Colette made it home, all the while thinking about the gravity of her actions.
"What came over me?!" she yelped as she hopped onto her bed. She let her face sink into her pillow for nearly a minute before finally coming up for air. Originally, she wanted to use this as an opportunity to build trust with Theo, but it quickly escalated into something more…risque. Theo's words echoed in her memory, "You don't have to apologize… I wanted to do it."
Colette's cheeks started burning again. She smacked her cheeks to settle down. It wasn't just Theo's words that had Colette fired up. The way he was looking at her was an intensity she wasn't used to. Theo's scorching red eyes seemed to be burning with desire. Friends don't look at each other like that…right? She felt like she was overheating from how flustered she was.
She also had no intentions of deviating from her plans. Or so she thought. Colette walked over to a photo in her room. It showed her at a younger age, alongside her older sister, Emily.
"I made a promise that I intend to keep" she muttered to herself before she solemnly pulled herself into bed.
Monday came around and it was back to business as usual. Rika wanted all the details about Saturday and the botanical gardens. Colette didn't have it in her to give Rika the full details of her Saturday excursion. Especially the part where Theo drank her blood.
She still hadn't completely processed how she felt about the events that had transpired. She vividly remembered how her hand tickled as his tongue traced her palm to her fingertip. The hairs on her neck stood up and she could feel goosebumps forming on her arms. Rika knew Colette was withholding information, but she knew she'd get it out of her eventually.
Wandering the hallway between classes, Colette was in a dizzying frenzy thinking about Theo. Catalina was passing by in the hallway when she caught sight of Colette. As Catalina approached Colette, she noticed Theo's lingering scent. Enraged, Catalina sucked her teeth and quickly closed the distance.
Only when Catalina grabbed her wrist did Colette come out of her trance. In a fury, Catalina forced them into the closest stairwell. The school bell rang, but they remained behind to prevent any interruptions.
Catalina's intimidating aura unsettled Colette.
Hissing, Catalina questioned, "What's your relationship with Theo?"
"Theo?…We're just friends…"
Catalina's red eye were beaming with hostility. She forcefully pinned her arm against the wall, trapping Colette into the corner. "Is that really all?"
"W-what are you talking about? O-of course," Colette hesitated with her answer.
"Then why do I smell him on you?" she insisted, this time baring her fangs at Colette.
Colette winced, "I don't know what you're talking about."
Catalina slammed the wall with her fist and grabbed Colette by the cheeks.
"Girl, I don't know what your game is, but you can't fool a vampire. Stay away from Theo, you disgusting blood bag." Her pupils starting dilating.
Before Colette could summon the courage to retaliate, another worried voice called out from the stairway entrance, "Catalina?" It was Alexandru. "Catalina, what are you doing here?" He interrupted whatever scene he had stumbled upon.
Before turning to face Alexandru, Catalina retracted her fangs, and her pupils returned to normal. She whispered into Colette's ear, "If you tell him what happened here, I can assure you, harm will come your way."
Catalina turned around and hesitantly smiled at Alexandru. "Oh, Alex…what are you doing here? Miss Librarian here looked pale, so I came to check and see if she was okay. Right?"
"S-Sure…"
Alexandru surveyed the area as if he didn't believe her lies and remained with them until Catalina left. It was as if he knew Catalina was up to no good. Before she walked away, she threw another glare in Colette's direction, as if to warn her. Alexandru rarely involved himself with human affairs, but he felt unsettled by this scene. They exited together swiftly.
Colette finally stopped holding her breath and sank down to the ground. What the hell was that about? she questioned.
She felt disheartened about her friendship with Theo for the rest of the day. She wondered if their relationship would cause hardship for him, or for her. They did already violate the non-hunting pact when she let him drink her blood. The reality is the two of them belonged to two different worlds. Vampires and humans avoided co-existing, as much as society wanted them to. Catalina was just one example of the disapproval of their relationship.
Colette also wondered if she was getting ahead of herself. She devoted herself to retirement planning, but lately, the excitement of vampires distracted her. Dejected, Colette considered a reality where she would have to dismiss anything to do with vampires. Maybe it was narrow-minded of her to believe that it could work out. In her self loathing, she also considered that she hadn't really made any attempts to learn more about Theo.
Colette left the library late that day. She worked slowly, since she had all but withdrawn into her negative thoughts. Despite her inclinations, she didn't want to end their friendship. It was only starting after all. She was hoping the universe would send her a signal to dismiss her concerns.
