start showing up ‘til late in the afternoon, and you’ll see all the shop hours are kinda funny. A lot of the people who pass through think this is the weirdest town ever – but a few always hang around and fit right in.”
Lee grinned. “Maybe I should move here someday, since I’m way too used to living with you to go back to day time hours.” It was true. He’d always been a night owl, and other than the pain of fixing his classes, he’d never really missed ‘normal’ hours. Did, in fact, love the abnormal ones. Half the reason he hadn’t worked out post-college plans was that he couldn’t find one that would suit his hours unless he wanted some crappy third shift job.
And, well. Finding a job would be too much like finally admitting he and Trent would be going separate ways. He’d be going off to avoid his sister and be a code-monkey or something, Trent to return to his family and their nightclub business. Maybe he could follow Trent back to the city – but wouldn’t that seem just a trifle pathetic?
“Wouldn’t be a bad place to live, really.” Trent winked. “Just don’t tell my aunt I said that, yeah?”
“I don’t think a nightclub would go over so well here, Trent.” Lee laughed. “Grandmas in leather and fishnet?”
Both smiled and nodded and murmured ‘hello’ to an old woman as they passed, then Trent yanked him into a store, and the cashier stared at them while both men howled with laughter.
“Trent, what are you up to now? You going to bring that aunt of yours screaming and shouting?” Despite his words, the older man – about forty – didn’t look too upset at the thought of being forced to endure the presence of Trent’s aunt.
“No, Mr. Willis.” Trent was still chuckling as they wandered further into the shop, which turned out to be a used book store. “Just laughing at ourselves. How’s life?”
Mr. Willis nodded, as if approving what he’d said. “Just fine. Who’s your partner in crime?”
“This is Lee. Lee, this is Mr. Willis. He owns this store, his wife runs a craft store a bit further down. She makes an awesome pumpkin pie. She’s a selkie, part of Aunt Sally’s knitting circle.”
“Having it at our house, this week.” Mr. Willis snorted. “Nevermind I could knit about as well as any one of them.” He shook his head. “But that’s women for you. Boys looking for anything in particular today?”
Trent shook his head. “Nope, just showing Lee around town.”
Lee barely heard, wandering off to peruse the numerous shelves of books. Some were ancient, locked behind glass affixed with stern warnings written on faded bits of construction paper. Further in the back were shelves of children’s books, so many of them that they were stacked in piles on the floor. Shaking his head, laughing at books he hadn’t seen since he was ten, Lee abandoned the children’s section to hunt down the science fiction.
Nothing was funnier than old science fiction. Except maybe the weird crap girls read.
Turning the corner, Lee all but tripped over a dog, stumbled back, and fell down hard, knocking over a pile of old hardbacks. He blinked at the dog.
Which wasn’t a dog. It looked more like a wolf. A really big one.
Laughter broke into his thoughts, soft and gentle and vastly amused. A hand on his shoulder, and then someone was helping Lee stand up. He stared at a man who looked like an old time doctor, right out of a black and white flick or a history book, right down to the perfectly round spectacles. He even wore a long white coat. “I’m sorry,” the man said. “Low didn’t mean to scare you. Are you all right?”
“Fine,” Lee said absently. “Is that…is he a werewolf?” He hunched down, immediately curious. “I always thought they’d be…different.”
The doctor – what else could he be? – chuckled again. “Do they look different human?”
“No,” Lee replied. “Least, not that I’ve noticed.” He grinned. “So you’re saying if you can’t tell when they’re human, how can you tell when they’re wolf?”
“Precisely.” The doctor smiled, and it made him look younger and far more handsome than he already was. “You’re staying with the bloodsuckers, aren’t you?”
“Bloodsuckers?” Lee stopped petting the werewolf, who had crept closer for precisely that purpose, and stood up.
The doctor smiled. “Yes. They call me names too, never fear. I live across the street, so I’m sure we’ll see each other again.”
Lee nodded, and started to say more, but the doctor and wolf abruptly said goodbye and left. Lee shrugged and went back to examining the bookshelves, finally deciding on three particularly horrible sci-fi novels that he didn’t recognize. One on vampires, complete with requisite lace, breeches, and laser guns.
“Find anything?” Mr. Willis asked with a smile.
Trent darted away to pour over the comic books, and Lee frowned – usually Trent was more than willing to give him hell about the stupid books he bought.
Giving a mental shrug, Lee set his books on the counter and smiled. “Yep. Thanks.”
Mr. Willis rang the books up, the total coming to a little over seventeen. “Call it fifteen, lad.”
“Thanks, again.” Lee handed over the cash, accepted the bag of books, and turned to Trent. “Ready to go?”
“Yeah, sure.” Trent looked up at him, then away, fidgeted with a comic featuring some huge-breasted woman, then shrugged and led the way from the store, barely remembering to call a goodbye as the door chimed closed.
Lee frowned. “What’s wrong with you?”
“Nothing,” Trent said, attempting to stare a hole into the sidewalk as they walked.
“Try again, space cadet.” Lee snickered. “Don’t need a hit, do you?”
“No, mother. And stop comparing me to drug addicts.”
Throwing his head back and laughing in delight, Lee fished his newest prize out of the bright yellow plastic bag. “Did I show you my new book?”
Trent cracked a smile, then rolled his eyes. “Oh, no. I’m not even looking at it. Go take your wacky books somewhere else. You damn humans have got to find a new hobby.”
“But maligning vampires is so much fun,” Lee said, and began to read from the back cover. “’Selkon is a humble space dock worker saving up for his own space ship. Blah blah blah, his world is ruined with the arrival of mysterious blood-sucking aliens desperate for a fresh source to feed their dark, forbidden hunger.’ What do you think?”
Trent gave him the finger. “I’m beginning to see why people burn books. I feel dumber and insulted just by listening to the blurb. Please don’t tell me you’re going to read that?”
“Duh. I need new ways to insult and malign you. Oh, speaking of insults. Met a guy in there that called you guys Bloodsuckers. Said he lived across the street.”
“That’s Peter,” Trent said, stopping abruptly in front of a bakery and café place. “Hungry?”
“Sure.” Lee rolled his eyes at himself. When had he ever turned down food?
