Changes

Seeing that Jimmy had found his destination I stopped and looked at the seemingly familiar house. It felt like I should know who lived here but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. My main thought was why Jimmy had brought me to a strange house.

“You do remember this house don’t you?” Jimmy asked skeptically.

“Ah, should I?” I asked still looking the house over.

“Yes, you should.” Jimmy stated as he put a hand on my shoulder and guided me down the cracked cement walk way. “This is Brian’s house.”

Once he said that I quickly turned around and headed the way that we had came. I had just accepted Jimmy but I wasn’t sure I was ready to go full force into that house. Not yet at least. Jimmy caught up with me soon enough and grabbed my arm gently. He placed both hands on my shoulders and gazed intently into my eyes. It felt like he was giving me an eye examination until I realized what he was doing. Get out James Sullivan.

“Ok, I’m out! No need to bring up formal names here.” He said defensively as he took his hands off me. “I feel that it’s time you really meet the guys.”

“Jimmy, it feels like I am going to be sick. I mean, I would honestly rather meet your parents and all that great cliché stuff.” I said worriedly throwing my hands in the air. “What if they don’t like me?”

“Something tells me that they like you already. Matt wants you back because Kourtney keeps on pestering him.” He said with a laugh.

I sighed heavily and glanced at the house nervously. Now that I knew what laid in store for me everything about the house seemed scary. Even down to the fake potted flowers on the porch and the yellow knitted curtains in the window.

“Can they smell the fear?” I asked cautiously.

“Colie, we’re vampires, not dogs.” He simply said like it was no big deal.

Jimmy led the way again back towards the house and quietly opened the screen door. I made sure not to stand too far away from Jimmy just in case something happened. I quite liked the idea of using him as a shield. Stepping into the living room memories from that night came flooding back; the maze, Mario Kart, and the rain. The two of us had only taken three steps into the house and then I was suddenly brought to the floor with great force that took the breath right out of me. I gasped for air while whatever hit me was pulled off. Jimmy’s arms wrapped around my body and picked me up like a ragdoll. Holding one head to my forehead and using the other grab his arm in support I slowly regained composure. I opened my eyes to find everyone in the room lounging on couches and on the floor. Johnny looked at me apologetically while Brian slapped him in the back of the head.

“Let me apologize for Johnny. He got a little excited when we found out you were coming.” Brian said with a smirk and smacked Johnny once again.

All I could do was give him a slight nod. My hands were locked together in front of me and I didn’t even want to breathe for fear of making a noise. This was what it must feel like to stand in front of a firing squad. I let my gaze wander over the girl’s faces and saw that Lauren was watching me with sympathy.

“Holy shit, you guys scared the crap out of her. Can’t you see that she’s so nervous right now?” Lauren said to the group.

She stood up from her spot next to Zacky and walked towards me. Linking her arm in mine she dragged me from my front and center position to a spot on the couch between Zacky and Matt.

“There, she is now integrated.” Lauren declared triumphantly.

“Thank you!” Audrey exclaimed loudly from her spot on the floor. “Now I’m not the new girl anymore.”

“New girl?” I asked quietly.

“Oh, right, I’m barely three years old.” Audrey informed. “In fact, next month will be the anniversary of Johnny turning me.”

“Um, congratulations?” I asked more then stated. I wasn’t sure if that’s what a person did in this kind of situation.

She smiled broadly at me then pulled Johnny down to the floor with her. They looked so cute together. Seeing them actually reminded me of another couple.

“Hey, Matt,” I said turning to face him a bit, “how are you and Kourtney doing?”

“We’re great.” He beamed. “I’m thinking about asking her to be my girlfriend soon.”

“When do you plan on telling her about, well, all of this?” I asked motioning towards the whole group.

“Hopefully I get to tell her. I don’t want it to turn out like Jimmy and you. No offense.” Matt quickly added.

I nodded understandingly. Kourtney wasn’t as strong as I was mentally and I think the shock would damage her more than it did me.

“Well, I hate to break up the party, but guys, we need to discuss some things in the basement. Ladies, have some nice girl talk.” Zacky said getting up from his sitting position.

The girls said their quick goodbyes to the men and watched them leave. Jimmy was the last one to exit the room because he seemed hesitant on leaving. He gave the girls a few glances before setting his heavy gaze on me. Just think the word and I’ll be here. I gave a little shriek and grabbed my head as he quickly left the room. The thought of him reading my mind was just sinking in, but now I have to deal with him putting thoughts in my head? I didn’t know if I could take much more. Turning to the girls I saw that all three of them were looking at me like I was crazy.

“How long did it take you guys to get used to them putting thoughts into your head?” I asked.

Their eyes all grew a bit larger and Jirony was actually the first to say something.

