cherishing, those feelings pleasuring

I cracked a smile, nodding my head when Lune accepted my offer. This would be a change of pace for me—I never really invited anyone into one of my living spaces. Especially someone as breathtaking as Lune. “Take your time,” I grinned, watching as she headed back into the kitchen. Throwing on my jacket, I pulled some money out of my wallet and left it where we had been sitting—enough to cover our drinks plus a decent tip for Lora. She was a sweet girl, she deserved it. I walked over to the door and leaned against it as I patiently waited for Lune to head back my way.

While I waited for Lune, I thought about what I was about to do. Sure, I had hooked up with tons of women before. But this was different. Those women I usually used for a quick fuck and then dinner. But I could NEVER do that to Lune. As cheesy as it sounded. I felt the urge to protect her as soon as I met her. And I would do just that. Just then, Lune appeared behind me and announced herself. “Ready to go? Let’s roll, then.”

"I am ready." I smiled and followed Matt out into the cold winter night. Flurries were swarming the air, warning of a harsher weather to come, "Wanna maybe grab some take out somewhere? I doubt once we get into your apartment, we'll wanna come back out. It might start a blizzard." I looked up at the sky, thinking of how nice it would be to be snuggled up inside a warm apartment with some bourbon and hot Chinese food.

"Is your room in walking distance, or should we hail a cab?" I looked up at him, he was breathtaking with the snow falling around him. His pale skin complimented the weather so nicely. I doubted I had ever seen a man more appealing than Matt, because I could never remember being quite this enamored, so quickly.

“Yeah, let’s go grab some food before we head to my room. Don’t wanna be trapped with nothing to eat,” I joked, slinging an arm around Lune as we began walking toward my room. “It’s not that far from here. About fifteen minutes or so. There’s a Chinese restaurant right next to the hotel. They’ve got some pretty good General Tso.” We settled into a comfortable silence, me enjoying the fact that I wasn’t going to fall asleep alone for the first time in a long time. One of the common misconceptions about vampires, thanks to much of the media and the bullshit fiction that’s been published, is that we don’t need sleep. We’re just like regular humans—save for the fact that food and water aren’t necessary for our survival. Sure, it’s nice to eat and drink something other than blood every now and again, but we won’t die if we don’t have it.

A few minutes later, we reached the restaurant. I pulled out my wallet as we walked in, me opening the door for Lune. “Order whatever you like.”

I just ordered a bourbon chicken dinner, without the vegetables because I liked that if you did it that way, they'd give you a heap load of rice to fill up the rest of the container. I could've paid for it myself, but Matt was so quick to pull out his wallet, I didn't argue. I knew it made some men feel good, and it was kind of attractive that he didn't care to pay for me.

He wasn't lying when he said that his apartment was close, and right by the Chinese place. It didn't take us five minutes to get over to it. He let us in and the first thing I noticed that it was the smallest motel room I had ever been in. My small apartment crushed it in size. It made me feel bad, no one deserved to be homeless, especially not someone as talented as Matt.

I sat my food down on his bed and took of my jacket, hanging my purse on the coat rack and pulling out the bourbon. "Lora gave me this to keep the party going." I laughed.

“Home sweet home,” I spoke as I opened the door to my hotel room, dropping the key in my jacket pocket before hanging it up. “It’s not much, but it’s better than sleeping outside.” A laugh left my lips as I double checked to make sure the door was locked. Now that I wasn’t in the motel room alone, I was keenly aware of how tiny it was. But Lune, bless her heart, didn’t let on that she minded—if she did at all.

When she pulled out the bottle of bourbon, I laughed again. “Lora definitely seems like someone I wanna be friends with even outside of the bar. Not quite as amazing as you, but…” I joked, shrugging slightly before setting up our dinner on the little table in the corner.

"Yeah, she's pretty rad. Hooks me up all the time." I laughed, making fun of how little I made at the bar, so little I couldn't even afford alcohol. I sat it on the table along with our dinner, kicking my shoes off and placing them by the door. "I'm going to go use the bathroom real quick." I excused myself and shut the bathroom door behind me. I really only came in here to check my face, making sure the cold weather outside hadn't made my foundation crack or do anything funny on my face. Everything looked good, thankfully, just a few misplaced hairs.

