The Fools That Fall in Love

"Hey there DJ." I smiled as I walked up to the bored looking vampire sitting on a couch in front of the TV.
"Hello there little Miss Living." He taunted with a smile.
"Very funny." I said sarcastically, not loosing my smile. "Mind if I sit down?" I asked.
"No problem." I slid over so i had room to sit.
"I actually want to talk to you. Could you tell me about your past, if it's okay to ask?" Phil made it sound like DJ would tell me easily, so I wasn't too worried.
"Uh, sure. What do you want to know?" I expected him to start off with his story right then, rather than having me ask questions. I liked this.
"When were you born?" I asked.
"1925, best time to be in the world." He smiled brightly.
"Why? Good times in black and white America?" I was referring to how happy and fun the movies made the 30's look.
"No, actually. It was a terrible time to be trying to work in America. But it was fun to be a kid in that time. All of the kids were allowed to do pretty much whatever they wanted, as long as they abide by the law. You didn't have to worry about robbers or murderers, or rapists or whatever. None of that really existed enough to have to worry about, so kids weren't sheltered at all." I could see him reliving what it was like back then. "My parents were awesome. You know in Cry Baby how they had the different cliques? We were the drapes, by far! No way did we fit into society! All of the squares glared at us when we went anywhere and all we did in return was egg their cars." He laughed. I wasn't surprised he used those terms, even though I had always been under the impression that those terms were used in the 50's. I hadn't known that slang like that and cliques were popular all the way back in the 30's and 40's.
"That sounds like a dream! I always wished I could see that era." I admitted.
"It was fun, I'll give it that. But damn, times were hard. No money with the Great Depression going on, everyone was afraid of the government, and adults had so many worries they couldn't keep their heads straight! But my parents always found a way to keep us sheltered from that suffering and worry. They'd take us out to a diner to get ice cream every Friday. I still so that too. Every Friday I go get ice cream. I used to do it because it was just a ritual, I was used to it. But anymore, I just do it in memory of them.:" He said, sadly.
"So I take it you dated a lot?" I asked curiously. I had to know! I was a girl, could you blame me for being curious?
"I watched a lot of movies when I was young. Every time I asked out a girl I'd take her to the theater, then go to the diner to listen to the radio. We'd dance and have a really good time, then I'd take her home, just like they do in the movies, secretly kiss her before letting her open the door to her house. Girls were more fun back then, they were cute and innocent. Now, most girls, are just whores. They sleep around and it's gross, especially to me because I haven't dated since the 50's. I've only ever dated the classic Marilyn Monroe wannabe's, though they were all virgins. They were too afraid to loose their virginity because they didn't know what their parents would say! I loved that about women, it was my favorite." He thought back to the girls he dated, or so I assumed. He must have had a bad memory with the look on his face.
"Did you ever fall in love?" I knew his answer already.
"Yeah. I did, actually. It was right before I turned, that I asked her out. Her name was Gloria, and she was so gorgeous.. I swear, I fell in love with her the second I saw her sitting alone at lunch. That's where I met her, in high school. I was a year older than her. But I didn't have many friends, just a few close ones, but that was all I wanted. Gloria, on the other hand, had one friend, Marjorie. But one day, my friends and I were sitting at our normal table on the first day of our senior year. I remember looking over at a vacant table, just pointlessly glancing, and she sat down, all by herself. Her hair was long and black, went down to her hips, kind of curly too. Perfect. She was also really modest, she always wore longer skirts and she made sure her chest was covered, and you wouldn't think that a guy like me would like a girl like her. There were the cheerleaders that hiked up their skirts and unbuttoned their shirts a bit, of course today that would be absolutely nothing, and I was happy she wasn't like that.
"I excused myself from the guys and went over to her and asked if I could sit down. She, of course, said yeah. She was probably really freaked out, having a drape want to talk to her. That never meant anything good when a drape wanted to talk to you. I told her my name, and the name 'Gloria' slipped off her tongue. Right then I knew I had to have her, so I asked if she liked movies. She flashed me the prettiest smile I've ever seen, even to this day, and she said she did. So I took her on one of my infamous dates, but I did something our of ritual. I took her out every Saturday night I possibly could.
"We eventually started dating, her and I. I never wanted to break up, and she never gave me a reason to want to leave her. You know how you get all excited and incredibly infatuated with a brand new relationship?" He asked. I just nodded, remembering my first week with Jason. "It was like that, except that lasted for the next 5 years. Every single day, I woke up feeling like that. I even asked her to marry me.
"Her parents hated me though, which is why we never officially married. We had each other's rings though.. And we wore them, knowing it would be a long time before we actually go to marry." He held up his right hand, which had a little diamond ring on his pinky finger. "This one was hers." He noted as I looked. "And this one was mine." He held up his left hand, where the wedding ring sat on the correct finger, as if it hadn't moved in 60 some years. "I haven't taken it off since she put it there." His face was grim and I could tell I was about to hear the sad end of his seemingly perfect story.