“Anyway,” Trent continued after they’d placed their order and sat down. “Peter is the doctor across the street. Only one in town that can treat nonhumans. Did you meet Lowell? I still don’t know him that well, but he seems pretty cool. About our age.”
“Is that the werewolf?”
“Yep,” Trent said. “He’s kinda cute. Aunt Sally likes to give them both hell, but she goes all girly and cooey about how cute and perfect for each other they are.” He stopped suddenly, and gave Lee a strange look, then shook his head. “Anyway. Aunt Sally and Peter always get into it, they’re hilarious.” He started to say something else, but was interrupted when their number was called. “I’ll get it,” he muttered.
Lee watched as Trent grabbed their food, smirking as the woman started flirting with him. Whatever she said actually flustered Trent, and Lee smirked when he sat back down. “Was she trying to score a hot date or something?”
“What?” Trent gave him a puzzled look.
“The woman at the counter. She looked like she was hitting on you hardcore.”
Trent shook his head. “Nope. Just being a busybody.”
“Ah,” Lee said, confused. When Trent clammed up, there was no point in trying to coax it out of him. The only options were to let him stew and talk in his own time – or drove him insane until he explained. “Wants to know what happened to the usual hot dates you bring along? Was she wondering why I wasn’t in leather?”
“Shut up.”
That was progress. “So what are the general guidelines for dating outside your species? My sister would blow a gasket if I started dating a cow or a head of lettuce.”
“You ask the dumbest questions,” Trent said.
“Dude, you eat, drink, whatever human blood. Tell me how that’s not like I suddenly went out and asked Daisy the Cow if she’d like to go to the movies.” He bit into a piece of buttered roll. “Come to think of it, I can’t believe I don’t have any books on the subject. You’d think I would, hmmm…may have to go back to that bookstore.”
Trent rolled his eyes. “Please, dear god, no. It’s bad enough you’re probably going to lay in bed and read that other monstrosity aloud tonight.”
“It’s no wonder we humans make shit up. You real vampires are so…so…”
“Normal?”
“Boring.”
“It’s a survival tactic,” Trent said, throwing a wadded up paper napkin at him. “Even in Neon Blood, the only idiots acting like ‘vampires’ are stupid humans. The vampires all sit at the bar and try not to laugh while they sip their Bloody Marys.”
Lee made a face. “I hate those drinks.” He threw the napkin back. “So you’re boring and have no taste in alcohol. Which, where you’re concerned, goes right with your lousy taste in men.”
And there Trent went, all the way back to confused and gloomy. “Yeah.”
“What? Don’t tell me you’ve been mooning over asshole number nine all day. Don’t make me start reading the vampire book now.”
Trent shook his head, and replied with a distracted, “Shut up.”
“Man, what the hell is wrong with you?”
“Nothing.” Trent stared at his half-eaten meal, then got up and threw it away. “Ready to head back?”
Lee frowned. “Yeah, sure. Why the hell not?” If Trent was going to be such a spazz, there wasn’t much point in doing anything else.
They drove back in silence, and Lee didn’t notice until they were inside that the house was way too dark.
Trent muttered something under his breath and vanished into the kitchen – then came crashing out in a storm of curses and other words that Lee couldn’t understand until he drew closer. “I fucking giving up. Railroaded. Harassed. Fucking cooed at all damn day.” He stopped in front of Lee. “This is all your fault.”
“I’m going to hazard that it’s not,” Lee replied. “So fuck you.”
For reply, Trent simply started laughing. Lee used the chance to snatch the piece of paper Trent was holding away. Went out for dinner and movie with friends. Back late. You boys have fun, but don’t get arrested please. Don’t mess up my house either. Dinner’s in the oven. Love, Sally.
“I’m so going to kill her,” Trent said. “I told her to knock it off, but Jordan was right – she’s directly descended from Eve, disobedience and all.”
Lee winced, realization dawning. “So he wasn’t joking about the whole matchmaking thing?”
“You know what’s funny? I’ve brought three or four boyfriends along and no one said more than they had to. I bring a friend, and people are damn near asking when the wedding is.” Trent glared at him. “Every. Single. Person. I’ve talked to today has not shut up about what a cute couple we are, and how long have we been dating, and it’s about time I found a good one, and how did I get so lucky, and why didn’t I bring you home sooner – never mind this isn’t home! – and I can’t even blame it all on Aunt Sally.” The glare grew worse. “They all just seem to think you’re the most perfect boyfriend ever for me. I’m pretty sure Ms. Greene from the bakery is already talking over what to make for our wedding reception.”
Lee wished he could think of something to say. Unfortunately, all his clever remarks seemed to have flown the coop. “I’m sorry?” Then everything began to sink in. “Is it that terrifying a thought? I know you’ve never looked twice at me, and that I’m kind of chubby, but I didn’t think the idea of dating me was enough to induce a full-fledge panic attack.” Suddenly wishing more than ever that he’d never come along, that he’d just stayed safe and sound behind his computer, and that something bad would happen to Sally, Lee shoved past Trent and made a beeline for the stairs.
He hadn’t realized words could hurt so much. Sure, he’d always known he didn't stand a chance but…
“God damn it, Lee! Would you stop a minute!” Trent’s hand landed on his shoulder, surprisingly strong, and Lee almost laughed as his thoughts went immediately to the old myth that vampires had super human strength.
“What?” Lee said, whirling around. “There’s nothing left to say,” he said, speaking bitterly to a colorful painting of a woman in a field of flowers. “I’m sorry for all the inadvertent trouble.”
Trent muttered a curse and let him go, speaking to the opposite wall. “I didn’t mean it like that. I mean I suck enough at having a love life that it’s driving me crazy everyone is meddling in it. And I don’t think you’d be a bad idea for a boyfriend either – it just annoys me that I needed a whole goddamn town to point it out to me.” Lee could see Trent turn to look at him from the corner of his eye. “You’re not that chubby. It’s kinda cute. Just lay off the chocolate cake if it bothers you that much.”
“Like that’ll ever happen,” Lee said, managing a weak smile. He dared a glance, and found it was hard to look away. “And don’t get too upset – you’ve always been a fucking idiot where your love life was concerned.”
