Vampire Kisses by Ellen Schreiber Page A

hundred.
    “What do you do at night? Where else have you lived? Why don’t you go to school?” I rattled on suddenly.
    “Slow down.”
    “Um…where were you born?”
    “Romania.”
    “Then where’s your Romanian accent?”
    “In Romania. We traveled constantly.”
    “Have you ever gone to school?”
    “No, I’ve always had a private tutor.”
    “What’s your favorite color?”
    “Black.”
    I remembered Mrs. Peevish. I paused and asked, “What do you want to be when you grow up?”
    “You mean I’m not grown up?”
    “That’s a question, not an answer,” I said coyly.
    “What do you want to be?” he asked.
    I stared into his deep, dark mysterious eyes and whispered, “A vampire.”
    He stared at me curiously and seemed disturbed. And then he laughed. “You are a riot!” Then he looked at me sharply. “Raven, why did you sneak into the house?”
    I looked away, embarrassed.
    Jameson wheeled over some pastry on a cart. He lit a match and flames rose around the dessert. “Flambé!” he announced. And just in time.
     
     
     
    Alexander extinguished our desserts and told Jameson we would finish our dinner outside. “I hope you aren’t afraid of the dark,” he said, leading me into the dilapidated gazebo.
    “Afraid? I live for it!”
    “Me, too,” he said, smiling. “It’s really the only way to see the stars properly.” He lit a half-melted candle on the ledge.
    “Do you bring all your girlfriends here?” I asked, fingering the used candle.
    “Yes.” He laughed. “And I read to them by candlelight. What would you like?” he asked, pointing to a stack of textbooks on the floor. “ Functions and Logarithms or Minority Group Cultures ?”
    I laughed.
    “The moon is so beautiful tonight,” he said, staring out the gazebo.
    “Makes me think of werewolves. Do you think a man can change into an animal?”
    “If he’s with the right girl,” he said with a laugh.
    I moved closer to him. The moonlight softly lit his face. He was beautiful. Kiss me, Alexander. Kiss me now! I thought, closing my eyes.
    “But we have all of eternity,” he suddenly said. “For now let’s enjoy the stars.”
    He placed his dessert bowl on the ledge and blew out the candle, and I quickly grabbed his hand. It wasn’t a Trevor hand or a skinny Billy Boy hand. He had the best hand in the whole world!
    We lay down on the cold grass and gazed up at the stars, holding hands.
    We relaxed in silence, our hands warming together. I could feel the prickly legs of the spider ring.
    I wanted to kiss. But he just stared up at the stars.
    “Who are your friends?” I asked, turning to him.
    “I keep to myself.”
    “I bet you met tons of cool girls before you moved here.”
    “Cool is one thing. The kind of girls who accept you for who you really are is another. I’d like something…lasting.”
    Lasting? For eternity? But I couldn’t ask that.
    “I want a relationship I can finally sink my teeth into.”
    Really? Well, I’m your girl! I thought. But he didn’t turn toward me; instead, Alexander gazed at the sky.
    “So you don’t have any friends here?” I asked, trying to pump him for more info.
    “Just one.”
    “Jameson?”
    “Someone who wears black lipstick.”
    We both stared up at the moon in silence. I beamed from his compliment.
    “Who do you hang out with?” he finally asked.
    “Becky is the only one who accepts me, and it’s because I’m the only one who doesn’t beat her up.” We both laughed. “Everyone else thinks I’m weird.”
    “I don’t.”
    “Really?” No one had ever said that to me in my whole life. No one.
    “You seem a lot like me,” he said. “You don’t gawk at me like I’m a freak.”
    “I’ll kick anyone who does.”
    “I think you already did. Or at least smacked him with a racket.”
    We laughed in the moonlight, and I placed my free arm on his chest and hugged him, as my Gothic Mate softly stroked my arm.
    “Could those be ravens?” I asked, pointing to