Bite, p.9
Bite, page 9
Sam waves off my apology while responding, “It’s okay Gina. She’s just looking out for you.”
“More like embarrassing me,” I say without hiding the irritation in my voice.
“Don’t worry, I found it nice that she cares that much about you. Don’t be mad at her.”
I’m still stewing and I get so distracted that I don’t pay attention while I’m about to respond because when I stop walking, he is standing right in front of me. I stare up into his eyes and I honestly forgot what we were talking about. We spend a few moments looking into each other’s eyes and I wonder if he is going to kiss me right there. In fact, I actually want him to. I want to feel his lips pressed up against mine while he wraps his arms around me.
But just like that, he steps back and leads me to his car, which is much better than that weird looking car, his brother drives. Sam’s is a simple silver grey BMW that suits him more than that other flashy car. I assumed he would borrow it to try to impress me but I’m glad he opted for the BMW and I smile at what the rest of the evening has in store for us. Sam opens the passenger door for me.
A couple of minutes later we are on our way.
Can I Have It Bloody Rare?
(Sam)
It wasn’t so bad having her in the car with me. When I get in, her scent has already overtaken the inside but as soon as I start the car, I lower the windows so I could breathe in the fresh air. Good thing it is an unusually warm night for September. If it was cooler and I had to leave them closed…
Stop I tell myself. I don’t want to think about that. I don’t want to imagine what her blood must taste like. I instead focus on how beautiful she looks. The fabric of the blouse she’s wearing makes her appear softer, almost angelic and with her hair swept up, I really see how stunning her facial features are. Of course it leaves her neck fully exposed and I can almost see her blood flowing and my mouth starts to water at the thought of my lips touching her neck as my fangs…
I grip the steering wheel hard as I internally growl at myself. No I can’t let the urge make me lose control where my only thoughts will be about drinking her blood. Not tonight. I want to keep her alive. I have to keep her alive. No matter how much the urge builds in me, I will not bite her. She has become too important to me and I don’t want to kill her. I hope I can do my best in controlling my hunger before things go too far and I can’t control myself. I’ll just try to focus on something other than her blood and hopefully I can make sure she gets home tonight in one piece.
We drive to a steakhouse that Charlie recommended and I park the car. I get out and walk around to open the door for her. After we go inside and are seated, I cringe at the thought that I would have to eat so she won’t get suspicious. How I hate eating human food but if we’re to blend in then I have no choice. Good thing for our venom. It dissolves the food so I won’t have to taste it for too long. And my brother telling me about the steakhouse was the best choice he could think of. At least here I can order a steak very rare and hopefully I won’t get a waiter that will give me a hard time about how I want my steak. If I’m going to eat that crap then the bloodier the better.
I see her eyeing the menu and I’m shocked that I can see that she is thinking of how expensive everything is. Interesting how her thoughts are starting to become a little clearer to me but I think it’s only because her concern about the cost of the food is heavy on her mind. I don’t want her to think that I’m one of those cheap humans that would only allow their date to order a burger or a simple salad. I want her to relax and splurge on anything she wants because I want to be the man that gives her everything her heart desires including a delicious meal. To ease her conscience and make Gina feel better I smile as I say; “Now I want you to order whatever you like. I was told that the food here is delicious so go crazy and help yourself.”
“Everything sounds so good; I can’t decide. I think I’ll go with the NY Strip,” she replies while trying to sound confident. Her thoughts, however, is on ordering something else but she is afraid to because it is a bit pricey. Interesting, she is concerned about making sure the bill isn’t too high. I love it. I almost laugh out loud; she has no idea that I alone have over thirteen million dollars and combined with the others, let’s just say none of us are strapped for cash. It’s all thanks to Charlie’s ability to pick the winning lottery numbers and the right stocks to invest in. I’m not thrilled that David and Evan sometimes influence rich humans to give them large sums of cash but they look at it as just enjoying the perks of being vampires and since I’m not perfect myself I don’t think too much of it. Besides if we didn’t do these little tricks to replenish our wallets then we would all have to get jobs. The horror.
I reassure her by suggesting, “That sounds okay but how about the filet mignon with the grilled shrimp? According to my brother, they cook it to perfection and the beef just melts in your mouth.”
She looks into my eyes while debating and after another warm smile from me she finally agrees. When the waiter arrives, I place our orders and I also ask for a bottle of red wine. She glances at the wine list and when she finds the one I ordered her thoughts scream out at the price. The brand that I picked is two hundred dollars but since wine is something we enjoy (especially since we can’t get drunk) I only drink the best. The waiter takes our menus and I am finally alone with her.
“I guess I should have told you,” Gina begins, “you didn’t have to order that bottle to impress me.”
I have to hide the smile that is about to appear as I reply, “Impress you?”
“Yeah. That was a two hundred dollar bottle.”
“I know.”
