Changes

Sensing that I was a bit apprehensive about taking his hand he whispered, “You promised.”

“I know I did, but that was before all of this.” I said worriedly.

“I was what I am now. How does your current knowledge of this situation make it any different?” he asked.

“This kind of thing just doesn’t happen.” I said in a rushed manner, barely getting my words out. It was in this hurried talk that I made my next mistake. “You’re a monster Jimmy.”

His hand twitched a bit and then fell to his side. My heart ached to see the pain that was now evident in his eyes. I’ve never seen so much emotion on his face before. Just knowing that I’m the cause of his ache hurt me. Jimmy turned around and took a few steps away from me. I was about to yell at him to come back when he quickly turned back around. This time anger formed his face instead of pain.

“A monster? Would a monster have just done that for you? Would a monster have cared for you when you were sick and had to be in the hospital? I’m not sure that a monster would watch you walk through the park on your way home from school and keep an eye out for you.” He screamed to no one in particular. His voice suddenly dropped to its normal volume. “A monster wouldn’t kill for you Colie.”

A slight chill engulfed my body. He killed for me? It didn’t make sense. My eyes doubled when it finally hit me. He killed Chey because I said the world would be better without people like her in it. Did he actually think I was being serious when I said that?

“She upset you Colie. I hate to see you upset.” He murmured. “Hey, I took one for the team because she tasted nasty.” He chuckled a bit.

“That’s not funny.” I said in horror.

“You’re right, I’m sorry. I guess it’s too soon to be joking about this.” He stated. “But in all seriousness, you said that you would always trust me. Do you think that I would actually hurt you?”

The time was here. I knew that I was going to have to answer this question and I think that I was now ready. Carefully getting up from the ground I stood right in front on Jimmy. He watched me intently and he didn’t budge an inch when I took both of his hands in mine. I exhaled shakily before I looked up at him and answered his question.

“No, I don’t think you would. I’m not sure if you could bring yourself to do it.” I told him quietly.

“Then say it. I want to hear it come past your lips.” Jimmy ordered.

“I trust you Jimmy Sullivan, with every fiber of my being.” I said with a reassuring smile.

I stood on my toes and I slowly wrapped my arms around his shoulder in a hug. The last time I gave Jimmy a hug I was soaked to the bone and I thought I had scared him by being too emotional. This time, however, he was quick on the draw. His arms fit comfortably around my body and he even tightened the grip which brought me closer to him. When his head started to get cozy near my neck I flinched and I know that Jimmy noticed.

“I’m sorry. I can tell you’re still uncomfortable around me.” He apologized while pulling away.

“It’s just going to take a while for me to get used to this whole undead thing.” I said with an awkward smile.

“Here let me walk you home and I’ll answer any questions you have.”

I laughed at how simple he thought this was. “Well, be prepared to stay a bit because I have a lot of them.”

Our walk was relatively short and nothing much was said. I could tell that he missed my company as much as I missed his. When he had told me that he didn’t like to see me upset, I was completely understanding of it. But I began to notice that he also wanted to keep me safe. He made sure that I was a safe distance from any moving vehicle and whenever some guy, a teenager or a senior citizen, came near me he would cautiously put a hand on my arm. I thought it was cute. Opening the door I let Jimmy enter the house before I did and securely closed it behind me. Turning around I found him inspecting all the photos on my mantel. I felt odd. Who else can say that they had a vampire in their house?

Fuck, I’ve got to be dreaming.

“No, Colie, you’re not dreaming. I’m as real as you, as your cat, and as the old lady next door who gave me the evil eye when I walked into the house.” He said with a hint of humor.

“Y-you can r-read my mind?” I asked in a shaky voice.

“It’s one of the things on my list of talents.” He grinned.

“Holy shit, so you’ve been able to hear every little thing since day one?”

Jimmy still wore his sheepish grin as he watched me panic. “Am I really that cute when I stick my tongue out while I do homework?”

“Oh God, this is so fucking embarrassing.” I said more to myself then to him. At this point I was more concerned about the fact he knows what is going on in my head then with him being a vampire.

“Don’t worry about the whole ‘I know what’s going on in your head’ thing. I can turn it on and off actually. When I want to know what your true feelings are then I’ll dive into that fantastic funhouse that you call a conscious.”

“What else can you do?” I asked after I had calmed down a bit and curiosity was seeping in.

“I’m sure that now you remember how I easily outran you on the beach and football field. That wasn’t even close to the speed that I can reach. Like all other vampires I have extreme agility and strength.” He answered.

I nodded as I remembered how pathetic I felt for him to outrun me so fast. “I’ve been curious about a few things.” I said thoughtfully. “I thought vampires couldn’t go out into the sun or they would fry?”

“Well,” he started and then paused to think, “that is slightly true. The sun weakens us to a point and once we hit a certain UV point it can leave a burn like it would with humans. Do you remember last year when someone broke into the theatre department and stole some things? Yeah, well, Brian picked the lock and stole all their luminescent powder that the actors wear on stage to deflect light from their faces. When it’s a sunny day out we just put some on and we’ll be fine.”

“That makes sense. That’s actually pretty smart of you guys. If you can think to do this then why can’t you pass biology?” I asked with a laugh.

“Oh, I never went to bio because I never took the class. Zacky hacked into the computer system and added the class to my transcript which resulted in me getting no credit for the class.” He explained.

“But why would you make it look like you failed a class?” I questioned further.

“Isn’t it obvious?” Jimmy quizzed me.

I stared up in the ceiling in concentration thinking about what was so obvious, all while Jimmy closed in on me. Why would someone put himself through all that extra work? Why would anybody want to be tutored? Jimmy hovered over me with a warm smile as he watched me discover his whole plan. My face went red and I wanted nothing more than to lock myself in my room. This guy had it too easy when it came to embarrassing me.

“You knew that I would be your tutor.” I stated timidly.

“I couldn’t pass up the opportunity Colie.” He said quietly.

I gazed at Jimmy in shock. My mouth hung limp as I tried to digest all this information. Slowly, I walked away from his side and silently let myself fall to the couch. It was had trying to take everything in. Their plan was so thought out and all just to get to me. That’s what I found the most confusing.

“Why me? Out of all the other girls in Huntington High, why me?” I asked as I buried my face in the palms of my hands.

“You were special to me.” He whispered softly right into my ear. I jumped slightly because I didn’t even feel or hear him sit next to me on the couch. “I had to know more about you.”

My tired eyes scanned his face. The only thing that had come from this that I was grateful for was his emotions. Jimmy has never showed this much feeling before and I was intrigued by it. Rubbing my eyes to wake them up a bit, it was then that I realized how drained I was. The plush back of the couch caught my form as I leaned into it. This time I felt Jimmy mimic my actions and also sit all the way back. His arm went around my shoulder and brought back memories of our night together. I felt like it was ok to accept Jimmy now because I knew that there was no way that I was going to get rid of him.

****************************************************************************************************

Colie says something abruptly, what does she say?

1. “Let me see your fangs.”
2. “I want to know more about you. I want to know everything.”
3. “Will you promise me something?”

Oh, this is going to be great! Votes will really make a difference for this one.