The Night We Met

Of all the things Andrew wanted to be doing on Saturday night being sprayed with beer by Scotty and Zane, two raucous members of the Ghoul Squad, was not one of them.

"PAAAAARRRTYYYY!!!" Zane screamed; flinging even more beer around despite everyone around him telling him to calm down.

Andrew gave him a tight-lipped smile before retreating into a dark corner on the other side of the room. Being a vampire it was easy to blend into the shadows which was exactly what Andrew was doing as he watched the other guests getting progressively more intoxicated. Vampires couldn't get drunk so there was no point in drinking but Andrew had taken to holding a red party cup full of water just to have something to do. The party was in full swing now and he watched from the safety of his corner as the Ghoul Squad drunkenly attempted to do a keg stand. He had only been here for five minutes and Andrew already wanted to leave; social gatherings of this size and nature weren't really his thing. However his girlfriend Gabbie had insisted they make an appearance at her friend's party and Andrew was just relieved she hadn't expected dinner because not having a proper job, or any motivation to get one, wasn't exactly great for his finances. The Ghoul Squad were on the move now and were attempting to drag their fellow party-goers into playing a coma-inducing drinking game. Being made a public spectacle of was the last thing on earth Andrew wanted and he blended even further into the shadows as the squad stumbled past him. Thankfully less than ten minutes later Gabbie was pushing her way back towards him; flashing her fangs when a sulky looking werecat accidentally stepped on her foot.

"Here," she said as she shoved a shot glass full of chilled blood into his hand and dragged him out of the shadows and onto a nearby couch, "They were all out of O neg so you'll have to make do with A positive. This is fun right?!"

Andrew took the glass from her and nodded glumly as the party got more and more packed with people. Sensing his lack of enthusiasm Gabbie scowled at him before pulling her phone out of her bag and started going live on Instagram.

"Hey guys!" she shouted over the throb of the music, "So I'm at this party tonight..."

Gabbie was a social media influencer with millions of followers on FangTube and Andrew had found himself more than a little intimidated by her when they'd first met. She was bold and confident, basically everything that Andrew wasn't, and he didn't even think twice when she suggested they go out on a date. That was three months ago and their relationship wasn't exactly the stuff romance novels are made but Andrew was terrified of being alone in such a big city.

"Hey, is this seat taken?" asked a purple-haired fae girl who had fluttered towards them from the kitchen; her translucent wings sparkling underneath the bright lights.

"Uhhhhhh," was all Andrew could manage to say as he dissolved into a socially awkward mess and his face turned as red as the paper party cup he still had clenched in his grip, "I..."

"Take it," Gabbie told the girl before shooting an annoyed look at Andrew, "We're not using it."

After the girl flew off Andrew busied himself with his drink to avoid looking at the irritated expression on his girlfriends face; Andrew's inability to talk to other people was one of Gabbies biggest annoyances. It wasn't that Andrew was rude or didn't want to meet new people but despite both being vampires, he and Gabbie had had very different upbringings. Andrew had grown up in a relatively small nest; just his mom, his aunt and then his step-dad and step-sister had come along a few years later. Together they'd lived in a small, well respected vampire community just outside of Chicago and Andrew had never even spoken to anyone that wasn't a vampire before he'd moved to L.A. Even the college he'd gone to was exclusively for vampires, aside from the janitor who was a werewolf that he'd always been too scared to speak too. Despite his rather sheltered upbringing Andrew had always felt something was missing from his life and when his best friend Ricky had decided to move to LA, he'd jumped at the chance to go with him.