Life, Death, and Strange Encounters

Looking up, I was met with Isaac’s eyes that were currently on the same level with mine, since I was still in his lap. As always, his dark orbs were shining brightly and I couldn’t descipher the meaning behind his serious look. Suddenly, his lips curled into a smile and he hugged me close. I was shocked at this random burst of emotion, but enjoyed it none the less. My heart was beating irregularly, pounding so loudly that I was sure he could feel it. When we parted, I stared at him, brows furrowed in confusion. “What was that for?”

He was still smiling. “I just felt like hugging you. Was it something I shouldn’t have done?”

I chuckled and shook my head. “No, go ahead. I was just surprised, that’s all.“ Attempting to relieve the awkward tension I was feeling, I changed the subject. “What do you want to do now? As my host, you’re required to amuse me.”

His grin widened and his eyes shone with mischief. “You sure are quick to get away from my embrace. Every other girl would die to be in your position. Literally.”

My cheeks flushed and I suddenly forgot how to speak. “I, um… I’m not like most girls?” Granted, it came out more like a question than the witty statement I had planned.

Isaac roared in laughter. “That you are not, indeed. Don’t worry, love, I was just joking.”

I smacked his hand playfully and almost lost my balance in the process. My cheeks flushed again. It seemed that it was impossible for me to not make a fool of myself around Isaac. Why was I so clumsy!? My mishap earned another chuckle from him. Great, I was amusing him by being a cute, clumsy little clown, not the femme fatale I was trying to be. I mentally rolled my eyes and scolded myself to get a grip.

Taking a deep breath and looking into his eyes expectantly, I was hoping to get an answer concerning our plans for that day. He seemed to get the hint and said, “What would you say if we didn’t go anywhere today, but just watched a movie or something?”

I nodded. “That sounds nice, what movies do you have?”

He smirked. “You haven’t seen my collection, have you? I’m sure you’ll find one you want to watch. We could maybe watch it in my room, if you have nothing against it… I have a great sound system installed…” The last sentence was added a bit hesitantly.

Again, I nodded, finding nothing wrong with the idea. On the contrary, I was excited to be spending time with him in the confinement of his room. “That sounds lovely. I think we should wait until lunch is over, though. What do we do until that?”

Smiling, he pulled me closer to him, so that my back was pressed against him and my head tucked under his chin. I could feel his voice vibrate through my back when he spoke. “Let’s just talk. It’s comfortable here, isn’t it? The fire is so relaxing.”

My heart was pounding incredibly fast due to the close proximity of our bodies. I remembered how a few days ago he had kissed me… No, I scolded myself again, I shouldn’t have been thinking about that, he probably thought it had been a big mistake. Then again, another little voice was nagging in my head: I never did anything impulsive or risky, such as kiss the person I liked first, not waiting for him to make a move. I never had the courage to confront someone about his feelings… Yet, I had a good reason to be careful. I didn’t want to get hurt again. I didn’t want to make a fool out of myself, especially if I was currently living with the person I had feelings for. What would happen if he rejected me? Again, that other little voice said: He had also been hurt, and a lot worse than me, maybe he was just as scared?

I shook my head, trying to clear my thoughts. I was not having this battle with myself again. I would wait for him to react and that was final!

“You’re being so quiet,” he said. “What’s on your mind?”

“Nothing,” I lied, “Just thinking about… things.”

His voice seemed concerned. “Anything you’d like to tell me?”

I sighed. “No, it’s nothing that important.”

He grabbed my hand and laced his fingers with mine. “You know you can tell me anything, right?”

I smiled sadly at that, wishing it to be true. Too bad he couldn’t see my face. “Yes, I know. I’m glad for that.”

“Let’s just be quiet then, if you enjoy the silence.”

“If you don’t mind, I’d really like to be quiet at the moment and just look into the fire,” I told him.

Minutes passed, I didn’t know how long we were sitting like that, in that exact same position. I just knew that I didn’t want to leave that moment, ever. In his embrace, his fingers laced with mine, I felt safe. Safer than I’d ever felt before. This unmeasurable happiness and content filled my soul. Still, I couldn’t help but wonder – Was he like that with his other friends, also? This intimate and protecting? …Or was I special? He seemed to really care for me, but did that mean the kiss he gave me the other night might have come from his heart, not from his drunken state? Should I turn around just now and kiss him, and then see his reaction? Maybe I would do it. Yes, I was going to do it…

Just as I was about to turn around, he spoke. “I think lunch is ready.”

