To Dispose of Roses

Chapter 3

Despite the curtains in my bedroom being shut as tightly as I could get them, I could still feel light hitting my eyes as I tried to sleep. Man, being a vampire certainly had its downside sometimes.

Besides its not like they were great curtains anyway but what else could I do? I wasn't going to wear stupid sunglasses while I tried to sleep.

Groaning, I sat up, giving up on trying to get more sleep. I was a strong vampire, the light wasn't a bother to me really, well only a little bit. But it didn't stop me from going outside. I was used to abnormal sleeping patterns from back when I was in high school going to a mortal school. I quickly got dressed and looked at the clock.

Late afternoon, not too bad.

I headed downstairs to see that the restaurant was full, mostly of mortals. My mother spotted me and smiled at me.

"What are you doing up so early?" she asked curiously.

"Couldn't sleep."

"Hungover?"

I shook my head. "Nah nothing like that." I didn't want to complain about the curtains since I knew my mother worked hard for what we had, and despite being the type of guy I was I didn't want to upset her.

Damn every time I thought back to those curtains I contemplated on getting a job myself but everybody knows just how useless I am.

A sudden voice came from a group of people sitting at a table behind me. "Hiroto!!"

I turned myself around to see Daiki, Yuuji and Takumi sitting at the table being a bunch of loud idiots. I so badly wanted to smash my head against the wall.

"What are you doing here?" I called as I made my way over to them. "Go home."

Daiki grinned. "Just checking up on my buddy."

Who was his buddy? I certainly hoped that it wasn't me, but seeing as they were in my mother's restaurant I assumed that it was.

I took a seat beside them and leaned on the table with my hands on my face. "Go home, go to sleep." I sighed.

Takumi shook his head. "Nah I find I'm actually a morning person."

Just shut up all you morning people, you're giving me a headache.

"Hey! Hey! Hiroto hey check it out!"

Daiki's overly excited voice made me want to go back upstairs myself and go back to sleep. But I looked up anyway to see what all the fuss was about. Daiki discreetly pointed towards a girl on the other end of the restaurant who was sitting alone and reading a book to herself quietly.

"Daiki, you have a girlfriend." I could hear Yuuji reminding him.

I continued to watch the girl. I didn't get it, she wasn't Daiki's type. She seemed to be way too introverted to even acknowledge the existence of a guy like him. Not to mention she looked way too young for us.

Apparently, I had zoned out for long enough to notice that Daiki had gotten up out of his seat and approached her.

No, no no, you damn idiot, leave that poor girl alone.

I watched on as he tried to hit on the strange girl, and to be perfectly honest the fact that she didn't even look up from that book of hers she was reading made me smile. Naturally, all the other guys were laughing at him too.

Daiki however, being the ass he was, wouldn't leave the girl alone. I could see that she was getting tired of him and even I was getting bored of this too.

"Later guys." And with that, I made my way back up to my bedroom leaving the guys to do whatever the hell they wanted.

~

What puzzled me however, was that the same girl showed up a couple of nights later. Was she a regular here? Nah, I would have seen her before now if she were. With her dark hair and black and purple colour scheme she was going with, she wasn't exactly unnoticeable.

But what really stunned me was that she was reading a different brick-sized novel than the one the other night. Damn. She has a lot of spare time.

Hiding in the kitchen, I watched her. Once again, she was alone. I started to wonder if the poor girl had any friends. Maybe she was like me and had friends but they were so annoying that she feels she has to escape from them sometimes, I know I certainly do.

Yet something about her seemed strange. It didn't seem like her intention was a night of peace and quiet. Then it struck me. Maybe she had a date and she was waiting for him. He could have shown up the other day after I left. Shit... it all made sense now.

Except for that book of course. Nobody brings a book that large on a date. But maybe she was very early. Ugh this curiosity was getting the best of me. That's it, I was going to go talk to her.

"Hiroto!" My mother suddenly called.

Why now?! I turned to look at her. "Yes?"

"Can you help me over here please?"

"No. I'm busy."

"Please?"

I looked back over to where the girl was sitting to see that in the moment I had looked away from her, she had left and was nowhere to be seen. Ugh, just my luck.

I reluctantly walked over to my mother. "Fine.....I'll help you."

I hoped that wasn't the last time I would see her. But I had a feeling that I would see her very, very soon.

Hello, just a short author's note. I promise this will be quick.

If you're interested in this mysterious girl, her name is Natasha Page and she is the protagonist of 'A Drop of Purple' by @Werecat and our two books will have a lot to do with each other. Of course, Hiroto will make some appearances in her book also, so look forward to that.