She is confused at why I’m not freaking out and the question, Can he really afford that is clear in her mind. Again her concern for my pockets intrigues me since someone would only react that way when they care about that person. I’m not sure what to think of that at the moment but I want her to relax and enjoy the evening without worrying about money every two minutes so I lean forward as I say, “Gina, you don’t have to be so concerned about the cost of anything on the menu. I can assure you that I won’t be washing any dishes tonight.”
She blushes and feels mortified. “I’m sorry. I guess I’m not used to eating somewhere nice like this. Usually when I go out on a date, the best I’ve been to is a Friday’s or Red Lobster.” Her blush deepens as she mumbles, “Ugh I shouldn’t have opened my big mouth.”
I smile so she doesn’t have to feel embarrassed anymore. In fact, I want her to feel comfortable with me. I could have taken her to finer restaurants or I could have taken her all the way to the Hamptons and really wined and dined her. But after our conversation this afternoon Gina has shown me she’s more of a simple kind of girl, which is why I also settled on the steakhouse after Charlie listed about ten other places, we could have gone to. But as long as she’s tense, she’ll be on guard and I won’t get to know more about her.
To try to put her at ease I lean forward a little and murmur, “I completely understand Gina. I could have taken you to one of those places but I just felt you deserve to be spoiled tonight. If you feel more comfortable there then pick the one you like best and we can go.”
She blushes again and her features appear more delicate and softer than before. I smile again and she finally relaxes as she gives me her lovely smile. Gina shakes her head as she says, “I’m not missing out on my filet so we’re stuck here mister.” She lets out a laugh while in a soft voice she adds, “But thank you Sam.”
The gentleness in her voice makes me desire her more and I want to reach across the table and hold her hand. I want to touch her in some way to comfort her and let her know that I truly appreciate her concern and for her honesty. But being that my skin feels like a block of ice, I don’t think that would be such a good idea. I know that if I continue to see her, I will have to touch her eventually and that will become a major issue. But I’m not ready for the questions that would follow right now so I fight the urge and I keep my hands firmly in front of me on the table.
I’m glad the evening is going well. Our food arrives and after a few bites, she is glad that I convinced her to change her order. My rib eye steak is perfect; very rare with the blood still running from the meat. The waiter almost didn’t want to put my order through but the promise of a hefty tip changed his mind. I mean it’s bad enough I have to eat; let me at least have it in a way where I could enjoy some part of it. Gina, of course, agreed with the waiter when she saw my steak after I took my first bite. Disgusting but the warm blood makes it tolerable.
“You know, I think your steak is still mooing,” she says with a smirk.
I laugh as I reply, “Only faintly. See you can barely hear it.”
“Aren’t you worried that you can get sick from eating your steak that rare? I mean, you can get worms or parasites or something.” She rapidly shakes her head while whispering, “Wait can we get that or does that only pertain to animals?”
Gina gets lost in her thoughts but it only lasts for a few moments and she resumes to eating her dinner. Once again her concern for my well-being is touching. If only she knew I couldn’t ever get sick even if I tried. “I’ll be okay. Besides, this is the only way to eat a steak.”
“Yeah okay. If you get sick, don’t come crying to me.”
We both laugh and continue to enjoy the evening. With my curiosity still brewing, I ask her questions so I could learn more about her. She tells me her favorite music, what other movies she enjoys and more. We talk about school and she gets self-conscious that she hasn’t really picked a major yet and she’s still unsure what she wants to do with the rest of her life. She talks about her friends and I strangely get jealous when she mentions this boy named Mark who she grew up with. If they weren’t so close, I would go find him and give him the message to stay away from her and he would obey since I know I can be very persuasive. But the more she talks about their relationship and their childhood together and their ongoing Star Trek battle, I realize I don’t have to worry about him. Gina didn’t say the words out loud but it’s clear that she only thinks of him as a brother and nothing more. That brings a smile to my face, which reminds me that I am treading into dangerous territory. Damn it.
The only subject that seems hard for her to talk about is about her father. I didn’t want to push her since the wound from his death is still raw but I need to know how her relationship was with him since I would like to continue to see her and it might affect us if Harry returns. Who am I kidding because it will definitely affect us. If things between us progress then things will have to be revealed including us being vampires and the fact about her father still being around even though he’s not human anymore. And the result will not be good since aside from the shock to Gina about seeing her father again, Harry will kill me. I have to know about what her relationship was like with him and I don’t mean to probe but I have to ask the difficult questions so I gently probe, “Did you two get along?”
At first I thought I might upset her but she clears her throat as she replies, “Yeah we did. I had a lot of fun with him. I guess that’s why after he died, I…I…”
Damn I did it. I got her upset and I feel like a tool about it. I should have kept my mouth shut and waited for another time. I let the sadness hit my eyes as I murmur, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you.”
“No it’s okay.” She takes a long sip of wine; “I guess I’ll have to practice talking about him without breaking down into tears.” She lets out a nervous laugh, as she mumbles, “No time like the present right?”