Trent stepped forward, surprising him into taking a step back. Lee caught the edge of the hallway rug, tripped backward – only to be caught and hauled forward. “I guess I am,” Trent said, not letting him go. “Nine assholes in four years, and apparently I’ve been living with Mr. Perfect the whole goddamn time.” He closed his eyes and shook his head. “Aunt Sally is going to gloat and gloat and gloat over this.” Then he sighed, grinned, and Lee suddenly found himself being kissed.
He’d watched, one night, out the window of their crappy sophomore dorm room as Trent kissed asshole number two goodnight. It had been a living hell, because watching Trent kiss someone gave his imagination way too much to work with. In the end, he figured he was better off being just the friend, because he wasn’t sure he’d survive being more.
And he was right. Kissing Trent was devastating. He tasted like the turkey club he’d gotten at the bakery, and the strawberry pastry he’d picked at before throwing his food out, and just the faintest bit coppery. He could also feel the fangs, but they seemed familiar and right. “Trent.”
“God damn, Lee.” Trent braced one arm over his head, against the wall Lee suddenly realized he was pressed against. “Why the hell are you single?”
Lee laughed, arms locking firmly around Trent’s waist – if he was this close to what he wanted, he wasn’t going to let go that easily. “I’ve been too busy mooning over my roommate to accept any offers.”
“Your roommate is a fucking idiot. I really wouldn’t waste time on him.” Trent ran a hand along his cheek, up into his hair, tilting Lee’s head to take another kiss. “Definitely should find someone less stupid.”
“Too late, I think. Rather fond of the bastard.”
Trent’s face softened, and he brushed his lips whisper soft against Lee’s. “Yeah?”
“Yeah,” Lee said, terrified and relieved to finally admit it.
Trent smiled against his mouth. “Want to make popcorn and watch some of those stupid vampire movies I know you brought with you?”
“Sure,” Lee said. “You sure it won’t turn you into an evil, seductive bloodthirsty monster or something? To see how you should really behave?”
“Not so much evil and bloodsucking, but no promises on the whole seductive thing.”
“I suppose I can live with that.”
“You know Trent,” Lee spoke around the straw in his mouth as he sucked up the last of his cherry slushy. “Generally it’s those of us on the chubby side, the no life outside our computer’s type that can’t pick men worth shit. Don’t you watch the goddamn movies?”
“Shut up, Lee.”
Lee grinned and continued. “Seriously. Watch the movies more often and you’ll see you dress way too modern, don’t look nearly tragic enough – might try some long, deep sighing while you’re by that window. Plus you’re supposed to get all the hot chicks, who all like to dress both half-naked and in lots of leather. Weird how they always manage to do both at the same isn’t it?” He set down his empty cup and added another sentence to his Gender and Religion paper. “I think you could probably substitute hot guys for hot chicks, but the leather and half-naked rule applies. Why doesn’t anyone dress that way in real life?”
“Shut up, Lee,” Trent repeated, but this time he was fighting a smile. “All you’re doing is proving yet again that you never leave that chair. Even in fall, they all seem to walk around half naked. Or their clothes are so tight they may as well be half-naked. It’s kinda yuck.”
“Yes,” Lee pointed out somberly. “But do they wear lots of leather?”
“Only if they’re trying to sweat themselves from anorexic to skeleton.”
Lee laughed and typed out a few more sentences.
“Still arguing that the Pope should be female?”
“Nah, that was too easy. Anyway I think the Feminazi behind me is already doing that. I thought I’d do something about the hang-up on angels.”
“Hmm…” Trent said in vague acknowledgement as he turned to stare out the window again.
Lee lifted one brow and contemplated pitching something at his head. “Aren’t you going to be late for class, man? It’s almost eight thirty.”
“Prof’s out the rest of the week. All I’ve got is a couple of papers to write over break.” Trent grinned. “Easy as pie.”
“So what happened with this one?” Lee said, switching the subject to Trent’s newest ex.
Trent shrugged. “The usual.”
“You need to stop dating assholes, man.”
“If I’d known he was an asshole to start with.” Trent bit out. “I wouldn’t have started dating him.”
Though tempted, he refrained from reminding Trent that he’d warned him his latest attempt at dating reeked of Asshole. Sitting back down, he gave his roommate of four years a long look. Lee stood up and pulled a can of soda from the small fridge beside Trent’s desk. He could have gone into the kitchen of their ramshackle apartment, but their third roommate – another vampire – had warned them he had a girl coming over, and he wanted None of Their Monkey Business.
He just couldn’t appreciate the amusement factor of an indoor water-balloon fight at midnight.
Trent was handsome. If he kept his blonde hair long and lost the glasses that seemed to shield his blue eyes, he could probably do a pretty good imitation of a Hollywood vampire. A swimmer’s build, a grin that could charm a nun into being his dinner, Trent definitely had the whole hot vampire thing going on. Except for the fangs, which actually looked sort of cute.
Before he’d meant Trent, he had actually been into the whole dating thing. After Trent, no one else could quite measure up. And it wasn’t just looks. It was how snarky he was in the morning before he got blood, and the way he chewed on his lip when he was writing papers or doing physics problems. The way he laughed, and how he fussed and panicked and drank too much blood before every single date. How he snored very quietly and always managed to knock his blankets all over the floor, tossing and turning but not quite waking, settling down only when Lee put the blankets back.
“So what, you’re going to sit by the window and mope all night? Dude, at least compose some angsty poetry or something. Be a proper vampire.”
“Here I sit alone. Dumped by asshole number nine. A complete failure.”
“Your haiku sucks.”
“Blow me. I don’t see you shining up the English department.”
Lee bit back the urge to ask if he was serious and forced out a couple more sentences of his paper. Stupid homework.
Stupider roommate.
Freshman year, it had taken Lee a good three weeks to notice just how bizarre his cute roommate’s habits were. Of course, he’d spent the first week hurt because instead of the usual ‘hello, nice to meet you’ Trent had said ‘Damn it! I was supposed to have a single.’
He always woke up at six PM, said ‘good morning’ and proceeded to grumble about things Lee could never quite make out. He only took night classes, and two the five were independent study courses that freshmen weren’t normally allowed to take. He always went to bed about seven AM, and the one time he’d stayed up ‘til eight Lee had thought he was sick and had nearly dragged him to the clinic.
