High School Sweethearts (Alucard X OC)

~Chapter Two~

It was a typical autumn Saturday when Claire decided to bake bread, a weekly ritual. She gathered her baking supplies and began making the dough, mixing flour, salt, yeast, butter, milk, and water. Kneading the dough made her arms feel tired, but she didn't stop until it was perfectly smooth. She then placed it in a pan and left it to rise for about an hour. 

As she walked away, the front door opened, and Trevor entered with a guest and a pizza for dinner, since their mother was sleeping.

It was Adrian who was the guest.   

"Hey, Claire."  Adrian smiled as he walked into the kitchen.  

"Hi, Adrian." Claire smiled back.  

Trevor placed the pizza on the table in the kitchen and opened it.  Within it was a round pizza with a lot of cheese, pepperoni, mushrooms, sausage and ham.   It was a Belmont family favourite to get that kind of pizza, at least as of modern times.   

Grabbing three plates, he threw two slices on each plate.  There were two left in the box, meant for his mother.   

Closing the box, he puts it in the fridge.

Adrian and Claire each grab a plate.  They sit down at the table.

Claire takes a small bite of her pizza, not used to eating in front of anyone outside her family.

Adrian does the same, but in a more refined manner.  

They make eye contact and they both stare at each other for a moment before looking away.  

Noticing this, Trevor decides to spark up a conversation.  

"The football tryouts are coming up.  You should join, Adrian," Trevor said out of the blue. 

"I'm not a huge fan of sports. Sure, I work out daily, but I don't enjoy sports very much unless it's badminton."  

Claire looks at Adrian, "I play badminton as well.  I tried out for the girl's team last year but didn't make it." 

"I bet you're a good player, Claire.  We've got to play sometime!  Maybe during the summer, we could," Adrian smiled. 

Claire blushed.  No one had ever really complimented her on her skills.   She nods, "Yeah." 

Soon enough, the three finish their pizza.  

"That was amazing!  Thanks for recommending that pizza place, Adrian." Trevor smiled at his best friend. 

"No problem.  When I was young and my parents were working, they would order pizza if they didn't have much time to cook," Adrian recalled his childhood.  

"What do your parents do, if you don't mind me asking?" Claire inquired, a little curious. 

"My mother's a doctor.  She works at the local hospital and specializes in almost everything.  My father was a scientist, but now he's a science teacher in the high school.  He decided to go back to school to get a degree in teaching, so he could be by my side whenever I needed support at school.  It's nice," Adrian smiled. 

"He must be a good father, then," Claire smiled. 

"I've met Mr. Tepes before.   Didn't like me much.  Said he'd tolerate me and nothing more," Trevor said, "Perhaps because I wasn't nice to most people at school and he found out about it." 

"I don't think I've met Mr. Tepes," Claire said.

"He's been out sick for the past week.  Nasty cold.  I had to take care of him when I came home from school." Adrian said, "He teaches the grade 10 science class.  He's a genuinely good teacher.  Totally unbiased."

Claire chuckled.   He seemed to have a sense of humour as well.    

Adrian got up to put his plate in the sink.  

Claire got up as well to do the same but accidentally bumped into Adrian who was coming back out from the kitchen, dropping her plate in the process.  

Without hesitation and with amazing reflexes, Adrian caught the plate before it hit the ground and shattered. 

"Wow!  Nice catch!" Claire said a little shocked, but mostly admirably.  

Adrian hands her the plate back and goes around her, heading back to the table.  

Claire puts her dish in the sink and thinks about what had just happened.   How did he catch it so quickly?  It was almost like... no, that can't be it.  

Suddenly, Adrian's phone rang, echoing a melodic ringtone that sounded default.  He must've never changed it.  

He picked up his phone, quickly swiped to accept the call, and put the phone to his ear, "Hello?" 

There was a woman's voice on the line. 

"Hey, Mom.  Yeah, I'll be there right away. I'll see you there, bye." Adrian hangs up the phone and turns to Trevor, "I've gotta go, my mom is waiting outside with the car.  Tell Claire I said goodbye."

"See ya, Adrian."

He heads out the door very quickly. 

Claire stood in the kitchen, staring at the plate.  What was it about Adrian that made him so strange?  It wasn't just the golden eyes and the pale skin, it was the way he moved as well.

Maybe it was superstition, but it felt so odd. 

"What are you, Adrian Tepes?" She mumbled to herself.