DESI
The restof the week was torture. I had to lie to Scout again to buy me time to figure out what to do about the little thing that could end this. My engagement to Aleida Linotti.
“I was supposed to return to work on Friday, but I bet if I go in a few days early, my boss will let me have it off.” I’d never had a job before. Did that sound realistic? She didn’t seem sure herself but finally shrugged, thanked me for a fun night, and gave me the details for the party.
“Halloween starts at about seven. There’ll be music and beer.”
“Cool. I’ll be there.” The words were meant as truth, but the lump in my throat after saying them made it feel like a lie. Would I be able to escape Aleida’s grasp long enough to visit Scout? Caught in my lies, I couldn’t visit the diner for the rest of the week, despite having nothing else to do. That was all I wanted to do. I sat at the house, drinking beer and getting high with Mick and the others when they’d pop in after their shifts.
“I don’t get how you stay so built,” Tommy commented after the third day of finding me lying on the couch, feeling miserable. “All you do is sit around and smoke.”
Vampire genes.
I wanted to protest, but I was too exhausted. I felt like I was withdrawing.
From Scout.
I couldn’t eat, I couldn’t sleep. I didn’t want to do anything other than stare ahead. I wanted desperately to see her again.
“Is being away from her that hard for you?” Eric asked as he came from my kitchen.
“Who?” I sat up to allow them to sit. Both men let out groans and retreated.
“Woah, man, go shower.”
“She’ll be back tonight, relax, Desiderio.”
I lifted my arms and grimaced. I may have skipped a shower or two.
“Yeah, I’m thinking about ending it,” I confessed. It felt so good to say out loud. Their eyes widened. I took off toward the bathroom. When I returned, they had all sorts of questions.
“When are you planning on doing it?” Tommy asked.
“No clue. Aleida comes back tomorrow.”
“It’s Halloween, dude,” Eric argued. “I already bought my costume.”
“Don’t do this to us, bro.” Tommy groaned. “Aleida’s friends are total babes. Can’t you wait ’til Monday?”
They’d been begging me to do this for a year and now they wanted to wait? “Fine. But I’m probably not going to the party. You might want to look for somewhere else to go.”
They stared at each other, silently communicating. “Whatever, dude. Randy told us about a party he’s going to with some babe. If we can’t get into Aleida’s party, we’ll crash that one.”
I picked up Aleida at the airport that evening. I had no desire to, but she called me and whined until I agreed and drove over there.
“Hey, baby! I missed you so much! Did you have a good birthday?” She threw her arms around me and planted kisses all over my face. I kept turning every time she leaned toward my lips, causing her to kiss everything else.
“Yeah. Did you enjoy celebratingmybirthday in Vegas?”
“Yes!” She ignored my snark. “This mini vacation was needed. We had so much fun!”
“What about Tionne?” I looked around for her friend but didn’t see her. Aleida frowned and forced me to take her hand. She began tugging me through the airport and into the night.
“We were hanging out with these really fun humans and then one of them confessed that he knew about us.”
I stopped walking. “Is Tionne okay?”
Aleida nodded and gave me a tight smile. “Yeah, but uh, Leo swallowed some tacks.”