“You can already hear his voice? Damn.” She said in shock.

“Wait, what is that suppose to mean?” I inquired in a now shaky voice.

The girls looked at each other sat there silently. Audrey and Lauren were trying not to smile but it was obvious they were happy. Without warning Audrey turned to me and went all girly on the group.

“That is so friggin’ cute. Johnny had to turn me before he was able to do that.” She giggled maniacally. “It seems that Jimmy was right after all.”

“Hey, we don’t know that.” Jirony piped in. “Brian was able to get into my head just a few weeks after he started going after me.”

“Fine.” Audrey said with a sigh. “Party pooper.”

“Colie,” Lauren said getting my full attention, “what other weird stuff has Jimmy done? That is, besides being a member of the living dead.”

“Well, I guess he’s been able to hear my thoughts since we met. The only thing that I’ve been curious about that he hasn’t explained to me yet is crying. Do vampires cry?”

“Why, did you see him crying?” Jirony asked.

“I was at my parent’s funeral and I saw him standing there with a long black tear coming down his cheek.”

After I said this Audrey and Lauren squealed in delight and Jirony even smiled at me. I was becoming so confused. All I wanted was some answers.

“Can someone tell me what’s going on here?” I begged.

“First, we’ll talk about the whole mind reading thing.” Lauren said. “Vampires go through a certain courtship just like humans do when dating, except for all the flowers and disgusting chocolates. When a vampire feels a connection with someone they tend to do things with that person that they couldn’t with others. For instance, we can’t see into your head and our guys can’t either. Jimmy can. If a really strong bond is starting to form then a vampire can actually imprint his thoughts into your own. Obviously if you heard his voice just now then your bond was strong enough for him to do that.”

“Ok, then why did the crying thing excite you?” I asked.

“Can I do this one?” Audrey pleaded to the other two.

“Go ahead.” Jirony laughed.

“Emotions are another indicator of a bond building.” Audrey stated in her now calm voice. “We can feel every emotion in the book; anger, sadness, excitement, and so on. But it really means something to feel for another person. If Johnny was upset beyond belief, I would feel that and I probably would cry. It’s just a thing we do. Your sadness towards the death of your parents was so strong that Jimmy felt it. That’s why you saw him cry. He was hurting because you were hurting.”

“So, Jimmy and I have this special bond. I’m still not getting the full spectrum of what this means.”

“Wow, even Audrey grasped that concept faster than you.” Jirony laughed harshly.

“Has Jimmy mentioned something about the other half?” Audrey asked ignoring Jirony’s comment. Seeing that I had heard of this term she continued. “Being the ‘other half’ is a vampire version of a soul mate. Much like humans, we only get one person who we are truly meant to be with. It’s kind of like those crappy broken hearts that when you put them together they form a whole one. When someone finds their other half they feel complete. That bond that the two people build is what seals their relationship.”

“Honey, you are Jimmy’s other half.” Lauren said to me with a smile on her face.

I sat there in utter astonishment. It felt weird to me that somehow fate threw me into this whole thing. How was I supposed to deal with the fact that the rest of my life was in the hands of one person. Lauren’s voice cut though my cloudy mind and brought me mentally back to the living room of Brian’s house.

“So tell me, is he a good kisser? Come on girl I need all the details.” Lauren demanded while bubbling over with excitement.

“We haven’t done anything. The most we’ve done is dance together.”

“Are you serious? You need to branch out Colie.” Audrey stated. “Vampire men are so much better than human guys. They put so much love and power in everything.”

“What they’re basically saying is that the sex is amazing.” Jirony added bluntly.

“Hold on a second. There is no way that I am even considering the sex thing. I just found out that Jimmy and I are meant to be with each other for eternity. Cut me some slack will ya?” I said taking a deep breath.

“I bet he’s a beast in the sack. Jimmy’s always been the mysterious one of the group so it has to amount to great sex.” Lauren said primarily to Audrey and Jirony.

Their chatter stopped as footsteps were heard coming up the basement stairs. Jimmy walked briskly in and I couldn’t help but to see him in a new light. Every movement he made was attractive to me. It was like a whole new characteristic of his came out. I was his. Nothing could change that.

“What were you guys talking about that we heard so much giggling?” Jimmy asked curiously.

I looked at the girls but their gaze seemed to be focused on Lauren. She looked like a deer caught in headlights as she stared up at Jimmy. It was clear to me that Lauren didn’t want him to know that we were discussing other half business so she must have said the first lie that came to her mind.

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What does Lauren say?

1. “We think you should take Colie on a date.”
2. “Colie was just saying how incredibly handsome you were.”
3. “Uh, we weren’t discussing her being your other half. Not one bit.”

Yeah, this definitely makes up for the girlfriends not being in the story as much.