A simple wisecrack about his roommate being a vampire had caused the man to look stricken and vanish for three days. When he’d come back, he’d been quiet and constantly buried in his books. Finally Lee had yanked away Trent’s mp3 player, which he barely stopped playing long enough to shower, thrown it out the window and demanded to know what the fuck he’d said.
Several hours later the world had gotten a lot more interesting and he’d learned Trent’s fangs were the cutest thing ever – and that the stuff he’d thought looked like blood really was blood.
Bit by bit he’d altered his own schedule to suit Trent’s. He didn’t think Trent had ever noticed, but Lee knew he enjoyed having someone around that kept his hours besides the handful of vampires on campus.
“Going to go feast on delectable virgins to soothe your deep anguish?”
Trent glared at him. “I think the problem here, Lee, is that you watch too many vampire movies.”
“And read too many vampire books.”
“Shut up.”
Lee grinned and added enough sentences to finish off page three of five. Now to figure out what else he could blather about before getting to the conclusion. Stupid papers. “Want to go see a movie?”
“Before lunch?” Trent asked.
“Do vampires really think of this as morning or is it just some grand joke on us poor humans?”
“I don’t know, really. Just sort of picked it up from my aunt. So it could be a joke, at that. Speaking of my aunt, do you want to come with me this time?”
Lee finished off the opening sentence of his new paragraph before responding. “Asking the back-up roommate to play buffer since you’re out of boyfriends?”
“Fuck you. No. I just thought you might enjoy it. I always mean to ask you; it just never works that way.” Trent frowned glumly at his comforter. “I think you’ll like my aunt, for all that she’s batshit fucking loco.”
“Sure, why not? I’d just sit here and get chubbier anyway. Maybe I’ll shed a few pounds laughing at you running screaming from this terrifying aunt of yours.”
“She’s thirty-five and wears lime green. Her favorite hobby is harassing the doctor across the street. She goes to weekly knitting circles with a ghost, a selkie, and two witches where they gossip lots and knit absolutely nothing.”
Lee laughed. “Yeah, but that’s normal for you right?”
“Nothing about my aunt is normal, trust me.”
“Yet you go to see her at least twice a year, every year, even if it means skipping a final exam.”
Trent rolled his eyes. “You’d skip your final too if you had Count Dracula for a teacher.”
“Isn’t it kind of dumb to be scared of him? You’re the vampire, remember?”
“I never felt the urge to bite someone until I met that man. And there’s no lust there, just an urge to hear him scream in fear and beg for his life.” Trent grimaced. “Honestly. I totally dig why the old ancestors were into the bite and suck thing. It’s a great way to get out frustration.”
Lee wanted to bang his head against his monitor. He hit save on the off-chance he gave into the urge. “You leave day after tomorrow, yeah? Sure she won’t mind my tagging along?”
“She’ll love you. You do like garlic, don’t you? And you make one crack, Lee, and I’ll tell her you’re into cute, giggling blonde girls.”
Wincing at the memory of the girls to whom Trent was referring, a small fiasco at the carnival they’d visited sophomore year, Lee obeyed and refrained from making a joke about vampires and garlic. “So what are you doing the rest of the night?” He made himself look at the computer as Trent stripped out of a ratty t-shirt and pulled on a dark blue polo that did wicked things to his eyes.
He swore sometimes the bastard was messing with his head. Wishful thinking. He was firmly entrenched in the Roommate and Friend Department.
“I thought you wanted to catch a flick,” Trent said, sitting down to lace up his shoes.
“You never said yes,” Lee pointed out and stood up to get dressed for going out, finding his brush on the floor and raking his dark red hair into some semblance of order before finding a clean t-shirt.
“Yes,” Trent said. “And if you so much as hint at going to see that new vampire flick, I’ll turn you into a soprano.”
“Oh, come on.”
“Were you always this into bad vampire movies, or was it only after you met me?”
“After I met you.” Lee grinned and shrugged into his jacket, stifling a sigh that at this rate he’d have to get a larger one soon. Whatever. “Shit was never funny until I knew what real vampires were like.”
Trent bared his fangs. “Don’t make me add you to my ‘People I Want to Bite and Leave For Dead’ list.”
“You’re really cute when you do that, you know. Like a pissed off kitten.”
“Shut the fuck up, asshole.” Trent shook his head as he shrugged into a brown corduroy jacket. “It figures that instead of a roommate who freaks about me being a vampire, I get stuck with one who’s so goddamn smartass about it.”
Lee grinned and locked the door behind them. “I’m sorry, who chose to stay with me years two, three, and four?”
“Too much trouble to train someone new. You driving or me?”
“You. I need to get gas, and I don’t’ get paid ‘til Friday.”
“’Kay. Want to grab a bite first or eat at the theater?”
Lee thought for a moment. Real food. Theater crap. As much as he loved popcorn…. “The diner?”
“Cool,” Trent said by way of agreement, sliding into a beat up black sports car that nevertheless ran as if it was new.
“Did you remember stuff for your lunch?” Lee asked.
Trent patted the front pocket of his jacket, double checking. “Yep. All set.”
“Cool. Let’s go then.”
*~*~*~*
“You’re serious. It’s really called Midsummer’s Night.”
Trent shrugged. “Don’t ask me, man. Maybe the founders were rabid fans of Shakespeare or something.”
“So where’s this aunt of yours?”
“Look for the hippie with fangs,” Trent said as they elbowed their way through the mass of people at baggage claim, waiting with seeming nonchalance, hoping it wasn’t their bags that had been mistakenly sent to Timbuktu.
Lee let out a sigh of relief when he saw his oversized, dark purple duffle, shortly followed by Trent’s black and yellow bag.
“Trent!” A woman shouted, and the next thing Lee knew his friend was being tackled by a short, slender figure decked out in a rainbow of neon. “You’re here – why was your flight delayed? Was it good otherwise? Hungry? Want to grab a snack before the drive?” She paused to breathe, and noticed Lee.
He tried really hard not to stare at her hair, which was a mess of braids, beads and he thought he saw chopsticks in there somewhere.
