see you… maybe never.” Then I turned and waltzed out of the apartment.
“Alice!” Milo burst out of the apartment after me before the elevator even came. He was dragging his half unzipped backpack and raced towards me.
“Why did you do that?!”
“It just seemed really pointless to stay there any longer.” I tried not to look over at him, so I wouldn’t have to see the pained expression his face.
Leaving home meant that I was leaving him, too.
“You’re really gonna go live with Jack?” He sounded simultaneously surprised and resigned by the idea.
“I don’t see what choice I have.” The elevator doors opened and there were several passengers on it, which I was kind of grateful for. Milo would be less likely to press me for things then, so it’d be easier for me leave things out.
“You definitely have a choice!” Milo insisted incredulously, ignoring the crowd in the elevator. “I know Jack and his family are super amazing, but you haven’t really known him that long. I mean, they’re almost too good to be true.
There’s got to be a dark secret hidden there.”
“You just might be right.”
I bit my lip to keep from smiling, and I realized with the surprise that it didn’t hurt. Running my tongue along my bottom lip, I searched for any bump or scratch from when I had bit it earlier, but there was none. Jack’s saliva really must’ve healed it.
“Come on, Alice,” Milo pleaded when the doors opened. “Be reasonable.”
“When have you ever known me to be reasonable?” I shot him a look while stepping out of the elevator, and he just rolled his eyes.
We stepped outside into the cold, and I wrapped my sweater more tightly around me. All I had on me were the clothes on my back and my cell phone in my pocket, and there was a very good chance that my only rides anywhere were a pair of vampires that had just gone to bed.
“So what?” Milo was walking to the bus stop, and since I had nothing better to do, I walked with him. “This is it? This is like the last time I’ll see you?”
“No, of course not!”
“Be serious.” He had pulled his bag onto into his back, and he readjusted the straps. “You’re going to move in with him and have all these fabulous adventures and completely forget about me.”
“You’re my brother, Milo. I can never forget about you.” And I wouldn’t, but I had a sinking suspicion that he probably wasn’t that far from the truth.
Jack and Peter had a way of consuming my thoughts, and Milo had a way of waiting patiently at home for me. “Look, I’m not saying things won’t be different or that I won’t see you less. But that doesn’t mean things will be bad.”
“Maybe you can just stay there for a night or something,” Milo suggested hopefully. “Give Mom a chance to cool down, and then you can come home. But she’s not completely off base, Alice. You have school and you stayed out until seven in the morning. I don’t care what you were or weren’t doing with Jack -
well, okay, I do, and you’ll totally have to tell me later. But it doesn’t matter.
You’re still in high school. You should be coming home before the sun comes up and getting an education. What happened to Mom could just as easily happen to you if you don’t have a career to fall back on.”
“I am way too tired for you to lecture me about school, okay?” I groaned.
“Just think about it, alright?” The bus was coming towards us, and he looked apprehensively at it. I didn’t want the bus driver to try and make me get on or something, so I started backing away from him. “And turn your phone on!
If you don’t come home tonight, maybe you could at least stop and get some of your things while Mom’s at work. Okay?”
“Okay!” I waved at him, then turned and walked down the block, away from my apartment, away from my brother, away from my life.
For a long time, I just walked around the tree lined streets. They were still completely bare, but I knew that soon they would have little green buds on them. Spring was edging ever closer, with warm temperatures and longer days.
The nights would get shorter, too, and I wondered how Jack contended with that.
I was definitely cold and tired, but I was way too wired up from everything that had happened. My lips still tingled from kissing him, and I wondered dully if I’d ever be able to kiss him again.
Moving out of my mother’s had been rash, I’ll admit it, and she was definitely justified in her anger. I just didn’t have the strength to deal with stuff that so obviously didn’t matter anymore. Maybe I would’ve reacted a little better if I hadn’t had the reminder of Jack’s nearly-forgotten words ringing in my mind. When I asked what it was like to bite a vampire, he’d responded with, “You’ll understand when you’re a vampire.”
It would only be natural that I eventually segued into vampirism. Even if I didn’t move in with them today, I would some day. They were welcoming me into their folds for a reason, and as Jack had so ominously pointed out before I understood what they were, they wanted me to be one of them. It was really only a matter of time, and I kind of wanted to get the ball rolling in the right direction.
I sat down on a bench and pulled my knees up to my chest. The sun was spilling over the buildings, warming my frightfully cold skin, and I wondered how much longer I’d be able to enjoy the sun like this. Being with them would mean missing out on a lot of things, but it didn’t really feel like it. There would be so much more I’d be getting in return.
Pulling out my phone, I hoped that Jack would still be awake. My exhaustion and temperature were starting to wear me down.
“Hello?” Jack answered groggily.
“Sorry. Did I wake you?” I felt bad for waking him, but really I was glad I’d have a ride to a bed.
“Nah, I’m just about to go to bed, though. Why? What do you need?” He still sounded awfully tired, and he yawned loudly into the phone.
“I was just… wondering if I could stay with you for awhile.” I grimaced at my own question and wondered if I was really asking too much from them.
Maybe I should go home and try to make amends with my mother before she changed the locks.
“Yeah, sure. What’s wrong with your place?” Jack replied without even thinking about it.
“I got in a fight with my mom about coming home so late, and I’m not exactly welcome there anymore.”
“Oh, man, I’m sorry,” Jack apologized. “Yeah. Sure. You can stay here as long as you want. Do you need a ride right now?”
“It would be nice, but it’s not necessary.” I still didn’t completely understand his deal with sun, and I wasn’t even sure if he could drive out in it to come get me.
“Yeah, yeah, okay. I’ll be there in like five minutes.” He yawned again and I heard a rustle of movement as he got up, meaning that he’d actually already been in bed.
“I’m not at home, though. I’m on a bench a couple blocks away.” I looked around for a street sign so I could tell him what intersection I was at for sure, but then I realized that he probably already knew. For some reason, he could always find me.
“Cool. Hang tight.” He clicked off the phone, and I shoved my phone back in my pocket.
I felt better knowing that I wouldn’t be stuck on this bench all day like a homeless person, but it was still hard to know if I was doing the right thing.
Nothing in my life had prepared me to deal with situations like this. Up until now, my life consisted of sitting at home with Milo, shopping/partying/hating myself with Jane, and that’s about it. I’d barely even kissed a boy, I’d never driven a car, or been to any states other than tri-state area. My father left when I was two, and my mother had spent my whole life working continuously so we’d have just enough to survive. I knew nothing about life, and here I was, preparing to give it up in exchange for something I didn’t truly understand.
Jack pulled up in front within six minutes of me making the phone call, and I didn’t understand how he could possibly get around that fast. Sure, the car could go 0-300 MPH in like a second, but that didn’t account for all the cars on the road in front of him or stop lights or anything. But here he was, grinning at me tiredly behind gigantic sunglasses. I hopped in the car and decided that I was too tired to question anything. I just wanted to get to his
