Love at first bite

Chapter 6:

Karla had tons of questions about vampires when she woke up. She probably thought that was what she was feeling. There was something up with John and she could feel it. But if this was the reason why Karla didn't know if she could accept it. She knew how she felt about John that was clear to Charlie and her friends. But the mixed signals that John was giving her the past few days haven't helped. Maybe it was a good thing today was Saturday and Karla could enjoy the weekend without having to worry about John. Karla was at the park with Mary when she saw John walking with an older lady.
"It's just weird you know. How John gives you all this attention than all of a sudden he's here with an older woman." Mary stated.
"That could very well be his mother for all we know. Plus he hasn't told me anything about him or his home life so I don't know anything about him. If he wants to ignore me then fine he can ignore me. If he wants to swing into my room even though the front door is better accessible than climbing a 3 story house then he can. I just wish I knew why he was ignoring me. Felt like I was starting to trust him." Karla stated.
Mary gave Karla a look like really. Karla rolled her eyes before intertwining her arm into Mary's. Little did Karla know that John was watching her interaction with Mary. Belladonna saw this and whacked him upside the head.
"You know Rune is going to be very protective of that girl when and if she meets us." Belladonna stated.
John had heard Belladonna and Rune talking about this one night when they were coming back from a hunt. He never knew what it meant. It never crossed his mind that Rune could have family living in the area. There were things about Karla he still didn't know. But as he watched Karla he knew that there were things that he hadn't been honest with about himself. It had been a while since he had opened up to anyone who wasn't a family member. Even the ones that came after him, he had a hard time opening up too.
"I know because that's what I overheard from you and him. But why is it still the mystery? I don't know why he will be protective over someone he hasn't even met." John stated.
John hadn't yet admitted to himself that Karla was his mate but it sure was clear to everyone else in the clan that he had found his mate. Even if they didn't like it. John never felt this pull with anyone in roughly 300 years so why Karla. Why now?
"Think that is something that she has to tell you. You might not know it or have admitted it to yourself yet but that girl is your mate. Don't push her away." Belladonna stated.
John didn't want to push her away but that was exactly what he had been doing. Karla on the other hand was worried about John and everything that she might have found out. She couldn't shake the fact that she felt like she saw John in a book about the American revolution but there had to be a human explanation. Karla was trying to convince herself that John was a family name passed down and it was just a coincidence that he looked like a John Whitlock would look if he was alive during the American revolution.
"Do you need time alone with your thoughts?" Mary asked.
"Oh sorry. Didn't knows that I had zoned out again. Feels like I've been doing that a lot." Karla admitted.
"Because you have. Ever since John and his family showed up a few weeks ago you have been zoning in and out more than ever. I think that you like John and you just haven't admitted how you feel to yourself yet." Mary stated.
"Of course I haven't admitted how I feel yet. It's hard enough to admit you like someone when they are giving you mixed signals. I will admit how I feel when he stops playing mind games." Karla spoke.
It was true. Karla knew how she felt about john but it didn't help when he was playing with her emotions making it difficult for her to know how it was she exactly felt. Karla and Mary continued their walk through the park before going to Jaspers for lunch. If there was one place Karla could eat at every day and not get tired of it was Jaspers. For some reason, it felt like home. She saw Charlie and her father sitting at a table that looks like they were waiting for Karla and Mary.
"So what time is Genevive coming over tonight?" Charlie asked.
"She didn't say. But knowing Genevive it will be closer to 4 before she shows up." Karla replied.
"Does Mary want to stay the night as well?" Martin questioned.
"I cant. It's family night at my house. But we will probably video chat through facetime sometime tonight." Mary replied.
Karla smiled at that. For some reason every Saturday after family night Mary would always text to see if she was up then they would spend the next 2 to 3 hours on facetime. It was like a Saturday tradition they had been doing since the 8th grade. Genevive and Katy sometimes joined and if they wanted too they would video call on Zoom so that way they could all be on the call together. Genevive wanted to talk about John and John never announced when he was going to show up. So to see John here was not surprising. It was a small town and someone must have recommended this place to him.
"Hello, Karla. And Karla's family." John stated.
"Karla, who is this?" Martin asked.
"This is John. We go to school together. We have Chem together. John this is my dad Martin, my sister Charlie, and you already know Mary." Karla replied.
John smiled at all of them before shaking Martin's hand. John didn't want to be rude so he got his table. Karla noticed that John was eating food and she didn't know if it was because he was trying to blend in or if he was actually human and Karla just got everything wrong.
"It's rude to stare Karla." Charlie stated snapping Karla out of her thoughts.
"Sorry," Karla mumbled.
Karla ate her food in silence as Charlie, Martin, and Mary were all talking about something that was going to happen to the town. Karla kept zoning in and out that she almost missed John passing her his phone number when he was leaving. Karla looked at the number before looking back at John who winked at her. This might come in handy when Genevive was over because she didn't need him interrupting girl time.
"You like him don't you?" Martin asked as they were leaving the restaurant.
"I don't know. It's hard to say. Especially when he does things like give me his number and wants to talk then does a complete 180 and wants nothing to do with me. When I know I will be more than happy to answer that question." Karla replied.
Charlie knew that her sister knew more than she was letting on. But she knew she had to trust her sister instead of her gut. This was still new territory for Karla so Charlie needed to trust her before giving her the 5th degree.
"Well, when we get home make sure your room is clean for Genevive." Martin stated.
"You know I always keep my room clean dad. But sure ill make sure I put things away." Karla spoke.
Karla knew that with Genevive over some people still might be butting their heads in because they want to know everything about everything. She knew Charlie wanted to know everything about the situation but it was hard to tell someone when you don't fully know the situation yourself. Karla was cleaning up her room when Genevive walked through the door.
"Hey. My parents are going out of town for the week and your dad said I could crash here. Hope that's okay." Genevieve stated.
"Perfectly okay. Our house is big enough. I don't know if they ever wanted more children after me or not but there are like 5 rooms that aren't getting used that have beds and the whole nine yards. So if you want to stay longer you're more than welcome too." Karla stated.
Genevive smiled as Karla showed her to the guest room. But knowing them they would more than likely be spending a whole lot of time in Karla's bedroom. *Which would be fine with her considering she got one of the bigger bedrooms. She had to make sure to send John a text to make sure that he would at least warn her before he just came over. While she was thinking about it she typed in the number and sent the text.

