Take My Hand

"What was that?" I asked, once I had opened my eyes still pleasuring the kiss. It had taken a while for me to gain consciousness after being in shock and in bliss from the kiss. Where had it come from? I have no idea, but what I do know is that I liked it a lot.

"I just kissed you. Understand that it was only to shut you up." Brendon answered. I always imagined Brendon to be one of those nervous kind of guys, once they had just kissed a girl. I imagined wrong. He seemed no different from before he kissed me, confident and just not nervous. Me on the other hand, was a different story. Who needs drugs and alcohol when you can just do that? That's what I felt like, right now. I felt as if I had just taken some kind of drug, but really it was just the taste of Brendon's lips on my mouth.

"You could have just-"

"No, there's no time! Now do you want to get out of here fast or do you want to stay here forever?" Brendon asked, grabbing my hand back.

"The first option. But give me a piggy back, I'm scared."

"Do you know what? I'm going to give you a damn piggy back because then we'll move a lot faster than we are now. Come on." Brendon ordered as he bent down slightly for me to jump on. I did so trying to be as gentle as possible so I didn't hurt his back. "Can I just ask, how much do you weigh?" He asked, once he had started walking, which was faster than when we were walking without me on his back.

"Don't even start, Brendon. Do you know what it's like having a diet obsessed mother? She is paranoid about every gram of fat she eats. She only buys that stupid, healthy food and that's the reason for my weight. It's not just the food, she's obsessed with, it's the exercise. She doesn't want me turning into a slob, so she makes me exercise for two hours a day. Believe me, having your own gym isn't as fun as it sounds."

"So, what do you eat? Cotton wool buds soaked in orange juice? I'm seriously going to take you out to dinner and show you what real food is."

"Is that a date?" I asked. "If you're talking about a fast food restaurant, that isn't where a girl would like to go on a date."

"Who said it was a date?"

"No one."

"Then why did you suggest it was?"

"I wasn't, I was just asking."

"Do you want it to be?"

"Do you?"

"I asked you first."

"I asked you second."

"...Just...shut up." Brendon said in defeat. I laughed feeling as if I had just won an argument. Well not an argument, per Se, I don't know what it was. But I had one it either way, I had created the silence. All I could hear was our steady breathing and the sound of Brendon's shoes hitting the concrete floor of the tunnel.

"What are the chances of my mother finding out that I'm not in my room?" I asked. "Maybe, nine out of ten chances." I said, answering my own question. My father hates it when I do that.

"You make your mother sound like a real bitch. She can't be that bad." Obviously Brendon had never encountered my mother. He hadn't been able to compare his mother with mine. I suddenly felt awful for thinking that, remembering that he had no mother.

"Trust me, she is. Do you want to know why she locked me up in my bedroom today? Because I mentioned you. I blame you for getting me grounded. Then I made it worse for mentioning that I almost got killed. Basically it's just your fault."

"So it's my fault that you almost got killed?"

"Yes! If it wasn't for you I wouldn't have tried to get across the road so fast. You distracted me by waving at me."

"Whatever. It doesn't matter, we're at the end of the tunnel now anyway." Brendon informed as he placed me carefully back onto my feet. He pushed the manhole cover above him, finally showing a glimpse of light in the tunnel. "After you." Brendon said, pointing towards the ladder. He held my hand as he helped me up onto the first step of the ladder.

"Brendon I just though of something." I said as I reached the top of the ladder and climbed out of the manhole. "How come you're only a vampire at night? I'm sure as hell you didn't have those teeth things at school."

"Fangs?"

"Fangs sound stupid. It reminds me of some kind of wolf and you're not a wolf. You're a vampire. Vampire sounds like a stupid word too. I feel like kid actually believing this stuff. This is the kind of stuff you see in movies, not in an everyday life."

"What are you trying to say? You don't believe in me?" Brendon questioned as he climbed out of the manhole.

"I'm not saying that. I mean I only believe in you because I have to. If you'd have told me that you were a vampire earlier on in the day, I wouldn't have believed you. I'm sorry. It just sounds idiotic, it still does. Seeing is believing, I guess. It's hard to explain. It doesn't matter."

"I guess I'm just lucky, I'm only a vampire when the sun goes down. I don't really know the reason to that. All I know is that I seriously can't stand bright lights when I am like this. That's another reason I didn't want to walk along the strip...Hey, Belle."

"What?"

"Are you scared of me?" Brendon asked, in a serious tone.

I looked down at my shoes as they walked along the stone paving. I didn't really know the answer to that. What would the answer be when a vampire asks that? I didn't want to be scared of him, after all he had saved my life twice and also been one of the nicest guys I've known. But he was...a vampire! You can't help being a little scared of a vampire, no matter how sweet they are. What if he was just trying to trick me into liking him, but really he was part of the bad vampires? "What do you want me to say to that, Brendon?"

"Just answer the question. You're afraid of me, aren't you?" Brendon said accusingly.

"I didn't say that. You expect me not to be a little shook-up from this whole night? How do you think I feel after finding out that there is vampires in this town and my dad is somehow associated with them and one of my friends is one of them." I said, I think in the meanest way possible. It wasn't supposed to come out so hostile. It had obviously upset Brendon, judging by his hurt expression and that's what made me regret saying it. I didn't like seeing Brendon look like this. No matter how cute he did look with those puppy dog eyes. "I didn't mean that in a nasty way, Brendon. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that."

"It sure sounded like you meant it in a nasty way. Do you think I want to be like this? Do you think I chose to be like this? Hell no. You don't know how much I want to be normal again. You don't know how much I would like to go back to that night I changed and bring my family back. You have no idea what it's like for me being like this. You think I'm not scared? Well I am."

"Brendon, I'm-"

"Never mind, Belle. Just go home. I'll see you tomorrow at school." Brendon said before storming off towards his house. I stood in the middle of the road in complete shock. I had never seen him like that before and it was all my fault. To save myself from almost being run over again, I walked off of the road and down the pavement to my house. I climbed the tree back up to my room, the same way I got out, so my mother or father didn't spot me coming in through the front door. Hopefully they hadn't been into my room to check on me. The time was, 1:02am according to the alarm clock in my room. Even though I'm thanking God that my parents hadn't checked up on me, I couldn't help but feel a bit upset. Did my parents not care about me that much? I could be starving to death, locked away in my room and they wouldn't know anything about it. Food was the last thing on my mind at the moment, so many other things were. Brendon, vampires, my father. My parents could have had the decency to make sure I wasn't dying or something. That's just total ignorance.