This Must be Fiction

The first thing I did when I woke up was run to the bathroom and expel the contents of my stomach. I glued myself to the bathroom floor for the better part of an hour before I heard a knock.

"Are you alright?" His velvety voice rang from the other side of the door. I tried desperately to tell Ville an answer, but I was scared to open my mouth in fear of vomiting again. I crawled to the door and opened it, letting him come in. I crawled back to my post at the base of the toilet.

"I told you that you shouldn't have drank so much last night." He said, taking a seat next to me. I wanted to yell at him and tell him that it was mostly his fault, but I still didn't want to risk vomiting.

Ville wet a washcloth and dabbed it under my eyes and on my forehead.

"Would you like a glass of water?"

I nodded. He was gone and back in a flash with ice water. I grumbled, and took a large gulp gratefully.

"thanks." I whispered with a raspy voice. He sat down next to me and started rubbing my back.

"Do you remember last night at all?" Ville asked. I looked at him, remembering almost all of it, but didn't know how to answer. I didn't want to tell him that I remembered coming on to him, crying about it, and then him kissing me to make it better.

"Not a bit." I shook my head and leaned over the toilet, preparing myself for the water coming back up.

Ville sat with me for the next half hour as I breathed heavily over the toilet, but didn't have anything else in my stomach to get rid of. He didn't speak, and I'm glad for it. He gently scooped from the floor after I looked at him with despair, and brought me back to the bed.

"So do you just want to stay in tonight then?" He asked as he pulled a chair up next to the bed.

I took a gulp of water and tossed him the remote. "I don't know. I'll feel better in like two hours, I think, we can go out. I've been more hungover before."

"Well we could always just stay in because we want to." He said. I thought about it for a second, and how much I'd like alone time in a hotel room with Ville, but then thought better of it.

"What would be the point in coming all the way to California if we were just going to sit around in a hotel room?" I questioned.

"There we have it then. So what's our plan? Another club?" He asked. I rolled my eyes at him and flipped myself over so I was face-down in a pillow.

"You're an idiot!" I yelled into it. My stomach was tense again and I considered running to the bathroom again, but the pain left in a few seconds. I sat up and looked at him, wondering what else we could possibly do without spending much money.

"Let's...hmm.. I don't know." I pulled the blanket up to my chin and sunk down into the bed.

"We could... just walk around? Go back to the beach? Do something productive?" He suggested.

"Sure. But right now I need a nap." I sank deeply into the depths of the covers and listened to the quiet voices on the television.

"What me to turn the TV off?" Ville asked.
"No I like the noise." I said. The other side of the bed dipped as Ville climbed on top of the covers and over to me.

"Mind if I join you?" He asked. I didn't answer, I was already half asleep. Ville's arm rested gently around my waist as I drifted quickly into a dreamless nap.

I woke up feeling better than before, well enough to shower and get dressed. Stepping out of the shower I suddenly realized I had no clean clothes.

"Fuuuuck." I groaned as I opened the bathroom door, wrapped in a towel.

"Hmm?" Ville hummed, not looking up from the newspaper he was reading.

"I'm out of clean clothes." I grabbed my bag and unzipped it.

"I did laundry for you while you were sleeping. You're welcome." He smirked. I changed as quickly as possible into some comfortable clothes and then ran to Ville and sat on his lap while I hugged him. His arms were wrapped tight around me and we felt so right together.
This was a natural feeling for me. If I didn't ever have to leave this position, I wouldn't.

"You're too good to me." I kind of joked. Ville's body vibrated as he laughed and pull away from our hug. I was still on his lap.

"I know." He paused. "Listen, I have to go out for a little bit today and run around with Kat for a bit, I told her we'd have lunch and there's some people from L.A. I've been meaning to talk to, do you mind if I'm gone for a few hours?" He asked. My eyes grazed over his face questioningly at first, but then I realized my questioning eyes were just me being insecure about Ville and I's friendship, and I nodded.

