2004-05-14 - 3:38 p.m.
NewLifeCh.8:ToMeet
Chapter Eight: To Meet.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~(Carey)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
All I could hear from the exploding closet in front of me was the exclamations of a busy digger of having nothing to wear.
“There’s nothing in here even remotely appropriate!” She yelled to me as I draped myself across the foot of her day bed.
“I’m sure you could find something suitable. What’s wrong with what you’re wearing now?” I asked. I should have known that would be a stupid question. To a female? Here it came. I was in for it now.
“THIS?!? It’s terrible. Not at all what should be worn. I need something…” Her eyes took on a sad, almost desperate cast as she flopped down on the floor. Grass stains were still on her knees, and I knew that she wouldn’t wear that out of the house if she could help it. “Ronin,” she allowed herself, as she looked back at me. “I’m going to meet your family.”
I made a growling noise we vampires are so good at, and half-turned away from her. “I wish you wouldn’t call them that.” I said, staring up at the ceiling.
“Well they are, aren’t they? The same sires, the same blood. It’s the same thing. Isn’t it? ‘Clan’ and ‘family’, they mean the same thing, don’t they?” She asked as she stood back up and retreated into her closet again.
“Not nearly,” I snorted as I turned over all the way and rested my hands beneath my head. No muttering, however, was a match for her new vampire ears.
“Well, I’m going to treat them that way anyway. It certainly cannot harm anything.” Came the voice dulled by fabrics.
“Actually, it can.” I sat bolt upright on the bed, and stared at the opening through which she had just popped her head. “I do not at any point need to listen to them. We live together simply for convenience. I do not owe them anything, and it’s best for you if you do not feel as though you owe them anything either.”
“Of course not. I owe them nothing yet. I haven’t even met them. If they are kind to me, I will be kind to them. If they are hostile toward me, I will reply in kind. Now, what do you think of this skirt?”
She spun around, allowing me to see her new ensemble, and I finally realized what she had been doing. A tiny black suede skirt was set off well by a billowy bright pink blouse covered by a black suede vest that matched the skirt. Her long dark hair had been pulled back, revealing a look to her eyes slightly reminiscent of the Latin culture. She was beautiful, and set off my black-pants-white-shirt-black-jacket combination well. She was good, I had to admit that. The remains of what, when she was little, had been voluminous curls, made for long straight hair with little fishhooks in the ends, her high ponytail allowing them to swirl about at her waist. The boots were the delicate black ankle boots she had worn to accompany me to Game just over twenty-four hours ago.
“You look gorgeous.” I said, and got up. I walked over to her, and put my arms around her, looking down into those beautiful blues, almost lost, until she jerked me back to reality.
“So, are we headed out to East Side, before we go over to your place?” She asked before puling herself away to retrieve her little black purse.
“Well, I guess so, if you still want to go.”
“Of course I do. Where else would we go on our anniversary?”
“Hell in a hand basket?”
“Now, my dear, we have plenty of time for that.” She remarked patronizingly as she pecked my cheek, grabbed my hand, and we were off again.
We arrived uneventfully at the restaurant, pleasant banter beating a rut back and forth between us on the ride, and a good laugh was had by both of us. We went into the restaurant with our usual greetings and sat at the table at which we had been seated on our first date.
Now, as our relationship was still fairly new at the time, there had been some things I still didn’t know, or simply didn’t realize about Aniya, and about women in general. I suppose I should mention to you, that, though not nearly as subtle as a dog’s, perse, or a wolf’s, a vampire sense of smell is also attuned to how a person feels, as well as their individual scent, but only good over short distances, and also over a short period of time.
But female scents had always confused me. Male scents were always very straightforward, very strong and block-like, coming in one at a time. But Female scents always came in weaves, like a basket, all those little strands, each a bit different. I had always had trouble being able to figure out which ones meant what. Turns out this was the night during which Aniya was going to enlighten me.
Aniya had just excused herself to, what I assume was, use the washroom, when “Hey there, handsome.” Came the sultry voice behind my shoulder. I looked up and saw a waitress I didn’t recognize standing there, grinning at me.
“Hey. Um, we’re not ready to order yet.” I said, twitching my nose. The girl simply grinned at me, and moved across the end of the table to sit down in front of me. In Aniya’s spot. She set down her note pad and stared at me. I began to shift in my seat She smelled like a hunter. Like a puma that was cornering a mountain goat.
