My Vampire Bromance

Chapter 20: When Did You Know?

Victor sat beside me, gently twirling a blonde wave of my hair between his fingers. His smile was like a crescent moon, his eyes like two large Christmas ornaments flickering with colored lights. If I didn't know any better, I would think I was dreaming. Victor was too perfect, and yet, he was anything but perfect. He stumbled over his words around me, he shook, and sometimes I even caught the hint of a blush in his cheeks. Like right now. As he stared at me, the blood inside him flittered up into his face as he swept a tress of my hair behind my ear.

I took another bite of the food that he had insisted on making me, and smiled. The food was something to be desired. Eggs, which I had to help him fish the eggshells out of when he cracked them, and every type of vegetable I had in the kitchen. And rice, which he burnt on the stovetop after letting it boil over after yelling at me to get out of the kitchen. "I'm going to cook for you! Let me do it! I'll figure it out eventually." And so, I left, coffee mug in hand, to sit on the couch and read while he finished making dinner.

I ended up texting Jenna the entire time, telling her that no, there was nothing going on between Victor and I. That the makeout with Samantha Peterson had been a huge mistake. Was I sure? Well, no. But I told her that I was. I really didn't know what else to say. The whole thing was so complicated. Eventually my lies about Samantha Peterson being the cause of the horrifying hickey on my neck would catch up to me one way or another. I couldn't hide behind Victor forever. One day, I'd have to tell Jenna and Clark what was really going on. Who'd really caused that bruise. I set the coffee mug down on the small wooden table in front of me, wondering why it tasted odd. I chalked it up to Victor's horrid cooking skills.

Honestly, I couldn't stop thinking about how he had kissed me last night. The deep lust in his eyes this evening when I told him at the bathroom door that Jenna and Clark were here and that they'd heard him. At the tender way he smiled at me as he handed me a cup of coffee when they left, and now the way Victor fiddled with my hair while I ate, looking at me like a man who was deeply in love. I didn't know how that was even possible. It had only been a month, and even then, Victor spent most of the time walking through campus and sleeping with me as a cat. He only spoke to me as himself during the nighttime hours when we were alone. Our conversations had been long. He asked me everything and anything that came into his mind during those times. We didn't even go to bed most nights till well past three in the morning.

I was starting to admit to myself that I really did like him. That I had been attracted to him from the start. I just couldn't believe my horrible luck when he turned out to be a vampire. And while he was no threat to me, I couldn't say the same for others. I had seen him feed on people for crying out loud!

"What are you thinking about?" Victor asked.

I swallowed my food, side-eyeing him, "Can't you read my mind?"

"Only when I want to," he said. Victor pulled one leg up on the couch and then leaned against me. "I wanted to give you privacy."

I sucked in my lower lip, "Mhmm." I put the empty bowl of food down on the coffee table, "Um, I was just thinking about how we got here. To this point." I bit my thumb nervously. Victor raised a brow at me and smiled. His hand rose to stroke my hair away from my face. I twitched, shivering from something caused other than the cold when he touched me. "You know, you are living with me. And now," I pointed between the two of us, "Um, well, yeah. I didn't even get a chance to talk to you about what happened tonight before Jenna and Clark showed up." I paused, not wanting to get hurt, "Did you want to talk about it?"

Victor leaned back, "If you wish to. But if you don't want to," he started stumbling over his words, "Talk about it, I mean me, then we can pretend like nothing ever happened. We can go back to being normal, and I can help you get that priss of a girl who seems to like you so much." He crossed his arms, leaning back, head towards me, eyes and expression looking slightly too lazy. His right fang protruded as he bit his bottom lip. If I didn't know better, I would have thought Victor was jealous.