The Fools That Fall in Love

Michael and I walked for, what seemed like, miles. He lightly and almost casually held my hand the whole way, which was something I was very excited about. He talked and laughed the whole way to the beach. But I had to wonder, why had he taken me to a beach? It's night time.
"The beach?" I questioned as we ascended the little hill to the shore.
"Absolutely. Not vampire enough for you?" We laughed. He was right though, I did expect something a little more vampire like, like a graveyard or something weird.
I smiled at my own thoughts as I spoke. "It's just night time, what are we going to do at a beach?"
"What does everyone else do?" He questioned, I could tell he was on to something.
"Uhm, swim? Play? Eat?" I was hoping I gave the right answers.
"Okay then. You answered your own question." He smiled, probably at my horrified face.
"Swim? Me? In cold water? At night? I can't even swim in a pool." I said, frightened.
"Do you trust me?" This was a hard question. A vampire, taking me out for a night, asking if I trust him. You've all seen the cheesy horror flicks, the dumb girl always says yes and then she dies. But what about this? What about real life? Did I really trust him.
"Yeah." I said, quietly, but I knew he heard.
"Okay then." He smiled. I found myself being led to a little blanket that was spread out on the ground with a bottle of wine and what looked like grape juice, with two wine glasses.
"Grape juice?" I laughed as we sat down.
"Oh don't kid yourself. You aren't going to drink wine." He smiled. It was odd how well he knew me, more so, my actions.
"You're right." I sighed. He poured his wine and poured my grape juice and we faced the water as we casually talked and laughed. From afar, we looked like a normal couple dining on the beach, but in reality it couldn't be more messed up.
We finished our drinks and talked more, but as usual it was mostly me asking about vampires. I was just too interested to not know. "Enough about me now." He said cooly. "Tell me, why are you so afraid of the water?"
"Well I never learned how to swim. I never went as a kid because my parents didn't want to take me, and as I got older and as people started inviting me to pool parties or whatever, I always turned them down because I didn't want to look stupid." I admitted. I found it completely pointless to lie to him, he'd find out the truth anyway.
"I see. So do you want to learn?"
"No!" I smiled. "I am not getting in the water."
"Please?" It was getting hard to say no.
"No way." I sounded determined, but I knew I wasn't.
"Pretty please? For me?" He baby begged. How did he expect me to say no to that? Oh yeah, he didn't.
"Oh.. Fine! Meanie!" I complained.
Michael stood up then held out his hands for me to stand up too. I took his hands but when I was up, he kept a tight hold on one. A blush completely took over my face and it was impossible to resist a smile.
He led me to the shore where I took off my shoes and Michael took off his shirt. Believe me, I had NO complaints what so ever, but it did not help my blushing problem.
"Aren't you going to be ten times more cold?" I asked.
"No, wet clothes in cold air? It would be worse if I had left it on." We started walking out to the deep water and I started getting nervous.
By the time we were at a point were the water went up to my chest I started panicking. "Can we stop? I can't go anymore." I said quickly.
"You're okay." He reassured.
"But.." I started.
"No. You're alright. I'm right here. Hold on to me if you need to." He said, letting go of my hand and sliding his arm around me.
My stomach seemed to do a full 360, but I regained my composure and trusted him. We didn't go out too much more before he stopped, finally. "See? It's alright. You won't drown." He said sweetly.
"What if you accidentally let go?" I asked, genuinely worried.
"I won't. I'll never let go. Believe me, I've tried. I can't do it." There seemed to be a lot more meaning behind his words than was obvious. I knew he meant something else, and I had to know.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"I'd like to push it off and never tell you, but I'm not sure if I can do that. I mean, I'd have to live with it until either the end of time or until I decide to kill myself or die in battle." He admitted. That made things seem ten times more serious.
"Michael, what are you talking about?" I didn't want to pry, but I felt I had to or he would never say whatever it was he was trying to say.
"I honestly should not tell you, but then again, I shouldn't be acting this way either. I shouldn't be spending more time with you than needed, I should know this much about you, and you sure as hell shouldn't know this much about me. You aren't even supposed to know my name."
I was very shocked at what he was saying. I was just praying that he wasn't going to tell me he couldn't see me anymore. "What are you trying to say?" I said softly.
