“No, I’m as fucked in the head as youare.”
“Too true.”
“He’s taking me to lunch today.”
Lucy perked up. “Now we’re gettingsomewhere!”
“Probably not.”
“Don’t be so skeptical, my friend. You neverknow what the future holds.”
“You sound like a Magic 8 Ball.”
“They give the best advice.”
Lucy was quiet for a minute before saying,“You like him.”
“What if I do? It doesn’t matter; things cannever go anywhere between us. And while it would be fun to have sexwith him—”
“Yeah, it would,” Lucy said.
Melanie rolled her eyes but continued as ifher friend hadn’t said anything. “How much of a relationship can wehave when I can’t tell him about my past?”
“You can tell him things.”
“Like what? Oh hey, my father is this crazyscientist who has a cultlike following, and they run experiments onvampires. He kept me pretty much locked away for most of mychildhood. And, oh yeah, by the way, vampiresarereal. No,I’m not kidding; it’s the truth. Those evil, murderous,bloodsucking monsters actually exist. Please don’t run away. Whyare you running? No. Stop. Come back. And poof, he’s goneforever.”
Lucy laughed. “I definitely wouldn’t leadwith that, but you could tell him you had a shelteredchildhood.”
“So, make it sound like it was better than itwas?”
“Yeah.”
“And what if he wants to meet my dad?”
Lucy rested her hand on top of Melanie’s andsqueezed it. “Get out of your head. You’re only going to lunch.It’s not your thirty-fifth date.”
“Is that the thirty-fifth date? Meeting thefamily?”
“That’s what I’ve heard, but I wouldn’t know;I rarely make it to a second date.”
Despite this statement being sad and true,Melanie chuckled. “Neither do I, but one of these days, you’ll meetMr. or Mrs. Right.”
“Maybe, but I’m not looking. And if I didmeet them, what am I supposed to tell them about my past? Oh hey,my mom’s this crazy scientist who is a part of this cultlike group?Not exactly winning any brownie points there.”
“You could tell them you had a shelteredchildhood.”
“Touché.”
“Our parents are so messed up.”
“And they passed it on to us. Is that whatyou’re wearing to lunch?”
Melanie glanced at her black shirt and jeans.“We’re just going for pizza.”
“You should wear something a little moreformfitting.”
“This fits fine.”
