The Art of Dying
Date

Blake jumped back, away from me as Oliver appeared. “Hi, Blake, Delphine.” He said, like nothing happened ─as if he didn’t see how close to kissing Blake and I were, just a moment ago. Maybe he didn’t.

He was wearing a pair of black sweatpants, a blue ‘Billabong’ T-shirt and a pair of red ‘DC Shoes’ shoes. His pocket watch was attached to his pants but other than that he looked normal, which was quite shocking.

I gave a nod in his direction and Blake said: “Hey.” as he gave me a hand to stand up

“You told me to come at five.” Oliver said as he looked at the time on his pocket watch. “And it’s almost five thirty.” Five thirty! I have a date in just about an hour, and I’m all gross and sweaty.

“Yeah.” Blake said before talking a gulp out of his bottle of water. “Del and I were just finishing up.”

“I can see that.” Oliver replied, with a knowing look in his eye.

“Yeah, um, ok.” I said as I grabbed my things by the mattress. “Thanks, Blake. That was… nice. Bye guys.” I quickly left and almost ran all the way back to my dorm. I need to get ready for my date.

As soon as I entered my dorm, I put my bottle and key on the black dresser and flung my dirty towel on the ground. I sat on my bed to take off my shoes as I looked at my alarm clock and calculated that I had about fifty minutes to get ready before Zane showed up.

It’s going to be hard but not impossible. I then hunted down some clean underwears, a black T-shirt and a pair of dark jeans. I grabbed my clean clothes and stepped in the bathroom.

I turned on the shower, took my hair out of its bun and stripped. I then entered the shower and quickly washed myself with my calla lily scented body wash and shea shampoo.

Once I was done, I stepped out of the shower and toweled dried my body and hair with a clean, fluffy, red towel. I then dressed as fast as I could but it was somewhat difficult since the clothes stuck to my body. After accomplishing the feat of getting dressed, I stepped out of the bathroom and plugged the blow dryer in the wall.

I blow dried my hair for a while and when I deemed it dry enough, I stopped. I unplugged the blow dryer and replaced it with the flattening iron. I would have curled my hair but I don’t have the time. While the iron heated up, I returned to the bathroom and applied my everyday, black smokey eye makeup with a light dusting of pink blush on my cheeks. I then returned to the bedroom and flattened my hair.

After I finished, I put away the flattening iron and as I looked at my alarm clock, I noticed that I still had some time to spare. Well, I can relax, now ─which is good. I took a deep breath and turned on my MP3 on the dresser. I selected some ‘Adam Lambert’ and as he began to sing, I began to relax and I let myself fall back on my bed.

Almost as soon as my back touched the mattress, I heard three knocks on the door. Turning my head, I looked at my alarm clock and it read: 6:23PM. He’s early ─oh, well. I got up and went to answer the door. I opened it and instead of replaceing Zane, there stood C.C. Uh… why did she knock?

“I forgot my key, sorry.” She said as she walked past me and into the room. I closed the door and sat back down on my bed. She got a bag from the closet and opened a drawer from the dresser. She inserted some clothes inside the bag as she said: “I’m going to be spending the night with Alexis.” She sighted and rolled her eyes. “I really don’t know why she makes such a fuss about their breakup, they always get back together after a few days, and then, a couple of months later, it begins all over again. Ugh. Anyway how was your class with Blake?” She said as she turned to face me and then closed the drawer.

“I managed to knock him down.” Once, but I’m going to keep that to myself.

“Wow, that’s good.” She said, impressed as she went to the bathroom with her bag. “I never managed to do it, and Olly really has a hard time when they fight.” I then remembered her note of this morning.

“Hey, thanks for the food this morning.” I said, loud enough for her to hear me from the bathroom. She peeked her head out of the bathroom with a smile on her face. “You’re welcome. I don’t know if your tea was cold…?” She said, unsure.

“Yeah, but nevertheless it still tasted great.” I said.

“That’s good.” She said, distractedly. “Hey, do you want to come over to Alex’s. We’re going to watch movies and do our nails and, basically do what we do on our Sunday afternoons together. So, what do you say?” She asked as she stepped out of the bathroom carrying her bag that she dropped at her feet. I opened my mouth to answer but was interrupted by three knocks on the door. “Wait, let me get that.” She said, as I was about to stand up to go answer it. She opened the door and there stood Zane, wearing a white T-shirt, dark jeans and his black leather jacket. He looked really hot. “You.” C.C. said with disdain. “What are you, doing here?” I jumped up and went to join C.C. by the door.

“We have a date.” I said, looking apologetically at her. She huffed and rolled her eyes before going back to her packing. I turned back to face my boyfriend. “Hi.” I said softly to him.