“You must be Lee,” the woman said with a bright smile. That more than anything else made it obvious she was related to Trent. “I’m Sally, it’s nice to meet you.” She surged forward in a wave of pink, green, yellow and orange to give him a hug as enthusiastic as the one she’d given Trent. “I’ve heard so much about you, it’s nice to finally have a real face to put to your name.” She winked at him, then motioned for them to follow. “Come on, let’s get out of here. It’s an hour drive back to Midsummer, Lee, so if you’d like a snack before we leave just let me know. I almost forgot to leave the blood out of the stew.” She smiled. “You’d think as often as I drag Petey and Low to dinner that I’d remember to adjust meals to non-vampires.”
Lee shot Trent a dazed look as Sally chattered and rambled on. Trent grinned back, and mouthed ‘Told you So’ as they stepped outside and began trekking through an enormous parking garage.
The house, Lee decided, was very cute. Very small town and country, a nice change from their massive, overstuffed city campus spanning twenty million blocks. A man came out onto the porch as they approached. He looked like a scholar, eyes still heavy with sleep and dark hair rumpled like he’d been dozing on the couch or something.
“This is Jordan,” Sally said, latching onto him. “He’s very nice, I promise.”
“Yeah,” Jordan agree and gave his wife a peck on the cheek. “She’s the scary one. But you probably already figured that out.” He moved down the steps to help with their bags. “Let me get those. How was your flight?”
“Over,” Trent said. “There are days I wish we really could turn into bats.”
“Hey!” Lee protested. “You told me no bad vampire jokes.”
Trent pushed up his glasses, which were forever slipping down his nose, and smirked. “That’s because yours are lame.”
“Go to hell.”
“Don’t have to, at least for another week.”
Sally laughed at them both and led the way into the house. “We set up a second bed upstairs – borrowed it from the Mad Scientist.”
“Mad Scientist?” Lee echoed as they carried their stuff up the stairs.
Trent rolled his eyes “I told you – Aunt Sally’s favorite hobby is harassing the doctor across the street.” He let his stuff drop to the floor with a thud and fell back on an old, beat up day bed. “He’s a sort of doctor for nonhumans, though he treats humans too.”
Sally nodded and went about arranging their bags instead of leaving them in a haphazard pile. “Midsummer is a unique town – the humans are aware of the nonhumans, and we all get along pretty well. Though, saying that, Trent remind me to tell you all about the mayor’s daughter over dinner. You won’t believe what my sister said she did yesterday…” she ushered them out of the room and downstairs to where Jordan had begun serving up dinner. “Do you like pasta, Lee?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Ack! None of that!” Sally made a face. “I’m Sally, he’s Jordan. None of this sir and ma’am stuff; I won’t tolerate it.”
Lee grinned and sat down. “It looks wonderful.” He didn’t stop grinning as the other three at the table added blood from a gravy bowl to their own plates of spaghetti. It should have been a lot weirder or creepier than it was, but too many mornings of Jordan and Kurt, their third roommate, bitching and groaning before their morning fix had rendered it simply amusingly normal.
“So Trent mentioned you were a computer science major. Any job prospects lined up?” Jordan asked, biting into a meatball.
“Wine?” Sally interrupted cheerfully.
“Um, sure,” Lee said, then switched back to Jordan’s question. “No prospects, but I haven’t really looked.” He shrugged. “My sister keeps yelling at me to start.”
“Yeah, no kidding. That last message was a doozy.” Trent grinned at his aunt and uncle. “His sister is his caretaker, and I would swear they’ve got banshee in their blood. Regular demonness, that woman.” He shuddered. “Luckily she never deigns to visit, just leaves Voice Messages of Doom.” He wolfed down a forkful of spaghetti. “Didn’t she threaten to emasculate you this time?”
Lee shrugged. “Probably. I don’t listen to them anymore.” He frowned at his food, displeased to have thoughts of his sister resurrected. Miss Executive who was too elite, too powerful, too beautiful to waste time on the brother ten years her junior and with all the ambition of a housecat. But damn, just reading the emails – which he’d never told Trent about – from her depressed him. How was her life something he was supposed to want.
“Sorry, man,” Trent said, breaking into his thoughts.
“Huh?” Lee looked up and blinked. “Oh, sorry. I didn’t mean to zone.” He smiled apologetically at Sally and Jordan. “I tend to do that when the subject of my sister comes up. We’re not on the best of terms.”
“You don’t have parents?” Sally asked, ignoring the look her husband was sending her.
Lee shook his head. “No, they died in a car accident when I was just a kid. My sister raised me, sort of.” He shrugged. “She’s always been really busy. Right now she’s kind of mad that I’m not using my ‘genius’ to make it big.” He screwed his face up. “How the hell did we get on the subject of my family? Surely there are better things to discuss than that.”
Everyone laughed, and Sally switched to catching everyone up on the latest gossip in town, elaborating on much of it for Lee’s sake. She didn’t stop until the clock chimed four AM. “Oh! Look at the time! Jordan, you should have stopped me.”
“But I was enjoying the story, my dear.” Jordan sipped his wine. “Who would have thought that could be done in a gas station?”
Sally rolled her eyes. “I know. It’s disgraceful.” She beamed at Lee. “Do you like chocolate cake?”
Trent laughed, and didn’t stop until it turned into a groan of pain. “Did you have to kick me in the knee?”
“Yes,” Lee said. He smiled at Sally. “Chocolate cake is one of my favorites.”
Sally clapped her hands and stood up. “Wonderful. I made it myself this morning. Trent, come help me get it.” Together aunt and nephew gathered up the dishes and carried them off; the sound of running water and clinking plates drowning out Sally’s chatter.
“I think it only fair to warn you,” Jordan said, playing with the stem of his wineglass, eyeing Lee over the top of his glasses, “that my wife has decided the two of you need a matchmaker.”
Lee choked. “What?”
“It’s a thing with her.” Jordan shook his head. “Love her as I do, my wife is a horrible schemer. So be on the lookout.”
“Thanks for the warning.” Lee wondered if he could convince Jordan to take him to the airport while the other two were still in the kitchen. “She’s wasting her time.”
