Part 12 (1/2)

”Remember? That time I took you to the concert after we first met?” His eyes danced at me, like he had won the lottery. ”And you asked what my angle was, and I said isosceles, but really I should've said oblique. And I said that I'd remember it for next time, and I did!!”

60.

”Wow,” I laughed. ”You showed me.”

”I totally did!”

At least we arrived at his house on a happy note. I figured that as soon as we walked inside, there would be fresh tension. I wasn't that far off base. Matilda ran to greet us, and Milo followed right after her. Seeing him was still a hard adjustment, and I wondered how long it would take me to get used to the new, mature him. His still had the graceful, clumsy walk, like he was about to trip over his own feet, but then would elegantly catch himself. He was like Bambi learning to walk a it was all stumbles and then a graceful bound.

”Hey,” Milo sounded out of breath and his smile was too bright.

He brushed his hair from his forehead, and I realized he was even styling it different now. It had always been kind of just standard guy cut, but he was going for side-bangs and a more popular cut. I wondered if he did that all on his own, like vampires just had naturally cool genes, or if Mae had done it for him.

”How are you?” Milo asked me, doing this weird fidgety thing with his sleeve. He had a weird head bob, too, and he reminded me vaguely of Mike Meyers when he was in Wayne's World.

Was this Milo's interpretation of cool?

”Good,” I answered unsurely. ”You're looking really... good. I like your hair.”

”Thanks.” He touched it self-concisely and blushed bashfully. There was a glimpse of cute Milo that made me miss him again, but then he went back to the awkward head bob. ”Mae did it.”

”She loves hair,” I said.

”Yeah.,” Milo greed absently.

Then he looked over to Jack and rubbed the back of his head, and that's when it finally dawned on me.

He was nervous and trying desperately to impress Jack. He suddenly lacked the ability to mask his crush, so he knew that everyone knew about it, and he had no clue what to do himself. Newly gay, newly vampire, and not even old enough to drive.

I suddenly felt like the biggest b.i.t.c.h in the world for being irritated with him. Sure, he was messing up my non-relations.h.i.+p with Jack, but he was just a scared, confused kid. He was going through a whole huge thing that I couldn't help him with at all, and I should be happy that he had someone like Jack to show him around, instead of getting all bitter and jealous.

”You guys have a nice drive?” Milo looked at Jack, and his eyes were hoping that we didn't have too nice of a drive. This had to be an incredibly hard thing for him, too, and I had to remember that.

”It was good,” Jack nodded. He chewed the inside of his cheek, growing increasingly uncomfortable with the way Milo looked at him, but I think that was only for my benefit. Ordinarily, I'm sure he would brush of Milo's adoring gaze, but with me there, it felt... well, everything just felt really, really awkward.

”So, um, while you were gone I totally found that thing and I got to the next level,” Milo announced randomly, and it took me a second to realize he was talking about some kind of video game.

61.

”Oh, yeah, really?” Jack said, looking genuinely impressed, which was probably a little bit too much for Milo.

”Yeah!” Milo beamed. ”Here, I'll show you!” With that, he reached out and took Jack's hand in his and started dragging him off to the living room. The gesture was probably meant to be flirtatious in someway, but it only succeeded in making him look even more like a little boy.

”I'm going go check out the level,” Jack explained, shooting me an apologetic smile as Milo pulled himaway.

”That's okay,” I smiled back at him.

Once they were gone, I took a deep breath. This is my life, and it's not the end of the world.

Things are weird, but Milo's still Milo, Jack's still Jack, and pretty soon we'll have this all sorted out. Soon. That's what I've gotta believe.

”Why are you hiding in here?” Mae wondered, walking into the entryway to claim me. ”I saw the boys go in the living room with those stupid games, and I couldn't believe they'd just left you stranded here.”

”I wasn't really stranded.” But she was already looping her arm through mine, and much like Milo had pulled Jack, she was leading me on through the house.

”You know, Jack and Milo aren't the only ones that miss seeing you.” She'd apparently forgotten our girls' night only the evening before. ”It's just so strange not having you around all the time.”

”At least you don't have to make so much food,” I suggested helpfully, and she laughed loudly.

”I know I'm a horrible cook, but I still love baking!” Mae insisted happily.

I expected her to take me into the living room, where she would hara.s.s the boys until they quit playing video games and socialized with us. That was her usual tactic in situations like this, but instead, she took me past the living room and down the hallway, to Ezra's den at the far end of the house. I'd seen it before, when she gave me her rapid tour the first time I'd come over, but I'd never actually been inside before.

It was mostly what I'd expected of a rich vampire's den. The walls were lined with bookcases covered in books and antiquities. The furniture was brown, distressed leather. There was a ma.s.sive mahogany desk in the center of the room with high end computer equipment on it. On one wall, there was a reproduction of Rembrandt's The Mill hanging above the sofa. Behind his desk, there was a ma.s.sive window, revealing the blackened lake behind the house.

Ezra was seated at the desk, staring intently at the flat screen computer monitor. If Mae hadn't been dragging me in, I never would've entered his den. He looked deep in concentration, and I didn't want to break that. Mae, on the other hand, thought nothing of it.

”h.e.l.lo, love!” Mae chirped, and Ezra looked up from the screen to smile at us. ”And what, pray tell, has your attention so tightly?”

”Nothing of any real importance.” He leaned back in his chair, giving the screen one last wary look, before turning his attention fully to us. ”Just a stock tip someone told me to check into. I don't think its going to be fruitful but...” He shook his head.

”The truth is that Ezra doesn't care what he's looking up on the computer as long he's looking it up,” Mae revealed to me with a bemused smile. ”The other day I caught him watching a video of an elephant painting with his trunk.”

62.

”It was an elephant painting!” Ezra insisted, but that only succeeded in making Mae giggle. ”Oh.

And I suppose you've seen an elephant paint?”

”No, but it's just a weird thing for you to be interested in,” Mae explained, and I concurred with her entirely.

”Well, its just technology that fascinates me,” Ezra allowed, then rested his eyes on me. ”I mean, I can watch an elephant paint live on the internet. That sounds like nothing to you, but when I was a younger man, it would've taken months for someone just to tell me the story of it. By the time I'd get around to hear it, it would've mutated a hundred times, and the poor animal would've been dead for twenty years. I don't know what you think about me, but this right here a this is magic.”

”You'll never cease to amaze me, darling.” Mae looked at him with completely adoration. It made me feel uncomfortable just witnessing it, like I was spying on some private moment.