“Hi.” He said to me, just as softly. He then leaned down and gave me a small kiss on the lips. “Are you ready?” He asked as he straightened back up.

“Yeah, just a sec.” I left the door open and grabbed my ‘Converse’ from the floor. I sat down on my bed and put them on while C.C. disappeared in the bathroom, banging the door behind her. After I had my shoes on, I opened the closet and got out my luggage. Inside was only my black, wool, winter coat. I took it out and put it on. He said to dress warmly… I grabbed my room key and joined Zane back at the door, since he didn’t bother to enter. “Now, I’m ready.” He gave me a sexy smile.

“Great, let’s go.” He said as he grabbed my hand.

“Bye C.C.!” I shouted over my shoulder before closing the door. We walked to the elevator and got in. The doors closed and I looked beside me at Zane. “So, what are we going to do?” He smiled, amused as he looked down at me.

“You’ll just have to wait and see.” He said before giving me a quick peck on the lips. I pouted and he began to laugh just as the doors opened. “Come.” He said and we stepped out of the elevator. We walked through the school and left through the front doors. Where is he taking me?

We walked to the parking lot of the school and to a sleek, black 1938 ‘Talbot Lago’ T150C SS teardrop coupe. “Wow.” I said, impressed, as he opened the door of this beauty, for me.

“Milady.” He held the door as I stepped inside.

“Thanks.” I said, and he closed it behind me with a bright smile on his handsome face. He appeared not even a second later beside me, inside the car ─vampire speed. I looked about at the posh, crimson-colored interior and asked Zane: “How did you manage to get a car like that?” This car is worth four maybe five million dollars, so how could he afford it? Did he rent it, or something?

“It’s a family heirloom.” He said as he put the key in the ignition and this baby started to purr like a kitten. “I got it from my father who got it from his father and so on.” Wow, my mom would kill for a chance to take a ride in a car like this, she loves old vehicles.

“Well, she’s a beauty.” I said, as I buckled my seatbelt.

“I know.” He whispered, conspiratorially, with a bright smile and then he pulled out of his parking spot.

We drove for about ten minutes before Zane pulled up to a small restaurant called Wonderland. Wonderland…? It sounds familiar. I tried to remember where I’ve heard that before as Zane parked the car.

“Let’s get you something to eat.” He said happily as he got out of the car and appeared at my side at vampire speed to open my door. “Milady.” I got out and kissed his cheek. He then offered me his arm and we walked together into the tiny restaurant. As we entered, instead of going to the side of the restaurant where there were tables and a hostess, Zane steered me to the take-out area.

“What…?” I asked confused but he just gave me a smile.

There was a blond teenage boy working behind the counter who looked Zane up and down and seemed to like what he was seeing. As I stepped closer I could see that his name tag read ‘Dominic’. “Can I help you?” He said, looking flirtatiously at my boyfriend.

“We’d like to order to go.” Zane said, unaffected by Dominic’s lascivious stare.

“Of course.” Dominic said, slightly flustered. He then bent and retrieved two menus that he handed us. “There you go.” Zane gave him a smile then lead me to the seats on the side of the room and we sat down. Dominic couldn’t seem to keep his eyes away from Zane and it was really funny. I chuckled and Zane looked at me. “What’s funny?” He asked with an small amused but confused smile.

“Nothing.” I said still chuckling but I busied myself with looking over the menu.

“No, really, what is it?” He asked, intrigued now.

“I’ll tell you later.” I said as I looked at him, Dominic and then back down at my menu. Dominic was bent over the counter with his head in his hands and he had this cute dreamy look on his face as he observed Zane. I let out another small chuckle.

“You better.” He playfully threatened. “Did you make your choice?” He asked as he waved around his menu.

“Yeah.” He then stood up and gave me a hand. We walked back to the counter and Dominic immediately straightened up and smiled sexily at Zane.

“Are you ready to order?” Dominic asked, looking intently and hungrily at Zane.

“Yes.” Zane said then looked at me. Oh, that’s my cue.

“I would like the sweet potato fries, a slice of apple pie and a bottle of water please.” Dominic reluctantly looked down at me and smiled, but it was a little forced.

“Sure.” He said as he wrote down my order. “And you, sir?”

“Nothing, thanks.” Zane said, distractedly.

“Alright. It’ll be ready soon. You can go wait in the waiting area while we prepare your food.” Dominic said, seemingly a little disappointed by the lack of attention Zane was giving him. We left our menus on the counter and Zane lead me back to our seat, holding my hand. Dominic put away our menus and disappeared behind the door, at the back of the counter.

We sat down and Zane looked down at me. “Are you sure you don’t want to order anything else? Isn’t it a bit small for a meal?”