Jordan snorted into his wine. “You go ahead and tell her that. See how far it gets you.”
Whatever Lee might have said was prevented as Sally and Trent returned with a three layer chocolate cake. With, Lee could tell, fudge icing. His absolute favorite. He narrowed his eyes at Trent, who shrugged and flapped his hands at Sally. His usual sign for ‘she’s a woman’ as if that explained everything.
Translating, Lee figured Sally must have asked Trent about him. What surprised him was that Trent knew his favorite kind of cake right down to the frosting. This was the same roommate he had to retell his usual pizza order – which hadn’t changed in years – every single time they ordered.
“Thanks,” he said, beaming. Ignoring the voice in his head that reminded him he was supposed to be losing weight, not putting more on. But it was chocolate cake. With fudge frosting.
Sally smiled back. “You’re welcome. It’s seldom I get to do this sort of cooking and have someone appreciate it.”
“She’s a liar,” Jordan said with a grin. “The werewolf does nothing but admire her cooking. The rest of us don’t because otherwise she’d be impossible to live with.”
“So you’ll be sleeping on the porch tonight, darling?” Sally smiled sweetly.
Jordan shook his head. “Never, sweetie. Just think of the mess my ashes would make. I’d hate for you to have to clean all that up.”
“Nonsense. I’d make Trent do it.”
“Fall break,” Trent said as he swallowed a bite of cake. “I don’t do ashes over break. Or cleaning.” He grinned at the look Sally gave him. “Except, you know, the usual ones.”
Sally nodded. “Seconds, anyone?”
Lee made himself refuse. He really needed to cut back on his sweets and junk food. Which was a pity, because Sally knew how to cook.
He started to get up to help with the rest of the dishes, but Sally shooed him back into his seat and made Trent help her. She winked. “You can start helping tomorrow. For now, you still get special treatment.”
“Enjoy it while it lasts!” Trent called over his shoulder, yelping from the kitchen as Sally did something.
Jordan chuckled. “Why not go settle in? I’m sure you two are about ready to fall over. I’m surprised – you seem well adjusted to what must be strange hours for you.”
“Trent and I have been roomies since freshman year. I sort of just picked up his schedule; seemed easier.” It had actually been a huge pain in the ass, since most of his classes were only held during the day. But he’d made it work eventually, and now that he was a senior he only had a handful of independent study and one senior lecture course and everyone was all but dead-asleep in that anyway. Even the professor.
“Well, go settle in.” Jordan stood up. “I’m going to go hide away in my office for a bit. I’m working on building a database for the local libraries – including the schools. You should take a look at it tomorrow, tell me what you think.”
“Sure,” Lee said, excited even if Jordan was just being nice to his nephew’s guest. He started to ask more about it, but was caught unawares by a yawn. Conceding defeat as Jordan laughed, he headed upstairs and started sorting out their things, by habit knowing where Trent would probably want his stuff, putting his own where he could get it without tripping about everywhere.
He’d changed into sweats and a t-shirt when Trent came tromping upstairs, looking horribly confused. “What’s wrong?”
“Huh?” Trent looked at him, stared a moment, then shook his head and looked around the room as if he’d never seen it before. “Nothing. Tired.” And in typical Trent fashion, he stripped down to his boxers and fell into bed, burying himself in blankets. Asleep in seconds, or at least close enough that he wouldn’t move even if daylight abruptly flooded the room.
What the hell? Lee shrugged, turned out the lights, and stubbed his toe before finally climbing into his own bed. It was old, kind of squeaky, but comfortable and smelled like detergent and flower-scented fabric softener.
A few hours later he woke up, a habit so ingrained he’d forgotten what it had been like not to wake up sometime around noon, pick up the blankets on the floor and gently cover Trent back up, brushing strands of hair from Trent’s cheek before climbing back into his own bed.
*~*~*~*
“This is a really cute town.” Lee looked around at all the little shops, the old houses, the cafes with their tables and bright umbrellas. “Like something out of a book. And you said it’s a mix of night creatures and humans?”
“Yep,” Trent said, looking out across Main Street as he spoke. “Like you and me, only lots more people and less smartass. Most people don’t even start showing up ‘til late in the afternoon, and you’ll see all the shop hours are kinda funny. A lot of the people who pass through think this is the weirdest town ever – but a few always hang around and fit right in.”
Lee grinned. “Maybe I should move here someday, since I’m way too used to living with you to go back to day time hours.” It was true. He’d always been a night owl, and other than the pain of fixing his classes, he’d never really missed ‘normal’ hours. Did, in fact, love the abnormal ones. Half the reason he hadn’t worked out post-college plans was that he couldn’t find one that would suit his hours unless he wanted some crappy third shift job.
And, well. Finding a job would be too much like finally admitting he and Trent would be going separate ways. He’d be going off to avoid his sister and be a code-monkey or something, Trent to return to his family and their nightclub business. Maybe he could follow Trent back to the city – but wouldn’t that seem just a trifle pathetic?
“Wouldn’t be a bad place to live, really.” Trent winked. “Just don’t tell my aunt I said that, yeah?”
“I don’t think a nightclub would go over so well here, Trent.” Lee laughed. “Grandmas in leather and fishnet?”
Both smiled and nodded and murmured ‘hello’ to an old woman as they passed, then Trent yanked him into a store, and the cashier stared at them while both men howled with laughter.
“Trent, what are you up to now? You going to bring that aunt of yours screaming and shouting?” Despite his words, the older man – about forty – didn’t look too upset at the thought of being forced to endure the presence of Trent’s aunt.
“No, Mr. Willis.” Trent was still chuckling as they wandered further into the shop, which turned out to be a used book store. “Just laughing at ourselves. How’s life?”
Mr. Willis nodded, as if approving what he’d said. “Just fine. Who’s your partner in crime?”
“This is Lee. Lee, this is Mr. Willis. He owns this store, his wife runs a craft store a bit further down. She makes an awesome pumpkin pie. She’s a selkie, part of Aunt Sally’s knitting circle.”
“Having it at our house, this week.” Mr. Willis snorted. “Nevermind I could knit about as well as any one of them.” He shook his head. “But that’s women for you. Boys looking for anything in particular today?”