"So I assume you want to know how I became a vampire, so I'll just tell you. I watched a ton of vampire movies back in the day and had my heart set on being one. I set out to find someone, who I found at a carnival. Long story short, he changed me and I got scared. I was afraid of the immortality, after I realized that it wasn't fake. I told Gloria what happened and proved my immortality to her, much like Michael did to you. And she was perfectly okay with it, though she was scared for me. We had the same problem you and Michael have, which is why I'm so worried about him.
"But I had to leave my family, like Phil did. Told them I was going to go away for a while and come back in a year or two and Gloria did the same. We went to Finland and I ended up turning her too. She was incredibly happy to be a vampire with me, she always said how happy she was that she could spend eternity with me and that she'd walk out into the blistering sun if something happened to us. We stayed in Finland together for 6 years.. She was so perfect.." I could tell he was starting to get upset, but I knew he wouldn't show me that intentionally.
DJ took a deep breath and started his story again. "Something happened, and I had to leave for a bit. It was something as short as going to a grocery store. She was still asleep and I didn't want to wake her, so I left her a note telling her I would be back, in case she woke up before I got back. That was the last time I saw her." He took a few more deep breaths before continuing on. "I got home, and the place was trashed. There was stuff everywhere, things were broken, blood was everywhere.. I was afraid, to say the least. I ran around the house and yard, screaming for her, calling her name and then being really quiet in hopes of a response. We weren't old enough to know how to transfer thoughts, but I didn't know what to do. I spent the next 10 years searching for her, well into the 60's. I finally gave up. I came to the conclusion that somehow someone took her away from me and managed to kill her."
"Oh my gosh.. DJ, I'm so sorry. I had no idea." I said quietly, feeling bad for making him tell me everything.
"Oh, don't be sorry." He half smiled. I still felt awful.
"I hope you find her, even though it's probably not likely.. I really hope you find her one day." I put my hand on his shoulder and he smiled as he reached into his back pocket.
"This is Gloria." He said, taking a picture of a girl out of his wallet. She was just as he described. Those girls that wanted to be Marilyn Monroe, and actually pulled it off? Yeah, that was this girl. She was like Marilyn, except with long black hair and a baby doll face. She looked perfect and she seemed to have the personality of a saint, according to DJ. I sudden;y felt worse and my heart got heavy. Why would someone do that?
"She's so pretty." I commented, secretly wishing I looked like her.
"I know. But that's not even the half of it. I would still be crazy in love with her if she looked like a hag. She was perfect for me, which is why I'll never fall in love again. She was meant for me, I know that. And no one here, in this time, is meant for me, because I'm simply not meant to be here. That's how it usually works. Sometimes, people who are meant to live forever, they find that one person. That's you and Michael, Lydia. He talks the same way I do, and did back in the day. He says he never wants to love again, I say I never will. He says you're perfect for him, I say she was. It's all just.. Fate. Vampires have a thing with destiny and all that. I think that's why I don't really act the way the others do. I kind of just live and do what I have to do to survive, rather than truly enjoying the experience." He seemed to accept his fate, and accept his future. I liked that about him.
"Do you ever wish you hadn't changed?" I asked. Probably a bad question, but I had to make sure.
"Sure I do. I thought it was great when I had Gloria with me, but I didn't take into consideration that I wouldn't have a family to go back to, that I'd never see them again. I didn't take into consideration that something could happen to one of us, and leave the other behind. I felt that it was perfect, but I really wish I'd just stayed home and grew old with her, instead of defying the world. That was my punishment, I guess, for not obeying the laws of nature." I saw him slowly figuring all of this out in his head as he told me.
"How did you get back to America from Finland?" I asked, taking him off of the grim subject.
"Eventually, about half way through my mission to find her, I knew she wasn't there. So I went to America to try and find her. I started off in New York, and made my way to California, searching every place I could. Of course, I couldn't search absolutely everywhere, but it's too late now. It's been far too long." He explained.
"Hm. Well thank you for telling me." I said kindly.
"Of course. I like talking about it, just not the sad parts." He smiled, hiding the sadness that he's been carrying with him for over 50 years.
"So, we can talk about her some more later? When she was around?" I asked, knowing that would be something he'd want to do, and maybe give him some closure.
"Absolutely." He gave me a hug and went out to the kitchen to make himself some food.
I sat on the couch for a bit, pondering what he'd just told me. I decided to not think into it too much and watch TV, but I knew I had to talk to Aaron. Phil made me nervous about it, but it had to be done. I wanted to know. Aaron, here I come..