Chapter 104

9.5K 640 155
                                    

Chapter One Hundred and Four

"I'm gonna beat you," Cassidy hissed, turning the steering wheel with intense focus. "I swear I'm gonna beat you after what you did to me earlier!"

I giggled hysterically, turning my own steering wheel and skillfully keeping myself in second place just behind the first place NPC. 

"Hey, sorry that I bullet-bombed you, but I wanted to get ahead," I said smugly, poking my tongue out as I focused on driving. "I'm playing to win!"

"No, I'm gonna win!" she breathed, licking her teeth with narrow eyes and intense focus. "Just watch, bitch. I'm the queen of rainbow road."

"Suuuure, okay," I drawled, laughing. "If I win, though, there'll be a new queen in town! Get ready to bow to Queen Aerin, sweetie, because I'ma make sure Princess Peach crosses the finish line first!"

"Bowser regularly kidnaps peach, you peasant!" Cassidy snapped, and to my surprise she zipped past me in the final turn of the lap and went sailing over the finish line. She instantly leapt into the air with a whoop, clapping loudly and pointing a finger right at my nose. "HA! TOLD YOU I'M THE QUEEN!"

"Wow! Great move!" I exclaimed, grinning at her in shock. "I'm amazed that you pulled back into first at the last possible second! How'd you even do that?"

"Oh, I have my ways," she haughtily chimed, tossing her braid and shaking my hand. "I'm gonna go get myself another beer. Want a slush? It's on me. Call it a pity gift for losing the race."

"Eh, I think I've had enough alcohol tonight," I chuckled, shaking my head. "Thanks though. I think I'm gonna go see how Horst and his dad are holding up."

She stopped and looked at me funny. "You really care about something like that?"

"Yeah," I said, startled. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"Because you only met them a few days ago, you don't even know them," she said slowly. "Why do you care so damn much if the kid gets along with his father? It's not normal."

I thought about that for a second. I knew I was projecting onto Horst. I knew my desire to help probably came from a selfish place of wanting to fix my own relationships with my parents and never being able to because death had separated us forever. I also knew that it didn't matter because I genuinely wanted to help them, too.

The kid reminded me too much of myself when I'd been that age.

"Because I see someone I used to be in Horst," I said quietly. "Those two just need a bit of a nudge in the right direction to start healing their relationship, so why shouldn't I be the one to do that for them? Nobody else was gonna... and that just made me sad."

She was quiet for a long time, just looking at me with the sounds of people playing loud arcade games and having copious amounts of fun. I heard laughter and chattering and the various noises filling up the dim, neon-blaring room as I shifted my legs on the red-carpeted floor.

"You're like the opposite of what I know about vampires," she eventually said. "A complete polar opposite. They don't feel at all... and you feel far too much, so much that it always gets you into trouble somehow. So much we can all smell it, and see it, and even hear it beating in your heart."

She seemed to hesitate for a second, then sighed and stepped forward, setting a careful hand on my cheek, looking as if she were afraid I would suddenly lunge out and bite her. Thin, warm fingers pushed my hair behind my ear and tucked it there as she gazed down at me.

SLEEPSONG (BoyxBoy)✔️Where stories live. Discover now