Color Me Red (A Vampire Romance)

12

Gabbi is used to being gawked by now, or as what she believed to be comfortable. Walking in the hallway between two men attractive beyond normal—any normal girl would want that.

Thanks to Tyler, who announced with the thought that the three of them are living in the same house, rumors had intensified to their assumed scandalous relationship.

"Then she is...?"

Damien has wrapped his arms around her, to everyone's surprise, even Gabbi herself. Actions speak louder than words they say.

"Oh," said a black-haired girl, with the longest natural eyelashes she has ever seen from a human. She was the addition to the blond Tami and brunette Esalyn that Gabbi and Tyler had first met when they sneaked into school. Lei Ann, was what she called by her two friends.

"He's taken, damn," Tami whispered as the trio walked away.

"So that's how it is, huh." Tyler frowned and peeked at Damien's arm on Gabbi once the hound left them.

"And so?" Damien let her go.

For a moment, she was relieved with the distance and calmed the sudden beating on her chest a little.

"Hey, that's cheating. I was with her at school first. I should be the one playing couple."

But one side glance from Damien, and he already gave up. He clicked his tongue. "Possessive jerk." Tyler walked fast with a pout, then halted meters away, and helplessly asked, "So, where was the lab again?"

"Idiot," Damien mumbled.

"I heard that!" the younger retorted.

They entered the lab minutes early, and Damien intimidated a guy at the back left table to usurp the spot. Gabbi made an apologetic smile at the helpless guy, who had already opened his notes and was more than ready for the lecture. "Can we sit here? These two are... shy. Yeah, they're shy to sit at the front."

He juggled his stare between the brothers, who in his eyes were probably ready to break his bones at any moment, based on how he cowered and whimpered. He stuttered a 'Sure" and scrammed on an empty seat at the front table. Despite the glare from the two girls who claimed the spot, he was immovable.

"What?" Damien raised his brow when Gabbi sneaked a disappointed glance at him.

"Nothing." She looked away.

______________

A week passed, and the hounding on the brothers simmered down somehow. Mainly because Damien never answered, and Tyler was all about Gabbi and 'I'll ask Damien about it.' The expecting cliques had then realized that a wall stood between them and the trio, especially Damien, who held no qualms of eyeing one with coldness and let the other surrender with a broken pride.

Even Kelly, the vampire, tiptoed around him. And to think, she and the teacher Mr. Felix were the only ones who can converse normally with them.

'Three days.'

Gabbi read the note Tyler slid to her one afternoon in Chemistry.

'That guy. He's been sneaking glances at you for three days now.' He added when she cocked her head in confusion.

Gabbi followed the tip of his pen and caught the same guy they once took a seat from, stole a glance at them. He looked away, guiltily, and doodled on his notebook with intensity. When Gabbi kept her gaze, he made a discreet glance again. She smiled, but he lowered his head more. He tugged his hood to fully cover his face, even the untamed curls of his hair, long enough to cover half of his face.