I looked around the small bathroom, turning on the hot water to just try and warm up my cold hands. I was surprised by the shower, it was so large for such a small apartment... I peeked behind the curtains and let my eyebrows knit together as I saw some red, coagulated blood sticking around the drain. I leaned down to further inspect it without touching it, and I could just sense the metallic taste in my mouth. I shot up and felt my stomach sink. Maybe he just cut himself shaving or something... I tried to convince myself.

But what man shaved in the shower?? How hard would you have to nick yourself for there to be enough left over blood to congeal? I slowly opened the bathroom door after shutting off the water, and coming out of the bathroom, looking like I had just seen a ghost. He couldn't be... like a murderer or something? He was so charming and had such a good personality... but didn't all the serial killers on those documentary shows?

I looked up as Lune left the bathroom, and instantly I could tell that something wasn’t right. She was several shades paler than normal, and she looked like she was about to be sick. “Is everything okay?” Standing up, I started racking my brains to try and figure out what Lune could have possibly seen in my bathroom to make her freak out this bad. Fuck, I thought to myself, realization hitting me like a ton of bricks. The shower! I must have forgotten to clean around the drain after my last meal. How the hell was I gonna explain my way out of this one? I really liked Lune a ton, so I didn’t want her to run screaming from the room.

“Wait, I know. Ugh, that’s embarrassing. I pretty much brush my teeth and shave in the shower—saves time, really. I was in a big hurry to get ready to get to the bar, I didn’t really put my razor back where it was supposed to go and I tripped over it and sliced my fuckin’. I was already running late so I didn’t really have a chance to scrub the shower clean. Kinda looks like a crime scene, doesn’t it?” I laughed, running a hand through my hair. Hopefully, the gods would be on my side and Lune bought that story.

There’s no way in hell she would believe the truth, either.

Matt was so quick to explain that it almost put me off more. Just because I looked like something was wrong, didn't necessarily mean it was because I saw the blood in his bathtub. He was so quick to jump straight to it, barely asking me what was wrong. Immediately defending himself over it made him look immediately guilty for something. Instead of questioning him, though, I just raised my hand and shook his worry away. I was a good liar, and a good pretender. "There was blood in your shower? I didn't see any, I just think the drinks from earlier are making me a little nauseous, the Chinese food will probably make me feel better." I forced out a small laugh and sat down at his table, trying to pretend like nothing was wrong.

He probably is telling the truth, what else could it be? There's no way he could be murdering people in this motel room without someone hearing... I forced myself to believe what he said, but then again, I realized that he wasn't shaved. This man had be doning a scruffy beard ever since I saw him for the first time the other night. Another hole in story, he hadn't been shaving his face! My hands were trembling as I opened the container of Chinese food and began to pick up a heap of rice on my fork, hoping eating would make me feel a little more calm. Food could fix everything, right?

My excuse was perfect-- or so I thought, because soon after I spoke, I realized that I hadn't shaved in about a week, and there was a shadow of a beard on my face. Jesus Christ, this was starting to unravel a lot quicker than I thought it would. I ran a hand through my hair before sitting down across from Lune, doing my best to act like nothing was wrong. "This looks pretty good-- but then again this place is the bomb. I get takeout from there about two or three times a week." A sigh left my lips and I dug into my rice, thankful for the distraction. Hopefully, once we cracked open the bottle of Bourbon, we'd go through enough of it and I could convince her in the morning that she'd been dreaming. Or something like that. I was pretty much grasping at straws at this point.

"I propose a toast," I spoke, gently grabbing the bottle and twisting the cap off. "To the future, and being in flawless company." With a smile, I passed Lune the bottle so she could take the first sip. I might have been a freak of nature, but I was still a gentleman, dammit.

I was almost over joyed that Matt already wanted to break into the alcohol. That would definitely help dull my senses and calm my nerves down. "Damn right." I took the bottle from his hands and took a swig, feeling the burning immediately as the bourbon washed down my throat.

There had to be some good reason to the blood in the bottom of his shower. Perhaps he was shaving somewhere else on his body and he didn't mean his beard. Maybe he kept downstairs nice and tidy, just didn't want to bring that into the conversation. I pushed the thought from my mind and began to dig in to my Chinese, practically starving. "Thanks for buying dinner." I smiled, looking up at Matt, practically getting lost into his eyes once again.

Lune's smile practically made me weak in the knees, and I returned one in her direction. "You're welcome-- it's really no problem at all. Just what a gentleman does." I spoke, giving Lune's hand a squeeze before sipping the liquor once more. This was some pretty good stuff, if I was being completely honest. "Remind me to thank Lora for sneaking that for us... shit is top notch." A chuckle left my lips as I turned my attention back to my sesame chicken and rice, sneaking glances as Lune every so often.