Once again I want to reach across the table and hold her hand as my fingers graze across her skin. And once again I fight off the urge and order my hands to stay where they are. I do nothing but watch helplessly as Gina fights back the tears that so desperately want to fall which will suck because I’ll want to gently brush them away. She smiles and in an attempt to perk up she asks, “I bet your other dates never started crying huh?”
I grin as I reply, “I wouldn’t remember. I haven’t been out on a date for quite some time.”
A baffled look appears on her face and her jaw nearly drops to the table but she composes herself quickly. Her face appears cool and confident as she asks, “Really? How long is quite some time?”
Now I have to be careful answering her question. The last time was back in 1946 and she was a vampire as well. Things were fine but I got bored and after that I decided that I just wasn’t interested. Charlie has no problem dating human females and I must admit, he handles it very well including all the physical parts. But I know I couldn’t handle it as well as he does and every date with a human would end up with my hunger and their blood going down my throat. How I wish it would come so easily for me too.
I clear my throat while replying, “Let’s just say it’s been so long that I can’t remember my last date.”
“Humph, that long huh?”
I can tell she has a question she wants to ask and this time I can’t pick it out in her mind. Whatever she’s thinking, she is doing a good job of keeping me from picking it up. My curiosity is growing and if I want for Gina to choose to open up to me, I might be waiting forever. So I lean forward and softly ask, “What are you thinking?”
My Twilight Has Come
(Gina)
Okay, did this guy take a lesson from the Edward Cullen (if you read the books then you know who he is; enough said) school of dazzling? Yeah he isn’t a vampire but he is just as charming and way cuter. Sam’s eyes are penetrating right into mine and I am glad that I am sitting down otherwise if I was standing, I probably would have fallen right on my ass. So that’s how Bella felt?
I did have another question but I didn’t want to ask it. He hasn’t been dating for a long time and the question I want to shout out to him is what the hell? Out of all the girls not only on campus but also in the world, why is he out on a date with me? Seriously what the hell? It didn’t make sense to me. Compared to him, there is absolutely nothing interesting about me at all. Sam’s appearance alone could stop traffic all over the world and the moment he opens his mouth to speak, every heart would melt instantly. He’s sophisticated and handsome and interesting and smart and so on and so on. I could be here all day listing all his amazing qualities and when I compare them to mine, it just doesn’t add up why he asked me out. Maybe he did it out of pity because I nearly busted my ass on the beach or he heard about the depressed lonely girl that could use some company. I mean what else can it be? There is nothing special about me at all.
I don’t play sports or have any amazing hobbies. I’m not a beauty queen and I’m not obsessed with showcasing my body with the latest fashions. I don’t drive a fancy car or even own a car. My life is so dull that if I died right now, it would be hard for anyone to recall one significant thing I’ve done. I’m just plain ole me.
But now with Sam staring at me, he wants to know what’s running through my mind and if I repeat any of these thoughts he will think I’m a complete loser. I have to tell him something but I’m afraid if I do, he’ll realize what a mistake he made being with me now. I guess I have no choice because if I don’t say anything then that will create another problem where he’ll think I’m keeping things from him and the trust factor will fly right out the door. I’m damned if I do and damned if I don’t. So I put on my bravest face and take a deep breath and before chumping out I softly ask, “So what made you ask me out? I mean if you haven’t been on a date in a while, what about me made you want to be with me?”
I could have sworn for a split second he almost appears to get angry but his face remains neutral, as he replies, “Why wouldn’t I Gina, you are beautiful in so many ways that I would have kicked myself if I didn’t ask you out. Don’t you see how wonderful you are? Don’t you see yourself clearly?”
Okay he definitely studied the Cullen Romantic Tips 101 (okay so I am obsessed but ladies raise your hands if you’re also waiting for your Edward to come along). He is looking at me intensely as he said all this and I actually feel stupid for asking the question as well as my internal disparaging of myself. It’s true; we never really look at ourselves and see all our good qualities but we are so quick to list our flaws on the spot.
He is waiting for a response so I say faintly, “No. I guess I never really looked at myself like that.”
The tension in his face fades away and he smiles while saying, “Some guys base their relationships solely on the physical aspect without looking at a person as a whole. After lunch with you this afternoon, I knew that there was more to you than just your beauty. Your mind is full of amazing ideas and thoughts that I want to learn more about you. But I am not going to lie and say your beauty is nothing to laugh at. You are very lovely and in fact, it’s your natural beauty that appealed to me. I like that your natural features are shining through and not hidden under layers of make-up. I like that you don’t go overboard with your clothes and you keep your look very simple yet still make it appear classy. Basically what I’m saying Gina is that I like every element that makes you who you are. It’s very attractive.”
I honestly didn’t know what to say. He likes that I’m a plain Jane. He likes that I have an opinion of my own. He likes that I don’t follow Stacy’s advice and put on so much make-up that you can cut it off with a knife. He likes my jeans with my sneakers and sweatshirt with my hair up in a ponytail. I can’t believe that he likes me for me.