I let out a chuckle. The perfect opportunity, ruined. Maybe it had been fate to come between us. Maybe it wasn’t the right time yet. I settled with that thought and didn’t feel hurt at all. In a way, I was happy that I didn’t have to make such an important move. I’d still have time to see where the events lead us.

Sighing, I broke my state of complete stillness I had been in. I yawned and stretched, feeling him do the same behind me. I then turned around and looked at him. “Should we go and see what Natalie has made?”

He smiled. “You’re on first name basis with my cook? I’m impressed.”

Isaac gently pushed me off of his lap, indicating that we should get going. Still, one of my hands was in his and he didn’t seem to be letting go anytime soon. This made butterflies flutter around in my stomach and a warm feeling spread through me. Fortunately, I wasn’t blushing again. It was a different kind of warmth.

Hand in hand, we walked towards the dining room, where everybody else was sat. Did I just imagine it, or did everybody’s eyes hold a look of knowing?

After lunch, where I couldn’t help but wonder why people were staring at Isaac and I, we told Lucy and Damien that we were going to watch a movie and asked if they wanted to join us. They politely refused and said with a mischievous gleam in their eyes that they had something better to do. We decided we really didn’t want to know any details. After grabbing some popcorn and drinks from the kitchen, we made our way to Isaac’s room to start our movie night. To be honest, we didn’t want to do anything else for the whole afternoon, so we’d agreed on having a marathon. We both would choose two movies.

When I walked into Isaac’s bedroom, memories of the last time I was there flooded back to me. The time when I thought he was about to kiss me… His things were arranged the same way as before and his enormous bed was still as inviting. Catching myself from daydreaming, I shook my head to clear it. Isaac opened a cupboard I hadn’t noticed before. It was filled with hundreds of DVDs. They were even placed according to their genres and then alphabetically. Somebody was a bit of a freak…

Isaac noticed my awe and smirked. “I hope you’ll find something to watch.”

I stared back at him with wide eyes. “I don’t think I’d be able to choose!”

“Humour me.”

After about 15 minutes, I came to the conclusion that I wanted to watch V for Vendetta, one of my all time favourite movies. Isaac agreed and said it was one of his many favourites, too.
The next two and a half hours were spent in silence; we were sprawled out on his bed, eyes glued to the screen. Only the occasional sound was heard if one of us took some popcorn out of the bowl we had brought with us.

Towards the end of the movie, I couldn’t control myself and tears started pouring from my eyes. I had seen it so many times, but it still made me cry every single time. The power of the film affected me deeply.

Isaac hadn’t noticed that I was crying until he grabbed the remote to stop the movie. He then glanced at me and saw the tears. Of course, he started worrying instantly.

“What’s wrong, love?”

I sniffed. “Nothing. This film just makes me really emotional.”

He nodded in understanding. “Do you want to take a break?”

“No,“ I smiled, “it’s your turn to pick a movie. Go on.”

Isaac chose The Queen of the Damned, another one of my favourites. It was not an especially GOOD movie, but it still had a certain style and was very captivating. Not to mention the soundtrack, which was a work of art, in my opinion.

I remembered the time when The Queen of the Damned had just come out in 2003 and I was irrevocably in love with Lestat, the main character, who was a vampire. He was my dark angel and to be honest, he still had the same charm on me. It seemed as if I hadn’t changed at all. Or at least my taste in men hadn’t. I still liked the dark, mysterious ones. Isaac was definitely one of them. And what had happened? I’d only known the guy for a few days when I was already falling for him. Honestly, sometimes I had the feeling I was a lost cause, when it came to love.

After the film ended, we decided it was time we sneaked into the kitchen and snatched something to eat. The cook was glad to see us and gave us a huge tray full of sandwitches and fruit. She really had an obsession of trying to fatten people up, managing to tell us at least three times that in her opinion we were too skinny. We only laughed and thanked her for the food.

After watching another two movies and then calling it a night, we just lied on his bed and talked for what seemed like hours. The things we discussed were ordinary, but for some reason it still felt special to talk to Isaac that way, uninterrupted by someone else.

Sometime during the night I started to doze off. I turned my gaze towards Isaac, who was on his back beside me, staring at the ceiling. I fell asleep, completely content.