Chapter Twenty-Six
Orange shadows stretched across the highway in the early morning sun, and my thoughts, distant and reflective, seemed lost far beyond the car window too. I leaned my weary head on the glass, trying to hold on to that last moment before everything changed.
Today, for the first time, I woke to the sting of normality; coffee, with its unusual ability to make everything seem okay; toast on the table when I came down, feeling the early morning chill on my bare arms, and quiet conversation with Dad—trying not to wake the rest of the house.
Even though Mike was arriving today, excitement was not the first feeling I had as my alarm startled me from peaceful slumber; it was devastation, weighed down with a tight ache in my throat called sorrow. It was kinda fitting really, that the last time I saw Mike, I was in exactly the same state of mind as I was now—miserable. I really thought Mike’s coming to stay would ease the pain of losing David. But I was wrong.
Dad moved his gaze from the road and smiled at me; I knitted some semblance of a grin across my face, but the world couldn’t make me smile for real, and in two weeks, when David left forever, I’d never smile again. Unless I became a vampire.
Thing was, with the days of losing him coming closer and closer, the idea of killing for love seemed less horrific. Not enough that I was ready to tell him that—or think it around him. I just…I just needed guidance—a sign.
The music in the car became louder when one of Dad’s favourite songs came on, and as we turned onto the long stretch of highway toward the airport, a black billboard with a white circle of light caught my attention. I spun in my seat and read the words as we whizzed past: Let Fate Decide.
Let Fate decide?
Dad turned the radio off then, leaving me feeling exposed in the silence as an idea took shape. I sat back in my chair, smiling. Maybe if I couldn’t decide what to do, I could ask a higher power to grant me an epiphany—or at least an answer. Mike loved me, but he, in no way, loved me like I loved him. It would take some miracle for his heart to change, just like the kind of miracle it would take to convince me to go with David and be a murderer. So maybe that was it; maybe that was my answer. If Mike magically confessed his undying love for me, I’d stay human, live my life, have babies, and one day die. But, if I was right, if he really only loved me as a friend, then it’d be a sign that I should throw away childish beliefs about meeting ghosts of the past in the hereafter, let go the hope of one day being a mother, discard all my moralistic beliefs, and go with David—become a vampire.
It was perfect; like rolling the dice and saying ‘seven’.
Dad looked sideways at me and changed gears as we slowed, coming into the airport. “You excited?” he asked.
“Kinda nervous, actually.”
“Nervous?” he said. “Why?”
Part of me wanted to tell Dad about the ‘Tragic Rejection Moment’ between Mike and I, but the sensible part said, “It’s just been a while, is all. I’m not sure if we’ll be friends like we used to.”
“Honey.” Dad pulled over in the pick-up zone and placed his hand on mine. “I’m sure you’ll be fine. You may have been apart for a while, but Mike’s been there the whole time. I’ve been talking to him every couple of days—giving him updates on you.”
“Dad?” I groaned. “Really? I mean, I knew you were talking, but—updates? Come on—”
Dad shrugged. “He asked. I told.”
“I don’t know how you thought telling me that would make things better.” I folded my arms and looked out the window.
“Because I don’t want you to feel like he abandoned you by not pushing you to talk to him. He’s just been giving you some space.”
I unfolded my arms and looked beyond the glass entrance of the terminal to the people flooding the airport, gathering around the baggage collection for flight 728. Mike’s flight. “He’s here.” I unlatched my seatbelt, ignoring the intoxicating surge of adrenaline seeping into my arms and chest, making my heart pick up about ten paces. I wished I could see him—just make him out among the crowd so I could sneak up on him—see how different he looked before he saw me.
“Go on.” Dad grinned, watching me edge in my seat.
“I’ll be back soon,” I beamed as I sprung from the car.
People gathered their bags from the conveyer belt and hugged their families. I pushed against the tightly packed bodies, using my elbows to almost swim through the crowd, my gaze shifting side to side.
“You lost, sweetie?” a man asked when I studied his face carefully under his sandy-blonde hair.
I shook my head and hurried past him, stopping dead when I saw a guy on his phone by the Coke machine; sandy-coloured hair, broad shoulders. I squinted, jutting my neck forward as I took baby steps in his direction—seeing only flashes as the crowd of people stole my view several times.
Then, certainty flooded through me when he threw his bag over his shoulder and flipped his phone in the air before stuffing it in his back pocket.
That was him!
I stopped walking; he was so much taller than I remembered, and bigger, too. His blue shirt fit tightly around the softballs in his arms, but there was still that something in the way he held himself—a sort of tall stance with a kind of confidence that came from being an officer of authority. He looked good. Good enough that I felt my cheeks flush as the perfect word to describe him entered my head...sexy.
“Ara?” He spun around suddenly, eyes lighting up.
I couldn’t move. I’d imagined this moment so many times in my mind; how I’d run into his arms and he’d lift me off the ground and kiss me—like he loved me.
However, that was always only a dream, and I left that behind—found another reason to exist. But, as I looked upon my old crush for the first time in so long, my new reason to exist seemed to fade for that one moment, and whether it was by habit or longing, I wasn’t sure, but for that moment, I still wanted Mike just as bad as before.
“Ara? Baby?” He ushered me to him. “What ya waitin’ for, girl, come here.”
With no mind for the family walking in my path, I darted forward, forcing them to part as I launched toward Mike, barely giving him a chance to drop his bag before I jumped into his arms. We stumbled back a few steps with the force of my eager embrace—a physical reaction my steady-legged vampire could never have, unless he was pretending to be human. And I loved how human Mike was right then.