Balance Beam

I paced the floor back and forth. It was nearly midnight and I was still at work. Many of my coworkers had gone home hours earlier. It had been almost a week since I heard anything from Giselle. Quinn keeps talking to Janis and whenever I have him ask about her best friend’s whereabouts, she keeps saying that she is busy trying to get the interview. I was half-convinced she was ignoring me.

A loud groan erupted from my throat and I ran my hands down my face, flopping into my desk chair. I began looking through my several notes trying to figure out Aroldo Veneratio’s location. There had to be some clues here, and I was going to find them. I didn’t need Giselle’s help, she was probably lying about helping me anyway. Why else haven’t I heard from her in damn near a week?

“Bram,” a gentle voice said behind me. I jumped up out of my chair, whirling around to see Giselle standing several feet away from me. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you.”

I smiled at her, rubbing the back of my neck trying to hide the fact that she just scared the shit out of me, metaphorically. “Oh no, you didn’t startle me. How did you get in here?” I asked as I looked around the area. The cleaning people had gone home not that long ago and I was certain they locked the doors when they left.

Giselle smiled at me and crossed her arms. That’s when I noticed what she was wearing: a black dress that reached her mid-thigh and black heels. I’ve never seen her dress so professional or preppy in the short time that I’ve known her. Her fiery hair was down as always and she wore her makeup a little heavier than normal, making her appear much more pale. She cleared her throat and my eyes snapped up to hers. Damn it, Giselle just caught me checking her out.

“I just came from work, I’m sorry,” she chuckled softly as she smoothed out her short dress. “Work is actually the reason why I’m here, Bram. Um, I am Aroldo Veneratio’s personal assistant.”

I couldn’t believe my ears. This girl, whom I’ve gone on dates with, has hidden this from me the entire time. I ran my hand through my hair, unsure of what to do. This was absolutely crazy. If she was working for a vampire, does that mean she is a vampire? Fuck. I turned around to face her. Giselle looked like she was worried.

“Look Bram, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about my job. I mean, you know how secretive Veneratio is. He,” she paused quickly. “He would have killed me if I had told you before I knew that you could be trusted with such information.”

I nodded, what she said made sense. “So, you said that is why you are here,” I waved my hand to let her know that I was listening. She nodded and smiled at me.

“Actually, I was wondering if we could discuss this over some drinks,” she grinned. What the hell, I could call it a day.

“That is a great idea,” I smiled at her and grabbed my jacket off the back of my chair, slipping it on. “But I just have to know if he’s going to let me interview him or not, Giselle.”

She looked away from me and if I’m not mistaken, rolled her eyes. I watched her as she sighed, then Giselle made eye contact with me again. “He has agreed to be interviewed, but will not reveal too much information. Now come on, I could really use a drink.”

***

Giselle’s cute laughter filled my ears and I couldn’t help but smile. We were at an upscale bar that Lucinda had brought me to when I first started working at the magazine. Needless to say, I was well known here. It wasn’t hard to see that I was trying to impress Giselle. I watched her as she brought her mango margarita to her lips. That was her new thing now, margaritas instead of shots of Jack Daniels. I guess she can afford to be classy now that she works for the top vampire in New York.

“So how did you end up being the personal assistant for this guy?” I asked after finishing off my third beer. Giselle sighed while she looked me in the eye and placed one of her hands over mine.

“Bram, sweetie, you’ve had a very long day. How about we forget about work for the rest of the evening, what do you say?” she grinned at me. “We can have a couple more drinks, then go home.”

I tilted my head in confusion. I had absolutely no idea what she meant by “then go home”. Was that a hint that she wants to fuck me? Does she mean my place or hers? I then looked down at my hand that was placed on the table top. Right on top of mine were her slender fingers, topped off with perfect, long, blackish-purple fingernails.

My eyes looked back at Giselle and I watched as she looked at our touching hands. Her cheeks turned a light shade of pink and she quickly removed her hand from my own. She ran that same hand through her hair and cleared her throat softly.

“I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable,” I said anxiously. “All I know is work at the moment so that’s all I can talk about.”

Giselle began shaking her head, smiling at me. “Oh no, don’t worry Bram. If work is what you want to talk about, by all means, do so,” she said finishing off her margarita.

I waved at the waitress to let her know to get us another round of drinks. “But seriously Giselle, I would like to know how someone as sweet as you got a job as Veneratio’s personal assistant.”

She shrugged as she took a swig from her glass. “I heard from a friend about the job opening, so what?”

“Is this friend a vampire?” I asked raising my eyebrow. Or was Giselle a vampire? Giselle stared at me and I did so right back at her.

“I am not your girlfriend or someone you’re interviewing Bram Reid, so do not cross the line,” she said through gritted teeth. The waitress sat our drinks on the table and Giselle smiled at her. “Thank you very much, hun.”

I sighed as I snatched my beer up from the table. Good job, Bram. Piss her off, why don’t you. Tilting my head back, I gulped nearly half the beer down. Putting the glass bottle back on the table, I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand and looked over at Giselle. She was drinking her margarita and watching the news on the plasma television set mounted on the wall.

“I’m sorry,” I said quietly. She sat her glass down, making me notice she too had drank almost half of her drink already. Giselle turned so she was facing me and right away her expression told me she was not impressed. “I just really like you and I’m worried about you.”