“I’m not that hungry.” Plus all the other foods have garlic and I don’t want to have bad breath. And there’s also the fact that I don’t know if the myth about garlic and vampires is true and if it is I don’t want to harm my boyfriend by kissing him with a garlic breath.

Dominic came back out and resumed his ogling of Zane. He was soon interrupted by other clients coming in and he got busy serving customers. Zane and I began talking about aimless things and after about fifteen minutes, our order was ready.

Dominic called us over and Zane paid. We left with a brown paper bag with Wonderland written on it. As I looked behind my shoulder I could see Dominic checking out my boyfriend’s butt and I burst out laughing.

“Ok, what is it?” Zane asked, once we stepped outside.

“Dominic, really liked you.” I answered.

“Dominic?” He asked, confused, as we made our way to his car.

“The guy, that took our order.” I said.

“Oh. Well, I have nothing against gays but I prefer girls” He said, indifferently. “Although, there was this one time…” That made me stop and look at him in shock. I never imagined Zane with another guy. “Kidding.” He said, grinning mischievously at me. I playfully hit his shoulder with the bag of food and he laughed as he opened the car’s door for me. Once I was in, he closed it and zoomed to the driver’s side and got in.

That’s when I remembered where I saw that name ─Wonderland. It was in my mom’s journal, the place she was supposed to meet my dad on their last day of school but he died in a car crash on the way there. Zane started the car and pulled out of the parking lot.

“What did you do today?” He asked conversionaly.

Snapping out of my thoughts, I answered: “I saw Dixie for the last time out of class.” Then I remembered how close his brother and I were to kissing, ─again─ this afternoon and I tried to appear nonchalant as I said: “And I had a self-defense class with your brother.”

“Oh?” He looked at me for a second with a raised eyebrow before looking back at the road ahead.

“Yeah, and I think you should stop trying to hurt him.” I thought about his scars and how much he must be suffering inside to want to try to kill himself like that. Zane sighed.

“He hurt me, I hurt him.” He said easily. “And I’ve already told you how much he’s hurt me…”

“I know, but deep down you wouldn’t want anything bad to happen to him, right?” I said gently. “I mean, you already told me that all the bad things you did, weren’t as bad as they seemed.”

“What are you getting at?” He said suspiciously. Now it was my turn to sigh.

“I think you’ve hurt him more than you realize.” I said.

“Oh.” He laughed, a sarcastic laugh. “And what makes you say that?”

“The scars on his wrist.” That wiped away his sardonic smile off his face and his expression grew somber. “I think… I think, he tried to kill himself…” I said, as I looked intently at his profile.

“Ok…” He said gravely and he appeared deep in thought. “I’ll stop.” A small, grateful smile appeared on my lips and I turned my head to face the window. We passed by lots of trees and an awkward silence settled between us. I wonder where he’s taking me.

No longer has the thought crossed my mind that Zane turned on a little, dirt road, he drove for about five minutes then he parked the car. We were in the middle of nowhere, what the…?

Zane disappeared from the car and opened my door. He had a bright smile on his face ─his gloomy expression from earlier, gone. I unbuckled my seatbelt and took the hand he was offering me. I stepped out and looked around; there were only trees and the small, dirt road leading out of here.

“We’re here.” He said with an excited smile as he closed my door. Uh… I smiled, uneasily. What the hell? He let go of my hand and went to the trunk of the car. He appeared a second later, carrying some blankets, a small backpack and a lantern. “Let’s go.” Um… ok? He balanced the blankets and lantern on one arm with the backpack on his back and he offered me his free hand. I took it and he started to lead me to the woods.

We walked through the forest for about two minutes before we emerged on a giant rock embedded into a cliff, about two meters above the ocean bellow. Beside us were only trees and ahead was the infinite blue of the ocean but that’s not what took my breath away. It was the fact that the sky was so clear, I could see millions of stars in it but what was most impressive was the fact that I could see the Milky Way with the naked eyes. It seemed to slash the sky in two and looked like a painting of heaven. It was a grandiose celestial spectacle. I stood frozen in place and looked at the sky in awe. I felt Zane let go of my hand and take the paper bag away from me but I couldn’t tear my gaze away from the splendor before me. Then I felt his arms wrap around me and I automatically leaned into him.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” He whispered before he kissed my cheek.

“How did you replace this place?” I asked, still starstruck over the beauty of it all.

“I stumbled upon it, when I was little and we went camping with my family.” He said softly. “It became my hiding spot when we came to visit, every summer.” After a pause he added: “There is no luminous pollution for miles around that’s why it’s possible to catch a glimpse of the Milky Way like that.” I turned around in his arms, to face him.

“It’s… magical.” I said, looking deeply into his eyes. “Thank you for bringing me here.” He gave me a small bashful smile.