Christ almighty, she was beautiful. Just her presence made the little shithole I currently occupied a little brighter, a little less... I couldn't quite place my finger on it, but god damn did I enjoy it. "And as weird as this sounds, thanks for coming back here with me. Aside from performing I'm not really all that much of a social person."

I took another large sip of the liquor after Matt was done with it. I needed it after trying to convince myself that was nothing to be fearful of. "I'll let her know, I promise." I chuckled, mixing my rice around with my small plastic fork. "I'm not much of a social person either, besides the bar I never really see much of people... All I have is a cat to keep my company, and besides Lora at the bar, no other friends besides that." I tried to laugh to lighten the mood of what I was saying, but it was still difficult too.

"So, I'm glad I came to, because if I didn't, I'd probably just be eating celery with peanut butter out of the jar on my cat fur covered couch." I smiled and took a big bite of rice.

I chuckled slightly, knowing where Lune was coming from. It was an awful thing sometimes, loneliness. Even though people were my main food source, I still ached for companionship. I gratefully accepted the bottle from Lune again when she was finished, taking a swallow before setting it down on the table. "A cat, huh? It's been so long since I've had a pet. I travel around so much, it wouldn't be fair to an animal, you know?" I mused, taking another bite of my chicken.

It was true-- I loved animals. This was the longest in my existence that I'd gone without some sort of pet. Now that I was considering settling here, maybe another pet wouldn't be so bad of an idea.

I couldn't remember how many sips of the bottle I had taken, or how many shots that would accumulate to, but I was beginning to feel light headed and like my body was turning to jello. It was a good feeling though, I was finally beginning to relax. I took a few more bites of the Chinese food and looked back up at Matt. "I don't know what I would do without some sort of animal around." I chuckled, not sure if my words were slurring together yet or not. "I've had my cat for about three years now, I used to have a dog but I left him back home with my brother because he loved him to much..." When I got drunk, I became overly talkative.

Standing up, I shut the container of food and went over to his bed and sat down on it. The walk over felt like I was gliding on air. "I've probably had enough of to drink," I laughed, "So where are you from? Do you have any family somewhere? Or a girlfriend?" Drunk me was probably a lot more entertaining than sober me. Drunk me had question after question and was completely curious. I was sure he probably didn't have a girlfriend, as he said he did nothing but travel around, but who knows. He could've left someone behind.

"Family pretty much doesn't exist... that's a whole other can of worms." I spoke, taking one final sip from the bottle before capping it. "And as for a girlfriend, I haven't had one of those in about what? Three years?" In truth, it had been a lot longer than that. I was briefly engaged to a girl before I turned, but she bolted for the hills once she saw what I had become. "What about you, Miss Lune? What happened to the last guy who was crazy enough to let you go?" I listened intently as Lune spoke, nodding in all the right spots.

Whoever was dumb enough to let Lune get through their grasp, I pitied them. I just hoped that I didn't suffer the same fate, if she ever found out what I truly was.

I didn't know why I was so surprised by him reiterating my question back to me. I guess I didn't think he'd be to interested in my own past relationship endeavors... I didn't like thinking about Jackson, I chose not to if I could, but with the alcohol in my system... It was giving me the nerve to let it all come out.

Keep it simple, he didn't give you details... I could barely hear my own inner monologue, but I decided to follow it. "He cheated on me..." I looked up at Matt from his bed, wanting nothing more than to just sink down into it and become one with the covers and sheets, to disappear. I'm sure no one likes to think about their one love, who hurt them in multiple ways and left. "I kicked him out." I shrugged slightly, trying not to act like I was to hurt over it. Jackson was a douche, I liked to tell myself that I deserved better.

I frowned as I threw my now empty food container in the garbage. How the fuck could someone cheat on Lune? How could anyone cheat on anyone? That was one of the fucking worst things you could do to someone, in my opinion. Not that it held much merit, but still. "Good on you. His loss, guy sounds like a total prick." At this point, I moved to sit on the edge of the bed and rest my hand on Lune's knee, offering her some sort of support. "I know what it's like to have your heart broken like that... Definitely not the most fun feeling in the world."

A soft sigh left my lips, and I moved to stretch out. "It's not the comfiest mattress in the world, but it beats sleeping on the street. Plus, you're here." A small smile made its way onto my face.