"I'm trying to say.. I'm too involved with you. But I can't do anything about it because I have absolutely no will to want to be anywhere else but here. Do you understand what I'm getting at?" I honestly had no clue, so I just shook my head. "I'm saying.." He paused, probably decided to tell me or not. "I'm saying that in all of the years I've been on this earth, I've never wanted to be with anyone more than I want to be with you. I come up with the craziest excuses to come here and be around you. I tell my friends the most unbelievable and dumbest things to get out of the house. I mean, it's useless because they know.. They know I care about you and can't seem to stop thinking about you, but I could never say it out loud. This is the first time I've actually tried to say it, let alone think about it. I try so hard to not come see you and to not go to you every single time I think about your face of the way your eyes glisten in the moonlight, much like they are know, or the way your hair always looks good and flows perfectly, or especially the way your voice sounds when you say my name. This is probably very strange for you, and most likely the feelings aren't returned, but I can understand why. I'm a vampire Lydia. Vampires are incredibly passionate and romantic, and it probably doesn't help that I was one for romance and passion before I changed.. But.. That's one of the problems. I am a vampire, you aren't. I'm going to live forever, and you're going to die in what will seem like a blink of an eye. To me, 70 years is nothing, but to you it'll be close to the end of your life, if you die of natural causes that is. You see? I can't win. I either pour my heart out to you and hope you'll feel the same then loose you eventually, or I stay quiet and never have been able to know. And like I said earlier, it'll be a long time before I'm dead, so I'll be thinking about 'what if' and 'I should have' for eternity. I can't live with that. So this is it. I'm very much in love with you and never want to be apart, but there are so many complications... I don't see how you could ever feel the same." He talked very slowly and thoughtfully through his whole mini speech.
I could not believe what he was saying. I mean, he was , as he said, pouring his heart out to me and I knew that was something he'd never done before because of his immortality. But he was wrong. I did feel the same. "Michael, how could you think that I don't feel the same? Do you know how impossible it is to sleep at night and wish it was you in my bed and not my dumb ass boyfriend? Or how hard it is to go through the day and wish that you were there with me? It sucks. And I hate that I have to be with him.. And I hate that I can't be with you.. But I thought that you didn't feel the same because I'm this petty little human and you're.. You're a whole different kind of race. You're not even human! How could I ever win your.. Love? I mean.. That's all I've wanted for a while... And maybe this is just a crush or fling because I've never known anyone to fall in love so easily.. But I did and I can't understand why. You're just so perfect to me. You've got the perfect look, I can't help but love the way you talk with your hint of an accent, you're incredibly romantic and passionate, as you said, and you know me so well.. Sometimes I think you know me better than I know myself. And on top of all that, you're like my knight in shining armor, as cliche as that is. I mean, you're literally slaying the demon that holds me captive! I think I know how those princesses feel, when that almost godly man comes into their room and steals them away in the night after slaying the beast. I never thought I could feel that way, but I do." I had a hard time admitting all of that to him, so through most of it, I had to look somewhere else, just so I could say what I really wanted to say.
"I had no idea you felt this way." He whispered.
"I had no idea that you felt this way." I knew it was always more likely for the modest girl to fall in love with the perfect vampire, I never thought it would be the other way around.
"I do. And you aren't just a petty human. Not to me. I was a human once, I know how it feels when certain thing happen, but not this. I never had the chance to fall in love as a mortal."
"In all honesty I've never been in love. Before you, I never even had that thought, or that little nervous feeling when you see that person, or the little butterflies you get when you're around them. Now that that happens to me, I always feel like I'm in a tizzy and I don't know what to do or say, until you're right here with me. After that.. I feel clear headed and relieved from the world. I don't think about anything bad.." I tear slid down my face, I wasn't sure if it were happiness that he felt the same, or sadness that I couldn't have him.
I felt Michael's cool, trembling lips on my cheek bone where the tear was. Our eyes were closed and I promised myself I would never forget the way he made me feel right then. I'd finally figured out what love felt like.. And that was it.
"Don't cry.." He whispered against my cheek.
"I can't have you, can I?" I said, just as quiet, as if someone would hear.
"Tonight, you can. I'm yours. But.. Forever.. That's another question." His heart seemed to break, with the way he said it.
I hung my head and kept letting the silent tears slide, not worrying about them too much, until my breathing started getting quicker and I had to keep taking in deep and sharp breaths to keep as quiet as I could.
He kept kissing my tears, hoping they'd go away. How could I make them stop? I had just found out that someone I just realized I loved, loved me back. I'd just been told that I could have him tonight, but not forever. It's a terrible feeling. A feeling that's a mix of joy for the return of his love, but a feeling of impending doom because I could never have him.
