Parting is such a sweet sorrow {THE LITTLE VAMPIRE}

In that case

The following evening . . .

Tony paced outside the castle doors looking at the dirt road, then up at the last streak of peach sunlight slinking under the horizon, then back at the ground. He wore dark brown dress shoes that were slightly too big for him, khaki slacks, and a maroon sweater over a white button-down.

Tony tugged at his collar. He didn't like the way it rubbed against his neck. Anna was sure to arrive at any moment, and she'd probably expect him to compliment her or something. Complimenting her wouldn't be hard, but acting like he wasn't already gearing up to turn Anna down by the end of the night would be difficult.

Something tapped on Tony's shoulder from above. He jumped, yelped, and spun around, searching the sky. Rudolph floated upside-down in front of Tony with his arms behind his back and a cheeky grin. He was wearing a very expensive-looking black suit, and he looked . . . wow. Just . . . wow.

"Evening, mortal. You look ravishing."

Tony's cheeks flushed.

"Wh . . . Where's Anna?"

Rudolph's brow furrowed in confusion. He swiveled right-side-up and floated to the ground.

"Anna? I don't know, probably toying with some mortal tourist, why would she—Oh. Oh, you thought—You thought you were going on a date with Anna." Rudolph grimaced.

Tony rocked back and forth on his heels.

"You mean, you weren't setting me up with her?" The mortal had no clue what was going on, but at least it was starting to look like he wasn't going to have to turn Anna down after all.

Rudolph sighed.

"No, Tony. I was asking you to go on a date with me."

Tony's eyes widened. Huh? Rudolph was . . . What? So when he said, "date a vampire" he meant . . . He meant him? Had Tony heard him correctly? Was he dreaming?

"If you're not interested, I understand. In fact, Anna's probably free tonight, and I'm sure she'd love to—"

"No!" Tony shouted much louder than he meant to. Rudolph smirked, and Tony's ears burned. He hadn't thought of Rudolph in . . . that way before. Not consciously, anyway. But Rudolph sure did live in his mind rent free. When Tony and his parents were out sight-seeing during the day, he leapt at any chance he got to gush about Rudolph, and his heart raced whenever his parents asked about him. Tony thought his enthusiasm about his vampire friend was simply an extension of his obsession with vampires in general, but now he felt stupid for only just realizing he had a gigantic crush on Rudolph since the moment he first laid eyes on him.

"In that case . . ." Rudolph revealed the massive bouquet of dark red roses he'd been hiding behind his back and presented them to Tony with a deep bow. "I heard mortals like these."

Tony's jaw dropped.

"You . . . You got me flowers?" He stammered and blinked in disbelief as Rudolph placed the bouquet in his arms.

"Beautiful flowers for my beautiful flower." He winked.

Tony squeaked. No one had ever called him beautiful before. His mom called him her "handsome little man" all the time, but that was different.

"Shall we?" Rudolph offered his hand, and Tony took it.

"Are we flying somewhere?"

"No." Rudolph chuckled. "We have to walk where we're going tonight."

Tony pouted, but then blushed when it dawned on him that Rudolph wasn't holding his hand to help him fly. He was just holding it for the sake of holding it.