Blood and Bourbon

11

"What are you talking about Damon? No you're not!" I pulled my hands away from his, shaking my head as I backed away from him. He sighed, rubbing a hand over his face. Standing up from his bed, I looked back at him, my brown eyes meeting his blue, blue eyes.

"Bella, I know this sounds crazy. But I swear to you, I'm not lying." He reached out to grab my hand again. I let him pull me into his side, not missing the fact that the sun was shining through the windows and onto him. His totally, definitely, not sparkly face was directly in front of mine.

"Damon! I've been on the beach with you, in the sun. I've seen you eat and drink food. How can you stand here and tell me your a vampire?" I said with my eyebrows pulled together.

"If you calm down I'll explain." He whispered, holding me close to him.

"No. No. I can't deal with this right now," I rushed out, grabbing my bag and heading for the door.

Damon caught me just as I grabbed the door handle. "Bella, at least let me explain."

"Fine. Damon. How do you explain this? When I went out with you last night, everything was normal. I wake up in your bed this morning and you think you're a vampire." Damon rolled his eyes and grabbed my shoulders.

"I am a vampire."

"No you're not, Damon!" I yelled, shoving him off me and reaching for the door handle again. I heard Damon mutter something under his breath, and when I turned to ask what, I was confronted with a monster. Grasping, I fell back against the door. Veins were protruding from under his eyes, and two long fangs were directly at my eye level.

I ran down the street, not slowing down to think or breath until I was sneaking back into my bedroom. As soon as my feet hit the floor in my room, I had my phone in my hand. "Come on, come on, come on." I muttered as the phone rang against my ear.
"Crap, Bri." Of course he doesn't answer right now. Thoughts were swirling in my head, curling around one another. I was pacing back and forth in front of my bed, trying to fit the puzzle pieces of my beliefs together.

I was breathing fast, my chest was tight, when my phone rang from where I'd thrown it on my bed. Diving to it, I had it pressed to my ear in seconds. "Brian? Oh thank god you called, I've gotta talk to you." I said quickly.

"Well it's gonna have to wait sweet heart." He smiled.

"What? You never make me wait."

"Well you're going to this time, because I just landed in Jacksonville and you need to get your cute self down to the airport to pick me up."

"Seriously? You're here?" I squealed, jumping out of bed and grabbing my car keys.

"I am! Come get me and then we can talk."

"Already on my way." I said, hanging up and getting into my car.

Two hours and a tearful reunion, Brian and I were laying in my bed with a bucket of ice cream between us. We had just finished watching a Lifetime movie, well, Brian watched a movie, I spent an hour staring at the screen and mulling over whether or not I should tell Brian about this morning. I could tell Brian was dying to ask me about it. "So, B, how's the new girl friend treating you?"

He smiled down at his spoon, his eyes crinkling. "Amazing. She's a great girl."

"Yeah?" He grabbed my hand. "Yeah, Bells. I really like her."

"And she's not at all bothered by you traveling to Florida to sleep in another girls bedroom?" I asked, peaking out from beneath my hair.

He laughed. "Well, it took some convincing, especially since she knows we have a past-"

"Wait, you told her we've slept together?" I pushed his shoulder.

"Yes! I told her. And told her about you in general. She gets it." I gave him a look that clearly said "I ain't buying it"

"Ok, so maybe she freaked out at first. But I swear, we talked. She's cool. Can't wait to meet you at the wedding."

"I swear, Brian, if that's not true, and she doesn't know, I'm going to kill you."

"What? Why?" This dude had the audacity to look shocked.

"Bri, if this girl really means something to you, I want her to like me." He laughed, and we spent the rest of the afternoon debating whether or not you should tell someone if you cheated on them.

"No! Brian! You can't just do that to someone." I said, as he dragged me from the bed.

"We're not talking about this anymore. You're getting up, and you're putting on your cutest, shortest dress, and we're going out." He said. I groaned, flopping back onto my soft, comfy bed.

"Oh no you don't! How long has it been since you went out dancing?" He said, grabbing my hand and pulling me up again. I groaned, and accepted defeat, walking over to my closet.

"And while you're doing that, you're gonna tell me about your new boy toy!" He called, comfortably leaning back against my pillows. Poking my head out from the closet, I said "Don't you hate Damon?"

"I'm reserving judgement for now. But I do know that the only reason you'd sound so panicked on the phone this morning is because of boy problems." Ugh, he's right. "Does that make me pathetic?" I called out to him, stripping in the closet.

"Nah, just a girl." He sneered out 'girl' like it's an insult.

"Hey! You weren't complaining about me being a girl before I came to Florida!"

"Okay, I'll give you that one, but still. Don't think you got out of telling me!" I groaned, throwing a short, tight, revealing black dress that was covered in glitter. I burst out of the closet, and received a whistle, before I threw my self onto the bed, resting my head on Brian's stomach. Brian, started running his hands through my hair.

"Bri, I don't know what to think." I closed my eyes, letting myself relax while he played with my hair. "I was so sure I knew what was going on in my world. I was so, so certain that I was done with men, and done playing with fire. But now I know Damon, and I just can't seem to forget him."

"It's ok to like him Bella." I looked up at him. "Don't look so surprised. It's been over a year since that Cullen jerk left you. Maybe you're just over him now. You can move on." I let out a deep breath.

"Brian. I don't know how it's possible." I felt a tear slide out.

"What'd you mean?" I took a breath, steeling myself for his reaction and blurted out "Damon's a vampire."

"What?!"

"I know, I know." I sat up, my head falling into my hands.

"Bella! What do you mean? How is this possible?"

"I know, Brian. I feel the exact same way." I sighed.

"Wait, didn't you say his eyes were blue? How does a vampire live in Florida anyway?" I could feel that he wasn't going to stop for awhile, so I got up to start my hair and makeup. "Seriously, Bella. Tell me. How does one human girl have this much interaction with vampires and not be dead?" This got a laugh out of me as we walked out to my car. Brian pulled up a random club on his phone and we drove off.

Neither of us realized we were being followed.