"Naw not a problem, I haven't had alone time in a while and I just bought a new book, it'd be good to read for a bit."

"Great! I won't be long, and we can still go out when I get back. Enjoy your book." He said as he picked me up from his lap and replaced me on the chair once he was standing. His cool lips pressed gently on the top of my head and he ruffled my hair before walking out the door.

After I heard the soft click of the automatic door lock I threw my head back and groaned out loud. His lips in my hair brought my thoughts back to last night and how he kissed me for a brief moment.

"Ughh!" I yelled and stood up in order to pace the room. I was feeling too anxious to just sit and watch TV. What was I feeling for Ville? Obviously I was attracted to him, but that didn't really mean anything, any girl with eyes was attracted to Ville. But there was this feeling in the pit of my stomach that didn't sit well with me. It was a sinking feeling, and it made me squirm when I concentrated on it. It only happened when I thought about Ville. Was it fear? Concern? Love?

I walked around the hotel room for a few minutes considering all of these emotions, lingering on the latter for a long while. It couldn't be love, could it? We've known each other barely a few days, and despite the fact that we had grown so close in that little amount of time, it didn't make me believe I loved Ville. I mean, I loved Ville as a beloved friend, like a relative, but love... real love? Well, I had never felt that emotion towards anyone before, so how was I to know what it really felt like? I shook my head and planted myself in the chair, head in my hands. No, I didn't love him, but I was on a dangerous path with Ville. Wherever we were headed I was not sure, but I had a feeling Ville knew.

I needed to clear my head for a while. Stop thinking about the silly crush I had on Ville. I glanced towards the leather-bound novel staring at me, taunting me. I re-read the cover page, it made me shiver. I knew it was probably written by some weird guy still living in his mom's basement, but something about the book spoke to me.

The first were few chapters were boring, describing old vampire myths, movies, typical vampire associations. Nothing I couldn't figure out from watching Dracula. But then the book got interesting. And by interesting I mean it was still dreadfully boring, but something seemed relevant to my life. The hairs on my arm stood up and my stomach dropped.

"...skin so chilling it shakes you to your core. A touch like ice, no warmth in breath, skin, blood. Only warmed by the touch of a human, making their attraction more definite. Friction caused by a vampire and human only creates a lust for blood. Both parties crave more interaction, but only one craves the life of the other."

This section reminded me of the dancing Ville and I had done at the club last night. We were so close, my body heat raised his a few degrees, and after that moment he seemed more intrigued. But I shook my head at the thought, Ville wasn't a vampire, he had some sort of blood condition.

...But what if he was? It would make sense. I've never actually seen him eat anything. I've clearly seen him drink, but never eat. When did he? Sure, he was skinny, but I didn't think he was anorexic or anything.

And he was cold. Really cold. But he had an explanation for that. I could believe that. But Kat was cold too. Almost the same temperature as Ville. And she was so shockingly beautiful that it seemed almost unreal that she could look like that.

OK, I was definitely taking things too far. The stupid book had my head reeling about pointless things, none of which were relevant. I was just obsessing over Ville because of the feeling in the pit of my stomach. There was no logic behind my insane behavior. I threw the book into my bag and layed down on the bed again, fully prepared for another nap.

Ville shook me gently to wake me up. I looked at him, sweating.

"Sweetie you were yelling in your sleep. Are you ok?" he asked. I looked down at his hand on my leg and wiped the beads of perspiration from my forehead.

"No. I don't know. I think so. I don't even remember what I was dreaming about." I said. Quick flashes of my dream came back, all of which involved Ville with blood dripping from his mouth. I moved my leg away from his hand and sat forward on the bed.

"Want some water?"

"No, no. I'm fine." I walked into the bathroom and splashed some cold water on my face. Ok, so, I was never reading that book again. It was so idiotic of me to buy it, what a waste of money.

He knocked on the door.