Before making it out of the park, Colette received a text message ping. She noticed it was a text from Theo. She opened the text to a picture of two severely misshapen Jack-o'-lanterns. The eyes and mouth of both pumpkins were extremely asymmetrical. Underneath the image, Theo sent a message: I don't know what's scarier… Demanding that I drink your blood, or you entrusting me to carve these pumpkins. Either way…Happy Halloween.
Colette stared blankly at the photo before rolling into laughter. She was laughing so hard that it made her stomach hurt. She wiped a tear from her eye before she braced herself. Colette realized how selfish she was being. She decided to go meet Theo face to face. She dashed over to his house as quickly as her feet would take her.
She wanted to tell him to his face how she was feeling. Although she spent the day feeling confused about their relationship, she knew she had no reason to doubt their friendship. Colette was out of breath and unkempt by the time she reached his front door. She rang his doorbell twice before thinking to herself; I didn't even ask if he was home. She quickly wiped the sweat off her forehead from all the running and fixed her school uniform.
A minute passed, and the door swung open. It was Theo at the door. "Colette…what are you doing here?" Theo was shocked to find her outside of his house.
"I want to know more about vampires," Colette demanded.
Theo raised his eyebrow, "Oh…?"
Colette continued, "I'm not afraid, but there's a lot I don't know. And to be honest…I want to know you a little better too. We are friends, aren't we?"
Theo gently smiled and asked, "Can you wait here for a sec?"
Theo wandered back inside of his house only to re-appear with her pumpkin. Before he could even say anything, a tremendous roar of laughter spilled out. They couldn't stop laughing at the atrocity that was Colette's Jack-o'-lantern.
Suddenly, a beautiful woman appeared from behind Theo. She had the same deep red-colored hair and beautiful red eyes. Her presence differed from his. Really, it differed from most vampires. Her aura was enough to make the hairs on Colette's arms stick up. Colette felt like she was in the presence of a celestial being.
"What's going on out here, Theo?" And who's your friend? Renata asked.
Colette quickly stood up straight with embarrassment. "I-I'm Colette Briars ma'am…I'm Theo's friend."
"Oh?" Renata peeked over at Theo's bashful expression and then peeked back at Colette. "Well, I'm glad to see my son has made such a cute friend…And also you can call me Renata…Ma'am makes me sound old," she chuckled.
"Mom, it's getting late…I'm going to walk Colette home." Theo nudged Colette away from the door.
"Sure, sure….Colette, stop by again anytime you'd like." Renata mentioned with a warm smile.
"O-oh. Have a great night Ma'am….Er- I mean Renata."
A few minutes into the walk, Theo asked, "So, what made you want to know more about vampires?….You know…besides the fact that I drank your blood?"
"Well, between all the encounters I've had lately, I want to just understand the way vampires think. And let me add… I want to know more about you too, Theo."
Theo glanced over at Colette before shifting his gaze to the night sky. "Well, what's there to know?" He asked in a dry tone.
"What do you mean? Lots of things! Favorite foods? Life plans? Or simply, what do you like to do in your spare time?"
Theo felt choked up answering because most of his favorite things revolved around Colette, but he couldn't say that. Humoring her, he responded, "Well, to answer one of your questions…I suppose if I had a favorite food it would be creamy pasta carbonara….with extra garlic."
Colette chucked, "extra garlic, huh? Well, in a few weeks my home economics class is hosting open menu day…As long as we bring our own ingredients, we can make whatever we want. Stop by after last period." Colette smiled arrogantly. "I'm a skilled cook."
"I'll be there," Theo answered with a soft smile.
Somehow, time with Theo went by quickly. They were already outside of her front door. "I guess this is me." Colette glanced at her doorway before asking, "Can I ask you another question before you go?"
Theo waited pensively.
"Why did you save me the first day we met?"
Theo paused as if he was trying to summon the right words to say. "I don't really know….but I'm glad I did." Theo was grinning with all of his teeth exposed.
His teeth entranced Colette. Theo noticed and quickly remarked, "Did you want to see these?" He bared his fangs. Her gaze darted around them as if they were going to get caught for misbehaving.
"T-Theo!" She waved her hands to cover his face. Gently, he grabbed her hands and acted as if he was going to bite her palm. Colette froze. Her body felt like it was burning.
"Pft,..Just kidding." Theo nonchalantly released her hand. "Let's talk after school one of these days. I'll trade information for some of your retirement planning ideas."
Colette wondered if she'd ever get used to his teasing.