ℒove at First Bite ≫ One Direction/Vampire (AU)

thirty // "gotta let go sometime right?"

- Gabry - 

        I stood on the threshold, my fingers clenching at the cool metal of the doorknob. Alec remained staring at me, him looking as if he was trying his best not to stare at Louis who stood two feet behind him. 

        "Hi Alec." I found myself saying involuntarily, anything to break the silence. I looked over at Louis, who remained silent. "Louis."

        "Is this a bad time, I--" Louis started, him taking a step forward.

        "No!" Alec jumped slightly, him startled by my tone of voice. It did sound louder then I thought it would. Yet again, everything was completely silent beforehand.

        "Sorry, just--no you're fine." I stuttered, anything in attempt to apologize to him. He looked back to me, his dark blue eyes, standing out against his pale skin and the reflection of white snow.

        Louis closed his mouth, his hand coming up to brush through his hair. Alec looked over his shoulder at him. They made eye contact, but Alec quickly looked away.

        "Come in, both of you." I exclaimed, stepping back and pulling the door with me, allowing a clear entrance into my house.

        Alec's mouth drew in a line as he stepped forward, him brushing past me. Louis on the other hand, remained where he was.

        "Are you going to come in?" I asked peeking from around the door. I could hear Alec taking his coat off, him throwing it on the coat holder next to the front door with a *schrunk* of the material folding. Louis bit his lip, his hands going to his coat pockets.

        "I'll just--I'll call you later, OK?" It sounded more like a question then statement, but Louis started to take steps back, as if I didn't answer anyway he still was going to leave.

        "Uh, yea. I'll text you." That was the only thing I could think of saying. He was still going to leave no matter what I said, mind as well just let him go.

        Louis gave a small nod, him turning as he walked down the wood porch steps. Snow crunched under his feet as he stepped into the sun. He didn't even turn around to say bye.

        "Well, that wasn't awkward at all." Alec stated after I had shut the door, causing a gust of cold wind to envelope over me for a brief second.

        I turned around, only to see Alec already walking into the living room. Slowly I walked across the wooden flooring's, following after him. He sat on the couch, him leaning all the way back, obviously comfortable with his surroundings. 

        I sat across the room, me sitting in a one seated chair while Alec lounged on the sofa. He stared aimlessly in front of him, pale light streaming in through the thin white curtains on the wall that my back was too. 

        I looked down and played with my fingers, rubbing my palms together as Alec remained silent. I wasn't that good with silences, always the one to remain silent really, but I had no words to say. He had been through a lot lately, as have I, so were do I even start? We couldn't talk about anything too much into detail, my mother was still in the kitchen, my father most likely upstairs in his study or sleeping. 

        "So. . ." I started, me slowly looking up, only to find Alec now staring directly at me.

        "So Louis?" 

        I stopped moving my hands, instead clenching them together. "What about Louis?" 

        Alec sat straighter, him poking at a stray string on the side of the sofa. "Are you two a thing now?" 

        "What? No!" I exclaimed. "He's like 20, that would be weird--"

        "Yeah and your almost 17, but you like him, right?" 

        Sitting up straighter in my chair, I pushed my fringe out of my face and behind my ear. "When did I ever--"

        "At the Lighting. Saturday night. You said you thought he was attractive." Alec interrupted again.

        I froze once he said Saturday night, flashbacks coming into my mind. But then I remembered that Alec had no remembrance of that night, thanks to the protection of whatever Louis had done to him. 

        "Well . . what about you and Madison?" I countered. I needed to get the subject off of Louis, and Madison was the first thing that had come to mind. Alec was spending an awful amount of time with her these past 2 weeks. . . and she was Matthew Holland's girlfriend. One of Alec's deceased best friends. . 

        Alec froze, him looking away and blinking visibly for a split second. "She lost someone. I lost someone. We both needed each other's help and care." 

        "So your not dating then?"

        "No." He replied sternly. "We are not dating, we are not together."

        Alec huffed, him looking away, obviously irritated that I had switched the subject. He looked like he was trying his best not to show it, even though me switching the subject had worked perfectly. Louis was out of the conversation. 

        "How's Rachael?" I asked. Me feeling uneasy that I had irritated Alec in any kind of way. I needed to change the subject. again.

        "She's fine, she should get out of the hospital soon. Maybe a few days at the least." Alec replied, obviously pleased that I had switched it.

        Relief washed over me. That was great. She was going to be OK. But yet again, the person that had caused me the most pain in my life was in the hospital, injured, should have pleased me, but yet I was the one that had put her there. And knowing that she was OK gave me actually empathy and relief about it. 

        "Do they know what actually happened at all?" I asked. I knew that I had caused it, but what had the doctors seen and looked at that had caused it. The doctors could have easily seen it as a heart attack, or a broken blood vessel, or something different.

        "Something with her brain is all I know. Not sure exactly. I don't want to pester her parents, especially Zoe after all they have been through." 

        "Oh, well at least she's going to be OK. That's all that matters right?" 

        I looked at Alec, him intently watching me. He tilted his head, his mouth moving slightly as if he was going to say something, but quickly the movement faded, him returning back to normal.

        "So nothing else then." I asked, my eyes trailing down to my hands once again. 

        No." Alec replied flatly. I nodded, me biting the inside of my mouth. 

        "Matthew's funeral is this weekend." He whispered. My head snapped up, watching as he looked down at his lap. I licked my lips, breathing in sharply and nodded my head slowly. 

        "That's good, them finally burying him." 

        Alec gave out a shaky breath, his head leaning on his hand, elbow resting against the arm rest. 

        "Yeah. Gotta let go sometime right?"