From John: Think I could do that. Hope that you and Genevive have a great time together. And will be giving you a heads up so I don't scare you again. Never my intention to scare you.

It was nice that he seemed to understand. So when Genevive came back into Karla's bedroom, she told her exactly what had been happening the last few days. Even showed her the picture in the book.
"So you think something is up?" Genevieve asked.
"Been feeling like something is up since before they even got here. But it's hard to know what it exactly is when the person you probably like keep giving you mixed emotions." Karla replied.
It felt good to tell someone this. Someone with an open mind because if something was up Karla didn't know how much if any she would be able to share with anyone.
"Something does seem fishy about them. Think everyone knows that something is up with them. That's why the rumors are getting spread around because no one knows what is going on with them. But don't know why you care so much?" Genevive asked.
"I know I shouldn't. Normally I would just brush it off. But for some reason, I feel a connection with John that I haven't felt with any other guy in town before. I don't know what that connection is but something is telling me to get to know this guy. The last time I felt any sort of connection with anyone that just moved into town was when you moved into town." Karla answered.
"I got that connection too. It was like I need to know more about you. It rarely happens. I looked up why we had a connection and what I found is that it could either be a friendship soulmate kind of thing or you found your actual soulmate." Genevieve stated.
Karla soaked in what Genevieve had told her and there was no way that John was her soulmate. But it made sense as to why Genevieve would be her friend's soulmate. Genevieve was always the first person she called when she needed someone to talk to and it always was since the 6th grade. John as a soulmate? There was no way that a guy who just moved into town would be her soulmate.
"He just moved into town. What if you're wrong?" Karla asked.
"I very well could be wrong. But that's why I'm telling you that it might be possible. If you need to be more sure then go for it. I'll is happy for you. Regardless of what secret that this boy is hiding." Genevieve answered.
Karla hugged Genevieve before seeing Genevieve leave to call her mom. Karla thought long and hard that night about the what-ifs which she never did. For the first time in a while, she wrote down all the what-ifs so that way she could use them for a possible future story. About what? Karla didn't know. There was still a lot to figure out about her and John. Questions that still needed answers. But Karla wanted to know what those answers were to know for sure if John was the person she wanted to spend forever with.