"Are you sure you're ok? You're acting really strange." He cracked open the door and peaked in at my flushed face. He cautiously approached me and put a palm to my cheek, instantly cooling me.

"I think I'm getting sick. Or going insane. Either way..." I trailed off. He giggled at my off behavior and walked out of the bathroom. I followed.

"How um... how was your... whatever you were doing?" I spoke awkwardly. My head didn't feel right.

"Good. Kat and I caught up on some things, I met up with a few friends that I haven't seen in a few months. It was good. How are you feeling?"

We both sat on the bed, and he placed his soft palm on my face. I breathed a sigh of relief as his skin once again cooled me. But, with the sigh of relief also came a memory of the passage in the book. He was abnormally cold.

"I don't know. I feel really warm but not really sick or anything."

There was a silence.

"So what book are you reading?" Ville asked as I saw his eyes glance over to my bag. The tattered corner of the book was sticking out from the zipper and I felt the need to run and throw the book out the window.

"Oh nothing good. It's really boring. I stopped reading it after a few chapters."

"You shouldn't do that, you never know how good a book gets until the middle. Maybe there's something more to it." He reached for the book and I gripped his arm to stop him.

"No, the book is terrible. Trust me on that one." I said. My stomach was in my throat. I had a suspicion that Ville knew I just didn't want him to look at the book. He would think I was an idiot too. He leaned back.

"Ok." He breathed deeply. "Do you still feel up to going out tonight?"

"Maybe not drinking, but I could definitely explore the town." I said. I reached into my bag from some clean clothes and changed into them quickly.

"Where to? I asked as I emerged from the bathroom.

"Let's just walk. We'll figure something out." Ville said.

We headed down the beach and though that there'd be some shops or bars that we could go to. I told Ville that he could definitely drink if he wanted to, I wouldn't care, but alcohol would probably make me nauseous if it even came close to my lips.

"So what's your book about?" He asked casually.

"Oh it's stupid. It's about vampires." I immediately blushed and wished I had thought of a lie.

"Whys it so stupid?"

"Ah well, it's just not what I'm into. It's more like... stories about them rather than one collective story. And it sounds really cheesy."

"Maybe I'll take a look at it. I like stories like that."

"What? Vampire stories?" I felt my heart starting to race. I told myself to calm down, I was just being stupid again.

"Yeah. They're amusing. I actually kind of liked that book Twilight. God only knows why." He said. I looked towards him and quickly back at the sand. I think he knew I didn't want him to read the book, but he wanted to know why. I carefully left the subject of the vampire book, and we walked onto the sidewalk so we could search for somewhere to shop. I didn't let Ville know that I wasn't planning on buying anything. My lack of money shouldn't stop him from buying whatever he wanted.

"So what did you and Kat have to do today?" I asked casually. He thought for a moment.

"I don't know... we went out to lunch. Like I said, we were just catching up."

"I kind of feel like you're hiding something from me." I tried to make that sound as least spiteful as I could, but leave it to me to make everything sound terrible.

"Are you accusing me of something, Molly?" There was a new tone to Ville's voice. I had obviously crossed some sort of line, but I didn't know why.

"I don't know why you're getting so upset, it just seems like there's something you don't want to tell me." I shrugged. Ville was taking my comments more harshly than I had intended them to be.

"Well if there's something I don't want to tell you, I shouldn't have to. I know you're hiding something from me with that book, so don't act like I'm the only one hiding anything." He took a step away from me.

"Are you serious right now? Ville, I didn't want to start a fight. But you're really starting to act like an asshole."

"Don't act like such a child, Molly, please. For once act like someone you're own age and grow up." His words cut through me. If someone had punched me in the stomach I would have felt less pain.

"I'll be over here when you want to apologize." I said as I took a step off of the curb, tears already brewing behind my eyes.

I turned back to glance at Ville to see his outstretched hand and agonized face. I didn't have time to analyze his expression before I felt the concrete underneath me and total darkness soon followed.