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Excited by his firm grip, Vivian yanked the door open and swung herself in. Aiden ran around and climbed into the driver's seat.
The front door opened again. Aiden's father filled the entrance, his face almost purple. "Get back here, young man."
Aiden ground the gears, and they peeled out despite the clanking protests of the old car.
Aiden hit the dashboard with a fist. "Damn!"
Vivian jumped. She'd never seen him this way. She gritted her teeth against the jouncing ride and clung to the sides of her seat. She was sure the car would rattle itself to bits, but she let Aiden work out his rage.
He took a sharp corner into a strip mall entrance, slamming her toward the parking brake, then against the door. Finally he pulled into a space in front of a tawdry row of shops dominated by a dollar bargain store with lurid Day-Glo posters plastered across its windows.
"That was some ride," Vivian said.
Aiden glanced over, embarrassment in his eyes. "I'm sorry."
"So what's the story?" Vivian asked, trying to sound casual, giving him permission to lie if that made him feel safe.
"My parents want me to see a shrink."
Vivian's eyebrows rose. "Oh?"
"They think I'm weird."
"My dear," she said, reaching over to squeeze his knee. "They haven't seen weird."
He smiled and covered her hand with his. "Thanks."
Vivian hadn't realized how tense his anger had made her until she'd unclenched at the sight of his smile.
"So, how weird do they think you are?" she asked, wiping a drop of sweat from her nose.
"They think I'm a Satanist."
"A what?" Vivian was amused.
"A Satanist. Just because I'm interested in the unknown. I mean, how would anyone learn anything if they weren't curious? How would scientists make discoveries? They're so narrow-minded. They're pissed off because I'm different from them. We all have the right to be different, don't we?"
Vivian nodded in sympathy. But did he realize how different people could be; he who wrote of exchanging skin for a pelt of brindle luxury? Would he grant her the right to be different? "What brought this on?" she asked.
"My aunt sent them some stupid book about teenagers listening to heavy metal records backwards and committing suicide. That and a pamphlet called 'Ten Signs Your Child Has Sold His Soul to the Devil.' "
Vivian burst out laughing before she could stop herself. "But that's ridiculous."
"I know. I don't even like heavy metal." Even Aiden couldn't suppress a laugh now. "You always make me feel better, Vivian. You never judge me. You accept me."
Vivian wound her fingers into the hair at his temples and pulled his lips toward hers. "Yes," she whispered the moment before their lips met. When would he realize how far she would accept him?
Her claws, unbidden, traced promises on his back. The hothouse heat of the car made his body wonderfully pungent. She wished they were somewhere, anywhere, besides the front seat of his car. Should she wait for him to suggest they find somewhere secluded? To hell with waiting, she decided. I'll take him down to the river.
"Aren't you coming in?" a voice asked.
Aiden pulled away abruptly, and Vivian looked up to see Kelly peering in the driver's-side window.
"Uh, oh yeah, Kelly, in a minute," Aiden said.
"Where?" Vivian asked, not bothering to conceal her irritation.
"For pizza, of course," Kelly answered. She gestured to Mama Lucia's Pizza right in front of their parking space. Her smile was too sweet.