Trent shook his head. “Nope, just showing Lee around town.”
Lee barely heard, wandering off to peruse the numerous shelves of books. Some were ancient, locked behind glass affixed with stern warnings written on faded bits of construction paper. Further in the back were shelves of children’s books, so many of them that they were stacked in piles on the floor. Shaking his head, laughing at books he hadn’t seen since he was ten, Lee abandoned the children’s section to hunt down the science fiction.
Nothing was funnier than old science fiction. Except maybe the weird crap girls read.
Turning the corner, Lee all but tripped over a dog, stumbled back, and fell down hard, knocking over a pile of old hardbacks. He blinked at the dog.
Which wasn’t a dog. It looked more like a wolf. A really big one.
Laughter broke into his thoughts, soft and gentle and vastly amused. A hand on his shoulder, and then someone was helping Lee stand up. He stared at a man who looked like an old time doctor, right out of a black and white flick or a history book, right down to the perfectly round spectacles. He even wore a long white coat. “I’m sorry,” the man said. “Low didn’t mean to scare you. Are you all right?”
“Fine,” Lee said absently. “Is that…is he a werewolf?” He hunched down, immediately curious. “I always thought they’d be…different.”
The doctor – what else could he be? – chuckled again. “Do they look different human?”
“No,” Lee replied. “Least, not that I’ve noticed.” He grinned. “So you’re saying if you can’t tell when they’re human, how can you tell when they’re wolf?”
“Precisely.” The doctor smiled, and it made him look younger and far more handsome than he already was. “You’re staying with the bloodsuckers, aren’t you?”
“Bloodsuckers?” Lee stopped petting the werewolf, who had crept closer for precisely that purpose, and stood up.
The doctor smiled. “Yes. They call me names too, never fear. I live across the street, so I’m sure we’ll see each other again.”
Lee nodded, and started to say more, but the doctor and wolf abruptly said goodbye and left. Lee shrugged and went back to examining the bookshelves, finally deciding on three particularly horrible sci-fi novels that he didn’t recognize. One on vampires, complete with requisite lace, breeches, and laser guns.
“Find anything?” Mr. Willis asked with a smile.
Trent darted away to pour over the comic books, and Lee frowned – usually Trent was more than willing to give him hell about the stupid books he bought.
Giving a mental shrug, Lee set his books on the counter and smiled. “Yep. Thanks.”
Mr. Willis rang the books up, the total coming to a little over seventeen. “Call it fifteen, lad.”
“Thanks, again.” Lee handed over the cash, accepted the bag of books, and turned to Trent. “Ready to go?”
“Yeah, sure.” Trent looked up at him, then away, fidgeted with a comic featuring some huge-breasted woman, then shrugged and led the way from the store, barely remembering to call a goodbye as the door chimed closed.
Lee frowned. “What’s wrong with you?”
“Nothing,” Trent said, attempting to stare a hole into the sidewalk as they walked.
“Try again, space cadet.” Lee snickered. “Don’t need a hit, do you?”
“No, mother. And stop comparing me to drug addicts.”
Throwing his head back and laughing in delight, Lee fished his newest prize out of the bright yellow plastic bag. “Did I show you my new book?”
Trent cracked a smile, then rolled his eyes. “Oh, no. I’m not even looking at it. Go take your wacky books somewhere else. You damn humans have got to find a new hobby.”
“But maligning vampires is so much fun,” Lee said, and began to read from the back cover. “’Selkon is a humble space dock worker saving up for his own space ship. Blah blah blah, his world is ruined with the arrival of mysterious blood-sucking aliens desperate for a fresh source to feed their dark, forbidden hunger.’ What do you think?”
Trent gave him the finger. “I’m beginning to see why people burn books. I feel dumber and insulted just by listening to the blurb. Please don’t tell me you’re going to read that?”
“Duh. I need new ways to insult and malign you. Oh, speaking of insults. Met a guy in there that called you guys Bloodsuckers. Said he lived across the street.”
“That’s Peter,” Trent said, stopping abruptly in front of a bakery and café place. “Hungry?”
“Sure.” Lee rolled his eyes at himself. When had he ever turned down food?
“Anyway,” Trent continued after they’d placed their order and sat down. “Peter is the doctor across the street. Only one in town that can treat nonhumans. Did you meet Lowell? I still don’t know him that well, but he seems pretty cool. About our age.”
“Is that the werewolf?”
“Yep,” Trent said. “He’s kinda cute. Aunt Sally likes to give them both hell, but she goes all girly and cooey about how cute and perfect for each other they are.” He stopped suddenly, and gave Lee a strange look, then shook his head. “Anyway. Aunt Sally and Peter always get into it, they’re hilarious.” He started to say something else, but was interrupted when their number was called. “I’ll get it,” he muttered.
Lee watched as Trent grabbed their food, smirking as the woman started flirting with him. Whatever she said actually flustered Trent, and Lee smirked when he sat back down. “Was she trying to score a hot date or something?”
“What?” Trent gave him a puzzled look.
“The woman at the counter. She looked like she was hitting on you hardcore.”
Trent shook his head. “Nope. Just being a busybody.”
“Ah,” Lee said, confused. When Trent clammed up, there was no point in trying to coax it out of him. The only options were to let him stew and talk in his own time – or drove him insane until he explained. “Wants to know what happened to the usual hot dates you bring along? Was she wondering why I wasn’t in leather?”
“Shut up.”
That was progress. “So what are the general guidelines for dating outside your species? My sister would blow a gasket if I started dating a cow or a head of lettuce.”
“You ask the dumbest questions,” Trent said.
“Dude, you eat, drink, whatever human blood. Tell me how that’s not like I suddenly went out and asked Daisy the Cow if she’d like to go to the movies.” He bit into a piece of buttered roll. “Come to think of it, I can’t believe I don’t have any books on the subject. You’d think I would, hmmm…may have to go back to that bookstore.”
Trent rolled his eyes. “Please, dear god, no. It’s bad enough you’re probably going to lay in bed and read that other monstrosity aloud tonight.”
“It’s no wonder we humans make shit up. You real vampires are so…so…”
“Normal?”
“Boring.”
