Vampire Heart

For the rest of the week, Pixie avoided even making eye contact with Ivan as much as possible. Ever since their encounter, he had been sending her over five text messages a day, accompanied by phone calls and e-mails in the evening. Pixie deleted every text message and e-mail, and she did not bother to answer his phone calls.

It was not Ivan's persistence in trying to talk to her that began to frighten Pixie, however. Whenever they had class together, or whenever they passed by each other anywhere on campus, Ivan would give her strange looks that would make the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end and send chills down her spine. She could see the lust in his eyes whenever he looked at her, could tell that he was intent on getting her back. For three days straight, Pixie had trouble sleeping and concentrating on her work.

On Friday, she was a nervous wreck. She could not even look straight ahead whenever she walked. She constantly dropped her belongings, and her hand shook whenever she tried to take notes in class. By the time her lunch hour came around, Pixie was so anxious to get off campus, that as she rushed out of one of the classroom buildings, she rammed right into a passerby, her bag sliding off her shoulder and the items inside spilling out all over on the pavement.

Pixie gasped. "Shit, I am so sorry!"

She kneeled down and started to pick up her notebooks, quickly shoving them back in her bag. The person she bumped into knelt down and helped her out by handing her the textbooks that had fallen out. Without even bothering to glance at the stranger's face, Pixie thanked them and grabbed the books, quickly shoving them in her bag as she stood up and rushed to the nearest off-campus cafe.

The minute she arrived at the Lake Side Cafe, Pixie took a seat at one of the tables in the back of the place, away from any windows. She ordered a small-sized white chocolate mocha and a creamy butter pastry. Attempting to calm down, she began working on her upcoming due assignments. As she was working, and occasionally taking bites of her pastry and sips of her espresso, thoughts began to run through her mind. If only she wasn't so foolish. If only she would have never dated Ivan. If only she would have went out with somebody else to begin with. If only she would have been kinder to that stranger. . .

Pixie was startled by the ringing of the bell attached to the cafe door. She checked to make sure it was not Ivan, and breathed a sigh of relief when she found he was nowhere in sight, and went back to her work.

"Um, excuse me?"

She looked up at the sound of the accented voice, coming face to face with a dark-haired man. He had shades over his eyes, and Pixie thought he looked familiar at first but she mentally shrugged it off.

"Yes?" she asked.

The man reached into his pocket. "I believe you dropped this," he said, holding out what looked like Pixie's planner with The 69 Eyes ankh symbol on it. It then dawned on Pixie that this man was the stranger she had run into back on campus.

She was speechless. "Um, thank you," she stuttered, taking her planner out of his hand.

"Do you mind if I sit with you?" he asked, motioning to the chair across from her.

Pixie hesitated at first, but then agreed to it. "Sure."

The man took a seat and slid his shades off. Pixie noticed his blue-grey eyes and felt a blush forming on her cheeks. 'Damn, he's hot,' she thought.

"Are you a student here?" she asked.

"No," he replied, "but I do enjoy hanging around here when I can."

'Damn,' Pixie thought. 'There goes my chance at dating a hottie! And one with an accent, too!'

"What is your name?" he asked.

She interrupted her own train of thoughts and replied, "My name is Pixie."

"That's a beautiful name," he commented, looking right at her.

Pixie blushed, and thought, 'Oh, holy hell, is he flirting?! If so, he's doing a good job at it!'

The sound of a ringtone brought Pixie out of her dreamland, and she looked at the front screen, noticing Crissy's name flashing on it. She flipped her phone open and said, a little annoyed, "What?"

"Hey, where are you?" Crissy asked on the other line.

"Lake Side Cafe," Pixie replied.

"One of the frat boys I know is having a party tonight," Crissy said excitedly. "Want to come?"

"Can't," Pixie replied. "I've got more important things to do." Not that she wanted to go to it anyway. "But I'll be at the library if you or anyone else needs me."

"You really need to socialize more," suggested Crissy, disappointed that her best friend could not attend the party. "You're so going next time!"

"Right. . ." Pixie rolled her eyes.

"Well, see you tonight!" Crissy exclaimed. "That is, if you don't go to bed early!"

"Have fun," Pixie said before hanging up. "So anyway. . ." She turned her head, only to find that the chair across from her was empty. The man was gone. She glanced around the cafe, but did not spot him anywhere. 'I never even got his name,' she thought.