“You’re welcome.” He then leaned in and gave me a sweet kissed that quickly grew in intensity but got interrupted as my empty stomach decided to make itself known and grumbled, embarrassingly loud. Zane chuckled while I hung my head in mortification. He delicately lifted my chin up with one of his hands, making me reluctantly look into his eyes. “Let’s get you something to eat.” He said with a wink before stepping away from me and grabbing my hand, he led me to where he had set down the blankets and a sheet on the ground. The lantern was beside the bag of food on the sheet and out of the backpack was a small heater along with an IPOD connected to a small speaker.

We sat down on the sheet and Zane handed me the paper bag. As I dug in he turned on the IPOD and a saxophone began playing a soft jazzy melody. I leaned against Zane and we talked softly as we listen to the beautiful instrumental music and watched the sky together.

After I finished my fries, I began eating my desert and I felt Zane move closer to me. He moved my hair behind my shoulder, exposing my neck and began to kiss and nibble softly on it. It felt really, really good. I dropped my pie and turned my head to face him. I cradled his face in my hands and kissed him passionately.

He then suddenly pulled away really fast and when I opened my eyes, I saw his eyes flash bright blue. “What’s wrong?” I asked softly but then I felt a light metallic taste in my mouth that was gone almost as soon as it came ─healed by Zane’s saliva.

“Sorry, I think I bit your lip a little too hard.” He said with a cute, sheepish, fanged smile.

“It’s fine…” I said softly as an idea then started to form in my head. He planned all this wonderful and romantic date for me… maybe I could, do something for him in return… I looked into his eyes that were still a bright, glowing blue and asked: “Are you, like… hungry?” Amusement seemed to shine in his eyes.

“What?” He asked with a small laugh.

“I was thinking, that maybe…” I motioned to all around us. “Well, you did all this for me and… I, uh…” He was looking intently and questioningly at me. “Well… I thought, I could, like, maybe… Let you…” I was struggling with my words but thankfully Zane finished for me.

“Feed on you.” He was staring deeply into my eyes as he said that. “You know, just because I did this, doesn’t mean you have to do anything you don’t want to do.”

“I know.” I said quickly. “But I want to.” I’m just scared that it’s going to hurt but it doesn’t matter. He gave me a sexy smirk.

“I knew you would give in, eventually.” And that broke the spell. I playfully swatted his shoulder.

“Ok, if you don’t want to eat, that’s fine.” I said, as I crossed my arms and looked away from him ─to the stars over the ocean.

“No, no, I want to…” He said quickly and I turned back to face him. He sighed. “That was a joke…” He looked at me with glowing, puppy dog eyes and I couldn’t help but smile at how adorable he looked.

“So…. How does it work…” I began to say but almost as fast as lightening his mouth was by my neck.

“Shhh.” He said softly as he moved my hair from my neck. “You might feel a small pinch…” And then, like lightening, he bit me. I felt his teeth break the skin of my neck. It felt like I was attacked by a razorblade but it only lasted for a second and then I felt my neck go numb. It felt weird not feeling my neck but being able to feel the rest of my body… After a while I started to feel a little light-headed, I felt Zane pull away and he had a dazed look in his normal blue eyes with a bright crimson smile. Ewww. He licked his lips and said: “Even better than I remembered.” I gave a small nervous laugh. He then kissed my neck and whispered: “Thank you.” I smiled and leaned into him.

After a casual conversation about nothing in particular, a hot makeout session and some light groping, it was starting to get really late and I was getting tired. Zane packed up everything (blankets, backpack, lantern…) in the trunk of the car and drove us back to the school in the 1938 ‘Talbot Lago’ beauty.

Once at the school, he parked the car in the same spot as before and he opened my door for me like the gentleman that he is. We then walked hand in hand through the school and he accompanied me all the way back to my dorm. “That was wonderful tonight, thank you.” I said.

He bent and gave me a very dramatic kiss on my hand before he replied: “My pleasure.” He then straightened back up and said: “Speaking of which… is Cassandra in?”

“Huh?” What is he talking about? He then moved his brows up and down suggestively with a sexy smile. Oh… He wants to… “No and no.” I said, getting up on my tip toes and I gave him a light kiss on the lips. I then quickly opened my dorm room and disappeared behind the door before he had time to say anything else.

What a wonderful night that was. I took off my coat and haphazardly threw it towards the closet. I then grabbed a clean pajama from my ‘clean pile’ of clothes and headed to the bathroom to do my nightly routine and get ready for bed, all the while reminiscing on the magical date I’ve just had.

I quickly changed, brushed my teeth, washed my face and brushed my hair before heading back in the bedroom. I dumped my clothes in the ‘dirty pile’, jumped in my bed and fell asleep almost instantaneously.