Jesus fucking Christ. What the hell was I saying? I never talk like this to a girl that I barely know. In fact, I don’t believe I’ve had a steady girlfriend since I’ve moved to the city. And by steady, I mean one that lasted for at least three weeks. I’m getting off track now, let me get back to the topic. Nine times out of ten the girl admits her feelings to me first. So why was Giselle so different, especially when I barely know a thing about her?

For the second time this evening, Giselle’s hand settle on top of mine. “I like you too, Bram. You’re quite interesting,” she chuckled and I joined in with her as she finished off the rest of her drink. “You want to get out of here?”

My eyes locked with her green ones and I nodded. “Yeah, I’ll pay for the drinks right quick. I‘ll be back,” I said as I raised from my seat.

Making my way towards the waitress I knew, I made small talk about the magazine before politely asking for the check. She made me follow her to the register, where she began asking about my “mystery woman”. As I paid for the drinks, I tried to answer the nosey woman’s questions as vague as possible. We didn’t need everyone knowing about us “seeing” each other, if that’s what you want to call it.

When I returned to our table, Giselle was shoving on a black peacoat. Once she was ready, I wrapped my arm around her and we made our way out of the bar. It seemed like as we did so, everyone was staring at us. The look in their eyes told us they were wondering who was this girl with Bram Reid. The funny thing about it is, Bram Reid doesn’t even know fully about the girl he’s with. If she’s just now telling me about her job, what the hell will she tell me several months from now if we last that long?

We caught a cab back to our apartments. The ride was pleasant, we cuddled a bit without talking. The cab driver’s choice in music was a bit terrible, but it definitely beat walking or half-stumbling several blocks in the cold. I paid for the ride then stepped out of the cab, offering my hand to Giselle to help her out. She took it with a big smile on her face.

“I had a really good time tonight,” Giselle said as she dug in her purse for the key as she leaned against the apartment door. “But on a more business-like level, I will be calling you sometime this week to schedule the interview.”

I smiled to myself as I watched her. Giselle had the biggest smile on her face when she found her keys and blushed madly when we made eye contact. “That sounds good,” I smiled. “But on a more personal level, maybe we can grab dinner or something before then.”

“I would like that very much,” she smiled at me before unlocking her door. Giselle turned back towards me and pressed her lips firmly to mine. “I’ll call you soon. Goodnight Bram.”

“Goodnight Giselle,” I smiled at her as she disappeared into her apartment.

A couple minutes passed before I broke eye contact from Giselle’s closed door and continued my journey to my own apartment. As I prodded through my leather jacket pockets for my keys, I replayed the evening in my mind. I truly don’t know much about Giselle, but I find her to be so attractive. I suppose it’s because she is so mysterious. Or perhaps it’s because she’s so down to earth. Or maybe, just maybe, it’s because Giselle is carefree and hardly goes out in sunlight.

After unlocking the door, I stepped inside and began to peal out of my jacket. Quinn’s lazy ass was laying on the couch playing video games. His new woman interest, a.k.a. Giselle’s best friend, Janis sat on the floor while breaking up marijuana on our coffee table. The two had made a mess of our living room. Apparently they had ordered pizza, because three boxes were on the floor near Janis. Several bottles of beer and Janis’ bong sat on the coffee table as well.

Quinn briefly looked back at me as I stepped more into the room. Just as quick as he looked at me, he looked back towards his game. “Hey, you’re home late,” he stated before mumbling some obscenities at the television set.

I sat down on the chair, kicking off my shoes. “Yeah, I worked late then I met up with Giselle. We went out for a few drinks, then decided to call it a night. Hey Janis?” I asked.

She looked up at me before passing the bong to my best friend. “Yeah Bram?”

“Are you aware that your best friend is Aroldo Veneratio’s personal assistant?” I cocked an eyebrow. She just shrugged at me before looking down. Quinn paused his game and held onto the bong, clearly interested in the conversation.

“As a matter of fact, yeah. But Bram, are you aware that it’s not your information to spread around. People get seriously hurt over stuff like that, ya know?” she said in her stoner tone. We stared at each other in silence, only to be broken by Quinn hitting the bong.

“Seriously hurt by who? By vampires?” I asked sarcastically. She rolled her red eyes and laughed at me.

“I think your job is starting to get to your head,” Janis replied. I was fuming. She was toying with me now. She knew exactly what I was talking about.

“She’s right Bram, you shouldn’t be passing out Giselle’s information so freely,” Quinn mentioned. He passed the bong to Janis and she took a hit. Of course he was taking her side, anything for pussy.

“I just find it odd that such a nice girl like Giselle is working for someone like Veneratio. How did she find out about the job, Janis? Are you the friend that told her about the job? Shit, maybe you’re a vampire too…”

“Bram, that’s fucking enough,” Quinn snapped.

Janis laughed as she sat the bong close to me, leaning closer. “You know nothing about me, or about Giselle. And if she didn’t tell you about who gave her the heads up about the job, then she obviously doesn’t want you to know. You can’t go around and do this reporter shit in your personal life, Bram. I’m not going to tolerate your prodding and I know for a fact that Giselle won’t either.”

I sat there in the chair feeling dumbfounded. Janis was absolutely right. Giselle’s life isn’t a story for me to investigate. If she wants me to know things, she’ll tell me herself. But I just feel the need to know her. I have to know her.