Vampiric: Chapter Nine, Part 5

“It’s true,” Ian said as he came back to grab the last bags from the trunk. I grabbed one so I wouldn’t feel like I was being completely lazy. “They used to tease her about not going out with me.”

“Really?” That would have been weird. Then remembering when I first met them, the idea wouldn’t have been so ludicrous to me.

“Yeah;” his cheeks turned crimson. “They were convinced we were made for each other and she was too stubborn to admit liking girls was just a phase. They used pretty much the same wording.”

“At least they’ve come around to it.” I followed Ian into the house after picking up another suitcase from the porch. It was a huge two story with the formal dining room and the living room off to either side of the foyer. There were doors further down the hall, and I guessed one may be a bedroom, the second a bathroom, the third a closet, and the fourth possibly an office of sorts.

“Not really. They’re still trying to get used to it. The guest rooms are upstairs,” he said, signaling I should go ahead of him with his head.

All along the walls up the stairs were pictures of Caroline and her parents; Ian was even in a few where she looked about high school age. “You two practically look like siblings,” I thought aloud. Their smiles and hair color matched, even the pattern of freckles dancing over their skin seemed to be identical.

“Well, as you know, we’re not, but we’ve pretty much been friends since we met.” He laughed to himself. “I remember that day pretty well, too. My friends and I were playing a card game in the hallway after school. Caroline came up and scattered the cards, demanding why we hadn’t invited her when we knew she was waiting for her ride. A couple of the guys argued that she was a girl and better move off of our cards before they were tempted to hit her. She just laughed at them and told them to try. They were my cards, and my ride was going to be there in a minute, so while they continued to bicker, I tried to collect them all but she was standing on a few. When she didn’t move, I picked her foot up off the cards and grabbed them. As I ran to the door, I could hear her indignant shouts following me. I turned at the door and smiled at her.

“The next day at lunch, she sat next to me and began berating and accusing me of perverted thoughts. When I told her I didn’t care, she stopped and started talking about herself.”

I laughed. “And that’s how you knew you were friends?”

“Of course,” he said, directing me across the landing towards one of the doors. “This would be Caroline’s room,” he said, and I dropped her bags—I was carrying two of them—inside. I followed him further down the hall since he was carrying one of my bags. “Whenever Caroline starts talking about herself, it means she’s comfortable enough with you to share. She’s not an open person usually.”

“I figured that out. What I don’t understand is why that made you friends?”

“Oh;” he shrugged, dropping one of the bags into another room I guessed to be his. “Probably because while the others were indulging her in arguing, I did what I needed to do and left. I wasn’t going to argue with her just because she wanted to. I guess that’s why she likes you, too.”

“The only reason I haven’t fought with her—much—is because I’ve been biting my tongue most of the time.”

“Exactly,” he said, opening another door and setting my suitcase inside. “Your room. With her personality, she prefers people who are more inclined to calm her than rile her up.”

We headed back downstairs for the last bags.

“I guess that makes sense. No one wants to be around people who are going to upset them all the time.” I grabbed one of the two remaining suitcases before he could take both. “So how’s her family, then? Do they feed the fire? Or do they put it out?”

“Bad pun,” he chided, smirking.

“So you know about that?” I asked, not wanting to give away anything if he didn’t.

“Less than she knows, but enough. She doesn’t tend to keep too many secrets from me;” he dropped the suitcase in his hand off in Caroline’s room. “I actually found out because she almost took my head off.”

“My word,” I gasped. I hadn’t been shocked when she had nearly taken mine off, but to know she had done the same to Ian was a surprise. Remembering that time, it made sense Ian already knew because he had been there. Duh. “What did you do?”

“Uh…I tried cracking a joke when she was really pissed.” He sat down on the top step of the stairs where I joined him. “It usually works, but it was one of those ‘the difference between girls and guys’ jokes and her girlfriend of the time had just left her. I hadn’t known.”

“No way you could have.” I nudged him with my shoulder. Even though his tone was light-hearted, his eyes were remorseful. The emotion polluted the air and made me regret not speaking to him sooner—well, not being more persistent. But regret had never fixed anything, so I switched subjects, hoping to lighten my mood along with his. “So where are they?”

“Probably in her dad’s office talking about what’s new since Thanksgiving;” he seemed indifferent. I guessed as long as he had been around Caroline and her parents, he would be used to it.

“Let’s go for a walk then,” I suggested, trying to gauge how he would take it.

“Well, why not? There’s nothing to do until dinner.”