Inhumane Seduction (Vampire Romance-on hiatus)

ten

Ten - Sleep

"But why?"

I sighed for what felt like the hundredth time. "Because I want to."

My mother sceptically looked at me as she filled her glass with more red wine. I stabbed a slice of beef from my plate and shoved it into my mouth. "Is Adeline not paying you enough? Is that it?"

I quickly chewed on the food in my mouth and gulped so quickly I almost choked. "It's not that. I just thought it'd be fun to have a sleepover. I don't have work tomorrow."

I looked around to see if anything out of the ordinary was happening. Anything that might have indicated Sebastian was right to tell me to stay at my mother's place. I looked back at my mother so she wouldn't grow suspicious.

"Is it because you want to spend your birthday with me?" She emptied her wine glass with three gulps before I could even reply.

"No. I've told you before that I don't want to celebrate my birthday. Ever."

"Come on, Ophelia. My little daughter is turning 19 tomorrow. We've gotta celebrate. We haven't celebrated your birthday in what? Like, 4 years?" She reached forward to grab the wine bottle but I snatched it before she could.

She flashed me a glare and then pointed at my glass of wine which was still untouched and filled. I sighed before handing it to her so she could refill her glass.

"I just don't like birthdays."

"I really don't care. We're going out for breakfast tomorrow to celebrate and then we can go shopping around the city, maybe even have lunch there. I promise it'll just be the two of us."

I almost groaned out loud but held back from doing so in case my mother decided to hit my head with the wine bottle and give me a concussion. "Seriously, mum, I really don't want to celebrate. Let's just stay home and we can cuddle up on the couch and watch a movie or something."

"That's just a waste of electricity. Just be ready early tomorrow morning. I'm taking you to the city."

"That's wasting fuel," I argued.

"Fuck fuel. We're going out. Period."

•

"Oh, look at this one. The colour is gorgeous."

I watched as my mum walked around the store, her arms littered with garments she was interested to buy. I didn't say anything as she walked around the store once more, making sure she didn't miss anything that could potentially make it into her wardrobe.

"Is this colour cute, Ophelia?" She held up a light blue coloured blouse that almost made me cringe. The only thing that stopped me was one of the staff who walked over to us, probably in hopes of convincing us to buy something.

"That would really suit you."

My mother flashed her a sarcastic smile. "Yes, but I asked my daughter, not you."

The worker's smile didn't drop but she almost looked as though she had been slapped in the face. "Alright, I'm sorry, I'll leave you to it." As she walked away she glanced back at me with her sheepish- smile.

I only smiled at her apologetically before looking back at my mother who didn't look as though she had just so rudely sent a person away for complimenting her choice of clothing. "You shouldn't have been so mean to her. She was just doing her job," I defended, sheepishly crossing my arms in front of me in embarrassment.

"I didn't ask for her opinion."

"Alright, fine. You asked for mine and I think that blouse is hideous."