AMMIH: Chapter 3, Dawn

“Oh, Miss Delaney
Where's your boyfriend?
He isn't up in heaven, so
Why treat him like he's dead?”
-Miss Delaney, Jack’s Mannequin

On the whole drive to the mall, I couldn’t get that boy out of my head. I knew Matt must have been talking to me since the idiot seemed to be incapable of shutting his mouth for even a few seconds. He must have been related to one of those weird sharks that couldn’t stop moving or it died, except it was talking with him. In any case, the other bit that tipped me off about him to ranting at himself, was that I was vaguely aware of his mouth moving. In truth though, he could have been talking to the block of granite I so strongly resembled for all the attention I was paying him. I was going to let him enjoy himself today, though. Judging off that boy’s looks, Matt deserved one last nice day before he went bye-bye! Which would be much sooner than I would usually want.
I felt the car jerk to a halt, and kinda-sorta heard the driver side door slam. The abrupt noise dragged me out of my self-induced daze and I reluctantly yanked myself ungracefully out of the black leather seat. Shuffling my feet loudly across the asphalt, I leaned against Matt’s side, letting him wrap his arm around me and kiss my forehead, in an unusual show of affectionate compliance. My own random kindness was making me a tad sick to my stomach, and I’m sure my father and mommy would be absolutely appalled at me for it, but I couldn’t bring myself to do anything but think of that boy. Being perky was just too much work for the moment, so being lovey-dovey was an exchange for it.
Suddenly, he tapped my shoulder and looked down at me with an oddly concerned expression, which looked very out of place written into his usually bleak face. “Is something wrong?” I’d never really registered how whiney the pitch of his voice got when he was nervous. It was rather irksome. “You’ve managed to be quiet and calm. Those’re two things I didn’t think it was possible for you to comprehend, let alone do…at the same time.”
I shook my head, making myself look as uninterested as I could fake, since really I just wanted to shatter his jaw and make him shut up. I inhaled deeply in an attempt to catch a whiff of that oddly calming scent he always had about him. Cinnamon. Unusual for a human, but I was thankful for his oddness at the moment; it had managed to help me suppress the violent urges, and kept poor, oblivious Matt in one piece.
“I’m arright, baby.” I flashed a hypnotically soothing smile up at him while I spoke. Altogether, I made myself seem quite a bit calmer than I actually was. “Just tired, studying for finals and all.” Nodding solemnly, I looked down at the tiled floor as we walked. Just listening to the click-clack of my heels for a few moments, before…
“Shit,” Matt exclaimed suddenly, making me look up at him curiously. He blinked several times as a dull sense of realization overtook the features of his otherwise bleak face. “Finals are this week, aren’t they?”
If for no other reason than to occupy my hand and keep it away from his windpipe, I smacked my forehead. Grinding my teeth together hard enough that I was almost sure he could hear it, I took another deep, calming breath of his heady scent. When I’d finally regained my self-control, I looked up out of my palm and grinned at him serenely, as I spoke to him softly. “Why yes, hon. Finals are indeed this week! You forgot again, yes?”
He nodded tentatively, obviously hearing the slight twinge of malice creeping into my voice. Human survival instincts were such a hysterically fascinating thing, and his must have been kicking in right now. Yelling to him to run away from me. Oh yes, I could hear it now.
I glanced around at the passing people, dumping some of my aggravation onto them. Soon though, Matt pulled his arm away from me, and stuffed his hand into his worn and torn pocket in a nervous twitch of a habit that I knew he held. He followed my example and stared around at the shops on either side of us, even at some above; trying anything to relieve some of the awkwardness that we’d fallen victim to.
He pointed down the hall nervously, and waited for me to trail my vision along his arm, to judge the shop he’d decided to bring to my attention.  Red splatter on the sign, music blaring from inside, black clad girls in pants six sizes too big, and grey clad boys in pants six sizes too small.
Hot Topic.
Sighing in irritation, I flashed the employees smiles, waved to a few I knew especially well, and then turned back to the imbecile who dared call himself an organism. My head moved back and forth slowly, skeptically, and I muttered, “Went shopping the other day with my mommy.” Lie, obviously, but enough to get him off my ass.
Figuratively.
In other news, I was still trying to find something to get the idiot to shut up. When, a revelation hit me. “Movie?” The words almost bubbled past my lips, I was so happy I’d thought of them.
Nodding, he laughed, sounding more cheerful than I figured he was allowed. But, before I could verbally object, he dragged me down towards the theaters (unlike my last boyfriend, whose name I had already forgotten, at least this one pays for the tickets himself). I slid my arm around his waist and put my head on his arm, as an added kick. Stilettos being my only means of reaching even that high.
This quite possibly being his last day, and all, I figured I could cuddle with him for a bit, as thanks for complying with me. This way, I wouldn’t have to expend my energy pretending to listen to his incoherent babbling. Which was truly a pain, and something that really just made me crave peace and quiet to sort out my thoughts. Especially since my mommy always tells me that in a situation like this, I shouldn’t act too rashly, or I could screw up and regret it afterward. Which made me figure, I shouldn’t kill him without arguing with myself pointlessly for at least twenty minutes.