“That’s ok. I’ll just sit here until you are. I don’t mind.” Feeling a little strange at her answer I just nodded and said ok, and looked back at my menu. But, of course, she wasn’t done yet. I was just convincing myself to ignore her constant stare, when she piped up again. “You know, I saw you come in with that girl. What’re you wasting your time with her for?” The waitress asked, picking at the napkins in front of her with long red nails that were obviously fake.
She blew a bubble in her gum about the size of New Jersey and popped it loudly, before grinning that disturbing grin again and chewing her gum back into her mouth. Into her scent there appeared a strand of something akin to loss. And hurt. I looked down at her nametag. Brittany; Figures. Another floozy. I set down my menu.
“That ‘Waste of time’, as you so eloquently put it, was my girlfriend.” I said, looking her straight in the eye.
“Yeah, I figured as much.” She said, shrugging. Then she looked at me and grinned like a fool. “Come on, you can tell me. She’s so… innocent,” she said, wrinkling up her nose in distaste. “You must be only after her to get a little something, aren’t you?” Her voice dropped about here. “I bet you I could do better than her.” Her hand snaked across the table to hold mine, from which I compulsively moved away. Quickly. A familiar shot of rose-scented perfume hit my nose about then, and I knew what was coming. I could smell jealousy like a seething, molten-lava scent, ready to kill a man. Or a woman. I laughed.
“What’s so funny?” She demanded. “Is she really that good? Look at her.”
“You’re a dead woman.” I said, laughing only between gasping for breath.
“Excuse me?!? Are you threatening me?!!?” She demanded, yanking her hand back.
“No, no I’m not, I’ve got nothing to do with it.”
“Then what are you talking about? Why am I a dead woman?”
“Because,” I said, conspiratorially leaning forward and grinning toward her. I stopped laughing and lowered my voice. She leaned forward, straining to hear. “Because my girlfriend’s not easily scared, pretty tough, and she’s quite the jealous type.” At this her eyes widened slightly, and she looked slightly surprised. But not because of what I’d said.
About that instant, a hand came smacking down between us, and Aniya’s voice could be heard, quite louder than she herself was used to, I’m sure. But certainly angry, with no doubts.
“Just WHAT do you think you’re doing, Brit? What are you up to? I think you’re in the middle of a shift, aren’t you?” She asked, quite viciously.
“Aniya!” The girl was surprised to find my girlfriend leaning over her. “Yeah, actually, I do have a shift. I just recognized Ronin from school. I came over to say hello and...” Her voice trailed off, and she licked her lips nervously. She got up and pulled out her notepad, looking at Aniya out of the corner of her eye, and moving out of the girl’s way, but discreetly. Her scent smelled scared stiff, laced through with shame and embarrassment and shame, and a tinge of loss and rejection.”Um, what will you two be having tonight?”
“I will have the chicken fingers and fries, and a coke- No ice, please.” Aniya ordered with perfect composure, not even bothering to check the menu. I nodded.
“I’ll have the same.” I said, and smiled to myself as Brit collected the menus and shuffled off toward the back of the restaurant.
“Wow, that was quite the show.” I told Aniya as she began poking at the little beads of condensation that had formed on her water glass. Fierce pride shot through her scent, and she smelled less and less like she was fighting for survival and for territory, and more like she was proud of herself.
“Nobody, but nobody, flirts with my man.” She insisted, taking a sip of water. I swelled with pride till it felt I would burst. My man. I thought. I liked the sound of that.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We're going in there???" She asked, upon looking into the house in front of us. Though of an older style, the house was set in the new part of town, among the new developments.
"What's wrong with it?" I asked, feeling slightly offended.
We stood at the front gate of the unusually large property and gazed up at the gingerbread molding. The front of the house had large corinthian-style pollars, and a beautiful double oak door stained mahogany.
"Nothing's wrong with it, just... it doesn't lok the way I thought it would." She seemed not so much afraid as disappointed. I grinned at her and lead her up the stairs towards the door. I pulled a key chain from my pocket and began to pen the door as she turned in circles to admire the pictures carved into the ceiling above the front porch.
