Emilee

Dear Jane,
I failed my maths test, I’m sure of it. He was on my mind way too much for me to be thinking of algebra. Way too much. I know he can read my mind – as silly as that sounds – but I couldn’t help thinking of him. It’s as if he is my mind now. He’s all that exists up there.

I stared out my window and into Max’s room. There he was, playing bass again. Maybe he can only read my thoughts when he’s close, or when he’s concentrating. There had to be some kinda way of him organising what thoughts belonged to who. I frowned, my mind lost in bliss as I concentrated.

Hopefully he doesn’t read me all the time. Some of my thoughts are pretty...girlie. They’re meant for my mind only, hence why I don’t go telling them to everyone, or anyone in fact. No one knows I like Max.

I glanced over at my clock. 6:48pm. It was getting darker outside. Streetlights were beginning to glow orange all the way down the street and around the corner, out of my sight. A shadow appeared at the corner of the house down the end. It was barely a blur, but it was there. I glanced back over to Max’s window to find that he wasn’t there. I jumped half the distance of my room as his head appeared at the bottom of my window. “Can’t you use the door!?” I asked, still in shock.

“Yes...But then it’s not different,” he said. “You like different.” His tongue flickered over his lip ring. He had me there. “I’ll be back at about 10 okay? I’ve got an...issue...to sort with Craig.” I nodded. He disappeared as quickly as he’d appeared. The shadow on the corner of the street was soon joined by another.

Maybe no one ever will.
Emilee.

9:59 and I was almost tempted to take up biting my nails again. Whilst I was left to wait for Max, I went downstairs to talk school gossip with my mum. She loved to hear all the scandals my grade got up to. There wasn’t a lot, but I exaggerated everything for her. The clock numbers rolled over to 10:00, and a shadow climbed through my window. Max quietly collapsed to the floor. Was he...okay? “Max?” I called. He didn’t reply, his motionless body began to scare me. I walked cautiously over to him, seeing the wide smile plastered right across his face in an instant. I kicked him in the ribs...hard.

“Ouch!” he yelped. “Just cos I’m a vampire doesn’t mean I don’t feel the pain I can’t receive!” I lost him. “What?” he asked.

“Never mind, you just confused me,” I said. “Nothing different.”

“Put a CD on, I wanna know what music you like.” He walked over to my CD player and pressed play. I had a random mix CD in there. ‘The Beautiful People’ by Marilyn Manson began to play. Max nodded in approval. “Nice.” I smiled at him. I sat down on the floor, leaning against my bed for support. Max joined me, sitting directly beside me. We talked about our favourite bands, songs, music genres...everything music, for quite a while. We both had a good taste in music, although there were a few bands either of us didn’t know. ‘Take On Me’ by Ah-A suddenly began playing.

“You didn’t mention you were a fan of 80’s music,” Max smirked at me. I blushed. It was kinda embarrassing, considering the other bands I liked were so different. “It’s cool, I’ll let it slide. I actually like this song.” Max began to mime the lyrics to the song, pulling stupid faces at the same time.

“You’re adorable.” I immediately clamped my hands over my mouth. Shit, what made me say that!?

“It’s okay, mind reader, remember?” he said, laughing slightly at my silliness. I blushed. “You’re adorable too.” He lifted his hand to brush his fingertips against my cheek and under my chin, where they lingered for a little longer than the last time he’d touched my face. Gently, he pulled my face closer towards his. Gently, his lips touched mine in a cold fire as our eyes slowly slid closed. I felt like I was burning. Even his cold lips couldn’t cool down the fire in my veins. I could feel his shallow breathes against my left cheek. They were so steady and calm. My breathing was way outta time, stopping altogether once I felt his cool tongue slide along my bottom lip. Without any warning, Max quickly pulled away from me and distanced himself. I was speechless, he still had my lips controlled.

“I’m sorry, I almost bit you,” he said shyly. I was still too intoxicated by the kiss to care. I’ve kissed a few boys over the past 3 or so years, but hands down, that was the best of them all.

“I don’t care,” I said softly.