Matt must have led me into the theater and sat me down, because the next thing I truly registered was the start of the too loud previews. It’s like they assumed their entire audience was hearing impaired. Head on his shoulder, he put an arm around my upper arms. I flashed a smile up at him and noticed the worry marks that were creased into his forehead while he watched me. To calm his nerves a bit, I giggled quietly and started playing with his fingers.
Once I felt him relax beside me, I just contented myself with playing with his thumb for a while. Eventually, I dropped his hand and shifted my violet gaze to a spot on the wall that was clear of distractions. It was above Matt’s head, and it allowed me to sink deep into my thoughts. Deeper than I’d been able to get all morning. Which was something I’d never needed to do before, but I really needed it at he moment.
For me, life had always gone the same way, cycling over and over. Change was a foreign concept. I’d always had boyfriends, that was a given for a succubae like me. But I’d never loved a single one of them. Human men, as far as I was concerned, were completely pointless beings and needed to have their population thinned down a bit. Rarely did I ever find a boy that was even remotely attractive, and I’d never chosen to date one for any other reason than food. I mean really, what other reason would I have to let my twin brother pick my boyfriends…?
Well, except for the fact that he was flamboyantly gay and probably had much better taste in men than I did. Obviously a higher opinion.
This boy, though…
I wanted to continue riding on that train of thought, but the one onscreen wrecked it, along with its own tracks. Glass spheres of violet flickered from the screen, to Matt, then to the floor in barely a millisecond of blind panic that almost caused me to bolt.
Finally though, I assured myself that I wouldn’t lose control of the sudden onrush of fear, and let myself scream; I then proceeded to thank every single deity that I’d ever heard of. Thankful didn’t even begin to cover how I felt about the fact that my heart wasn’t beating. Otherwise, I was sure that it would have either stopped, or I’d have been blushing.
“Hey,” Matt nudged my shoulder, startling me and making me jump again. Shooting him a death glare, perfect vision capturing the surprised look on his face, perfectly. “You okay…?” he finally managed in a stuttered whisper.
I figured that was the hundred and fiftieth time he’d asked me that this afternoon. I nodded slowly in response, afraid I’d yell at him if I spoke aloud. Though, by now I really wasn’t paying attention to him. I sighed, it was unnecessary, but I couldn’t break the habit.
Really, I just wanted to think, and this loud movie that he’d chosen was not only making that hard, but it was also probably damaging my flawlessly vampiric hearing. I needed peace and quiet, so I mumbled something that I didn’t even understand, about going to the bathroom, and then I squeezed my way out of the aisle.
Taking a few deep breaths of popcorn scented air once I reached the outside, I wandered my way into the irritatingly off-white bathroom. Flopping onto the smooth, slightly moist counter and leaning wearily against the mirrors, I finally relaxed.
Inhaling deeply in my calmed state, the scent of bleach seared the insides of my nostrils: so I stopped that. I tried distracting myself with the music, but it sounded too much like the crap played in elevators. So, I then knew that I had to face my thoughts.
Chewing the inside of my lip a bit, not enough to split it since I knew it would scar if I did, I eventually faded back out into my unnerving thoughts of that new neighbor boy. I made an attempt at recollecting his features so that I could find flaws in it. Force myself to dislike him like I did with every other man.
Bottom line: that method didn’t work with him. Solid, square jawbone, and high cheekbones. Skin stretched taut between them like a red-brown canvas. Every indent, curve, feature in general, looked to have been chiseled away and sanded. His eyes were black, or almost, and so soft and deep that they were almost hypnotic. Androgynously cut, wavy black hair framed his perfect face, gorgeously. He was flawless.
Me, the queen of bitchy insults and whining. I found nothing that I could insult about his appearance. The embodiment of perfection, and he was my next door neighbor. Made me feel like dying…again.
I didn’t realize how far I’d sunken into my thoughts, until someone opened the bathroom door and I shot into a stiff crouch. Figuring that this was a slight overreaction, I hopped down to the tiled floor. Starting to saunter my way towards a stall, I caught a glimpse of the entering girl, and froze.
Same skin: tanned and smooth. Same sharp, beautiful features, same disproportioned height and inconspicuously solid muscles. She was related to him, I knew it; and it wasn’t just paranoia or hope.
“You!” we exclaimed simultaneously.
I blinked several times at her, and suddenly she doubled over laughing. Long, blonde hair spilled over her face as her baseball cap went flying across the floor.
Staring in complete and utter confusion for the first time in years as she tried to calm her waves of laughter, I shook my head several times to assure myself that I wasn’t hallucinating. Eventually though, she caught her breath enough to speak. “You’re that crazy-ass neighbor girl that my idiot brother was nearly out of his mind for!”
Well. That was one way to confirm my hunch that the two of them were related.
Even better than that: I wouldn’t have to fight for him. I was gonna have fun with this one.