I eventually was engulfed in his arms and I'd totally forgotten about everything that didn't involve him. I forgot I had an abusive demon of a boyfriend, I forgot that I couldn't talk to my parents anymore, I forgot that my best friend was going to leave me for tour again, and I forgot my fear of drowning.
"I promise you, I will find a way. I will find a way for you to not have to cry like this, because I can't do this to you." He said, very sternly, but somehow smothered in an emotion I hadn't heard him express until that night. It was very caring and loving, but maybe I only noticed it because I was aware that the feeling was there. I wondered how long he'd talking to me in this tone, and I hadn't noticed.
"Okay." I nodded shyly. I felt like a small child that was getting comforted after thinking there was a monster in the room. I felt incredibly vulnerable, and that was not how I expected to feel after admitting something like that to someone. I always thought I'd be laughing and smiling and happy as ever and stronger than before. But this emotion somehow made more sense.
Michael picked me up, slowly as to not scare me, bridal style and started walking back to the shore. I Put one arm up around his neck and the other hand rested on his chest as my head rested on his shoulder. He set me down on back on the blanket, luckily the blanket was big enough to completely protect me from the sand. He hovered on top of me and started slowly kissing my face until he finally went for my lips. I easily let him do so, feeling cuddly and almost needy. It was strange for me to feel this way towards someone, but he seemed to feel the same way.
Things slowly became to get heavy, I could see what he meant by passion. I knew he wasn't going to go for anything more than this, because back in his time, he couldn't even be around a woman he was wanting to date without a chaperon. He was probably more nervous about this kind of open passion than I was.
We slowed down, going back to that slow, loving kissing until we were just laying next to each other, staring at each other,lost in our own thoughts. I kept touching his face,trying to figure out how someone could be so perfect as this. His fingers tangled through my hair and it was hard to not fall asleep. But eventually the sun started coming up. I didn't even realize it until Michael shut his eyes in something of annoyance.
"What?" I asked calmly.
"The sun is coming up. I can feel it. We have to go, and soon or I won't be able o make it back."
"Are you sure you'll make it back anyway? We walked here. The sun will be almost completely up by the time we get back." I noted.
"And I can't run with you, it's dangerous. You could get wind burn, and you wouldn't be able to breathe with the wind so thick. And I can't let you go back to your friend's house by yourself. I'd worry that you'll either get lost or someone will do something to you on the way. It's not safe." He seemed to be worried.
"Can you stay at wiL's? I'm sure I can get him to let you stay." I offered.
"But what if he wonders why I have to be in the dark? Or why I absolutely have to sleep during the day?" He asked.
I didn't have an answer for him. "I'll handle it.. Just.. Come with me. It'll be okay." I reassured.
"Okay. We have to go though. We're wasting time." He stood up and helped me up as well. We left the blanket and Michael's shirt but grabbed my shoes and we hurried off down the street hand in hand.
We made it back to wiL's house, almost in time. Michael had a bad burn on his back from being in dim sun for so long. I felt bad about it, but at the moment all I could do for him was take him to a dark room.
We walked in the house and I knew wiL wasn't awake, so I took Michael to the room I was supposed to stay in. It had a small window so I covered it with a thick blanket so no sun would shine through. "Here, lay on your stomach." I gesture toward the bed and he did so, probably not knowing why I told him to lay like that.
I remembered that he'd said that burns were one of the types of wounds that he couldn't heal from as easily as any other. I got some aloe gel from the bathroom and returned with it, knowing it'd make him feel better. "Here. This should help." I said, sitting on the bed next to his tired looking body. I knew he wasn't used to pain and I figured that was why he felt so tired.
I rubbed the aloe gel into his skin until it was all rubbed in and I went to leave until he stopped me.
"Lydia.. Wait." He said.
"Yeah?" I asked.
"Come here." He asked more than said, reaching out his hand.
I took his outstretched hand and walked closer to him. He pulled me down to his level and turned to his side. "I love you." He said. I could feel that he meant it. I knew he did.
"I love you." I said back, kissing his slightly less cold lips.
He pulled me closer to him, indicating that I lay down with him. I hadn;t slept yet so I had no problem doing that. I easily fit into his arms and was quickly cradled into him. I hadn't felt to in love or cared about before, even though I hated the thought of falling in love so fast. But what else could I do? Stay in denial forever? Even though Michael did have forever.. I didn't.
I was only human.