“You should...” Max looked as if he pitied me for a second. “You need to look after yourself for when I can’t. You’ve gotta save yourself from me Emilee.”

“You say that as if you’re dangerous.” Max looked away from my face.

“I am,” he whispered. “I’m the biggest threat to your health at the moment.” I thought I saw a tear fall from his face, but he turned his head away from me more so I couldn’t be sure. He wiped his face with the back of his sleeve. “I don’t wanna hurt you,” he croaked.

“You won’t.” I could trust him, both with my heart and my soul. It pained me to see him now crying right beside me. I hugged him tight. He didn’t push me away so I assumed it was okay.

“That’s what Anna thought about Ronnie...” Max whispered, almost so low that I couldn’t hear him.

“Who are Anna and Ronnie?” I asked.

“That’s a story for another time,” Max said gravely. I nodded in understanding. Max and I continued to hug for a long time until he pushed away from me and stood up. Was he leaving now? I didn’t want him to go. He began to head for my window, but turned back around half way. “Emilee, can I stay here tonight?” he asked pleadingly. I immediately thought of how much trouble I’d be in if my parents caught him in my room. They didn’t know he’d ever come here. If they did... “I’ll be gone before you wake up. Your parents will never know, I promise.” I gave into him.

“Sure,” I said, smiling wide. “But where will you sleep?”

“Anywhere. The floor, your beanbag...your bed...” Max smirked across the room at me. He began to stalk closer to me, cornering me. “I saw one of your dreams last night...” I felt my eyes widen and my breathing come to a halt. I knew what one he was talking about... “It was very...interesting.” He licked his lips. His lip ring shimmered from the light.

“It’s just a silly dream,” I managed to say.

“Ohh, so you’re saying that the whole idea of it is silly?” Max questioned. He was playing with me. He knew I was gonna lie.

“Yea, of course. I can’t help what I dream, can I?” I said innocently.

“But if you could, you’d dream it again.” He looked at me knowingly. Defeated. “What’s so hot about doing a vampire?” I choked on the air I was breathing as he blurted it out.

“Can we not talk about this?” I pleaded.

“We’ve started now, may as well finish,” he said. “It’s just a simple question.” I wondered if he knew how innocent I was. Something flashed over his face, and he stopped grinning at me. “Sorry, I didn’t...I assumed...”

“That’s okay.” I smiled, thankful he’d dropped the conversation. “Turn around so I can change, okay?” Max did as I asked and turned around. I got changed quickly and cautiously, and then hopped straight into bed before I was embarrassed by my pyjamas again. “Done.” He turned back around to face me.

“Lights out?” he asked. I nodded. He flicked the switch and my room went pitch black. I could faintly see his outline in the dark. It looked like he was...stripping. “I can’t sleep in jeans,” he said.

“Why are you taking your top off too?” I blushed. I was glad it was dark, but I wanted to see.

“For you,” he said. I could hear the smirk in his voice. He walked over towards me and leaned down, moving my hair out of my face to softly kiss my forehead. I shoved over and flipped the covers over, hinting for him to join me. If he tried anything, he was out I said to myself. I knew he’d heard it too. “Thanks.” He crawled under the covers of my warm bed and wrapped an arm around my waist. I turned to face him. He started to place delicate kisses along the top of my shoulder and across my jaw and neck. I’d never get to sleep if my mind already thought I was dreaming. The coolness of his lips left the crook of my neck where they’d been lingering and drifted across and over to my lips. He placed a few short, sweet kisses on my lips, before his kisses got longer and hotter. Again, I could feel his tongue begging to intrude and dance with my own. He pressed himself closer to me, and I couldn’t help myself. My hands glided up to his bare chest. It was cold and hard, like dry ice. His kisses began to dwindle and after a while, he’d put a small distance between us. They finally stopped and he replaced them with his fingers as they traced circular patterns over my skin in various places. “Goodnight,” he whispered into my ear. His candy voice relaxed me.

“Night Max.” I snuggled up into his chest.

“I love you.” He snuggled back into mine.