“It’s a survival tactic,” Trent said, throwing a wadded up paper napkin at him. “Even in Neon Blood, the only idiots acting like ‘vampires’ are stupid humans. The vampires all sit at the bar and try not to laugh while they sip their Bloody Marys.”
Lee made a face. “I hate those drinks.” He threw the napkin back. “So you’re boring and have no taste in alcohol. Which, where you’re concerned, goes right with your lousy taste in men.”
And there Trent went, all the way back to confused and gloomy. “Yeah.”
“What? Don’t tell me you’ve been mooning over asshole number nine all day. Don’t make me start reading the vampire book now.”
Trent shook his head, and replied with a distracted, “Shut up.”
“Man, what the hell is wrong with you?”
“Nothing.” Trent stared at his half-eaten meal, then got up and threw it away. “Ready to head back?”
Lee frowned. “Yeah, sure. Why the hell not?” If Trent was going to be such a spazz, there wasn’t much point in doing anything else.
They drove back in silence, and Lee didn’t notice until they were inside that the house was way too dark.
Trent muttered something under his breath and vanished into the kitchen – then came crashing out in a storm of curses and other words that Lee couldn’t understand until he drew closer. “I fucking giving up. Railroaded. Harassed. Fucking cooed at all damn day.” He stopped in front of Lee. “This is all your fault.”
“I’m going to hazard that it’s not,” Lee replied. “So fuck you.”
For reply, Trent simply started laughing. Lee used the chance to snatch the piece of paper Trent was holding away. Went out for dinner and movie with friends. Back late. You boys have fun, but don’t get arrested please. Don’t mess up my house either. Dinner’s in the oven. Love, Sally.
“I’m so going to kill her,” Trent said. “I told her to knock it off, but Jordan was right – she’s directly descended from Eve, disobedience and all.”
Lee winced, realization dawning. “So he wasn’t joking about the whole matchmaking thing?”
“You know what’s funny? I’ve brought three or four boyfriends along and no one said more than they had to. I bring a friend, and people are damn near asking when the wedding is.” Trent glared at him. “Every. Single. Person. I’ve talked to today has not shut up about what a cute couple we are, and how long have we been dating, and it’s about time I found a good one, and how did I get so lucky, and why didn’t I bring you home sooner – never mind this isn’t home! – and I can’t even blame it all on Aunt Sally.” The glare grew worse. “They all just seem to think you’re the most perfect boyfriend ever for me. I’m pretty sure Ms. Greene from the bakery is already talking over what to make for our wedding reception.”
Lee wished he could think of something to say. Unfortunately, all his clever remarks seemed to have flown the coop. “I’m sorry?” Then everything began to sink in. “Is it that terrifying a thought? I know you’ve never looked twice at me, and that I’m kind of chubby, but I didn’t think the idea of dating me was enough to induce a full-fledge panic attack.” Suddenly wishing more than ever that he’d never come along, that he’d just stayed safe and sound behind his computer, and that something bad would happen to Sally, Lee shoved past Trent and made a beeline for the stairs.
He hadn’t realized words could hurt so much. Sure, he’d always known he didn't stand a chance but…
“God damn it, Lee! Would you stop a minute!” Trent’s hand landed on his shoulder, surprisingly strong, and Lee almost laughed as his thoughts went immediately to the old myth that vampires had super human strength.
“What?” Lee said, whirling around. “There’s nothing left to say,” he said, speaking bitterly to a colorful painting of a woman in a field of flowers. “I’m sorry for all the inadvertent trouble.”
Trent muttered a curse and let him go, speaking to the opposite wall. “I didn’t mean it like that. I mean I suck enough at having a love life that it’s driving me crazy everyone is meddling in it. And I don’t think you’d be a bad idea for a boyfriend either – it just annoys me that I needed a whole goddamn town to point it out to me.” Lee could see Trent turn to look at him from the corner of his eye. “You’re not that chubby. It’s kinda cute. Just lay off the chocolate cake if it bothers you that much.”
“Like that’ll ever happen,” Lee said, managing a weak smile. He dared a glance, and found it was hard to look away. “And don’t get too upset – you’ve always been a fucking idiot where your love life was concerned.”
Trent stepped forward, surprising him into taking a step back. Lee caught the edge of the hallway rug, tripped backward – only to be caught and hauled forward. “I guess I am,” Trent said, not letting him go. “Nine assholes in four years, and apparently I’ve been living with Mr. Perfect the whole goddamn time.” He closed his eyes and shook his head. “Aunt Sally is going to gloat and gloat and gloat over this.” Then he sighed, grinned, and Lee suddenly found himself being kissed.
He’d watched, one night, out the window of their crappy sophomore dorm room as Trent kissed asshole number two goodnight. It had been a living hell, because watching Trent kiss someone gave his imagination way too much to work with. In the end, he figured he was better off being just the friend, because he wasn’t sure he’d survive being more.
And he was right. Kissing Trent was devastating. He tasted like the turkey club he’d gotten at the bakery, and the strawberry pastry he’d picked at before throwing his food out, and just the faintest bit coppery. He could also feel the fangs, but they seemed familiar and right. “Trent.”
“God damn, Lee.” Trent braced one arm over his head, against the wall Lee suddenly realized he was pressed against. “Why the hell are you single?”
Lee laughed, arms locking firmly around Trent’s waist – if he was this close to what he wanted, he wasn’t going to let go that easily. “I’ve been too busy mooning over my roommate to accept any offers.”
“Your roommate is a fucking idiot. I really wouldn’t waste time on him.” Trent ran a hand along his cheek, up into his hair, tilting Lee’s head to take another kiss. “Definitely should find someone less stupid.”
“Too late, I think. Rather fond of the bastard.”
Trent’s face softened, and he brushed his lips whisper soft against Lee’s. “Yeah?”
“Yeah,” Lee said, terrified and relieved to finally admit it.
Trent smiled against his mouth. “Want to make popcorn and watch some of those stupid vampire movies I know you brought with you?”
“Sure,” Lee said. “You sure it won’t turn you into an evil, seductive bloodthirsty monster or something? To see how you should really behave?”
“Not so much evil and bloodsucking, but no promises on the whole seductive thing.”
“I suppose I can live with that.”
